Day 15 - 1:23 pm
Beams of light beaded against Charlotte's closed eyes, beckoning for her to wake up. Soon enough, she stirred around and rubbed her sensitive eyes with her closed fists. It felt so early in the morning, but she knew that she had overslept much more than originally planned. A small groan escaped her lips as she rolled her body over in the bed and gazed at the slumbering man next to her.
He looked at peace as he slept, like nothing in the world could ever trouble him. She brushed a dark strand of hair away from his shut eyes, a small smile on her features. Deep down, Charlotte hoped that she made yesterday special for Cole. He deserved it, especially considering that he had minimal birthday experience in the past.
Charlotte gazed at the electric clock on his nightstand, the time reading about twenty past one. She never slept in this late, but her and Cole had stayed up considerably late. After their little "session" last night, Cole scooped Charlotte up in his arms and carried her off to the bathroom. He gave her an old, big band t-shirt before he left her alone to shower. Her shower hadn't been very long, and she ended up sleeping in Cole's crammed bed with him the entire night.
Her head perked up as she realized what she had planned for today. Cole didn't know about it yet, but there was a second part to his birthday gift that couldn't physically be given to him. That gift was supposed to arrive at a local Italian restaurant in about six hours, and she hadn't even started to get ready yet. It may sound strange, but she really wanted to do something kind for Cole, although he may truly despise her momentarily once he found out what it was.
She had called up his twin and arranged for him and his girlfriend to meet them at half past six.
Cole had mentioned to her that they weren't very close back in high school when they finally reunited after being separated by their parents. Charlotte was able to retrieve his twin's phone number from one of Cole's friends and called him up. His name was Dylan, and he was delighted at her idea to meet up that night. Her plan was to not tell Cole that they were meeting up with his twin since she was scared that he would decline.
Loud snores rolled through the dorm as Cole continued his slumber. Charlotte rolled over so that she was on her stomach, shoulder to shoulder with Cole. "Baby, wake up." She whispered in his ear as she began to poke his arm. To no avail, Cole stayed sound asleep with his back pressed down to the mattress. A quick huff escaped her lips as she reached her arm up towards him, her shirt raising in the back, and began to lightly tickle his sides in hopes of getting a rise out of him.
After her tickling even failed to laugh him awake, she was still persistent on waking the heavy sleeper up. So, she was left with only one other option: attempt to arouse him. She trailed her hand down below his waist and past his sweatpants hem. Her hand rested down next to his manhood before she carefully trailed it back up. In her mind, she was hoping that she wouldn't even have to touch him in that particular spot to wake him, but just near it. Turns out, she was right.
He squirmed a bit in his slumber before he finally awakened to the gentle feeling of something lingering near his lower half. The gut feeling that he got when turned on was prominent right now, and he really didn't want to have to deal with this problem so early in the day. Cole's gaze shifted down to Charlotte, who had her cute little tongue poked out of the side of her mouth as she moved her hand from his waist and down to his upper thigh. She was teasing him to wake him up, and he knew that. He sat up slightly so that she would stop her assault on his lower half before he brought his hand down on her barely covered, perky butt.
The sound of skin colliding seemed enhanced in the tiny dormitory room considering that there was minimal clothing coverage. Charlotte let out a yelp of surprise as she reached her hand back to cover the spot he just hit. She shot him a dirty look, but he just shrugged his shoulders. "Bad girls get punished, sweetheart." He snickered at her before he took her hand that covered her bum and moved it over. There was a light pink mark forming, but that was all.
A blush spread across her cheeks darker than the mark he had left on her. "You're such a bully. You just wanted to touch my âss." She murmured, sitting up before playfully punching him on the shoulder. "I was just trying to wake you up, nothing else worked." She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout as she pushed herself off of the bed with her arms, letting the long fabric of Cole's oversized t-shirt fall just below mid thigh.
"Well, don't you just know me so well." Cole smirked before she gave him a quick eye roll and headed off towards the kitchen. He plopped his back down against the bed and reached over to his nightstand to grab his fully charged phone. As he held his phone up to eye level, he scrolled through the different text messages that popped up on his screen. One text in particular caught his attention.
Ian: Today marks fifteen days, meaning that you're halfway through the bet. I'll up the price to 1.5k if you can get some other proof. Don't disappoint us.
