Lila ✔

18I So Close

Friday was here, thank God. I don't think I could've handled another day of school.

The only problem with it was the fact that I was working with Owen on our project today. That thought really put a damper on my mood.

I went the entire school day avoiding Owen and not even looking at him in class. I was already being tortured with having to see him tonight; anymore than that and I thought I might just about cry.

Unfortunately, 4 O'clock came quickly.

I was lying on my bed, watching marvel tiktoks, when I heard the doorbell ring.

I didn't bother to get up, knowing that one of my stepbrothers would answer the door. Besides, it took a lot of energy to walk downstairs.

I was right. Only a couple of minutes later, my door was pushed open and Mason walked in with Owen behind him.

"I have some ground rules," Mason said sternly as Owen walked over to me and Mason stayed in the doorway. I didn't miss the glare he threw Owen's way.

Due to my conversation with Cole in the cafeteria, I expected this to happen. I'd previously guessed that my stepbrothers would have made sure that I didn't even breath on Owen the entire time.

That didn't stop my exasperated sigh, though.

"Mason. Trust me when I say he's just my friend, nothing is going to happen," I said firmly. But why did I feel almost sad when I said that? Stupid puberty. Stupid hormones. Being a teenager sucked.

"Better safe than sorry," Mason shrugged.

I rolled my eyes but gave him a small nod as to tell him to continue.

"Just make sure you leave the door open, no getting too close to each other, call us if you need help and Liam is only on the other side of the wall so he'll come if he gets suspicious," Mason said firmly.

"OK, OK," I sighed, although I was internally happy with his protectiveness. It made me feel cared for.

"I'll leave you to it. Just no funny business," Mason said with narrowed eyes.

He then turned to Owen and gave him such a hard glare that I was amazed Owen didn't pee his pants. "And you," he growled, "If you even touch her then you'll regret it."

My heart warmed at the overprotectiveness. It felt nice to have siblings who were there for me even when my dad wasn't around.

"Sir, yes, sir," Owen smirked while doing a mock salute which I could tell really pissed Mason off.

Why would he do that? He was going to get himself killed.

Mason clearly wasn't impressed by Owen's response, but he begrudgingly walked out of the room, shooting Owen one final, hostile look before he left.

"Owen," I scolded, playfully slapping his arm lightly.

"What?" he whined, dragging out the word and jutting his bottom lip out.

"Oh, I don't know," I said as sarcastically as I could while also adding in an eye roll. "But I wonder... Do you always have a death wish?"

"Not usually, although your beauty sometimes makes me drop dead," he smiled.

He really knew his game.

"Well if you drop dead, please do it later. I need your help on the project," I said jokingly.

He gave a small chuckle but nodded anyway. "Sure," he said.

"Right well if you sit down on my bed and I'll get out the paper and pens. We can use the tablet on my desk for..." I trailed off when I realized that Owen was still stood in the exact same place, just staring at me.