Him

Funeral & Owen

Well, today's the day. Yesterday I bought two black dresses. The girls insisted I go shopping with them. They really just wanted me to tell them about Owen.

What was there to tell? Nothing happened. All I did was stay the night with him. No big deal. But to them it's the greatest thing ever. Why? I don't really know. My friends are weird.

Right now I'm sitting in a church. The girls are sitting to my right. Emma is right next to me. She links our arms in a soothing way. It is really sweet of her but I am not too sad. It's only the showing. No sad speeches or memories. Just a bunch of annoying "I'm sorry's."

That's nice I guess.

But really, everyone saying sorry does get quite annoying. I mean, why say sorry? They didn't do anything. And it's not like they could've stopped it anyway. But I am glad that they care.

There is a long line outside. My Grandpa evidently knew a lot of people. He was really great, so I guess it makes sense that there are so many people.

I really feel bad for my Grandma. She is so devastated. I mean, she is standing all by herself right now. I tried to talk to her, all of us did. She said she doesn't want to talk right now. She needs to save energy for when all the people come up to her.

Poor thing.

"Hey Katie, look who just walked in," Emma whispers to me.

I quickly look around, towards the door. Standing there is Owen. He looks really good. Okay, that's not important! I am very glad that he decided he would come and accompany me to this. It really means a lot to me.

I get up from my seat and head towards Owen. As I walk up to him, he smiles at me. It looks like he is happy to see me.

He greets me with a hug. It kind of shocks me when he hugs me but I take it. I'm really enjoying this hug. It's really sweet. I'm very glad that I invited him. Yeah, I know I already said that but I really am.

"How are you doing?" He asks letting go of me.

"Oh, I'm okay."

"Well, I hope that you really are okay and you're not lying to me," Owen says with a grin.

I really loved that grin. Why? I'm not really sure. I just do. It looks so good on him.

He and I walk back towards where I was sitting. He let me go in the row first and then took a seat next to me. What a gentleman.

The girls quickly look towards him and then each look at each other and smile.

"What ever you guys are thinking, it's not funny," I say trying not to smile.

They all laugh.

"You don't even know what we're talking about," Hazel teases.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can guess it."

"I really don't think you can," Fiona says.

I just roll my eyes and giggle.

They start letting people in and I end up moving up towards my parents, leaving my friends and Owen in the row by themselves. Maybe it isn't the smartest idea to leave the girls alone with Owen. I'm sure they are pretty much interrogating him right at this moment.

Oh well. He's a big boy. He can handle it.

I stand next to Eli, and he looks at me. I bet he's going to make a comment about me bringing Owen. He is his best friend so it makes sense.

"I can't believe you brought my best friend," Eli jokes as he looks toward Owen.

Yep. I knew he would say something.

"Well, he's my friend now too," I say with a giggle.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Katie."

After about 20 or so people had walked by, saying their "I'm sorry's," I start to feel a little upset.

But I cannot be upset, because I have to be strong for my brother. If he sees me upset I'm sure he will become upset. I don't want that. Because right now I can see him standing by Maya. He actually has a smile on his face and it looks like he might even be laughing a little.

I am really glad Maya was able to be here. She really is perfect for him.

I look at the rest of the line. There are so many more people coming. I don't know if I can stand here much longer. But I will try.

"Katie, you can go back with your friends for a little while if you would like to," My mom says to me.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. It looks like your friend Owen is a little uncomfortable."

I look towards him and see that the girls are in fact interrogating him. I knew that they would so I don't really know why I'm surprised. But he does look kind of funny, all embarrassed and stuff.

I smile at my mom and walk away.

When I reach my friends I sit next to Owen.

"Girls, are you embarrassing him?"

"Us?" They all ask in disbelief.

"Yes, you guys."

"I do not embarrass people. I simply ask questions that they may not want to answer," Hazel responds.

I roll my eyes at my friend, but I cannot help but giggle at her response.

"Don't worry, Katie. Your friends only made me feel like I was being questioned by the police for a few minutes," Owen says.

"That is not true," Fiona says.

"Yeah Katie I don't think that he's being very honest," Emma says going along with her twin.

