Chapter Three.
AN. I know some dialogue from the actual book is being repeated but that is what happens when you write a story like this it can't really be helped :). R&R x. And may I ask that when you review can you please tell me if I am going deep enough into Owen's mind... Thanks x
She reached her hand out to me and for some reason it made me angry that she would trust a complete stranger with her safety but at the same time I was ecstatic that she trusted me enough to let me help her. When I had her up off the floor I made the mistake of letting go of her she lost her footing and stumbled.
"Whoa, hold on you better sit down." She didn't need telling twice as she was already making her way towards the ground. I eased her back two steps and she sat down, I decided she needed a tissue I knew I had some in my bag but I didn't know where. I dropped my bag to the floor with a clunk that made her jump, I began to root around until I came across a very scrunched up tissue packet it occurred to me that I should, for some reason, care about the presentation of them so I smoothed them out against my chest and offered her a tissue, she took it, a dubious look on her face. I offered her the whole pack but she only wanted the one so I put the pack beside her feet anyway, just in case she was being to polite to ask me for it.
"So, um, are you okay?" she nodded but instantly I could tell it was forced.
"Yeah, I just felt sick all of a sudden, I don't know..."
"I saw what happened," I blurted out before I could stop myself, I knew I shouldn't have but I didn't like it when people lied to me.
"Oh, yeah, that was pretty bad." her face was fast becoming flushed and I felt a wave of love wash over me.
"Could have been worse." I said trying to console the poor girl.
"You think?" She asked as if she doubted me
"Sure, you could have punched her." Dammit, I figured that was the wrong thing to say as she seemed to contemplate this thought.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." dammit Owen, I was mentally kicking myself for this as she hadn't even thought about punching her until I had brought it up; that was evident. My mind flashed back to when I hit Robbie and the trouble that had followed.
"It's good you didn't, though. Wouldn't have been worth it"
"No?" She asked me. Dammit Owen you big stupid idiot.
"No. Not even if it felt good at the time." There that should have done it I thought.
Her phone began to ring and she reached for it from inside her bag as she pulled it out she looked at the caller ID an exasperated look on her face, she answered it and could hear the voice on the other end I looked anywhere other than Annabel just so she wouldn't think I was eavesdropping on her conversation. I managed to pick up that Annabel needed a ride. Should I ask her or would that be a little to weird for her. I decided to ask her.
"So, you need a ride," I didn't look at her for the simple fact of I was scared of her reaction, scared that she might be mad at me for eavesdropping.
"Oh, no." She answered in a way that indicated that she really did need a ride. "It's just my sister being a pain." She continued.
"Story of my life." I was greatly pleased that she hadn't been mad at me but also that I had found something I could empathise about with her. "Come on." I said I instantly regretted saying it like that in case she took it as a demand. She got up and followed me and I breathed a sigh of relief, as we walked towards my car we endured many looks from many different people. I didn't let it bother me but Annabel seemed to care she kept her head down and refused to look at anyone until we reached my car. I got into the car first and then cursed my ungentlemanly ways as an excuse I reached over and pushed the pile of Cd's off the passenger seat to make sure Annabel could sit down.
When she had got in I brought out the hammer that I used to knock the seat belt into place, Annabel's face became panic stricken and I explained what it was for, did she think I was randomly going to butcher her in the middle of our school parking lot? With Annabel in my car I began to feel a little 'hot around the collar' as they say, I placed my arm on the window trying to look cool and nonchalant. The silence was deafening I had to do something about it before I collapsed under the pressure that Annabel's presence was creating, I turned the volume up on my stereo and everything began to feel okay.
"So," She said. "What is this?"
"Mayan Spiritual Chants." I answered her bracing myself for the snort of laughter that I thought was about to come next.
"What?" she said her tone was becoming louder and I knew she was struggling to hear what I was saying but somehow I didn't want to turn the music down.
"Mayan Spiritual Chants, they're passed down, like oral traditions."
"Oh, where did you get this?" I wasn't sure whether or not she was being seriously interested or just being too polite to tell me that she hated it.
"The library at the university" I replied "I checked it out of their sound-and-culture collection."
We drove on for a little more in silence, well as silent as it could be with the music. She seemed to really like it. That shocked me.
"So you must really like music," she asked as she looked around the car which was cluttered with may Cd's as always, dammit Owen why didn't you move them? Now she thinks you're a slob, well done.
"Don't you?" I asked
"Sure," she replied extremely offhand "I mean, everybody does, right?"
"No," I replied flatly. I could sense a wave of uncertainty ripple throughout the car. Did I just make her uncomfortable? Instantly I realised I was fighting the urge to put my arm around her and comfort her for my lack of sensitivity.
"No?"
Now that I had made her feel uncomfortable I felt obligated to explain it to her.
