Under the Owl Tree

by Sara Daniell

  “You’ll get wrinkles if you contemplate too much.” He opened his eyes, kissed my forehead, and put his chin on top of my head as I snuggled against him.

  I felt so safe and secure with Dane. I was so thankful to have a best friend like him. It felt like we had known each other our entire lives.

  “Dane?”

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”

  “I feel the same way about you.”

  I moved back a little so I could look at his eyes. I smiled a little and kissed his cheek. “Good night.”

  “Sweet dreams, Hales.”

  My phone dinged.

  Dane: Let’s go celebrate!

  Me: Dane, it’s 6 in the morning on a Saturday!

  Dane: Brink got my parents to sign over my rights! I’m officially going to be a Shaw!

  Me: SERIOUSLY?!?!

  Dane: Yes!!

  Me: OMG! I’m getting in the shower now! What do you want to do?

  Dane: No clue! Lol

  Me: Sounds like my kind of fun. I’ll go get ready. You can come over. I’ll tell my parents to let you up.

  Dane: Sounds like a plan.

  AFTER I GOT out of the shower and got dressed, I came into my room to see Dane sitting on my bed, looking down at his phone. He had a weird expression on his face.

  I went to my mirror and started putting eyeliner on. “What’s that look for?” I asked, watching him through the mirror.

  He put his phone up. “Nothing. So what’s the plan?”

  “That’s up to you.” I set my eyeliner on my dresser and plopped down on the bed next to him.

  “Something to eat. I’m starving.” His phone dinged, but he ignored it.

  I ran my fingers through his shaggy, red hair. “You are a hottie, I have to admit. Don’t go getting big headed or nothin’ though now that you’re a Shaw.” We both laughed. “What do you want to eat? This is your night,”

  “How about pizza?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I frowned. “Or somewhere else. I just want to eat.” He smiled brightly. His phone dinged again.

  I grabbed his phone from him. “Who is bothering you?”

  It was Zach.

  Zach: I owe you. Thanks for getting rid of that stuff for me. And don’t worry about getting more. I’m not interrupting your night. Have fun. I can move my stuff on my own. See you tomorrow.

  Dane took the phone back. “Nosey,” he teased.

  “How is he?” I asked, standing up.

  It had been 4 weeks since I had seen or talked to him. We were never supposed to avoid each other like this, but without saying it out loud I think it was just easier for the both of us.

  I slipped on my shoes.

  “Fine,” Dane said unconvincingly. He jumped up and grabbed my hand.

  “He’s moving?”

  “Did I mention you’re nosey?” He led me downstairs to his truck. He opened the door for me, and I got in.

  I wanted to ask a million questions, but he was right: it wasn’t my business.

  He started the truck up. “So what are we eating?”

  “You said pizza.”

  “You okay with that?” He asked as he pulled out of my driveway.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked through my teeth.

  “Well, you have been avoiding him.” He looked over at me.

  “Have not.”

  “Have too.” He chuckled. “If you hadn’t, you would know he’s been moved out for two weeks.”

  I looked out the window so he wouldn’t see the look on my face. “You know what, Dane? I need to date. Hmmm. Who could the lucky guy be?”

  He shook his head. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “I guess it would be a good thing,” he smiled at me. “If it makes you happy.

  When we got to Quinn’s, we went to our normal table and sat down.

  Dane watched as a waitress walked by with pizza. “I’m so hungry. You excited about this weekend? Hanging with all your guys?”

  I nodded. “I think so. You?”

  “Yep and—” He did a drumroll on the table. “It’s my birthday.”

  “Eighteen and a Shaw? Dude, you’re one lucky ginger!”

  Jenny brought over our drinks, and I felt my face turn into the evil glare it usually did around her. I tried to smile, but I think it just looked like I smelled a bad fart.

  “Dane, can you do me a favor?” She asked with a smile.

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “Can you go talk to Zach for me?”

  Dane nodded. “Be right back.”

  Jenny smiled then sat down across from me. “Are you and Dane a thing?”

  I took a drink of my water instead of answering her.

  Jenny sighed. “Is there a reason you hate my guts?”

  “Your legs.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You have Carrie Underwood legs. Do you know how many girls would kill for legs like that?” I smiled because she looked so confused. This was fun.

  She looked down at them. “Okay, so you don’t like my legs which makes you hate me?”

  I took another drink of my water instead of answering her.

  “I guess I’ll get back to work.” She walked off as Dane came out of Zach’s office. He came over and sat down.

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, he just needed a pep talk. He’s good now.”

  He sat down and grabbed a pack of crackers. “Have you started applying to colleges?”

  “I started applying when I was in the tenth grade.”

  “What’s your go-to school?”

  “Tulane University in Louisiana.”

  “Dude, seriously?” he asked with a smile. “You totally need to talk to Coach and Zach.”

  “Why?”

  “Zach is old buddies with the head baseball coach there. He’s already called and asked him to come check me out. It’s one of my top schools too.”

  “Really?” I asked excitedly.

  “Yep!” He said with a bright smile. He bounced up and down as Jenny brought the pizza out.

