Where Two Collide

Chapter Forty-Six - Alice

Chapter Forty-Six

Alice

After Tia and Rachel left, decorations complete and ready for the party, I headed outside for a quick run. I had skipped practice to get the finishing touches of the party done but that had left me with all this nervous energy I didn't know what to do with. My feet itched to feel the pavement, my legs ached to feel the muscle burn. It was out of force of habit more than anything, but I just could not sit still in this house any longer.

When I got back to the house, I found Owen lurking in my bedroom, leaning against the window frame, staring upwards lost in the clear blue sky.

"Hi, Owen," I greeted him with an uncertain smile. I waited as he turned to face me, analysing his face with quick precision to see if he was still mad at me. I hadn't been expecting to see him today and felt completely unprepared to deal with his burning fuse.

"Hey, Alice," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. His expression didn't tell me much of anything.

I glanced over my shoulder into the hallway before closing the door behind me. "How did you get in?"

"I didn't break and enter if that's what you're asking. Your mum let me in."

"Oh." I crossed the room, reaching for a towel I'd put out on the side, and dabbing the sweat from my chest. It was warm today, the weather had started to turn again, which was great because it looked like it was going to be perfectly sunny for my party. I went to sit on my bed wondering for a moment if he was going to follow. He didn't.

After a few moments of silence leaving me more uncomfortable than I already was, I asked, "What are you doing here, Owen?"

"Can't I come visit my girlfriend when I feel like seeing her?" He asked, his jaw clenching and unclenching. "I'm sure you told me we could hang out anytime."

"Yeah, I meant if you had doughnuts," I said jokingly, trying to ease the tension in the room.

Owen didn't smile like I thought he would, instead he went to my dresser, picking up random items and assessing them as though it was the first time he'd seen anything like them. When he grabbed my hairbrush, he looked back at me expectantly.

I wasn't sure what he wanted, but he'd clearly come here for something. "I don't mind if you come over," I said brightly. "Did you want to do something? Watch a movie or something?"

He smirked at me, his dark brows rising a little. "It has been a while since we've done something," he muttered throwing my hairbrush between his hands. "I was waiting for the apology you owe me after the complete cock up with meeting my parents. You really embarrassed me in front of them, but honestly some sex would cheer me right up."

I brushed my hand over my hair and pursed my lips. I'd not been expecting that. He was right though, it had been weeks since we had had sex, it was hard to find an opportune moment to be alone at our age when we didn't have our own space. "Sorry but, erm, Cat's going to be home any minute," I said slowly.

Cat was going to be home soon, but I also just really didn't want to be with him in that way right now. Me and Owen hadn't been in a good place since the accident and that kind of friction just didn't put you in the mood. The fact that he thought I'd embarrassed him in front of his parents just drained all the spirit out of me.

He leaned back against the dresser chair. "Come on," he moaned. "What's the point of being in a relationship if we aren't having sex?"

"I thought you just wanted to be with me, isn't that enough for now?" I asked. I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, wishing I was alone but not wanting to ask him to leave.

He stared off into space moodily. "If I knew you were going to be so stingy as well as this much trouble, I'm not sure I'd have bothered going after you."

I looked over at him and said meekly, "Then why don't you just go."

He hesitated, stopping his throwing of the hairbrush between his hands. A muscle twitched in his cheek. "Are you serious right now?" he demanded.

I shrugged at him. I didn't want to have this conversation anymore, I realised at this point it didn't seem to matter what I did, he was going to be angry at me no matter what.

In one smooth movement he hurled the hairbrush in his hand right at my face. I hadn't been expecting projectiles and he was so fast that I didn't have time to move out of the way. I felt it crunch against my nose before bouncing off the bed and onto the floor. Hot liquid flooded my nose and trickled down. I touched my hand to my nostril and moved it away to see blood on my fingertips.

"Oh my god," I said, panic rushing in as quickly as the blood had appeared. "Oh my god, oh my god."

"Pinch your nose and lean forward," said Owen, his voice gentle as he rushed to my side.

I did as I was told. Crimson dripped onto my bare legs below my shorts. I breathed through my mouth, deep struggling breaths. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest and the room was spinning dizzingly fast as though I was on a carnival ride I couldn't get off of.

Owen slung his arm around my shoulders and whispered softly into my ear. "Slow your breathing down, you're going to make yourself pass out. You're fine, everything is going to be fine, I'm right here," he soothed.

I tried to take slower breaths. My hand which wasn't pinching my nose, wiped at the blood on my legs, trying to make it go away. I didn't want to see it, I needed it to be gone.

Owen took the towel I'd wiped my sweat with from the bed and swiped it across my legs, clearing away the blood. "I'm right here, it's okay."

I was still sat like that when Cat came into the room several minutes later.

"Oh, you're here," she said, giving Owen the once over with her standard belittling gaze.

"And it's you," Owen replied with equal indifference.

Cat's eyes moved to me, and it took one look at me with a blood-stained towel and a panic-stricken expression glued to my face for her to completely flip out. "What the hell did you do to my sister?" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Owen.

Owen wavered. "I didn't do anything."

Cat offered me a look that showed so much concern I suddenly felt the urge to cry. "Is that true?"

Owen clasped his large hand to my thigh. "She just fell when she went running," he explained calmly, which was hard for him when it came to Cat. He looked at me with wide pleading eyes. "Right?"

When I didn't say anything immediately, Cat rushed Owen, giving him a hard shove continuing to yell at him. "Do you need to hurt girls to fuel your masculinity? Does it make you feel good? You're just a weak little boy, you're nothing. Do you hear me? You are nothing." She gestured a finger at the door. "Just get out!"

Owen was not one to back down from a fight, he gritted his teeth and stood to face off against Cat. He towered over her, just as he did with me, but that didn't work with Cat, she was not overwhelmed by Owen as I was. She stared him down, her eyes burning into his skull.

When I saw his fist clenched, I moved to stand between them so me and Cat were face to face. "I fell," I said, the words rushing out in one breath. "I fell when I was running. Owen had nothing to do with my nose bleed," I lied, my eyes pleading with hers as Owen had with me. Please believe me, please please don't antagonise him.

Cat just stood there. I could see the anger slowly dissipating before me, so does Owen. He headed to the door to leave, not before giving her a hard stare. "Don't blame me for Alice's clumsiness, next time, you'll regret it the second the words come out of your mouth."

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