Welcome to the new long story!
Legal stuff: I own nothing but the idea.
Important things to know before reading:
*Owen's parents divorced a few years ago, last year his dad married Daphne Hatzilakos, making her Owen & Tristan's stepmom and Peter their stepbrother. Peter is currently still in Regina.
*Tristan & Maya went to Jr. High together and are already friends, and Tori already moved away.
*Mia's Paris modeling contract is up and they are back in Toronto. Lucas is dating Paige but shares custody of Izzy
*Fitz still works at The Dot
*I change the timeline a little for this
The rest is explained in the story, if not this chapter it will be explained later.
This is pretty long though so get comfy. Okay enjoy!
Ch. 1 It's too Little & too Much at Once
(CLARE)
I close the truck door and the tension is so thick I can hardly breathe, I almost don't put on my seatbelt. Jake begins driving to DeGrassi and I'm already thinking I should have walked to school. I spent most of my summer pining over Jake but when I saw him at the wedding it was mostly uncomfortable. Maybe it was watching his dad marry my mom but when I saw him again it was awkward. Part of me wanted to be with him still, the other part of me was trying to figure out what we were to each other now. When we danced together I didn't feel those same feelings and yet I felt more, it was very confusing and I wasn't ready to talk. Truthfully, I was still mad at him for giving up so easily on us and leaving me at prom.
I spent some of my summer hanging out with Adam, but Katie made it fairly uncomfortable to be at the Torres because she was jealous of Bianca being there. Bianca and I actually got to know each other a little, Drew either wasn't there when I was or Katie was smothering him so I still barely know Drew. I did see Eli some while I was hanging out with Adam, surprisingly it wasn't uncomfortable around Eli at all, he and I were on good terms again.
When I wasn't at Adam's or helping out with the wedding I was either in my room writing or reading, or I was keeping myself busy. I volunteered at our church, worked part time at Mom's office, I even hung out quite a lot with K.C. this summer, a little with Jenna too but Alli was gone at science camp.
Of course, summer culminated with Mom's wedding. When I didn't want to talk to Jake at the wedding he decided to run again. Unbeknownst to me he took Drew, Katie, Marisol and Alli to the cabin, he also invited Eli but he was unable to drive up with them. It wasn't until Bianca called me that I even knew about it and we drove up together. I found Jake and Alli kissing and felt betrayed by both of them! I didn't necessarily want to get back together with Jake but I didn't want to see them kiss either, especially such a romantically passionate one. I couldn't stay there so I ran, definitely the stupidest impulsive thing I'd done to that point. I fell and cut my hand, got lost in dark woods and was very fortunate that Eli found me. I was very grateful that he's the one that found me and not Jake, if Jake had found me I may have kept running. Jake and I still haven't had any sort of relationship talk, in fact we've barely spoken at all. Eli and I however did seem to reconnect at the cabin and I was at least excited to see him at school today, I was beginning to think that Eli and I might get back together.
I have my seatbelt off and my door open before Jake is fully parked at school. I walk in looking for Eli only when I find him he's talking to Imogen, no not talking he seems to be flirting with her and she's flirting back. I knew they'd flirted last year during the play but they never dated, not really and I admit it hurts to see them flirting after feeling a connection with Eli again. Before they see me I turn around to go to my locker, which is on the opposite side of school this year.
"Hey stranger," Adam grins and I smile.
"Hi Adam, how's the arm?"
"Better, physio isn't fun but my PT said I'd get full use of my arm back in a couple of weeks. I'm really happy about that, having only one arm all summer sucked. And I'll be done with physio in two weeks too, another thing I'm happy about."
"That's great, you look better and I saw you just a few days ago."
"Yeah I heard the cabin was pretty exciting," Adam teases with a mocking grin.
"I know, not one of my finest moments. I guess that's the only good thing that did happen at the cabin," I comment nodding to Drew and Bianca. They got back together at the cabin after he broke up with Katie, they are currently leaning on some lockers and smiling giddily at each other.
"Yeah they're both a lot a happier, and I think they're good together but not everyone is happy for them," Adam says. I follow his eyes to see Katie and Marisol glowering at Drew and Bianca from down the hall.
"Let Katie be jealous, honestly I never knew what your brother was doing with her to begin with. So what classes do you have this semester?"
