"What's that?" The redhead immediately noticed the misplaced whiteboard behind Lowery. It was an unusual time for her to show up at the control center and so they hadn't bother putting it away. They took those down time lapses to bring it out and update it.

Not many of them had changed their bets, Lowery still believed Claire was going to be the one kissing Owen first and she'll do it by date six. The couple had gone golfing for their third date, thankfully they had the surveillance cameras to spy them. It was very evident in the redhead's body language that she wanted for Owen to just kiss her already, and his body language while very touchy-feely didn't have the same urgency. The brunette man was convinced that by date six, Claire would have had enough and get what she wanted on her own.

Vivian was on the same page, she also thought Claire would eventually give in and kiss him, but was inclined to think that their boss wouldn't be able to wait that long and will do it on their fifth date. A few of them were convinced that Claire would lead him on and do the whole work but wait for him to close the space and do it.

"That's a—wait what are you doing here?" Lowery wasn't trying to change the subject, he was really curious.

"I told you, I'm leaving early tomorrow to town so I came to make sure the park will survive without me for one day." She explained, her eyes scanning the board. "Are you guys placing bets?" She could tell those were odds next to each of their names. Claire crossed her arms against her chest and her green eyes fell on the young man for a few seconds, "you know it's against policy to bet money—"

"No...no... not money! Plus, that's...that's just the times we have win and lose playing... tic—tac—toe?" He knew he couldn't sell that one.

"What are you guys—" Claire gasped after reading how each column was divided by date with an odd of kiss/no kiss. "YOU are BETTING on the possibility of OWEN and ME KISSING?!" She was blushing, upset, even a little embarrassed, and she could not believe they were doing this.

"Are you mad?" Lowery frown and hid his head behind his arms.

"How do you even know if we haven't yet?" She curved her eyebrow, it was until something caught her attention on the screen at the front when it hit her. "YOU HAVE BEEN SPYING ON US?"

"Spying is a big word~" Lowery chuckled nervously.

"What else have you been doing?" She was by now standing right beside him, looking down on him with this intense glance that he felt could cut him in half.

"We—" He looked back at his team members who were all shaking their heads. "We might have been listening too..." He shyly confessed.

"WHAT!?"

"Just a little bit, woman." He sheltered his face with his arms, "please don't kill me!"

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!?" Claire was fuming. She turned to look back at the board and covered her face with her hands. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't fire you, ALL OF YOU!"

"We are sorry?" He offered timidly with a smirk.

The redhead had her back on him, she couldn't keep her eyes off that board. She was taking advantage of it maybe there was something she was missing because she was dying to kiss Owen and he just wouldn't do it. Maybe they had caught something she had missed and it was hiding somewhere in those odds. She noticed all of them were down for either the fifth or sixth date and quietly smiled seeing some of them did believe he was to kiss her first.

"What's the bet!?" She demanded to know.

"The losers get a dare..." He lied. He had already admitted they weren't playing for money which had a serious disciplinary process (not that it matter anymore).

"I want in." She turned to look at him.

Lowery looked around not following.

"PUT ME DOWN, hurry up!"

"Yes, Ma'am." He grabbed the marker and added her name to the bottom of the board and waited for her to tell him what she would be betting on.

"I'll be the one kissing him and I'll do it tomorrow." Claire rested her hand on her belly, for some reason saying that made her nervous. Once Lowery put her down for that, she opened her camera phone and snapped a photo of the board. "None of you get to change your odds." She scanned the room with her finger.

"Um, Claire?" Lowery raised his hand.

"WHAT?"

"You'll have to do it here in the park where we can witness or it doesn't count..." He managed to explain, terrified of her.

"I'll do it under your nose." She assured him. "I hope you enjoy your dare, losers." She turned on her heels and headed to the exit.

"And PLEASE clean your work place." She called out before leaving.

After a little over a month of dating, Claire had finally agreed to leave the island for a date in town. It was Saturday and the soccer game for that afternoon was one of those classics that had every aficionado biting down on their nails. The fact that Claire would be off the island all Saturday made the cleaning staff feel like they had more freedom than the past three games and they were going to take advantage of both el clásico and the fact that Claire would be gone until late that night.

The redhead and Owen had agreed to meet in front of Starbucks at six in the morning that day. He had made it before she did and was waiting with some coffee for her. The man smiled once he saw her walking through the still empty streets of the park and walked over to find her.

"Hi, sorry I'm late." She blushed lightly. Claire had changed at least three times before agreeing on wearing three quarter jeans and a beige and brown double singlet. She knew they would probably be walking a lot so left the heels behind and wore a pair of brown sandals. Owen was wearing a pair of jeans and his Navy hoodie. The thing about Central American weather was that it got a little cold in the morning before the sun came out and then it got chilly at night at around seven thirty.

