Wants and Needs

by Fallen Ark Angel

Owen wants his sister to get better. Annabel needs Owen to be there for her. How can both things be so different yet interfere with each other so much? Takes place after Anger Management.

1. Chapter 1

Wants and Needs

Chapter 1

"Mmm, so Annabel, who's that really big guy that's always following you around? The really mean looking one?"

And that's what I get for thinking I could be split into a group for a history project and not face some kind of stupid question.

Furrowing my brow, I looked at Jasmine and said, "Uh, I think you mean Owen."

Still she just stared at me, waiting for an explanation.

"Jasmine," one of the other girls in our group, Terra, hissed, but she still just stared at me, waiting for an explanation.

"He's my boyfriend," I told her slowly, making Terra laugh. "He has been for awhile now."

Jasmine blinked. "Oh. Well then."

Clarissa, the intelligent one of the group who clearly had no desire to know any of our history much less names, hardly looked up as she said, "I would suggest that we get back to work now."

I flipped a page in my history book before saying, "I can't find anything in here about how he-"

"Try using the index," Clarissa told me before I even had a chance to explain what I needed. Fine then.

Rolling her eyes, Jasmine picked up her phone which she immediately used to text Terra. I could tell that they were texting back and forth about Clarissa from the way they kept glancing at her and snickering. Still, she didn't seem to mind or notice for that matter so it wasn't really my problem, was it?

After history was lunch where I immediately spotted my boyfriend who was waiting for me at our wall. When I saw him I smiled, but he didn't return it as I sat down.

"Everything okay?" I asked him as I took my lunch out of my bag. "Bear?"

"Hmmm?" He glanced at me before back out at the lunch tables before us.

"Are you okay?"

"Mmmmhmm."

I ripped my sandwich in half and tried to give him some, but he just shook his head. "Bear, you have to eat."

"I'm not hungry, Annabel."

"Owen-"

"I'm not."

"Did you eat breakfast?"

"No."

"Is your stomach upset?"

"No."

"Are you pregnant?"

"N…Bella."

I just giggled, trying to get him to do the same. Instead he just fished his music player out of his pocket before messing with it.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, Annabel."

"You were fine this morning, when you walked me to class."

"I'm fine now."

"No, you-"

"What do you want me to do? Huh? To prove that I'm fine."

"Owen, don't yell at me."

"I'm n-"

"I'm serious. Cut it out."

His lips formed a tight line then as he stared down at his Ipod, not saying anything else to me. When I tried to speak at any point during lunch, he'd just shake his head like a jerk and not answer me.

"Do you work after school? Owen?"

The bell was going to ring soon when I asked that and he knew it.

"No."

"Then did you-"

"I'm going to see Mallory."

"Okay," I said slowly as he reached over, taking my trash from me before going to throw it away. When he got back, I asked, "Is she-"

"She had to stay overnight last night. Something happened."

He left it at that, so I did too.

"I'll call you," he told me as the bell finally rang. Then, kissing my head, he added, "I love you."

I got that same feeling in my stomach I had gotten every time Owen had said that to me these past few weeks. I had yet to say it back to him, mainly because of his instruction not to do so. He had made it very clear that he would find me repeating those words back to him as a nullification of his words. I wasn't sure when I would be allowed to say it back, but I knew it wasn't yet because he never gave me a chance to say it back.

This was just as true now as Owen pressed a soft kiss to my lips right after his words. When he pulled back, he just smiled at me, finally, and headed off towards his next class.

---

"-asked me who the big guy was that followed me around. Basically called you my stalker. So I told her, hey, that's kind of my boyfriend and then she was all like-"

"Not to interrupt you, Bell, but can you hold on a second?"

"Sure," I said as I heard him talking in the background now, no doubt to his mother. As I waited, I continued to research my history topic. My phone, which was on speaker next to my bed, flashed, telling me I had a text, which was odd, considering Owen was already on the phone with me. Who else would text me?

"I'mma have to call you back, Bella," Owen told me then. "Mom's making me clean the living room. Alright?"

"Yeah, of course," I said as I picked the phone up. "Talk to you then."

"Bye."

After hanging up, I picked up my phone to check out who had sent me a text.

"Kirsten," I sighed, reading over it. Just more garbage about what we were going to do in New York together. She was really excited to see me for some reason though I had yet to figure out what it was. We had never been extremely close or anything, but I guess I should be glad she was so happy to see me.