Adam and I compare class schedules and find that we have all our classes together aside from second period. We also have lockers that are across the hall from each other, after making sure our locker combos work we sit in the hall and talk until the bell. I'm smiling until we get to class and I find Alli is also in our homeroom English class.
"Guess you two won't be talking it out anytime soon?" Adam comments when Alli narrows her eyes at me and then turns away in a huff.
"Nope," I reply popping the p and sitting at a desk at the back of the room.
Adam gives me a slightly censuring look before he sits at the desk next to mine. Alli takes a desk in the second row and the far-left side, almost as far from me as she can get in the classroom. Connor comes in a few minutes later, greeting us all and sitting at a desk in the front row. Aside from Alli's presence homeroom English is quite enjoyable. I walk out with Adam and wave to him when we part ways as he goes into the music room, since he has music this period. I have communications technology this period, when I walk into class Dave starts to wave to me before Jenna stops him. I guess Dave and Alli got back together, Jenna glares at me, Dave just looks apologetic and sits down but Wes greets me.
I eat lunch alone with Adam and see Eli eating with Imogen, guess I was the only one that felt that spark again. Thankfully Adam is in both my afternoon classes and neither Alli nor Jenna are in either of them. My first day back at school is a mix of happy, angry, hurt and annoyance. Possibly the worst comes after school when I find Jake and Jenna in the auditorium flirting, first Alli and now Jenna? Is he just moving through my close female friends? Well former friends anyway. I watch them for a moment before turning on my heel and storming out of school.
"Not a pretty sight is it?"
The sudden voice startles me and I jump slightly, my hand instinctually moving to my chest. When I see it's K.C. I let out a breath and shake my head.
"No, almost as bad as seeing him and Alli kissing by the fire at the cabin," I reply.
"Yeah, I heard about that, it's kind of weird to see you and Alli fighting. I'm on my way to Little Miss Steaks for a shift you want to walk with me? Unless you need to get to the DeGrassi Daily office," K.C. remarks.
"I actually should the meeting is supposed to start soon."
"Well I'll walk you there at least," K.C. grins and I smile. He walks me to the DeGrassi Daily office while I give him a condensed version of my side of things.
"Thanks for not taking sides, I know we haven't always been on the best of terms but your friendship means a lot to me K.C.," I tell him when we reach the office.
"Me too," K.C. smiles. I hug him and he turns to leave, I open the door to the newspaper office to hear Katie yelling.
"THIS IS ALL WRONG, EVERYTHING IS WRONG! EVERYONE OUT!"
I turn around and run over to K.C., he heard the yelling too and turned around to see what was going on. I link my arm with K.C.'s and we start walking for the front doors.
"You know I think I just quit the paper," I comment.
"Yeah I didn't think being dumped by Drew would send any girl over the edge like that. If she's that crazy they're not going to let her run student council are they?"
"If she keeps up the crazy I'm pretty sure Simpson will boot her but then Marisol is our president."
"That might not be so bad, she'd probably petition for an on campus beauty salon or something," K.C. says and I laugh.
I walk with K.C. all the way to Little Miss Steaks and then I sit at the bar and do my homework, talking with K.C. when he's not busy. I even get myself dinner so I can avoid another horridly awkward dinner at home. K.C. gets off at eight when his mom picks him up and she gives me a ride home. I thank Lisa for the ride and tell K.C. I'll see him tomorrow when they pull up to my house.
"I'm home," I call as start going up the stairs.
"Clare," Mom calls and I stop on the fourth step to look at her. "Wednesday is Jake's birthday and we're having a special dinner here at the house, you'll be here won't you?" She asks but her tone implies that it was not at all a question and my presence is mandatory.
"Yeah I'll be here," I nod. Then I run into my room so I don't have to see Jake or talk to anyone else.
Tuesday is pretty much the same as Monday, Alli and Jenna both glare at me, Jake flirts with Jenna and I eat alone with Adam. Katie is even more of a crazy-jealous, woman scorned and there are rumors of her being removed from student council. I don't go with K.C. after school I go home and do my homework in my room, and suffer through and awkward and tense family dinner.