Whenever Ian had texted Cole about the bet before, it really didn't phase him all that much. Now that he was falling head over heels for the woman, he was an absolute wreck knowing what he had to do. The guilt never left him. In fact, last night was the best that he had slept this week. In the arms of the woman who had him wrapped around her finger, he slept soundly with no disturbances. The usual rain cloud that hung over his head had momentarily vanished.
It was back now, hung over his head like a storm once he read that text. He replied back with a thumbs up emoji before tossing his phone back on the nightstand. From the kitchen, he heard a few pans clatter on the floor, followed by a series of curses falling from his love's lips. Cole stood up and made his way over to her to see what all of the commotion was about.
Once he reached the kitchen, he saw Charlotte picking three pans off of the floor that had fallen out of a cabinet. She grumbled a few complaints about disorganization before she shoved them back in, slamming the wooden door before she resumed whatever she was cooking on the stovetop. Cole figured that she hadn't even noticed him standing there, so he walked up behind her and gently snaked his strong arms around her. "What are you cooking, babygirl?"
"Omelets. Nothing special, but you really need to eat something considering it's past lunchtime." A small smile came to her lips as she tucked a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear. Cole nodded in response, although he was aware that she couldn't see him very well from her peripherals. His arms traveled below her t-shirt so that his cold fingertips touched her smooth skin. "Your hands are cold." Charlotte stated the obvious as she leaned back against him.
"How clever." He chuckled as he removed his arms from her and grabbed two plates. Moments after the omelets were done, she placed them down on their respected plates. Cole walked them over to the table and set them down before he grabbed them silverware. The two of them sat down at the table and began to scare down their omelets. Maybe sleeping in until past one o'clock in the afternoon was not the best idea that they had. Plus, they didn't even get up to eat anything until past three.
Once they were done eating their food, Cole grabbed the dishes before Charlotte had a chance to. A gasp escaped her lips as she clutched her hand to her chest dramatically. "Did the Cole Sprouse just willingly pick up dishes to clean?" She pretended to swoon, letting her body fall limp against the wall next to her. He rolled his eyes as she continued to pretend-fawn over him. "My hero."
"This will be the last time that I do it if you keep it up." He smirked as she dried off his hands once the dishes were done. Charlotte made the comment that she needed to get back to her room to go get changed, and that she had something planned for Cole later today. Although he really wanted to question her, he didn't because she told him not to. He walked off to go get her dirty clothes from the laundry, figuring that she wanted them clean from last night's antics, and brought them back to her.
"Thank you." She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning up for a kiss that he quickly returned. His hands fell to her waist to pull her closer to him, to feel her body against his. As she pulled away to catch her breath, she tucked a small strand of hair behind her ear before she spoke up. "Dress nice. Pick me up at quarter 'til six, okay?" She whispered, her lips only inches away from him. He nodded before colliding them together again, literally taking her breath away.
This went on for a few more moments before Charlotte finally left his dorm room to go to her own. She only had a couple of hours to get a shower and clean up, get fully dressed, and do her makeup and hair. The more she thought about it, the more she panicked. What if she brought Cole to Scarpetta to see his twin and he wanted to leave and bail out? She wished in her head that she could prevent that from happening, but she couldn't force him to stay somewhere that he was uncomfortable at.
She rushed back to her dorm room and unlocked the door. Kristie was laying on her bed, while Andy was on the floor playing video games on her Xbox. In her head, she was thankful that she didn't walk in on them having sex. He cocked his head up, noticing Charlotte's presence even before her roommate did. "Hey Charlotte. I'm guessing Cole spent his birthday with you sense we didn't hear a peep from his yesterday." He chuckled as she tossed the clothes that Cole had washed for her on top of her bed. "How was it?"
She gave him a small smile. "It was great. I took him first to my favorite scenery in Central Park, and then we went to the Statue of Liberty's crown. That was a sight to see. Then, we went ice skating at the Rockefeller Center." Kristie finally noticed Charlotte's presence once she heard her voice. Of course, she left out the details of their lively acts from last night for Andy's sake.
"Well, you spent the night at his dorm. Did y'all, you know–" Kristie touched her index finger down to her thumb to make a hole before she roughly jabbed her other hand's middle finger through the newly made hole.
Charlotte shook her head before heading to her closet, flipping through her clothes to find out what to wear.
"No, we did not have sex. I'm still a virgin. I will tell you what we did do later." She winked at Kristie, causing her to squeal excitedly. Kristie began rambling to her boyfriend about how happy she was that her best friend was finally opening up to a boy. Honestly, Andy felt uncomfortable talking about it because he knew what Cole's real intentions were. He had kept this a secret from his girlfriend though, sworn to secrecy through the bet.