"Are you okay?" He tilted his head, it was evident she was a little nervous. She might have made it seem like she had bet on kissing him today just to fuck with the people at control center, but that had only been an instrument she used to enable herself and just kiss him.

"Yeah. I—um—I contacted the ferry to wait for us, so..." She nibbled on her lower lip. "We are still on schedule.

"Are you sure you don't want to use a chopper? We would be there faster and I know you can have one ready in half an hour." He insisted. Once she had so easily agreed to go to town, Owen had suggested they used one of those to take them and pick them up but she had turned that idea down.

"No." She shook her head looking down, "No chopper, the ferry is fine." She tilted her head.

"Okay. I won't bring it up again, I promise." He ran his arm around her waist and walked with her toward the jeep that was waiting for them. This time around, the redhead didn't slide into the passengers seat but sat with him in the back. She leaned against his shoulder, smiling softly to herself feeling his arm hugging her close to him and his fingers playing with her wavy long hair.

"Can I ask why, though?" It ready made no sense. It wasn't like the choppers were being used at the moment and it would be back in fifteen minutes tops. "You can tell me, it's not like I'll get mad or anything." He teased her pressing a soft kiss against her temple.

"You promise you won't make fun of me?" She giggled, muffling against his chest.

"I promise~" He nodded.

Claire sighed, tilting her head up and fixed her eyes on his, "I'm scared of flying." She casually admitted, looking away while the jeep drove them out of the park and to the ferry landing.

Owen nodded to acknowledge her confession and smiled softly. The driver got the back door for them and Owen stepped out first before helping her out.

Back at the park, Miguel and Hector got the message that Claire had board the ferry and now it was time for them to get everything ready for their game. This one didn't start until noon, so they still had six hours to go...but this time they were going big, and needed time to prepare.

The first thing was to have the IMAX Theater out of service from the moment the park opened its gates. It wasn't like the guest would miss it, all it did was run a fifteen short film with the park's history. The technicians were working on setting it up for the game while the rest of the personnel were to believe they were working on the malfunction.

A big group of the employees was also working on selling tickets for the game, twenty dollars each. That would give them enough money to pay Owen for the rest of the Champions League. Every local willing to pay that price to watch Real Madrid vs Barcelona in an IMAX screen.

Once off the ferry and into town, Claire and Owen had found a little cycle rickshaw terminal and agreed to pay the ride over to the local street market about ten block from there. They adjusted on the seat and once again, Owen didn't lose time to bring his arm around her shoulders.

"Buenos días, ¿para donde el viaje?" The young man to be riding them around wondered.

"Buenos días," Claire greeted him back, "queremos ir al mercado a diez cuadras." The redhead smiled and nodded, Owen looking her way with no idea what they were talking about.

"Son ochocientos colones." The young man gave his fee for the trip.

"¿En dólares americanos?" Claire frowned apologetically.

The young man nodded, they had their special fee for tourists, "Cinco dólares."

"What!?" She looked over to Owen who was already taking a five dollar bill out of his wallet, "no wait. He is ripping you off!" The redhead shook her head. She knew that the first amount given was roughly about one dollar and thirty cents.

"But we are tourists, it's fine!" Owen shrugged and offered the guy the five dollar bill.

Claire snatched the bill before the young man could get to it, "No we are not! I don't know about you... but I've been living here for over ten years!" She was offended this local douchebag was trying to play smart with her. "Cinco dólares pero nos esperas y nos llevas a nuestra siguiente parada..." Claire negotiated with the guy, which was only fair, after all the five bucks covered almost four trips.

The guy rubbed the back of his neck and nodded his head. Claire handed him the money and once the guy started pedaling, she adjusted against Owen's arm.

"You...speaking...Spanish~sexy." Owen teased her, brushing his finger down her cheek.

"You must be hungry." Owen frowned apologetically. By the time they made it to the street market, it was around ten in the morning and they had only gotten a light breakfast on the ferry.

"You'll be surprise on the amount of breakfast I had skipped before we met." She nibbled on her lip, hearing him chuckle at that. He reached out for her hand and hold it as they kept walking through the different stands along the street.

Claire slowly adjusted her hand and let her fingers intertwined with his, she could feel her heart beating slightly faster as she did. He looked down and smiled, letting his thumb caress her hand a little bit. "Come on, let's take a look at those..." One of the stands was selling hand crafted jewelry. Claire nodded and followed him there.

The two of them started to look around. Claire took a pair of tiger eye clip-on earrings and playfully put them on him, "you should get them!" She giggled watching him blink and pursed his lips at her. "They contrast your eyes~" She added softly, her fingers brushing his hair to the side. Claire felt her eyes falling on his lips for a second before they looked back up.