The only thing different about Wednesday is it's Jake's birthday, he's turning eighteen and our parents are fawning over him. Mom makes him waffles for breakfast while I take a long time to get ready and then tell them I have to get to school early for the paper, thereby leaving without breakfast. I walk to school and the day is a lot like Tuesday and Monday, cold stares from Alli, frozen out by Jenna, Katie is no longer yelling just acting odd. Eli and Imogen seem to be official, at least I hope that's why they were kissing on the front steps. I walk home right after school and start on my homework but when I hear Jenna's giggle coming up the stairs I tense up. I open my door just in time to see the two of them headed for Jake's room.
"Oh, uh…hey Clare," Jenna says slowly she's not glaring at me this time, "Jake invited me for his birthday dinner."
"Gre-a-t," I respond dragging out the word to three syllables, hitting the t hard with my tongue, and saturating the word with so much sarcasm it makes them both flinch a little. Before either can reply I close and lock the door. "And I thought the awkward and tense birthday dinner I'm forced into tonight couldn't get any worse. As if sitting next to Jake wasn't bad enough now I have to sit with a former friend and watch her and my ex-turned stepbrother flirt," I groan to myself flopping on my bed and screaming into my pillow.
Even with how frustrated and angry I feel I manage to finish my homework before I'm called to dinner. My mom has put me next to Jake and Jenna on the other side of him, the first few minutes of dinner is Glen asking Jenna questions. Dinner becomes especially uncomfortable when Mom says Jenna and I are friends, but none of us bother to correct her. I almost make it through dinner but when Jenna is gushing over Jake's carpentry skills and he's talking about what a good musician she is while they hold hands under the table I can't take anymore.
"Jenna had a baby last year," I blurt out. It was low, it was mean, Jake is now glaring at me and the table is silent. "Sorry I need some air," I excuse myself getting up from the table.
"Clare," Mom calls after me as I run upstairs to get my purse. I ignore her, grab my purse, slip on my shoes and run back downstairs. "Clare where are you going?" Mom asks grabbing my arm at the bottom of the stairs.
"Out," I reply pulling my arm back and going through the door.
I walk down to the bus stop, taking the next bus that comes by which is going to Queen Street. That's just fine with me, I'll get some dessert, peruse the old bookstore maybe discover something new to read. And then maybe, just maybe I can return to the house without wanting to scream whenever I look at Jake, or my mom.
(OWEN)
I was down on Queen Street doing some homework for my nutrition and health class. I stopped at the bookstore because they had a vintage LP section and that was always a goldmine for gifts for Dad. I was a little surprised to see Clare in the shop, although given what little I know about her I probably shouldn't be. She has a cup of coffee in her hand and a scowl on her face but her eyes are full of sadness. She leaves the bookstore without buying anything however she then stops at a street vendor just across the street with a table of used books.
"Rough day?" The young female vendor asks.
"It's been a rough week and it's only Wednesday," Clare responds chuckling a little but it's obvious she's upset.
"Things rough at home?" The vendor inquires.
"Home, school," Clare replies in a melancholy tone.
"I remember what it was like, teen years are tough. If you need a place to hang out or even spend the night my boyfriend and I have a house with plenty of space. We take in a lot of kids that are having hard times."
Clare doesn't seem alarmed by this but for me it sets off major alarms. I can think of a couple dozen ways this could go very badly and decide to step in.
"Ye…" Clare begins but I am quickly by her side. I put my hand on her back and Clare looks at me knitting her eyebrows when she sees it's me.
"Hey Clare, still coming over right?" I state, it wasn't a question and there's no way I'm letting her go with this lady. "We should go we're expected back there," I say taking her arm while Clare is still puzzled.
"Here take my card in case you need a place to stay," the woman says handing Clare her card and Clare takes it.
We walk to my car and I unlock the doors making sure Clare gets in the passenger seat. I get in the driver's seat and take the woman's business card from her tearing it into pieces and tossing it out the window.
"Hey I could have used that," Clare complains as I start the car.
"No way in hell! You don't know that woman and I would think someone as smart as you would know how very badly her offer could turn," I scold her.
"I know," Clare sighs, "but it was nice to think there was somewhere I could go. Actually where are we going?"
"My place," I reply. "If you need a place to stay the night you can stay there, we have a spare room…sort of, it's not being used right now because my stepbrother is away at school. We may not know each other that well but I'm not going to sell you into sexual slavery."
"Okay, okay I get it taking her card was stupid," Clare says throwing up her hands in defeat. We're silent for the rest of the drive but I see her eyes widen when she sees my house. "Whoa, nice house. It's bigger than Adam's and you're only a block from them."
