Given the morning so far, I welcomed the carefree, albeit slightly immature antics of the freshman and sophomore students that I seemed to be sharing my Health and Wellness class with. It was as if they didn’t have a care in the world. In some ways, I guess they didn’t. Not on the scale that a senior would and definitely not on the scale of my burdens and responsibilities.Watching them push and shove and play silly pranks on one another, I realized I had missed something by not attending high school all four years and by taking on adult responsibilities at such a young age. I missed the opportunity to be a child, to just live in the moment and know that someone else would take care of things and look out for me.Part of me knew this was missing all along and that’s the greatest reason I push so hard for Nate to have a normal childhood. I want him to know that he can fall and I will be there to pick him up. He can make mistakes and take chances and he never has to worry if I will be th
“It was, actually.” I answered truthfully as I looked up into the eyes of Owen Marshall and watched him smile, happy with my answer. “I had just figured out in my head how to get through the rest of the day without being around you and I was foolishly smiling in triumph. Now, you’ve just ruined all of my plans and I’m back to the drawing board again!”His face fell and I felt bad for a second before I remembered the terrible things he had said. He stood there holding a wrapped sandwich and fries in one hand and his fountain drink in the other. He let out a deep sigh as he shook his head.“Can I sit here beside you?”“You can sit wherever you want, Owen. This is a free country. But I can’t guarantee you I will stay sitting here if you do.”I knew I was being a brat but for once, I was enjoying it. Was this a product of being pushed a little too far? Was this me just being totally honest with someone without any worries of the repercussions?“Fair enough.” He answered as he sat down. I m
Sitting in the back, mixed in with a class of sophomores and juniors, I spent most of the entire class processing. His words, his touch. That bold statement that he wasn’t going to give up until he got to know me. My overwhelming need for him to be trustworthy. The worst thing about trusting someone, especially with your heart is that is also the same person that could destroy it if they chose to.Could I trust Owen Marshall or was this a game, a quest he was on? I set out this year to take risks, to live my life beyond just the four walls of the little white-sided house we live in. This was what I essentially signed up for. Take the leap of faith, the dive off into the deep end, the free fall from the airplane. Risking my heart and falling in love felt all the same to me.Anyone I had ever loved had left me at one point or another. Even Nate would find the day that he no longer chose me first and he would leave. I had survived all of that so surely I could survive if this thing with O
I shook my head. “No, sir. I won’t care a bit. I just don’t know if something will be important or not.”He brushed it off with a lighthearted chuckle. “You can ask these knuckleheads in here. They should know if I need to keep something or not. Put them to work, too. Get up and do what she tells you, all three of you.” He said that as he walked past me and out of the office to start the class.As soon as he was out of earshot, Gary stepped over in my personal space as I saw Owen tense up. “What should we do first, BOSS?”I wasn’t about to let him get to me so I looked him right in the eye as I answered.“Well, FIRST. Grab that banker’s box on top of the filing cabinet there and pick up all the papers out of the floor and put them in there. We can go over them and decide if it needs kept or not once we have everything else organized. I will start with organizing the desk.”I strolled carefully through the papers, careful to not slip and sat down in the same chair Mr. Lawrence had just
I made it to the bathroom between the gym and the cafeteria without anyone seeing me. I was thankful it was empty, too. I found a stall and ducked inside, shutting the door behind me. The tears continued as my whole body was wracked with sobs, finally letting go of all of the hurt I had held in all day.I usually wasn’t this emotional. The timing of my upcoming cycle, the emotional upheaval of the last few weeks and the exhausting emotional roller coaster I had been on today just created this perfect storm where I already knew I was on the verge of a breakdown. Danny yelling at me had just been the straw that broke the camel’s back.I couldn’t even blame Gary for this one. I had actually felt better once I got everything off of my chest with him and he had asked to start over. He had even kept me from falling when I slipped. If this one was on anyone, the blame needed to fall on Owen.Owen’s outburst had surprised me in the moment but even that was typical knowing that Owen had alread
Danny shook his head with a scoff. “You might have a point there. Gossip is the fuel that heats this place. You’re on her good side right now so we wouldn’t want to do anything to change that.”“I’m on her good side? She has been nothing but nasty to me!”“That’s just how she is until you get to know her. Vanessa has a fierce loyalty to her that is hard to penetrate and she protects her circle like a lioness. But she hasn’t called you a bitch and hasn’t told me that she hates you so yeah, you are on her good side.” He answered as Courtney nodded a confirmation.“I guess I will have to take your word for it.” I answered without looking back at him. I kept my head down, just staring at my shoes.“Listen,” Danny started. “I owe you an apology and I do apologize for yelling at you like that. It was uncalled for but it was as much for your safety as it was to get you out of there so we could get both of them to calm down.”I turned slightly to look up at him. “You called me a distraction. W