When I mentioned it to Whitney the other day she just stared at me and told me that after she got out of the hospital, Kirsten always called her and sent her texts about them hanging out. That it made her feel like a better sister after something happened. The I had that awkward moment when Whitney stared at me, waiting for it to sink in that she was referring to Cash.

While waiting for Owen to call me back, I ventured downstairs, not shocked to find that still nobody was home. Now that Whitney had moved out, Mom spent most of her time at her apartment. Dad, of course, took this to mean that he didn't have to be home either and always found friends to watch baseball with or drink beer with. Owen keeps telling me that I'm not alone, but it sure feels like it.

"Okay, so Mom is not in a good mood," Owen told me ten minutes later when he finally called back. At this point I was sitting at the kitchen table, bored out of my mind. "She-"

"Can you come over?"

"Huh?"

"No one's home."

"Are you-"

"I'm bored, Owen. And alone. Please? It's not that late. And my parents won't be home until, like, midnight tonight."

He paused. "Where is everyone?"

After I told him, I added on that he could bring me dinner. He liked bringing things to me after all.

It only took him about twenty minutes to come over, fast food bags in hand. I met him at the door, glad to finally see someone. No one had been at home all day. Mom told me last night that she would be at Whitney's until late, but Dad had just left a note on the counter explaining to me I was on my own for dinner.

"How was Mallory?" I asked him as we went to go sit down on the couch, our food on the coffee table.

"Alright," he told me, glancing around. "It sure gets dark in here after the sun goes down."

"The lights are all off, Bear."

"I'm aware. I just meant you hardly need a light during the day given how light it is because of the-"

"Alright, alright, I know what you meant." Standing, I went in the kitchen for a moment, quickly returning with a soda for him and a water for me. "Why did you have to get burgers?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I just feel like all we ever eat is junk."

"That's 'cause when I'm with you is the only time I don't have to eat vegan garbage." He glanced over at me then, frowning in the darkness. "Where's my ring?"

"I took a shower already," I told him. "I have to take it off then. The tape would get wet."

Still staring at me, he finally said, "I'll get you a chain."

"A chain?"

Nodding, he pulled a thing of fries out of the fast food bag and handed it to me. "To put the ring on. That'd be fine, don't you think?"

"I dunno," I sighed. "I like wearing it."

"You're getting your class ring soon though, right? Did you order one?"

"Yeah," I told him. "Did you?"

Nodding, he said, "Then you can wear my class ring and this one on the chain, huh?"

"I guess I could."

Shrugging, he went back to his food. "I'm not forcing you to, Bell. I'm just offering up solutions."

I let out a slow breath before grabbing the remote. "You wanna watch TV?"

"If you do."

I put it on some mindless reality show and Owen didn't complain. This was probably due to the fact he was focusing all his attention on eat.

"Slow down, Bear," I said, making a face as he shoveled fries down his throat. "What's the rush?"

"I'm just hungry," he told me as he reached out to pick his coke off the table.

"I know you are. You didn't eat today, did you?"

He didn't answer me because we both knew I was right. In the end, I gave him most of my food claiming that my stomach was slightly upset. Owen took this as truth as he did everything I told him. And I guess it was somewhat true. My stomach didn't feel too well. It was more nerves though than anything.

"You wanna go listen to music?" I asked my boyfriend after I threw our trash away. "Or stay down here and watch TV?"

"Must that be asked?"

When we got to my room, I immediately went to work putting on a CD that Owen would like or at least tolerate. While I was doing that, he went over to my bed, glancing at my laptop that was sitting there, my internet open to a page on that stupid history guy I had to look up.

"Hey, Bell?"

"Mmmhmm?"

He sat down on my bed before asking, "How come we don't have any photos of us?"

"We do," I told him. "I mean, I think we do. I'm sure I have some on my phone or something."

"I don't think so. And you don't have that many photos of yourself even on your UMe."

"No one's ever on my UMe, Owen."

"Don't start with that alone crap, Bell."

Going over to him, I closed my laptop and sat it on the ground before moving to get into the bed also. Then it was just the two of us, alone in the house, in complete darkness. Owen was sitting back against my pillows now, watching me as I moved to lay half on him, half on the bed.

"I'm so dead, Bear, if we get caught like this," I told him with a yawn as he settled back on my bed.

"You said they won't be home until midnight, right? It's only," he paused to check my digital clock, "nine thirty. We're fine for now."

