We head into the all too familiar looking diner and stand around waiting for a waiter to take us to our table.
"Sorry, I'll be with you two in a second, we're extremely busy." It's true, the place is packed and now I'm starting to think maybe I should've taken Mia a place where it's a lot quieter.
I can't help but think back to the time Cole first brought me here.
"Are you ready to try the best food you've ever tasted?"
I smile at the thought of mine and Cole's visits here. I remember the first time he brought me here and the waitress hit on Cole and the waiter hit on me. I remember the fly near us and Cole freaking out and I remember when he took me here after I went to see my mum.
I remember all of it.
"Is it just the two of you?" We both nod and she leads us to our table. When we sit, I notice that we're opposite the booth I sat at with Cole the last time we were here. Stop thinking of him for god sakes.
Mia and I talk about our day and boring projects we have to work on for school but when I rest my chin on the palm of my hand to show that I'm completely listening, the jukebox catches my eye. Here we go again...
The jukebox.
I was laughing while dancing and jumping around and Cole is slumped in his chair, staring at me with an amused look. He's wearing a massive grin while looking at me.
"If you basically made me get up here, you are too so come on!" I call him over, waving my hand. Surprisingly, he gets up while his smile is growing bigger and bigger.
He playfully spins me around and I giggle while we move together.
The song ends after a while and I hug him. "Thank you." He knows what the thank you is for.
The smile on my face is huge and I'm surprised no one has told us to shut up but I'm glad no one has, I'm having an amazing time.
Cole's staring at me in a way I can't figure out, just like earlier and I try my hardest not to blush.
"What?"
He shakes his head while still having a massive smile on his face, "Nothing."
I smile at the memory. Even though that was one of the saddest days since my mum passed, he somehow made it one of the best days I've had since everything that's happened.
My smile soon is wiped off my face when the thoughts of why I'm here flood my mind. Mia notices my expression and stops what she's talking about, a look of worry taking over her face.
"What is it? Is it about the argument you and Josh are in? When you walked off, I knew something was wrong and he just said you had a little argument." He wishes it was just a little argument. I even wish it was a little argument so I don't have to tell her this.
I take her hand and worry turns to fear as she knows that I have nothing good to say.
"I'm so sorry, Mee."
She holds my hand tighter and leans closer, "What happened? You know you can tell me." Of course one of the kindest people in my life has to be the one to get hurt.
My mum's voice echoes in my head.
"Don't make the mistake of not telling her because not only is she stuck with a boyfriend who doesn't respect her, she'll be left thinking she's best friends with someone who doesn't care enough to tell her and you and I both know that isn't the case."
I pluck up all the courage I have, which is near enough none at all, and get ready to tell her. "I was with Cole because we got sent out of class and we, erm... We walked in on Josh kissing another girl."
Her face changes from confused, to anger to sadness all in a space of five seconds.
"I'm so sorry, Mee. When I saw them I freaked. I didn't really know the side of Josh that played with girls but I thought, from what I saw, that maybe he changed. H-he looked different when he was with you."
Tears are streaming down her face at this point and I'm suddenly thankful for how loud it is in here, no one can hear what I'm saying or notice she's upset.
"I was disgusted when I saw it, saw them. Believe me, I tried to punch him a minimum of three times." Mia laughs weakly while the tears still fall. "I remember saying to him when you first got together that if he hurt you, I promised him, I would be that crap outta him, I couldn't even hold up my end of the promise. Cole grabbed me before I could get there."
I rub my temple with my fingers and continue, "I wish Cole didn't get to me in time because I would've grabbed that bitches extensions, ripped them off her head, and strangled Josh with them." She laughs again but it quickly turns to a sob so I move to her side of the table and hug her while she cries.
"He doesn't deserve you, you're too good for him." She sniffles and wipes her eyes.
"We never got round to saying it, but I really thought that he loved me, or at least started to." She whispers and then groans, resting her head in her hands. "God, I'm such an idiot." I shake my head and deny it.
"You just believed he changed, you see the best in people. That doesn't make you an idiot, it makes you a good person."
"I don't want to think of him right now, take my mind off of it please." She begs and I nod, sitting back in my seat.
"I know what will cheer you up, a friend of mine took me here when I was having a bad day too. It consisted of milkshakes, some of this centuries biggest bops," Mia laughs so I know I must be doing something right, I continue, "and some heavenly fries."
Her eyes are puffy and her face blotchy. It makes me want to hug her again.
