The summer he was seventeen became the best of Owen's life. After experimenting with a boy in Havana and learning quite a few new things about his friend Vincent, he returned home with a changed outlook. Despite having a mindset for adventure, however, things developed at their own pace and he soon learned that happenstance provided better opportunities than he could design for himself. While sneakily visiting Maddy at school during her lunch break (and excitedly whispering of his boy adventures to her shocked ears) he noticed a good portion of the school's football team strolling around the grounds in shorts and tank tops. When Maddy had to go back in, he went looking for the boys and found that they had access to the school's gym during the holidays, to complete a pre-season training regime. He asked if he could join them and most were ambivalent, so he did.
Quite by accident, he started shadowing the football team. For the most part, he tried to keep out of their ways but he really had no idea about the equipment or weights or what to do to build up his muscle, so they took pity on him and included him in their workout routines. He also learned everything he didn't know about meal supplements, carbs and getting a whole lot of protein into his diet. He was always disappointed when the sessions ended because he really felt like he was getting somewhere with his fitness and could see results when he looked in the mirror - Steve would've been impressed, he thought smugly.
From working out with them, Owen moved to partying with the team by night. He'd always known their names t pass them in the hall but had generally never had anything to do with them, preferring Maddy's more unique company to theirs. Since she was still grounded, however, he reasoned he had to spend his time with someone else (and although he though of Vincent, he'd just returned from a trip away with him and... he needed some space this time) and the team was a daring change of pace. They were also a roller coaster of action and enchanting fun.
Afternoons were frequently spent at the beach (after they'd finished training), leading into night time bonfires featuring music, drinking and debauchery. Owen didn't do a whole lot of drinking but the antics of the others amused him and he wasn't averse to the attention he got from a few of the pretty girls (he was fairly sure they were cheerleaders) who naturally revolved around the footballers. The sand dunes made for perfect, secluded make-out spots and he had a great deal of fun.
One night, after whatever girl he'd been with had headed home, he caught the eye of a friend of a friend from another school. He stared at Owen through the fire for quite awhile until Owen slightly tipped his head in a direction behind him, casually wandering off when he received a miniscule nod. Not long after, the guy found his spot in the dark and, feeling more comfortable than he had with any of the girls, Owen threw himself into a heated session with the (previously quite innocent) guy, receiving a handjob and giving a blowjob. His chest swelled with pride at the bedazzled looks and whispered words of longing he received and he was happy to exchange numbers and agree to meet up again with the guy (whose name turned out to be Brad).
Other nights were spenting driving around, loitering on the boardwalk or in the mall or through Pisky memorial Park. One or two nights were spent scaring the girls in the Wyatt Hill Cemetery and at Fantastika, while many more saw them hitting balls for hours at Sticks and Stakes. Mostly, they were a large group of about ten teenagers, though there were a few couples who would come and go or break off halfway through the night to do their own thing. Owen found himself regularly paired with a girl named Sharna Stimson, a pretty brunette with long legs and great breasts. He didn't mind, but she didn't ever offer much in the way of conversation; in the end, he lost his virginity to her because he couldn't think of anything else to attempt to talk about in his bedroom (she didn't seem to be there for anything else anyway) and after he'd spent a couple of hours between her legs learning to please her with his mouth, he was keen to finish. He wasn't surprised that he didn't feel very different afterwards - he just knew a lot more about the female anatomy - but he was pleased to have left one label behind him so he could keep searching for one that fit.
Although he was pretty sure he had a mild preference for males, Owen tried quite a few girls after Sharna (much to her disgust), just because they offered him some sort of different and interesting experience (a blowjob at the movies, sex at the beach, sex in the backseat of her car). It was all recreational and enjoyable. He called in to see Vincent one night many weeks after his initial experience and shared with him that he was no longer a virgin, not saying much about his experiences and laughing when he was warned to use protection. He had no intention of getting any of them pregnant or contracting any diseases they might have and he assured Vincent of the fact before he ran out to reach the Y.D.M. Arts Studio (where a few of the girls were in some performance they wanted everyone to see) on time.
His summer spent with a new crowd of people caused Owen to make some new reolutions for his own life, beyond eating healthier and continuing to work out so that the abs he could almost see would appear properly. He wanted to work so he could get some money and get a car for himself. His mother (not wanting him to buy some ridiculously dangerous car that he could afford with only a little amount of money) offered to match whatever he earned so that he could get a decent car and he was ecstatic. In the last week of his summer break, he submitted resumés in many stores, scoring a few offers. He accepted one at a jeans/clothing retail store because his friends frequently shopped there and they offered him the best pay rate and hours. They were also complimentary, telling him that he was perfect for the store because, with his tanned good looks, the girls would come in to be served by him and he'd move a lot of stock. In this, they turned out to be correct and Owen finally learned to trade on his looks rather than his intellect, flirting effortlessly in order to secure sales (though he never lied if an outfit looked truly bad on someone - he still had morals).
