Chapter 9: Dinner Disaster

Once I got into my shack I immediately got ready for a shower. After ripping my clothes out and groaning with relief of being free from my bra and sweaty clothes I sent a quick text to Owen letting him know I was home and that if I didn't reply it was because I was in the shower. Once I sent that I ran my hand under the water making sure it was cool, but not too cold. I stepped in shuddered momentarily at the cold before sighing with relief as it cooled my sweat soaked skin. Once I finished showering I wrung out my hair and wrapped a towel around myself before making my way to my nightstand to grab my key. I couldn't help but hum, not any tune in particular as I grabbed my key from the drawer and unlocked my closet.

I grabbed the dress for the Luau BBQ and hung it up before grabbing my nice emerald green strapless dress that rested mid-thigh on me. Shopping for clothes was hard, but shopping for dresses was a nightmare. No one seemed to realize that short people like myself still existed in this world. I always hated my height for that, stupid me being 4'11! It's a curse. I bent over and grabbed my matching heels before laying them gently on my bed. I went back to the bathroom to brush my teeth, dry my hair, brush it out, put deodorant on and spray a little bit of my Body Shop Indian Night Jasmine perfume on myself.

After all that I checked my phone again. I'd had 4 texts altogether I saw two from Owen so I answered those first naturally.

'Hey Riley, glad you made it home ok, I got off work earlier myself and I'm home now'

'Ok! Glad you're safe, how did you manage to get off work so early?'

'Barry, he told me I'll need awhile to get myself pretty for you, who am I to argue?'

'Haha, well I disagree, I think you're gorgeous'

'Says you'

'And like every girl in Jurassic Park'

'LOL you don't need to be so nice, I already like you Riley'

'Lmao I'm being honest goofball'

'Sure, sure, anyway I'll text you when I'm on my way to get you xoxo'

'Okie doke! Looking forward to it ;)'

Already day one of seeing each other and we were sappy as hell. I didn't think anyone else was on my level of cheesy. I didn't stop myself as the biggest dorkiest grin crept onto my face. I checked my other two messages, one from Eliza saying she was home and that she'd talked to Claire. Claire apparently agreed to get the files for me and discreetly at that. I let out a sigh of relief, hopefully this was just the beginning of me taking those two scumbags down.

The last message was from the unknown number from earlier again. It read: 'The past will haunt you, good luck'. I sat down on my bed opposite side to my dress and shoes.

'Who is this?'

'One could call me a…concerned friend'

'If you were any kind of friend, you'd know I hate being fucked around with'

'That's not what I hear ;) Anyways, good luck with tonight I hope the past doesn't disturb your possible future'

'What do you mean? Seriously WHO IS THIS?!'

The person stopped texting and I stomped off to my bathroom to return my towel. I growled out in frustration as I got my lacy strapless bra and matching pair of cheeky underwear and put them on. After that I put my dress and shoes on and put my keys, phone, smokes and lighter into my dress pockets. About 5 minutes later a knock sounded from my door. I opened the door and there stood Owen in a nice slim fit suit with a skinny tie.

"Whoa" I exclaimed as my jaw dropped.

"Whoa yourself pretty lady" He said smiling as he twirled me around.

"Just dazzling" I couldn't help but blush and look away in embarrassment.

"Oh c'mon it was just a compliment"

"Sorry, not used to that"

"Well, with me you'll have to, now let's go do this thing and we can show each other off like normal obnoxiously cheesy couples do"

"Sounds perfect! But I should warn you, be prepared for Eliza to gush like crazy and ask a bunch of questions rapid fire"

"Haha I think I can handle it, with you that is"

"I'll be there"

And with that we left my shacks and made our way to Eliza and Lou's. When we got there Eliza was still in the kitchen and Lou greeted us at the door his face went wide for a moment before grinning at me.

"Well holy shit Ry, you picked a damn good plus one!"

"I found him on the street corner selling his body for money, and I thought, hey, why not dress him up and bring him as a date?"

"I guess you could say I'm her pretty guy" We all laughed for a moment and Lou let us inside.

"Eliza tells me your surprise should be here soon"

"Oh cool, what is it?"

"I honestly haven't the slightest Ry, she wouldn't tell me, something about being an incorrigible tattle tale?"