"Some people think they like music, but they have no idea what it's really all about. They're kidding themselves. Then there are people who feel strongly about music, but just aren't listening to the right stuff. They're misguided. Then there are people like me." Annabel looked at me for a while with a look of bemusement on her face it was cute, while she figured out whatever she was thinking about the car ride was once again silent.
"People like you," she repeated suddenly, her soft voice caught me off guard but it was nice to hear. "What kind of people are those?"
"The kind who live for music and are constantly seeking it out, anywhere they can. Who can't imagine a life without it. They're enlightened"
"Ah," she said. She looked as if she was truly interested in my pathetic ramblings but whether she was I didn't know so I decided to test her out and continue.
"I mean, when you really think about it, music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common."
She nodded, totally speechless and I wondered if I had just enlightened the girl myself but that was impossible it would take years to enlighten someone like Annabel.
"Plus there's the fact, that music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know?"
It was clear that she had no idea what I was going on about but before I could stop myself I was carrying on.
"Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, a place or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment. Which is pretty amazing, when you actually think about it."
"Yeah," she replied slowly "it is."
The rest of the drive continued in silence apart from the music but as we turned into the schools parking lot I knew I would have to apologise for what Annabel was about to encounter, after all many people had faced her but few had ever wanted to face her again. She was the terror to end all terrors, she was my little sister. I warned Annabel about her and her face lit up instantly, she obviously considered the prospect of having a little sister amazing. Yeah, she was so very wrong. I noticed her glancing around the yard, her eyes were searching and I instantly knew she was looking for someone who looked remotely like me. It took all my self control to stop laughing when her eyes rested on a girl who looked in pain, dressed all in black. Suddenly Mallory bounded out of school and headed towards the passenger door, she saw Annabel and shrieked.
"Oh my God. It's you." She yelled, this confused me I was certain that these two had never set eyes on each other in their lives so why was Mallory looking like she was going to faint with overwhelming admiration. I opened my mouth to ask just that but then Mallory had scurried off to the backdoor which she flung open with such force due to her excitement that I thought she was going to rip it off the hinges. She scrambled inside and exclaimed that she had no idea I was friends with Annabel Greene, how the hell did Mallory know this girl?
"Mallory, take it down a notch" I did think about adding please but then thought better, if Mallory knew it was a request rather than a demand she would choose to blatantly ignore it; which she did anyway. She shoved her head through the gap in between the two front chairs with such force I was sure she was going to contract whiplash.
"This is unbelievable, I mean, it's you!" She screeched, in a way that would turn a banshee green with envy.
"Hi," said Annabel clearly startled. Oh, how I kicked myself for nor dropping Annabel off first.
"Hi!, oh my God, I love your work. I really do."
"Work?" I asked seriously confused now. Mallory had never done a day's work in her entire life so why would she be in total admiration of someone else's?
"Owen. come on." Mallory sighed, really exasperated and almost embarrassed about my lack of knowledge. "She's a Lakeview model, hello? And she's done loads of local ads. And that commercial, you know the one I love, with the girl in the cheer leading uniform?"
"No," I replied. Annabel looked so humiliated and my heart went out to the poor soul but I had warned her and she had chosen not to take my warning literally. I did think about smiling but at this point I thought it would be wise to save Annabel more discomfort. Mallory picked up the phone and began rabbiting on about how she was going to phone just one friend, this one friend magically bred and turned into all of her friends no doubt. I managed to get the phone off her because somehow I highly doubted that Annabel would particularly enjoy everyone Mallory knew staring at her like she was in a zoo. She seemed to get enough people staring at her now.
Mallory began to sulk but soon perked up and began to talk about fashion, her all time favourite subject. She began to prod Annabel's cardigan and ask numerous questions about it. I could tell Annabel was clearly not in her comfortable topic, just the way she seemed to slouch and avoid Mallory's probing eyes told me that Annabel knew as much about fashion as I did. I laughed silently and subtley to myself, maybe next time she'd take my warnings seriously. She pulled the collar down to see the label and that was that.
"It is! I knew it. Oh my God, I want a Lanoler sweater so bad I have forever-"
Annabel's face seemed to be drooping and I knew I had to intervene.
"Mallory, don't be a label whore." I chided. Dammit Owen way to make yourself look caring under the circumstances. I instantly regretted saying this because I knew that Mallory would tell me to R&R which she did. Annabel looked really confused so then I needed to explain but before I could open my mouth Mallory chirped in.
""Rephrase and redirect. It's part of his anger management. If he says something inflammatory, you can tell him it hurts your feelings, and he has to say it another way."
I felt my face stiffen, I wondered if Annabel could feel the uncomfortableness dripping from me because I was sure it was emanating from every pore. I kept my face as serene as possible, well attempted to as I thanked Mallory for her little intervention. The ride continued in silence which I was grateful for until Annabel's soft voice broke it.