Courtney took this opportunity to speak up. “We all saw it happen but didn’t know what to do about it. I think that was one reason Vanessa stepped in and gave you a hard time about the water. I know you and her kinda clashed there but we needed something to break up the tension between those two.”Danny sighed. “But, it didn’t even stop there. We stayed longer than we should have because neither of them would be the first one to get up to leave. Then there was the bickering over the check. We all pitched in for our own but those two wanted to butt heads over who actually took the check. Owen grabbed it first and refused to even let Gary see it. Finally, Gary stomped off and we all followed him but not before I saw Owen write something to you on it. That was what the whole power bit was over, who would be the one to have the last contact with you.”“I’m sorry but that’s a little immature on both their parts.”Danny laughed. “Believe me, we all couldn’t agree more. Like I said, this has
Danny took his cell phone out of his pocket, held up his finger to let me know he heard me but needed a minute and sent a text before he put it back and looked back at me with a smile. That smile that said he was smitten so I didn’t even have to guess the recipient of that text.“Bell is getting ready to ring. Just sent my girl a text to let her know where we are. She’ll be up here with Bethany in just a couple minutes.”My heart thumped hard in my chest and I was nervous again. That girl was intimidating! Even though I now had a little better understanding of Vanessa, I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to see her but what choice did I have?“To answer your question, I can’t speak for how he sees you or how he feels about you but yes, you can trust Owen. He’s a solid guy and honestly, I’ve never really seen him give many girls the time of day. Trust me, being a football player around here is like being royalty so being the quarterback is like being a king. Owen’s past and all those detai
I gasped. “Oh my God. What did you say?”“I asked him to repeat himself and he did. He even laughed about it, taunting me. He wanted me to get mad and throw a punch or something but I managed to hold it together. He then went on to say that she was a good lay and that everyone on the team had a taste of her at one time or another. Then, he runs back and gets back in position and just leaves me there with those words running through my head.”“That’s disgusting.”“Yep, disgusting isn’t the word for it, really. But as you can imagine, he gets in my head. Bad. Like there’s no shaking it. I want to hit something, I want to scream. I want to march off of the field right then and there. March right over to the sidelines, where she is cheering for their team by the way, and confront her but I can’t. Gary asks me what is going on after I throw away the next two downs and we are forced to punt. As we are going off the field, the coach is yelling at me but nothing registers. Gary pulls me aside
“Have you had sex with anyone else before?”We were currently laying in the bed and my back was to his front, with him snuggling against me as we talked. He didn’t answer immediately so I scooted forward and sat up in the bed, turning to him. He couldn't make eye contact with me, another sign that I was not going to like what I was about to hear.“I will not lie to you but I need to know that you will be okay with hearing this. I don’t want to lose you over this.”My heart sank but I was the one that asked, the one that wanted to know. I didn’t want something from his past to later blindside me so I felt I deserved to know everything now.“Owen, you won’t lose me over something you did in the past. Just like I can’t change who my mother was, you cannot change things you have done in the past that you may now regret. Neither of us can. But it’s something that I don’t want to be this big elephant in the room between us or something that could potentially cause problems later because I d
He grumbled, he complained, he pouted but in the end when he saw that I was not going to change my mind, he climbed out of the foam pit, standing there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. It was one of the rare times to bring out the ‘Mom’ version of Aurora as I bent down to his level and made him look me in the eyes.“Nate, you don’t want to ruin your fun time this evening by being mad that we have to stop now. Owen has been good enough to let you come down here and play but if this is how you will act every time it is over, I am not gonna be so ready to let you come back again. I know it is fun and you want to keep playing but it is almost your bedtime. We will have to get our bath and read your bedtime story. All of that takes time and you don’t want to be grumpy and sleepy at school tomorrow. Now, tell Owen ‘thank you’ for letting you play tonight and let’s get upstairs and get ready to take a bath before you get in trouble and can’t come back tomorrow.”“Thank you, Owe
