A Girl Like Me

20. The Final Chapter

I obeyed, waving goodbye to Cole as we drove away speedily. The car ride was silent until we slowed down at a red light a few minutes away from the house. "Nice trip?" dad asked me, turning to look blankly in my direction.

"Uh huh," I murmured.

He dropped the subject of Boston as quickly as it came up and frowned. "This...Cole boy," he began. "Whats going on with you two?"

"He's my..." I wasn't sure what to say, did my dad want to hear that this older looking guy with tattoos was my boyfriend? "...friend," I finished. A skeptical look from him told me that I should have finished that sentence differently. "Ok, well maybe we're a little more than friends."

"Bianca, you can tell me the truth, I'm not going to kill you," he said softly.

I sighed. "Ok, he's my boyfriend and he's really sweet and kind, we were just messing around."

"As long as you know that there comes a line in messing around where you have to be careful. You're 16, you aren't ready for..."

...And so began the speech (which felt weirdly rehearsed) about teenage pregnancy and being careful, and my face was bright red the whole time, but he probably didn't notice because I was staring out the window the whole time.

"If he treats you right and respects your feelings, that's all I care about," said Dad. "I don't care that he's go tattoos and piercings, or that he looks like he's in his twenties. As long as he cares about you."

"Thanks Dad," I said softly.

***

The next day was Saturday and plans were being made for the end of semester party that my parents were allowing me to have that night. There was going to be around twenty people there. So far the list was me, Cole, Nikki, Finn, Amy, Ethan, Amanda, a few of Cole's friends and some people I wanted to get to know better from my classes.

Cole was making a playlist for the party, and even though it wasn't going to be a typical high school party with drinking and deafening music, we would still want music at a reasonable volume. I thought we could order pizza and watch movies too, so it would be a nice, fun get together rather than a crazy, out-of-control house party.

That afternoon, Cole and Nikki came around to help me get the house ready. We cleaned and decorated rooms, we set out plastic cups and plates, and then we went shopping for snacks in Walmart.

"Doritos," said Nikki as she threw a few packets into the cart that Cole was pushing. I skipped along ahead until I reached the potato chips and grabbed as much Cheetos as I could.

"This is so last minute, but I'm looking forward to it," said Nikki cheerily.

"I know," I replied. "I just want to be on good terms with everyone. I don't give a shit what Amy, Amanda and Ethan said or did, I just want to put it behind us."

"Yeah, I'm getting bored of hating on Ethan," mumbled Cole, stifling a yawn like he wasn't bothered to be hate him anymore.

I laughed. "Why do you guys hate each other anyway?"

"Ooh, popcorn," Nikki chirped.

"You really don't know?" Cole raised an eyebrow. I shook my head and he chuckled softly. "It's because of you, Evans." I cocked my head to the side as if to say Me? Why? "Let me break it down for you. We were friends at the start of the year, then we both saw you and said we thought you were hot. We got to know you and thought you were cool, and then we fell out because we both wanted you."

I burst out laughing. "That's so not true, there's gotta be some deep meaning behind your friendship breaking. I mean, I know I'm hot but..." I smiled cockily.