Lunch Date

"So, where's the boyfriend?"

I frowned, staring at my sister. "Uh…what?"

"Your boyfriend. Owen. Where is he?"

"…Like what? You think he's hiding in my closet or something?"

"For your sake, I hope not."

Here I was, standing in my bedroom with my older sister. She'd just gotten in, coming home to spend the first two days of spring break with us, as was the rule of our father. If he was paying for your schooling, you had to come home at breaks for some amount of time.

When we got home, Whitney had sealed herself off in her bedroom, her and Kirsten fighting over something. My parents were also having a cold war at the moment, both angry at the other about Whitney. She wanted to move out and my father supported it wholly. Of course, that put him and my mother at odds.

So, in short, Kirsten had no one to bother other than me. Can't say I don't have luck, can ya?

"He's working today," I told my sister.

"Well damn it. I planned on meeting him."

"You have met him. Over Christmas break. Remember?"

"You guys were hardly dating then. That doesn't count." She held her head high, looking around my room. "Well, apparently you're hardly dating now."

"Why do you say that?"

"Where's a photo of the two of you? Or something?"

"We're not like that."

"Not like what?"

I shrugged, going to sit on the edge of my bed. "Like…all cutesy or whatever. We're together, yeah, but we just go to concerts and stuff. And god, Kirsten, he just got off being grounded for hitting Will."

"Well, he's not grounded now, right?"

"Right."

"So let's go out."

"Out?"

"You, me, and him. And Whitney too if she ever gets around to taking that pole out of her ass."

"Kirsten."

"It's only natural that Whitney and I would get to meet him and pass judgment, Annabel. You're our little sister. And he's such a…imposing figure. I'd like to know who you're with all the time."

"Not all the time."

"Most the time."

I sighed, staring at her. "How come I didn't get to pass judgment on your boyfriend? Or any of your boyfriends?"

"Because, Annabel, you're the baby. I've been having boyfriends since you were still riding a tricycle."

This was true.

"Still. I like Owen. I don't really care if you like him or not."

"The day your opinion matters on the subject, I'll inform you." With that, she turned to leave my room, no doubt headed to her own. "Call your boyfriend. Tomorrow, we're going out to lunch."

"Kirsten-"

"Around one, alright?" She closed the door behind her leaving me to just let out a long groan.

It wasn't so much the thought of going to lunch with Owen. I would love that. Or even going with Owen and Whitney. That would be great too. They got along well. The thought of the two of them, me, and Kirsten though? I'd rather get my finger nails pulled off, one by one. …You know, if I hadn't gotten a manicure recently. Which I had, so I was safe. For now.

"I still don't see why we couldn't eat at World of Waffles."

"Owen, not now," I grumbled to him as I unbuckled my seat belt. I could see through the window of the restaurant that my two sisters were already seated. "Just go in here, be nice to them, and then we can go back to your house and hangout."

"Yeah, yeah." He glanced over at me. "Do I look nice?"

"It's not my parents, Owen. It doesn't matter."

"She's judging me," he pointed out. "What makes you think she won't judge what I'm wearing?"

"Good point," I said, looking him over. "But we're here now and there's nothing we can do about what you're wearing. As for how you look, well, your parents genetics are something beyond my control."

"Funny," he said dryly. I just leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"You look fine," I said, opening the door. "Now get out of the car. It's lunch time."

"I am hungry."

"Aren't you always?"

"If these jokes keep up, I might be tempted to go in there, be a jerk to your sister, and have her have you break up with me."

"Jokes on you, Owen," I called over my shoulder. "The whole point of this was to let you down easy."

He rushed after me, pressing a kiss on the back of my neck before moving to open the door for me. I gave him one last smile, knowing he had no idea what kind of a storm he was about to walk into.

"Late," was the first thing Kirsten said to me once we sat down.

"Hardly. He had to get off work, you know," I said as we took our seats, Owen and I on one side of the booth, my sisters on the other. Whitney just stared at us, already looking annoyed just from the thought of having to go through with this lunch. I felt for her, I did, but I was already on defensive mode. I wasn't going to be taking any prisoners.

"You deliver pizzas, right?" Kirsten was still looking at a menu. You know, seeing as she's been here for so freaking long and we were so freaking late, I'm shocked. No, really.

"You know that," I said as Owen occupied himself with the menu. Owen was a creature of habit. We'd eaten here before a few times and he always ate the same thing. He would of course get it, but needed to seem preoccupied to keep my sister off his back.

"I'm talking to Owen, Annabel," she said, sending me a look. "Not you."

I just rolled my eyes while Owen smiled at her.

"Yeah, I do," he said, nodding slightly. "Where do you work?"

"Ouch," Whitney muttered under her breath while Kirsten frowned.

"I don't," she said though she quickly changed the subject.