“WOW!” was all I heard from Nate before he tore into the room with a giggle. Owen reached for me and pulled me to him, giving me a very sound kiss that completely distracted me from even looking and seeing what had Nate so excited about.Once Owen released me and I turned my attention back to the room itself, I was just as excited and elated as Nate was. The entire space was like any arcade or play place one would ever visit as a child on those very rare special occasions. The space of the entire room couldn’t have been any less than a thousand square feet. Wooden support beams were scattered throughout the space like typical reinforcements in a basement and it had the panel block ceilings like you would see in office buildings and hospitals with the big rectangle panel light panes. The walls were all painted a deep charcoal gray with light gray plush carpeting in part of the area and just solid concrete painted the same color in the other half.The carpeted area was more narrow but th
Owen was right that Nate and I would both love the hibachi. From the experience to the food, everything was wonderful. Nate was completely infatuated and amazed by the entire experience and was telling me all about how he wanted to learn how to do that when he got bigger so Owen may have just helped create a monster because I now know where Nate will want to eat anytime I ask.Owen, being the gentleman, wouldn’t let me pay a dime on the meal, not even the tip. I had wanted to go by Phil’s house for more clothes and Owen was fine with it so he stopped there first.I explained to Nate on the way where his dad was and that his dad had told me this morning the reason he was so sick yesterday. Never having had a grandparent, Nate really didn’t even realize what that was or what he was really missing in his life by not having one, either. So, understandably, he wasn’t upset to find out that his grandmother had passed away because she was a stranger to him.He didn’t ask why we weren’t stayin
I left the office feeling really good about my talk with Sherry. I was so happy that I was able to improve her mood and help her to understand the current situation with Phil. I would definitely try my best to do what I could whenever Phil came back to push him toward her because he definitely needed to understand that he had burned all his other bridges and he’d better appreciation someone like her. If he liked her enough to sleep with her, regardless of his dumbass reasons, he needed to give her a chance to make him happy.I watched Owen’s face light up from over top of Vanessa’s head whenever I walked through the door of the Photography classroom. She turned at the same time that Courtney and Bethany gave me a wave.“I knew it had to be you or at least it had better be you,” Vanessa teased. “If he was suddenly looking at me like that, Danny was gonna kick his ass and if he was looking at any other girl like that, I was gonna be the one to do it! But I knew only one woman could make
“What did you need to talk to me about, Aurora?”“I had wanted to ask about how things were going with you and Phil but seeing how sad you look, I am now more worried about you and making sure you are okay.”She sighed. “I am, I guess. This is actually about him. I thought we hit if off and were gonna start talking, start dating even but he has completely ghosted me, Aurora. Now, I am left feeling like this cheap, one night stand.” She covered her face with her hands. “Plus, I am a professional here, an adult and I should not even be discussing things like this with you.”“Hey, I asked.” I assured her. “I only asked because I care and I wanted to know how things were going. I never imagined he hadn’t reached back out to you yet but now that I think about everything that is going on, I just realized that I have been so caught up in my own little world with Owen that you probably have no idea of anything going on.”“What do you mean? What is going on? I don’t know anything except I was a
Getting Nate out of bed and dressed was easy as he was super excited as soon as he woke and realized we were still at Owen’s house. As I was getting him dressed, he asked me if Owen was my boyfriend and I was glad that he did since I was thinking of how to bring it up myself. I answered him honestly and told him that, yes, Owen was my boyfriend and I asked him how he felt about that.He said he liked it. That he liked Owen and he liked seeing me look happy. He, then, went on to tell me that he hoped Owen and I got married and have seven kids. Of course, while he said this Owen walked up to the open door and heard it but he seemed pleased with Nate’s plans for us. Regardless, both of them could forget about seven kids. It wasn’t going to happen!We dropped Nate off at school with my promise of picking him back up this afternoon and reminding him to give Miss Kelly or Miss Lyndsey his note about being a car rider this afternoon. When we parked at the high school, we still had fifteen min
The first kiss left me in awe. The second took my breathe away and touched my soul. The third and all beyond that had me addicted. Addicted to this man, his touch, his kiss, his lips, his tongue. Dear Lord, the way he could kiss me left me just dizzy with desire, craving something more. More of him, more of his touch, more of everything.After the second kiss, he had pulled me onto his lap to straddle him and although I knew nothing of what I was doing, my body seemed to. Natural instinct kicked in as the primal urges and desires I felt took over my body, moving my hips in ways that felt good, felt right, felt necessary.Owens hands had started on my face, working their way down my body to my hips and then under my shirt. He first gripped the bare skin of my hips but as my hips started moving, so did his hands until he was running his thumbs over the outside lining of my bra, causing an explosion of electricity as he brushed the hardened buds rubbing against the soft cotton of the unde