"What can I get you guys, today?" I nod, turning to the waiter, but pause. It's the same guy as the first time we were here.
Please don't recognise me, please don't recognise me.
Otherwise, that means Mia knows I was here with Cole.
Today is about cheering her up, I'm not gonna make it about me by complaining about the way I feel towards Cole. He kissed me but I get that it's just a kiss, to him that is, but I don't know where we stand right now.
Sometimes I forget the Mr Player reputation he carries around school.
"Strawberry shake?" I ask Mia and she nods.
"Can we have two strawberry shakes and two fries please." While he's writing it down he keeps looking up. It's like he recognises me but doesn't know where from.
Of course out of all the workers here he has to be the one to serve us.
"Coming up." He smiles but then his expression changes. Oh god, he remembers. "Look, I just want to apologise for the other time you were here. If I knew that he was your boyfriend I wouldn't have evenâ" I look at Mia and she looks shocked.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." He nods awkwardly and then leaves.
"You have a boyfriend?" She gasps. Her face goes from shocked to what I think is excited. Well, that changed her mood quickly, I didn't want to make her upset.
"No I don't, I just came with a friend."
"But he said that youâ" She gasps again and points at me. "It's Cole, isn't it."
I look down not saying anything. Great.
"No. Freaking. Way." She squeals and he comes the Q&A. I won't tell you every question she asked otherwise we would be here until Christmas. I'll just let you in on a few.
"Why didn't you tell me you guys have been on a date?"
"So let me get this straight, Cole got and angry because the waiter hit on you and he said he was your boyfriend?"
"How many times have you been here with him?"
"Have you kissed yet?"
"Do you like him?"
"Earlier you said you and Cole were sent out, why?"
You get where I'm going with this, right? I start to answer the tonnes of questions Mia asks me and I just hope this will take her mind off of my douche of a cousin.
"No, I haven't been on a date with him and yes, Cole said he was my boyfriend because the waiter was flirting. We've been here twice before, he took me after we were meant to do our project and on my mum's birthday."
The waitress comes over, giving us our food.
"Thanks."
"You didn't answer all of them," Mia eats a couple of fries and sips her drink and the continues, "the three questions I wanted the answers to most you didn't answer."
I finally catch her up by filling her in on all the details I would've told her sometime soon anyway. I tell her everything. How Cole reacted when Noah showed up, the argument that got us kicked out of English, Cole kissing me in the hallway and how he tried to kiss me before but I pulled away.
Once she asked who Noah was I had to tell her that as well, I completely forgot he just joined here today.
"And to answer your last question, yes. I like him and it scares the hell out of me because I refuse to be another one of his conquests." She smiles like a little kid who's just walked into Disneyland for the first time.
"Well by the sounds out it, he likes you back." I scoff,
"Please, he definitely doesn't like me back." Mia laughs.
"Come on Ands, who the hell gets so angry over you hugging another guy if there weren't at least some feelings there. Plus, he's tried kissing you twice, one of them being a success might I add." She finishes her shake and pushes the glass in the middle of the table.
"Stay at mine tonight? You could grab your stuff and we can watch movies all night. You can talk more about Cole and I can cry about Josh whilst burying my sorrows in a pint of Ben and Jerry's."
"Sounds good to me." I smile and once we pull up at my house, I run in and grab my stuff before Josh can even attempt to speak to me.
"Stay safe, love you!" Nadia shouts as I close the door, throwing my things in the back of the car.
A few hours later and Mia is no longer crying, she's more pissed and tomorrow she's ending it with him. I see from the corner of my eyes that Mia is looking at me so I turn to face her.
"Thank you," She says. "for everything. You defended me even though he is your cousin. I can't expect you to argue with him because of what he did to me. You're family." I shake my head.
"Mee, he was in the wrong. You don't have to thank me and as much as I hate to admit it... I'll have to forgive him at some point, we live in the same house after all. That doesn't mean I'm going to forgive him straight away though, he broke not only your trust but mine. He promised me that he wouldn't hurt you and he did exactly that."
She gives me a sad smile and somewhere along with the deep discussions and jokes, we both fall asleep.
******
"Ands," Mia groans, "you're going to make us late," I grumble, turning onto my back and wipe my eyes.
I look at the clock and it reads 7:30. "We have an hour for god sakes! The only way we'll be late is if I decided to run a bloody marathon." Mia laughs while I'm being completely serious.
I couldn't get proper sleep last night because every time I finally drifted off, Cole was there. All dreams being one of the following;
- Cole's and I kiss replaying continuously. Swoon.