I just let out a long sigh, closing my eyes. The weeks had passed slowly since Spring Break. Owen had come home from his father's house, angry with his dad about something. At first he kept it from me, but that only lasted about an hour or so. Then he spilled about how he and his father fought on everything the whole time he was down there. From the subject of his mom to what Owen thought about his dad's new girlfriend that he just sprung upon him when he got there, they didn't see eye to eye on anything.

Of course I had to play the good girlfriend role and listen to him bitch about that for about a week. He was honestly mad every day that week after Spring Break. So mad that I didn't even get to tell him about what I did over break. This was no lost, however, considering I did nothing, but still.

"Don't you fall asleep," I warned him as his eyes drifted shut. "'cause if I fall asleep and you fall asleep, who's going to make sure you're out of here on time?"

"We could always just do something else instead of sleeping in shifts."

"Oh? And what would that be, Bear?"

I'm not sure which of us made the move towards the other first. I think he might have been the one to kiss me, but that didn't really sound right. I didn't kiss him either, really. It was just more of us both getting the timing completely right and managing it so neither of us had to move at all.

"Bear," I mumbled as I pulled back some. I was rather uncomfortable like this, having to push up slightly with my hands to keep myself balanced on his chest.

"What?" Owen was staring at me, clearly just wanting to go back to what we had been doing only seconds before. "Bell?"

"My neck hurts."

He blinked. "Oh."

"Bear..."

"What am I supposed-"

"Shift, silly," I said, moving off him more. "Get over me."

"Oh. Oh," he said as he did as asked, almost falling off the bed in the process. That just made me smile slightly. "One of us is going to have to get a bigger bed."

"Planning on doing a lot of things on our beds, Owen?"

He didn't say anything as I moved under him, into our usual position. Leaning down, he rested his head against mine.

"Will this hurt?"

"W-What?"

He blushed slightly, which was a first for us. "I mean me over you, Bell. Resting against you like this."

My blush was probably worse than his. "No. You're fine."

"This is weird sometimes, huh?"

"Not weird."

"Awkward."

"It's different for you," I told him. "New. New is always awkward."

"It's new for you too, right?" He was staring at me now, his hands on either side of my head, supporting him. "I mean, how many times have you-"

"Why are you always so concerned with what I've done and what I haven't?" I looked away. "You know that you're the first since I've met you. Right?"

"Right."

"And before that was Cash."

"That doesn't count."

I ignored that. "Then there were a few other boyfriends that I've messed around with. I've told you before I've never gone further."

"But when you say fooled around, do you-"

"Owen." I was looking him dead in the eyes now, his green ones staring right back. "Enough."

"I've been nothing, but honest with you."

"And I haven't with you? How much clearer do you want me to be? Hmmm? And why do you care so much? Is this really about us or just about you?"

"What are you-"

"You're really just jealous that you're not getting your fair share, right?"

"I-"

"You just think that I've done all these things with every other boyfriend I've had, but not you. That's the real problem."

He was just staring at me now. "Considering the fact, Annabel, that I have nothing else going on, at all, would I really rush and possibly ruin my one avenue towards that point?"

"What point?"

"Sex."

"So that's what I am then? Your avenue to sex?"

"No," he said slowly. "I'm just rewording what you said. You're acting like I'm only using you for that, so fine. If I were, you'd have to think that if I've waited this long, I could out wait you. It's not like it's going to be coming from someone else any time soon. Huh?"

For a moment we were both quiet. Then, after swallowing, I said, "I think you should leave."

Pushing himself off me, Owen moved to sit a the edge of the bed with his feet hanging off as I moved to curl up on my side, watching.

"I'm not leaving, Annabel. Not when we're in the middle of a fight."

"We're not fighting."

"There's clearly a fight going on."

"Who's fighting?"

"Obviously us!"

"Are you yelling at me again?"

Instead of answering he just let out a very audible sigh, shaking his head slightly. Then, slowly, he pushed himself up.

"Fine, Bell," he said, heading out of the room. "I'll leave. However, I will need your assistance in finding a light switch downstairs so I can find where I left my boots."

"They're right by the door, like always."

He paused in the doorway. "So you're not even going to come downstairs with me?" Silence. "Alright, Bell. That's great. I'm glad that I'm such a great freaking boyfriend to you until it's your turn to be a good girlfriend for me and then you-"

"If having sex with you, Owen, is what will make me a good girlfriend then I don't want to be your girlfriend," I told him as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"That's not what I said!"

"That's what you meant."

"It is not. You know that I hate it when you put words in my mouth."

