Where Two Collide

Chapter Fifty - Alice

Chapter Fifty

Alice

Luckily for Rachel, after the initial shock, Ashton reciprocated the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. If she was looking to register a wave of astonishment amongst the room, she managed this with a pretty high success rate. Even Dan's expression showed his utter disbelief. Jess, however, just appeared to be amused.

It's when Owen walked into the room, slow clapping as if we were in a teen comedy movie that I inwardly cringed. From the way he was swaying as he walked, it was clear to me that he had had one too many drinks. Tia's already wandered off at this point looking for a drink, and now I find myself left to deal with him alone.

Owen walked right up to me, just as Ashton and Rachel disappeared out the way Owen had come in. "How's your face?" he asked with no hint of remorse.

I touched my hand to my nose. I'd been lucky, it hadn't broken or bruised, it just ached a little where the impact must have damaged the blood vessels. Hence all the blood. Was he really going to ask me about this in front of other people?

I spun on my heel and walked back out the front door, I didn't have to put up with him being like this. It was bad enough when he was sober, but drunk Owen was not someone I wanted to trifle with. I could just leave if I wanted to, so that was exactly what I would do. The girls would understand.

What I hadn't been anticipating, was that he would follow me outside. Instead of being confronted with drunk, angry Owen in front of lots of witnesses, I would now be dealing with him isolated and under the lonely streetlights. I kept walking, heading in a random direction in the hopes of losing him before I got home. I couldn't have my parent's see him like this. What if he started talking about my nose again? How would I explain it away?

"Where are you going?" Owen slurred, stumbling to keep up with my quick pace.

"To get some fresh air," I muttered, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "Why are you following me?"

"Because I think you're trying to get away from me."

My stomach lurched. "Then why won't you leave me alone?"

"I can't."

I frowned, was this where he was going to get all gentle again, was he going to give me the kind eyes, the ones that told me I was safe with him. I had learned enough by now to realise that it wouldn't be long before he flipped again, and if he was going to, I was going to be far away from him when it happened.

I kept walking, speeding my pace some more.

"Can you just stop for a minute so we can talk," he demanded, jogging to get in front of me. "Will you just, stop."

I bolted around him, but he just did the same thing again, halting me in my tracks. I sighed and leant against a lamp post, staring straight past him. "What do you want from me, Owen?"

"For us to go back to how we were before the accident," he said softly. "Before it got worse at home, and before we were at each other's throats, to when everything was perfect."

That's when it finally clicked. It had never been perfect between us, there was always this underlying fury in him that I tiptoed around to avoid. The accident just brought it out front and centre, where it couldn't be ignored anymore.

"It can't," I said, still refusing to look at him. "We're too broken." I was prepared for anything at this point, anything but what he actually did.

Owen fell to his knees in front of me, and when he looked up, his eyes were full of tears. "I need you Alice," he said, watery droplets cascading down his cheeks. "You can't break up with me, you can't."