"Oh." Owen smiled at me, but I just looked away. "Annabel says that you do a lot of film stuff, right? That's what you want to major in?"

"Right," she said slowly, clearly not liking the one being questioned.

"That's cool and everything, but I was wondering about your musical-"

"Not today, Owen," I whispered, laying a hand on his thigh.

"But she needs to learn how to put together a good musical score." He was staring at her now, hardly even noticing my hand on his thigh. The only thing that interested him more than me was music. Used to this I just rolled my eyes. "Especially if you're into silent films. Are you? They're a highly underrated genre by today's population. It's a dying breed, really already dead, but I could see it making a comeback. I mean, look at-"

"Here's the waiter," Whitney said as the man made his approach. She actually sounded excited for once. Given this saved us from listening to Owen rave, I was inclined to agree.

It wasn't until we had our drinks though that Kirsten attempted to interrogate him again. At that point I was welcoming something to keep the silent film topic from coming up again.

"So, Owen, how many girlfriends have you had?"

"Kirsten," I complained.

"Just Annabel," Owen said, taking a sip of his coke. "How many boyfriends have you had?"

"Real cute," she told him dryly. "Question me back."

"That many huh?"

"Owen." I elbowed him, frowning. "God."

"She's the one that's being rude," he said, taking another sip of his coke. "What am I supposed to do? Not answer her questions?"

Whitney snickered which got her elbowed as well, though it was from Kirsten. Then, huffing, my oldest sister began again.

"Anyways, Owen, how many girls have you had sex with?"

"Kirsten," I hissed. "That was way out of- Hey!"

"Oops," she said with a slight shrug. "It slipped."

I just stared at her. She had literally tossed her cup of water on me. No joke. None of it landed on the table though, of course not, but all over my shirt. Owen frowned, picking up a napkin and moving to blot at my shirt. I wanted to snap at him, as that obviously wasn't the best plan of attack, but I held back.

"I have a hoodie in the Land Cruiser," Owen offered. "Come on, let's go-"

"There's a shirt in the car," Kirsten interrupted. "Whitney? Why don't you go with her to get it?"

My sister sighed audibly. "Come on, Annabel."

I glared at Kirsten. "You-"

"Hurry before the food gets back, huh?"

I was able to contain myself as I stood up, heading out of the restaurant with my sister. When I got to the car though, I unloaded.

"She planned that, didn't she?"

Whitney sighed as she opened the trunk of my car. I was letting Kirsten use it while she was here since I was so nice and everything. Next time she's in town though, she can take the freaking bus, I swear.

"Well…she didn't say it would go down like that exactly, but she did want to get Owen alone." She handed me a shirt before gesturing for me to get in the backseat to change. "Sorry. You know how she is."

"I just don't get why she cares so much."

"It's something for her to do, you know? Get invested in your relationship? Makes her feel like a good sister or whatever." She shook her head at me. "She just feels like she misses a lot, being away now."

"Still. That doesn't mean she can be rude to my boyfriend. Or throw water on me for that matter."

"Yeah, I know." Shrugging, she added, "But she's Kirsten. What are you going to do?"

"What is your problem?" Owen asked, frowning as he used a napkin to mop up what had spilled on the table. "I mean, Annabel said you were high maintenance, but-"

"She called me that?"

"Yes. And I have to say I agree. I mean, God, who throws a drink on someone?" Owen shook his head at her. "And why? So that you could ask me questions, right? Without Annabel?"

Kirsten didn't answer, too hung up on the whole high maintenance thing. In what way was she high maintenance? She was in denial hard.

"Then ask," Owen said. "Don't make you being so rude to her count for nothing."

Swallowing back the anger she was feeling towards her sister about the name calling, Kirsten held her head high and stared him in the eyes.

"Are you and my sister having sex?"

Owen didn't even have to think about it. Really. Kirsten was sure it was a lie. "No."

"Oh, whatever."

"Whatever what?"

"You're completely lying to me."

"I don't lie."

"Well, that's a lie right there. Everyone lies."

"I don't," he said simply.

"You just don't lie?"

"Right."

"Yeah, sure. What? Annabel really believes that?"

"It's not like I'm lying, so yes."

"You're really full of it, aren't you?"

He just stared at her. "Why don't you like me?"

That one caught her off guard. "Huh?"

"Why don't you like me?"

"I don't know you."

"I know. That's why I don't understand why you don't like me."

She gave him a look. "In what way do I act like I don't like you?"

"When I first met you, you asked Annabel why she was with me. When she told you that we were just friends, 'cause were back then, mostly, you told her that she could do better, that I wasn't wroth her time."

Kirsten frowned, thinking back to that day after the trial that Owen went to lunch with her family. "You heard that?"

"You weren't exactly whispering it. Besides, Annabel would have told me about it later anyways."

"Because you're just so honest with each other."

He missed the sarcasm. "Right."