Owen broke eye contact and gently took a gold-turquoise neckless from the table. He inched closer, the redhead finding his eyes again. She caught herself biting on her lower lip and gulping softly when feeling him this close. He tenderly clipped the necklace around her neck and let his fingers fix her hair over her shoulders.

Claire couldn't stop herself from allowing her fingers to brush his forearms around her neck. She hadn't begged him for a kiss more than she was doing right now. Her green eyes were penetrating and she had inched closer, but he either didn't take the hints or simply wasn't into it. It frustrated her to like him this much and not know how he felt about her.

"This looks beautiful on you. Your eyes are so hypnotizing and with turquoise complimenting them...lethal." He murmured, stealing a soft smile from the redhead. "¿Cuantas dollars?" He turned to look at the lady, his Spanish wasn't the best but he was sure the woman would understand him if he tried.

"Veinticinco dólares el juego con los aretes." The lady explained how the necklace was part of a set and handed him the gold-turquoise dangle earrings.

Owen nodded and set them up on the redhead's ears, "You are so beautiful~" He genuinely offered. "I think that's my favorite color on you." He added before he pulled his wallet out and gave the lady the twenty-five dollars she was asking for the set. He then took the clip-on ones off and set them back on the table.

"Gracias." He offered before intertwining his fingers with Claire's and kept their walk through the street market.

By noon, Owen had been already swallowed by Costa Rican merchandise. He had tied his hoodie around his waist and was now wearing a white t-shirt with a colorful design and logo that every tourist around seemed to be wearing as well. He also had a blue baseball cap featuring the Costa Rican football soccer team logo on his head.

Football soccer was something big in the country all around, not only a fever the one group of employees back in the island caught and Claire was noticing this while they kept walking through the busy streets. Every radio around had switched from playing that noise they called reggaeton to put the game on. She slowly let go of Owen's hand and walked across the street over to a household appliances store. She tilted her head and move through the crowd of freeloaders standing in front of the television displays.

The match had just started and she could sense the excitement and even anxiety among the fans around her. She looked around and noticed most locals were either wearing a blue and red jersey or a white and black one, a detail she hadn't paid attention to until now.

She pulled her iPhone out from the front pocket of her jeans and once she had dialed Zara she rested the iPhone against her ear, "No cellphones~" Owen sang from behind her and taking it away from her he hung up. "I thought you hated soccer..." He teased her, hugging her from behind and nosing into her neck while he pushed her cellphone down on the front pocket of his jeans.

"Yeah~lets get out of here, maybe get some lunch?" She frowned before letting her eyes fall on his.

"Good idea." He nodded, slowly turning her around and leading her through the crowd back to the street.

They had found a little local butcher shop where to have lunch. These were very popular, they did not only sell raw meat by the pound but they also offered a few tables outdoors where people could enjoy a fresh out of the grill steak or pork rinds.

Owen and Claire were sitting at a red plastic table and chairs set with a large Coca Cola logo on it. He had order a beer and was drinking straight from the bottle, Claire had gone with the natural juice the owner of the place had suggested. The redhead was laughing out loud trying to teach Owen how to pronounce 'chicharrón' which was what they had decided to order.

Costa Rican tradition was to cut them in little pieces and made somewhat a taco with them, corn tortillas were used for this, people would also squeeze some lemon there before eating them. The person was back with their order of chicharrones before Owen could even have the first syllable down.

"Chi— as in children." Claire laughed.

Owen smirked and licked his lips, "children, I can say children." He nodded and gave her that first syllable with no problem.

"Second syllable; cha." Claire enunciated, "as in cha-cha." She moved her arms around to the little rhythm making him laugh.

"Sorry I didn't get that, how?" He teased her trying to have her do that little demonstration with the dancing again.

The redhead rolled her eyes and had him say both syllables together, which he did and even if it made her giggle he was doing a good job. "Third syllable is 'rron'. As in run but roll your tongue. She nodded so he could try.

"Chi-cha-ruuuun!" He smiled. The redhead nodding, casually pulled her chair closer to him.

"Yeah. Not bad." She laughed, flirting a little with her eyes.

Owen had pulled their plate close and started cutting their chicharrones in small squares, "what's my prize, gorgeous?" He teased before putting some of the little pieces of meat on a corn tortilla and squeezing some lemon on it, "all this hard work can't be unrewarded." He gently offered her that first one and started working on his.

Claire looked down on the food and licked her lower lip, "I don't know, it can't be anything really~" She looked up, her eyes once again on his lips before slowly making eye contact with him.

"How about we share one of those Chocolate-dipped frozen fruit they seem to sell everywhere for dessert?" He suggested.

"It's a done deal!" She nodded and bit on her tortilla.

