by Trina Solet
"Did you feel anything?" Dan asked him when the kiss ended.
"I felt everything," Owen told him in his warm, sleepy voice as if he was only half awake and already dreaming.
Dan kissed him again, more softly this time not wanting to disturb whatever dream he was having. He could feel Owen falling asleep, naked in his arms. That was an amazing feeling, more intimate than sex somehow. Too bad he would have to wake him soon. He wished they could stay like this until morning and then every night. But they couldn't yet. This was just a tantalizing taste of the future to drive him crazy until it became reality. From now on, Dan was never going to get any sleep. Every night he was going to wonder if Owen would visit him again.
Chapter 11
Owen had gone to the office a little earlier than usual. As Dan was helping the girls get ready for school, he noticed that Maggie seemed to be winding down. By the time Connie was off to school, Maggie didn't seem like herself. He touched her forehead and noticed that she was just a little warm, but it was her lack of energy that convinced him to call Owen.
"Hi. I want to keep Maggie home from preschool. She feels a little warm, and she's being a little too quiet. Mrs. Amano already picked up Connie."
"I'll come home," Owen said right away.
"You don't need to rush. It doesn't look too bad," Dan assured him.
"I'll be useless here anyway."
When Owen came home, he went straight to the living room where Dan had brought Maggie's pillow and blanket. She was sitting up on the couch and playing, but he could tell right away that she wasn't a hundred percent. She reached up her arms as soon as she saw Owen, and he sat down to cuddle with her.
"My sick little magpie. Not too warm," Owen said when he kissed her forehead.
"It hasn't gone up since I first checked," Dan told him.
"Aren't you going to be late for class?" Owen asked.
"I'm ditching." Dan didn't even consider going to school.
"I'm staying home, you can..." Owen started to say, but Dan shook his head.
"I'll feel better if I stay," Dan said.
"You're supposed to be the easygoing one, not the worrier," Owen told him.
"I'm not worried," Dan said, speaking to Maggie. "You're going to be all better soon."
"Yeah," she agreed. "I have to. It's no fun being sick. I don't want to be stuck home with you guys."
"What?" Owen said with a laugh.
"All my friends in preschool are doing stuff. I'm missing it," she said.
"You better hurry and get better then," Dan told her.
"I guess it's not too bad if she's well enough to insult us," Owen said.
Maggie's fever stayed about the same for the rest of the day. When Dan came back from picking up Connie from school, they found Owen busy in the kitchen. He was making chicken soup from scratch.
"It's to give me something to do so I don't fuss over Maggie every second," he told Dan.
"Connie and I will fuss over her for you," Dan said. He told Connie his plan. "We can play hospital. You can be Maggie's doctor, and I'll be the nurse."
"Call me Dr. Connie," she said, immediately getting into the role.
"Of course, Dr. Connie. We'll borrow a white shirt from Owen's closet and that can be your doctor's coat."
Maggie was a good patient, but eventually Dan decided to give her a break from Connie's doctoring and let her rest.
"I want you to prescribe a nap for her now" is how he put it to Connie. "We'll wake her for dinner. OK?"
Owen came over to check her temperature before she was asleep.
"Mommy used to sing me a get well song when I was sick," Connie said and sat down close to Maggie. "Like this: Get well soon, my sleepy little angel. Get well soon so we can have lots of fun. Get well soon with hugs and kisses from your mom and your dad too," Connie sang tunelessly.
"That's a good song," Maggie said.
"Yes, it is," Owen agreed. Dan could tell that he had been a little choked up until Maggie spoke to break the spell.
Once Maggie was asleep, the three of them went to the kitchen. Connie was thoughtful.
"I used to dream that Mommy and Daddy were sitting in my room when I was sleeping," she said as she took a seat at the kitchen table, and Dan and Owen sat down with her. "When I woke up, I would stay with my eyes closed so they wouldn't go away."
