Wow guys, I was really, really surprised with the response to my first chapter! Please continue to spread and review so I can get some feedback and maybe even some ideas. Wasn't sure if I would continue after the first chapter but I definitely will now if I continue to get the great response! Love all of you! xxx
"Claire found you passed out on the dancefloor last night, so she insisted on taking you home. She left early this morning to check the lab and controls, and she'll be back in about an hour." Owen stood, leaning on the door frame.
"Really? That's so embarrassing, you didn't have to do that!"
"It was nothing, Jess. Don't worry." He smiled
"I'd better have a shower and get going then." I replied, slowly sitting up and swinging my legs over the edge of the couch. Owen nodded, leaving the room.
Claire got home at almost the exact time I was finished with my shower. I walked into the living room, greeted by the sight of Owen and Claire kissing. I immediately felt very, very, awkward and a little embarrassed, even a bit annoyed. They broke apart and Claire turned to me, smiling.
"Great to see you, Jess! How are you feeling?"
"Uh, yeah, alright. Thanks for looking after me." My tone sounded a little too cold, but I didn't dare glance at Owen.
"No worries, anything for you. So are you heading off now?"
"Yeah, I'd better get going. Have... Fun...?" I picked up my belongings and walked towards the door, looking back at the two. Owen just stared, emotionless. He had that same serious face like he always did. What the hell? What a jerk! I had to remind myself that at the same time, he is Claire's after all.
The next day couldn't have been worse. I was rostered to do the monthly check-up on the Raptors, Owen's trained dinosaurs. I should have been happy, but I wasn't. When I arrived, Owen was feeding the girls.
"Hey! Charlie, eyes up here! Blue, don't give me that shit!" I had to admit, he was good. Once again, he looked so sexy being all serious and giving orders. He looked good doing anything. He could make picking his nose look God-ly. I made my way up the stairs and stood leaning on the side rail, evaluating the Raptors and watching Owen's way of training. He glanced up and noticed me, stopping for a moment. It felt like the whole world slowed down, but then I looked away. He was Claire's. And this was awkward.
After Owen finished, he received many training method complements from co-workers, then came to join Barry and I.
"Hey, guys." Owen was in his serious work mode.
"Hey Buddy, well done out there." Barry tried to make the conversation a little more light-hearted. Owen glanced at me, and gave a quick reassuring smile. It lifted my spirits a little, but I kept my head down. He cleared his throat.
"Uh, hey, I'm gonna go check out how Claire's going, I'll be back in about half an hour." Barry pat Owen on the back and I nodded.
"We can keep the fort down a few minutes, can't we Barry?" I asked, jokingly. Barry laughed in reply, which I took as a yes. I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck and began to follow Barry along the bridge, noticing Owen chuckle before walking in the opposite direction.
The Raptors respected Barry. A new recruit had decided to go clean out the cage, which I was a bit freaked out by, but Barry reassured me that he trusted that the girls wouldn't do anything harmful. There were armed guards on the bridge ready to fire at any moment, but according to Barry, it was not necessary. I stood watching from the safety cage, ready to open the door in the event of any emergency, when something amazing happened. The boy had moved and made contact with Charlie, and Charlie wasn't doing anything to hurt him.
"Hey, be very careful! They don't know you well, newbie!" Barry yelled. I made note of the movement immediately, but stopped when I heard a gun shot which was followed by a scream.
"Oh my god!" I yelped. Without thinking, I opened the cage and ran inside, right to the boy's aid. The raptors surrounded us, purring and growling. The newbie was struggling for air. He'd been shot right in the chest.
"Leave...Jess-"
"Stop! Don't speak! I'm here, you're going to be okay and you're going to live. I'll make sure of that even if it's the last thing I do!" I shook uncontrollably.
"Jess, you'll-you'll die" His chest was heaving in and out breaths.
I could feel the Raptors breathing on my back. I slowly stood up and moved my arms out to my sides, keeping the dinosaurs as far away from the boy and I as possible. I thought about the way Owen had worked with the Raptors, and tried my absolute best. I was not dying today.
"Hey! Delta, stand down. Blue! That's enough! I'm on your side! Stand down." The Raptors started to walk backwards a little and a huge bout of confidence rose within me.
"That's it, stay right there." I kept my voice steady and calm. I picked the recruit up, and quickly dragged him into the safety cage, closing the door as fast as possible. The girls surprisingly stood still and didn't move an inch.
"Jess-" The boy choked out. I knelt down to his side, and inspected the damage. He'd bled so much, and there was nothing to bandage around the wound. Where is Owen?
Barry joined me. "Who did this?" He yelled out to the bridge, where everyone stood, gobsmacked. No answer.
"WHO DID IT?" I screamed, pleading. Barry turned to the boy, sitting him up.
"Hey, you're gonna be okay. We're here to help you. Everything's being taken care of." I heard a car engine behind me, then the slamming of a door.
"OWEN! Owen please help!" Owen ran to join Barry and I.
"Jess! Oh my god, are you okay?" I must've looked pretty shaken up.
"Not Jess, it's the newbie!" Barry replied. I stood back and sunk to the ground, burying my face in my hands.
"This is all my fault, it's all my fault..." I cursed and cursed.
"Jess... this was never your fault- you..you saved me" I looked up from my hands and Owen faced me.
"You did?" He asked, astounded. I didn't say anything. Owen turned to Barry, who gave a reassuring nod.