"Yeah makes it easy to hang out at Drew's," I grin as we get out of the car. She follows me as I unlock the door, Tris and Maya are watching TV on the sofa. "This is my brother Tristan and his friend Maya, they were in school together last year and both go to DeGrassi this year," I inform Clare.
"I've seen you both around the DeGrassi halls but I had no idea you were Owen's brother," Clare comments.
"No one does," Tris replies.
"Clare's sleeping in Peter's room, come on I'll show you where it is," I tell her. She suddenly notices the wedding picture on the table behind the sofa and picks it up.
"Peter Stone is your stepbrother?!" She exclaims.
"Yeah, Dad and Daphne married last summer. Peter's cool but he's still in Regina, he took summer term and graduated a couple weeks ago, we all went. He stayed for work," I comment as she puts the picture down. I turn and start walking to the only room on the first floor; technically it's Peter's when he's around, which isn't much.
"Yeah he dated my sister for a while and he was nice to me. I missed him when he moved. I'd heard Miss Hatzilakos got remarried but I didn't realize she married your dad. I guess she's Mrs. Milligan now," I remark.
"Yeah she's cool, got a principal job at York School. She and Dad went out to dinner tonight but you'll see them later," I tell Clare walking her into Peter's/the spare room.
"What's your dad do?" Clare questions glancing around the room before setting her purse on the bed.
"A doctor, works for a big medical firm and does a couple days a month at Toronto Western."
"Cool," she smiles and then looks out to the backyard, "you have a pool?"
"Yeah come on we can go stick our feet in since you don't have a suit, and you can tell me why you even considered spending the night at a stranger's house," I remark and Clare wrinkles her nose at me for the comment. She follows me out to the hall and I grab a couple of towels then we go through the living room to get to the back yard.
"Are you two going swimming?" Tris asks.
"Just going to stick our feet in the water," I reply.
"Have fun, getting dark soon you want some candlelight and some romantic music?" Tris teases and Maya giggles.
"Shut it you two," I snap back while opening the sliding glass door.
I close it behind us, we walk around to the far side of the pool, slipping off our shoes. Clare sits down sticking her feet in the water but I have to take off my socks, take my phone and wallet out of my pockets and roll my jeans up a little before sitting next to her.
"Your brother is…"
"Gay," I finish for her knowing what she's going to say. "Yeah he came out last year."
"If your little brother is gay how could you have thrown Adam into a door?" She questions in a miffed voice.
"I felt really terrible about that, I got carried away trying to defend a friend. I don't always think before acting, especially when it comes to the people I care about. Believe it or not I used to be a lot worse, probably at my worst when Mom left us and then Tris came out. After Dad married Daphne and I started hanging out with Peter when he was around I calmed down a little, they've been good influences on me. But I'm guessing the marriage between your mom and Jake's dad has not been so good?"
"My mom is happier, and I'm happy for her, Glen is a good guy. It's just they dated for such a short time and so soon after the divorce proceedings even began. And it doesn't help that it wasn't until I saw the divorce papers that I learned that my dad had been cheating on my mom. Eli, and Adam, but mostly Eli had been my rock and my strength in the midst of the divorce but then…"
"He went nuts and crashed his car for you," I say when her sentence trails off.
"Yeah, after Eli Jake and I heated up pretty quick, a part of me loved him so when he dumped me so fast at prom I felt so betrayed. It felt like what we had meant nothing, not that we probably would have kept dating but he ran away. I think if he'd stayed here over the summer, helped with the wedding and we'd had a little time to live together and really become more like siblings we would have broken up amicably, but now we'll never know. He ran and we didn't talk and when we were together again for the wedding it was incredibly awkward and tense. Then he ran back to the cabin after the wedding where I caught him and Alli kissing, I felt betrayed by both of them. I actually thought Eli and I might get back together but he's with Imogen. And as if kissing Alli wasn't bad enough, and she and I are no longer on speaking terms because of it, Jake is now flirting with Jenna. She even came to his birthday dinner tonight, it just feels like he's throwing it in my face and living with him was awkward enough. I just needed to get out. On the bus ride downtown I even considered calling my dad to see if I could live with him, but I've barely heard from him and he's living with his girlfriend whom I have no interest in meeting. I'm feuding with Alli so can't escape there. I could escape to Adam's I suppose but I doubt Audra would let me sleep over so I don't really have anywhere to go," she says leaning back on her hands.