She grabbed a white tank top, her beige leather jacket, and nice pair of black jeans before heading to the bathroom. Charlotte took a quick shower to clean up before she wrapped her body in a towel to dry. Once she was dry, she slipped on her outfit she had pulled out of the closet. A swipe of mascara and some nude lip stick was all of the makeup that she needed, and she towel dried her mop of hair as best she could. She figured that the rest of it would air dry soon enough.
Charlotte stepped out of the bathroom to go put on some gold jewelry and beige wedges. Kristie was currently trying to distract Andy from his game of Black Ops II, and it looked like it was working as the zombie on the screen assaulted the finishing swipe at his character. "You made me lose." Andy groaned as he turned off the Xbox. Kristie had her notorious, championship winning smile on her lips as she wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm heading back out, I'll be home tonight after dinner." Charlotte told her friend before she headed out of the dorm, her wedges clicking lightly against the tile floor. As soon as she opened the door to go outside, the cold wind whipped her cheeks and shivers were sent down her spine. She couldn't have chosen a colder day to possibly do this. At the bottom of the steps was Cole, dressed up in a buttoned up black and white flannel shirt with a pair of nice pants. It was a nice change from his usual attire: a leather jacket and worn out jeans.
Actually, Charlotte found it very attractive on him. Overall, he just looked absolutely stunning. He even had his hair slicked back so that his bangs wouldn't fall in his face. Charlotte's heart picked up pace as she looked at him for a solid few seconds in shock. A small chuckle escaped his lips as he held his hand out for her once she reached the bottom of the steps. "You told me to look nice, did I meet your expectations?"
"Absolutely." She gulped lightly before making her way down the steps, taking his hand into hers that he had extended out for her. "You look amazing." Charlotte said as she gazed up at Cole. He was breathtaking, and he always was. It was strange to seem him so cleaned up, and she may even dare to say fancy. She liked this style though, but she also loved his everyday attire just as much.
"You look lovely as always." He complimented her, making her cheeks rosy as he opened up the passenger door for her. She got in, and he soon followed by getting in the driver's side. Soon enough, the two of them were on the roads of New York in his Civic. They headed towards Scarpetta with small talk and karaoke in his car. Close to half past six, the two of them pulled into the parking lot. Once they had parked, Charlotte's anxiety had peaked.
Cole has told her before that they were too different, and that when they reunited in high school that things didn't end well. She wanted them to be close though, just like her sister and her were. Siblings, she believed, should stick together. Plus, to her, it seemed like Cole needed someone in his family to be there for him. She hoped that maybe this would help them reunite in a positive way, and that this could change their course forever.
They stepped out of the car, and Cole linked his tough hand with her's. The two of them walked into the restaurant, and Charlotte's legs began to feel like jello the closer they got. Every worst case scenario played through her head as he opened the door for her. Once they were inside, Charlotte told the hostess her name for the reservation, and the lady told them her table was near the back.
Her heart pounded in her chest as Cole walked next to her through the restaurant. He could sense her tension, but was not quite sure why she was so tense. Then, it hit him as he looked a few tables ahead of them. Charlotte's grip around his hand tightened, as if she was terrified that he was going to let go. He froze in place as his green eyes met the similar pair of green eyes of the person he hadn't seen for years. The only thing that was majorly different between them was the long, blonde hair on the male sat down at the table.
The man at the table wouldn't stop looking at him, and he had some random woman at the table with him that Cole had never seen. He wore a white button up shirt that had the top two buttons undone with a pair of dress slacks. Cole's hand let go of Charlotte's as he just stared across the restaurant in shock. He avoided this man throughout his high school years like the plague, and never attempted to keep contact with him throughout college. All of his avoidance efforts were proven to be a failure.
The man at the table was none other than Dylan Sprouse.
I AM SORRY THIS UPDATE TOOK FOREVER TO POST because I know a lot of people have caught up to this chapter by now and have patiently been waiting. BUT I AM NOT DEAD, FOR I HAVE FINALLY UPDATED!
Just a quick question: Do you guys prefer chapters that are closer to 8-13 pages long or chapters that are 15-20 pages long?
Also thank you so much for 7.5k reads! I can't believe this story got over 1.5k in less than a week, that makes me happier than I can ever explain. Thank you so much to my continuous readers who comment and vote too, it really means so much to me for your continued support!