‘Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear,’

- Mark Twain

Chapter Twelve

Azelie refused to believe Cole, right up until the moment he pulled up outside of her house in his car. And even then, she still couldn’t get over the idea. He was taking her sky diving! Was he actually serious about the entire thing?

“He’s outside!” Ted shrieked from downstairs as Azelie sat upstairs on her bed. Everything had just gone back to normal between Ted and Azelie, with only an extra appointment between Azelie and her therapist arranged earlier than planned. “You know, I should really ask what his intentions are with my niece, you know, just to check that he’s not going to take advantage of you or anything!” Ted added as Azelie ran down the stairs, desperate to stop him.

“It’s fine Ted! His intentions are all innocent!, the most he wants to do is see me jump out of a plane,” Azelie replied, reaching the bottom of the stairs just in time to stop Ted sneaking out to talk to Cole.

“I’m still not cool with the whole skydiving thing. I mean, what kind of first date is that!” Ted cried, throwing his hands in the air! “Chivalry is dead. I’m telling you now!”

“It’s not a date - trust me on that,” Azelie smiled as she slipped her converse on to her feet, attempting to tie the laces as quickly as possible.

“That’s what you are saying now! Next you will be coming home and announcing that you’d actually ran off to Vegas, and got married by an Elvis impersonator,” Ted cried, “Besides, skydiving ain’t my idea of a sunday afternoon activity. What if something happens like the parachute doesn’t open fully, or the rope snaps, or something!” He ranted on and on. Azelie just sat there rolling her eyes at her worrying uncle.

“Ted, you are more scared than I am! Honestly, it will be fine. Nothing's going to go wrong,” she replied, trying to comfort her uncle. She was about to add something else when she was cut off by the high pitched squeals from her uncle.

“OOH! He’s coming up to the house! Maybe I do get to meet him,” He cried, jumping around like a loony. Azelie swore under her breath before tying her second shoe. She sprinted ran over to the door, stopping for a brief second to say goodbye to her uncle before opening the front door and stepping out of the house, slamming it behind her.

Cole was halfway up the drive to her house, but he stopped as soon as her saw Azelie stepping out of the house.

“Hey,” She smiled as she walked out of the house and noticed how he smiled back before taking in his appearance. His hair was in that crazy just-rolled-out-of-bed look which seemed to suit him perfectly, along with what he was wearing a light blue hoodie and a pair of dark denim jeans. Only now did it dawn on Azelie that every time she saw Cole, he seemed to look hotter and hotter! She wasn’t interested in dating him or anything, it was just something she noticed.

“You do know that your uncle is watching us with a pair of binoculars right?” he questioned, a huge grin spreading across his lips as his gaze floated past Azelie. She whipped her head around to look back, and sure enough, Ted was standing at the window, close to the curtains, holding a pair of binoculars in Azelie and Cole’s direction while grinning like a loony. She shook her head slightly before turning back around.

“Yeah, he was recently released from the mental institute... god knows why they let him out early!” Azelie smiled, looking back up at Cole. Cole just nodded his head slowly, a look of confusion forming on his features as he turned back around to walk to the car. They walked back down the drive and slipped into Cole’s car.

“The sky diving place is just out of town, about an hour away so it’s a little bit of a drive,” Cole said as they both climbed into the car, Azelie just nodded as he started up the ignition and began to drive through the town.

It took them just less than an hour before they finally got to where they needed to be. It was a small private airport, a giant sign stood over the entrance to the small car park telling them they had reached ‘Washington Private Airport’ with a smaller sign hanging underneath with the words ‘Skydiving’ written in red. Azelie sat up straighter as they parked up, looking around and taking in her surroundings. There were a few buildings scattered around a long strip of pavement, and one tall building which appeared to be traffic control center. Cole cut out the engine of the car before climbing out, Azelie quickly following in suit, practically running to his side as he made his way over to the building which had a sign for skydiving on the side of it.

When they reached the front of the building, Cole walking slightly ahead, they saw three guys walking out, smiles spreading across their faces as they spotted Cole and Azelie.

