Page 156 of Wish You Were Mine
Theo: Uh, I think you sent that to the wrong number, sis.
Theo: Also...what the hell are you doing in that photo with Owen? Have you been sneaking around with him?
“No!”I let out a strangled gasp. “He just saw it.”
“What?” Owen looked over, his voice tight.
I held up the screen for him to see, then before Theo could do something impulsive like call my dad, I hit the button to call him.
“Hello,” Theo’s voice came through the earpiece a moment later.
“Hey, so before you freak out or call Dad,” I blurted, my hand shaking as I held my phone to my ear, “can you please just let me explain?”
Silence.
Then, “I’m listening.”
“Okay, so, just so you know, this thing with Owen started before I knew he was my professor,” I said, my words tumbling out frantically. “As you know, we met that night I saw you at The Garden, and for all I knew, bartending was his only job. I thought he was super cute and interesting, but I had no idea he taught chemistry at my school.”
“Okay…” Theo exhaled loudly through the phone.
“Anyway,” I continued, “nothing happened that night, but then we ran into each other again the next weekend at Ky’s New Year’s Eve party and hit it off. And I think it’s also important to note that at that point, Owen had no idea that I was your sister, or that I was still in college, since Imighthave let him believe I was already done with school…”
Theo groaned. “Lucy…”
“I know. My bad for wanting an older guy to stay interested,” I said. “Anyway, when midnight rolled around and everyone was kissing, we had our own little kiss, too.”
As well as a super-hot make-out session that I’m definitely not going to mention.
“We left that weekend still not knowing a ton about each other. But then, on the first day of class, I was sitting in my chemistry class when Owen walked in. And because I still thought he was just a bartender, when I first saw him, I honestly thought he was a student.”
“He’smyage, Lucy.”
“I know,” I said quickly. “I just thought he was a non-traditional student who had figured out what he wanted to do a littlelater on.”
I mean, it wasn’tthatbig of a stretch. I’d had a bunch of older classmates over the years.
I sighed. “As soon as we realized who each other was and how off-limits a relationship would be, we tried to keep our distance. I promise.”
“Clearly not hard enough,” Theo muttered. “Since you look pretty cozy in that photo.”
“Okay, yeah,” I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. “So that didn’t last as long as it should have. But…we made it all the way to your birthday party without any slip-ups.”
“Something happened at my party?” Theo’s voice shot up an octave. “Is that why Owen was in my pantry?”
Ugh. My mouth seriously needed a filter.
“Uhh…” I hesitated. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
“Lucy—”
“I know it sounds bad. But I swear we were trying to do what was right. Owen’s a good guy. He treats me well. He’s respectful, kind, even-tempered, mature…and things just…happened.”
I glanced behind me to where Owen was watching the beaker. He looked calm, but something in his jaw told me he was tense.
Was he mad at me for saying too much?
Upset this had spiraled out?
