Cole and I turn around to face Devon. Cole pushes me behind him. I wrap my arms around right arm, holding on for dear life.
"What do you want? I thought you left", Cole sneers to his older brother.
"I just wanted to say goodbye to you and your little princess, we never got the chance", Devon laughs. He steps closer to us. Cole tenses. So do I. "And Mom wants you to go with us. We are going tomorrow morning".
"You aren't going to come anywhere near us. You almost killed her, do you realize that? Almost like Jacob, three years ago. Do you realize how much pain you caused him and his family? I was surprised that you didn't go to jail", Cole yells at his brother.
"No, I didn't, he was fine. And I don't care about your little girl, she deserved it". Devon smirks contently.
"What did she do to deserve it? You are a scared little kid who beat up a female, who is younger than you I might add, and you had never met before, you just don't want people to know your secret, no wonder you don't have a girlfriend. But I know why". Cole says angrily. Devon's jaw drops, then turns back into an evil smile.
"You tell a soul about my secret, I swear to you that I would hurt her worse than I did the first time", he says before turning around and walking away. Cole breathes a sigh of relief.
"I thought he left a week ago", I say quietly
"That was just his orientation. He was supposed to leave a few hours ago", Cole wraps his arms around my waist. "Now, let's go. It's cold out here and I don't like us being out in the open when my brother is still around here somewhere". I smile.
We arrive at my house. It's only 9:30. My family must have gone to bed, only a lamp in the living room is on. Cole and I head inside. We decide on just sitting on the couch and watching a movie. Cole picks out The Heat. I must say, it's one of my favorite movies.
Cole lays on the couch. I lay in front of him. I rest my head on his arm that's sprawled out over the edge of the couch. His other arm wraps around my waist.
I'm starting to feel tired, I close my eyes for a moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I wake up on the couch with sunshine shining on my face. "Meredith", someone whispers from the living room doorway. I look up to see Cara standing there in her pajamas, watching the stairway. "You have five minutes to get him out of here. Mom and Dad just woke up".
That's when I realize Cole is laying behind me. I shake him awake. "We fell asleep. You need to leave right now. Dad can't know you were here all night. Please". He stares wide eyed at me for a moment. I pull him off the couch quickly. I push Cole the front door.
"Last night was really fun, tonight after the game maybe", I give Cole a super quick kiss on the cheek and push him to the porch. "We don't tell anyone about this". Cole smiles and walks down the stairs, starting his car and drives away.
I quickly head back into the living room, wrapping the blanket that had covered us last night around me, to make it seem like I was the only person down here last night. I fell asleep on the couch, I fell asleep on the couch I tell myself as Mom and Dad walk down the stairs.
"How was your date, Sweetheart?" Mom asks in her very sweet tone.
"It was good. We went over to that Chinese place in the city. It was the best Chinese food I've ever had. Then we went for a walk around the middle of the city. Oh, I found this really cute park that they keep swans in during the summer. Then Cole dropped me off here around ten. I fell asleep on the couch". Mom seemed impressed.
After breakfast, I lead Cara upstairs to my room. I need to tell her what is happening with Devon.
"What do you want little sister?", Cara asked. She's annoyed.
"It's about Devon. We saw him last night walking through town". Cara's annoyed face drops off, her eyes get wide.
"Wait, you mean Cole's brother? I thought he went off to military school or something".
"No, I guess he was supposed to, but the Anderson's just wanted to wait until today to do it. Devon, Cole, and their parents leave this morning".
"But why was he out, isn't he under, like, house arrest or something?"
"His first words to us were 'I wanted to say goodbye to you and your princess'. Then he went on to say something about a secret and the Cole can, of course, not say anything about it".
"Now I just want to know that secret. I mean, what could it possibly be. Maybe he still has stuffed animals just like me", Cara laughs.
"I don't think that would be it, but maybe", I answer back sarcastically.
"What happened after that?"
"He just left. The last thing he said to us is that Cole can't say anything about his secret". I hear dad call us down stairs, and his tone doesn't sound too happy.
Uh oh.
Edited: 3/7/22