"They are always with you, honey," Owen told her.
"Maggie doesn't remember them," Connie said sadly.
"It's good that you do," Dan told her.
"But I want Maggie to remember them too," Connie said.
"We'll tell her lots of stories then she will," Owen said to her.
At Maggie's bedtime, Connie did just that. She sat on the edge of Maggie's bed and flipped through a photo album. Connie showed her pictures while she talked, and Maggie listened attentively.
"Me and Daddy liked to read comic books together. But not Mommy. But sometimes Daddy would read Mommy a comic because he thought it was really good, and she would go like this." Here Connie rolled her eyes in imitation of her mother, and Maggie laughed.
Connie put a finger to her chin as she thought of what else to say. She looked through the album for inspiration. Coming to a picture of Owen and their mother, she continued.
"Mommy and Uncle Owen were best friends. Mommy said she picked Uncle Owen to be our uncle even before she picked Daddy to be our dad."
Maggie nodded and smiled up at Owen.
After Maggie was asleep, Connie looked kind of down. First, Owen made sure she wasn't sick too. She wasn't. Owen went to Dan's room with her so they could talk and not wake Maggie. Dan cleared some stuff off his bed so Owen could sit down with Connie in his lap.
"Tell me about it, jellybean," Owen said and wrapped her in a hug. Then he pulled back a little to see her face as she talked.
"I was telling Maggie about Mommy and Daddy, and I made myself sad," she said. Every time she blinked a tear dropped off her eyelashes. Owen wiped her face then got a tissue ready to wipe her nose.
"That's because you miss them. I miss them too. Your mom and dad were the best," Owen told her in a hushed voice.
"Yeah," she agreed through tears, getting a very serious look on her face. She sniffed and Owen tried to wipe her nose. "I'll do it," she said, taking the tissue from him.
"That's right. You're my big girl," Owen told her and hugged her again.
"I'm not a crybaby," she insisted, looking from Owen to Dan.
"No, you're not. You're my brave girl and a good big sister," Owen told her as she snuggled up against him.
Watching Owen with Connie in his arms, Dan could tell that the two of them had a bond of shared pain. She knew that Owen understood her completely in moments like these. Connie even looked like Owen, but it was the closeness between her and Owen that made Connie look like his daughter.
Dan and Owen watched TV with Connie for a little while until she was ready for bed. Owen stayed with her and held her hand until she was asleep.
When Owen came to join him in his room, Dan could tell that Connie's tears were on his mind.
"It hurts me so much to see her cry," Owen said in a whisper. "It brings it all back. When Mom and I had to tell her." Owen looked at Dan, feeling the weight of all that sadness all over again. "It was so hard to be alive knowing that the two best people I knew were gone. I just kept telling myself over and over again, 'Mom and the girls need you. They need you. You can't fall apart.' I would be numb for hours, working or whatever, then suddenly I would feel this crushing pain, and I wouldn't be able to breathe. I was a wreck. Mom was a wreck. We just pushed through one day then another. Then months later, I remember it was a little easier. The pain was still there, but there was more love than pain."
Dan wrapped Owen in a tight hug. He wanted to take away every last bit of pain that remained and replace it all with his love.
*
After they put the girls to sleep that night, Owen stayed in Dan's room, not to fool around thou
gh. They left the door open and went in to check on Maggie all night. Her fever had gone down, but they wanted to make sure it stayed that way. They took short naps, but neither of them slept for long.
Dan was doing some reading for school, leaning sideways on his bed. Owen was stretched out lengthwise and using Dan's legs as a pillow. Dan's hand made lazy patterns on his chest. Sometimes Owen heard him turn a page or scribble something. Owen put his hand over Dan's and ran his fingertips over his knuckles.
"How is this for a second date?" Owen asked.
"You're calling this a date? You are in so much trouble," Dan told him.