“Cole, how you been?” One of the men questioned, edging over to where Cole was. Cole and the guy walked closer before doing one of those crazy man hugs that Azelie could never understand.

“I’ve been good,” he smiled in reply, “Ryan, this is Azelie,” Cole added, introducing Azelie to the dark-haired stranger.

“Hey, nice to meet you Azelie!” Ryan smiled sticking out his hand to Azelie to shake. Azelie immediately took his hand before shaking it, a slight smile creeping on to her lips.

“Nice to meet you too,” she replied. She began to notice slight similarities between Cole and Ryan, were they related somehow?

“Ryan’s my cousin,” Cole explained, guessing what Azelie was thinking. She nodded slightly in reply.

“The better looking cousin that is,” Ryan smirked, glancing over at Cole. Cole just rolled his eyes at his cousin.

“Sure, sure! You keep thinking that,” Cole replied as they started to make their way over to the other two guys that Ryan had walked out of the building with.

“He owns the skydiving place,” Cole added, turning to Azelie, explaining why his cousin was there. She nodded in reply, understanding everything a little bit more.

They quickly met up with the other two guys, who were named Sam and Matt before preparing for the jump. They went over all the safety issues and what they would need to do. Azelie and Cole would be doing a tandem jump which meant they would be strapped to one of the three guys and they would do all the work while Azelie and Cole just enjoyed the ride.

“You freaking out yet?” Cole smiled, fully expecting Azelie to be scared of doing the jump. She shook her head, before turning to face him with a smile playing on her lips.

“I’m not scared, Cole,”

“Yet - You’re not scared yet!” He replied, smiling as he did. Azelie just shook her head slight, wondering if he would ever learn.

An hour later and they were strapped into their positions and were sitting in the plane as it was preparing to take off. Ryan and Azelie were strapped together, while Cole and Matt were together with Sam flying the plane. When they reached the correct height, they began to get into position. Azelie and Ryan began to shuffle their way towards the opening of the plane. She quickly looked back to Cole, flashing a smile towards him before looking back out to the opening of the plane.

And then she jumped.

The air whooshed around her as she fell through the air. Her eyes slowly shut as she began to relax. Everything in her mind instantly melted away, none of it important anymore. All that mattered was this feeling, this feeling of being so calm, so relaxed. She was at peace as her heart thumped wildly in her chest, the thrill of jumping out of the plane starting to take over.

Slowly, she began to open her eyes, taking in her surrounding as she fell through the air. The world below her seemed smaller than she had imagined, everything clearer than before. Around her, the sky was a deep blue with only light clouds in the sky. Nothing mattered anymore, and if felt like nothing would matter ever again. For about a minute she felt at ease, she felt relaxed, however that was the moment Ryan, who was strapped behind her. pulled open the parachute, and they both slowly drifted towards the ground, before crashing down with a slight bump.

It was only when they landed that Azelie began to wonder where Cole was. She looked up trying to see him, but his parachute was nowhere to be seen.

“Cole chickened out a the top,” Ryan said as he unbuckled Azelie’s harness from his.

“Ah...” Azelie replied, “So he wanted me to jump out, but when it came down to him, he didn’t want to do it?”

“Looks like it sweetie,” Ryan replied. Azelie could hear in his voice that he was smiling. “What’s going on with you and my cousin anyway? The only girl I’ve ever seem him with is that crazy one, but she’s in love with his friend or whatever!” Azelie let out a laugh at the mention of Alex and Kelly.

“Looks like everybody knows about Alex and Kelly apart from Alex and Kelly!” Azelie smiled, before remembering Ryan’s original question “And nothing is going on with me and Cole, just friends - if that,”

“Hmm, just don’t do anything stupid Azelie, I’ve known girls like you. Think that they are fearless, that nobody will miss them, and next thing you know they are throwing themselves off bridges...” Ryan warned, as he undid the final buckle, releasing Azelie. She turned around to face him before speaking.

“He told you about the bridge then?” she stated, not needing him to answer.

“Yeah, he did... I don’t know what he told you but that bridge is where... well let’s just say it’s where a lot of things went wrong for Cole,” Ryan said, his voice low. Azelie nodded in reply, before silence fell between them. “Right then, come on. Let’s get this all put away and go see the scaredy-cat!”

