Way Back into Love ↪ Owen Grady

nine ↪ thunderstorm

    Owen's bungalow was just outside the park. To get there, we had to squeeze into Claire's service jeep. She and Nick were driver and passenger seat, so my dad, Dyson, and I, were in the back.

    It wasn't quite clear to me why I was so nervous about being anywhere near Owen at that point. It surely had something to do with his good looks, but there was also a little something more than that. The way he goofed around so much I couldn't stop myself from laughing, most likely made me appear head over heels for him. But I wasn't there just yet. I guess.

    "You heard that?" Dyson's breath tickled my skin. He was so close it was uncomfortable.

    "You've got to be kidding me!" Claire sighed frustrated as thunderstorm sounds echoed in the night sky. I widened my eyes when it suddenly started pouring. The biggest dark cloud I had ever seen covered up the entire sky, spreading cold winds and fog everywhere.

    When the car finally stopped, Owen's bungalow was barely visible due to said steam. I handed the food box to my dad and hurriedly hopped off the jeep. The strong smell of wet grass traveled fast through my nostrils and a cold breeze wrapped me up violently. As expected, Owen was busy trying to carry his stuff back indoors. I sprinted to his side and picked up two chairs, he snapped his head up.

    His hair was soaking wet, sticking on his forehead, and so were his clothes. He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly confused by my actions, but I kept going with my plan. I was going to help him, no matter the wheater. I walked past him and placed the chairs on his porch, so I walked back in the rain and grabbed two more.

    "I can do that, you go inside!" Owen yelled over the loud thunderstorm.

    "It's fine!" I yelled back. "What's next?"

    "What? Really?" he pressed his hand over his face and tried to wipe out the recent raindrops. "Those tents but they're pretty heavy!"

    I went for the tents before he was done talking. I spotted his surprised face on my way back to the porch, his mouth gaped open. A few moments later, he regained his self-control and sided me with the rest of his stuff. On the other side of the path, Claire's jeep stayed parked as none of them got off the car to help us. Nice.

    "That's it, let's get inside!" Owen unexpectedly grasped my hand and led me to his front door.

    When he let go, I could feel my cheeks warming up. I felt breathless and, sure, it could've been because of the whole running-under-the-rain situation. I glanced up at him when I heard him laughing. What was so funny?

    "Why would you do that?" he breathlessly asked with a grin.

    "You looked like you needed some help" I shrugged. "And none of your colleagues even got off the car"

    "Wasn't expecting them to" he shook his head, a smile plastered on his pretty face. — "Boy, that was fun"

    "Dude, you almost slipped on the last chair!" I suddenly felt way lighter, the weight on my stomach was gone.

    Owen laughed. "Ah, funny. Cause it totally wasn't you almost tripping over a dead branch, right?"

    "Nope, definitely not me"

    "Thank you" he relaxed with a soft sigh, that somehow traveled all the way to my skin. His green eyes lingered on my own for a moment longer than normal.

    "No problem, Owen" I smiled, trying not to give up on the urge to look away.

    The Raptor trainer nodded. "Let's go dry ourselves off, yeah?" 

.

    The interior of Owen's bungalow screamed good man material. I peeked at my reflection in the bathroom's mirror and smiled to myself. I looked like a complete mess, of course, but it was also a reminder of the little moment Owen and I had earlier. It was fun, unpredicted.. it was life. Voices filled up the living room, a sign that our friends had decided it was finally time to leave the damn jeep. Even though, I was quite glad none of them did until then.

    A soft knock on the door gave me a little jumpscare. "Almost done, sorry!"

    "No, I-" Claire chuckled for some reason. "Unlock the door?"

    I did as requested. The redhead burst into the room and locked herself in with me. I stared at her in confusion before I noticed she was carrying a handful of shirts.

    "Those are.. pretty bad, honestly" she rolled her eyes. — "What was I expecting from men anyway?"

    I kept staring at her, not quite getting what was is that she wanted. She glanced at me for a while before stating the obvious. — "Your clothes are soaking wet, honey"

    I still stayed silent.

    "I have a spare pair of black leggings in my jeep but, boy, I don't have any additional shirt so Owen offered these. Ew. I'm so sorry, Ellie"

    "Those shirts look clean" I pointed out. My brain just now realizing what was going to happen. I had to wear one of his shirts. With his scent on it.

    "Still" Claire shrugged. "Just choose one, I guess"

    I waited for the redhead to leave the room before going through Owen's clothing options. I went for a simple white long sleeve shirt. It looked so very cozy and soft. I got rid of my own clothes and wore my dry options. I instantly felt ten times better, to my surprise.

    "There she goes" Claire stated as I exited the bathroom and joined the rest of the group in the living room.

    They were sitting on some pillows on the floor, in front of the fireplace. The only free pillows were one next to the Raptor trainer and one next to the redhead. I went for the second option and sat next to Claire, Dyson's sight burning on me.

    "Hey" Owen glanced up with the food box in his hands. "Feeling better?"

    "Way better, thank you" I smiled.

    "What happened out there? You're going to get sick" Dyson scolded me and sighed. — "You should've just stayed in the car and none of this would've happened"

    I gaped my mouth open at his reaction, and so did Claire. Owen, on the other hand, furrowed his eyebrows. — "If that was me who had spent pretty much the whole evening making sure everything was set up for my friends, and it poured on me, I would've wanted someone to help me, you know"

    Everyone, Dyson included, stared at me. I was making sense, huh. Yep, pretty sure I was.

    "Still, he had it covered" my ex-boss scoffed.

    "He clearly hadn't" I let the words slip so helplessly from my lips I didn't even try to stop them.

     Claire randomly hummed. "Well, maybe you could've gotten off the car and helped him" she blurted out to Dyson.

    I widened my eyes and spotted Owen and Nick doing the same with a funny smile. My dad, on the other hand, was just smiling to himself.

    "No need to fight" he eventually spoke up for the first time. "I know my daughter. There was no way of stopping her from getting out of that car"

    He smiled again before moving his eyes suspiciously from me to Owen and back. I stared at him before he could say something, anything, slightly embarrassing.

    "Okay, that's it" Nick quickly interrupted. "Let's keep this night going, shall we?"