"Then just leave, Owen. Go. It was a mistake to call you anyways."

I must not have really felt that way because it was only about thirty minutes after he was gone that I repeated that so call mistake. He picked up on the first ring.

"Bear?"

He hadn't said hello, but I could hear his breathing, still heavy. He was angry at me, of course. He might be my docile teddy bear, but he could go from cuddly to grizzly in no time flat.

"Are we fighting now?"

It took a second, but Owen did let out his breath, albeit slowly. Then he said, "No."

Smiling, I cuddled into my bed, letting out a soft giggle. "I wish you had stayed."

"Why?"

"I'm cold now, Bear."

"Are you?"

"Yes."

"Poor Bella." He yawned. "Are you still in bed?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to sleep."

I could tell by how long it was taking him to respond that he was still angry at me. I also knew him well enough to know though that he didn't like rehashing fights. If we both agreed the fight was over, it was over.

"Maybe I should let you go then."

"No," I complained. "I'm not really tired. I just-"

"I have things to do over here too, Bell," he told me, clearly just not wanting to be on the phone with me anymore. Not that I could blame him. "I'll see you tomorrow before school, huh?"

"Yeah," I whispered, trying to let it be known to him with only my tone that I didn't really want to let him go. Owen either didn't pick up on that or didn't care as he hung up then without even saying goodbye. I thought about sending him one of my texts about how I'd see him in the morning and goodnight, but was it really even worth it?

---

"Bella," Owen scolded the second he saw me. "It's freaking raining outside. Where's your jacket?"

I was standing at my locker at that point, trying to open it. "It wasn't raining when I got out of my car. Is it now?"

"Heavily." He shook his head at me as he came to stand next to me. "You're gonna need one after school, aren't you?"

"Will it really rain that long?"

"I dunno. I'm not a weather man."

"Bear."

"If it does though, I happen to have that hoodie in the bottom of my locker for you still."

I glanced at him, taking in the jacket he had on. "What if I want the jacket you're wearing?"

"Then you can take that."

"Mmmm." I finally got my locker opened and went to work on putting stuff in there. "Hey, Bear?"

"What?"

"Are we okay about last-"

"Great."

"Owen-"

"We are. We're fine. Perfect even." Reaching around me, he took my English novel out of my locker. "I need this."

"What do you mean?"

"I left mine at home. I have English in the beginning of the day. You have your class later. It all works out."

Shaking my head, I got what I needed before turning to look at him. "You know that we're picking our schedules for next year soon."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, we need to make sure that we get at least one class together. How tragic would it be if I never got to have my own boyfriend in a class with me?"

"All things considered, not that tragic." He took my hand as we started down the hall. "At the very least, as seniors, we have off periods here, huh?"

"Yeah."

"In Arizona, juniors got an off period too."

"Seriously?"

"I know, right?"

Shaking my head, I said, "We should both get the same off periods so that then we can spend even more time together."

"That's the plan, ain't it?"

Shifting our hands around so our fingers were interlaced, I asked, "Is Mallory home today?"

"Yeah." His face immediately fell back into place, clearly not eager to talk about this. "She is."

In an attempt to not upset him before school, I quickly changed the subject.

"Dad got home super late last night. Mom's pissed."

He glanced down at me. "How late?"

"Four in the morning."

"That's more than late. What was he doing?"

"He says that he fell asleep at his friend's house when they were watching a game that went into overtime."

"Overtime?"

"Well, whatever baseball has."

"Till four in the morning?"

"I know. She's not buying it either."

"Well," Owen began slowly, thinking probably. "I know that if it did go into extra innings, which is what that would be called, Bella, and if it was a game in a different time zone, it could probably go till about two in the morning. Maybe. Then, if he fell asleep before that, then there in lies the problem."

I smiled at him. "I don't really think he was doing anything anyways."

"Me either. If he was, you'd think he'd have a better excuse thought up."

"I was leaning more towards my faith in my father."

"Well, we all have our reasoning." He looked down at our hands this time, probably looking for his ring. When he found it there, he just smiled slightly.

"What are you doing after school?"

"Work," he told me. "Sorry."

"No biggie."

"Maybe you can eat pizza tonight."

"No," I told him. "I've had enough grease for the week."

"Oh, whatever."

"I have. I don't like eating so poorly all the time."

He made a face. "If you really don't want a pizza, that's fine."

"I know it is. What? Were you gonna force me to buy one?"

"Maybe I was planning on bringing you one."

