paper hearts - owen joyner

ten

"Well?" Hunter said, tapping his foot impatiently.

I bit the inside of my mouth, trying to figure out what I was going to tell him. I couldn't possibly tell him about what just happened with Owen. No way. I couldn't tell him about my feelings either. But I've never really kept anything from Hunter before, except the fact that I was practically in love with him. But that didn't count. Not to me at least.

Then I remembered that I didn't owe Hunter anything, let alone an explanation. He didn't even deserve one. Not with the way he's been acting lately. It seemed that ever since Lacey showed the slightest bit of interest in him, he changed 180 degrees into a totally different person. A jerk. Or a jock, it didn't really matter. In my book, they were the same thing. I had always prided Austin for never turning into one of them.

"Well, what, Hunter?" I replied. Hunters face dropped, shocked at the tone of my voice.

"Are you really just going to stand there and pretend like Joyner didn't just give you a kiss on your cheek?" he placed his hands on his hips.

"I don't see what the big deal is."

"The big deal is that I have no idea what's gotten into you lately, James," he said. I raised my eyebrows at his statement. He thinks I'm the one who has changed? I huffed.

"What's gotten into me?" I demanded and he nodded his head.

"The James I know wouldn't even think twice about not going to parties. She wouldn't be caught dead making out with a random guy at a party-"

"Owen isn't a random guy- "

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about. The James I know wouldn't even say that. She wouldn't have to because she wouldn't have been at a freaking party in the first place!" he screamed. I crossed my arm and continued chewing on the piece of skin inside my skin that was now bleeding slightly. It was the only way I knew to keep calm right now.

"What's the point of this, Hunter?" I asked impatiently. He was pissing me off. I didn't know if he was jealous or had a stick up his ass, but I was growing tired of it.

"My point is, I want answers!"

"Fine. You want answers? I'll give them to you!" I yelled back.

"Finally," he threw his hands up in the air.

"I went to the party that night because, god forbid, I wanted to have a little bit of fun for once in my life. Is that so much to ask? The only reason Owen kissed me was because your little precious Lacey was being a complete bitch. He was only doing what you weren't man enough to do, Hunter!"

"And what was that?" He yelled back.

"Save me!" I spat. I took a few deep breaths trying to calm myself down before carrying on. My hands ran over my stomach, flattening out the material covering it. "As for that kiss on my cheek back there, all I can say is that it was innocent."

"Innocent?"

"Yes. An innocent little kiss shared between two friends- "

"Friends?"

"Yes! Friends, Hunter! I know it might be hard to wrap your brain around the fact that I might actually have a life outside of our friendship, but guess what? While you were off ignoring me with Lacey, Owen was there with me. So, if you've gotten all the answers you want, I think you should leave."

"Wait what? You want me to leave?"

"Yes. I really do. I'm tired. I can't keep doing this," I said, but for some reason I knew those words meant so much more.