Chapter Four

Cole's P.O.V

We parked at the side of the road and walked to the door. I had my hand on the door when I heard Alex's voice, the door was unlocked so I went in.

"Alex, I'm so glad you're ok-"

Someone hit the wall next to me, making me aware of my surroundings, I looked over at the wall and it was Asher -it was his car outside- he had blood dripping from the side of his mouth, it was obvious that this was Logan's doing. I looked over at him and he looked pissed, I walked over to him and held him back

"Hey, he brought her home, shouldn't you be thanking him?" I asked him as an effort to calm him down but he was already gone.

"Look at her." He yelled. "LOOK AT HER. Is she wearing the same clothes as last night?" I looked at Alex and she was in fact, not wearing the same clothes, which made my blood boil.

"What did you do to her?" I grabbed his collar.

"I brought her home." He smirked and I punched him.

The moment my fist made contact with his jaw, he fell to the floor but he was still conscious. 'Is he just letting me hit him? Normally I’d knock out Lamar with that, how strong is he?' I got on top of him to start throwing punches at me when Alex pulls me off.

Alex's P.O.V

"Stop it!!" I yell, pulling Cole off Asher. "All he did was help me get changed and brought me home, the only reason why I couldn't come home last night was because I passed out before I could tell him the address, he had no choice but to take me home."

It seemed that both Cole and Logan had come to their senses when they realized that they were wrong but they still didn't apologize nor did they thank him. He got up and walked out of the house, into the car and drove off.

"What is wrong with you? I just forgave you from hitting him before and now you do it again," I yelled at Logan and turned to Cole, "and you Cole, why did you hit him? You were ignoring me the whole time at the party but the moment you notice that I'm wearing different clothes, you flip out."

"Alex-"

"No, I don't want to hear it." I stormed off.

"Wait here, I'll go talk to her." I heard Zoe say.

I walked into my room and slammed the door shut, Zoe came in a few seconds later.

"Hey, calm down." She said, "You know they were just trying to help."

"Help with what? I didn't ask for their help. All they had to do was ask him a question... Why was she with you? That's all but they start beating him up all because I'm wearing different clothes."

"You know how your brother is."

"I do but I didn't expect it from Cole."

She looked at me like I was supposed to know something that I didn't

"Cos he-"

*Knock knock*

"Hey, can I come in?" I heard Cole ask from outside the door.

Zoe stands up to open the door and Cole walks in, while she walks out. She grabbed him and whispered something into his ear, then he closed the door behind him. He sat on my bed, next to me and looked at me for a while before talking.

"Alex, You know that, you're a special friend of mine." He said.

This was the first time he called me his friend. I was supposed to be happy but it hurt, a lot more than I thought it would, which only added to my anger.

"Friends aren't supposed to care that much," I looked down at my pillow, "why do you always butt into my business, you don't see me questioning you about Amanda, do you? If I want to spend the night with Asher, then I will."

"But why would you want to spend the night with him?" He said with a bitter tone.

"Why do you care so much?" I yelled.

"I-" He stopped and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him and I let him go.

I couldn't bother to go after him, I was too pissed to even consider it. Why did they gang up on him like that? After he got me home. I mean I understand that they were worried but that doesn't justify their behaviors. It was hard to think while I was angry so I decided to take a nap.

"ALEX!! Dad's home." 

I woke up from my nap and went downstairs to go greet my dad. It's been a while since he's been home, I expected Zoe to be there but I guess she left with Cole.

"Hey dad." I jumped on him with excitement.

"Alex go easy on him, he just got back, he must be tired." My brother laughs.

I ignored my brother's words, seeing I was still angry at him. The room went silent after my brother talked, I didn't talk because I was still angry with him and my brother got that so he didn't say anything more, our parents just stood there wondering what the fuck was going on.

"I sense a lot of tension in the room." My dad finally says, "do you kids wanna talk about it?" He asked, taking a seat on one of the island chairs.

"No thank you." I said, finally letting go of my dad.

"Alex, you can't stay mad at me forever, you know?" My brother chimes in.

"Oh, she's mad?" My mum asks in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes mum, and she shouldn't even be cus she's the one at fault, spending the night with some guy without even telling me." He blurts out.

My dad's eyes widened at my brother's words and all I could do was cover my face with my palms.

