Weeping Willow (Spanking Story)

Chapter 14, Part 2: Owen's POV

I checked my phone for the third time in the past ten minutes, shooting a nervous glance over to Leah to make sure I wasn't being rude. We were nearly halfway to her dorm, and most of the walk had been spent in pleasant silence. I slipped my phone back into my pocket, text messages empty as the loner's mailbox on Valentine's Day. I brought my hand back up to my neck, rubbing where my Godiva-stained hair met at a fuzzy apex. I was sure I was messing up my careful gel job, but my nerves were on edge. The lack of contact from my parents was glaringly obvious, and the longer I thought about it, the more scenarios that popped into my head.

What if a deal had gone wrong? What if they'd been hurt? What if a cop had arrested them again, and locked them up for no reason?

All of these were terrible, but the worst thought...

What if they didn't want me anymore? What if they had decided I wasn't worth getting to know?

Whether or not I wanted to admit it, the thought of not being good enough, of being as replaceable as a trash bag after it had been filled—these were the fears that sat unbound in the dark corners of my mind. They drifted into awareness when I was fighting with my brothers, or when I was experiencing a performance plateau in soccer, or even when I was just sitting in class, wondering what I was supposed to do with my life. If it was so easy for our parents to walk out of our lives once, who was to say they wouldn't do it again?

And honestly, who was I to blame them?

I shook my head, shooing the thoughts back into their crevices. It never helped to dwell on the feeling. I just had to convince myself that something else was going on, and that I wasn't the direct cause of it.

I continued forward robotically, putting one foot in front of the other. It wasn't until a hand on my arm slowed my steps that I noticed we were in front of the girls' dorms, and I couldn't go any further.

I blinked, reality hitting me like a freight train. My first date was officially over.

The question was, had it been successful?

I chanced a glance over at Leah, shoulders aching from how stiffly I had been holding them. She met my gaze easily, one corner of her lips rising slightly.

"What's the matter?" she asked gently, running the backs of her fingers along my cheek, soft as a whisper.

"What do you mean?" I responded almost inaudibly, not wanting to break the hush-hush suspense of the present moment. Her dress fluttered in the wind, flowing about her legs in a little dance.

"You're tense," she noted, lowering her hand to the back of my neck and pinching the sore nerves lightly.

Huh. She was more perceptive than I thought.

"I am?" I tried to feign ignorance, catching her fingers as they ran down my back, and bringing them to my lips for a quick peck.

"You are," she reiterated. She brought our enclosed hands to her own soft lips, and I forgot about my parents for one sweet moment.

"I'm just worried about Penny, I guess," I half-lied, stomach instantly weighted down with regret. I wanted more than anything to tell Leah about my parents, especially considering how close we were becoming. However, I couldn't risk my parents for anything. I knew how easily they could get in trouble, and I suspected that may have already been the case. It still felt horrible to lie to Leah, even with the circumstances.

She sighed, eyeing me half-condescendingly and half-pitying.

"You shouldn't feel bad—she totally deserved that. She shouldn't have been sneaking around and that's her own fault," Leah reassured me.