Way Back into Love ↪ Owen Grady

twenty-seven ↪ radio silence

    I woke up what felt like a couple of hours later in Owen's arms. The plan was to take turns but, was I just so bad at staying awake after a nap? Yes, the answer is yes. I had to stay awake till eight, but seeing Owen sleeping so peacefully was just so appealing. I ended up lying down for a few brief seconds, but my crush's soft snores helplessly rocked me to sleep.

    I curled up and tightened the grip around Owen's torso, living the moment at its fullest. I heard his muffled laugh against my hair a few moments later, right before he blew a small sweet kiss on my head.

    "You're sleeping" he let out another laugh.

    "No? I'm not" I mumbled against his chest. — "It's pretty safe out there, I double-checked"

    Owen distractedly hummed as he sweetly stroked my hair, helplessly rocking me back to sleep. — "You sure did, sneaky"

    "Hey, if I wasn't too tired to argue right now I would pretty much kick your butt" I sleepily mumbled.

    "Yeah? My butt?" he snorted, clearly having more fun than he should've.

    I yawned and lazily nodded. "You have a cute butt"

    Owen burst out laughing. "Huh"

    It took me way too long to snap myself back to my senses. I had never slept so peacefully before, and it surely wasn't a coincidence that I managed to get some well-deserved sleep when Owen was around. He had that highly disarming power of setting aside each and every bad thought. In the middle of my daily raptor trainer appreciation thinking, a glitching sound echoed from our radio.

    There were a few moments of silence before Claire's voice echoed through the speakers. — "Owen, do you copy?"

    "Loud and clear" my crush soon informed.

    "Elle?"

    I groaned lazily. "Way too loud and way too clear"

    Claire mumbled something I couldn't quite get, I hoped Owen was paying attention because I wasn't. I finally managed to get on my feet a few moments later and went for a quick patrol nearby. The area looked quite calm except for a pack of Stegosaurus having a quick meal. All clear. What I hadn't noticed was a black cloud getting way too close at a way too high speed.

    "Uh, Owen, we need to go" I hurried by my crush's side.

    "Hold on a sec"

    I held his head in my hands and made him look up. His pretty eyes widened when he spotted the eager pack of pteranodons. He reacted real quick by pushing me ahead so we could sprint away.

    "Stay back, under the trees!" I grabbed his arm before he could reach the wide tree-free Valley. Owen's head moved in my direction, his gaze wandering around wildly like he was actually processing what I had just told him. He nodded distractedly and positioned his body as protecting me from eventual attacks.

    The only good thing I could think of was that, at least, Owen was having his macho-man moments and being the man. As for the rest, we had a 50% chance of survival. 60% maybe. After all, we were dinosaurs experts, which critically raised the rate. Okay, maybe Owen was the only dinosaurs expert, but I was pretty much informed myself. Our radio played glitched sounds before Lowery's voice was finally clear.

    "Listen closely. There's a secret entrance somewhere on the perimeter, under a rock. It will take you to the tunnels that connect the labs to the rest of the island. That way, you will avoid the prehistoric birds"

    I was the first to reply, Owen still processing the info and probably thinking of an emergency plan. "Under a rock?! Chaotic much? There's like a bunch of rocks here, it will take forever!"

    "I didn't build the park, but.." Lowery sighed. "..don't tell them I told you. The coordinates are-"

    The signal abruptly went down. I frantically shook the device, hoping it would get it back. Nothing. Radio silence. I eyed Owen and hopelessly sighed. We were so screwed. The raptor trainer firmly grabbed the radio and started to communicate through morse code. Smart move, huh. I reacted quickly by grabbing a stick and wrote Lowery's response on the fresh dirt. — 10°24'50"N 94°7'3"W

.

    The point was near, or so thought Owen. I had no idea how to decipher coordinates just like that, but of course, the NAVY boy did. When we reached the exact mark point, he moved the biggest rock that, in fact, revealed an underground tunnel accessible with a ladder.

    "You wanna go first?" Owen challenged with a smug.

    "Nah-ah. Big boy goes first"

    He laughed at my words and shrugged. He climbed down gracefully, making it look easier than it actually was. I growled and followed him closely, right after securing the secret door behind me. We couldn't let dinos know about that place, obviously. The tunnels were incredibly dark, and I really hoped Owen would know what to do. And that's when a thought popped up. I had been so reckless in the past days, but I was drastically cooling down. It scared me. I didn't want to go back to how I used to be, ever.

    "You okay?" Owen softly asked, noticing how I had stopped following him.

    "Yeah. Yeah, sorry, go on" I quickly dismissed.

    "I'm not sure where we're headed, to be honest" he admitted. "Should we go with the flow or..?"

    I thought about it for a second. Was he challenging me to go back to survival mode? Probably not intentionally, but it was working. — "The main lab probably has a security check inside, we should go for that one"

    "Good job, smartypants" Owen smiled widely. "I'm lucky you're here with me"

    "You're here because of me, yeah, dumb move" I sighed and shook my head.

    "No, Elle, hey" his voice drastically softened one more time. "I mean it"

    And the sirens went off.