"Any uninterrupted time with you is a date." Or at least that's how it seemed to Owen. It always felt like they were getting closer, taking steps toward something. Something deep and lasting, Owen thought. But it was too soon to think that way. Owen knew he better hold back if he didn't want to scare Dan and dash his own hopes in the process.
Every day he spent with Dan reaffirmed his trust in him. Late into the night, it felt good to have Dan there by his side, watching over Maggie. Owen was surprised that a young guy like him could make him feel so secure. That's why it was so hard not to rush ahead into a future with Dan that seemed more real all the time. It was only when he counted their dates that he knew he was crazy to think that way. One date plus every day spent together, growing closer – that had to count for something.
Chapter 12
To celebrate Maggie feeling better just in time for the weekend, they had all gone to the mall on Friday. They stopped by Owen's friend's accessories store and made plans for Eve to babysit Saturday night so Owen could take Dan out on a real date.
Since Dan and Owen were going out for a grownup movie night, the girls demanded their own movie night. Eve came over armed with girlie movies. Owen said that she was always a hit with Connie and Maggie. Dan wasn’t surprised. Eve was petite and pretty with long hair. She was like a living doll. Owen thought it was for other reasons.
"She understands them perfectly, and she always lets them stay up late," Owen said while looking at Eve accusingly. She just shrugged.
Seeing Owen and Dan dressed and ready to go, the girls rushed over.
"Is it movie time?" Connie asked, looking up at Owen.
"It's movie time for everybody," Owen confirmed.
Dan wondered if Connie would be able to guess that they were going on a date, but she let them go without a fuss.
Owen drove this time, but Dan wasn't sure about this weird route they were taking to the movie theater. Dan figured out what Owen was up to when he took the turn that would take them to the make out spot from their first date. Owen parked in the same place and shut off the engine. The night was filled with the same silence occasionally broken by the hushed sounds of nature. The moon was fat and yellow in the dark sky that still held a hint of blue. The place brought back all the crazy, happy feelings from their first time. Dan smiled to himself as he remembered how nervous and excited he had been to have his dream finally coming true.
After a moment when he might have been thinking back and remembering the same things, Owen turned to him with a hungry look.
"This is so you don't grope me in the movie theater," he explained.
"Nothing can keep me from groping you in a dark movie theater," Dan told him.
Owen might claim that he was preventing trouble, but he was just starting it. He ran his hand up Dan's thigh, reenacting their first date. This time Owen took the first turn. After squeezing him through his jeans, he unbuttoned Dan's fly and let his cock spring free, already hard. He caressed him appreciatively, weighing in his hand what he was going to take into his mouth in one second. After a thorough kiss, his head went to Dan's lap. Dan moaned in tune with the slide of Owen's mouth from the head almost to the root of his cock. Owen gripped his thighs for leverage so he could pump his mouth over Dan's cock hard and fast. When he reached down for his own fly, Dan stopped him.
"No, mine," he said in a breathless voice.
Owen must have liked the sound of that too much not to obey. Even as Owen sucked him harder all the time, Dan couldn't wait to do the same to him.
"We're officially late," Owen said seeing the time and the full parking lot. "And I don't see one decent parking spot."
"So we'll miss the coming attractions," Dan said. To him, it was well worth it.
"And end up with bad seats," Owen complained.
"Drop me off in front so I can grab us decent seats. You go find a parking spot," Dan said. It was his fault after all. They were late because he had to have Owen's cock.
Owen pulled up in front of the movie theater to let Dan out. As he stepped out of the car, Dan spotted Keith Mitchum. Dan turned away from the unpleasant sight and walked toward the line of people waiting to buy tickets. Out of the corner of his eye, he tried to see where Keith was but he was gone. Dan was relieved, and he was pretty sure Keith wouldn't be going to see the foreign movie Owen was taking him to see.
