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[color=slategray][sub]Location: The Lyon Residence —> Dreamland —> Owen’s Car —> Homeroom
Featuring:[/sub][/color] [color=a52521][sub][b]Owen Lyon[/b][/sub][/color][color=slategray][sub],[/sub][/color] [color=3545c5][sub][b]Troy Lyon[/b][/sub][/color][color=slategray][sub],[/sub][/color] [color=17aa99][sub][b]A Double[/b][/sub][/color]
[color=slategray][sub]Interacting with: Wyatt [@smarty0114]
Mentions:[/sub][/color] [color=15603a][sub][b]Trixie Kingsley[/b][/sub][/color] [sub][@Lovely Complex][/sub][/center][hr][hr][indent][color=a52521][b]“I was thinking I might leave.”[/b][/color]

Silence. Pure, deafening silence. What had he expected? ‘Oh, sure, son. Run away from your problems. That’ll solve everything.’ Owen took a deep breath, and rather than wait for his father to respond, he pressed on confidently. An air of confidence, whether truly there or not, was the key to having a successful conversation with someone who considered themselves above you.

[color=a52521][b]“I was thinking Spain. Grandpa has a villa there, I think some time away would be good for me.”[/b][/color]

Owen carefully watched his father’s face, eyeing how the older man’s expression shifted slightly, growing more incredulous with each word. This was going well, totally. So well. So perfectly well. Owen took a deep breath and continued his cautious pressing of the subject.

[color=a52521][b]“I would go on independent study, so my schoolwork wouldn’t be interrupted. I could still graduate on time, I’d fly back for that. I know mom is really excited about that…”[/b][/color]

Owen trailed off and looked at his father, finally giving Troy the moment he needed to process what his son had said, while they sat on the porch and enjoyed an early (very early, it was barely six) morning bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Troy crunched his final bite, and slowly drank the milk, eyeing his son over the bowl the entire time. Owen was dying inside; his father was one of the few people left who intimidated him into respecting them, and it made conversations like this stressful, to say the least.

[color=3545c4][b]“Don’t you already have a Spanish girl?”[/b][/color] Troy asked, and Owen’s lips twisted and formed into a scowl, his eyes instantly growing darker as his father reopened wounds that were very much still healing. [color=3545c4][b]“Too soon, I guess? Grow up, Owen. You can’t run from your problems, and you can’t be driven by your anger and your hatred and your sadness. I don’t think your mom would let you go anyway, because she couldn’t bear to be that far away from you, but… even if she does: I’m vetoing it. You have to see this through, man. You can’t run forever, not from this. You have to see it through.”[/b][/color] Troy smiled sadly as Owen’s expression morphed again from one of anger and frustration with his father, to one of a genuinely upset young man. [color=3545c4][b]“I know it sucks. I know it does. They lied. She didn’t trust you and she put someone else before you, after you gave her, well… pretty much everything you’ve got, but you [i]have[/i] to see this through, you can’t run from this one.”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“But this isn’t fair.”[/b][/color] Owen protested in a soft voice so unlike the strong, confident one he typically spoke with.

[color=3545c4][b]“Agreed. But it’ll get better. Give it time, time can heal all wounds. Maybe you won’t get back with Trixie, maybe you shouldn’t. I don’t know. We thought you two were forever, really? Like, all of us. Me, Wolfe, Izzy, your mom. Even most of the other moms did… So I don’t know what’s going to happen there. But you can’t leave without an answer, right? You gotta know why. There’s no real solution here, other than to wait and hope she figures something out on her own. You can’t go on an all out offensive, if Hailey is anything like your mom, you’ll turn into what I was in high school — and we don’t want that. High school sucked for me, and I even knew the truth: that very little of what happens in high school matters in the long run. And no, you can’t do what Gabriel would suggest and roll up on them and pop the trunk.”[/b][/color] Troy paused and shrugged, giving Owen a chance to respond, and Owen took it before it disappeared.

[color=a52521][b]“Thank you. For not telling mom and her friends. I think if they got involved, it’d get worse for everyone and I don’t want that. It means a lot, that I can trust you with stuff like that. And I’m glad you believed me, that I didn’t do that to her. Why… why Trixie doesn’t see the truth I don’t know. I’ll see it through.”[/b][/color] Owen sat down the bowl of cereal and nodded to himself, almost as if to give reassurance that this was the right move. [color=a52521][b]“Thank you. Again. I can’t stress enough how nice it is to know that I can talk to you about this and… and not have to worry about it. I love mom, but she gets too intense. Too emotional. I couldn’t tell her any of this crap, she’d lose her mind.”[/b][/color]

Troy shrugged his shoulders and what he said was simple enough, [color=3545c4][b]“You’re my son. Of course you can —”[/b][/color] What he had said may have been simple, but the reaction it elicited was anything but. Owen had very suddenly wrapped his arms around his father in a tight hug, and Troy reciprocated it (you didn’t get many hugs from teenagers). Troy gave his son a few pats on the back and they stayed in their embrace for a few seconds, before Owen pulled away. Troy stared at him for a second, before shaking his head, [color=3545c4][b]“You’d better get going, if you’re gonna pick up A Double.”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“Oh, [i]shit.[/i] I did say I’d do that…”[/b][/color] Sighing, Owen turned and headed toward the garage where his car was parked. Troy picked up his son’s bowl and called out after him.