  “Here ya go.” She smiled and put it down. Dane took a bite of pizza. “So are you going to ignore the fact that Zach is literally only a door away?”

  “He is? I didn’t notice.” I stuffed my mouth with a bite of pizza and yelled. “That’s hot!” I spit the pizza into a napkin and quickly took a drink of water.

  Dane burst out laughing. “That’s what you get for lying.”

  “What is she lying about?” Zach’s voice asked from behind me.

  “Nothing.” I said. I looked up at Zach. “Hi.”

  “Hey. I’m heading out, and I just wanted to say hi to you two.” He looked away from me and gave Dane a small smile.

  I felt like I was suffocating in the most confusing way. I was breathing, but it didn’t feel like I was breathing. I hated what he did to me when he was near.

  “I want to go to Tulane like Dane,” I said, trying to ease the tension.

  “That’s a good school. Have you sent in an application yet?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. My dad had me sending in applications and videos of me playing ball to colleges since the tenth grade.”

  He nodded. He put his hands in his pockets. “I’ll see what I can do.” He gave me a weak smile. “I have to go. It was good to see you, Hales.”

  Jenny waved. “I’ll see you at the house later.”

  Zach nodded then left the building.

  My mouth fell open. “I knew it!” I stood. “I fucking knew it!”

  “Knew what?” Dane asked standing up. “What’s going on?”

  I went outside to Dane’s truck.

  “Where are you going? I haven’t eaten everything yet!” Dane said as he caught up with me.

  “I’ll walk home. Go eat.”

  He moved in front of me. “You’re not walking. Let me go get everything to go. And then you’re telling
me what the hell is going on.”

  I folded my arms in front of my chest and leaned against his truck. “Fine.”

  He ran inside and hurried back out. He opened the truck door for me then got in.

  “Okay, what the hell is going on? You were fine until a few seconds ago.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Hales, you’re my friend. It matters.”

  I wiped my eyes. “He’s with Jenny. I knew that’d happen. “I put my head in my hands.

  “And now I’m crying? Dammit!”

  “Hales, he’s not with Jenny. I told ya, Jenny likes Elliot.” I felt the truck come to a stop. I heard him unhook his seatbelt, and then he was hugging me.

  “I miss him so much.” I buried my face against his neck.

  “Then tell him. You’re the one keeping him at arm’s length.”

  I looked at Dane. “Bullshit. He agreed that we couldn’t work. Sorry, I’m ruining your celebration. Let’s go finish the pizza at the park.”

  “You’re not ruining anything.” He started chewing on his lip as he drove. When we pulled up to the stoplight, he turned right instead of going straight to the park.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You’ll see. You need to know.” He kept driving until he pulled into the local college. He parked then pointed to a truck. “Tell me whose truck that is.”

  I sat up straighter. “Zach’s,” I whispered. I looked at Dane. “What is he doing here?”

  “He’s going back to school to finish his degree he never completed.”

  I smiled. “That’s great, Dane.”

  “He’s just staying with Jenny while he does some remodeling on the cabin.”

  I tucked my hair behind my ears and smiled softly. “I’m glad he’s figuring things out. How are him and Coach?”

  “Really good.”

  And that right there was my confirmation that us being separated was for the best. Zach was doing the things that he wanted to do, and I couldn’t be happier for him.

  “Thank you for letting me know. It makes me so happy to know he’s doing something for himself. Now let’s go devour this damn pizza, Dane Shaw.”

  He laughed. “Sounds like a great plan.”

  Tonight was Dane’s birthday party, and then tomorrow was the beginning of ‘Let’s All Get Along’ boot camp. So, tonight, I was going big. I was going to look like a girl, act like a girl, and not get distracted by Zach breathing the same air.

  I got dressed and braved wearing a black dress with sheer black tights and tan, wedged, ankle boots. I even put on a black choker and gold earrings. I looked at myself in the mirror.

  “Damn, Hales. You clean up nice,” I said to myself quietly just as my door opened and Dane came in.

  “I still think you’re nuts for coming to pick me up. I told you I didn’t mind driving over.” I whistled when I got a good look at him. “Look at you, stud muffin!” I had to restrain my expression when butterflies filled my stomach at the sight of him. I cleared my throat and smiled.

  He laughed then twirled me around. “Look at you! We’re both looking fine!”

  I grabbed my cellphone, and we took a quick selfie. I put my phone in my purse. “So now that you’re eighteen and a Shaw, how do you feel?”

  We walked down the stairs. My parents smiled from the couch in the living room.

  “Amazing! I finally have a real family. Weird but awesome.”

  “Are you sure you two aren’t dating behind our backs?” Dad teased.

  Mom laughed. “We’d actually approve of it.”

  I looked at Dane. “He kissed me once, and it was weird. So no.”

  Dad raised a brow. “Excuse me, son?”

  I burst into laughter and so did Mom.

  Dane chuckled. “It was a joke.”

  Mom smiled brightly. “Hailey, don’t forget to grab the present you got for Dane.”

  “Oh, that’s right! Dane looked so handsome I sort of lost my mind.”

  Dad groaned. I laughed and hurried into the kitchen. I grabbed the box I wrapped and came back into the living room.