Twenty minutes later and they were standing outside of the office watching the small plane touch down on to the tarmac. As soon as the plane stopped and the engines began to shut off, Ryan and Azelie started to make their way over, a huge smile growing on Azelie’s lips.

“Well, well, well! I guess we found your fear,” Azelie cried happily as Cole began to climb out of the plane, his expression anything but pleased.

“Pah... It wasn’t me! There was something wrong with the em.. parachute! We couldn’t do the jump,” Cole replied, shaking his head, refusing to admit the truth.

“Aw sure... Of course! It was the parachute not you,” Azelie smiled, rolling her eyes at his excuse finding the whole situation funny. All the way up, Cole had been asking her if she was scared yet, if she wanted to pull out. He had been concentrating on her and not himself. So when it all came down to him jumping, he suddenly realized just what he was about to do.

“It was. Why would I lie?” He questioned, walking closer to Azelie. “Besides, we are here to see if you were scared of sky diving or not,”

“And I’m not,” She replied

“So on to the next stage then,” Cole replied, now smirking.

“Which is?”

“Ah, you will have to wait and see,” Cole laughed slightly, looking down at Azelie as she let out a slight huff.

“Better make it something you’re not scared of,” Azelie teased, letting out a little laugh.

“I wasn’t scared... It was the damn parachute!” Cole replied as they both began to walk towards the building again.

“Sure!” Azelie replied with a smile playing on her lips. Cole just shook his head in reply, realising that this was an argument he wasn’t going to win.

“Is your uncle going to be home?” Cole questioned, pulling Azelie out of the day dream she had been in. They were in Cole’s car, about ten minutes outside Bellingham.

“Huh?” she questioned, turning to face him. For the past half an hour, she had just been staring out of the window, watching the world pass by.

“Is your uncle going be home when I drop you off?” he repeated, turning to Azelie for a second before looking back to the road.

“Em, he’s going to be out... he has a dinner meeting with a client,” Azelie explained, remembering how excited Ted was. All week, he had talked nonstop about was his new client and their amazing new art. He had been so excited, that Azelie had begun to think he was going on a date.

“Do you want to come to mine for dinner then? My dad always cooks way too much for three anyway,” Cole offered, feeling like an idiot for asking.

“I get to meet the family already? Kelly will be pleased,” Azelie joked, laughing slightly as she did.

“Yeah, she’s going to be planning our wedding next!” Cole added. Azelie quickly burst out laughing, realising that she probably already had started planning it. “Anyway, do you want to come over for dinner or not?”

“Sure! If it’s not to much of an issue,” Azelie replied.

“It’ll be fine. I should warn you though - my dad’s a little on the crazy side!” He replied, taking a left where he would usually continue on.

“If he’s anything like my uncle then I can handle it! Ted’s practically mental!” Azelie replied, a smile appearing on her lips.

Fifteen minutes later and they were pulling up outside his house. Azelie recognized it from the night when she had run past it. Cole carefully parked up the car before cutting out the engine. He quickly climbed out of the car, with Azelie following him as they walked up to the front door and into the house.

The smell of burning food hit Azelie like a bus as they walked through the front door. Cole swore slightly before rushing up the hall and into the kitchen, Azelie following close behind.

“Dad! What did you burn now!” Cole shouted as he ran into the kitchen, finding his father standing beside the oven with a tray of black dust.

“It wasn’t my fault. It’s that bloody oven! It wants to kill us all! Starve us all!” his father replied, glancing over to the oven before shooting daggers at the appliance.

“I’m pretty sure it’s not trying to starve us to death! When I use it, it’s always fine!” Cole replied, rolling his eyes at his father.

“Yeah? Well it’s plotting against me! I swear, it’s out to get us!” his father replied, placing the tray on top of the kitchen counter. He looked over at Cole before noticing Azelie standing meekly behind him, trying to contain her laughter at Cole’s father. “Is that a girlfriend I see?” he questioned, glancing between Azelie and Cole. “You better damn not be taking her home to tell me that she’s preggers.! I’ve told you before Colton Grey - I’m too damn young to be a grandfather,”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Azelie said at the exact same time as Cole said ‘She’s not pregnant’

“She’s just a friend, Dad,” Cole explained, rolling his eyes at his father. “Dad, meet Azelie, Azelie, meet the crazy I call my father,” Cole added, introducing the two.

