Double Trouble (Owen Joyner and Charlie Gillespie)

Erynn -14

"You guys suck you know!" I shouted at the two as they walked out, leaving me in his empty bedroom. I laid back down on his bed in a starfish position. I ran my arms up and down his bed as if I was making a snow angel, feeling the cotton comforter run smoothly across my palms. I did this until I heard from the door "Y'know, we have to stop meeting like this."

I looked up at the door to see Charlie leaning his weight against his doorframe with his arms crossed, a curious look on his face. I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs, giving him a toothy smile. He shook his head and walked towards the bed, reaching out a hand to grasp my own. "Come on, help me make dinner." I grabbed his hand letting him help me up, walking to the kitchen together. Once we were there I hopped up on his counter.

He opened the fridge and cabinets, grabbing ingredients to make something starchy. "What are we making chef?" I asked, swinging my feet back and forth. He responded, "chicken pot pie" without looking away from the cookbook. I hopped off the counter and grabbed his cookbook, putting it back in its resting place. "Hey!" He responded, going to grab it again only for me to slide it further down the counter, farther from his grasp.

"No, we're not following a cookbook when you have me." I retorted, challenging him with an eyebrow raised. His mouth gaped open as if he were about to give me a comeback. Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument, he leaned against the counter, huffing in defeat. I hummed in satisfaction, looking at the ingredients he had pulled out. I then turned to him and said, "Can you fill a small bowl with ice water and if you have a food processor then can you get it for me?" I rolled up my sleeves and turned back to my current ingredients.

He reached past my hip to open the bottom cabinet, pulling a food processor out. After filling the bowl of ice water he turned to me "Anything else, chef?" He asked with a smirk appearing on his face at the use of my own term.

"You'll make the filling while I prepare the shell, okay?" I started rambling on as if I were Chef Ramsay, making him chuckle at my serious tone. "Sir yes sir." He responded before going to his designated cooking station.

~

After putting the uncooked pot pie into the oven we both let out an exhale as we relaxed, relieved to finally have a break. We had spent the last hour rushing around the kitchen trying to get everything in order on time and now that we were done, exhaustion hit us.

Charlie sat at the small kitchen table and set his head on his arms, looking down at the table. I sat across from him and leaned back to put my head on the back of the chair, closing my eyes in the process. "Are we done yet?" Charlie asked me, muffled by his arms. I chuckled, looking at him. I placed my hand on his arm and rubbed back and forth.

"Yeah Char, we're done." I laughed out, halting my hand movements, letting it rest on his forearm. He looked up at me with a relieved expression on his face. "Can we go watch movies until it's done then?" He asked me with puppy dog eyes posted on his face. I chuckled and nodded, earning an excited smile from him. He reached out for my hand so I reached out to join mine with his. He shook his head, dropping my hand and reached out his pinky instead. I smiled, blushing slightly and wrapped my pinky with his. Together we walked out to the living room to sit. I sat on the leather couch and put my feet up to rest on the glass coffee table as Charlie walked off towards his bedroom. A few moments later he came back with his laptop to join me on the couch.

Charlie put the laptop on the table beside my feet, immediately putting on School of Rock. I gasped, hitting him repeatedly on his shoulder. "I love this movie!" I exclaimed while staring at the screen. He laughed and pulled me closer to lay against his side.

"It's one of my favourites," He excitedly yelled back, throwing his arm over my shoulders, pulling me tightly into a side hug. I swung my feet to lay across the rest of the couch while he put one of his legs up on the coffee table. I wrapped one arm around his torso, feeling his ab muscles tense at my touch. We watched the movie in silence, my eyelids closing after about 20 minutes.

~

I jumped awake at the sound of Owen's booming voice, squeezing Charlie in shock. "What are you doing? Trying to burn the fucking apartment down!" He screamed, shaking Charlie and I awake. It took me a minute before the smell of our burnt dinner entered my nose. I jumped up running into the kitchen. When I opened the oven a cloud of black smoke escaped, setting off the fire alarm.

I instinctively reached my hand in to take it out before it caught fire, my fingertips sizzling as I touched the hot pie tin. I gasped, retracting my hand to hold against my chest. Charlie ran into the kitchen behind me, turning off the oven immediately. He ripped open one of the drawers and pulled out an oven mitt, slipping it on before taking the dish out of the oven to set on the stovetop.

Owen grabbed my shoulders and rushed me to the front door, Emilee and Charlie in our tow. Owen led me to the hallway where the rest of the apartment's residents were filing out of their doors and down to the staircase. We joined the crowd, walking down to stand outside to wait for the fire department to arrive. We stood in our own group away from the rest of the people.

Charlie walked up to me and reached out to grab my hands. I turned my body to face away from him, hiding my hands in my chest. He placed a hand on my shoulder, quietly pleading. "Erynn, please. I just want to see how bad it is." He tugged slightly on my shoulder, turning my body to face his once again. He reached forwards and untangled my hands. He held out my pulsing fingers, taking in the bright red marks across the tips and palm of that hand. He looked up into my eyes and brought my hand to his mouth.

He placed a soft kiss on my fingertips while holding eye contact with me. His lips were soft against my scorched skin. Electricity seemed to sprout from the contact, probably due to their current state. His lips lingered on each finger for a moment before moving to the next. His final kiss was placed atop the burn on my palm, lingering slightly longer than the last ones.

The moment we shared was abruptly ended by Owen's presence. He turned and grabbed my shoulders, harshly pulling me to stand in front of him. "What the fuck were you thinking? Were you even thinking? How could you be so reckless, falling asleep with FOOD IN THE OVEN!" He shouted at me, gaining the attention of a few bystanders. I looked at the other residences as embarrassment took over. God, not this again. Not now. I could feel the tears build behind my eyes as the sound of Owen's voice turned into my own mother's nags. "I can't believe you could be so careless, how could you be so careless? You should have thought, was anything going in your mind?" He continued to shout.

"I'm sorry O," I muttered on my breath, looking down to hide the tears that pooled in my eyes. Charlie stepped up to try and shield my body behind his. "She said she's sorry man. We didn't mean to fall asleep." Charlie voiced defending me. Owen shook his head and continued.

"You shouldn't have fucking left the kitchen. You could've at least warned us you wouldn't be next to the oven. I thought it was common sense, I mean-" Owen got cut off by Emilee, who walked up and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Erynn, you made a mistake, it's okay. It happens, Owen, I think you need to breathe and maybe calm down a little bit. It wasn't even on fire, it was only smoke, she apologized. It's done, hun." Em gave me an apologetic look as Owen stood dumbfounded behind her. She turned back to grab Owen's arm and tugging him a few feet away.

They begin talking quietly between themselves as Charlie turns back to me. He tilted my head to look up at him. He must have noticed my tears because he reached up and wiped them away as they fell. "It's okay, you're okay, we're okay." He stated with a small smile. I forced one back and took in a shaky breath, internally calming myself down.

Owen walked over to us with Emilee, visibly calmer than before. When he approached he twisted his ring in his fingers. He tore his gaze from the ground as he spoke.

"Um, I'm sorry, Erynn. I shouldn't have yelled at you. How about we order pizza or something instead?" Owen breathed out, scratching the back of his neck. I looked up at him with the same tight smile I had given Charlie before nodding my head. "I'd like that."