"With pineapples?"

"Who knows? I'm not now."

"That doesn't sound very nice, Bear."

"You said you didn't want one."

"I said I didn't want to buy one. If my boyfriend showed up, after work, with a pizza at my doorstep, I might just let him in and eat a slice or two with him."

"What if he also brings you a 2 liter of soda?"

"What kind of soda?" I looked up at him now, interested to see if he knew what kind of soda I preferred.

"Diet Pepsi. And if not that, then Diet Coke, but only if we don't have Pepsi products. Which we do. So that. Right?"

I just smiled as we got to my class. "Right."

Owen squeezed my hand before letting it go and drifting back into the crowd. Sighing, I headed into my own classroom.

My day went on mostly the same as always until I got to gym. The girls and guys were both playing dodge ball together today considering it was raining outside. We were supposed to be running laps around the track, but this sure beat that.

Needless to say, I was an easy out. Which was fine with me, of course, considering I wasn't that competitive to begin with. While I was waiting in the dead zone over in the bleachers, watching the rest of the game, some guy came over and sat directly next to me.

This wouldn't have been so weird had there not only been, oh, maybe four people out at this point. The whole bleachers were open and he chose to sit next to me. Perhaps I would have felt honored had I not known him and knew he probably wanted something.

"S'up, Annabel."

I glanced at him, taking in his lanky form. When he felt my eyes he tossed his hair back, getting the tangled brown mess out of his eyes. "Hi, James."

He smiled at me then, flashing his teeth. They were pretty rough looking, considering all the drugs he took these days. I had known him since we were kids, but around freshman year, he took a wrong turn or two and now here we were. He had never been unkind to me though, so I really had no reason to distrust him.

"So I was thinking."

"Uh-huh."

"You know how we had Algebra II together last semester?"

"Yeah," I said slowly.

"Well, I'm about to bomb another test. And no one in my class this semester'll help me out."

"Oh."

"Well, I know how kind you are and everything." He glanced back at the court where one of his friends called his name. James just flipped him off before turning his attention back to me. "So I was thinking you could help me out."

"Right now or-"

"Lunch. Can you help me during lunch? Or before school? Or after school?"

"Well," I started slowly, trying to think of a way out of this. I had never really hung out with a guy since I got with Owen. I wasn't sure how he'd react. Still, this was just studying, right? "We can meet in the library today at lunch, if you want. And if you still need help, I guess we can figure something-"

"Great!" He clapped me on the back before jumping up. Some of his friends were out also now so he went to go bother them. Almost there though, he stopped and looked back at me. "I've got C lunch."

I blinked. "Oh, well, I have A, so-"

"Then just after school then, huh? You live in the Arbors, right?"

Oh God. "Yeah, but-"

"Glass house. I remember. Went there before, I think."

He had. Once, back freshman year, Sophie had been messing around with him and we hung out at my place. It seemed so long ago now that I had a hard time believing he honestly remembered that. Especially considering all those drugs…

---

It was still raining by the time lunch rolled around. Since we couldn't eat outside, I wasn't sure where to find Owen, but that turned out to be a non-issue. When it was bad outside, everyone just ate in the cafeteria or library. I figured my best bet to locating him was the cafeteria considering he had disliked the library so much.

"Found you," Owen whispered to me as he sat down at the same table as me. "Checked the library first, since you like it so much there."

"I was going to text you in a second if I couldn't find you," I told him, scooting closer when someone sat down on the other side of me. "I needed to talk to you."

"That's what I'm here for," Owen told me as I slide my sack lunch in front of him to let him have his pick. He was much more agreeable when he wasn't hungry. "What's up?"

I waited until he had opened the baggie of chips to speak. "I have plans after school."

He smiled at that, though it might have been because he ate a particularly good chip. I pretended it was for me though. "That's great, Bell. What are you and Whitney doing?"

It took some effort to not make a face at him for assuming that if I had plans, they had to be with my family. "No, Owen. I have plans with someone from school."

"Clarke?"

"No."

His face had lost its joy at this point. I'm sure my vagueness was concerning him. "Who, Annabel?"

"I'm just helping someone with Algebra after school, at my house."

"Oh." He reached back into my lunch bag, pulling out a pack of cookies. He knew that I brought them for him because I never ate cookies. "Thanks for these, by the way."

I just stared at him. "So you're okay with me having someone over?"

That brought his edge back up. "It's not like it's my house. Why would I care, anyways?"