“Hi,’ Azelie smiled meekly over at his father.

“Nice to meet you Azelie!” His father smiled over at her, and Azelie quickly began to notice the similarities between the two. Cole had inherited his bright green eyes from his father, along with his brown hair and height. “Is pasta okay for dinner?” He questioned, turning to Cole.

“Yeah should be fine,” he replied, smiling over at his father. “Where’s Lily? You didn’t burn her in the oven too, did you?”

“HA-HA-HA! How funny Cole! If there’s anything you didn’t get from me it’s the awesome gene,” His father replied, rolling his eyes at his son, “She’s in the living room,” Cole just shook his head at his father before turning to walk out of the kitchen. Azelie followed him across the hall and into the living room where there was a girl sat on the sofa watching cartoons on the TV.

“Coley!” She cried, turning around to look up at Cole. She instantly jumped off the sofa and ran over to him. Cole let out a laugh before scooping the girl up in his arms, and hugging her tightly.

“Hey Lily,” Cole quickly replied, a smile evident in his voice. Azelie stood in the doorway watching the scene, her mind going into overdrive as she watched the scene before her, memories plaguing her own mind. “Azelie,” Cole spoke, pulling Azelie out her thoughts. “Meet Lily,” Azelie instantly smiled at the girl who was still in Cole’s arms.

She couldn’t have been older than seven, if that. There was a bright smile on her face, while her cheeks were rosy red. Unlike Cole, she had hazel eyes, with light brown hair which was almost auburn. Lily and Cole didn’t look very similar, you would be able to tell that they were related, but while Cole looked like his father, Lily must have looked like her mother. Only then did it occur to Azelie that there had been no mention of the woman. Azelie just ignored the questions that where building up inside her and instead smiled again at Lily.

“Nice to meet you Lily,” Azelie smiled, looking at her. She instantly smiled back at Azelie before practically burying herself into her brother.

“Whatcha watching Lil?” Cole questioned as he looked over to the TV.

“Cartoons,” Lily replied quietly, glancing up at her big brother slightly.

“Can we watch them with you?” Cole asked, his voice light. Azelie liked seeing this side of Cole, the family side. She loved how she could tell just how much his little sister meant to him, but at the same time she hated it. It was breaking her heart into pieces, crushing it into nothing but dust. Azelie had no idea how she was managing to hold on, maybe it was because she refused to break down in front of Cole; but more than likely, it was because she didn’t want to spoilt this for Lily and Cole. It was only a little moment, probably pointless in the grand scheme of things, however Azelie knew it’s the little things that people remember. “Azelie just loves watching cartoons,” He added, pulling her attention back to the conversation.

“I really do. What’s your favorite cartoon?” Azelie asked with a smile, looking at Lily.

“Scooby Doo,” she slowly answered, still unsure of Azelie.

“Really? That’s my favorite too! Do you want to see if it’s on?” Azelie asked, smiling warmly back at Lily. The girl slowly nodded her head, pushing herself slightly out of Cole’s arms to signal that she wanted to be put down. Cole automatically responded, putting her down on the floor. Lily quickly walked back over to the sofa before sitting in the middle of it. Cole and Azelie sat down either side of her, watching her as she flicked through the channels to see if Scooby Doo was on.

It was around forty minutes before Cole’s dad had finished making food, and the family crowded around the dining table in the kitchen to eat. Azelie wasn’t part of the family, but for the few hours that she spent with Cole’s family, she felt as if she wasn’t so alone in the world. As if she didn’t just have Ted to call family, but that she was apart for Cole’s as well. She felt as if she belonged, and she was reminded of what it was like to have a whole family of people to support you.

She had so many questions to ask Cole about his family, but she just swallowed them, knowing that questions usually answer themselves, especially if they are important. There was no point in asking Cole her questions, if she ever needed to know - he would tell her.