Athena
"I told you before, I'm not mad." I told Owen.
The first week of college passed by quicker than expected but at least it was fun.
Turns out, having Maya tag along wherever Owen was great! She keeps tabs on him and updates me whenever he does something stupid and maybe even those rare times when he actually does something wrong.
Today was our first weekend of college and what better way to spend it over at the health center at uni? It was about time I annoy the shit out of him and I kinda like tagging along to his PT sessions.
"Are you sure?" Owen asked as he looked up at me with those big, expectant eyes of his that were again, shaded by his messy waves of dark brown hair.
"Why would you think I wasn't serious when I just told you I'm not mad?"
Owen looked like he was holding something back as he squirmed in his chair as we waited in the Center for Sophie, his physical therapist here.
Eventually, Owen shot me a pouty look and slumped.
"Because you usually do when I'm with someone else especially if it's a girl." he huffed.
I shook my head and attempted to smile.
"I trust Maya. She's okay. Besides, she gave me a plant." I said, leaning back into one of those cold, hospital-like chairs.
"She gave you that tiny cactus? Before you had that, I didn't even know cactuses could even get so dehydrated they actually die."
"It's Cacti." I said, correcting him in attempt to throw him off the subject.
Owen smiled softly and inhaled.
"I find it adorable whenever you try to evade talking about how you killed a cactus."
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY COULD DIE." I said.
A moment of silence eventually followed as we waited in the Center, watching people come and go from individual rooms.
"Now, about Maya,"
"Owen, STOP. How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not mad."
"I'M SORRY. It's just weird with her and all."
"Why? Do you want a plant too?"
Looking a little frustrated and annoyed, instead of narrowing his eyes at me the way he used to before, he pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed slowly.
"No. It's just,-- I find it weird not to explain myself further to you last Monday about Maya. Was Fitz fine with it?" he asked sadly.
Before classes even started, Fitz and Owen hung out A LOT at Fitz's dorm room playing games. I guess the guy could cut some slack from overthinking too much about college. He does suck at video games. Owen could use some practice. Fitz was good.
Looking at Owen's expectant expression with his brows all furrowed concerningly and his mouth a thin, straight line, annoying the shit out of him could probably start any time now.
"Oh dude, he was devastated. He was so sad, he actually lost to a GIRL in one of his little video games." I said as I started with a pouty look that gradually developed into a winning smirk.
"You won?" he asked, a slight smile curled up on his lips.
"Of course I did. I'm awesome."
"You always say that." he said, rolling his eyes.
"Do you have a problem with it?"
"No ma'am."
A few more minutes passed by before this tall, slender woman with jet black hair tied up in a bun came up to us with a clipboard in her hands. She looked stern.
"Watson, right?" she asked, her tone uptight.
I looked over to Owen who was busily reading some ebook he downloaded onto his phone. I turned my head towards the woman and she looked really tired even if it's still a few minutes past 9am.
I nudged Owen's side with my elbow and as he annoyingly turned to me, he eventually looked up at the woman standing before us.
"Oh." he muttered.
The woman's mouth curled into a forced smile and she sighed.
"Yes, Watson. 'Oh'. What a perfect way to greet your physical therapist. Follow me." she said sternly as she turned and walked down the quiet hallway.
Owen looked uncertain for a hot second as he turned to me.
"Please tell me that's not Sophie." he whispered as he slowly unlocked the brakes of his chair.
"Sorry bud, I think that's a Sophie." I said with a small nod.
Owen slowly pushed his chair in front of me and turned his head towards where Sophie was going. She was still walking and didn't even turn her head to check whether Owen actually followed her.
"She doesn't look like a Sophie." he said, leaning forward a bit.
"But she is Sophie." I emphasized as I started to feel my mouth twist into a smile.
He really doesn't like Sophie, does he?
"Are you sure? She looks more like a Gertrude to me." he spat as he had a sour expression plastered across his face.
I fake shocked and sat straighter in the waiting room chair I was still sitting on. Owen looked amused for a quick moment as he eyed me.
