Riptide (An Emblem3 Fanfic)

Chapter 24

I was higher than the clouds by the time I reached the hotel room. Our date was amazing; Wes took me to a really good Italian place that he had found online. Since it was so late we basically had the entire restaurant to ourselves. Not only was the food incredible, but it was really nice to go out with Wes finally. It was pretty late, but Drew went downstairs and met Wes in the lobby. They were going to hit the pool before going to sleep.

I slipped the plastic key card into the lock on the door. I practically skipped into the room. My heart almost stopped beating when I felt the plush carpeting under my shoes. My eyes widened. I crinkled my eyebrows at the sight of Owen sitting on the couch, reading in the dim lighting.

"What are you doing up?" I asked him glancing over at the clock on the wall. It was practically 11:30. What the hell was he doing up reading?

"Waiting for you." He said without lifting his gaze from the crisp pages of the book in his hand. Why was he waiting up for me? I swear if he gives me any more shit about my relationship with Wesley I was going to punch him in the face.

"Okay..." I said trailing off. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. "I'm just going to-" I was interrupted by Owen. He finally tore his eyes away from the book and gave me a blank look.

"Does he make you happy?" He asked. That question caught me a little off guard. Wes did make me happy. The past few weeks that I have spent with him have been some of the best weeks of my life. No one makes me feel happier than he does.

I nodded my head at Owen softly, wondering if there was some kind of lecture coming. Surprisingly enough, Owen didn't say anything snappy. He just looked up at me with his eyes full of sadness and rejection. I hate making him feel like this. This whole thing is so unrealistic to me; I'm not a heartbreaker. I've never even been in the position to break someone's heart before. Wesley was the first guy to even ask me on a date. 

At that moment I started getting angry. It's not fair. A guy finally likes me and wants to spend time with me, and then another guy tries to swoop in and take me away.

"If he really makes you happy... I'll back off." He said softly. Well I wasn't exactly expecting that. I searched his eyes for some sign that this was a joke, but he didn't show any. I should have been ecstatic, but I only felt confused. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to Owen.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him.

"Because I care about you. And if you care about someone, you want them to be happy, even if it means hurting yourself." He looked into my eyes and I finally understood how much he actually cared about me. It was like a scene from an intense romance movie, I didn't know there were guys like that out there- ones that would put their girl's happiness before everything else. 

"Well I really appreciate it." I told him putting my hand on his shoulder. I felt his shoulder sadly collapse under my hand. I pulled back immediately. "Does this mean we can-" I started. Before I could finish a small giggle escaped my lips. Owen raised his eyebrow at me with a small smirk on his face.

"What?" He asked.

"Does this mean that we can still be friends? Ugh god, I'm sorry that is so cliché." I laughed again, I saw a smile on his face, but he still looked pretty sad. He put his book down on the coffee table and looked directly at me.

"Avery, I'd love to be friends with you." And with that he left me in my cloud of confusion and walked off to his room.

The next day we were going to go dinner together, so beforehand I decided to spend some time with Keaton. We walked downstairs and found a cafe a little ways down the street. We both sat down and  ordered a light lunch. Keaton and both ordered a hot sandwich with tomato, basil and chicken. After we gave the waiter our order Keaton took out his camera.

"Avery!" I lifted up my head and he snapped a picture of me. Keaton clicked a few buttons and smiled. He turned the camera over to me so I could see. "Haha, you look cute." I laughed. I had this weird look on my face, popping my head up. My blonde hair was cutting across a corner of my face. I actually did look kind of cute.

I took the camera and flipped through all the pictures. I smiled at all of the frames that Keaton had taken so far. I saw Adrianna and I making faces at the Warner Brothers’ lot, Wes cradling me in his arms at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Drew teaching Adrianna how to play pool at the pool table in the games room downstairs. 

"Aw, Keats! There aren't that many pictures of you in here!" I fake pouted. He laughed from across the table and shrugged. The waiter laid two plates of food in front of us. Keaton started eating his French fries and I started to have an idea. I grinned. "Work it Keaton, work it! You eat those fries!" I said while snapping photos. I heard Keaton cracking up, but he went for it anyway.

"Okay now give me angry, upset, surprised. You have a secret!" After a few more shots we were both laughing hysterically. I handed the camera back to him. "So, uh Owen said that he was going to back off." I said nibbling at my Panini.

"That's great, right?" He said taking another handful of French fries. He paused and then reached across the table for the salt and pepper.

"It should be, but I don't know. I have no idea if he was being serious or trying to play with my mind." I admitted. "And if he's just trying to play with my mind, it's working. I can't stop thinking about him." I told Keaton.

"Do you have feelings for him?" Keaton asked with wide eyes. I shook my head.

"No, I find him more frustrating than anything." I said. Keaton looked pretty relieved. He smiled at me.

"Oh, I heard your date with Wes went pretty well." Keaton said as if just remembering. "He was still talking about it the next day." I grinned.

"Really?" I was filled with a new sense of warmth. I smiled down at myself. Keaton and I talked for a few more minutes and then paid for our food.

"You want to go see what the guys are up to?" Keaton asked standing up from the table.

"Sure." I nodded in agreement. We walked back up to the hotel and rode the elevator back up to our friends.