‘Fear not; for I am with you’

- Isaiah 41:10

Chapter Thirty-Six

Cole left early in the morning, choosing to sneak back out her window rather than face Ted, something that Azelie figured was a good idea. Ted probably wouldn’t take too well to a boy sleeping in her room, even if they had just slept in the same bed together - nothing else, not even a kiss. Azelie found it hard in the morning not to kiss him, seeing him with his goofy smirk, his hair sticking up in different directions and his bright green eyes looking at her, holding all the joy in the world. Jesus, she just wanted to kiss him again. Azelie had faced the reality of the situation a few days ago, she loved Cole. She had loved him for a long time, but it took until now for her to realise.

Azelie didn’t know what to do with her first Saturday of the holidays, Kelly and Alex were busy, and Cole had some family event to go to. Ted was out working at the gallery, but Azelie didn’t feel like working today. Kelly had called her last night to tell her that there was a party tonight, so she had the entire day free until then. She felt like crawling under the covers of her bed, hiding from the outside world and just staying there with her thoughts for company. Just as she crawled back into her bed, she spotted her painting equipment in the corner of her room. With a satisfied smile, she jumped back out of her warm bed and quickly got changed into a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and grabbed her painting stuff, now sure of how she was going to spend her day.

Azelie could hear the music before she even got to the house, the thumping noise filling the air as drunken teenagers tried to get the most of the first weekend of their two week vacation. She looked over at Cole who was sat beside her in the back seats of the car, Kelly and Alex in the front bickering over what song they wanted to play. Cole spotted Azelie looking at him, sending her a soft smile as he looked back at her. They hadn’t really spoken all since they had picked him up, something that Azelie found to be very strange. It was usually Cole who was the one that was always talking. She had spent the entire day painting, sitting by the river that flowed outside of the Bellingham and just drew whatever popped into her mind. It had been a while since she had a chance to paint, and she hadn’t realised how much she missed it until this morning.

Alex parked the car, and the group climbed out of his car and walked up to the house, not bothering to knock on the door as they entered. The music was playing so loud that Azelie was sure that she couldn’t hear herself think. She went to follow Kelly and Alex further into her house, but she felt a hand slipping into her own, tugging at her to move the other way. She looked to her right to find Cole smiling over at her, trying to pull her in a different direction. She didn’t even think twice about it, and followed him to wherever he was leading her, not letting go of his hand for a second.

He led her into the busy kitchen, he grabbed two plastic cups full of beer and let go of Azelie’s hand as he passed a cup to her.

“Thanks,” she smiled as she put the cup up to her mouth and took a sip of the warm liquid. She had gotten used to having warm beer; wasn’t it a clique of teen parties? Terrible music; warm beer; drunk girls dancing with hardly any clothes on?

“Kelly and Alex were heading to go dance, and I really can’t be bothered with that right now,” Cole said, explaining why he had dragged her here. She nodded in reply, slightly understanding how he felt, but at the same time, questions began to appear.

“What’s wrong, Cole?” She asked, looking up at him as he finished off his drink. He looked down at her, a fake confused look forming on his features as he tried to hide everything.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” he smiled, as he reached for another glass.

“Come on, Cole! You’ve been acting off since you sat in the car! You hardly spoke in the car; you didn’t just go with Alex like you normally do and, we got here five minutes ago and you’re already on your second beer!” Azelie ranting, not bothering to just believe Cole’s lies. Something was wrong with him; and he was just going to have to tell her what the hell hit was. Cole’s reaction was not one Azelie expected. Almost as soon as she had said it, Cole’s features darkened. His eyes narrowed at her as the green turned dark, his usual smile slipping off his lips as his jaw locked, telling her that he was getting pissed off at her.

“Azelie, I’m fine. Just drop it,” he replied, his voice low. Azelie stood defiant, knowing that he would be there for her if he knew something was wrong with her; why should it be any different when there’s something wrong with him? She shook her head as she opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn’t going to drop it; that she wasn’t going anywhere until he told her what was going on, but she didn’t get the chance.

