Hummingbird Heartbeat

Chapter 3

The screen of her iPhone had read it was midnight the last time she had looked at it. That had been about five minutes earlier, even when it felt like hours for Claire. She was usually already asleep by 11PM, but that night she simply couldn't sleep.

There was so much going on in her mind. The teenager was lying on her back, facing the ceiling, her finger twirling a strand of her hair while she sighed. She was playing the last seven hours in her mind, not believing what she had done.

She smiled and felt her freckles warm as her cheeks grew pink. She squealed and pulled her covers up, hiding half her face with them, the images of that kiss still fresh in her brain. She could still feel Owen's lips on hers, and it made the dozen butterflies in her tummy flap uncontrollably.

She wiggled her feet under her covers; the only thing she was regretting was how odd she had behaved that night at dinner when her parents had tried to engage in a casual conversation with her. They always asked about tutoring, and even if she had gone through it without any abnormality. But the only event of her afternoon she could think about was the hour she had spent with Owen.

She had also lied to Sam about her whereabouts that afternoon. A simple question had her babbling and making up that she hadn't been able to study because she had to stop by the store to get a few things she needed for school.

Claire decided to think of something else, something that possibly didn't remind her of all the white little lies she had told to cover up what had her feeling so fuzzy inside. She went back to the kiss and sighed contently.

The more she thought about it, the more things she discovered about why she was finding herself completely crushing on Owen, and what she found so irresistible about him. He was the best thing of two worlds, and she couldn't get enough of the way his strong rough hands had felt so gentle around her. He was a brute on the outside, with a very dominant personality, and yet he had been so caring and kind with her. He might have not been the type to wear a bow tie and his hair impeccably pushed back, someone who treated her like a fragile piece of fine porcelain, but he was passionate and would do anything to make her happy and make sure no one messed with her.

Everything about his personality, his real one, was what Claire needed and wanted in order to feel adored and safe. It was everything she had always wished she had, and Sam was the opposite of that. Yes, he treated her like a princess and put her first, but that was a gentleman to a lady: she needed more than just good manners.

Claire fetched her cellphone one last time and went looking for the one message she had gotten from Owen back when they exchanged numbers; she texted Goodnight with a red heart emoji.

After setting her cellphone back on her nightstand, Claire closed her eyes and drifted to sleep with a smile on her face, finally able to hint that she hadn't been offended by his move earlier, and encouraging him to approach her again.

Goodnight, beautiful. Owen replied after a few minutes, a text message Claire didn't see until the following morning.

****

"What is it?" Sam giggled while letting his thumb caress the back of Claire's hand. Since they had met at the front of the building before the bell, the teen had been trying to talk to him and come forward about her new feelings for another boy, but she simply couldn't find a way to do it. They had been together for so long and he was the sweetest of guys: the idea of breaking his heart was unbearable to her.

"Nothing." Claire shook her head, "Why?" She managed to ask.

That morning, while she got ready and her dad drove her to school, she had been trying to predict her behavior towards her boyfriend, and even if it hadn't come as a surprise that she hadn't felt guilty at all for kissing another boy (and liking it), she was feeling bad that she couldn't be honest with Sam about it.