"She did what?" My dad yelled.

"She didn't tell me." My brother replied like the stupid person he is.

God he's such a dumbass.

"He means before that, Jackass." I shake my head.

"You can still talk?" My mum turns to me and starts bombarding me with questions. "Who is this boy? What's his name? How did you meet him? Where is he from? Who are his Parents? Wh-" 

"God mum... he's just some guy from school, it's not even that big a deal." I yelled, fed up with all the questions.

"Not that big a deal!" She yelled. "NOT THAT BIG A DEAL!!" 

"It's not like anything happened and he only took me to his place because I passed out drunk and he didn't know my address. Was he just supposed to leave me there? An unconscious girl in a house full of piss drunk teenage boys." I said and started walking out.

"You were drunk?" My dad asked me, bringing me to a stop.

"Yeah, you drank?" My brother asked, acting like he had no idea.

"Y-yeah it was my first time and it won't happen again until I'm legal." I pleaded.

"Why did you do it in the first place?" My mum asked. She didn't yell this time.

"I was just angry and it was in a bottle that said, non-alcoholic fruit wine, so I grabbed it and drank but soon I started feeling tipsy, so really this was not my fault and the fault of the person who brought it." I rambled on.

"That's not exactly a good explanation." My brother laughed.

"Well you took me to the party so this is kinda all your fault." I snapped at him.

"But you begged me to take you so the blame is on you." He shot back.

"Kids enough, this isn't a blaming party." My dad paused. "Go to your rooms until we decide what to do about your behaviors."

"but da-" 

"Your rooms."

As my brother dashed up the stairs I heard my mum and dad whispering about something but I was too angry to really pay attention so I went up the stairs as well.

I walked into my room, took off my clothes and went to take a shower. I came out of the shower, dried my hair and my body. I was walking around in when I noticed Asher's hoodie, I took off my towel and put it on, the feeling of it on my bare skin made my body heat up and I found myself reaching for my lower region, I reached for my nipple and caressed it softly while rubbing my clit in a circular motion, it was getting more intense, I put my middle and ring fingers in, I stopped touching my nipple and moved my hand to my clit and started rubbing while fingering myself.

"Ahn, almost there."

*knock knock*

"Alex, can we talk?" My brother asked.

His voice snapped me out of it before I could orgasm. I got up, washed my hands, cleaned myself down there and put on some clean underwear then went to open the door.

"What the hell do you want?" 

I stuck my head out of the crack I made in the door.

"Dude, can you not be angry for a sec?" He pushed his way into my room and sat on my bed. I scoffed and closed the door.

"What do you wa-"

"Is that the bastard's hoodie?" He crossed his arms.

"I just wore it because I was cold." I forgot I still had it on.

"If you're cold, why aren't you putting on any pants?" 

"You're the one who came in here like you owned the place." I picked my shorts and put it on. "Look, if you're here to pick a fight you can just leave cus I'm tired." 

"Okay okay, calm down." He stood up and walked around the room like he was looking for something."I just wanted to apologize."

"For?"

"What do you mean, for?" He asked.

I didn't know if he was joking or he was genuinely confused.

"You did a lot of things to make me angry. Which one/ones are you apologizing for?" I asked more clearly this time.

He stood there for a few minutes before speaking up again. "I'm sorry for the thing with mum and dad, I shouldn't have snitched on you like that."

I waited patiently for him to continue but he just turned his back and left. My brother has never been good with apologies, not that he doesn't know how to apologize but he just doesn't know the right things to apologize for, I didn't even really care about the mum and dad thing all that much, it was the situation with Asher that I wanted him to apologize for. I'm too tired for this.

I took off Asher's hoodie and laid down. I liked sleeping naked or rather half naked, I could never bring myself to sleep without wearing panties because the thought of something crawling in there just freaks the hell out of me. 

Cole's POV

"That bastard." I yelled as I slammed the front door making Chris jump.

"What the fuck is wrong with you man?" Chris yells and slammed the game controller on the table.

"He's just pissed cus Alex spent the night with Asher." Zoe said as she walked in and took asit next to him.

I walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed a beer, walked into the living room and sat on one of the bean bags facing the TV.

"And why would he care? Don't you have a girlfriend?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the game he was playing.

