𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒. 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙩

After Everything

"Hello?"
12:45 am.
"Are you asleep? Shit. I'm sorry."
His deep voice made her sit up immediately.
Cole.
"No. No. I'm awake. What's wrong?" She was asleep.
Something had to be wrong she thought. They hadn't spoken in weeks. Since WonderCon. Since that night.
"Well I'm outside your building. I just wanted to see you."
Something was definitely wrong.
"Uh yeah. Come on up." After buzzing him up and unlocking her door, she ran and grabbed her pajama bottoms from her floor and slipped them on quickly.
Act like you weren't just in a dead sleep.
She turned on her TV and sat crisscrossed with a fluffy blanket on her couch, trying to act somewhat interested to whatever movie was now on.
The two pounds at the door made her breath catch and her cheeks heat up.
He knocked? He never knocks.
It was the little things like coming in without knocking that had broken down so many walls between them. It's like they were moving in reverse and things were suddenly so uncomfortable. All the walls they had broken down were built back up and she just wanted to tear them all back down again. Yet none of this was her fault she thought. He'd been the one to stop all communication for almost two weeks straight.
After everything.
"It's unlocked!" She yelled over towards the door and kept her eyes glued to the TV. She heard the door open, then shut. Then ruffling of a coat. Maybe his denim one she thought but refused to look even though it was her favorite.
She felt him looking at her and soon felt him sit down next to her. He was so close to that her knee was now digging into his thigh.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"Good choice." He sunk back into the couch but still kept his gaze on her.
"Huh?" She finally met his eyes. She followed his that were now on the TV.
"The Shining." He nodded towards the movie playing on her TV, which she just realized had been on mute the whole time.
She didn't respond but instead kept her eyes on him. He wiped his sweaty palms onto his jeans and lowered his eyes to his lap.
"Cole." She let out a breath that was laced with defeat.
Just get to the point.
"I'm so sorry."
There it was.
He met her eyes and nervously twirled a long strand of his jet-black hair in between his fingers.
"I just don't want to fuck this up and.. Fuck. Last week was so good. I haven't done this whole relationship thing in a long..-"
"We're not in a relationship."
"We were getting there. Were we not?" He spat out, maybe a little bit too eager.
"I thought so." Last week was so good. The previous weeks leading up to that week were also so good. They were heading towards what they both initially didn't want. But it was happening and they were letting it.
They had been paired up for WonderCon press and it had been unexpectedly less stressful then they thought it would be. That night WonderCon had ended but Lili and Cole wanted to keep the night going. After a few polite no's from their very sleepy cast mates they were only left with each other like it had been all day. They started the night by drinking sugary soda from the mini bar in their hotel room and a gas station cheeseburger that Cole, somehow, convinced Lili would be delicious. The rest of the night was spent in Cole's hotel room under the covers having long pillow talks, then not talking at all, then more pillow talks. The next morning was followed by breakfast and coffee at some café they found and agreed on.
Then nothing. No calls. No texts. No communication.

"Well, I want us to be there. I realize I chose a shitty time to shut down.. after everything. I just freaked the fuck out Lil." Lili wanted to speak up and tell him how much she freaked the fuck out after not hearing from him for a week and a half and about how she thought maybe she said something or maybe she was just naïve and that all it ever was but he continued to explain himself before she could.
"And then on top of that.. y' know the whole spiel about 'mixing business with pleasure' and not dating the people you work with. " He mocked the famous phrase in a goofy and drawn out voice that normally Lili would've laughed at.
"I just freaked out because I haven't been able to feel like this about someone for a while and now I do and it's..-"
Lili nodded her head in understanding, sat her hand on top of his and squeezed gently. She felt bad for being so upset with him even though she had good reasoning to be.
"I'm scared too, Cole. But you have to at least talk to me." She interrupted him and he let out a sigh. They both knew heartbreak and probably all a little too well.
"I know. I'm sorry." He nodded agreeing with her and studied her small hand sat on top of his for a second before pulling her close and placing a hard kiss on her lips.
"You just came out of nowhere.." He shook his head and laughed under his breath. Lili cocked her head sideways and furrowed her eyebrows at him with a small smirk.
"I was just trying to get back into acting y'know?..Start my career back up and here you come just throwing me for a loop..-" She caught on to his light joking and playfully pushed him.
"Oh, shut up." She laughed at the thought of his inability to stay serious for too long but she didn't mind it.
He let out a sigh of relief and she leaned into his chest.
"Will you stay over?"
"As long as we can start The Shining over.."

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