Owen
The very next morning, I awake to fuzzy memory and a throbbing body. I drag myself out of bed, preparing myself to muster the energy to step over the clothes strewn all over my bedroom floor.
Shit. I didn't clear my laundry yesterday. Ora's gonna throw a fit.
I cringe at the thought of my sweaty, stinky tank top and shorts, discarded in the corner of y room, and freeze.
My vision clears. All of a sudden, my surroundings come into view with shocking intensity. Cream walls, powder blue bedsheets with freaking Tweety all over them. The room is strikingly familiar. Out the window, just across, I can see my bedroom.
No brainer. This isn't my room.
I jolt, half-expecting someone to come in randomly at any second, to catch me in Evangeline's room like a perv sniffing through her things like the last time.
My head pounds with a dull sensation, resurfacing memories from last night. I have some kind of gauze wrapped around my head, and I can feel the stretch of bandages on my cheek as I make a face at myself in the mirror. My lip stings.
Split.
I look at myself in Evangeline's closet mirror, door ajar. I brush my finger over my injuries, wincing. My memory is blurred, the only things playing in my head are Daniel's punches, my delusional, half conscious state as Asher and Evangeline hefted me upstairs, my wounds getting treated.
Dammit. I'm going to be in so much trouble.
I creep downstairs. I should hightail it out of here and let Ora and Penny know I'm okay. My phone is nowhere to be found. What time is it?
I hear voices, and I go past the foyer and front door, my original destination, to investigate. The door to the living room has been left ajar. I nudge it open, a twinge going up my shoulder.
The adults crowded around the kitchen counter over cups of coffee all turn in unison. Aunt Mariam clasps her hands to her bosom in a show of relief.
"Owen, dear. You're awake!"
Ora and Penny shoot up, their chairs scraping backward. "Owen!" My sister exclaims, rushing to me. Her swollen belly presses into my stomach, but I don't mind. I bend down and return her worried embrace. Penny tuts and I extricate myself from my sister's grasp.
"Ora. Let the boy breathe." Penny leads me to sit on one of the barstools, pressing a mug of steaming tea into my hands. "Your phone." Ora passes it to me. I turn it over in my hands. The screen protector has a crack in it, lines spiderwebbing across the surface.
I had barely noticed Mariam's husband's presence. He stares at me indifferently, Rolex glimmering on his thick wrist, dressed up in an Armani tux, hands folded over his chest.
I swallow in the uncomfortable silence of the place, all the grownups staring holes into my head.
I gulp and manage a few words. "Ah-Aunt Mariam, Mr Tony, Im terribly sorry about the mess. I'll be sure to pay for the damages..."
Aunt Mariam's eyes flick to the empty spot on the coffee table. I definitely heard something break last night in the scuffle. "There is no need. However, we would like to discuss some terms with you, along with Daniel Miller." She presses her lips together.
Penny takes my sister's hand. "Once again, we deeply apologise for Owen's behaviour. If we can make it up to you in any way..."
Aunt Mariam, ever big-hearted and lenient, smiles warmly. "Not at all. Besides, boys will be boys. Daniel's guardian will be here soon, and the children will arrive home soon."
Mariam's husband glowers, and he harrumphs. Is he always in such a foul mood?
