“So, you’ll do a little more time but then you’ll get out and you’ll still have to figure out what it is that you want to do with yourself.”

He rubs his temple with his index fingers. Then he brushes his hands through his hair and looks at me. This is the Owen I once loved. The one I thought I could talk to. The one I thought I understood.

“I’m going to get something to drink, you want anything?” I ask.

“No thanks.”

My throat clenches up but I don’t let it show. I walk over to the water station and pour myself a little cup.

I didn’t wait long enough.

I should’ve waited longer.

That way we could’ve talked more and his mouth would have gotten drier.

But it’s too late now.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

“Actually, yes, can you pour one?” Owen yells over at me.

My heart skips a beat and my hands start to shake as I open the spigot and watch the water fill up the flimsy paper cup.

“Why are you here, Olive?” Owen asks when I hand it to him.

I watch him bring it to his lips and take it all down in one long gulp.

“I don't know,” I say quietly, looking away from him. “There was a time when I thought you were my best friend and I guess I miss that. More than I’d care to admit.”

Owen smiles out of the corner of his mouth.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he says.

The guard makes an announcement that we all have one minute left. As I stare into his eyes, I don’t know what else to say to him. A part of me does miss him. Even after everything that he has done and put me through, I can’t help but mourn the man that I used to think he was.

When a guard approaches us, Owen rises to his feet. “Will you visit me again?” he asks.

“Yes,” I lie.

He opens his arms and I force myself to make a move closer to him and let him embrace me.

I feel his heartbeat through his jail-issued uniform and I wonder at how normal it sounds, almost as if it belongs to a regular person.

After he pulls away, I wait for him to walk away so that I can take his cup.

But much to my shock and surprise, he wraps his fingers around the cup and takes it with him.

Unable to stop him or do much of anything, I start to exist in suspended animation.

I want to run after him, tackle him, and take that cup from his fist but I know that the guards would stop me and never let me take it.