"Alright, let's get you to the Hospital buddy, don't want this getting any worse.." Owen heaved the boy up into his arms.
"It's too late." Hoskins' voice echoed from the outside of the safety cage. Barry stood up, lending a hand to me. After helping me up, Barry immediately took me into his arms and held me in a light hug.
"Don't listen to him. The boy's gonna be fine."
"Hey turd blossom, how about you don't speak at all, since we're the ones actually working to make sure he's going to be alright." Owen snapped, opening the gate door and storming his way out to a vehicle.
"Asshole." Owen muttered, and I chuckled quietly to myself.
Soon enough, the newbie was raced to the nearest hospital, and the guards were questioned about the shooting. An anonymous person revealed that he thought Charlie was attacking the boy, and he accidentally shot the wrong target. Traumatised, I made my way back home and went to bed straight away, wanting to forget all of today's events.
The next morning I was greeted to my office with a massive bouquet of flowers from none other than Lowery and the team. I smiled and a small tear welled up, but I managed to keep it down. I made my way downstairs to check the lab, and on my way I bumped into Owen. He looked amazing, as always.
"Hey, I checked the security cameras last night to try and see what happened in that cage, I've got to ask, where did you learn to tame the Raptors like that? You were absolutely amazing! That was some A grade shit!" Owen slapped my back and I laughed.
"Learnt from none other than the Raptor King himself!"
"And that is...?"
I looked at Owen with an expression of Really?
"Do I even need to say?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"No, seriously, was it Barry?" Owen was legit.
"You, silly!" I punched his shoulder lightly, trying to move on.
"I'm the Raptor King? Never heard that one before! You must have really studied my training methods!" Owen chuckled. I laughed shakily, looking at my feet.
"Well, I can see that you're busy, so I'll let you go." Owen smiled and walked away, leaving me to go back to my job. (Sadly)
Walking back to my office, I decided to pay a visit to Lowery and say thank-you for the flowers. Claire's office was next door to Lowery's control room, and her walls were windows. As I passed, I saw her yelling at Owen, pushing him into the window. What I didn't expect to happen next was a make-out session. I increased my walking pace dramatically, and decided that I would avoid Owen at all costs.
The next morning, there were rumours all through the Jurassic World offices. Claire had kissed (and maybe even more) with Lowery. Lowery. Of all of the guys in the office that were into her, she made out with Lowery. She could do 1000 times better, I mean, look at her lady killer of a boyfriend. Aside from that, there were also rumours about the kiss Owen and I shared at my Birthday Party, which couldn't be worse. Claire and Owen were like a page 6 story. What a scandal! The part that was even better (not) is that I'm right in the middle of it. Claire walked into the control rooms with a massive smile, having a chat with everyone except for me. I wasn't surprised.
I left the room, passing Owen on the way out.
"Jess, hey! Jess stop!" He called out to me, but I ignored him. I couldn't deal with all the problems at that moment.
I received a text that afternoon from Zach, and all it read was
Meet me in front of the Mosasaurus attraction at 5 :)
Firstly, I wondered how the hell he even had my number, but I then figured we exchanged them at my party. Secondly, why would he want to meet me in the first place? So I just replied with:
Okay, should I be freaked out?
No messages back.
After a while I really started to stress myself out over the plans Zach made. Was I supposed to be dressed nicely? Who else would be there? What were we doing? Then I finally got a message back.
All I can say is that you'll have all the attractions you'll need.
Now this really freaked me out.
I went to the control room to talk to someone, anyone, to make me feel a little more comfortable with the day I'd had, when as soon as I entered the room Owen's dreamy eyes linked with mine, and I walked back out, closing the door before he could get out of the room to talk to me. He'd tried to talk to me all day and it was killing me, but I was able to avoid him. Every time I saw his face (or Claire's) all I could think of was Page 6 Scandal.
When I met Zach that night, we hugged, and then I sighed of relief as I noticed he was dressed in normal clothing.
"So why are we here?" I asked, a little worry inside of me.
"Sit here." Zach motioned to a bench, smirking slyly. "I know something."
"Oh no... What is it now?" I dreaded the answer.
"Watch."
Out of the blue, Owen came around the corner.
"What's he doing here?" I asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Claire told me he picks up scrap food from each restaurant for the Raptors at night." Zach almost knew more about the park than I did. Claire suddenly joined Owen, and they both looked a little awkward. The two were walking in our direction, but they hadn't noticed us yet.
Zach looked at me smirking mischievously, and then very unexpectedly placed his lips against mine. As you probably already would have guessed, I was extremely surprised. It took me a couple of seconds to work out what Zach had planned, but as soon as I worked it out, I went along with it.
Zach was surprisingly amazing. I kind of lost myself with him, his kiss so passionate, so delicious. It was a really weird moment, until someone pulled Zach off of (me) and the bench we were sitting on and threw him onto the ground. Claire?! Of all of the people I expected it to be Owen, but instead he was standing, staring at me, his jaw hanging half open. I watched Zach, who was getting the ultimate lecture, but he had kept a sneaky grin on his face the entire time. He looked at me and winked, making me try as hard as I could not to giggle. I looked back up at Owen, and smirked. He looked so hurt, I felt a little bad. What I did was all just for jealousy, and I owed Zach a million. At the same time, it wasn't my place to disturb a relationship, and it was going to affect me at work even more. I needed to stop burning my bridges, especially with Claire. First her boyfriend and now her nephew? I probably need to mature a little more. Probably?... More like definitely.