Listen before I go

Chapter 7; Bonding

I woke up the next day and Cole was nowhere around. I could have sworn I felt him last night but I guess it was all just a dream.

"Good morning Bill" a familiar voice called out.
"Hey" I said lazily as I recognised it as Cole's sweet annoying voice.
"I brought you some breakfast" he said and placed a tray with covered food on my night table.
"Wow, is that your way if saying sorry for last night? Well apology unaccepted" I said with a straight face.
"Wow,the straight face is back, that hurts but no,I'm not apologizing for last night, I just thought after the panic attack you had last night,you'd be starving. But no problem because apparently you're not hungry" he said and bent down to take the tray back.
"Okay you already brought it,let it stay" I said.

Then I realized it wasn't a dream after all. Cole was there last night. He had helped me through a nightmare and a panic attack. That was more than enough reason to forgive him for whatever happened last night.

"Wow! Chinese food! Awesome!" I exclaimed still sleepy. "Sushi! Wow! How did you know I liked it?! I love sushi!."
"I saw the packages in the trash. That's how I know. Eat up!. I'll get you a cup of coffee. You can start with it" he said.
"Oh no,leave it be. Actually,I'd prefer a Cole Ford special milkshake" I said.

He smiled and literally run to the kitchen to get me one of his "special" milkshakes. He watched me quietly while I ate. I expected him to say something but he seemed determined not to so I gave in eventually.

"Why did you stay last night? I told you to leave" I asked him.
"Well, I know better than to leave my mental health patient all alone after a huge fight!. And it's also because you said you had nightmares and panic attacks,I just figured I'd stay just in case any of those happened" he said and patted my shoulder.
"Well you got that right. I have both of them happen to me last night!." I chuckled "thank you,for being there,I don't know what I'd have done had you not been there. Thanks" I said.
"It's ok. It's what friends do." He said with a reassuring smile.

I kept looking at him waiting for him to apologize,he seemed to be getting the hint but was just as determined not to apologize so I gave in,again!.

"Aren't you going to apologize?" I asked.
"No,I'm not going to. I did nothing wrong." He said.
"Wow,you're just the worst" I said with a straight face.
"You needed a little push." He began
"What?" I asked.

"You needed to go over the edge and I saw that. That's just what I did. You needed a heavy dose of reality. Not from me or anyone else because you have enough of that. You needed to come to terms with you situation. You needed to accept you situation. I had to break you if that was ever going to happen and look,here you are, feeling all better!" He explained.
"So you did all that just so I'd tell my heart out?!" I asked.
"Exactly!" He affirmed.
"Wow, thanks. I hate to admit it but I think it worked. I am feeling a lot better than I'd ever felt in a long time. Thank you" I said.

He smiled as a sign of appreciation. I ate the rest of my bed case meal in silence. After breakfast,I took a shower. Now I didn't seem to be afraid of the water anymore. I just opened the shower and I let the water wash me for thirty minutes straight!. I came out feeling refreshed. I put on some clothes and went out into the living room.

"So what's today's agenda?" I asked Cole.
"Well,today you really must see your therapist" he said bluntly.
"Way to ruin my day Cole and it hasn't even started!" I said and rolled my eyes.
"I have to go and see Tina,you have to go and see your therapist,sorry, therapists."

I gave a look of disapproval but it seems nothing I did was going to work today.

"I'll tell you what. Let's ditch all your therapists today. We'll only go and see Reginald. You seemed to connect very well. So you can spend the day with him 'therapying' and I'll go be with Tina. I'll pick you up whenever you want " he said dryly.

"Hey,are you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah. Why?" He asked.
"Oh it's probably nothing but you seem kind of down today." I said.
"I'm okay. Let's go."

Cole dropped me off in front of a coffee shop where I waited for Reginald to arrive while he went on to meet Tina. Reginald,Reggie for short was actually quite interesting. He found smart ways to get me to open up about my problems without making me feel like I was being interrogated. We had lunch together,we had some snacks too. It was a few hours till dusk and I called Cole to pick me up but he didn't answer. Finally I got tired of waiting so I just took an Uber back home. I waited for him for hours but he never showed.
I was getting ready for bed when I heard a loud banging on the door. I went outside to check it out but apparently whoever it was had no time to waste. Whoever they were,they let themselves in. I walked into the living to find that it was Cole.