"Owen-"

"Who is she?"

"It's a guy."

He paused, eating one of the cookies slowly. Swallowing, he said, "Who is it?"

"James Barrs."

He sat there for a second, running through his head who that was no doubt. Then, once he realized, he shook his head. "No."

"What?"

"Annabel," he hissed, glaring at me. "He has, like, a record."

"For possession, Owen."

"Exactly. Why do you need to be alone with a stupid stoner? I mean, a stoner is bad enough, but one that's dumb enough to get caught-"

"Considering I'm dating someone with a record-"

"That's different."

"Yours is for violence. Pot or violence. Hmmm."

"He did not get busted for pot, Annabel. It was a lot more serious than that. You know that."

"I know that it doesn't matter. Right? As long as he listens to reasonable music?"

I got a glare for that. "This isn't funny."

"I'm not trying to be funny." Or, well, since it hadn't gone over well, I wouldn't try to be anymore.

"Why do you need to tutor him? He'll probably just drop out anyways. When did you even talk to him?"

"Why does it matter, Owen?"

"Because it matters to me."

It would have been a totally different story if we were on the wall having this discussion, but we weren't. We were inside, in the cafeteria at a table full of people. Things were hard enough; I didn't need Owen to blow up right now.

"Gym," I told him, sighing as I looked across the table. The girl sitting there was a sophomore and had her phone out, texting. I didn't know her so I turned my vision back to Owen. "When we were both out during dodge ball. He just wants help in Algebra, Bear."

Owen let out a long breath, drumming his fingers on the table. We were just coming off the tails of last night's fight and we both knew it. We were keeping things a lot calmer than usual because of that. Owen didn't like to fight with me. He liked to discuss music and maybe even argue about it, but that's where he drew the line.

"Not today."

"What?"

"Not today," he repeated. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow what?"

"He can come over tomorrow, when I'm off, so I can be there to-"

"No, Owen. God."

"Yes, Annabel. You were asking my permission before, were you not? And these are the rules for him coming over."

"I was not asking your permission." Was I? "I was just telling you that-"

"You can text him and tell him something came up and that you can meet him tomorrow, after school," Owen cut me off as he pulled my bottle of water out of the bag and took a swig. "Alright?"

"No, Owen. I don't even have his number."

"Then I'll find him and explain-"

"No." My tone was harsher now. I did not want Owen embarrassing me. Having my boyfriend fight my battles was bad enough, but letting everyone know that he controlled every faction of my life? "You will not do that."

"Fine. Then you find him and tell him. I don't care."

"You can't tell me what to do, Owen."

He looked at me then, a lot calmer now that he had this all planned out in his head. "Yes, I can. You, however, can choose not to listen to me. That's your decision. I can tell you to do whatever I want, however."

"Owen-"

"How does he know where you live anyways, Annabel? Huh? I mean, God, if you guys don't even have each others numbers-"

"He and Sophie used to hangout. We were all over at my house once and-"

"Sophie? Seriously?" Owen snorted, shaking his head at me. "Where did being alone with guys Sophie knew get you before?"

Oh my God. I couldn't look at him now, instead staring at the girl in front of me. She was busy on her phone, oblivious to my eyes, but I didn't care. I couldn't breath.

"I-I have to go," I told Owen then, slinging my backpack over my shoulder as I stood.

"No. Wait. I didn't-"

I just shook my head at him before turning to walk off. Owen probably would have followed me, in fact I know he would have, had it not been so close to the end of lunch anyways. The bell rang before I was even out of the cafeteria and by then there was no way he could catch me.

---

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Then don't talk." Owen closed my locker for me before holding out his hoodie. "You were supposed to come get this. It's still raining."

I thought about not taking it from him, but then thought better of it. Douche or not, he was right. It was still pouring outside.

"Also," he began as I pulled the hoodie over my head. "I just wanted to say-"

"I don't want to listen to you either."

"Bella, I'm saying sorry here if you would listen."

"I'm not going to listen. What you said-"

"I know. I'm sorry." He was staring at me now with that intense look he always had. His eyes had locked onto mine and I couldn't turn away. "I shouldn't have said that. Heat of the moment. You have full right to be angry with me. Even hit me if you wanted. However, I would not suggest that because-"

"I have to go, Owen."

Still, he just stood in front of me. Of course I could have gone around, but I guess I really didn't want to.