[color=3545c4][b]“Hey, don’t beat on that Marshall kid too hard! Dude’s like a lil lamb!”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“Oh, fuck off!”[/b][/color] Owen yelled back at his father as he jumped into his car. The Aventador roared to life, and Owen pulled out, heading down the long, winding driveway.

[i]Meanwhile, in Dreamland[/i]

A Double had a bit of a love for the classics, yeah? Old video games, old mountains, old movies, old shows… just, old stuff. Like, really old stuff. Past vintage, past retro… A Double dug [i]antique[/i] shit. Which, was why he was sitting in the living room, in front a custom built CRT TV, playing on an old Nintendo 64 that had a sticker on the back declaring it property of Westworth High. A Double wasn’t sure of the details, and he didn’t really care exactly, but his father and Jareth had stolen it from the high school they’d attended or something?

Not important. What was important was that he was in the last breaths of his PERFECT run of Super Mario 64. All he had to do was ace the final boss fight against Bowser, and all would be well. He had a stack of waffles at his side, which had been much taller before he’d started playing, but was now down to about three, well three and a half. A Double snatched up the half a waffle and crammed it into his mouth, chewing it before he grabbed Bowser by the tail and spun that motherfucker like a bat out of hell (his palm would be in pain later), and launched him into the final bomb.

[color=17aa99][b]“I DID IT!”[/b][/color]

A Double looked to his left, holding up his hand for Wyatt to high five. Then he frowned when he remembered Wyatt wasn’t there. Then he turned to his right and held out his fist for Raf to bump, and then frowned more when he remembered Raf wasn’t there either! Then, he looked at his lap to give Q a kiss and… he felt his heart drop when he realized she wasn’t there either. [color=17aa99][b]“Man, I forgot… I ain’t got no friends here!”[/b][/color]

A Double blew a raspberry and stood up, leaving the screen on the last letter from Princess Peach, intending fully for his friends to come over and see it, before he shouldered his backpack and grabbed another waffle, leaving the last two for Max. Then he went to the front porch and plopped down, waiting for Owen to show up so he could drive him to school. Could A Dubs drive himself to school? Of course he could, but he didn’t like driving cars very much, especially not on roads. Too many rules.

A Double withdrew from his inner jacket pocket a joint he’d rolled last night with a new strain that Ana and Malcolm had engineered. He was excited! He held it in his lips and lit it. [i]Puff, puff[/i], exhale. [i]Puff, puff[/i], exhale. Whoa… that was good. A Double took a couple more hits and then dabbed at his now misty eyes with the back of his hands, looking up to note that Owen was pulling up in his bright red Aventador.

Meanwhile, behind the wheel, Owen looked over at A Double as he walked toward the car, noticing he was crying. Now, with this dude, it could be anything, but after popping the trunk for A Double to toss his backpack in the trunk, Owen prepared himself for the worst. When the door opened, he spoke quickly. [color=a52521][b]“What’s wrong, dude?”[/b][/color]

A Double sniffle-coughed (it was really pretty goddamn ugly), and tried to compose himself before speaking to Owen, [color=17aa99][b]“thank God, for my reefer man. This shit g[sup]ood[/sup],”[/b][/color] A Double replied, his voice cracking a little bit at the end as he puffed again, before blowing the joint out and carefully storing it in his jacket pocket again, [color=17aa99][b]“I gots to save some for Q. This shit’s too good, man!”[/b][/color] A Double wiped his eyes and Owen sighed as he threw the car into reverse, spinning it around so he could head out the way he came.

A Double took almost a minute, to compose himself, before finally spoke. [color=17aa99][b]“Can you hit the drop top? I know this thing got the robo-roof.”[/b][/color] Owen looked over at A Double, raising an eyebrow behind his black sunglasses, before he reached out and hit the button. The cars top automatically stored itself in the back, and the boys could feel the cool morning air hit them. They pulled out of the Dreamland driveway and onto the highway… [color=17aa99][b]“How fast this thing go, anyway?”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“Two ten.”[/b][/color]

[color=17aa99][b]“No WAY. Hit it, dude! Wait, hold up.”[/b][/color] A Double hit the bluetooth button, pairing up his phone, and hitting play [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUEAjS3urfA]on the song[/url].

