I was surprised that my brother and friends planned a Welcome Home party for me. I didn't expect it. I tried to smile and pretended to be happy, but deep down inside there was a hole that couldn't be filled. I hugged everyone, despite what I felt and pretended to be overjoyed.

Among the guests besides my brother, Paige and Noah, were our friends: Luke who had a messy Mohawk hair do for some reason, and his girlfriend Liz, who always dyed her hair every month. Well, that's what Paige said, I wouldn't know that for sure.

But regardless of that comment, I never knew if Liz was an actual red head or brunette.

In my opinion, Liz was rather a wild, carefree woman who rode her noisy motorcycle around the block, and had punk looks like Luke; so the pair complemented each other in every way.

I think that was so sweet!

Christian - the dark haired guy who I had a crush on before Owen, was also there.

Chris was the one who spiked my fruit punch in our last college party, so I was angry once I found out.

But forgiveness always conquers us all, so I knew he did that only to tease me, but I told Christian that if he ever pulled that same trick on me again, Josh would be the one to punch him.

So, it never happened again, and Christian became more of a gentleman. He would pull out chairs for me, open the door before I even got to the building, and even offer to pay for my purchases after that fiasco with my brother.

I was wondering what was going on in his little mind,but I guess he got scared of my tall brother after all!

Owen's Aunt Tess and cousin, Elle, were also invited and as they shook my hand, I was about to get emotional again.

Paige saw my face and took me by the hand. She patted my back and said a few words as we sat down on the sofa.

"Please calm down, Mae. We are here to celebrate your arrival, and you should be happy."

I couldn't look her in the face, and instead embraced my friend. I just couldn't let go of the pain deep down inside of me.

"I'll tell you what Mae. You put on a happy face for me, and then I will give you Owen's journal. How does that sound?"

I was astounded.

"That's bribery Paige! I could cry at my own party if I wanted to! You would too if Noah left you!"

~~

Elle overhead the conversation, and sat down on the couch next to me.

She smiled and asked me if I was talking about her cousin. When I shook my head yes, Elle took my hands in her lap.

She then explained to me what happened.

"Marlene, Owen will be back ... I just know him. My cousin has always been known to be spoiled, and was difficult as a child! He just had a hard time after you left. I talked to him so he could calm down, but he was really mad. Owen needs to find his own set of pride again, because he lost his self-esteem. I knew my cousin was a ladies' man since we were little, but after you left, he locked himself in his bedroom for days. It was not until the 4th week of last month, that he decided to come out. He told my mother about his decision to leave for his baseball ambitions. He was going to leave on the next bus for Lake Elsinore. Thus, he packed his bags, visited Paige and left the next day."

Before she left, Elle patted me in the back and I soon calmed down.

I felt better once Elle told me about Owen. He had a bit of a spoiled brat attitude and was rather difficult to control, when he was with me. But I never thought about the fact that he was a lost soul himself.

Owen just had a hard time explaining this to me, but I guess his departure was the only way to get his point across.

~~

Later, Paige handed over Owen's journal to me.

It was a red book that had a long piece of blue ribbon made out of silk attached to it, as if it were a special bookmark I could use whenever I wanted to stop reading. His journal was a thick loose leaf book that contained more pages than I could count, so I guess I would eventually use the bookmark. He just had a way of knowing before hand that I would need it.

Once the party was over, all of my friends left, and Joshua was the only one who stayed with me in the house.

I hugged him earlier but he didn't say a lot. He knew I stayed quiet after I greeted all my guests, and didn't want to add to my bitterness, once he saw that Paige and Elle tried to comfort me.

However, I soon learned that Elle went out with Josh after I left for California, which didn't seem too awkward to me. After all, I liked the idea of having a sister-in-law around someday. I would accept her into my family any time.

While Joshua was cleaning up the mess we made, I headed upstairs to my bedroom with Owen's journal. I opened it and even though my heart was already broken in two, I knew the answer to why he left me was in this book.

~~

Hello dear readers,

Before we read about Owen's story, I wanted to connect the first two chapters of my book to the first.

I dedicate this chapter to fellow Wattpad reader Hannah Moore. Thanks for following me. As another Californian and bookworm, I salute you (virtually that is)!

A picture of Dakota Fanning shown above. She is Paige Hayden in this story.

So without further ado, please read on to hear Owen's story, and trust me it won't be pure sadness ... because I don't think guys like all that drama; I have a brother who can exactly tell me the same thing!