"Pasta's ready!" Owen calls out.

"Coming!" I voice back. I shut down my computer and walk to the kitchen. Owen dishes out the pasta on two plates, and I dig in.

"Not bad, Grady, not bad at all," I compliment him, savoring every bite. He had managed to reduce most of the saltiness, but now we were stuck eating the potatoes. However, there was something in the sauce that felt kind of- off.

"You know me. Nothing less than perfect," he adds with a wink. I definitely knew now that there was something wrong with the sauce, it had a really bitter taste, and it left your mouth feeling dry and warm. But I finish off the pasta enthusiastically, gagging internally, just to make sure Owen's feelings weren't hurt.

"Says the guy who put in half a canister of salt into this dish. Seriously though, who does that?"

He pulls out a chair and begins eating. "Igwotawlittlefwoiusturedkmd." He replies, mouth full of food. He doesn't seem affected by the taste, apparently.

The rest of our meal goes on silently. Owen had prepared a pretty big pot of pasta, and he finished almost half of it. Since I finished the plate of pasta, [I regret my decision so much], Owen serves me the rest of the pasta. Looking at it made me nervous, but again, I didn't want to hurt Owen, so I somehow manage to finish it. Now I know that something was definitely wrong with pasta, because I felt happy, elated even.

"Hey Owen…" I begin. "Do you want to go out with me?"

My favorite shirt now has horrible half-chewed pasta on it.

"UGH! Get this sticky mess off of me!" I scream at Owen. I grab a tissue and wipe the disgusting mess on my chest.

"What did you just say?" Owen asks me.

"Nothing. I gotta change." I stand up and head to the stairs. I was feeling a little light-headed. Probably some sleep would be the best.

"Go out? Like a date?" Owen calls out after me.

"Yeah, like a date." For some reason, I had lost the filter between inner Amber and real Amber.

Nope, this is all real Amber.

This is horrible.

w-

Fine, not actually horrible. I was kinda liking this.

"But what about rule number one?"

"Forget rule number one," I bat my eyelashes at him, which I never do, and sway my hips as I walk down the stairs, again which I never do, towards him.

Yep, and you totally looked like a clown.

GET OUT INNER AMBER.

"Do you like me Owen?" I whisper in his ears, tracing the lines of his collar-bone with my nails.

"Look sweetheart, you're cute and all.." Owen starts but I place my finger on his lips. I gently lower myself onto his chair. Our faces almost touched, my hair fell on his cheeks.

"Am I not good enough for you Owen?" I lay and gently lean in, towards his lips. He gently clasps my face with his right hand. I close my eyes, and Owen pulls me in. Our lips almost touch, but then he jerks back.

Owen begins to laugh. Uncontrollably. "My god- That look on your face- You thought-" he guffaws. I cross my arms over my still-wet shirt. I should've known better; trying to passive aggressively challenge Lillith by using Owen? That was probably never going to work. I had just made a fool of myself. I wanted to jump of a cliff. Any cliff would do.

"Go away," I reprimand Owen, and start to climb the stairs again. Maybe I could jump off the top of the stairs? Sound like an excellent idea.

"Wait a minute, Amber." He holds up a single finger, wiping his mouth with his other hand. He still takes time to control his laughing. I roll my eyes and climb.

"No seriously," Owen rushes from behind me and obstructs my path. "What's up with you? I thought you hate me. Why are you suddenly so eager to get in my pants? Hadn't we decided to keep our relationship strictly professional?"

"Just move." I look down and move to the side. Owen blocks the entire staircase.

"C'mon sweetheart, talk to me." He lifts my chin up. I slap his arm.

"I made a mistake Owen-" He grabs my shoulders and holds me.

"Is this about the Degler boy? Did you two break up?"

"NO! He's a brother to me. I'd never date him."

"Why do you care?" I kind of run out of responses, so I jab Owen's side, only to have my finger broken by rock-hard muscle. It was one way to change the topic.

"I was in the navy, sweetheart. I have been poked in the side which things much sharper and dangerous than your fingers." he smirks, and then grabs my hand.

"Just let me go-" I try to squeeze my way out of his iron grip, but fail.

Instead, Owen pulls me towards him. "Don't deny it sweetheart. You like me."

"You know Owen? This qualifies as non-consential touch. I can have you sued."

"Yeah, but you're not even trying to get out of this hold, are you Amber?"

"Maybe I'm planning to hit you when you least expect it."

We were so close; I could feel his heart beat.

Lean in, Inner Amber says. Only, her voice sounded like Owen's. God, even inner Amber can't be trusted anymore.

"But, since you hate me so much," he drops his hold. "I'm going to let you go. " He raises his arms defensively.

And I don't know what overcame me at that moment, he probably must have drugged that pasta, but I grab his face and smash lips over his.

He was definitely surprised at first, but after a minute or two I feel his hands wrap around me, bringing us closer. We were like industrial-strength neodymium magnets. Okay bad analogy I know, but that was the best way to describe our situation. We only broke up because we needed air, but not a second later passes when Owen lifted me up and our lips connected again.

He was damn good, I'll give him that. The only word which described how I felt was intense. Owen and I did have a great chemistry, but I never knew how strong it was. Owen's actions made it very obvious as to what he felt.

