the lunch table quickly filled up with now familiar faces, drawing her mind away from the guy of her dreams that subsequently had a girlfriend. "so stel, how has your first day been so far?" yvette asked as she sat down with lars across from estella.
"pretty good, mr remmy asked if me and rory wanted to take the test we have tomorrow on monday but i said id take it tomorrow and biology is pretty easy," she told as she pulled a container with pasta salad out of her lunch box.
"not a good idea stel, ive never made above a 70 on any of remmys test," the new voice caused everyone to glace up, to which they found owen standing there with penny who was standing like she had terrible case of lordosis.
she raised her eyebrows and looked back down, rummaging through her lunch box. "ive never made below a 98 on a history test so im not too worried." everyone glanced back at owen, awaiting his rebuttal.
to everyone surprise, the edges of his mouth flipped up for a split second and he looked down before nodding and looking back at estella whos gaze was still in her lunch box. "alright, have it your way gilmore. but 10 bucks says you dont make above an 80," he said slyly. pennys face was now painted into a scowl at their banter.
"alright, your loss- damnit! hey anne, do you have a fork?" stella finally gave up hope that she packed a fork and accepted that she forgot. owen laughed through his nose and went up to the lunch line.
"i gotta grab lunch, anybody else?" kaz asked, now standing up.
"oh yeah bro," lars followed him but not before kissing yvettes forehead.
"im sorry, i dont, we can go grab one though," anne told her, now looking in her lunchbox but pulling out container that looked to have some type of chicken. "i gotta heat my lunch up anyways."
stella nodded, standing up with anne. "yvette, do you need to heat anything up?"
"yeah," she nodded and grabbed her container as well, following her friends.
"ill grab our forks if you take my food to the microwave," anne handed stella her food. "yvette you need one?"
"no, thank you though" she smiled and held up her fork. she and stella placed the three containers into the microwave. "so, how long have you and anne been friends?"
"yknow what i really dont remember, but as long as i can remember, anne was always there," she told yvette, never looking away from the food spinning in the microwave. anne walked up and handed stella a plastic fork.
the girls grabbed their plastic containers from the microwave as it when off and headed back to their tables to find the boys had already gotten back. no penny in sight.
"dude, i dont understand how your still with penny with how she acts all the time. i mean really, you two have nothing in common," the girls overheard kaz tell owen. so they stood behind the boys to listen in on their following conversation.
"and she doesn't respect you. how many times have you told her you dont like pda? and she's still pushing you to hook up in empty classrooms." lars joined in.
"your not wrong but shes still my girlfriend. and besides what would my mom say? she really likes penny. i mean, how would i explain that to her?" owen asked, setting his chin in his palm.
"penny is a completely different person around your mom, im sure mrs collete would understand if you explained that to her," kaz told his best friend.
lars just nodded from his spot on owens right whom sighed and defeatedly nodded in agreement. the girls figured now would be the time to sit down so they rounded the table and sat down in front of the boys. estella in the middle, yevtte to her left and anne to her right.
"damn, that smells good. what is it?" owen asked after noticing a particularly strong smell of almost familiar spices.
"here, is it this?" stella held up her container for him to smell. after receiving a nod from owen, she said, "its kinda like stirfry i guess? i made it last night cause i wanted some pasta. i could probably tell you how to make it if you want?"
owen just looked at estella for a second. the gesture of offering to tell him how she made something just because he said it smelled good? to anyone else, that was something so miniscule, it probably would've gone over without a second thought. and yea sure owen has friends like yvette who has an unconditionally kind soul. but this girl that sat in front of him did something penny had never done; brought a hauntingly familiarity to owens heart, to which he saw his mother in this girls smile.
owen licked his lips and looked down but before he could respond, estella spoke again, this time offering him a bite to see if he liked it. owen took for the fork from the smiling brunette across from his and tried the food. anne and yvette, having their own conversations, almost missed the interaction but anne caught it. she would ask her about it later.
the flavor of various spices, vegetables and a small piece of steak exploded over owens tastebuds and from one bite was able to figure out how it was made. growing up with a spanish/french mother and swedish father, he had a lot of culture going on which translated to a lot of different types of cooking. owen spent a lot of time in the kitchen with his mom, meaning he could cook. really good.
"yknow, i dont really cook a lot but yeah, if you could tell me how to make that i wanna try it," owen nodded, handing the fork back. the lie slipped effortlessly from his tongue. glancing behind him quickly, he saw penny with her friends at a table nearby and when he caught her eye, she gave him a nasty look. owen lifted his brow before turning back.
"its uhm, steak cut up and bell pepper," as stella continued to name off how and what she used to make the meal, owen was just listening to her talk. he knew he wasnt supposed to but kaz and lars words were really starting to sink in. his mom really would just want him to be happy. she would care more about her own sons happiness then the like she had for a girl she'd only known for 2 months.
as stella continued talking, soon slipping into conversation with the rest of the group, owen grew quiet. thought overwhelmed him as he found truth in kaz' words. he would break up with penny soon enough but he just had to figure out when and how.
not proof read
