Lila ✔

24I Us

I turned off the tap and quickly dried my hands under the dryer.

I was starving and I was late for lunch, so I tried to finish washing my hands as quickly as possible.

After only a few moments of drying my hands, I pulled away and wiped the remaining water off on my leggings. It was a good way to speed up this 'washing my hands' process.

I quickly hurried out of the girls toilet and into the corridor, my bag slung over my shoulder.

I was speed walking down the empty hall when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I spun around to see none other than Owen standing right behind me with a goofy smile on his face.

"Hey Stuart," he grinned.

He kind of scared me, I couldn't lie. Even a week later, the incident was still affecting me.

I hated it. I hated myself.

"Sup Kevin," I chuckled lightly.

"What ya doin'?" he grinned.

"I'm on my way to lunch," I said, fighting back a smile. I wasn't sure why, though. Maybe it was because recently he had been so nice to me? It was allowing me to see a soft, fun side of Owen Hale.

I was actually beginning to enjoy his company.

"Well I'm heading that way as well. Want to come with?" he asked, shifting his back further up his shoulder.

"Sure," I smiled, before my face suddenly dropped.

"My brothers will see us," I groaned.

"First of all, brothers? Since when? Second of all, so there is an 'us'?" Owen smirked and I playfully rolled my eyes.

"First of all, I now consider the Bradley's as my brothers, and second of all, no, there is no us," I deadpanned.

I noticed that Owen looked kind of disappointed when I said that there wasn't an us, but then he quickly covered it up with his usual cocky smirk.

"Don't kid yourself, Stuart."

Was he really still not over that nickname?

"Fine," I sighed. "Let's go."

Owen flashed me a quick toothy grin that made me chuckle slightly, before he walked off down the corridor, me having to hurry to catch up with him because of how long his strides were compared to mine.

We walked side by side in silence until we reached the cafeteria's double doors.

I trailed behind Owen slightly, not feeling as confident as he was as he sauntered towards the lunch queue.

I glanced nervously over at my brothers table to see that they were already watching Owen and I with narrowed eyes.

I quickly diverted my attention to my usual table where my friends were sat. Only Sophie seemed to have noticed me but she was grinning and wriggling her eyebrows suggestively as she looked between Owen and I.

I gave her a playful glare, before continuing to walk after Owen to the lunch line.

Mason usually put in some lunch money if I wasn't having a packed lunch, so I pulled off my rucksack and rummaged through the front pocket.

Nothing. There was nothing in there.

I let out a groan of frustration and zipped my bag back up. Why did life hate me?

"What's wrong?" Owen asked from where he was stood in front of me.

"It's nothing," I shook my head. If I told him, he would probably feel obliged to buy my lunch for me, and I didn't want him to do that.