"Sure, you do, you're welcome here anytime you need to get away," I tell her and Clare smiles. With this thought she seems to relax a little more and become more at ease.
"You know Jake kept wanting to talk at the wedding and I didn't want to, not at the wedding. The way he kissed Alli at the cabin and moved so quickly to Jenna I feel like he was going to tell me I never meant anything to him. He and Jenna seem so sickeningly happy together and he seems to have forgotten we were getting pretty hot until our breakup. It's just so…so…"
Clare can't seem to find the right word to describe her feelings but then she does something that takes me totally by surprise. She sits up, grips my shirt and crushes her lips to mine! She's kissing me hard and passionately, after about a tenth of a second of shock I respond and my lips part. I comb my fingers into her hair resting my palm at the back of her head, her lips begin to part. The kiss is getting so steamy I'm beginning to think we might heat up the pool water when Clare suddenly pulls away with a gasp.
"I'm sorry I swear I'm not a crazy girl that just kisses nice guys out of revenge," Clare apologizes although I have no idea why.
"That's okay I'm pretty sure I'm attracted to the crazy ones, and I've never been called a nice guy before."
"You kept me from staying at potentially dangerous stranger's house, brought me to your house and have invited me to stay or escape here any time I need to. I call that nice especially since before this I don't think we'd actually spoken. I got to know Fitz fairly well between our date and him showing up at my house and just talking with him at The Dot. I even got to know Bianca pretty well during our two hour long drive to the cabin together and a little over the summer, but I'm pretty sure you and I have never spoken."
"Well I wasn't invited to the cabin and I've never blackmailed you into a date but if I knew you kissed like that I would have talked to you a lot sooner," I remark.
She bites her lip shyly and glowers at me all at once and then she pushes me into the pool! I'm sure I'm stronger than her but I wasn't expecting it and she manages to push me in before I can catch myself. I come up and she's laughing hard, I growl and grab her hand tugging her into the pool with me, if I'm going for a dip fully clothed then so is she! Clare screams and falls in the pool splashing me as she does and when she doesn't go under the water like I did I push her down.
"Owen," she shrieks splashing me again when she comes up so I splash her back. We spend the next few minutes splashing each other but it's getting cold and the pool is cold and now we've soaked our clothes.
"We should warm up in the hot tub before going in," I tell Clare getting out of the pool. I take the cover off the hot tub, strip down to my boxers and get in the warm water. When I look at Clare her cheeks are red, I'm assuming because I stripped down to my boxers. "If you stay in the pool you're going to freeze, come on I'll even close my eyes," I prod Clare.
She finally gets out of the pool and I can't help but look at her clothes clinging to her. Clare looks away and takes off her wet skirt but leaves the rest of her clothes on and gets in the hot tub. She had been shivering in the cooling night air but she stops when she sinks into the hot water. As the warm water begins to soothe her she leans back and I turn on the jets. We sit in the hot tub mostly in silence but talk a little about Peter and she asks a few questions about Tris. Considering how wet we are, including our clothes, I don't think that the two towels we brought out are enough and I don't want to go through the house with dripping wet clothes.
"TRIS," I bellow as loud as I can, Clare jumps and covers her ears. Tris comes out with Maya a moment later.
"What?"
"Grab us some more towels, my robe, a hoodie and two pairs of my sweats so we can change and get dry before going inside."
"Maybe you should have changed into swimsuits before getting in the hot tub," Tris shoots back sardonically before he and Maya go back inside.
Once they have everything I asked for they return putting it all on one of the pool chairs. We get out and I grab the original towels we brought out handing one to Clare, we begin drying off but we need to change out of these wet clothes. We don't have a cabana or anything and we'd have to walk through the side yard full of dirt or through the house to get to the garage or a washroom. So I grab a pair of sweats and my robe, then I go over to a corner of the yard where we'll be out of view of neighbors and most of the house.
"Hold up the towel so I can change will you?" I request of Clare and she looks at me like I'm crazy. "Come on, we're only visible from one window here and I don't want my brother and Maya to decide to look outside."