"Gertrude is a wonderful name. How dare you Robert Owen Daniel." I said, mocking his British accent as I did my own version of it horribly though there isn't much to mock in him since I kinda find his voice sexy.
"How dare you, Selene." he said breathily as he grinned playfully at me and started to push his chair away from where I sat.
I watched him slowly move farther away from me and as he was a few feet away, he turned his head back and motioned me to come along.
I smiled at him and stood, following him down the quiet hallway of the Center.
Kinda sends me back to those good old days when he just despised me for accompanying him to PT just because his mother asked me to. The tables have indeed turned these days.
Owen and I were led by Sophie a.k.a Gertrude into a smaller version of the Rehabilitation part of the center back home. Few students were inside doing their thing and an a rare few adults were even there. I presume they were the parents of the actual kids in here but I don't want to jump too quickly to conclusions. We all know what that brought me.
As we caught up to Sophie standing near some weird piece of equipment, she eyed me beadily. Her eyes were narrowed so thinly I swear they could pass as strands of hair.
I felt myself swallow a huge clump of saliva, feeling it slowly roll down my throat.
God, she is scary.
"I didn't know Watson needed a helper." she said monotonously.
Offended, I started to feel my anger surge and started walking toward Sophie before I felt Owen's hand wrap around my wrist.
"Athena, no." he said.
I turned to look down on him and he had this pleading expression on his face I just couldn't ignore. I calmed myself down and backed off as I proceeded to stand behind Owen.
"Well?" Sophie asked as she looked back and forth at Owen and I.
"She's not a helper, uhm--, Ms. Sophie." Owen said shyly.
"If she won't be of any help, why is she here?" Sophie asked as her expression turned to stone.
I looked down on Owen and he looked up at me with a concerned look on his face.
"Can't she stay, please? I-- uh,"
"You what?"
"Moral support?"
"Watson, that ain't happening. She's not allowed in the facility unless she could help around. Do you need help getting around?"
Sophie turned to an uncomfortable-looking Owen who had his head down. He was obviously frowning and as he looked up, he narrowes his eyes first at me before turning to Sophie.
"Fine. I do need help. I have trouble with equipment around here. My girlfriend knows what she's doing." he spat bitterly as he stared straight into Sophie.
In return, she stared blankly at him before looking back at me.
"Okay. She can stay. Let's go." she said as she turned around again and began to walk toward some weird, gym-worthy equipment.
I looked down over to Owen and he had a winning smirk plastered on his face. I playfully nudged his shoulder and he looked up at me.
"What was that all about?" I whispered as we slowly went towards where Sophie was doing some adjusting and tweaking over at some equipment.
"You just got to stay." he said, smiling to himself.
"Yeah, I know. What I meant was the part where you actually want help and the small bit where I know what I was doing. When did those happen?"
"Just today. It'll all be over in a few." he said as he continued pushing slowly
"Since when did I know what the hell I was doing? I don't know what I'm even doing now."
"You'll familiarize soon enough, love. No pressure." he said as he grinned cheekily.
"Dude, I don't know how to do these,-- whatever you do at PT. You never needed any help."
"What if I do now?"
"Oh shut up, for the love of god."
As soon as we caught up to Sophie, she was standing next to some weird-looking contraption. Her eyes kept going back and forth at both Owen and I and I didn't know what the hell she was thinking. Her expression was very hard to read.
"Look, kids. I have a tight schedule around here and coincidentally, I have some other people to tend to. You, girlfriend." she said, pointing a sharp finger at me.
"Me?" I asked as I pointed to myself.
"Yes, you. Prop Watson up on this bad boy and make him do it as many times as he did back at your town. I'll be checking in every now and then to make sure you're actually doing something. Got it?"
"Yeah, probably." I said with a shrug
"Good. Now, excuse me. I'll be back after half an hour."
Sophie immediately left and before I knew it, Owen was looking over to me all expectant.
"Well? As I've said before, I am requiring your help. Invalid here, yoohoo." Owen said with that dirty, smug smirk on his face.
"Shut up. I know you can do these things by yourself. Just, do whatever." I said as I leaned on the bug chunk of equipment.
"But how? I can't move my legs." he said as he looked all puppy-like and innocent. Too innocent.
