Confess

Auburn waits in a restaurant for Lydia to show up. Lydia seems to be standing her up, just like Owen did a few weeks ago. Lydia’s jilting is worse, though, because it’s Auburn’s birthday, her 21st. She gives up and, trying not to cry, pays for her sodas. She walks by Owen’s studio on her way home and writes a confession in which she says she liked this guy, but it turned out he was an asshole. She adds that his initials are stupid, and she slips it into the slot. As she heads toward her apartment, she gets a text from Lydia apologizing for not being there. Auburn notes that she didn’t even wish her a happy birthday.

She goes to Harrison’s bar for a drink. He makes her a margarita, and she orders a second one, and then a third.

Harrison calls Owen to come get Auburn at the bar. On his way out, Owen sees Auburn’s confession. When he gets to the bar, Auburn is hiding from him in the bathroom. He goes in there and sits across from her in the stall where she’s sitting. He asks if she’s okay, and she tells him she got stood up. He finds her presence calming; she makes him feel like everything is okay. She leans forward to touch his hair and tells him she’s going to fix it for him.

As they leave the bar, Harrison tells her the drinks are on the house because it’s her birthday. Owen feels extra terrible. He stood her up three weeks ago, and now she was alone on her birthday. She takes him to the salon where she works, sits on top of him, and begins to cut his hair. He holds her by the waist to keep her steady, and he knows she can feel the electricity between them, too.

He asks her if his hair should be wet, and she breaks down because she forgot to wet his hair. She’s sure she’s a terrible hairdresser. He holds her while she cries and apologizes for not showing up three weeks ago. She asks if he got the confession she left. He says he did, and she goes to the door to go home.

Auburn wakes up feeling cold, which makes no sense because she and Emory don’t have air conditioning. She’s so comfortable in a down comforter, though, that she keeps falling back asleep. Fearing she might be dead, she sits up and tries to understand what’s happening. Then it hits her: She’s in Owen’s apartment, but she has no idea why. She sees that she’s fully dressed. Slowly, all of the previous night comes back to her. She’s embarrassed and decides she needs to get out of there. As she gets to the stairs down to the studio and exit, she hears Owen’s father speaking. Owen tells his father he has to shut down the studio for a few months. He’s angry, and he tells his father to leave.

Owen comes up the stairs and finds Auburn. He tells her she’s not leaving until she fixes his hair, and he wants to do it now. He changes his shirt, and she admires his back muscles. As they head into the light, she’s blinded because of her hangover, and Owen puts his cap on her head to help. They talk about why anyone would drink like she did and wind up feeling the way she does now. He says it’s to escape, and he asks her what she was escaping last night. She doesn’t want to answer. She asks him why he has to close his studio, and he doesn’t want to answer either.

At the salon, she apologizes to Emory for not checking in, but Emory tells her “someone”–Owen–contacted her to let her know Auburn was fine. He watches Auburn as she washes his hair, which makes her feel nervous. He asks if she’s mad at him, but she isn’t anymore. He tells her he didn’t disappear because of his art, and he did want to come back. She hates that she cares why he didn’t show up or contact her since. He explains that he lied, and the reason he didn’t come back was that he’s moving on Monday. Both Auburn and Emory are shocked.

As Auburn cuts Owen’s hair, Emory turns her attention to them. She asks Owen if he’s moving for good or if it’s temporary. He responds that it’s just for a few months and a work thing. Emory says that it's too bad because she likes this guy better than the other guy. Owen is immediately jealous, but Emory explains that the other guy is also Owen. She says, “You want to fall in love, but now he has to move and you’re sad. But you don’t have to be sad because thanks to me, you now know he’s only moving for a few months. Not forever. Just don’t give in to the other guy first” (126). Emory doesn’t want Auburn to focus on Owen’s previous behavior when he stood her up, and she suggests the pair spend the weekend together before he leaves. Auburn doesn’t want that because she knows what it will lead to, and she doesn’t think she’s ready for that.

She leaves, and Owen catches up to her. She’s angry because he owes her more of an explanation and an apology for what he did. He explains that he didn’t show up because he likes her and apologizes sincerely. She knows the weekend together would be amazing, but then she’ll wind up with an “Owen hangover.” She agrees to spend the day together, and they’ll go from there. He hugs her, and he says they’re going to Target so he can get food for her.

Owen hates that he keeps lying to Auburn, but he doesn’t want to tell her that he’s going to court on Monday and after that, he’ll be in jail or rehab. He’s so angry at his father for costing him Auburn, and he wishes he’d made that clear to Callahan. He thinks:

I allowed the memories of my mother and my brother to talk me out of standing up to him. They’re my excuse. They’re his excuse. They’ve been our excuse for the last several years, and I’m afraid if I don’t find a way to stop using that night as my excuse, then Callahan and Owen Gentry will never be father and son again. (132)

Owen alludes to a night that he and his father can’t move on from, and they use it as an excuse to not better their relationship. Auburn makes him want to change. He feels like he has purpose with her. Auburn asks him where he’s moving to on Monday, and he responds that he’d rather not answer. She agrees as long as she doesn’t have to tell him why she moved to Texas. He wants to get his life together before he can be with Auburn in a real relationship.

She fills the cart with food, and when he tells her to get herself a birthday present, she gets excited like a child. It brings back a good memory for Owen when Callahan brought him and his brother Carey to Toys ‘R Us to pick out presents for their birthdays. Callahan turned it into a game by having them pick a number, and they’d have to get their present from that aisle. He does this now with Auburn. She seems to know exactly where something is, and she picks that aisle. She picks out a tent, saying that blue is someone’s favorite color.

Auburn says she wants to go to her apartment to shower and change. He doesn’t like this, fearing she won’t come back, but he agrees. Seeing his doubt and fear, she reassures him she’ll go back to his apartment after an hour or so. One hour later, Owen finds himself at her apartment door. He decides he’ll just wait for her to open the door, and if she never does, he’ll learn she changed her mind. Emory opens the door, though, and invites him inside. She calls to Auburn, who just got out of the shower, that the guy she should have sex with is there.

Auburn asks him to help her set up the tent in her bedroom. He notices she doesn’t have much of anything in her room. They set up the tent quickly. It’s a child’s tent, but she grabs pillows and blankets and they lie next to each other inside. She zips up the mesh divider between them and says, “Feels like we’re in a confessional” (142). He knows he has lots to confess, such as how he knows her. “But some secrets I’ll take to my grave, and this is definitely one of them” (142). He believes some secrets need to stay secrets. He confesses that he only has three numbers in his phone, and she adds hers. He worries if they stay there, he’ll confess everything. He’s about to tell her why he didn’t show up that night, but there’s a knock at the door. She jumps up to get it and comes back panicking. She tells Owen to stay in her bedroom and that she’ll explain later.

Owen hears a child’s voice say “Mommy,” and Auburn responds. Lydia has brought the child because she needs someone to watch him until later that night. Auburn sounds excited about it. AJ goes into Auburn’s bedroom and asks Owen why he’s in a tent. Owen says the tent is a secret. He tells AJ, “[I]t’s not muscles that make men strong. Secrets do. The more secrets you keep, the stronger you are on the inside” (146). AJ says he wants to be strong. Lydia goes into the bedroom to say goodbye to AJ and sees Owen. Lydia tells AJ he has to come with her because he doesn’t want AJ to be around strangers. Auburn begs her to let him stay, but she refuses, even though AJ wants to stay. After they leave, Auburn comes into the bedroom, climbs into the tent, and cries. Owen can’t imagine how he could walk away from her now.