“Cole!” A voice shouted from Azelie’s left, and she looked to find some guy from the football team smiling over at them, slowly making his way through the crowd to get to them. “I thought you weren’t coming tonight, man!”

“Yeah, wasn’t planning on it but needed to get out the house, you know how it is,” Cole replied, Azelie standing beside him completely confused. Cole had completely changed as soon as his friend had come over, the anger from earlier disappearing as soon as he spotted him and turning back to normal.

Was he just angry at her? Had she done something that has pissed him off? Azelie didn’t know what to think at that point, her mind a still a mess.

“So is this you’re girlfriend I’ve been hearing loads about? Rumor is that you got yourself a girl,” his friend said, looking down at Azelie. Almost immediately she wanted to punch him in the face. Alex and Cole was one of the handful of guys she had met that were on the football team and weren’t asses. This guy that Cole was speaking to know - Azelie had practically crowded him the king of assholes.

“She isn’t my girlfriend,” Cole said, his voice turning low as if even the mention of Azelie made him angry again, “She’s just a friend,” he added. Azelie didn’t know if she should cry or shout something back. His words shouldn’t have hurt her as much as they did; perhaps she was just being melodramatic and needy, but even Azelie knew that her and Cole were more that just friends. He was everything to her! He was there when she hadn’t slept, or when she felt low, at when she was at her worse, he put her back together. And yet, she obviously meant nothing to him, despite everything. She loved him and he felt nothing.

She had told him about her family, her past, everything and even after that she was still nothing more than a ‘friend’ to him. Bullshit.

Azelie didn’t even look back at Cole after he had said that, and instead, simply turned away. Not being able to withstand a second longer of Cole. She wanted to get out of the house, run down the road still she got to the bridge. She wanted to, but something told her to stay in the house, a gut feeling telling her to not to leave, not just yet.

Azelie hung around the party for a couple more hours with Kelly while Alex went off to go spend some time with his friends. Kelly did ask why Azelie wasn’t with Cole like she usually was, but Azelie just lied and told her that Cole was just hanging out with his friends; she didn’t dare tell Kelly what he had said. She would have his balls.

It was around midnight when Azelie saw Cole again. She was dancing with Kelly when she saw him looking at her from across the room, his gaze still very angry. She didn’t care about the anger; she was sure that she hadn’t done anything wrong, and she was just going to have to ask him about it at school when he had gotten over it all, but what Azelie did notice was that Cole was drunk. He couldn’t even stand straight and instead was swaying from side to side as he tried to stand still.

Azelie, despite still being angry and hurt by what Cole had said earlier, knew she couldn’t leave him like that to find his own way home. Letting a sigh out, Azelie turned to Kelly, quickly telling her that she was going to go take Cole him. Kelly just smiled and nodded, not wanting to get in the way of a chance of Cole and Azelie bonding. Azelie walked over to where Cole was standing with his friends, forming a smile on her face as she did, trying to think of a way to get Cole away from his friends.

“Hey guys,” She smiled sweetly as she reached the group, each of the males turning to look at her, “Is it alright if I steal Cole just for a second,” Cole darted over at her. narrowing his eyes at her.

“What do you want?” He slurred angrily, his green eyes narrowing at her.

“Just a chat, it will only take a second,” Azelie lied, trying to get him to come with her. If she could just get him out of the house, she could get him to sober up a bit.

“Just piss off, Azelie,” Cole snapped in reply, not caring about what she had to say. Azelie tried not to get angry at him, telling herself that it was just the drink that was making him act like this. It didn’t help though; she still wanted to punch him.

“Now, Cole,” Slurred one of the guys who Cole was standing with. Azelie recognized him as one of the guys on the football team, Mark, one of the assholes. “That isn’t nice,” Mark added, looking Azelie up and down, a smirk forming on his lips. “Would you like a drink?” He questioned. The look he was sending Azelie sent shivers down her back, but she didn’t show. She wouldn’t give the idiot the satisfaction. Instead she simply ignored him and turned to Cole.

