Exposure

EX:8

Chapter 8

Tiana's Perspective

"Focus on the next step in front of you, not the whole staircase."-Unknown

•••••

IT had been so long since I had received a real break and just relaxed, weeks even. I was all caught up with my classes and I was off from work for the next two days. My body was tired and the only thing I wanted to do was lay up under Owen. We hadn't seen each other in over a week and if we did it was at work.

I stood outside his apartment door waiting for him to come and let me in. I had been knocking for quite some time and I knew he was home because his truck was parked out front. My feet were killing me due to standing on them for so long.

Knocking once again I called out his name, "Owen!"

There was still no response. I knew for a fact he had heard me knocking on the door. A few more minutes of me waiting outside passed by before I heard the door unlocking. When the door flung open there was a blank expression on his face as he rubbed the back of his head.

I smiled gesturing for him to give me a hug but he only watched me moving out of the way to let me inside. I awkwardly toyed with my hands before walking further inside. He left going into the kitchen leaving me to shut the door saying nothing.

What was up with him, and why was he treating me so dry?

The apartment was quiet. He searched for something in the kitchen to eat ignoring my presence as I sat on the living room couch not knowing what to do with myself. It was as if he didn't even miss me.

I cleared my throat, "I was knocking for the longest."

"My bad I was asleep." He replied coldly closing the fridge.

"Well I texted you about a dozen times, was your phone asleep to?"

Now he was frustrating me. Owen never acted like this, what was up?

He opened up a water bottle taking a sip ignoring me as I watched him waiting for a reply.

"Nah but I probably din know it was you considering you been ignorin my phone calls for the past three days."

I stared at him in disbelief. I had no comeback because he was right, but I just had so much going on.

"Owen I-"

"What you got too much goin on that you can't even answer a phone call from me tryin make sure you made it home safe or just to check up on you?"

His voice was calm but I could tell he was upset.

"Not it's not like that-"

"Look Tia if I'm too much of a distraction you need to let me know."

He was so defensive as if he was afraid of something. I knew this because Owen never talked to me in this manner, especially over something as simple as a few missed phone calls.

"Can I talk?" My voice was low as he looked me in the eyes nodding his head.

"You're not a distraction and I love the fact that you care enough to check up on me throughout the day but sometimes baby I'm so tired after class and work the only thing I want to do is sleep. I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was ignoring or avoiding you."