She sighs a little but takes one of the bigger towels holding it up so it covers most of me. She then turns her head and closes her eyes to be sure she can't see anything. I get my wet boxers off and put the robe on before getting on the pair of sweats, now I'm pretty much dry and definitely warmer and I know Clare needs to change.
"Come on I'll hold it up for you, go get the other clothes," I tell her. She gives me a slightly incredulous look and puts her hand on her hip.
"Not a chance," she shakes her head.
"It's freezing out here and you can't go into the house with wet clothes, and this towel isn't going to hold itself up."
"Fine but you'd better not peek," she states.
"You can trust me," I assure her smirking just a bit.
She twists her face at me but she gets the other clothes and stands behind the towel. I hold it up so she's not visible and I clothes my eyes. I try to be good I really do but it's just too tempting and I sneak a peek, catching her just as she's bending over to get the sweats on. What a sight my eyes drink in, a sight I'm sure will dance in my dreams tonight. I close my eyes again before she catches me and when she's got the hoodie on she tugs the towel so I know she's done. Even though they swallow her I think she looks pretty good in my hoodie and sweats. We go retrieve our wet clothes and wrap them in the towels, she then follows me through the house to the laundry room, which is just off the kitchen, and I put our wet clothes and the towels in the washer. Just as we come out of the laundry room Dad and Daphne get home.
"Clare," Daphne says a little surprised.
"Yeah she's staying over, she's having a rough time at home," I tell them. "Clare this is my Dad Mitch."
"It's nice to meet you Sir," she smiles.
"It's good to see you again Clare, how's your sister? Peter dated Clare's sister Darcy, I first met Clare when Peter and I had dinner with their family," Daphne explains
"Darcy's fine, still in Africa," Clare replies.
"Yeah I heard about that from Peter. I also hear you're one of the brightest students at DeGrassi," Daphne says and Clare blushes.
"Sounds right to me," I chime in.
"Well we both need to get up early so we're going to head to bed. It was nice to meet you Clare," Dad says. Clare says it was nice to meet him too and to see Daphne again, Tris and Maya say goodnight.
"You hungry?" I ask Clare as my parents go upstairs.
"Yeah a little, I'd better text my mom that I'm sleeping here, well I'll say I'm sleeping at a friend's house," Clare comments going back to the room to get her purse.
She returns a few moments later and we get a snack, Tris and Maya are in his room now so we sit on the sofa and watch TV for a while. I find a new toothbrush in the washroom I share with Tris and give that to Clare, there's a washroom across from Peter's room for Clare to use. I make sure she knows where my room is in case she needs anything before saying good night. Just as I thought I would I dream of naked Clare all night long.
(CLARE)
I sleep wonderfully, peacefully it's the best night's sleep I've gotten in a long time and it's not just because the bed in Peter's room is very comfortable. I wake up refreshed, I almost feel like a new Clare, Jake is far from my mind and I'm not worried about facing Jenna and Alli or seeing Eli. After using the washroom, running my fingers through my hair and changing back into my clean clothes, that Owen washed last night, I go out to the kitchen where Owen is already at the table eating.
"Guess we should run you home so you can get ready. Why don't you eat some breakfast and we'll stop at your place on the way to school so you can change and everything. Then you won't have to go to school with Jake," Owen offers.
"That would be good thanks," I smile.
I get some cereal, Tris and Maya come down and after we've all finished we get in Owen's car and I tell him how to get my house. Everyone else has already left, I change quickly and get ready in record time getting back in Owen's car. We manage to make it a couple minutes before the bell but I don't have time to go to my locker, Adam does see me walk in with Owen however. He gives me a look as we walk into the foyer and I stop walking to talk to Owen.
"Thanks for everything Owen," I say with a grin and looking up into his dark blue eyes.
"Trust me I think I should be thanking you," Owen says with a bit of a smirk. I think he's referring to our kiss and I giggle.
"Okay what was that about? You two looked awfully intimate and yet I'm pretty sure the two of you have never even looked at each other before," Adam comments linking his arm with mine as we begin walking to class.
"Yeah well Jake invited Jenna to his birthday dinner and I sort of blurted out she had a baby last year. I felt bad about it right away but I couldn't be there anymore so I went downtown. I met a woman selling books and she said her and her boyfriend let kids stay at their house when they have nowhere to go. I didn't want to go home and was ready to go with her w…"
"YOU WHAT?!" Adam yells and stops us from walking.
