IHaving sisters of his own meant that Owen was used to bursts of emotion that ended in speech so fast he could barely process the words, but neither of his sisters could compare to Colette in that realm. She was, as Ariana would put it, dramatic but Owen found it to be entertaining and secretly endearing, rather than bothersome. In some way, it was cute how she got all wound up over nothing. Though his eyes still twinkled with amusement, he felt bad enough that he almost wanted to offer her the dime bag he had stored away in a box in the back of his closet, but while she wasn't quite as proper as Ari, Owen doubted she'd approve. Hell, he didn't even approve of himself doing it, so admitting to doing so and offering her some was probably out of the question for now. Besides, he already had a problem on hand to deal with, and didn't need another one, because while Colette was known (at least through what he heard from Ari) for getting worked up over absolutely nothing, this wasn't nothing.
Ariana and Shay acting like BFFs in Shay's room? That deserved Colette's mile-a-minute rant in which she danced between the true topic of it, what he should wear, and how she wished she was back in New York, in only a matter of seconds. He couldn't even imagine why or how the two of them would end up alone in Tinashé's room of all places. Shay was the girl who hated Ariana's guts, and Ariana was the girl who was calling Shay ghetto and accusing her of threatening to murder her. Why they were apparently in a room together willingly was beyond him, but in Shay's bedroom of all places was even stranger. It wasn't like they had run into each other in the kitchen or out by the pool, places that could be considered neutral territory for the summer. This was Shay's most intimate space, and Owen wondered if its walls were already splattered with blood. Whoa, whoa, calm down," he said, gently pulling the shorts away from her and tossing them across the room to his bed. He took her hands in an attempt to grab her attention, but ended up losing his own focus for a moment as he was distracted with how soft her hands felt.
"You're telling me that my sister and your sister are in a room together? Alone? On their own will? And they aren't trying to kill each other?" The words sounded strange coming out of his mouth, but he really didn't think something like that could ever happen. It even took him a moment to process the thought, but after a few seconds, he shrugged. "I agree that it's weird and you're probably right that it's not genuine, but shouldn't we just enjoy this moment of peace? I know you don't think I know how Ari gets, but I've seen a little bit of that side of her too, and honestly, Shay isn't that different in that respect." That wasn't exactly true. Shay was more transparent than Ariana was, because when she got pissed, she rarely hesitated to say something to the offender's face, or physically act on it. Really, Owen was just living in his own world too much to notice it when he was the one offending Shay. Still, he knew that Shay could play games like Ariana could, and maybe he was downplaying how well Ariana could shut off her feelings and then turn them on whenever she wanted, to seek revenge, too.
He released her hand when he realized that he had been rubbing the back of it with his thumb, and headed into his closet as he spoke to her. "I say you try to make this night even better than whatever your fantasy of being poolside, snacking on your Sangria-whatever-it-is was. It can't be that hard, since in reality, you'll get to hang out with me all night," he grinned, reappearing from the back of the closet shirtless, before he pulled on a white shirt and began to button it. "Seriously though, I don't think there will be any problems tonight. I'll put on my perfect outfit, hopefully Ariana will think it's as great as Crazy Colette does, we'll get some drinks in you, and then you'll hang out with your sister and I, and will promise not to ditch me to chill with my sister and Carson. Sound like a plan?"