By six in the afternoon, the temperature had gone down and the sun was starting to set. Claire and Owen were carrying a few shopping bags, most of them were his and stuff he had gotten just for the heck of it. They found another of those cycle rickshaw and asked to be taken back to the ferry landing, the park's ferry was to leave in twenty minutes and it was the last one for the day so they couldn't afford miss it.

Claire slid onto the seat, letting Owen set their shopping bags on it and secure them so they wouldn't fall. He caught her rubbing her arms trying to keep herself warm so he untied his Navy hoodie from around his waist. Once on the seat with her, he gently reached out and helped her into it. He pulled it down from the ends and Claire pulled from the sleeves.

"Thanks~" She smiled, taking in his scent and feeling those butterflies flapping inside her.

"Pura vida!" He motioned for the guy to ride them to go.

"That's not how it works!" She laughed, snuggling against Owen after feeling his arm pulling her closer to him. He had learned Costa Ricans used that slang for almost everything and he liked how it sounded. He laughed and kissed her forehead.

"¿Puedes ir más rápido? Nuestro ferry es dentro de quince minutos." Claire tapped the shoulder of the guy pedaling them around. He really needed to hurry or they will miss their ferry.

"No. Tenemos regulaciones..." He pointed out at the transit guideline on the back of the rickshaw.

"Fuck." Claire shook her head and leaned back onto the rest completely defeated.

"Hold on, I got this." Owen squeezed her hand in reassurance and leaned forward tapping the guy again, "¿hablo Ingles? He wondered.

"Lo entiendo pero no lo hablo." The guy shook his head.

"He understands but doesn't speak it, which MAKES ZERO SENSE!" She addressed that last part towards the guy, she couldn't stop checking the time in her wrist watch.

Owen nodded, "I'll give you a hundred bucks for your bike, dude. What do you say?" He pulled his wallet out from the pocket of his jeans and showed him the brand new bill he had gotten from Miguel and Hector the day before.

Claire tilted her head and frowned, he was crazy, "how can you afford spending a hundred dollars just like that!?" She chuckled, "don't be silly, c'mon. I'm sure they'll wait for me—for us." She nodded.

"A hundred bucks, amigo! Pura vida!" Owen insisted. "You can even recover it at the ferry landing!" He pointed out.

The guy nodded and taking the bill from Owen he stopped pedaling and got off the bike. Owen didn't lose another minute and jumped off the back so he could get on the bike, and immediately started pedaling as fast as he could. The redhead on the back screaming and holding close from the seat.

Owen and Claire walked up the Innovation Center holding hands. She looked up to the security camera behind them, and then brought her attention back to Owen. She suddenly grew very nervous. She pulled from the sleeves of his hoodie, hiding her cold fingers under them before resting her hands on his chest and slowly caressing it.

"I wish you'd let me walk you home." He offered softly, looking down, trying to find her eyes which were shying away from him.

Claire shook her head, "I have to go up to my office and catch up on some things." She frowned still looking down. She bit on her lower lip and feeling her heart beating fast against her chest she inched closer, her hands still on his chest. "I—hadn't been out of the island in years...I had a really good time." She gulped finally letting his hazel eyes look into her green ones.

"I had a really great time too." He offered, reaching out and caressing her arm gently, "You can keep the hoodie, I—" He shrugged with a light smile.

"I wasn't thinking on giving it back." She chuckled nervously.

"Good, it's yours." He smirked, letting his fingers brush her red hair and tucking it behind her ear.

Claire closed her eyes and tilted her head against his touch. She slowly opened them and let them fall on his. She sighed lightly and slowly leaned in.

"She's going for it!" The entire control center was still sitting there at nine thirty at night. "She is going for it!" They were at the edge of their seat.

Claire Dearing had never wanted something so bad in her life and she had never been so nervous about this before, either. She felt his fingers playing with her hair and that only enabled her to step closer and get that kiss she had been craving for. The redhead gently brushed her lips against his and slid her hands up around his shoulders.

In that second the entire control center went quiet and their expressions changed, "ouch..." Someone couldn't contain and bluntly let out.

"I don't want to hurt you..." Owen murmured softly after pulling away before she could kiss him.

"Hurt me?" Claire echoed puzzled, feeling her heart sinking into her stomach making her feel sick. Her eyes were confused and a little hurt while staring into his, "This is so humiliating..." She chuckled brushing her forehead with her finger and stepping away from him.

"Humiliating?" He gently reached out for her hand but she pulled it back. "It's not like I'm going to make fun of you." He frowned.

She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, "Goodnight, Owen." She looked down and without looking back rushed into the building and up the her office.

Owen was left behind on his own, he kicked his shoe against the ground and grabbing his shopping bags, he started to walk his way back to his bungalow.

It was a long walk but he needed it so he could clear up his mind.