"So I really appreciate the ride, it would have been a long walk home otherwise."
"It's no problem, I just have to make a couple of-" My sentence was interrupted my Mallory pulling in an anticipated breath.
"Oh my God," she said. "I'm going to get to see your house?"
Ha ha, this was payback time.
"No," I said sternly, just so she'd take the hint that I wasn't joking around with her.
"But we're taking her home! I'm here!" She answered quite smugly thinking that she had pulled one over on me.
"We're dropping you off first." I replied
"Why?" she asked dropping her charade of cuteness and letting the sulky child shine through to the surface.
"Because, I have to go by the station, so Mom said to bring you to the store."
Mallory let out one of her martyr sighs, she was exceptionally good at them.
"But Owen-"
"No buts, it's already decided."
Mallory decided to attempt to change my mind with a dramatic thud to the seat as she complained about the unfairness in the world. So I told her that life wasn't fair and I was not prepared to rephrase and redirect the truth. Mallory began to probe Annabel for more information about photo shoots and began shooting her loads of questions. Then she did the one thing no one should ever do, she questioned my taste in music. As I had already discussed with Annabel, I had impeccable taste in music. Then just to be more annoying than she already was being she told Annabel all about my radio station a little local thing that I signed up for originally just to keep me busy, but I instantly fell in love with it. She made me sound like some boring nerd with no social life, that was not how I wanted Annabel, Annabel, Annabel Greene to see me. When I finally made it to my Mom's store Mallory again made her distaste clear as she "slagged off" all of my Mom's vegan produce. As we pulled away I felt the urge to apologise.
"Again, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. She's cute." She said uncertainly. I could think of many words for her but cute was not one of them.
Annabel started asking me about my show and we had a very short difficult conversation about it. I didn't really know how much I should tell her in case she thought me weird or something.
"So," I began changing the subject. "Where do you live?"
"The Arbours. It's a few miles past the mall; you can just-"
"I know it," I cut her off. "The station is just a couple of blocks from there. I have to stop there for a second if that's okay."
"Sure" she replied. "That's fine."
I came out of the booth to find Rolly stood with Annabel in his padded helmet. She looked kind of alarmed, the amount of times he forgot to take that stupid thing off his head. He made me chuckle that lad did. I decided to save him from any more embarrassment and told him that his helmet was still on his head. The poor sod. Now Rolly had seated himself in my car the topic of conversation had shifted to him, I was thankful for this and therefore engrossed myself in the conversation about his job and his love for a girl who nearly knocked him out.
"Left or right?" I asked her as the car approached a stop sign.
"Straight for a while." She replied.
Now I come to think of it, I couldn't really pick at Rolly and his love for a girl he hardly knew when my own love for a girl I hardly knew was blossuming out of control. Unfortunately, I opened my big mouth about the time that me and a police officer had a little misunderstanding after I fought some guy in the parking lot. Dammit Owen she's gunna think your a bloody psycho. We drove in silence for a while until...
"It's not true."
"What isn't?" I asked her slightly confused.
"What you heard about me." she replied.
"I haven't heard anything about you."
"Yeah right." She replied. I hated that tone in her voice, it didn't sound right. It was a bit like mixing chocolate with mustard. The sweet didn't go with the bitter.
"I haven't," I said. "I'd tell you if I had."
"Really."
"Yeah, I don't lie."
"You don't lie."
"That's what I said."
"Ever?"
"Nope."
"Well," she replied "that's a good policy if you can stick to it."
"I don't have a choice, holding stuff in doesn't really work for me. Learned that the hard way."
She mulled it over for a few seconds before answering carefully.
"So you're always honest," it was a statement more than a question and as she said it her voice was tinted with disbelief.
"Aren't you?" I asked her, this was something I needed to know. I didn't see the point in liars.
"No, I'm not." she said it matter of factly as if I should have already known this about her. For some reason it didn't seem to bother me that she had just told me she wasn't always honest. This surprised me because I have always had the same view about untruthful people.
"Well," I replied, not quite sure what to say. "That's good to know, I guess."
"I'm not saying I'm a liar." she stated. I tried as much as was possible to hide my reaction to this but I felt my eyebrow raise and cursed myself silently under my breath as I looked at the hurt begin to spread across Annabel's perfect features. "That's not how I meant it anyway." She added half hearted.
"How'd you mean it then?" I asked desperate to at least attempt to build a bridge over that insignificant moment.
"It's just... I don't always say what I feel"
"Why not?" I asked struggling to understand this.
"Because the truth sometimes hurts." As she said this I got a look into her eyes and there was something there, I couldn't be sure what but I didn't like it. Something was scaring her.
"Yeah, so do lies though." I replied, somehow I wasn't sure that I was grasping the concept pf her theory to greatly.