"You're really dense, you know that, right?" She said and patted his head.

"What? Why should he care about that?" He asked, finally focusing on the conversation.

"So let me break it down for you." She starts explaining.

*30 minutes later*

"Wait, hold on, let me get this straight. Alex likes Cole and he knows about it, is that right?" 

"Yes babe."

"And if I'm not mistaken, Cole likes her back?"

"Correct." 

"So, why's he dating Amanda and not Alex?" He asks and takes a sip of his beer.

"I don't know. Why aren't you dating Alex?" Zoe looks at me but I just ignore her until she yells my name.

"I'm not dating her because her brother trusted me to keep other guys away from her and dating her would break that trust he's put in me and I wouldn't be able to look him in the eye." I replied swiftly.

"That-"

"That doesn't make any sense." Chris says, interrupting zoe. "You make it sound like you like Logan more than Alex, if you really like her then just ask her out," He picks up his controller again and puts on his headphones, "But break up with Amanda first."

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Zoe smiles and plants a kiss on his cheek. "And you better act fast but not right now, right now you have to think of a way to apologize to her, okay?"

 "Yeah but on the dating matter, it's not like I would turn her down if she were to ever confess to me."

Zoe's face immediately lit up, "So, all she needs to do is confess?" 

I nodded and swallowed the last gulp of my beer and threw it away. While I was walking upstairs, I overheard Zoe and Chris talking.

"Babe, it's getting kinda late, drop me off?"

"Yeah, lemme just beat this level real quick."

By the time I got upstairs, I heard the front door creak open.

"We're leaving, see you monday." 

Then the door shut.

I walked into my room, took off my clothes and found something comfortable then laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and a picture of Alex wearing his hoodie flashed into my head and I got angry all over again, I needed to clear my head.

"She likes me not him, that should be enough." I repeated to myself like a mantra, until I fell asleep.

Monday

Alex's POV

I walked into my 1st period class without a care in the world, it still hadn't dawned on me that both Asher and Cole are in my class. I walked to my chair and took a seat, not a second later, Cole came in and walked towards me and stopped right in front of my table.

He bent over to rest on my table and whispered, "I hope you aren't mad anymore."

"That's hardly an apology." I scoffed.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Asher." He smiled.

Now that's just cheating.

"That's a nice apology but sadly, I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to." I frowned.

Since he was resting on my table, I didn't have a view of the door so I didn't notice when Asher walked in until he spoke up.

He cleared his throat, catching our attention. "I need to get to my seat."

I looked at his face to see that all the bruises were gone.

"Thank God." I sighed in relief, then I pointed at Asher. "Apologize."

Cole grumbled a little then let out a sigh. 

"Whatever." He whispered and turned to Asher, "No hard feelings, right?" He gestured for a handshake.

"Sure, whatever." Asher said.

He took his seat, completely ignoring his gesture but Cole didn't seem to be worried about it. He probably didn't even want to shake him in the first place.

"Happy?"

"Very." I replied and smiled.

"Good." He smiled back and patted me on the head.

"Hey Alex." 

I heard Zoe's voice from behind Cole.

"Move outta the way." She says, pushing Cole aside.

"Hello to you too Zoe." Cole said as he was pulled away by Chris in the opposite direction.

"Let the class begin." The teacher yelled and started to write something on the board, it's a pity no one's paying attention.

Zoe turns to Asher, "Hi Asher." She says in a flirty tone.

 He didn't reply and just chuckled, then she turned to face me.

"I think you should confess to Cole." She blurts out.

My hands immediately flew to cover her mouth. "Geez, use your bedroom voice." 

"Eww." She licked my palm causing me to flinch and pull away.

"But that's only for Chris." She giggles.

"Anyways," I rolled my eyes, "why'd you bring that up all of a sudden?" I asked because she is not exactly the type to say something without a reason.

"You've had this crush since forever, don't you wanna know if you have a chance?" 

"No, I don't wanna know and besides if I do tell him and he doesn't feel the same, what would happen to our relationship now?"

"But what if he does feel the same?" 

"Did he tell you anything? I ask because you spend more time with him than I do." 

She ignored my question and actually started paying attention to what the teacher was saying.

"Zoe??" I accidentally yelled.

"Ms. West, would you like to share something with the class?" The teacher glares at me.

