Obliviate My Rebellion {Book 3}

24. The Promise

"Hey Arthur, Rory," Gennie said, sounding relieved. "Thought you weren't coming. And you must be Camille, right?"

Camille nodded, looking at her brother shyly. "Hi Coley."

Cole looked up, clearly shocked. "Milly, you've... grown up."

Camille seemed to lose all composure, and leapt at her brohter, throwing her arms around his neck. Cole awkwardly patted her on the back. "Why must all my sisters attempt to strangle me?"

Camille pulled away from him, her face streaked with tears. "Alia is here as well?"

"She's gone to see some friends of ours, their Father is in here." Gennie said. She turned to me. "When you were gone, Fred and George came by--Mr Weasley's going to be okay. They're all around here somewhere--Harry too."

"Ooh yay, everybody will get to visit the freak show." Cole rolled his eyes. "Yay."

"You aren't a freak show." Arthur spoke up finally, and sat down next to Cole. "I'm the freakshow, according to your mother."

"Oh god, the wicked witch of Bulgaria is here?" Cole groaned. "Kill me now."

"See, this is why you can't have cake, you keep making too many death jokes." I said.

"You aren't doing anything like that, ever again." Arthur said quietly to Cole, but there was a fierceness in his tone that I'd never heard before. "You are never going to get into this place again, you hear me? You're the one meant to be around my death bed, not the other way around."

Cole looked close to tears. "Don't say that, Art."

"Buddy, you can't just feel you aren't worth being here." Arthur said, his voice jagged with emotion. "You've got all these friends, your sisters, a girlfriend and me... You are worth so much more than you think, and so important to the world."

"How am I important? I've done nothing of any use." Cole huffed, keeping his eyes fixated on Arthur.

"You told me once not to give up." Arthur said bluntly. "If you hadn't told me that, I probably wouldn't be here." he paused. "Plus you were the one who set me up with Ben, and without you--I never would have come out, so.. yeah."

Cole scrubbed at his eyes. "Stop making me cry, you dick."

"Stop making me drive your family members cross country, you slut." Arthur grinned.

"Stop making me wish I was the one adopted out of this family." Camille grumbled.

"Stop making me go to Hogwarts to pick up your band tops." I piped up, and threw the sportsbag onto Cole's lap.

"YAS!" Cole exclaimed, delving through the sportsbag. "Oh man, you even brought my mp3! And... Gennie's clothes?" He picked up a bra. "Eh, okay, I'll keep this."

"I hate you." Gennie huffed, taking the bra from Cole and picking her clothes out of the bag.

Cole gingerly took the covers off himself, and with only the hospital gown on, he looked very pale and skinny. "Yeah, so everybody don't look, unlesss you want to see my butt."

"Yes, I don't want to be scarred like when you ran into my room naked when I was six." Camille piped up.

"I was sleepwalking!" Cole frowned. "Now everybody shut their eyes!"

We all shut our eyes, and were silent until Cole shouted that he was in the bathroom changing. The four of us sat in awkward silence until the door opened.

"Finally!" Elena declared. "I couldn't find this room anywhere---where is he?"

"Here." Cole said quietly, emerging from his bathroom. He was wearing a pair of jogging bottoms and his AC/DC shirt, his hair sticking up everywhere. "Hi, Mama."