Chapter 18

Summary:

Just when Alise thinks Owen has stopped talking to Claire, Lucy spots Owen and Claire on a boat to the mainland together and immediately tells Alise. Kira gets into Alise's head about what Owen and Claire could be up to behind her back and things don't end well for any of them.

Authors Note:

This is a little rant so bare with me here! I've been getting some feedback for this story and I would like to thank the people who reviewed with kindness. There has been an anon who has been reviewing negative things. I understand some people don't like Owen with original characters and would prefer him only with Claire, but this is my story and this is a place where anyone can write whatever pairing they want. If you don't like this story or Alise and Owen together, then please don't read it. Simple as that. Commenting how much you hate my story or pairing serves no purpose. If you are kind enough to take a moment to review in thw first place, please leave positive reviews. I didn't come to this site to be told that I suck, none of the authors on here do. Let's just keep this a fun place where people can express themselves creatively and freely. Thank you for taking the time to read this and POSITIVE reviews are always welcome :)

A couple of weeks later, I let the Owen and Claire thing blow over. I was so busy with work that it slipped my mind. I know, how does something like that slip my mind? I didn't see any more signs of them talking outside of work but if he was, he was being stealthy about it.

I even checked his phone to see if he had texted her recently, but he hadn't. He also deleted the conversation from that night, but he does that will all of his texts, so I didn't read into it. He didn't catch on that I was snooping around thankfully, but he did catch me on his phone in the early morning one day when he walked into his room with coffee. I told him I left a few pictures on there for when he misses me. Of course, they were all the dumbest faces I could pull and I didn't forget the famous, terrible double-chin picture.

I wondered if I should have confronted it before, or even now. I've been cheated on in the past. Multiple times and this was only eating at me and it was starting to show in our relationship. He's even asked me if everything was okay because I was acting differently.

"What do you mean, 'different'?" I asked, a little on edge.

"I don't know, just more clingy than usual. I mean, I know I'm irresistible so you can't help it," he smirked, lightening the mood.

"Yeah, that's totally it." I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. I also bit my lip, was my insecurity really showing?

It was.

I was going to mention it to Aspen, but I was worried she might go full-detective mode and stalk him on social media (even though he only has a facebook that he rarely uses). I tried to talk to Lucy about it, but she was super busy with finals (her school was on a different schedule than the universities in the states). I knew I definitely could not tell Lowery about it at all, or my mother because she'd tell Lowery. I talked to Lachlan a little bit about it and he told me he was cheated on in the past, which is mostly why he was so firm on not having a serious relationship before Lucy. Lachlan seemed to understand where I was coming from, but not completely.

When I hit my lowest point, I went to someone I never thought I'd go to - Kira. I hadn't heard from Owen all day yesterday or this morning and it was already 1 pm. On top of that, I had just received a text from Lucy 15 minutes ago telling me she saw Owen on the boat to the mainland with Claire. I was drowning in anxiety and Kira just so happened to be in the living room when I came out of my room.

"Hey there cake pop. You've been in your room all morning, everything okay?" she asked, pausing the TV and watching me walk into the kitchen. I sighed and grabbed a bottle of water, walking back to the living area.

"That's a loaded question." I sighed, taking a sip of water.

"Come tell me about it..." she urged, patting the couch. I sighed and thought. I had no one else to talk to right now and I just had so much I needed to get off my chest and out of my head. Maybe talking to her was a good idea - I thought so at that moment anyway.

"Well, it's about Owen and Claire…" I started, sitting down next to her. I told her the full story of everything that's happened up until the text I got from Lucy.

"Wow, baby girl, that's a lot to deal with," she said, rubbing my arm comfortingly, but somehow, it didn't bring me much comfort. "But you know, I do wonder what they're doing… you said he's been hanging around her an awful lot lately. I've seen them together too." she added, I let out a sigh. That definitely was not helping right now.

"I'm sure he has an explanation… it's probably just a work thing." I shook my head. I trust Owen. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me…

"Why don't you call him? See if he says he's alone." Kira urged. I thought about it for a minute. Did I really want to go down that road?

"I don't need to test him, I trust him…" I trailed off, the words seemed hallow at this point and even I could tell.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked. I bit my lip, looking at my phone. "It's better to know than wonder." she rubbed my back comfortingly.

I sighed and gave in, finding Owen in my contacts and pressing the call button.

"Hey babe," Owen said.

I smiled, "H-hey. I haven't heard from you yesterday or this morning so I just wanted to see what you were up to…" I said, more nervous than ever.

"Yeah, I left my phone home yesterday and I've been running around all morning, so sorry about that."

"What are you up to?" I asked again, praying he told me the truth.

"Just on my way to the mainland. Need to get a few supplies," he said. I let out a small sigh, but then I remembered the answer to my follow-up question would tell me everything.