"You can't deny that Lou, you know you'd tell me as soon as you found out"

"I deny everything"

"What else is new?" I joked elbowing him gently in the arm, Lou quickly excused himself to the kitchen to get us some beer, and Owen wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. I gave him a quick peck on the lips when Lou came back out Eliza was in tow and in shock. Not a pleasant shock but a 'holy shit this can't be happening shock'

"Um, Eliza are you ok?" She nearly dropped her glass of water while Lou handed us both a Rickards Red. Before any of us could say a word the doorbell rang, I went to go get it but Eliza zipped passed me and opened it, when she did she hung her head, and in came a tall man in his army green DEU's (basically military dress uniform) complete with a dark green beret to match. I swallowed hard. Oh shit.

"Denver?" I asked in complete shock. Oh shit, oh shit oh shit. My heart raced and I froze.

"Hey Ry-Ry" He said his blue eyes smiling at me. I am soooo screwed. Wait! I can get him alone for a smoke and tell him about me and Owen! I turned kind of awkwardly to Owen and gestured to him.

"Owen, this is Denver, one of the buddies from Afghanistan I told you about, Denver this is Owen, I work with him at the raptor paddock" Both of them smiled politely and shook hands, and said hello. I just about shat myself right then and there.

"Uh, Owen, can you give me a hand in the kitchen bringing some stuff out, we'll let the ladies go out for a smoke I'm sure Riley is dying for one"

"Sure am! Do you mind Owen?"

"No not at all" He said with a genuinely happy smile that killed me inside. I wanted to do things right with Owen. No ifs ands or buts about it! And that was just what I was going to do!

Eliza mouthed 'I'm sorry' to me as I went outside with Denver. We lit up our smokes once Denver closed the back door behind us, Denver stared at me for a moment and cleared his throat.

"So uh, I missed you on deployment, it wasn't nearly as fun without you" He said smiling sadly at me.

"Ugh, sometimes I really miss the military but, I can't go back in, maybe one day I'll be able to accept that, listen I gotta tell you something" I said solemnly.

"Me too, and I wanna start with this" He said and in one fell, and way too fast for my liking swoop he grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me, I managed to wriggle free.

"No Denny, we can't do that anymore"

"But Riley, I—I think I love you" my jaw definitely dropped at that. ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME?! NOW HE CHOOSES TO DROP THIS OVERSIZED BOMB ON ME. FUCK. ME! I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Look, Denny, I uh, I like Owen, y'know the guy I introduced you to? Well today I just found out that he felt the same about me as I do him and I wanna do this right y'know? I've fucked up so much in the past…and I won't let that happen anymore, this whole thing with you and me, it needs to be past, I'm sorry that's really shitty timing after you just poured your heart out and all but…I have to be honest you know me" He looked like someone shot his dog in front of him and started at the ground for what felt like forever.

"I see, but does he love you?"

"What?"

"Does he love you?"

"I heard you the first time Denny and I don't think so we just started seeing each other today"

"Then I still have time, Ry, I'm dead serious when I say I love you, you know that. I want to prove it to you, I promise you I will"

"Oh god" I groaned as I stripped my smoke and tossed it in the butt bucket before heading inside. Denver followed in not long after me and I saw Owen trying to juggle two platters, I walked up to him and grabbed one much to his playful dismay.

Once we set everything up we all sat down, Owen on my right and Denver on my left with Lou to Owen's right and Eliza to Denver's left. Fuck. Me. Sideways. We said grace then dug in, it was silent at first but then Owen spoke up.

"So Denver, Lou tells me you were on deployment with him and Riley"

Uh oh.

"Yep! We were called the Three Musketeers, cheesy but true, we were all pretty inseparable, oh you should've seen the shenanigans we got into. Riley was the biggest trouble maker" He said elbowing my arm and giving me a wink.

"Really? Riley?" Owen asked surprised.

"Oh yeah she was basically our ring leader, but she was smart enough to not let our pranks get too far, this one time…" Denver went on and on about our pranks all of us laughing but I felt like I was the only one who couldn't relax about the whole situation. I was just waiting for him to be a shit head and spill everything to Owen. But nothing of the sort even happened. After dinner we all grabbed another drink and sat down on the couches, Lou talked about how Eliza finally became pregnant and that she was 7 weeks along, I got up and hugged her immediately.

"Congratulations Eliza! Holy crap! I'm so excited for you guys!"