Owen shook his head, but slowly pressed the accelerator in, the car’s engine revving up as he did so. Owen shifted the car from second to third, then from third to fourth, and kept it there for a second, coasting down the straight away at one hundred miles per hour. A truly irresponsible teenage rmove. [color=a52521][b]“Early in the morning!~”[/b][/color]

[color=17aa99][b]“Risin’ to the street, light me up that cigarette! You got it. Sing it, my dude!”[/b][/color] A Double was all smiles, as Owen did indeed belt the song.

[color=a52521][b]“Got to find a reason, a reason things went wrong! Got to find the reason why my money’s all gone! I got a dalmation, and I can still get high. And I can play the guitar like a motherfuckin’ riot!”[/b][/color] As Owen sang, A Double reached out to pull the passenger side sunblind down, and a few hair ties and a pair of sunglasses tumbled out onto his lap. [color=a52521][b]“Bow now, wow no— Hey, motherfucker! Quit fuckin’ with shit!”[/b][/color] Owen hit the button to cut the music and A Double frowned, realizing he’d killed the mood.

[color=17aa99][b]“...is this Trixie’s stuff?”[/b][/color] A Double asked slowly, looking over at his sort-of cousin. Owen nodded. [color=17aa99][b]“Why do you still have it? ...do you still love her?”[/b][/color] Owen didn’t respond, and that silence spoke volumes. A Double chose to press on fearlessly. [color=17aa99][b]“...does it hurt?”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“[sub]Every day of my life.[/sub] It’s all I can think about. She used to like, live with me. So she has a bunch of stuff here, and a bunch of stuff back home. It’s still, to this day, cold waking up without her there. Which is stupid, because she like sucked my body heat from my body. But at least she was there.”[/b][/color] It was Owen’s turn to wipe his eyes. He gulped, and A Double chose again to gently press further.

[color=17aa99][b]“Why don’t you give her her stuff back?”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“I guess I’m hoping she’ll come get it herself. Maybe then, if I have that time with her, alone, I can explain things. But it doesn’t matter. I already know how it would end: poorly. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should give it back to her. It hurts, it burns, it stings. Don’t fall in love kid.”[/b][/color]

[color=17aa99][b]“Hrm.”[/b][/color]

Owen, noticing that he’d seemed to cause A Double to fall uncharacteristically, decided to ask a question of his own. [color=a52521][b]“What’s her name?”[/b][/color]

[color=17aa99][b]“Q. Quincy. Jennifer, actually. But she likes Quincy more. She used to be Hailey’s friend.”[/b][/color]

[color=a52521][b]“Right, her. Good luck, dude. I think you guys will do well together — plus, that’s not really surprising. Thought you two were already dating...”[/b][/color] Owen pulled into his typical parking spot and put the top up, popping the trunk so they could get their things. He looked at the small pile of things belonging to Trixie that A Double had unceremoniously dumped on the seat… Owen took a deep breath and looked at A Double. [color=a52521][b]“I’ll catch up. Is it cool if I sit with you guys?”[/b][/color]

[color=17aa99][b]“YEAH! Totally, dude! I’ll see you there.”[/b][/color] Immediately, A Double’s jump was back in his step, and Owen gathered the things that belonged to his ex; the woman who still had his heart. He threw them into an old bag she’d left in the trunk forever ago, and tore out a piece of notebook paper.

[color=a52521][i][s]Can I[/s]
[s]Trixie[/s]
[s]I suck with words[/s]
[s]Please[/s]
[s]Come ba[/s]
[s]Call me[/s]
[s]I miss yo[/s][/i][/color]

Owen took a deep breath, looking down at the paper with different scratched beginnings on it, and ran a hand through his hair, before putting the pen back to his paper.

[color=a52521][i]Follow your heart.

— Kitty[/i][/color]

There. That seemed good. 

Wait, one last thing. Meticulously, carefully, Owen put pen back to paper, drawing a heart beside his signature, filling it in with the blue pen he’d written it with, before deciding that was as good as it going to get.

He just had to hope her heart was in the same place as his right? In classic Owen fashion, he left the scribbled out attempts at beginning a letter there, and stuffed it into the purse alongside all of Trixie's belongings. Owen held the purse in one hand, carefully, very carefully, almost as if it were a bomb, and headed through the empty halls (class had already begun, huh? Oops.).

He stopped at Trixie’s locker… 24. 5. 12. [i]Click.[/i] It opened and Owen carefully sat the bag in there for her to find, before closing it shut and heading to homeroom (where it seemed he was pretty much the [i]last[/i] arrival), where he took a seat across from A Double and Wyatt at the stoner table.

Staring at the people he’d only exchanged a few words with in the past, Owen cleared his throat. [color=a52521][b]“Hi, I’m Owen.”[/b][/color] He offered, sticking his hand out for Wyatt to shake.

Underneath the table, A Double was discreetly playing footsies with Q. She had asked him for their thing to be private, but he wanted to do SOMETHING. The other couples got to be cute. This worked, for him.[/indent]