"I don't... I just don't like to hurt people. Or upset them. So sometimes, you know, I won't say exactly what I think, to spare them that."
"But that's still I lie," I confirmed. "Even if you mean well."
"You know, I find it really hard to belive that you're always honest." She replied as if she was trying to score a point on me.
"Believe it. It's true." I answered her honestly.
"So if I were to ask you if I looked fat in this outfit, and you thought that I did, you'd say so." she said somewhat sceptically.
"Yes," I answered amused at the look of surprise on her face. She wasn't going to win this.
"You would not." She answered defiantly.
"I would. I might not say it that way, exactly, but if I thought you didn't look good-"
"No way." She answered flatly it was clear she thought I was lying where I sat. I couldn't believe someone so beautiful could be so stubborn.
"-and you'd asked." I added just so she wouldn't think I was insolent and just insulting within my nature. "I'd tell you. I wouldn't just offer it up though. I'm not a hateful person. But if you asked for my opinion, I'd give it." She shook her head at me, a disbelieving smile playing at the edges of her heart shaped mouth. I noticed her lips were a pale pink and her teeth were practically perfect, was there anything about this girl that was flawed? Apart from her trust.
"Look, like I said, for me, not saying how I feel when I feel it is a bad move. So I don't do it. Look at it this way: I might be saying you're fat, but at least I'm not punching you in the face."
"Are those the only options?" She asked looking slightly scared and I knew her thoughts were flashing back to Ronnie Waterman.
"Not always, just sometimes. And it's good to know your options, right?"
She turned her head away from me and I could have sworn that her snow white features turned pink but it might have just been a trick of the light. She suddenly fixated her gaze to the street ahead a look of confusion etched on her face this was soon replaced by worry and concern.
"Still straight?" I asked pretending I hadn't noticed, I didn't want to look nosy.
"Um, no" she answered obviously distracted by whatever she had seen.
"Then... what? Right? Left?" I couldn't pretend I hadn't noticed any longer it pained me to see her pretty features contorted into this mask of concern. "What's wrong?"
"That's my sister." She said nodding towards a car parked further ahead. The poor girl looked upset, she had her head in her hands. She reminded me of Annabel, that first day she sat on my wall.
"Is... is she okay?"
"No, she's not." The statement was so unemotional and detached I wasn't quite sure how to tackle it.
"Oh," was all I could think of then the obvious. "Well, do you want to-"
"No, take a right." I couldn't help glancing at the girl in the car. She was sobbing and I wondered why Annabel didn't want to go and comfort her. I knew my stare was making Annabel uncomfortable but I couldn't help it. I just couldn't understand why this amazing girl would just pass up the opportunity to care about someone who was obviously very close to her.
"She's sick. She has been for a while now." She stated like she had something to explain for.
"I'm sorry." This was the most cliche thing to say but what else was there? "Which is yours?" I asked her attempting to change the subject, I didn't want to see this perfect angel upset it just wouldn't be right.
"The glass one." She answered
"The glass- Oh right." The house was amazing in the kitchen I could see a middle aged woman standing looking worried she looked eager as she saw my car approach but then her smile quickly faded and I knew she had hoped that Annabel was that other girl we saw sobbing her heart out a few streets back. My heart went out to this woman.
"Man, that's really something." Was all I could muster. Way to look intelligent Owen you big lummux.
"People in glass houses." Annabel replied. I glanced back toward the house, the woman was still staring intently at the car as if the crying girl was going to materialise in the back seat or something. I felt a pang of sadness as I realised that something was truly wrong.
"Well, thanks for the ride. For everything." Annabel broke the silence.
"No problem." I replied.
The girl pulled into the driveway and Annabel waved but the girl ignored her this confused me my family was quite close even if we did own a Mallory. She turned back to me.
"So when is it? Your radio show."
"Sundays, at seven."
"I'll listen." She answered
"In the morning." I added waiting for her reaction.
"Seven in the morning. Really?" This amused me greatly.
"Yeah, it's not the ideal time slot, but you take what you can get. Insomniacs are listening, at least."
"Enlightened insomniacs." She corrected me and I was glad she was taking something useful away with her from this car ride.
"Yeah exactly."
"Well," she said. "I guess I should go."
"Okay. I'll see you around." I felt the urge to give her a hug but I didn't know what her invisible boundary lines this may cross. I watched her safely enter her house then began to drive away. Okay so maybe she was actually flawed somewhere, not in her features but within her emotions. She lied sometimes, her family life didn't seem too good and her confidence didn't always seem to be there. I arrived home and attempted to have a conversation with my Mom when she arrived home but I had to go up to my room. I fell asleep as thoughts of beautiful girls in Lanoler sweaters twirled gracefully around in my head. Something was different about Annabel Greene.