"I said that, sure, but so what? Who cares? I don't think my sister should be with you." She looked him straight on. "At all. You belong with someone else, someone that's not related to me. Or better yet, take Whitney. I don't care. I just really wish you'd leave Annabel alone."

"I respect you for that," he told her. "That you're actually being honest instead of just passive aggressive. I don't know why you thought you couldn't just come out and say that though."

She just stared at him for a moment. "I don't think that Annabel's ready for a boyfriend. I think she's still healing."

"From something that happened almost a year ago? Doubt it. Besides, what do you know?" He didn't say it in a mean way although it did come off as slightly snarky. "She tells me everything. She just tells you whatever you want to hear."

Her stare turned into a glare. "Look, boy-"

"I'm not your boy. But I am your sister's boyfriend. And you can either respect that, get over that, or just learn to deal with it. I really don't care. It's none of your business though. Got it?"

"Annabel was my sister way before you were even thought of," Kirsten told him, icy now that he had taken such a tone with her. "If either of us has to bow down here, it's you.'

"I don't bow down to anyone. Ever." He seemed bored now, taking to playing with the paper his straw had been inside. Really, Owen just wanted his girlfriend to come back. "Not to mention, Kirsten, there is no bowing down to you. You just want me out of Annabel's life. Kind of selfish, isn't it? Especially considering you never are home. Ever. Except on, like, vacation. So maybe you should take it down a notch, huh?"

There was so much more that Kirsten wanted to say, but she could see her sisters coming back and knew better than to challenge him in front of Annabel. Kirsten herself had had plenty of unworthy boyfriends and knew from experience that there was no telling a girl that. She'd defend him to the end. Hopefully though, Owen's end would be near.

"You okay?"

"Mmmhmm." I slid into the booth next to my boyfriend, my eyes leveled at my oldest sister. "That was really crappy, Kirsten."

"What are you talking about?" She picked up her phone and waved it at Whitney, unsuccessfully signaling that they were going to start texting one another. Whitney looked less than thrilled, but then again she never seemed all that pleased by anything. Ever.

"I'm so telling Dad that you poured water on me."

"It was an accident."

"I'm still telling."

"You're such a baby. You always go to him crying." She looked to our other sister. "Doesn't she, Whitney?"

"I'm not in this," Whitney said while Owen just groaned.

"Can't we talk about something else?" Owen glanced at me. "Like that band that we're going to-"

"No."

He frowned at my sister. "Cutting someone off is rather rude."

"And telling us what we're talking about is boring's not rude?"

"It's honest. It's boring to hear you two bicker."

"Owen," I hissed, frowning at him. "Don't fight with her."

"I'm not," he told me, shrugging. "I'm just telling her what I think."

"Well, knock it off."

Owen took a deep breath, but didn't get a chance to speak when the waiter suddenly came back with our food. I took this as a good sign. With food to distract him, there was little chance of him focusing much on my older sister.

"Enough ketchup, Owen?" Kirsten tsked moments later when my boyfriend covered his whole meal in it.

"You want some?" He didn't even look up at her, instead just passing the bottle off to me before cutting into his chicken fried steak.

"Chill," I told him, but he just got busy eating. Food and music were the only things that fueled Owen Armstrong.

"So where's Brian, Kirsten?" I asked. He hadn't been mentioned since she showed up and I hadn't brought him up for fear that something had gone wrong with the two of them. For Kirsten not to be bubbling about her relationship, something must be wrong. Still, if she was meddling in my relationship, I had full right to mess in hers.

"What do you mean where is he? It's spring break. He's partying somewhere."

Whitney made a noise at that making Kirsten frown.

"What?" She looked at our middle sister.

"I'm just thinking that if I had a boyfriend and I had to go home for break, he'd either be going home as well or coming with me, not going to party somewhere all alone."

"Considering you have no boyfriend, I don't think you should talk," she snapped at Whitney.

"By next week, I'm not sure you will."

"Whitney-"

"What do you think, Annabel?" Whitney smiled at me, but it was hollow, as most of her gestures were. "Huh? What if Owen went away without you?"

I glanced at him, but he just kept eating. Typical. "Well…I wouldn't care. I trust him completely Besides, it's not like Kirsten and Brian are married. You're just dating, right? You can't tell him what to do."

"Exactly," Kirsten said, though she clearly had lost some of her bravado. I think there really was something going on that she just didn't want tot ell us. They were probably fighting or something.

"Trust is important," Owen said randomly, looking up only to take a sip of his soda. "But so is honesty."

Kirsten groaned. "Is that all you talk about?"

He shrugged slightly. "We can always talk about mus-"

"Where exactly is Brian, Kirsten?" I asked. Owen frowned, never liking for me to talk over him, but he let it go without saying anything. "For the week?"

"Mexico. We're meeting up in Miami on Thursday."

