Chapter 6 ❀ A promise

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"You didn't—" I started, my eyes widening in surprise, but he cut me off.

"I did. I couldn't stand it."

My legs were starting to feel a little wobbly, to the point where I grabbed the sink for support. "Why did you do that? You know I never sho—"

I shut up when the door handle of the bathroom squeaked. Colin took a step backwards, seconds before Lana stuck her head inside.

"Hey, just wanted to let you know th—" Her eyebrows shot up when her gaze fell on Colin. "Hey there."

"Hi," Colin said, awkwardly giving her a little wave as he looked down. His cheeks and ears flushed bright red.

"What were you going to say?" I asked, snapping her attention back to me.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you that the boys have had enough. And the rest of us are pretty tired too, so..."

"Right, of course," I said, already stepping forward to hold the door open. I didn't say that we'd be right there, which would give Colin a chance to explain himself, because I still needed to process that one sentence.

Lana went back upstairs, and I exchanged one last glance with him before I followed her up the stairs.

We left the bar in a haze. I didn't remember getting onto the street and into the van, because it was screaming at me in my head.

I told her. I told her. I told her.

He told her.

What was I supposed to think about that?

I leaned my head against the cool window, trying to gather my thoughts, but I shot up when I realized Colin was sitting in the front seat next to Josh this time, and Jared joined Sean in the other van. He was looking at me over his shoulder, obviously trying to tell me something with his eyes, but I turned away from him.

When we arrived at the bungalows, he didn't move. Ginny, Josh, Lana and Fred all got out of the van, and I was the last one to crawl out of the back seat. He reached for me right before I got to to the door, and although he didn't really grab me, I still stopped moving.

I hated that he just needed to touch me to make me feel like that.

"Jen..."

"I'm going inside," I said, scooting over to get out of his reach, but he leaned forward again.

"Please don't."

I looked behind me through the window at the others, who were already heading towards the bungalows. It wasn't even midnight yet, but the sun had gone down completely and the sky was filled with starts. I looked down at my hands, and then I looked back at Colin.

"Okay, why the hell did you tell her that?" I finally asked, not able to keep it in. "You didn't need to. You know you didn't need to."

"But I did." His jaw tensed. "Look, can we talk about this somewhere private? Not like this," he gestured around the car, "Not when we're not alone."

"You want to talk."

"Yes. You know we should've done that two months ago."

"But we never did."

We stared at each other, almost until my eyes were burning. And I didn't look away, because I couldn't.

"We need to talk," he finally said. "Just the two of us."

I got hold of the door handle. "That didn't work out last time."

"I promise."

I laughed, but there wasn't anything funny about it. "Yeah, you said that before."

I opened the door, but this time I didn't stop when he reached out for me. I felt his fingertips slide down my arm, and I tried not to let him notice how that made me shiver when I got out of the car. I started walking to the bungalow, only slightly disappointed when he didn't come after me.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. I was in the bathroom, getting ready to head to bed, when I heard the familiar sound of the glass doors opening. There was always a slight crack at first, which freaked me out the first night when a gust of wind blew the doors open.

I dropped my toothbrush in the sink and headed into the living room, knowing Lana and Fred were already asleep, but I frowned when I saw the little post-it note on the glass door. I stuck my hand out to pull it off, and I slowly put my weight on the doors to close them again as I read the two words.

I promise.

Of course it was Colin's handwriting. I clenched the little note in my hands, biting my lip as I tried to decide what to do.

Two months ago, I wouldn't have done this. I didn't want to talk to him then because of what happened, obviously, but now it was different. Everything was different because he told her.

I wanted to talk to him. I was just scared to find out the whole story. 


Colin's POV

She isn't going to come. She isn't going to show up, just like she didn't show up last time.

Crap.

I crumpled the rest of the post-it noted in my fist out of frustration, right before Sean stuck his head inside my room.

"Hey, buddy. Want to play one last game?"

"Nah," I said, smiling apologetically. "I'm going to hit the hay."

"Okay, goodnight. I'll kick your ass tomorrow, just so you know," he added when he was already halfway down the corridor.

"If you don't, Jared most definitely will," I shouted back.

"Yeah, that kid's got some skill!"

One corner of my mouth went up for a split second, but then I glared at the post-its again and I fell back onto the bed.

Did I do the right thing by sticking that note onto her door? It felt like such a childish thing to do now, and she already made it clear that she didn't want to talk.

I buried my face in my hands. What was the right thing to do? At this point I felt like everything I did was wrong, but I didn't want it to be. That's why I told her.

I got up and walked over to the kitchen to get something to drink, but I'd just grabbed some Dr. Pepper when a movement in the corner of my eye made me freeze, the bottle still in mid-air. I blinked, and then I almost dropped the bottle as I rushed to the doors to open them.

"Okay," she said as she held up the note.

I looked at it, startled that she was standing in front of me. She did show up.

"Okay?" I asked.

She didn't say anything, but she gave me a little smile and nodded. That's all I needed.


Don't worry, we'll get to the Atlanta part soon... I just like to keep you waiting a little longer 😏 ❀

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