"Yeah guys, one could say Lou worked…hard for it" Owen joked and we all laughed save for Denver.

"So, Riley, do you plan on reversing your surgery?"

I spat out the sip of beer I took all over myself and went wide eyed. Sonnuva bitch Denver.

"Uh, dunno yet" I said trying to wipe the beer off of my dress, I happened to catch Owen's confused face and sighed. I sat upright and looked at him, Lou and Denver were the only ones who knew.

"What surgery" Eliza asked surprised.

"I, uh, I'd rather not talk about it, excuse me" I said as I stood up and went to leave.

"Why not Riley? What are you so afraid of?"

"If I were ready to tell them I would've by now don't you think? Besides now is not appropriate. We should be celebrating Lou and Eliza's new baby" I said trying to sound as nice as I could, despite seething on the inside. Denver took a long sip of his beer and downed it. It wasn't until then I noticed he was drunk, belligerently drunk.

"Then I guess it wouldn't be appropriate if I mentioned that we were lovers and that the whole point of me being up here was for Eliza to help me rekindle what we'd lost when you left the CF" He said standing up in front of me and I sighed.

"We were never lovers Denver, just fuck buddies, and I'd like to ask you to leave" I said bearing my teeth at him.

"Oh yeah? How's this for not lovers?!" He slurred as he grabbed my face and kissed me, I managed to wriggle free and just as I did Owen grabbed him by his shirt and decked him in his face. Everyone stopped, the whole room silent as we watched Denver writhe on the ground in pain holding his face in his hands. Slowly he stood up, staggering and I went to grab a hold of him but he slapped my hand away.

"Fuck you Riley, I know this is all a show, you could never be with anyone but me remember?! I WAS WITH YOU THROUGH EVERYTHING! You even said so yourself once" He growled as he stumbled to the door.

"Once, but never again" He stopped cold for a moment before leaving the house. I sighed and followed him out.

"Riley where are you going?" Owen asked half angry half fearful.

"He may have just been a gigantic ass, but I can't let him wander drunk around the island, and I'm pretty sure he has the rental keys. I won't let him kill himself" I said calmly.

"Then let me come with you"

"I think it's best if you don't, he might not listen to me if you're there, I'll be back and I promise nothing will happen"

His face saddened and he looked up at me with a small smile.

"I trust you" when he said that I felt my heart swell, and tears almost spilled from my eyes. I walked over to him and gave him a long passionate kiss.

"I still have to go on a proper date, I be Owe-n you one" I said with a wink before leaving the house. I got maybe 5 minutes down the road when I noticed an inky black figure slumped over a bench. When I got closer I saw it was Denver.

"D, you ok?"

"No I'm not Riley, I should've snagged you up sooner, you were my perfect girl and I fucked it all up"

"Hey shit happens man, if I were meant to be, don't you think I'd be single and pining for you?"

"Yeah, I guess" He responded sniffling as he sat up on the bench. I called him a cab and took his keys from him.

"Let's start this whole thing over ok? Starting with apologies tomorrow"

"Ok" he said as I helped him into the cab that showed up not long after the call was made. I gave the cab $30 to cover him and waited as the cab driver disappeared into the distance. I started walking back and there was Owen sitting on the front porch with an ice pack on his hands.

"You ok?" I asked as I knelt down in front of him.

"Yeah, still pretty pissed though, I mean who does that?"

"He was the most broken of us all Owen, I'm the reason he's still alive today, and some people don't handle rejection well. He was the worst for it"

"Still no excuse"

"I'm not excusing I'm explaining why he did what he did"

He sighed and took my face with his free hand.

"So what now?"

"That's entirely up to you Owen, I hate to say it but I wouldn't blame you if you called it quits"

"I don't want to do that, but, do you still, y'know?"

"Nope haven't since I joined here" He smiled with relief.

"Good" He said and our lips met once more that night, with more intensity than before. I was happy again both of us smiling as we kissed.

"Tomorrow, I think I'd like it if maybe we stayed over at my place and just relaxed and watched a movie. I'm done with drama"

"You and me both"

*A/N: Well holy crap on a cracker! I'm sure glad Owen has a good head on his shoulder! First things first, I want to mention that Denver Collingwood is portrayed by Alex Pettyfer, and let's hope that Denver really does stop! Let me know your thoughts*