A Month To Live - Extras

The Retreat (3/3)

‘You’re seriously going to hell,’ I grumbled, straightening my seatbelt again. He only laughed in response. ‘So how was your date last night?’

‘I didn’t have one.’

Jessica had picked up her car yesterday right before close. And I’d seen the two of them leaving together. It’s not like I was being nosy and spying or anything... anyone with eyes would have noticed that.

‘Huh, I thought I saw you leaving with-'

‘You’re not very good at being subtle, you know,’ Cole cut me off. ‘Neither are you entirely stupid. Perhaps ninety seven percent stupid if I’m being generous. So just spit it out.'

‘You like her, right?’ I asked.

His insults were easy to bat aside by now. Mainly because I was so used to them and partially because I was pretty sure by now that he insulted almost every person he met, so his words weren’t actually personal. Well, I hoped they weren’t.

‘More than some.’

‘That was the worst answer I’ve ever heard,’ I snorted.

‘Stupid question gets a stupid answer.’

‘But you’re not going to ask her out?’ I asked. He shrugged. ‘Because she dated your cousin before.’ He shrugged again. ‘You know,’ I began hesitantly. ‘Dating someone for two weeks isn’t very long-'

‘How did you feel after two weeks of dating Bradley?’

‘That’s different-'

‘How do you know?’

‘I – well I don’t,’ I admitted.

‘Then, how would I know how she felt about him? How could I possibly ask her out?’ he asked as he pulled back into the garage. He said all of this quite calmly but there was a steely look in his eye which made me think he’d had this conversation more than once before.

‘Well,’ I said slowly, running my finger down the fabric of my seatbelt before undoing it. ‘Your situation is pretty fucked up and I can’t say that I don’t feel bad for you.’

‘Ugh,’ Cole scowled. ‘Don’t turn this into some soppy bullshit. My point was you need to mind your own business. I’m telling you this now so you lay off and never bring it up again.’

‘Not making any promises. I feel bad for you but I don’t agree with you just doing nothing about it,’ I replied as I rolled up the window. ‘You know... I wouldn’t even be living here now or with Bradley if someone didn’t convince me to stop being a wuss.’

‘What, you’re telling me Prince Bradley didn’t swoop in and sweep you off your feet the first moment he saw you?’ Cole replied dryly.

‘Hardly,’ I laughed. ‘We had an incredibly rough start actually.’

‘Kinky.'

‘Shut up!’

‘Are you going to tell me or what? I’m allowed to be nosy if you are.’

I hadn’t bothered telling Jojo or Cole about how I even moved to Richmond and all the stuff that went down. I wanted to just put it all behind me. I wasn’t exactly proud of a lot of my actions back then. But I was also in an entirely different frame of mind to now. It’s easy to look back and see where you went wrong but, in the moment, shit just happens and it’s unavoidable.

I also hadn’t planned on spending my Friday afternoon in the front seat of a car reciting the events from a year ago to Cole of all people – who considered us to not even be friends – but I suppose stranger things have happened.