Owen glanced at me before down at my plate, making a silent plea. When I nodded, he started eating my fries.

"Hundred mile rule," Whitney cited which only made our sister glare at her.

"Knock it off. Now."

Whitney just smiled at her. "You were the one that wanted to talk about boyfriends. Did you think that we would only talk about Owen?"

Kirsten just glared at her, clearly not amused by Whitney taking my side. I wasn't full sure she was though, on my side that is. I think she was just against Kirsten and that just came off as if she was with me. Just like old times…

"You know, Whitney, are you sure you should be eating all of that?"

My middle sister was in mid-bite of her salad. She just stared at Kirsten. "What do you mean?"

"Kirsten-" I tried, but I would always be their baby sister. I was nothing in their fights. At all.

"Just a lot of calories in that salad dressing. And that chicken breast?" She whistled. "Though I guess it's a good thing. Last time I saw you, you were still sick, you know? Now you're healthy. And I'm glad. So healthy. Hearty. Thick. You've got meat on your b- Oh, Whitney, where are you go-"

"Home," I told Kirsten, watching my sister storm out of the restaurant. "She's going home, I'm sure."

"Well crap," Kirsten hissed, jumping up. Then she looked at Owen and I. "I've got to go. Bye. See you at home, Annabel."

Not ten seconds after she was gone, Owen reached over the table, moving to grab Kirsten's plate.

"Owen," I complained.

"I'm footing the bill, ain't it?" He got the chicken off Whitney's plate too. "Won't eat it all. I'll take some of it in a to go box. You know how dinners are at my place, all vegan and stuff. Ew. Besides, they hardly touched their food. You can have that salad though. Ew."

I watched him eat, no longer hungry. I was still hung up on my sister's fighting.

"Would you have even if they stayed?"

He frowned when I spoke a few minutes later. "Huh?"

"Would you still have paid even if they stayed?"

"Well, duh." He reached his hand out, clasping it behind my neck. This was new for us and it made me tense up momentarily. Owen kept it there though, smiling at me. "I took my girlfriend and her sisters out to lunch. How could I not pay?"

"So if I offered to pay half-"

"I'd tell you heck no."

"Well, you are the one with a job," I added, shrugging my shoulders as he finally released my neck.

"I am," he agreed, laughing slightly. "For what it's worth."

"What did you and Kirsten talk about?"

It was his turn to shrug. "Just about how she doesn't like me 'cause I'm not as hot as you or something."

"She said that?"

"Your sister's very cold," Owen said, going back to his lunch. "To me at least. It's okay though. At least she has good choice in food."

"Did you not eat breakfast today?"

"Nope."

"That's not good." I ran a hand down his arm. "And Kirsten will warm up to you, okay? She's just, you know, thinks that I'm dating you because….well…I don't know. She just thinks that I shouldn't be."

"That's okay," he told me. "'cause I'm here and she's not. You're with me. You like me. She can just get over it."

"Yeah," I sighed, leaning against him. "She can."

"-say something like that. God, Kirsten, you know that she's just getting over-"

"She was insinuating that Brian was sleeping around on me!"

"And?"

I closed the front door softly behind me, hearing my mother and oldest sister having it out in the kitchen. Dad was in the living room, watching television when I came in. He just smiled at me.

"How was lunch?"

I blinked. "Did you lose your hearing?"

He waved me off. "Kirsten and Whitney can't go anywhere without fighting. Kirsten shouldn't have done that, but Whitney shouldn't have done what she did."

Coming closer to him, I took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. "Lunch was okay. After they left anyways."

"Owen was good?"

"Yeah."

"Heard your sisters ditched without paying."

"He said he'd pay for them anyways."

Dad snorted. "Trying to get in good, is he?"

"I don't think it worked. Kirsten was pretty horrible to him."

"Intolerable, eh?" He shook his head, looking away from the television to smile at me. "You're the baby, Annabel."

"I know," I said, looking off. He just smiled, patting my leg. "He's not my first boyfriend though."

"Kirsten's just more caring these days, I suppose."

Yeah, caring…

"Dad, Mom's being- Oh, you're back." Kirsten came into the living room, our mother with her. Mom didn't even speak to me, instead complaing to dad about how far back Kirsten had just set Whitney.

"Are you even listening, Andrew?"

He just groaned. "Grace-"

I tuned out their conversation, instead turning to Kirsten. "So about Owen-"

"Oh, he's nice, I guess," she said as she headed out of the room and up the stairs, no doubt to bother Whitney some more. "Better than Whitney. Can you believe what she did at lunch today? I mean, honestly."

I smiled, realizing their fight had taken the heat off Owen. For now. But I would take that.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I agreed, watching my parents as they 'discussed' the way Kirsten had been behaving since she came to visit. "I know exactly what you mean."

Think I finally got all the one-shots out of my system. Or so I hope.