Owen

The Birth of Minen

I still couldn't stand the sight of Drew. Which made class with him almost unbearable. And as much as I wanted to shoot daggers through him with my gaze I knew at some point he'd look over. I was not going to make the same mistake twice. There was nothing left to say. It was better to just leave it that way too.

So I stared at Max as he rambled on about some movie he had watched with Chelsea over the weekend. I wasn't actually listening at least not until he waved his hand in front of my face.

"Owen?"

"Huh? What?" I mumbled, shaking my head and refocusing on Max. "Sorry."

"Nah you're good. If I was straight and had spent the weekend with Mina I'd be distracted too."

I snorted, if only it had been the whole weekend. "It was just a couple hours Saturday night."

"Oh trust me, I know. The one time she takes an evening off and she ditches her two best friends for you." He said. "I mean I get it, I'd ditch them for you too but still."

I shook my head, Max was constantly flirting with me. I found it amusing but I also didn't see why.

"I'm not that great Max." I told him.

He scoffed at me, rolling his eyes. The action made me smile, my thoughts instantly shifting to Mina.

"Don't be stupid." He said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"You know, you call me stupid a lot." I commented.

He waved his finger at me. "No I tell you not to be stupid. There's a difference."

I laughed, nodding my head even though I was pretty sure there wasn't a difference. By telling me not to be stupid he was implying that I was stupid. My eyes almost drifted back to Drew, mostly because I could feel him staring at me, but I forced them back to Max.

"Alright I won't be stupid, I'll be fucking awesome."

Max smiled a big toothy grin. "I gotta tell you I'm all for team Minen but you need to know Chelsea and I mapped out the stages of denial and Mina's only in stage one. Chelsea thinks she'll be there for at least another month or so, so boy you better buckle down and get comfy."

"What's team Minen?" Stages of denial? What was he talking about?

"Mina and Owen. You guys really have the two shittiest names to work with but I did my best." He said like it was obvious. "Owna just sounds weird."

I couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. It spewed out of me.

"You're nuts." I told him.

He waved his hand at me dismissively. "You just wait and see. Now that you're finally single and mingling everyone's going to ship you with Mina. You guys are adorable together."

"I don't know if you realize this but Mina hates me."

I was pretty certain it was obvious. It wasn't like she was trying to hide her feelings. The few rare moments we had where I thought maybe she might like me were always in private.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "She's pretending."

It felt like someone just threw me back against a wall, all the air rushing from my lungs. Why would Mina pretend to hate me? Somehow the idea that she just hated me was easier to swallow than her pretending to hate me.

"Wh..What?"

Max looked over at me, his eyes softening. "She just needs to get to know you."

That did nothing to ease my mind.

"No listen Owen." He was trying to back track now. "She probably doesn't even realize she's doing it."

"Because that's a whole lot better." I snapped.

"I shouldn't even be telling you this..." He let out a frustrated groan, running his hand over his perfectly sculpted hair. "She's got a lot going on okay. Her moms a piece of work and it all probably just stems from her dad."

My head whipped up, any hurt I was feeling moments before gone as my mind raced through scenarios.

"What do you mean from her dad?"

He groaned again. "You're killing me. She will literally kill me if she finds out I said anything."

"Did her dad do something to her?" I was trying to keep my voice low but the fear and frustration building inside of me was threatening to spill out.

Max shook his head instantly. "God no. I mean at least I don't think. I don't really know."

Like that was convincing.

"All Chelsea and I know is he left when she was young and then her mom just sort of lost it."

"What does that mean?"

My heart was pounding.

Annoyance flooded Max's body as he rolled his eyes and looked at me. "Don't even get me started on that massive bitch. And don't make me turn into the world's worst best friend. If you haven't already."

"You gave all that up voluntarily." I held my hands up just to prove a point. "I didn't ask."

He flicked me off with laughter in his eyes. "Purely selfish reasons. If I can't have you at least one of my girls should."

"I'm not sure that's how it works."

Even if Mina was pretending not to like me there was still the whole issues of me being in a chair. Did she really want to deal with that? It was already something she would have to deal with career wise. I doubt she'd want to leave work just to come hang out with me. I was a whole lot like work.

"Sure it is." Max said confidently. "You'll see."

I opened my mouth to respond but my eyes drifted past him locking with Drew's for a moment and the smile that was on my face dropped instantly. Max turned around following my gaze.

"Just think I'll never sleep with any of your girlfriends."

That was all he had to say to bring my attention back to his, laughing as I did. Max cracked a huge smile. I'd been losing so much shit the past couple months I hadn't stopped to notice the things I'd gained. Max being one of them.

"Well that's a relief."

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Well check that out, I got a chapter finished. Daily updates are ready to be over apparently.