Selene's New Moon

Chapter 27: Caught Staring

   In the end, it was decided that we would continue on to Washington, but not to headquarters.  It seemed that Owen had a safe house somewhere there that the Academy didn't know about.  They knew of the one he has in Colorado, but he mentioned something about it being important to always have a backdoor..... I had voiced my worries about  Bram being able to find me. Felix had reminded me that he wasn't a normal bird.  I  was still a little worried- after all, I had no way to contact him.  We had managed to be packed up and ready to go in the 20 minutes that Owen had allotted us, and we have now been driving for few hours. Since we had eaten such a large breakfast, we made do with snacks and quick bathroom breaks at rest stops on the way.  Most of the guys were starting to get rather hungry.  I have to admit that I was a little hungry myself.

      I was sitting beside Dwyer in the back of the car.   He was not willing to leave my side after the visions he had last night.  I didn't mind spending the day next to him, especially if it helped him feel more settled.   Aiden and Kenji were sitting up front.   Owen and Felix were in the other car, which is ahead of us, leading the way.   The whole day had been pretty quiet.  Everybody was pretty much caught up in their own thoughts.  The music had been nice and low and the motion of the car had lulled me near to sleep several times.  I was again almost falling asleep when one of the guys' cell phone went off.  Aiden answers his phone and grunts a couple of times. 

  "Finally!  We are stopping at the Applebees off the next exit, "  Aiden growls.    Kenji's only response is a small chuckle, but Dwyer startles.  I guess he had started to doze off again. 

  "Huh?  What's going on?"  Dwyer mumbles. 

  "We are stopping for dinner,"  I answer him quietly.

  "Thank god.  I am starving," he replies.   He rubs his face and then gives me a sleepy smile  as he takes my hand in his and then gives it a gentle squeeze.  He has held my hand off and on for most of the car trip today,  but his actions still has the butterflies flying in my stomach.  I smile back at him.

  It is not long before we are all getting out of the cars and walking into the restaurant.  Since it is pretty late,  we don't have to wait long at all to be seated- even though we are a large group.    We are taken to  a large, circular booth. 

  "Sit next to Owen and me darling,"  Felix whispers close to my ear, making me tremble a little as his hand wraps under my elbow. 

  The booth is really large,  but so are most of the guys so we are all sitting rather close.   I settle in next to Felix and as Owen sits down next to my other side  his leg brushes against mine.   These butterflies are never going to settle.   Menus are handed out and I hide my face in mine as soon as I can.   After a couple of minutes,  Owen leans even closer to me and his voice rumbles lowly,  "Has anything caught your eye?"  I can feel my face heat up a little and just shake my head no.  How can I think of what to eat when Owen's and Felix's legs keep brushing against mine?    I seem to be so hyper aware of them today. 

  The server comes and takes everyone's orders.  As he takes the orders from the guys, I quickly try to make a decision.   "And for you miss?"  I look up at the server nervously. 

  "Um,  the chicken fingers please,"  I say, finally making a decision. 

  "Of course,"  the server says and then he winks at me before getting Owen's order.  

  As the server walks off,  I hear Felix chuckle and Owen lets out a sigh.  I look at Felix in confusion. 

  "Its nothing darling,"  Felix says to me as he bumps my should with his, which then pushes me into Owen.