Once school started up again, his life became a whirl of juggling work demands, saving money and studying. He was focussed on college, trying to decide what he wanted to study and do with his life (he had no real idea) and just getting good grades in the meantime. He spent more time with Maddy but still didn't find much time to see Vincent, since his nights were dedicated to work or a few rare forms of play. He dated Brad every now and then and after a couple of months they had sex, too. As he'd always suspected it might, it held more meaning for him than it had with any of the girls and he and Brad decided to try being a couple but it only lasted a month before their conflicting schedules and Brad's insane need for secrecy drove them apart. Owen had told his mother that he might be bisexual or gay and she'd been surprised but happy enough for him; Brad hadn't even been prepared to be seen in the capacity of his boyfriend in front of her.
While he'd been neglecting Maddy, she'd made some new friends as well and when Owen finally returned to hanging out with her at lunch times at school (she referred to his other friends as the K.K.K. - kool kids krowd - in a very derogatory manner and refused to join him with them) he was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was. There was suddenly a girl named Paige who was a little short and chubby, with a breathtakingly beautiful face behind her glasses and the most intensely green eyes Owen had ever seen hanging with Maddy, and he didn't know where she'd come from. Something about her fascinated him and they could converse for hours without running out of topics. It was a natural progression for him to ask her out and he didn't understand Maddy's distress when he and Paige became an official couple after a week, though he noticed her no longer returning his calls or texts and staring right through him whenever they met up at school.
Paige eventually told him that Maddy had always liked him and thought that he and she would end up together; they made more sense, considering Maddy was tall and cool and looked very much like Owen's other half would, where Paige was not tall enough and rather dowdy by comparison. She followed that comment up with a fierce proclamation of being glad he'd picked her, though, and stated that she was sure Maddy would get over it (she didn't). In the meantime, Paige happily assimilated as his girlfriend into his other group of friends and she picked up tips from them like Owen had (except hers regarded fashion and makeup and such). He took her virginity after a month and they began convincing each other that they'd fallen in love with their soulmate.
Unfortunately, the change of social standing affected Paige differently than it had Owen and, six months into their relationship, with the end of their high school career looming in around three months' time, he found out she'd cheated on him more than once. Good looking boys had paid her attention and she'd been helpless to resist their sweet talk. Owen was devastated and their break up was ugly and heartwrenching. It was something he never wanted to repeat, for he felt like he was literally dying whenever he thought of Paige and the way she'd admitted the rumour he'd heard was true - but she was sorry! His mother encouraged him to go and talk to Vincent but he didn't want to go and see his friend (another one he'd neglected, he realised) with his heart broken. He knew he'd just cry and dribble snot everywhere and, really, what good were the trials of an eighteen year old to someone over six hundred?
He threw his traumatised energy into finally choosing a car, shopping with his mother until they both agreed on one they liked - a late model, cherry red Mustang - and making it his newest friend. Thankfully, some of his people friends stood by him too (ones who hadn't known about Paige and the other guys she'd been with), and out of a large group he was left with a smaller, tighter bunch of three guys who supported and genuinely cared about maintaining his friendship. They began hanging out together and Owen started to find his way back to himself, shooting hoops with them after school, swimming with them when the weather started warming up and going places that meant something to him, like the Art Gallery and the Museum. It was comfortable and normal and helped him heal to the point where he could pass Paige in the halls at school and look expressionlessly at her (while she still started crying pathetically).
Before they knew it, finals were upon them and Owen and his friends began talking about what was to come after school was over. They'd all received offers to at least one college (Owen to five) and were discussing travelling away from their home city, rooming together, studying together. Before that came, of course, there were plans to go away and party somewhere known for being a party mecca like Miami, a final hurrah as a foursome, free and clear and out for nothing but fun.
At last, Owen knew he needed to go and see Vincent - and not just a call-in-and-look-at-my-car-oops-gotta-run, either. There was about a month of school left but he knew Vincent would likely have been thinking about where the two of them would go on their summer holiday and, for the first time in his life, he didn't want that. Not at first, anyway. He wanted to go away with the three guys who'd supported him in his darkest hours, to be with the people who'd proved to be true friends first. After a few weeks, he was sure they'd all miss their parents enough (and have run out of money!) to be ready to come back home and that would be the time he could spend with Vincent - before he had to get everything in order in time for college. In fact, he also wanted to get his older friend's opinion on his options in that regard, so it definitely was time to visit.
Friday night, after he finished his afternoon shift at work, he drove straight to Vincent's, arriving around seven o'clock. He was still wearing his work outfit of snug-fitting dark blue jeans, brown suede sneakers and a white button-up shirt with navy blue and brown scribbly writing and part picture designs and grey pinstripes all over it. They were clothes sold at the shop - though he wore them much more attractively than the store mannequins did. Owen had rolled the long sleeves up to his elbows to reveal muscular forearms showing a few veins and had the top two buttons of his shirt undone at his throat, the tails of it tucked into his belted jeans. He was also wearing a black leather necklace and matching black wrist wraps on his left wrist; he fiddled with after he'd parked in Vincent's driveway and went and rang his doorbell. He could've used his key but it'd been a few weeks since he'd seen Vincent and even though he'd texted earlier in the week that he'd be round at about this time, he didn't want to just burst into his friend's home unannounced. It didn't seem right.
He looked up from his wrist as the door opened and smiled beatifically, his golden blonde hair (growing a little wayward and curly once more, after being shaved completely off earlier in the year, then being kept in a tidy style Paige liked while he was with her) glowing like a halo beneath the light of the porch. "Hey!" he greeted casually and stepped into Vincent's arms, hugging him hello.