- Cole confessing he has feelings for me (My stupid imagination, I know)
- Me confessing my feelings for Cole and him laughing, humiliating me in front of the whole school.
And my personal favourite which played a total of 6 times last night, I counted, was;
Me going to the shop to get Nadia ingredients for what she's making for dinner but on the way there, Cole is on the corner of the street.
He has another girls face in his hands, just like our kiss yesterday, but this time he rests his forehead on hers. The part that always got me most was when he whispered: "I love you."
That's when I wake up.
Every time.
I didn't even get to see the girl's face. All I could see was her hair and it was a similar, almost identical, colour to mine. The way he said 'I love you' made me want to vomit every time.
The way he said those three words. Those 8 letters.
I put my head in my hands and groan. I need to get him out of my head. I'm a complete mess.
Cole once texted me saying to try not to dream about him. I never thought it would come to the point where I actually would.
I didn't even know that I could.
Who in the right mind dreams about someone repeatedly throughout the whole night.
"You alright, Ands?" I see Mia sit in front of me, rubbing my shoulder in comfort.
Oh, you know, I'm great. Just dreamt about Cole non-stop last night. He canâscratch that, is an asshole but a really hot one who I can't stop thinking about.
Mia's face changes to a smirk. Too quickly for me not to know something is up.
Oh no, please don't say I said that out loud.
She laughs, "Yep. Now spill." I tell her all about last nights dreams. How humiliating by the way.
"You got it bad." She teases and I groan.
"Please don't say that, because that means that it's true."
Even though I haven't known Mia half as long as I've known Jess, I tell her more and feel more comfortable telling her things. Not that Jess wasn't-isn't-an amazing friend, I just felt like she judged me slightly when it came to some things.
The next couple of minutes consist of her squealing, giggling, jumping and dancing around while singing, "You like him! You like him!"
I can't help but laugh at her goofiness.
"Sorry to put a downer on your good mood, but how are you feeling?" She looks away and then looks up, forcing a smile.
"I'm good. We're going to get coffee and when I see him after that, I'm going to dump his ass."
I get up while she's still smiling but as I turn around, I see her smile falter when I look at the reflection in the mirror.
She's acting like she's okay but I know that she isn't and it hurts me knowing she's hurting, bottling everything up.
"How about I stay here for the weekend? If that's okay with your parents obviously, I would invite you to mine for it but it kind of defeats the purpose if you're in the same house as the guy you're trying to forget about." She nods eagerly and smiles.
We get changedâby we, I mean me, Mia was already changed and head out the house with plenty of time to spare to get coffee.
I order a vanilla latte while Mia orders a chai tea latte. Call us basic all you want, it will forever be my go-to drink.
Once we pull up outside of school, I notice Mia is shaking her leg. I presume that's what she does when she's anxious...
She nervously sips her drink and all colour has drained from her face.
"Hey," She turns to look at me, "everything is going to work out. It might not seem like it now but everything happens for a reason." I smile hoping that what I said is enough comfort for her to head in the building.
Mia waits for me to get the things I need from my locker before we head to hers. I see Noah and wave at him and call him over so I can introduce him to Mia. They hit it off pretty quick and during the five or so minutes they speak I notice Cole head our way.
My heart flutters.
Stop it, Andie.
He's with Seph, Ash and Bryce and when they stop near us, I greet them all. "Hey, guys." I smile and they all wave.
"Hey, Andie." Bryce and Ash say at the same time. I can't help but laugh about how creepy it was.
"Hey, Andy Pandy," Seph says and I give him an are-you-serious look. Mia and Noah snicker. "Aw come on, don't look at me like that. If it makes you feel any better, Coley Woley over here can't help but bring you up at least once in every conversation we have." He swings his arm over Cole and he pushes Seph off straight away, glaring.
Everyone is laughing but me as I try not to think too far into it. But then I see Mia's face fall. Well, I guess we know who's just walked in...
He heads over and I think he knows that I've told her because he looks nervous as hell. Mia ignores him while he walks over slowly, his face screaming guilty.
She doesn't look at him while he's walking over. It's like she's trying to prepare.
"Mia, baby, can I speak to you please?" She looks at him with disgust.
"You don't get to talk to me and you most definitely don't get to call me 'baby' you unfaithful son of a bitch." He looks scared, good acting Josh.
