Chapter Twenty

Jenny- full name Jennifer Jones- is my cousin. As such whenever I call she makes sure to be there for me. I too drop everything whenever she calls, and it feels nice to know that I have someone that is willing to do that for me. She is the only cousin that knows of my dino behaviour tendencies and keeps it a major secret. Not even her fiancé of three years knows of this. After I relay the story about what has happened on the island and my falling out with Owen, she almost gets off the bed to possibly find and maim him. I grab her arm and pull her back down on the bed. I've already had a shower and she brought me some comfortable clothes to sleep in and a change for the outside world to look at and forget about

"It's no use getting mad with him you know. I mean I've always known that they've had an attraction to each other"

"That is no excuse to lead you on Rae. If he was here right now I would have chocked the hell out of him"

I smile and pick up another spoonful of dark chocolate ice cream

"Yeah, I know, but at least he's happy"

She looks at me with pity and I snort when I see it. I point my spoon at her

"Please spare me the sad looks. I'll be fine, anyways there is someone I met after the whole escapade"

She leans in closer

"Someone better than Owen Grady"

She places a hand over her heart in a joking manner

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. His name's Jason and I'm thinking about giving him a chance. It will most likely remain as a rebound fling though. We're both not exactly in a good space right now"

She gives me a reassuring pat

"You should, it'll be good for you to start moving on. No use pining for a guy that never actually saw you in the first place"

I nod and pull my gown tighter around me before looking out the window into the bustling city below. Maybe she is right; I should get back out into the dating world. It is after all my life and I can do what I want with it. If I choose to have a string of one night stands, it isn't anyone else's business but my own. I look at Jennifer

"We should go dancing"

She whoops before hugging me

"That's the spirit! We'll go looking for something for you to wear tomorrow and have fun"

The next day we do go shopping, and I end up buying a form fitting dress that shows off a bit too much for my liking but Jenny adores

"If you don't buy that for yourself, I'm going to buy it for you"

Along with some strappy heels, we go dancing and leave only after one in the morning. It feels nice to have men falling over themselves to get my attention. With Owen it has always been me initiating a touch. He did hug me sometimes and often brought me lunch but now that I look back on it I realise that maybe I have been reading the whole thing wrong from the first moment. He was just being friendly and I perverted it into something else entirely.

Tired from dancing I end up sleeping for most of the next day and gorging on ice cream and fries from a take away nearby. However today I feel as if though I am being too cooped up and I need to get some fresh air. Or at least as much fresh air you can get when living in the city. I walk down and window shop but then hear a familiar yell

"Rae!"

I look over my shoulder and see a small arm waving at me, and I scrunch my eyebrows. There are too many scents to make out who it is so I stay in the same spot and the crowd separates when they get to me. When they have moved out of the way, I see Gray running up to me and he tackles me in a hug. I grab hold of him with a laugh

"Hey kid"

I ruffle his hair and he leans into the attention before looking back. I see his mother and father along with Zach who is also approaching me with a smile. I give Zach a one arm hug and he returns it before looking at his parents

"This is Rae"

Gray nods and continues

"She helped us get to safety"

Their mom looks at me gratefully

"Thank you for helping my sons"

I wave off the gratitude

"It's no problem"

I place a hand on the back of Gray's neck

"I couldn't let this cutie pie be alone and scared now could I?"

Gray beams at me and Zach rolls his eyes. I reach up and ruffle his hair and get an indignant "Hey!" in return.

"So what are you doing here?" Gray asks after I have interfered with Zach

I shrug

"Just bumming around the place until I find something better to do"

I take the attention off of my activities by asking about Claire

"She's back with Owen, but I think she's going to be heading back to sort out the clean-up"

I roll my eyes

"Clean-up what? You can't clean-up what happened"

Gray shrugs his shoulders and Zach speaks up

"Owen's been pissy though"

"Zach! Language"

He rolls his eyes

"What makes you say that? He was fine when I left, practically in Claire's skirt"

"He's sad"

I look down at Gray

"I was sad too. You didn't even say bye before you left"

I get down on one knee and looked at Gray in the eyes

"Sorry kid, I didn't mean to do that. It's just…"

I sigh

"…I'm going through some things right now and I didn't want to spill it on you guys. You have enough issues as it is"

He looks put out

"Promise to call?"

I pull him in for a hug

"Yeah"

Zach gives me his cell phone number as well as his parent's numbers in case I couldn't get hold of him and I notice the slight flush on his cheeks. I pat him on the back and watch them as they walk away, Gray constantly turning back and waving at me. I wave at him too and with a smile walk down to a coffee shop in order to get some pastries and a coffee.

When I get back outside however I almost drop my coffee in surprise by who I see standing there. Owen Grady is standing across the street, looking at me as I walk back towards my hotel and I decide to play a short game with him. I circle around the building and when Owen is out of sight I duck into the girliest shop I can find. When he walks by again, confused as hell, I slip out of the store and rush back to my hotel. I close my room door and take a deep breath and calming myself.

It's nothing; he probably wasn't even looking for me anyways. Maybe he is on a walk with Claire and saw me and I freaked out when he was trying to talk to me. Or maybe it is someone that merely looks like him and I am losing my mind. I peep put the curtains and see no one down there. I shake my head at my paranoia and switch on the television. After a few hours of mind numbing dumbness I go to find that little piece of paper with Jason's number on it.

"Hello?"

I clear my throat nervously

"Hey Jason, it's Rae"

When there is silence I continue

"You know, from the island"

His laugh is warm

"I know who Rae. I just didn't think you'd call"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"No reason. It's just you're too pretty for me"

I laugh

"Well if I'm too pretty to be for you romantically then we can try friendship first"

"I'd like that"