“Come on, just a second,” She pleaded, praying that he would just agree so she could get away.

“Excuse me - I asked you a question! Would you like a drink?” Mark interrupted as he walked over to Azelie and grabbed her arm, stumbling slightly as he did. She could smell the alcohol on his breath.

“No, I’m fine,” She quickly answered as she turning back to Cole to ask him once again “Cole please!”

“Princess, It’s only one drink,” Mark said, not wanting to leave her alone. This time, Azelie didn’t managed to swallow her anger.

“I’m not your fucking princess,” She snapped back, her brown eyes fixing on the guy who wouldn’t leave her alone. She regretted her words as soon as she said them. She just wanted to get out of there.

“Wow... feisty, so cute! You’ve got a keeper there, Cole,” Mark laughed, looking over to Cole who couldn’t look at Azelie; every thought killing him.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” He simply replied, sounding angry. Even thought she had heard them earlier in the night, they still hurt her like hell. She knew that they weren’t going out, that seemed to be something that Azelie couldn’t forget, but they way he said it, made it sound as if they were just two strangers who have never talked a single word to each other.

“Really, well then.. Come on, princess, let’s get you a drink,” Mark continued, looking down at Azelie with a smirk.

“I don’t want one,” She stated, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp but failing miserably.

“What about a dance then?” He asked, “Just one dance,”

“Look I’m not interested, so just let go of me,” Azelie snapped again, finding it harder and harder to control her anger. She managed to tear her arm out of his grasp, before walking away, not even bothering to look back for Cole. He could find his own way home.

She was at the doorway to the living room when she suddenly heard loud shouting as the music stopped, and turned around to see Cole standing over Mark. who was now lying on the floor, his arm in the air before it disappeared as Cole punched Mark. Azelie stood there, horrified at what Cole was doing? Who the hell was he tonight? Cole picked up Mark by the collar of his t-shirt, raising his fist again as he punched Mark again, followed by the crunching noise of the bones in Mark’s nose. Azelie ran over to Cole just as his friends were pulling him off Mark, who now had blood pouring down his face. Cole was still fighting against his friends, who were trying to stop Cole inflicting any more damage on Mark than he already had. Azelie ran up to him, grabbing his hand, hoping that he would listen to her.

“Cole, come on. Let’s go outside,” Azelie cried, pulling at his hand. This wasn’t the time to start shouting at him for starting a fight, that could wait until she got him outside. She thought that she was going to have to put him a fight to get him away from his friends, but she didn’t. As soon as she said his name, he looked down at her, the anger from earlier on had now disappeared, and as much as it confused Azelie, she knew that right now wasn’t the best time to ask him about it. Now obviously wasn’t a great time to ask Cole anything. He followed her willingly away from the crowd that was gathering around him and Mark, stumbling slightly from the effect of what he had been drinking.

As soon as he was outside, the cold air began to sober him up slightly. He still stumbled as he walked and slurred, but he wasn’t as bad as he had been. He could definitely think better than he could inside.

“What the fuck was that, Cole?” Azelie questioned, her brown eyes looking up at him, trying to read what he was thinking. Inside hadn’t been the time to argue with him; now however, she could shout at him as much as she wanted. “First of all - you’ve turned into a complete asshole. ‘Just a friend’ my ass! I’m not your girlfriend, but I’m more than just a friend damn it, Cole! Second of all - since when do you drink that much? And don’t even get me started on the fight,”

“That wasn’t my fault!” Cole shouted back, his head beginning to pound from pain as he argued back. He was beginning to regret drinking as much as he had; but he didn’t, not for even a second, regretted punching the bastard and starting the fight. He would have still punched him if he was sober.

“So who’s fault was it then?” She asked angrily. Azelie was sure that he was the one that threw the first punch, in fact, she was sure that he was the only one that was throwing the punches - Mark stood no chance.

“It was your fault!”

“How the fuck was it my fault, Cole? Please, explain your logic!” she yelled, her heart pumping in her chest. They were about halfway down the drive now, both of them taking it in turns to walk away from each other, trying to get away from each other before turning around to shout something back at the other.