  “Ready?” I asked Dane.

  “Yep! And I have a surprise for you in the truck.” He smiled as we walked outside. He picked up an envelope labeled with a return address from Tulane University. “Mine and yours came in today!”

  “Wait. Why would mine come to your house?” I set his present in my seat.

  “Just open it!” He pulled his out. “I’ve been waiting on you to open mine.”

  I started to but stopped. “But what if I didn’t get in.”

  “Then I will call and harass them. Just open it. Please,” he begged as he looked down at his. “I don’t want to do this alone.”

  “On three.” There was no way they’d accept a girl into their baseball program.

  “One...”

  “Two...” Dane said with a nervous smile.

  “Three...” I said, and we both ripped them open.

  We started reading, and I was completely shocked when I saw I got in. I fucking did it! I got into Tulane, and they wanted me to play ball on the men’s baseball team.

  “How is this possible?” I looked at Dane. “What does yours say?”

  “I got in,” he said in shock. “And everything has already been paid for.” Tears had filled his eyes.

  I lunged myself at Dane and hugged him tightly. “We’re going to school together!”

  He hugged me tightly back. “Someone has to keep you out of trouble!”

  I laughed and pulled back enough to look up at him. My eyes gravitated to his, and for the first time I looked at Dane in a way that I never thought was possible. He was my best friend, but tonight it felt like more than that.

  My hands held the back of his neck, and I pulled him down until my lips could reach his. I kissed him, and he kissed me back. The kiss became heated and urgent like it was something we never knew we needed, and now that it was happening, we had to make it worth the wait.

  Dane pulled back with his eyes closed. “What the hell just happened?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

  I let one of my hands fall from his neck to touch my lips. “I kissed you, and you kissed me back,” I said quietly. I stared at him, waiting for him to look at me. I needed him to look at me.

  He opened his eyes and looked at me. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it again. “I don’t know what to say right now.”

  He didn’t let go of me, and I didn’t let go of him. I think we were the only things keeping one another completely grounded right now. Confused tears filled my eyes, and I put my forehead to his chest.

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “No, I’m not mad at you.” He rubbed my back gently. “I’m just trying to decide how I want to tell Zach to kill me,” he said, trying to joke.

  I scrunched my nose as I thought about the kiss and that I actually liked it. It felt so right. My heart still ached for Zach but that kiss… Dane’s arms around me… Things felt okay again. I looked at his eyes, searching for disgust or something that would tell me I’m crazy, but I found nothing.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

  He looked confused. “That I liked the kiss, but at the same time it seemed weird.”

  “Weird in a good way or weird in a bad way?” I let my other hand fall from his neck. Now I couldn’t look at him anymore.

  He grabbed my chin to make me look at him. “In a good way, Hales.”

  My hands were trembling. I held onto his arms as he held my face in both of his hands. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I opened my eyes to look at him.

  “What do we do now?”

  “We have two options.” He took a deep breath. “We can forget it happened or see if there’s anything here.”

  “Can you forget it? Honestly, Dane. I need 100% honesty right now.”

  “No, I don’t think I can forget it.” He gave me a smile.

  I smiled. “Me either.”

/>   “Hales, if you want to, I want to give us a shot. Maybe we can make it work where we couldn’t with Zach or Sadie.”

  I laughed when I looked at my house and saw my parents peeking out the window. “Looks like they’re the first to know.”

  He chuckled. “I guess so. We should head to my house. Everyone is going to be wondering where we are soon.”

  I nodded, and we pulled apart. My parents opened the door.

  “We knew it!” Mom squealed.

  “If she keeps her head on her goals and you help her reach them, I won’t get pissed,” Dad added.

  My face was beet red. “Bye, Mom and Dad.” I laughed and got in the truck after Dane opened the door for me.

  Dane got in and headed toward the house. “I can’t believe we both got into our top choice.” He looked lost in his thoughts for a minute. He grabbed my hand and laced his fingers with mine and gave it a squeeze. “Did yours say how much it was going to cost?” He asked as he looked at me for a second then looked back at the road. It didn’t take long until we were pulling into Coach’s driveway.

  “It didn’t say anything actually.”

  I looked at our hands, and I felt happy and safe. It was a little weird but not in a way that made me uncomfortable. I was excited to see where this would go. After he parked, he grabbed the envelope and looked in it. He pulled out another piece of paper that was still in my envelope. He read through it, and his mouth fell open. He showed it to me.

  “Yours is paid for as well.”

  “Are you serious!” I looked at it closely. “Who would do this? My parents have money put back for me. Maybe they did?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” He scrunched his eyebrows together. “I’m ready to tell Elliot.” He smiled at me. “Can I open your gift first?”

  I smiled and handed it to him. It was a new Red Sox baseball cap, which was his favorite team, and two of his favorite snacks: beef jerky and Mountain Dew.

  “It’s not much.” I said as I watched him open it.

  He laughed. “I love it!” He took the cap out of the bag and put it on his head. He looked at me. “Thanks, Hales.”

  I grinned. “Glad you like it.”

  He looked at all the vehicles. “I guess we should go in there.” He made a face. “I don’t like being the center of attention.”