Have a Little Hope

31. Have a Little Birthday Party

So this is the penultimate chapter :O I really hope you like this chapter, it leads pretty well for the final one too...Please do let me know what you think of it! :)

‘Did I tell you I got the pink hair dye?’ I call out to Cole as I spot the bright pink bottle on my window ledge in my en-suite bathroom. I pick the bottle up and walk back into my bedroom to see Cole taking pictures of a few things for his course. We’re trying to get all of our work done today so we have the weekend together purely to celebrate Cole’s 20th birthday, which is tomorrow.

It’s been three weeks since I’ve started university and the same for Cole starting college. He’s thriving and picking up a lot of new ideas for his photography. He’s even got a job now attending fashion magazine shoots thanks to Mr. Bentley’s wife Shannon, who had her baby a week ago, a little baby girl named Suri. I’ve now got a paid job at the dance school as a choreographer for the 16-18 GCSE group Lois has, but they’ve now become my group. Despite my university work piling up, dancing still is the best stress reliever for me and keeps my fitness up.

‘Are you gonna dye it? Don’t feel like you have to for me,’ Cole says, putting his camera down and looking across the room at me. He looks all sun kissed today. With some bright Autumnal weather, Cole caught the sun yesterday and now has a gorgeous dusting of freckles over the bridge of his nose. He looks even sexier than normal, with natural highlights in his dark brown hair and glowing skin; he is the epitome of gorgeous right now and is a picture of health.

‘I don’t mind, I miss the pink anyway. Do you want to help me?’ I ask, playing with the ends.

Cole smirks at me and questions, ‘You’re too lazy to do it yourself?’

‘No, I just thought it might be fun,’ I lead on suggestively. ‘You, me, the bathroom, the water...’ I trail off.

Cole laughs and shakes his head, picking up his camera again. ‘No way, I don’t want to risk having pink hair, babe. I’ll be here for when you’re done.’

‘Remind me why I love you again?’ I ask with my eye brows raised.

‘There’s not enough time in the world for you to recount why you could possibly love me,’ he teases, but he also knows that’s incredibly true. I reluctantly go off alone and pinkify my hair and come out with a towel wrapped around my head. Cole’s seen me looking far worse, so nothing embarrasses me about him seeing me less than presentable. I scan through the pictures Cole has taken recently of blonde me, which makes me rather glad I’m going back to my pink hair. I stop at one picture, where someone else has taken Cole’s camera and has taken a picture of when Cole and I were lying in the garden, sunbathing together yesterday and smile. We’re holding hands and both laughing at something.

‘I think my mum took this one,’ Cole tells me.

‘You must get your skills from her,’ I smile. ‘It’s beautiful.’

After the allotted time to let my hair go the shade of pink I want, I head back to the bathroom and wash the excess dye out, towel drying it briefly, before taking my hairdryer out and blow drying it. After twenty minutes, I look in the mirror and can’t help but beam at my pink hair glowing back at me. At that moment, Cole walks back into my bedroom with lunch and smiles widely at me.

‘I do love your pink hair,’ he begins, walking over and dropping our lunch onto my bed. Cole takes up hand and draws me to stand up to him, promptly running his fingers through my newly pink hair and tilts my chin to look at him.

‘Now I won’t lose you in a crowd,’ he tells me with a laugh and kisses me nose swiftly, before I nudge him and pull his head down to kiss me properly.  The smile on his lips sends me crazy; I love knowing that I can make Cole have that reaction. He pulls me flush against his body and nudges my bottom lip open and slips his tongue in.