crossways: a jack hughes story

chapter 21

"quinn's been traded to the canadiens."

"oh my god, really?" you say.

"yeah, the NHL just released the news."

you see carly staring at you.

"what?"

"nothing." she says, walking away to her room.

"that was weird. do you know what that was about?" you ask cole.

cole looks just as confused as you are. "oh, that look she gave you? i have no idea. sorry."

"it's okay."

cole walks out the front door. he comes back about a minute later holding envelopes and packages.

"this one's for you." says cole, handing you a small box. it has cole's address on it, but your name is written on it.

"huh? i wonder who's it's from."

"what's the returning address?"

"i don't know, it doesn't say."

"that's weird. i thought you couldn't mail anything without a returning address."

"yeah."

"well, i'm gonna go to the gym, have fun opening that." says cole as he grabs a water bottle from the fridge and then walks out the front door.

you grab a pair of scissors and cut open the box. all you see is a piece of paper and your hair clip. what??

you take out the piece of paper and unfold it. it's a handwritten note.

you left this in my bathroom, so i'm giving it back to you. -jack

your heart melts reading it. you take out the clip, and it's definitely yours.

two days later

"come on people, let's go!" cole shouts.

"what?" says carly.

"where are we going?" you ask cole.

cole told you and carly to be ready by 10 am to go somewhere, and looking down at your phone it's 10:15.

"we have to pick quinn up from the airport, he's about to land."

you freeze. you haven't seen quinn since the night of the party, aka the worst day of your life.

"can't you and carly just do that? why do i have to go?"

"cause it's the nice thing to do. he's gonna be staying here for a few days, the team is still getting him an apartment."

"here?! there's no more beds cole." says carly. apparently cole didn't tell her this, so she's just as shocked as you are.

"um, there's a couch." cole points over to the couch.

carly rolls her eyes.

quinn's gonna stay here? last time you saw him, he was beating up jack. you don't know what to call jack, you guys technically aren't dating, but you never officially broke up. you're just hoping it's not awkward between you and quinn.

...

cole pulls up to the pick-up area at quinn's gate. he's already standing there, looking down at his phone with two suitcases and a duffel bag.