“Everything was fine and dandy until you walked over and started saying you needed to talk to me! I told you leave me alone earlier!” He stated, taking a deep breath, trying to get rid of the anger that had built up.

“So? I was worried about you Cole! You’re drunk and you needed somebody to walk you home to make sure you don’t do something stupid, like get yourself killed on the way home!” Azelie explained, telling him the truth about why she had gone up to him. Her voice was still loud, and if wasn’t for the loud music coming from the house stopping everyone hearing their argument, she was sure that they would have a crowd by now.

“Everything was fine before you came over! I would have been fine walking home!” He cried, fighting her back, anger pumping though his body as he continued to shout.

“Cole you could hardly stand!” Azelie pointed out, her voice slowly wearing out with all the shouting she had been doing, “What was the fight about anyway? It’s not like you to fight?” She asked, realising that she still didn’t know what it was about.

“You, it was about you,” he answered, his voice suddenly quiet. He looked down at the floor, unable to look up at Azelie, anger still exploding inside of him like an erupting volcano

“What?”

“Mark,” Cole said in an angry tone. He then began to calm down slightly, realising that he needed to just stop for a second. “He started talking shit about you and saying stuff so I hit him. He was being an asshole,” At first, Azelie almost forgave him for the entire thing; but then just as she did, the anger surged back up again as she realised that she was still annoyed with him for other things.

“Oh so what! One minute we’re ‘just friends’ and the next your beating up some random guy cause he said something about me? I don’t understand you Cole!” She shouted, getting so frustrated that she was ready to tear her hair out. This fight, it was different from the rest of them. This was their first screaming match at each other. Cole was usually sober enough to stop the fight escalating this far; or Azelie would have left by now. But Cole was drink; and Azelie couldn’t leave him. They were almost trapped.

“I can’t win with you, can I? Jesus Christ, Azelie, you’re impossible! You know that! You’re so fucking blind!” He shouted, walking up to her, his green eyes glaring into her brown ones as he shouted at her, “Just open your fucking eyes for gods sake,”

“What? So blind that I couldn’t see that you don’t want me around, because tonight was a perfect example of that!” She replied, motioning her arms in the air. Cole couldn’t take anymore of it; more of the screaming and fighting, so he simply turned away from her and began to walk away,

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Azelie questioned as she walk him walking away from her.

“Home!” He shouted, not bothering to turn around, “Actually, anywhere we’re you aren’t” Azelie let out a single laugh as he replied.

“You really think I’m going to let you walk home alone? You won’t make it to the end of the fucking drive way without me!”

“I’ll be fi-” He began to shout, but couldn’t finish as he tripped over something on the road, falling face first on to the tarmac. Azelie instantly ran over to where he had fallen, her anger floating away. He tried to push himself up from the ground, but the amount of alcohol in his system made it impossible for him to even stand up, let alone get himself of the ground. Azelie let out a sign as she helped him up, using all of her strength to keep him steady as he climbed up off the ground.

“So what were you saying?” She questioned once he was standing up again, a smirk appearing on her lips as she helped him to his feet again. Cole looked away from her, shaking her head slightly as a slight smirk appeared on his lips.

“Shut up,” he replied playfully, trying to get angry enough again to walk away from her, but finding it impossible. You can’t just get angry at a girl you’re in love with.

“No, come on! What were you going to say before you tripped and fell flat on your face?” She grinned. Somehow, the tense, angry mood had quickly disappeared when Cole had fallen, and they had returned to how things usually where.

“I was going to say I’ll be fine,” he admitted, his voice low, still unable to look at Azelie.

“And were you?” She questioned in a know-it-all voice

“No,” he replied quietly. Cole’s gaze flickered up to meet Azelie’s, the usual soft smile now playing on his lips as he did “I’m sorry about earlier,” He apologized, knowing just how much of an asshole he had been to her. He was trying to distance himself from her, obviously, she was having none of it.