What it's Worth

New Purpose

Owen:

I woke up the next morning with a new purpose. Yesterday, my goal in life was to tell Jane how I felt. Today it was to convince her that we could be together.

After showering, I got dressed in a nice button down shirt, styled my hair for the first time in months, and headed out the door.

I pulled into the grocery store to pick out the best flowers they had, finding a bouquet of daisies and wild flowers for Jane, her favorite.

I grabbed a pecan pie from the bakery and I was set. I checked the time, realizing that I'd probably be late for thanksgiving breakfast. Mrs. Gower hates when people are late so I ran out the doors and sped the rest of the way to the Gower house.

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Jane:

I woke up that morning remembering the very thing I tried so hard to forget last night. My eyes were puffy from crying and my cheeks were flushed. Not a good look to wake up to.

After getting ready, Jack met me at my door. My stomach dropped at the thought of what I had done to him last night.

"Good morning sweetie!" He greeted me with a smile. "Happy thanksgiving." He said, then leaned in to kiss my cheek.

I shied away as his lips grazed my cheek. "Good morning," I said looking down "let's just go eat breakfast." Jack looked confused, but didn't say anything, just grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs.

"Where's my new favorite couple?" I heard my mom yell from the kitchen, I felt my face heat up and I looked back down at my feet.

My mom turned the corner to meet us, "There you are-" my mom stopped in her place, a stunned look on her face, staring at my hand intertwined with Jack's. She crossed her eyebrows. "Where's Owen?"

I didn't look up. "He stayed at his house last night." I said, in almost a whisper.

"He what? Jane what do you mean? Didn't he-"

I snapped my head up to glare at her, making her shut her mouth before she said something Jack wasn't supposed to hear.

"Didn't he what?" Jack asked, looking down at me.

"Nothing," I said "let's just sit down and eat.

I couldn't miss the scowl on both my parents faces. Obviously they had been in on Owen's plan.

I had a pit in my stomach, wishing Owen was here, that he was the one holding my hand under the breakfast table, not Jack.

After we had all dishes up we heard the front door open and fast footsteps approaching the dinning room.  Owen's face popped around the corner, a huge smile on his face.

"Hi! Sorry I'm late! I had to pick up a few things on my way over." He explained, pulling out a pie and some flowers. Jack's shoulders dropped, the smile leaving his face.

"No worries! We're glad you're here." My dad said, the scowl from before leaving his face.

My mom took the pie from his hands as Owen made his way over to me. My heartbeat quickened in anticipation. What was going to happen?

Owen leaned down between me and Jack to place a soft kiss on my cheek. Jack's jaw dropped and I kept staring straight ahead. "These are for you beautiful." He whispered in my ear, handing me the flowers. My dad smirked across the table, obviously satisfied.

Jack squeezed my hand under the table as Owen pulled away to sit on the other side of me. My mouth was dry, my palms sweaty and I'm sure my face was a tomato by now. I let go of Jack's hand, too afraid to look him in the eye, and picked up my fork.

"Alrighty then," my dad broke the silence, "let's eat."

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Owen:

Honestly, going into this I thought I would be extremely uncomfortable, but it felt amazing. The more I went on with it, the more confidence I gained. The look on Jack's face made everything worth it.

But the embarrassment on Jane's face made me pull back, for now at least.

The rest of the day was filled with my subtle flirting with Jane and not so subtle jabs at Jack. By thanksgiving dinner, Jack was almost shaking with anger, and I was living for it.

We all went around, sharing what we were thankful for. We developed this tradition when Jane and I were little, we'd spent every thanksgiving together since the first year we met. The tradition cake from the extremely drawn out and failed attempt Mr. Gower had at trying to explain the meaning of the holiday, Mrs. Gower finally intervened and came up with this exercise.

Mrs. Gower started, saying "I'm thankful for the 20 wonderful years I've spent with my husband," she looked over at Mr. Gower with a soft smile, "I'm thankful for my beautiful daughter and that she got to come to visit us, and I'm thankful that even though I never had a son of my own, I was lucky enough to get you, Owen." She moved her gaze to me with tears in her eyes, I smiled and thanked her. Jack shifted in his seat, getting uncomfortable again.

Mr. Gower went next, keeping it short and saying, "I'm thankful for family and good food" making the table laugh.

Jack was next, standing up, he said "I'm thankful for the opportunity to be here, getting to know you all better, for Mrs. Gower's lovely cooking, and," he turned, placing a hand on Jane's shoulder, "for having someone as special as you." I rolled my eyes, what a such up. Jane patted his hand and stood up for her turn.

"I'm thankful for my boyfriend, my parents, for all this great food, and for my best friend in the whole world." She said, looking down at the table the whole time. At the mention of the word friend, Jack leaned back in his chair, meeting my gaze with a smirk. He wanted to play it that way?

Next was my turn, standing up I began with "I have a lot to be thankful for this year, school, my family, food, the Gower household for taking me in, but above all else, I'm thankful for one thing." Jane coughed, trying to get my attention. I looked over at her, her eyes wide as she subtly shook her head, pleading with me not to say anything about my feelings. That's when I hit me, for real this time. Jane didn't want us to be together. Everything I was doing to her were things Jane didn't want from me. I felt a knot in my throat building up and I looked down at my feet. "Um... I'm most thankful for having a friend like Jane." I sat down quickly after, avoiding everyone's wondering eyes.

I hardly touched my food at dinner, and the atmosphere was extremely quiet. For the first time since I was eight years old, I felt misplaced in the Gower house.