"Just wait a second," he tried. "I'm trying to just explain to you that I'm not doing this to be mean. This whole monitoring the tutoring thing. I'm doing it because I want you to be okay. To be safe. And if it was some other guy, some nice guy, some guy that wasn't a complete asshole, I wouldn't be doing this. I would trust that you weren't home alone and fine. However, he is a jerk. And you are my girlfriend. I have a right to be worried, right?"

"I guess."

"So if you don't want me there, fine. I just want you to know that I'll hardly be able to work thinking about this. Also, I have located his number and have it if you want to-"

"How did you get his number?"

Owen blinked. "I think you're missing the point here."

I let out a long breath. "Owen, my parent's will both be home. Okay?"

"I still want you to-"

"I know you do."

He let out a long breath. "So you're not going to reschedule?"

"No."

I could tell this made him mad, though I'm not sure why he was so certain I would just go along with him after what he had said during lunch.

"He has one chance, Annabel," Owen told me, his voice suddenly darker as he spoke again. He knew he wasn't getting his way and it pissed him off. That was obvious. "One chance."

"Alright."

Leaning down he kissed my cheek, trying to be sweet. Still, I could tell how tense he was, upset over something as silly as a guy coming over to my house.

"From now on though, if these tutoring sessions are going to continue, I'm going to be there."

"Owen-"

"I am. Every single one. Got it?"

It wasn't like I liked his controlling side, because I didn't. At all. However, it was…nice, having someone so concerned with me. My parents always thought that I was fine on my own and none of my fake friends ever really gave a damn these days. Owen always cared though. Very deeply. And I know part of that is rooted in how possessive and obsessive he is, but he can't help it.

And I guess, maybe, after everything with Cash and Sophie that part of me liked being controlled. Not like in a weird, kinky kind of way. It didn't, like, turn me on or something like that. I just felt good, knowing I had someone on my side. Someone that was putting my best interest before theirs.

"Got it," I whispered, looking down now.

"Good." My lips got a kiss this time. "Come on then. I'll walk you to your car."

Owen pulled up my hood before taking a step back and letting me get my stuff. As we walked out of the building, both of us now silent. I was still stuck on how I was just letting him control me with really no reason. Not to mention I was just forgiving him for that Cash dig during lunch. I have no idea what Owen was thinking about, but it must not have been good because he had a very set look on his face, almost a scowl. I figured he was just upset that he didn't get to be there today, when I met with James after school.

"I'll call you after work," Owen told me once we got to my car. It wasn't raining hard at this point, so he still walked me the whole way there. "Alright?"

Nodding, I got into my car, glancing behind me to find that he was still there, waiting for something. "What, Bear?"

He paused before saying, "I'm not wrong about this, Annabel. Am I?"

Instead of answering him, I just closed the door, shaking my head slightly. Owen raised his hand then as the rain picked up some as some sort of wave before heading off in the opposite direction to get to the Land Cruiser.

---

It was simple enough to get James in the house. It was only my father home at that point and he just told me fine. I think when I said I was helping someone with their homework he either assumed it was Owen or that it was a girl. When James came to the door though and I had to walk him through the living room to the kitchen, I could feel my father's eyes on us.

"I can't believe you actually remembered where I lived."

"I have a good memory," James told me as he took a seat at the kitchen table. As he pulled his textbook out of his bag, I instinctively went to get him a soda seeing as that's what I'd do for Owen. This worked out well though, as he just said thank you as I handed it to him before sitting down.

Really, from that point forth, nothing really interesting happened. He had honestly just waned help with his homework. Owen did text me at one point, but I didn't read it. And yeah, Mom also came home eventually with Whitney. They had gone to the store and came into the kitchen to put stuff away. Mom did a double take when she saw that guy at the table wasn't a mountain and instead hardly an anthill. Still, she told him hello and that was that.

Until he left anyways.

"James, huh?"

I narrowed my eyes at Whitney as she went around the kitchen, making dinner. Going to throw his empty soda can away, I said, "That's his name."

"Where's Mr. Honesty tonight?"

It was cute when I said it; it was mean the way she sneered it.

"Working."

"And he knows that you-"

"Yes, Whitney, he does."

As sad as it is, this is probably the most caring Whitney had ever done about my life. Or at least that I've seen. Part of me just figured she had been upset for me when I told everyone about Cash and that party, but I really had no idea.

My mother, who was helping her with dinner preparations, looked up from washing vegetables. "Owen knows that Annabel has other friends, Whitney."

Did he though? Did I have those friends anyway was probably the best question. I have a feeling the answer would be no to both.

