"Owen! What the hell?" I yelled as I sat up in bed, covering myself with the sheet while Rachel covered her body, despite both of us being dressed, with her eyes just barely poking above the sheets.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I tried to text you and call you, but you didn't answer," Owen explained, staring at me as I lay in my bed.
"That still doesn't give you the right to just walk into my apartment!" I said to the man that I wanted to call yesterday but called Rachel instead.
"I know. And I shouldn't have. It was a stupid mistake. But, when I got here, I knocked and didn't answer and thought that I would maybe surprise you," he said.
"Well, you certainly did that," I said.
We stared at each other for what felt like forever until Rachel coughed and sat up in bed next to me. Owen looked over at her and said, "You are the dance instructor! What the hell?"
"I'm sorry," Rachel said. "Kourtney and I have known each other before you two even came to the dance class."
"And you didn't say anything!" Owen said. "And now I find you two in bed together. This is unbelievable."
Owen turned out of the bedroom door. I heard him sit the flowers and chocolate down before leaving the apartment.
I turned to look at Rachel, who said, "Kourtney, as much as I like you, I really think that if you want to be happy, you should go after him."
I thought about it for a minute before I jumped out of bed, grabbed some leggings, and pulled them on. I turned back to look at Rachel laying in my bed, who waved at me, before exiting my apartment, closing the door behind me.
I was up on the third floor and knew that I couldn't catch him if I took an elevator, so I ran towards the stairs, jumping them two at a time. As I opened the door to the lobby, I just caught a glimpse of Owen walking out of the building. I yelled his name, but he didn't hear me, so I continued to run after him.
I caught up to him half a block down from my apartment building, grabbing his elbow as I called his name. "What do you want, Kourtney?" He said it angrily as he turned around.
"A chance to explain myself. Please," I begged him. "And to apologize to you."
Owen looked around at the sidewalk before finally turning his gaze to me. Being a few inches taller than me, he looked down at me through the glasses on his face. He took a deep breath in before saying, "I don't know why I should, but fine. Explain yourself."
"Not here," I said, grabbing his hand and walking back to my apartment. "Let's go back to my apartment."
He reluctantly followed behind him, not saying a word or looking at me as we went back to my apartment building, up the elevator, and to my apartment. Once there, Rachel was just coming out of the bathroom after getting redressed in her clothes. She made eye contact with me and said, "I'll go." She went walking past me, giving me a little hug as Owen went to the living room, and whispered in my ear, "Call me later."
I heard her open and close the door as I watched Owen sit down on the couch and finally look at me. "Explain yourself," he said.
I took a deep breath before walking over and sitting across from him. "I'm not even sure where to begin. I'm not a good person, and you don't deserve me. I've tried to be better, and I keep promising myself that I will be, but then I go and fucked it all up."
"What does that mean?" He asked me.
"It means that whenever I'm with you or talking to you, I want to be better, to be loyal, and to get my life on track. But the second you're gone and somebody else comes around, I lose control of myself," I said.
"So, unless I'm around, you turn into a total slut?" Owen said bluntly.
"Yeah, pretty much. That sums it up nicely," I agreed with him. "Like I said, you don't deserve me, and you should probably just go. I just wanted a chance to explain myself."
Owen looked around at the apartment before he stood up. I put my hands on my face and leaned down as he walked past me. I could hear him walking around, but I didn't want to look up to see what he was doing, so I kept my head in my hands.
Until I heard him say, "Here," and I looked up to see him holding a glass of water. "Take a drink," he said. He sat back down on the couch as I drank the water and said, "Let's go get some breakfast."
"You don't hate me?" I asked him, confused.
"No, I don't. Not yet, at least. Let's go get some food, and you can tell me all about you losing control when I'm not around," he said, taking the glass of water from me and helping me to stand up. I quickly got ready before we left the apartment, and we walked to a small, local café close to my apartment.
As we ate, I told Owen everything. My last few years in Utah, my reasons for moving to Chicago, hooking up with the first few guys, meeting Rachel and our blowup, Danny and Jessica visiting, meeting Vance and fucking him, and all the times I vowed to myself that I just wanted to be with Owen. Owen mostly stayed silent, eating his food and closely paying attention to what I was telling him.
When I was done, Owen just said, "Wow."
"Wow what?" I asked him, a little confused.
"Just everything you've been through. I'm kind of surprised you're not pregnant," he said.
"Me too," I said with a bit of a laugh. "Are you ready to leave yet?"
"Yeah, let me get the check," he said, patting his lips with a napkin and calling for a waitress.
"We can do that too, but I more meant if you're ready to leave me and never come back," I said as the waitress handed him the check.
"Oh. I haven't decided yet," he said as he handed the waitress his debit card.
"Well, I guess that's good," I told him.
Owen surprised me even more by spending the rest of the day with me. We mostly hung out at my apartment, watching random movies and talking. In the late afternoon, Rachel texted me to make sure I was OK, and I quickly explained to her what had happened. She said she was happy for me and that she hoped we could be friends.
