Way Back into Love ↪ Owen Grady

ten ↪ what's up, what's down

    The light of the moon filtered through the trees' branches as it slowly got darker. I kneeled down on the wooden surface of the porch's stairs and looked up at the sky, getting lost in the view. I had always been into astronomy. Space, stars, planets, the moon. Everything looked so gorgeous and interesting. Even though, as of now, I still hadn't learnt how to recognize constellations.

    "Ssup, weirdo?"

    I smiled up at my brother and waited for him to sit down so I could lean on him. "Recharging"

    "Not teasing but, I feel like you're finally coming back to your senses" Nick spoke up. "I hate seeing you miserable, it's not funny when I play jokes on you and you don't even get mad"

    "Wow, priorities"

    There was something I wanted to tell him. Something I was trying so hard to hide. I was genuinely scared. Scared at how my feelings for Owen were evolving helplessly, raising the chances of yet another heartbreak coming at me soon. And I wasn't sure if my heart could've taken any more of those.

    "Time to go back, it's nearly midnight" our dad informed us from behind.

    Nick and I nodded and stood up. Dyson was the first to hop on Claire's jeep, followed closely by my dad. The redhead and Owen walked out of the bungalow together and stopped a few steps later.

    "Are you two up for some dinosaurs tour in the morning?" the Raptor trainer suggested.

    "Sure we are" Nick answered for the both of us. "Just tell us when and where"

    "Eight on point, outside your hotel" Owen smiled. "First stop: paddock twenty-one. So Elle girl here can visit her so-loved Pachy"

    The corners of my lips curved up in a shy smile. That was cute, huh? — "Goodnight, Owen"

    "Night, Ellie" he unexpectedly brushed his hand against my arm and caressed it as a greeting, I quivered.

    Nick grinned as he greeted the guy and later carried me to the jeep. I was so screwed. I hopped on the vehicle, again in the backseat. For the time Nick hopped on as well, we both looked ahead and sucked in a sharp breath.

    Claire. Kissing. Owen. I felt the ground under my feet fading into thin air. My lungs stopped working and I felt like I couldn't breathe properly. It took a lot of strength to fight the tears, and I spotted Nick with teary eyes as well.

    "You know what?" I let out a shaky breath. "Nick and I are walking"

    I abruptly hopped off the jeep and reached the passenger seat's door, which I opened right away and pulled Nick out by his arm. He was completely numb and I had to carry him for a while before he regained that little self-control he needed for walking on his own.

    "You can't walk back, kiddo!" Dyson yelled from the jeep.

    "Honey, he's right" dad frowned. "We're not in the park, it's too far"

    Nick suddenly grasped my hand and squeezed it, I shoot my head up to look at him. He showed a nod and wiped off his tears. I sighed and looked back up at the sky. Oh, how fast the night changes.

"I'll ride in the passenger seat" Dyson surprisingly said, catching me off guard. Huh, nice.

    I mouthed Thank you in his direction and carried Nick back on the vehicle. We ignored Claire the whole ride back to the park as she kept rambling about random stuff we couldn't care less about. — "First stop, ladies and gents" the redhead cluelessly joked. "Are you guys okay?"

    "Sure" I dismissed her and carried my family in the hotel's direction with no second glance.

.

    "So I tried to kiss her and she told me she had a boyfriend.. she never mentioned ever!"

    Lowery had been rambling for a full twenty minutes about this one girl he thought reciprocated his feelings and ended up having a boyfriend. The café of the hotel was almost empty as we waited for our breakfast that finally got served at our table at eight on point.

    "So who's this guy you're crushing hard on?" Lowery asked, taking a sip of his smoking black coffee.

    "Take a wild guess"

    "Dyson?"

    I snorted and almost spit out my drink. "Really?"

    "Literally every girl I try to hit on has this unhealthy crush on that guy" Lowery rolled his eyes. "Why though? He cleans dinos' shit for living"

    "What?" I burst out laughing. "Geez, Lowery, who hurt you"

    At first, the plan was to get something from the hotel's cafeteria real quick and go back to my room, but when I saw Lowery having breakfast alone I thought why not join him and eventually get myself out of my misery for a couple of minutes. Everything was okay until I heard him speak those words. — "Hey, is that Owen Grady?"

    I almost choked on my orange juice and coughed. My phone started buzzing on the table, an unknown number calling. I raised my eyebrow and glanced in Owen's direction. He had his phone glued to his ear. Was he the unknown caller? If so, how did he even knew my number? Or maybe Nick calling me from our room's phone?

    "You're not answering that?" Lowery asked with his mouth full.

    I slowly grabbed my phone and picked it up. — "Hello?"

    "Elle, hey, it's Owen. I'm out here, you coming down?"

    I took in a sharp breath and bit my lip. I really wanted to go on an adventure with him, but I was still hurting pretty bad about him and Claire. — "I-, uh, I don't feel so good"

    "Oh" Owen mouthed. "I should've stopped you last night, you caught a cold?"

    "I'm not sure" I couldn't stop my voice from quivering. "I'm sorry. I'm sure you and Claire will have fun anyway"

    I spotted him raising an eyebrow at my statement. "Claire is not coming either. We had quite a fight last night. It would just be you and me"

    "Oh, uh, I'm sorry to hear that. You okay?"

    "Yeah, I mean, kind of. But, hey, it's okay. You take care so you'll come back petting dinosaurs in no time, deal?"

    "Will do, thank you"

    "Okay then, well, bye" he frowned as he hung up and walked away.

    Needless to say, I felt bad. Guilt was making its way to my stomach and made it hard for me to breathe. Did I have to call him back and go? No. He would know I was lying. He did look sad tho. So do you. Good point.

    "Oh!" Lowery's voice snapped me back to my senses. "The guy you're crushing hard on?"

    "Yeah"

    "Nice standards" he joked with a goofy smile, causing me to smile back.

    "Shut up"

    "Okay, Juliet, get up. You're coming with me"