But how far do you want to take this, sweetheart?

Even inner amber sounded like Owen. God, I don't know how far I would take this.

All of a sudden I back away.

Owen looks confused. "Is everything okay, Amber? Was I too harsh? Too rough-"

Why'd I stop?

I really don't know.

I am not looking for anything permanent. Owen doesn't seem like the kind of guy who has long relationships. I just need a single month with Lillith. We could keep our pseudo-relationship short but very sweet. Both of us would benefit.

But when I looked at Owen, I felt a little guilty. He was genuinely a nice guy, and I didn't want to ruin our friendship. It just felt wrong to hurt him like that.

Why are you assuming he'd get hurt? He's probably dealt with these things all the time. He might be the type who leaves girls after a single night. What makes you think you'll be any different?

I DON'T KNOW.

"You talk too much Owen." I place a finger on his lips. He leans in once again, and I kiss him back.

I realize that I completely ignored inner Amber, but I would cross that bridge when I come to it. The night was young, and Charlie had sowed the seeds of sweet revenge in my mind. I felt terrible, using Owen, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Smiling evilly, I whisper in Owen's ear.

For the first time in our entire month-and-a-half long relationship, I see him blush. But he lifts me up and we go stumbling upstairs, to his room.

His room. Oh.

Well, screw you, Owen Grady.

Sunshine shone through a slit between the curtains. I close my eyes in annoyance and pull the sheets closer to me, snuggling my pillow. I felt really cold, but I didn't know why. My pillow moves away from me, so I grab it and hold it in place.

Wait… the pillow moved?

Holy shit. The pillow moved. Oh my gosh.

I jerk awake and throw my sheets off. I was in- my underwear. My hair was a mess. I look up. The wall was not my forest green one. The T.V in this room was much longer than the one at my room. The walls were gray. My fluffy purple bean bag was also not there. I turn my head to look at my pillow, and suddenly fall off the bed.

"OWEN GRADY!" I scream.

Owen wakes up. "Seriously, it's 7 in the morning. And it's a Sunday, just go back to sleep." He closes his eyes. "Wait a minute." His eyes jerk open. He looks at me. And he falls off the bed with an even worse sounding crash than mine.

"AMBER! What are you- How-" he rambles but his gaze falls on a dirty-tshirt by the carpet. "Oh. OH."

I see his bare chest. The evidence makes it extremely obvious. We slept together. But- wouldn't I have remembered that?

"Owen, what did you put into that pasta last night?"

"PASTA? WHAt does that have to do with anything? Don't you realize what happened?"

"Of course I do, but I need to know how I got into this situation in the first place. I would never willingly sleep with you consciously." I cross my arms over my chest. I felt skin.

"LOOK AWAY FROM ME!" I scream at Owen and wrap the sheets around me.

"Those are my sheets!" Owen yells back as he turns around and pulls it back.

I dash out of his room, with my clothes and everything, only stopping when I'm finally in my own room. I could hear Owen's steps after me, but I slam my door shut and sink to the ground.

I slept with Owen Grady. I slept with Owen Grady. I slept with-

"Sweetheart! Get out of there! I need my sheets!" Owen knocks at my door, but I don't open it.

"No Owen, you're not going anywhere unless you TELL ME!"

Owen sighed. "I may have used vodka."

"WHY?"

"For my Vodka sauce! The chef on T.V said that the vodka helps to bring out the tartness of the tomatoes!"

"WHAT?"

"I need my sheets back!"

Finally, something I understood. "NO! How much vodka did you use?"

"Um, like half the bottle? How is this even relevant?"

"Did you put that in last?"

"I may have but-"

Everything clicks in place. I was definitely drunk. No wonder I had a horrible pounding in my temples too.

"YOU IDIOT! The alcohol is supposed to burn off! And you're only supposed to use like two spoonfulls! Why would you even put alcohol in the first place?"

There is an uncomfortable silence.

"HE-LLO, Owen! Speak UP!"

I hear a sigh. "Fine. I may have used it to impress you by my cooking-"

"Your lack of-"I correct him.

"Fine, my lack of cooking skills. Happy? Look where that got me."

"If you wanted Gourmet food, you could've ordered it off the fancy restaurant!"

"Are you kidding me? I'm saving up my money! I can't spend so much; do you even know how much that costs?"

Should I reveal my little secret?

Come on Amber, it's not like he doesn't know your most secret p-

FINE. I'll tell him.

I struggle to form words. "It-it's actually- free." I somehow manage to whisper. Those words were going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

"FREE GOURMET FOOD? NO WONDER YOU'RE NEVER AT HOME ANYMORE! GODDAMN IT I COULD'VE-"

I couldn't hear anything more because he abruptly left. His sheets were still with me. Idiot.

But he is my idiot.

No he isn't. I'm just going to use him as a part of my plan to get over Lillith!

You keep telling yourself that.

A.N- And you get DRAMA! And you get DRAMA! AND YOU THERE, in the back? YOU GET DRAMA TOO!

Thank you for reading this unedited mess of a story. Let me know how you feel! Drop a review please!