"No, not really." I replied.

"Then stop talking." She turns back to face the board.

I heard some people in class stifle their laughter which made me feel conscious of myself but I couldn't get what Zoe said out of my head cus what are the chances he feels the same? 0%. I rested my head on the table and soon fell asleep.

*bell rings* 

I woke up to the sound of the dismissal bell, I grabbed my bag and wanted to walk out but the teacher stopped me.

"Ms. West, Mr. Davis, please wait a moment."

Asher was in the middle of packing his things but all that came to a stop when she asked us to stay back. I sat on one of the front row seats, I didn't want to go through the trouble of walking all the way back to mine. 

"I know you're wondering why I asked you both to stay back," She started the moment the last student walked out. "Mr. Davis, I don't really think you understood the project I gave you and Ms. West seemed to excel at it. So I was wondering, Ms. West," -She turned to face me- "if you would help him out with his project? It won't take more than 2-3 days." 

"Do I really have a choice?" I asked her.

"No, not at all." She smiled.

"Okay then, can I leave now?"

"Wait." She walked to her desk and it looked like she was writing something. She came back with two hall passes and handed it to us.

We both walked out and went to our various classes. I don't have a problem with him anymore so helping him wouldn't cost me anything so I didn't think of it too much, what I did think about was me confessing to Cole, I have fantasized about it for years now but I never thought I'd actually be considering doing it.

The day is going by really quickly, I was already in my 6th period which I had with Zoe. During lunch, I had made up my mind to finally confess to Cole, now all that's left is to ask my best friend what I should do.

"So, did you make up your mind yet?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"I'm gonna tell him."

"Yesss finally." She cupped my cheeks in her hand. "Now, if he rejects you, come tell me and I'll cut off his balls." She laughed and I laughed with her but I stopped when the realization hit me, he's not single so how's he even gonna say he likes me back.

"What's wrong? Why the face?"

"He's still dating Amanda." I started sulking.

"Tell him anyways, a lot of girls still confess to the guys they like even though they aren't single. Chris was taken when I confessed, and look at us now." 

I started to get my confidence back when she used her and Chris as an example because, they look good together, if I didn't know them and they told me they'd been dating since middle school, I'd believe it.

Cole and Chris walked into the class but passed our seats before going to theirs.

"Cole, can you make time? I need to talk to you after school." I say feeling over-confident.

"Okay sure." He says.

Cole's POV

"Cole, can you make time? I need to talk to you after school." Alex says with a serious look on her face.

"Okay sure." I replied.

I looked at Zoe to see if she'd at least give me an idea as to what Alex wants to say but she just had the same serious look as Alex, plastered on her face. I knew I wasn't going to get anything from her.

"Maybe she's going to confess." Chris whispered in my ear.

"Stop messing around." I pushed him off me.

*bell rings*

Alex's POV 

"Moment of truth." I say under my breath.

I could hear my heart beating over the sound of the bell. My heart pounded with so much force and I suddenly couldn't breathe, I thought I was having a panic attack.

I walked out of the class and to my locker. As I was packing my things into my bag, I heard a thud over my head and I looked back to see Cole, I suddenly couldn't breathe again.

"Breathe babe, you can do it." I imagined Zoe's voice, God I wish she was here.

I finished packing my things and we started towards the nearest exit but I knew there would be people outside so I scanned around for empty classrooms..... I finally found one. I pulled him into one of the classes but that was all that was left of my confidence and so I just stared at him. The halls went dead silent, all the students had left school and I just stood there staring at him.

"Alex, um... you wanted to talk but you haven't said anything since we got here." Cole finally breaks the silence.

"Y-yeah right. Okay, gimme a sec." I needed a minute to organize my thoughts but nothing came to mind, it was like I forgot every single thing.

"Whatever it is, you can te-" 

"I like you." I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head. "I like your smile, I like the way you pat me on the head, I like your hair, your eyes. Honestly, I like everything about you. I like seeing you happy and I absolutely hate it when you're sad and also when you make me mad cus then I can't talk to you, I like it when you worry about me because that shows me that you care about me, even if you might not mean it that way, I just like being around you. I've liked you ever since the first time I saw you at our freshman orientation."

I finally looked up at him, wanting to see the expression he had on.

"Alex... I-"