After dinner, while I was upstairs getting ready to take a shower, the doorbell rang. It was rather late, around nine, so I assumed it wasn't for me and went ahead and got in the shower. It wasn't until I was out and went downstairs that I found out I had been wrong.

"Your boyfriend brought this for you."

I had walked into the kitchen to find my dad eating my pizza, though he had pulled all of the pineapples off. Blinking, I thought about asking him if maybe, considering it had been a gift to me, that he should have waited until I got down there to eat some, but thought better of it.

"Did he?"

"Soda too," my dad told me. That had been left untouched though, no doubt because it was diet. "He put these nasty pineapples on it though."

"That's the way I like it, Dad. That's why he did that," I sighed as I came over to the counter where the pizza box sat. My father, who was standing over it, eating his own slice, smiled at me.

"The two of you get in a fight or something?"

"Kind of," I whispered as I ate one of the pineapples he had pulled off his pizza.

"Over that other boy?"

"And other things."

"Hn." Dad finished his pizza before clapping me on the shoulder. "Well, next time, tell him to bring two pizzas. That it hurts me as well, to see you hurt, and I need a pizza as an apology too. Sausage, preferably."

When I didn't respond to that, my father looked at me, frowning slightly.

"Annabel, are you alright?"

He was asking this because I couldn't look at him right now. And even though he was so concerned, I know that he didn't want to hear me tearfully explain how angry I was at Owen or how confused I was by his controlling issues. He also didn't want to hear me near tears either. Anything with the word tears in it immediately shut him down. He'd just call Mom in here to deal with it, like usual. And what would she tell me? Nothing, probably, considering Whitney was sleeping over here tonight for some reason. She had more important things to deal with.

"Yes," I told him, looking at him now to ease his mind. It didn't work.

"You'd tell me if he was hurting you, right?"

He felt he had to ask that now. As if one bad time, one stupid party, with one stupid jerk had set me up for life as the one to get raped. Yeah. Great.

"Yes," I told him which finally did the trick.

He took another piece of pizza with him, quickly pulling the pineapples off and setting them down next to me, before heading off back towards the living room. I had no idea if he was watching some sports show or playing videogames, but I knew he felt he had done his job for the night. Taking a slice of pizza and a cup of soda with me up stairs, I went to go work on mine.

"Hello?"

"If you had called or sent a text, I would have known you were coming and not got in the shower."

"Is that how we answer the phone now, Bella? Hmmm?"

I just sat down on the bed with my snack, sighing. Shifting the phone to my other ear, I told him, "Thank you for the pizza."

"Of course."

"And sorry I wasn't downstairs to tell you all about James coming over."

He snorted. "I was bringing the pizza anyways. Like I care about Barrs."

"Hmmm." I shook my head slightly. "Are you at home?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you a goodnight kiss, Bear."

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"Kissing?"

"Calling me Bear in public. That was one of the rules, Annabel."

"You know that you like it, Bear."

"No, I-"

"Mmmm, Bear, this pizza is good."

He paused then. "Really? I made that one. All alone. Just me."

"It's good."

"Thanks."

I smiled slightly even though he'd have no idea. "My dad wants you to bring him a pizza next time."

"Budget only has room for one Greene."

Shaking my head, I told him then, "Whitney's spending the night."

"Why?"

"She wanted my car so she could get back home, but I told her no because I needed it for school the morning."

"I'll pick you up."

"Owen-"

"I will. Just be ready when I get there. Or whatever. When do you want me to pick you up?"

"Owen-"

"Come on, Bell. I'll do it. It's no biggie. Mallory's not going to school tomorrow anyways. It'll just be us."

"I guess so."

"Great. I'll pick us up donuts, so don't eat breakfast."

"And that is in your budget?"

"There's always room for donuts."

After hanging up with Owen, I went to go tell Whitney she could leave, giving her my keys as well. My mother was less than thrilled about this, but I didn't stick around to find out how it all turned out. Instead, I decided to turn in early. I'd have to get up earlier than usual in the morning. You know, to get ready to see Owen so early. Though…I guess I see him in the mornings anyway, so what's another couple of minutes? Though…Hmmm. This was a tough one.

Checking my phone before going to bed, I found one new text from Owen.

Don't forget I'm get you donuts. Donuts is spelled weird. Goodnight.

Shaking my head, I sent him a text telling him goodnight as well before turning in, a smile on my face for the end of the day in contrast to the frown I had halfway through it.