Chapter Four

AN. Credit for this idea goes to happilyeverafter18. Thanks Hun :) I really liked this idea.., R&R

I am writing this without just listen so if there are any mistakes I apologise.

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter it is solely about Owen and his picture nothing else.

I told myself I wouldn't do it, it was wrong. Did I really want to look like some weird freaky stalker? I didn't I knew I didn't and truly I didn't see the point in pining after someone who probably didn't feel the same way. So why did I find myself in Mallory's room at daft o'clock in the morning treading carefully between the discarded clothes and teen mags she idolised? I couldn't sleep would be the obvious answer but Annabel Greene was the reason that I couldn't sleep. I couldn't get that wonderful girl out of my head I remembered her smell, her sweet smell of strawberries; was it her shampoo or a new perfume? So that was part of the reason I was stood in my little sister's cluttered room another part was Mallory's model collection. Photographs of models covered practically every inch of Mallory's walls and I wondered if she had any pictures of Annabel, I mean her reaction to her yesterday obviously proved something didn't it? Unless I was just your average typical guy and I thought it meant something and it really didn't.

I pressed my face to Mallory's wall I mean if I wanted to find Annabel I'd really need to look closely. There were blondes, brunettes and redheads galore but none of them made my heart rate increase dramatically. They were all average people dressed in nothing but skin tight self confidence. Obviously Mallory thought they looked 'fashionable' but i think we both knew that Mom wouldn't let her dress like that, at least not in this life time. Then I saw her it was strange seeing a picture of her instead of the real thing. She was extremely photogenic but hey, she was a model after all, I'd tell her one day that she was on Mallory's wall she should be honoured but then looking around at the other pictures Mallory didn't really have much taste Annabel was by far the best looking girl on these walls; then again I was biased.

Then I saw her and she caught my breath even in photograph form, she was beautiful. It was a calender shoot which I figured out from the big block red AUGUST written at the top. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back and loose curls, she'd cut it since this photo shoot. Her piercing blue eyes stared straight into the camera, a kind of glint to them; it was cleared that here she was enjoying herself. She was wearing a black t-shirt with the venues logo on for advertisement purposes I assumed. She sported tiny denim shorts which showed off her long tanned legs, it surprised me to see Annabel in anything like that but considering she was AUGUST it made sense not to be fully clothed. She was barefooted with her toes painted multi coloured she was a spontaneous girl back then - what happened? Her legs were crossed just one draping over the other it was a way that no one really would ever casually stand but on her it looked great. The most amusing thing about this picture was she was surrounded by tires, she had one hand on her hip and the other hung loosely over a massive tire that looked like it had been recently removed from a tractor.

This photo was brimming with confidence there was nothing self confident about it, when I looked at it I saw a bubbly, confident and ambitious girl. When I looked at the real Annabel I saw beauty but also pain. There was something else there but I just couldn't be sure what. Something had happened and whatever it was it was hurting her and I wanted to know, I wanted to make the pain disappear but I didn't know what had happened so I didn't know how to approach the situation. Annabel would tell me in time, when she was ready to trust me irrevocably.

I took the picture, I couldn't leave it on Mallory's wall not when I knew that I would be thinking about it all night, I quietly closed the door behind me as I left. When I got back to my room I was able to inspect the picture closely, her pink lips frosted with some glossy stuff were posed in the perfect 'o' shape as if the photographer had randomly caught her by surprise leaning against a tractor tire. Also, apart from her beauty which was prominent I was able to see a few flaws in her features, like she had a tiny spot just below her eye which had been doused in concealer but it wasn't hid completely. Also, a scratch on her arm began to come into focus. That night I fell asleep and dreamed of beautiful girls against tire tractors. This was beginning to become and unhealthy obsession.