"Yeah because you guys would never do that," I said giggle, looking between the two girls.

After our short little, I guess you could call it an argument, I go back up to my parents.

--------

"I'm so glad to be out of there," I admit to the girls as we enter our room. By room I mean hotel. We ended up having the showing and funeral near where my grandparents lived. And since that is farther away from my home, we decided we would just stay in a hotel during it.

The girls got to stay at the hotel with me. Which was good because I didn't have a roommate.

Owen is staying in the hotel too. But he got his own room, and my parents know that he is here. And I wish they didn't know. I'm surprised they didn't make me stay in their room. You know, so I wouldn't be able to leave. Not that I'm planning to, but you know how parents are.

O - Hey are you awake?

"Oh, who's texting you?" Emma asks making me jump.

"Jeez, you scared me. And don't worry, it's just Owen."

"What did he say?" Fi asks.

"He probably asked if she would come stay with him," Hazel teases.

K - Yep I am.

"Hazel!" I gasp.

"Oh like you wouldn't want too!" Emma adds, taking Hazel's side.

"Even if I did, and I'm not saying I want to! My parents would be suspicious if I left at this hour and wasn't here when they came to get us up." I say.

"So, what you are saying is you want us to cover for you." Fi asks.

"What! Fiona! No that's--"

"Oh you know you want too!!" Emma squeals.

"Yeah Katie. Just do it!" Hazel demanded.

K - What room are you again?

"Fine, I will go. But I'm going to come back. I won't stay the night," I say.

O - 418... Why?

I decide not to even text him back. I'll just surprise him.

Quickly and quietly I sneak out of my room and make my way down the hall. 412, 414, 416... Aw! Here it is. 418.

For some reason my heart starts pounding. Why is it doing this? Whatever, it'll stop. I reach my hand up and knock on the door. I step back a bit when I hear someone walking towards the door.

Owen opens the door.

I'm sure I look stupid right now. I know my eyes widened. He is standing there with just some sweatpants on. No shirt. And wow, was he looking good. I couldn't help but stare at him.

"So, you just gonna stare at me or...” Owen says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I could feel my face heat up. Oh no. He caught me looking at him. Wow, how embarrassing. I look up at him and he just smiles and shakes his head. He pulls the door open a little farther.

I walk into his room and he shuts the door behind me. I turn back towards him and suddenly get nervous.

"I-I um, was bored," I stutter. Wow. Seriously. Stuttering again! This is not going well at all. Maybe I should just go back to my room.

"Oh were you?" Owen asks moving past me.

"Yeah...” I walks towards him and trip on a pillow that is on the floor. I fall right into Owen knocking him and me onto the bed. I am too embarrassed to even move. He doesn’t say anything either. I look at him. He looks into my eyes for a few moments.

"I, um. I'm sorry." I whisper, quickly getting up.

"It's...” he clears his throat and says "it's fine."

I can't believe that happened. Oh my gosh. I am so embarrassed. Why didn't I get up faster?

"Hey, um. Do you want to watch a movie?" Owen suggests.

"Oh, sure." I say.

He picks up a movie and puts it in. I didn't even see the movie. I wonder what he picked.

I am just awkwardly standing next to the bed. He get onto the bed and pats a spot next to him. I cautiously walk towards him, making sure there are no pillows around. I sit next to him and he looks at me. I hate when he looks at me like that.

I just can't help wanting to kiss him. He's so amazing. He smiles at me and moves my hair out of my face. I can't take this anymore. I'll just have to look away. Yeah, that's perfect. I look at the movie and don’t recognize it still. Oh well. I'm sure it'll be good.

I snuggle up next to Owen, putting my head on his chest. I try to focus on the movie. But it was impossible. My hand is on Owen's chest. That is distracting enough. My head goes up and down every time he breathes. And I can hear his heartbeat.

My eyes start to droop more and more with each beat. Before I know it, I am asleep.

I wake up feeling like it has been hours. It has only been about an hour and a few minutes. I sit up and look at Owen. He looks so peaceful. Once again, I leave without waking him up.