"Are you with anyone?" I asked.

"Nope, just came by myself." He said simply. That's when my heart dropped. He lied to me. I couldn't believe it.

"O-okay. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Love you, bye."

"Love you too." I choked out, tears filling my eyes as I hung up the phone. I looked down and let out a shaky breath. "He said he was alone…"

"Now doesn't that paint a pretty little picture of your ever so loyal boyfriend…" Kira said. That was the last thing I needed to hear.

"I have to go," I said, grabbing my bag and rushing out of the apartment. Tears were streaming down my face and it got harder and harder to breathe. I felt like a 10-pound weight was on my chest. I knocked on Lachlan's door hastily, hoping he'd be home. When he wasn't, I slid down the door and put my head in my hands. I couldn't believe this. Owen was cheating on me.

x x x

Lachlan ended up coming home 10 minutes after my panic attack and took me inside to help calm me down. He actually did a pretty good job at it too, more than I would have expected for him anyway. He made me tea (which I didn't even know he drank, then he said it's Lucy's), we sat on his couch and he let me tell him everything and he actually seemed to grasp everything I was telling him, even though I was ugly crying half of the time.

"Wow, Owen's totally a dick. I never would have thought," Lachlan said, sounding really angry. I sighed and nodded, sniffing in. After telling him, my anxiety calmed and the ugly crying was over with, but my cheeks were stained with tears. He took a tissue to wipe them. "He doesn't deserve you, you're way too good for him. Tomorrow I'm going to have some words with him, you better believe that."

"Are you going to bring your gun, too?" I asked, letting out a small laugh. It was kind of a joke to lighten the mood. It distracted from how insanely fucked up this situation was.

"You read my mind," he said, but I couldn't tell if he was joking, but then he cracked a small smile and chuckled, showing me that he was. "Alright, so Thor 1, 2 or 3?" he said, standing up. "I mean, we have all day, so we could watch all of them."

"You know just the way to cheer me up, Lach. Thanks." I smiled at him, taking a sip of the lukewarm tea.

"Anytime, beautiful. And hey, turn that frown upside down. I'll go get the DVDs from your apartment and we'll watch the dreamy Chris Hemsworth kick some ass." he said, hitting my shoulder lightly.

"Well, it's Tom Hiddleston who's dreamy. Chris is alright." I shrugged.

"What? Chris is 'alright'? Have you seen the dude? He's built tank and have you seen his eyes? So dreamy." he said, I could tell he was over exaggerating for my benefit.

"I've always preferred a hint of green," I said, letting out a small sigh. Owen's eyes were green. Of fucking course that reminded me of him. I shook my head. "So I'm more of a Loki girl."

"I thought his eyes were blue?"

"It depends on his surroundings, really. Sometimes blue, sometimes green, it changes a lot actually." I said.

"Huh," Lachlan thought for a second. He looked like he was thinking really hard and also very confused about it. Then he gave up and shrugged, "I'm just gonna grab those movies and we can argue about who's more dreamy when I come back." he laughed, walking towards the door.

"The key is in my jacket pocket!" I called.

"Got it!" he called back before I heard the door shut. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. At least I have a friend like Lachlan who can help me through this and knows just the way to.

x x x

I ended up spending the night at Lachlan's because I realized I fell asleep on his couch only when he woke me up in the morning at 7 am, unsure if I had work or not. I did and I had to be there at 8 am, so I went home and quickly got ready. I didn't make it into the office until 8:30, but Dr. Collier didn't seem to mind. Even when I was going to apologize, he stopped me and said it was fine. "But don't let it happen again" he warned in a stern voice, but I knew he was joking. I'm rarely late, so he wasn't too strict about it when I was.

He gave me the schedule and I was on desk duty the whole day. Doing reports, taking inventory, doing all the fun assistant stuff that I love to do. If I was going to be doing this all day, I needed coffee, stat. I didn't get to have any this morning because I was rushing. Good thing Dr. Collier is as much of a caffeine addict as I am, so I was able to do a coffee run shortly after I got there.

Dr. Collier left around 10:30 am to do fieldwork, leaving me to my own devices. I had been doing a good job at forgetting everything that happened last night, especially when I was talking to Dr. Collier about work-related stuff, but now that I was alone, everything came flooding in.

I tried to focus my attention on the reports as much as I could, but it was really hard. I was sitting at the computer, tapping the spacebar and then deleting the spaces when I remembered that Owen texted me this morning around 8, but I didn't have the time or guts to read it. I shook my head, now wasn't the best time to read it either. I waited a few seconds before I caved and sighed, opening the text and reading it.

Good morning beautiful. I've got a busy day today so I won't be able to talk, but I wanna take you out tonight. Anything you wanna do.