"Please if you just listen to me I can explain all of it I-I promise. You might not forgive me but I just want you to hear what happâ"
"Why would I let you do that? I don't want to speak to you ever again." At this point, everyone's attention is on Mia and Josh.
"Look, I'm sorry okay. Please just liâ" She cuts him off for a second time.
"I said no. You don't get to act as if you care now. You did this," She pokes his chest, "you. Not me." She looks up at him but I can tell she isn't looking him in the eyes, that would hurt her too much.
"What makes you think I would ever want to spend another minute with you? Are you deluded? You just couldn't keep it in your fucking pants." I'm still shocked out how Mia is dealing with this.
I thought she would do it alone not in front of everyone. I can't believe she swore, I've never heard her swear once since I've met her.
The look on both their faces pain me. There's something about Josh's expression which is so...Real.
And this time Truthful.
It looks like he actually cares for her like he's pleading her with his eyes to just listen to him. But if you care for someone so deeply, you don't cheat on them.
"Please, just believe me. I..." He hesitates and the way my stomach churns makes me realise I know what he's about to say. "I love you." Everyone is gawking at them both now and I scowl at everyone, knowing this is all going to be gossip later.
The anger disappears from Mia and all that's left is sadness. Her eyes are glossy, tears brimming her eye. Josh's are the exact same. She stares at the ground. At first, I think she's done fighting with him but then she finally speaks.
"You're a liar." She murmurs. Josh still hasn't said a word and by the look of it, I don't think he can bring himself to say anything anymore.
I can't help but think about her words and think just one thing, but is he?
None of this makes sense. How can someone look so broken over something they caused?
She moves her cup in a circular motion, swirling all that's left in the cup. "You know what, I don't want this anymore. It's gone cold and you sure as hell aren't getting anything else from me." She dumps the rest of her latte on his shirt and he doesn't move a muscle.
Mia looks up at him and from what I can see, they're making eye contact now. "Goodbye, Josh." The pain in her voice is evident and it's when she turns her back to Josh that I can see how desperate she is to keep the tears in. As a tear finally falls, she hurries to the bathroom.
Josh still hasn't moved, just staring at her as she soon disappears. He looks shattered, the pain in his eyes can't be faked. This isn't acting. This is real.
So why the hell did he do that? Why would he do something so hurtful, so stupid?
"Damn, shit hit the fan." I quickly turn my head to the direction of the voice. I already know who it is. Seph. As funny as he is, he doesn't have a clue what tact is.
"Seriously man," Bryce mutters while Ash says something as well,
"So not the time dude." Cole elbows him in the stomach hard enough to make him groan.
Everyone is whispering now but all I know is that I need to get to Mia. I go to walk off but Cole catches me wrist, pulling me into a hug. I'm completely thrown off but I don't pull away. "You're a great friend." He whispers, his breath fanning my neck. I shiver from the contact.
"No, I'm not," I shake my head, still locked in his embrace. "I did this to her. I told her." He pulls away and before I can miss his touch, he cups my face with both his hands.
"She deserved to know. None of this is your fault, princess. If you didn't tell her it would've just caused more pain." I smile weakly but appreciatively and nod.
"I need to go and see if she's okay." He nods and smiles at me.
When I pull away I can feel Cole's gaze burning holes in the back of my head.
Does he think of me all the time just like I do him? Or am I setting myself up for heartbreak when I know he just wants to be friends?
I reach the girl's bathroom and push the door open, locking it behind me. Noticing which toilet cubicle is closed, I walk up to it.
"Mee?" That's when I hear her crying. I lightly knock on the door, "Can you open up?" I hear a little rattle and shuffling around before the lock clicks. The door swings open and the small amount of makeup she usually applies is no longer where it should be.
Her mascara is below her eyes and is mixed with her concealer, all tears leaving a trail behind. I open my arms and she walks over, hugging me tightly.
I don't say anything, neither of us do, it's just silence. I just let her cry. She's crying so hard I don't think she's ever going to stop.
Almost all my thoughts are with Mia.
All but one.
Please god, I'm begging you,
Don't let Cole break me like this...
>>>>>>
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey guys! Hope you're all well and enjoyed this chapter:)
I merged two chapters together, hence why this chapters so long, because I don't like the amount of chapters I've wrote about Josh & Mia lol. They're cute but this story is about Andie and Coleð¤£
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P.S: I have a instagram account where I post edits (usually after, tvdu, obx etc) and occasionally book edits. It's @aftertvd so if you're interested, be sure to check it out! You can dm on there if you want as well â¤ï¸