"I didn't go with her Adam, I almost did but Owen stopped me. I went to his house instead and stayed the night there," I assure him.
"Thank goodness he stopped you. I can't believe you even considered staying at some stranger's house. If you needed somewhere to stay you know you could have come to my place," Adam says as we begin walking again.
"Well I can't go to my dad's or Alli's and home is uncomfortable. I know I can come hang out at your place but your mom would never let me sleep over. Anyway, I don't really know Drew, for all the times I've been to your house Drew and I barely say hi," I comment.
"Right because you know Owen so much better than my brother," Adam shoots back lacing his words with sarcasm.
"Well I got to know Owen pretty well when I kissed him last night," I remark just as we get to class and I leave Adam stunned.
"You kissed him?" Adam whispers sitting at his desk next to mine.
"Yeah spur of the moment, it was nice though and then we went swimming with clothes on and warmed up in his hot tub with less clothes on," I reply grinning as I remember everything from last night.
"You did have some clothes on right?" Adam questions but he doesn't keep his voice down and other kids hear him.
"Yes Adam," I assure him just as Miss Dawes calls us to attention and begins class. When class lets out Adam and I linger behind to let Alli go out first.
"So you kissed him and went swimming, warmed up in his hot tub partially dressed, is there anything else you left out?" Adam inquires as we leave class.
"Nope we watched some TV that was it. Nothing happened Adam."
"Nothing happened? You did more last night than I've ever done," Adam quips back and I shake my head.
"I'll see you at lunch Adam," I laugh.
Jenna gives me a dirty look when I come into class but I ignore her. Class seems to drag on but that could just be the fact that I'm not very interested in the subject today. Or it could be that I keep thinking about my time with Owen last night. When the lunch bell finally rings I leave to go find Adam but Jake finds me first.
"Where were you last night?" Jake questions.
"What does it matter to you?" I snap back crossing my arms.
Jake's eyebrows point down and the corners of his mouth turn down in annoyance, "Clare!"
"I was somewhere safe okay?"
"Fine," Jake sighs, "I invited Jenna to come over after school again."
"Fine, it's your house too you can invite over whomever you want," I spit out and walk away quickly. Now instead of searching for Adam I go on the search for Owen. I find him at his locker with Drew, I don't even care that Drew is with him I walk over and Owen looks at me. "Is it okay if I sleep over again?" I ask Owen and watch as Drew's eyes pop out and his mouth drops open.
"Definitely, I have football practice after school but you can take the bus with Tris. You gonna bring a suit for the hot tub this time or we taking a dip in our clothes again?" Owen teases and it makes me smile.
"I'll see you after football," I reply. I leave before Drew recovers to speak, I go to my locker to stash my books and find Adam at his locker. "You're on your own for lunch I'm going home for a change of clothes and some necessities. Jake is having Jenna over again so I'm sleeping at Owen's again."
"I'll go with you and you can tell me all about last night," Adam responds.
"I already have Adam, but you're welcome to come with me I wouldn't mind the company," I tell him closing my locker.
"Let's go," Adam grins putting his arm around my shoulders and I smile. We make the short walk to my house and I do give Adam more details about last night.
"You know you're still welcome at my house any time," Adam comments as I unlock my front door. We go up to my room and I start grabbing clothes for tomorrow.
"I know but I still doubt your mom will let me stay over."
"Yeah probably not. I don't know Owen that well but he did apologize to me for the door, and to Drew for the flag pole. He and Drew are good friends now and Owen seems like a pretty good guy. Anya was crazy about him," Adam comments as I get pajamas into my backpack so I'm not sleeping in Owen's hoodie again.
"Yeah last year, they were cute together," I nod but feel a small pit in my stomach. I shake it off and grab my swimsuit putting that in my backpack.
"Planning to kiss him in the hot tub again?" Adam questions.
"Just in case we do go in the hot tub or the pool, it's better than my under garments and blouse. Come on let's get back to school we can stop at The Dot for a quick bite, my treat since you came with me," I tell Adam zipping up my backpack.
Adam grins and we go downstairs, I lock up and we start walking to The Dot to get some lunch before returning to school.
Update soon picking up with Owen's pov and including that night at his house. Next to be updated is Swirling Storm Inside.