"Use your ARMS goddamnit. You always use them." I shot back.
He's playing with me again. Just like the time he opened that bathroom door in our room with a remote. And I didn't even know we HAD a remote for that.
"Too tired. Need help."
"If that'll make you stop talking then, fine. What do I do?" I said as I stood straighter and crossed my arms.
Owen sighed and glanced over at thw weird contraption before he turned his gaze back at me with a cheeky grin.
"Watch me in all my glory as I do it myself."
I scoffed as I playfully slapped his arm and fake-punched him, all laughing and also a bit annoyed.
"You are UNBELIEVABLE. Did I rub off on you that much?"
"Maybe. I couldn't tell by the way how
awesome I am." he said with a smirk as he wheeled towards some stool-like thing on the equipment.
"Oh god, I did that to you, didn't I?" I said as I followed him and watched.
"Don't blame yourself. I let you influence me that much." Owen replied as he transferred and tied himself down on the stool-thingy and held some controls to like, make something happen?
I'm not reallt familiar with these things.
"But still, the big question is,"
"Are you still mad about the thing with Maya?" he sputtered as soon as he got himself up on the equipment.
"SHUT IT ABOUT MAYA ALREADY. Oh look, you're standing again." I said.
Because of the equipment, he was actually standing again. It was cool and all but still, the mere mention of Maya again made me change my priorities.
Owen looked down over to his body had this weird grin on his face.
"Yeah. Kinda gets the blood circulating down there, does it? You know, when you're mad,--"
"I thought we were over this. I'm fine with Maya. End of conversation."
"You trust her that much?"
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"
"She just tried to steal me away from you and Fitz for a day?"
"It's only for a day. I get to have you the other days. Now stand still and don't go back down soon. I'll take a photo." I said as I fumbled for my phone.
I needed some sort of other distraction from Maya and taking a photo of Owen kinda did the trick.
"Athena,"
"Shh. Be still." I said as I opened the camera and took a few shots of him looking uncomfortable.
"I'm getting dizzy. I'll go back down for a bit then go back up."he admitted.
He proceeded to control the equipment until he was slowly getting back to a seated position. He regained his senses for a few minutes and later on, he was standing back up again. Of course, with the help of the equipment.
"Athena, I'm serious. What if Maya tries to do something?"
"She won't. Don't you trust my senses? Now, don't you look so cute standing up there with all those,-- strappy thingies and chunks of metal and bars over there. Want a kiss?" I suggested as I evaded the idea of Maya.
I don't want to think wrongly of her again. I don't want to have false assumptions about anyone.
Standing up, Owen was looking down on me with those amazing, icy, blue eyes of his. They were uncertain. He was slumped over the bars up in front of him and he looked at me worriedly.
"Sometimes I fear your idea that all people have some sort of good within themselves would somehow lead to unfortunate events." he said.
"Trust me on this one, Owen. She's good. I know it." I answered back as I stared intently into his eyes.
Owen sighed and adjusted himself on the equipment.
"Fine. Now can we talk about other things, instead?"
"I've wanted to do so for the past hundred years now, Optimus. Since when did you know how to use that,-- whatever that is?" I asked as I clicked the metal bars on the side surrounding the main equipment that held Owen up.
"I don't know exactly. I tried it a few times before with Barb but I didn't use it as much since I got sick pretty easily." he said.
"Aww, my poor baby gets sick easily."I said with a pout as I raised my hand up a bit to cup his cheek.
Owen shook his head and smiled warmly before he sighed.
"Please be quiet, Athena. I'm trying not to get dizzy now."
"And now he's dizzy. You know, if you didn't start talking about Maya, you wouldn't be feeling sick." I said innocently.
"And now we're back to her."he said, looking so done with my shit.
"Sorry. Couldn't help it. You wouldn't stop mentioning her."
"Fine. I'll stop. Maybe it'll make me feel less barfy."
"I think I know a quick remedy to shoo away any sort of barfiness."
"What?"
"Me kissing you."
Owen smiled with his mouth going up in only one corner and shook his head.
"Never mind if I do."