I make my way to my room and get my key card out. I enter the room and see all the girls are asleep. I get into bed and fall asleep instantly.

--------

Beep! Beep!

Ugh, seriously. It cannot be time to get up yet. I swear I just fell asleep. Opening my eyes I see my phone. I grab it and see the time. It is 9:15. We have to be ready and packed by 10. I guess I should get up.

I sit up and stretch. When I look around I see no one. Where are the girls? I reach for my phone just as it buzzes. There are two messages. One is from Emma saying they left and got breakfast.

Wow, they didn't even wake me.

The next message is from Owen. I know it'll have to do with me leaving. It's the second time I have done that. He's probably mad this time.

O - Are you going to make a habit of sneaking out on me?

K - Who says I'll stay with you again?

O - Good point.

I set my phone down and go into the small bathroom. I decide I can take a quick shower before I finish packing. Packing is easy for me because whenever I take something out, I put it right back when I'm done.

Turning the shower on, I step in and close the glass door. The warm water hits my back. I lean my head back and get all my hair wet.

Wow, last night was a bit awkward. I can't believe I tripped. Falling right on him... Jeez. I just, I wish I would've seen that pillow. But he didn't seem to mind. So maybe I shouldn't be embarrassed! I was last night though.

I finish my shower and get ready. I put my black dress on and sit on the bed.

Knock. Knock.

I jump up and answer the door. It was the girls. They must have forgotten their key.

"Good morning!" Emma says walking in the room.

"Your parents are ready to go now," Hazel says.

"Okay. Let me get my bag," I say to them.

I pick up my bag and follow the girls out of the room. Did I get everything? I feel like I forgot something. I have my phone, my toothbrush, and my clothes. Nope, I have everything.

After dropping off our room keys we go to the car. My Dad gets all the bags in and we leave.

I wish the car ride would've taken longer. I was really dreading the funeral. I have managed to avoid dealing with this. Now though, I won't be able to.

The funeral begins and I take a deep breath. My grandma is sitting to my right. She is really sad. The Pastor is talking about a few memories right now. A tear falls down my Grandmas cheek. I place my hand in hers. She seems to relax a bit. I feel so bad for her.

The Pastor sits down and is letting people go up and say favorite memories and stuff like that.

I stand up and go to take my turn.

"Hi. I'm Katie. My Grandpa, he was my best friend. We did so much together and, he um." I stop and look down. This was too much. "I, um. I can't do this."

I step away from the podium and run out. I stop at a couch and plop into it. Being in there was too sad. How can I say anything with a smile? I can't. I hear the door behind me open and close. A hand hits my shoulder in a comforting way.

I look up and see Owen.

"Hey," He says sitting beside me.

I don’t look at him. I cannot look at him. He places his arm around my shoulders. I hate that he's so nice.

"It's going to be okay Katie."

I turn towards him. I look him in the eyes and without thinking, kiss him. He doesn’t stop me.

After a few seconds, I stop.

"Can we, um. Go somewhere?" I as him.

"Sure."

He gets up and puts his hand out. I reach for it and we walk out. He unlocks his car and we get in. I don’t pay attention to where we were going. I am just happy to leave.

He parks the car. I look up and see we are at his house. He leaves the car and comes around to my door. He opens it for me and we go into his house.

He leads me to his room. We sit on the edge of his bed. I can feel him looking at me but I am afraid to look at him. My heart is pounding. I decide to break the silence.

"So, school starts in about 2 weeks," I say. Talking about school. Really?

Owen chuckles a bit. "So, you had me bring you here, away from the funeral. To talk about, school?"

"I... You know what? It's the first thing I thought of."

He just laughs. I look at him trying to make an angry face but I cannot. He looks so cute when he laughs. When he finally stops laughing he looks at me. I place my hands on his cheeks and pull him close to me. His lips brush against mine and I kiss him.

He lifts me up so that I am straddling his waist as he lays down. I run my hands down his chest till I reach the bottom of his shirt. I pull the shirt up, breaking our kiss, so that I can take his shirt off. He places his hand on my back and flips over so that I am now on my back. He kisses me again before pulling my shirt over my head.