I didn't know if I wanted to smash the computer or burst into tears or throw a temper tantrum on the office floor. All were very appealing but highly inappropriate and embarrassing. I did the only thing I could think of and that was grab my cup of coffee and drink it, but of course, it was empty. I let out a groan and got up, I might as well refill it now.

I was about to walk out of office when Owen appeared in the doorway. I froze and gulped hard when I saw him.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked. He sounded agitated and looked pissed off. Immediately I fell into the 'oh shit, I did something wrong' mindset. I was thinking that I did something wrong. Go fucking figure.

"Yeah…" I barely choked out as I took a step back into my office and he shut the door.

"Wanna tell me what's going on with you and Lachlan?" he asked.

"Me and Lachlan? What are you talking about?" I asked, getting defensive.

"Someone sent me this…" he said, holding up his phone and showing me a picture of me and Lachlan at Three Horns the other day and we hugging each other goodbye and Lachlan was kissing my cheek. In the picture, it looked like it was pretty close to my mouth, but it definitely wasn't outside of the picture. "Not to mention when I went to your apartment last night, Kira said you were at Lachlan's, so I went there and he denied that you were ever there. So tell me what's happening here," he demanded.

"Uhm, we were saying goodbye to each other. Who sent you that picture?" I defended, raising my voice and clearly getting angry. I mean where the hell did he get off?

"It doesn't matter. You two have been hanging around each other a lot recently and it's not the first time I've heard about you two being especially close with each other."

"Yeah, we're friends, Owen. We're pretty close."

"Too close if you ask me. People have asked me if we've broken up before because of him."

"What are you playing at? Are you accusing me of cheating? Because at least I'm open with you and I tell you exactly where I am and who I'm with. I don't just take day trips with him to the mainland and tell you I'm getting supplies when I'm really not."

"What… what are you…" he trailed off, looking confused. "Oh, come on," he said, his voice falling when he realized what I was talking about.

"Yeah, Lucy saw you and Claire on the boat together and I've seen you two hanging around each other a lot. You think I'm the one cheating and the one with secrets, Owen? Take a look in the mirror because you're chock-full of 'em." Now I was pissed.

"Okay… that's not what you think…" Owen pleaded, putting his hands out and trying to calm me down.

"So you admit it, you are sneaking around with her?" I asked.

He sighed and looked down, "Yes."

"This is rich. And you have the nerve to accuse me of doing something with Lachlan?"

"Kira said you two were getting closer recently and then she sent me the picture this morning. I didn't know what to think," he said honestly.

"Wait, Kira?" I said, pausing for a second. "Kira got in my head about you and Claire, so I was talking to Lachlan about it. That's why we've been spending more time together and that's why I was over his apartment last night. He's been cheated on before and he understood where I was coming from. I just thought, seeing you and Claire together…" I trailed off, I didn't want to say it out loud.

"That I was cheating on you? With Claire? God no. I can't stand her." he scoffed.

I looked at him, confused. "Then why have you been sneaking around with her?"

"She was helping me with your 6-month anniversary present. I wanted to have a private dinner with you on the beach in Jaco and the restaurant wanted me to do a taste test. Claire helped me come up with the idea and I wanted a second opinion. Barry isn't exactly the fine dining type of man and I thought Claire would be helpful. She wanted me to go to this meeting with higher ups and I only said I'd go if she helped me with that." he explained. I felt my stomach drop as I let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh wow, I am such an idiot," I said, shaking my head. This made so much sense… much more sense than him cheating on me.

"Hey, listen, no your not," he said, tilting my head up so I could look at him. "I can see why you thought that..." he said, searching my eyes. "I love you and only you. I'd never cheat on you."

I nodded, believing every single word he said. "I'm sorry I should have trusted you," I said, embracing him in a tight hug.

Owen's arms tightened around me, making me feel safe and secure. I couldn't help the few tears that escaped, it was an emotional past couple of days. Weeks even, since I first saw him and Claire together and was left in wonder. "And I should have trusted you," he said. He pulled away and sighed. "Kira got in both of our heads."

"Kira is gonna get it when I see her later…" I said, shaking my head. My fists were already clenching.

"Does that mean you're finally kicking her out?" he asked, hopeful.

"I'll give her a chance to defend herself and then see how I feel. I can't just kick her out though, it wouldn't feel right." I sighed.

He nodded and grabbed my face and leaned down to kiss me. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." I smiled into the kiss. I groaned when my phone went off and read a text from Dr. Collier. He needed me in the field and stat. So much for desk work. "Duty calls."

"Call me before you talk to Kira, I wanna be there for that," he smirked.

I laughed, "You'll have a front-row seat." I said, pecking his lips again before we parted ways.

I was so relieved and so happy that this was finally over. There was an explanation to everything and it wasn't that Owen was cheating on me. There's one thing I know for sure and that's that that little bitch is going to get it when I see her later.