While he was looking around, Dan tried to spot Owen's car. There he was. He had parked and was getting out. Dan now spotted Keith as well. He was going in Owen's direction. He had to have seen Dan get out of Owen's car. That's why he was headed that way. Dan rushed toward them. A car honked at him as he crossed without looking. He saw Keith bump into Owen, and he ran over to them.
*
Owen was making his way toward the movie theater when a young, blond guy bumped into him. In the process, he knocked Owen's keys out of his hand. Owen could swear that it wasn't an accident. It seemed to him that the guy had deliberately bumped him and swiped at his hand. He was now apologizing in a mocking tone. "Sorry, man, didn't see you there," he lied. He had definitely seen Owen.
Owen's keys were lying on the ground. He moved to reach for them while keeping this guy in sight.
"I'll get those for you," the guy said and kicked them under an SUV. "I'm so clumsy today."
Owen took a step back and watched him. He couldn't tell what this guy wanted. If he was going to rob him, he was going about it in a weird way. That's when Dan appeared, breathless and mad.
"Keith, get the fuck away from him," he said, letting Owen know who they were dealing with.
"Is that you, Dan? I guess parking cars was too much like hard work for you. Selling your ass is more your thing," Keith said.
Dan only glared and said to Owen, "Let's go."
"My keys are under there," Owen told him. He moved to get them, but Dan stopped him.
"I'll do it," Dan said and got down to reach for them.
Right away, Owen knew why Dan didn't let him get the keys. He didn't want Owen on his knees in front of this guy.
"That's a familiar position for you, isn't it, Dan? Hands and knees," Keith said. "Bet you'd lick it up right off the ground. I think I have five bucks. Let's see."
Owen and Dan were on the same page. Nothing this guy said was worth a response. But then Keith moved. He took one step toward Dan, who had just grabbed the keys. That's when Owen slugged the asshole. The impact traveled up his arm, jarring and painful, but satisfying. Owen was dying to do that. Unfortunately, to the onlookers it seemed like he punched an innocent man for no reason. The cops saw it the same way. Fifteen minutes later, Owen found himself in handcuffs.
*
It was good to see Keith knocked on his ass, but everything that came after that was a nightmare. As Owen was read his rights, Dan's stomach knotted up sickeningly. His head was spinning. Owen was in handcuffs, under arrest because of him. This couldn't be happening.
"Just take care of the girls. Call Eve, tell her to call Justin. Everything is going to be fine," Owen reassured him. He could tell that Dan was about to have a meltdown.
Dan pulled himself together fast. He had to. Owen was counting on him. Dan remembered that Justin was one of Owen's friends and that he was a lawyer. He made the phone call to Eve then looked down at Owen's keys in his hand. When the police car pulled out with Owen in the back, Dan followed in Owen's car.
The arresting officer looked from Keith to Owen then nodded at the blond cop. Dan was horrified. Weren't things bad enough?
The next thing they knew, the cuffs were off, charges were being dropped and Owen was being released with a warning. They were both stunned.
"You make me sick! You're a fucking disgrace," Keith was yelling. He wasn't directing his words at Dan or Owen. He was speaking to his brother.
Keith's brother was stone faced. He said something to Keith under his breath and Keith stormed out.
"That must be his brother. I guess he was expecting him to take his side," Owen said.
"I was too," Dan said.
Instead, Keith's brother had looked ready to punch Keith himself.
"Why didn't Keith's brother take his side?" Dan wondered. It seemed impossible.
Owen offered a theory. "Because Keith is a psycho, and I guess his brother knows that."
Once they were outside, Owen stopped on the driver's side of his car. He shook his head from side to side like he was trying to clear it.
"I think you have to drive," he said to Dan in a voice he could barely hear.
Before he took the wheel, Dan squeezed Owen's left hand. For the first time, Dan was seeing the effects of what happened. Owen had stayed so calm until now.
"I almost ended up in jail. God, what would have happened to the girls?" Owen said.
"I'm sorry. This is my mess. I should have..."