Orpheus

18

The "Um Riley?" hit her ears before the soft knocks. Riley pulled her gaze away from the open incubator on the bench in front of her, and looked towards the doorway; it was Owen, leaning on the door frame. She thought he looked a bit scared and out-of-his-element. "Can we talk about... earlier?"

'He wants to talk about the cafeteria.'

'What do we do Riles, what do we do?'

She pulled out her hands from the inside of the incubator she was working on. "Um... I guess so."

He walked in, his palm clutching his shoulder in nervousness.

"Look," he un-clutched his arm and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked extremely uncomfortable; he was making eye contact with the incubator rather than her. "If... anything I said, like um, offended you then I am, really sorry." he turned his gaze towards Riley's eyes; he looked really regretful "Look I, uhm, didn't mean to overstep any boundaries an-"

"No, it's okay Owen," Riley replied nodding, cracking a faint smile to ease the tension. "It's fine."

"No, it's not." Owen replied firmly. "I don't want to give the impression that we were like talkin' about you behind your back. I was stupid; I should have thought before I spoke." he shook his head in self-disappointment. "I mean, one day we were just talking about the rest of the crew and he just began when the conversation turned to you. I'm sorry if you didn't want me knowing." he paused, analyzing Riley's face. Riley was doing the same.

'I mean... he IS apologizing for something he didn't have a fault in.'

'Or he could just be lying.' part of her shot back.

She stood still for some time, contemplating.

'No... I don't think he's lying.'

"Don't worry;" Owen added "I won't tell anyone else. I'll be like I never heard it. I'll-"

"Owen," Riley interrupted; she was feeling guilty seeing Owen so uncomfortable. "It's okay; I'm not mad at you." She gave him a small smile of reassurance, until a thought struck her:

'Exactly HOW much does he know?'

Riley's smile began to slacken. "Hey but Owen..." she asked, insecurity slowly crawling up her neck. "What exactly did Connor tell you?"

"I mean..." Owen almost looked like that question caught him off-guard. "He told me about your son."

'Ethan...'

The temperature dropped as a terrible silence hugged the room; Riley could feel it dripping down the wall, oozing through the corners. Owen stood there uncomfortably rubbing his fingers; he was feeling it too.

Riley tried her best, but she could feel her eyes begin to moisten.

'No, don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.' she thought as she tried to blink it off.

"His name was Ethan, wasn't it?" Owen asked gingerly.

She nodded meekly in response; she was trying her hardest to suppress her emotions, but she wasn't winning. Before she knew it, she could feel her nose beginning to get stuffy. She inhaled sharply. Her throat was tight, her gaze now fixed to the floor.

"Hey..." Owen's voice was surprisingly soft. "I'm sorry, okay?" He paused for a bit; he must've noticed it was sour topic for her. "Do you wanna... talk about it?"

Riley shook her head; she wasn't ready yet.

"Do you need time to, be alone?"

Riley weakly nodded. She didn't want to show any more vulnerability than she had.

"Okay..." he said in a sad, yet understanding voice.

Riley heard Owen's footsteps recede. Minutes later she broke down crying; she was crying for Ethan, for her insecurities.

'Why am I the way I am? Why?'

The silence didn't bother replying.