"I'm so so sorry about Simon. He can be a real pain sometimes" Lili sympathetically says to Riley and Cole. Simon has already stormed off with some older kids.
"What's his deal, Lli? He's really not doing well at making a good first impression." Cole responds.
"I don't know what gets into him. One minute he's fine, and then the next he is out of control. He just really..." Lili trails off not sure what to say next.
"Sucks?" Cole smirks.
"Yeah" Lili tiredly smiles. "That's the word".
"Well, we're not going to let him ruin this great night. But, I will say this. I don't trust him. If he's near me again... or any of us... I'll have my guard up." Cole says with full honesty in his voice.
"Ok, thanks." Lili smiles while touching Cole's hand.
This catches Cole's attention, making him look up at her quickly with a glimmer in his eye.
__________________________________________
**COLE'S POV**
Riley runs off with [y/n] to the photo booth, so it's now just Lili and I.
"Do you want to grab some fresh air?" Lili asks. I notice she has a pinkness to her complexion. I'm guessing it's blush, and it really suites her nicely.
"I think that's the best thing I've heard all day" I smile.
We walk outside onto the lit porch. There are lights everywhere and I see some other people outside too.
We walk over to the bench and sit down together.
"So..." Lili starts off, "congrats on winning the game."
"Oh, coke and pepsi?" I laugh. I totally forgot that that's what we had initially started playing before the big blowup. "Thanks, it took a lot out of me to win that whole thing with Riley" I laugh.
"Haha! You're a nice older brother. I could see it meant a lot to Riley that you were her partner" she sincerely says.
"Thanks, I try" I smile while casually trying to wrap my arm around Lili's shoulder.
"It really is. It's a nice quality to be ... nice. It can be hard to find nice people these days" she looks down at her manicure. Her nails are a soft pink that matches her dress.
"Hmmm? How so?" I quietly ask.
"Well, I don't know. So many people just take for granted when a person is nice to them and don't really return the favor. But why do we have to try to do the right thing. It should just be innate" She responds looking ahead deep in thought. I really like her. We are able to have conversations like this and not feel judged or pressured to share any more or any less from what we are feeling.
"Lili" I look over at her. This makes her look into to my eyes.
We don't say anything, but both go in for a kiss. It was sweet, special, and felt right. Like we were both reciprocal of each other's needs and were just doing the right thing at the right place in time.
Lili looks up at me, smiles, and then leans her head onto my chest. "I love when it's almost dark outside during the summer but not quite. It's like on the verge of becoming the night even though it's about 8:00" she hums onto my chest.
"Mhmm. I love the night time. If I can live in 24 hour darkness I could get used to it" I whisper into her ear.
Lili laughs. "Haha! I don't know about that"
I think about it. "Well maybe I could get used to it for a couple of weeks, and then move on to a new location" I laugh in return.
"What is your favorite color Cole?" Lili asks.
"No question, black."
"I could see that. You don't wear black all the time, but I could still see that."
"How?" I calmly ask.
"I don't know. You're kind of mysterious... but safe."
"I'll take it." I smile, "What about you? What is your color of preference?"
"I'm into pink. Not hot pink, more like a light baby pink" she answers.
"A girl in pink who reads anime" I smirk.
This gets her attention. She moves her head up from my chest and her eyes widen. "How do you know I read anime comics?"
"I just know these things" I tease.
"Haha! Come on, how?" she asks again giggling.
"You brought it up to the DJ. So I think more people know than you may have realized" I raise my eyebrows at her.
"Oh yeah" she bites her lips and rests one leg on the other. She then adds, "Do you read anime?"
"I love it" I answer while looking down at the swing bench we have begun rocking on.
She cups my chin with her palm and says "That's attractive".
We both begin laughing.
"There you are! I've been looking for you! We need to take a family picture Lili!" Joyce comes out stopping when she sees us.
Lili looks over at me torn at what to say.
"It's ok." I smile.
"We'll catch up later" Lili smiles back touching my arm.
When Lili and Joyce leave, I just stay on the bench, close my eyes, and rock back and forth on the bench.
________________________________________
The peacefulness of this setting is interrupted when I feel someone sit down next to me. I can tell it's not Lili because this person has a harshness when they sit down. I open my eyes and am startled to see a tipsy Simon next to me.
"Hey hey hey! My new best friend" Simon sloppily greets me.
"Why are you here? Don't you need to be in a family picture?" I retort.
"What? Oh yeah, we just took A LOT of pictures! And I mean a lot!" he yells a little loud.
"Cool man" I get up, "We'll get home safely" I sarcastically respond while walking away from him, but I'm startled when some of his goon friends jump in front of me.
"Nope! You're not going anywhere man." one of his drunk friends says while pushing me back to the bench.
I quickly swipe his hand away. "Get off of me!" I yell at them and quickly run into the dining hall.
I immediately look for KJ. Walking fast, I join my family table where KJ and [y/n] are talking. They're probably reminiscing about the coke and pepsi game.
I guess I didn't realize I was walking so fast, so I quickly got their attention.
"Cole, are you ok?" [y/n] asks.
"Everything is fine. KJ I need to speak with you... alone..." I respond out of breath.
"Yeah, man" KJ gets up with a concerned look on his face.
We move over to the long line of people waiting to take a picture at the photo booth. I finally catch my breath.
"You know that creep Simon?" I ask wide eyed.
"Yeah" KJ looks angry, "What did he do now?"
"I was chilling outside on the porch bench and him and his crazy drunk friends surrounded me, trying to totally pick a fight"
"Whoah! No way, how'd you get out of it?"
"I ran!.... All the way here!" I sort of laugh.
"Oh man, what is his problem?!" KJ becomes red in the face.
"I don't know, but he is a real you know what"
"So what are you going to do, Cole? You can't really hide from him." KJ responds while scanning the room.
"You know what, I'm going to stay inside the rest of the time. If he has any smarts, he'll know to stay away from me" I rationally decide.
"Ok, and I'm not leaving your side." KJ declares.
We walk back to [y/n] at the table.
"Something is obviously wrong." [y/n] looks up at us, "What's going on?"
"Nothing, it doesn't concern you" I narrow my eyes at her.
"Seriously?"
"Stop asking me questions" I notice I sound a bit annoyed and am mad at myself for talking like that. I change my tone, realizing i'm taking out my frustrations on [y/n], so I decide to tell her the truth.
"Oh my gosh, I should tell mom and dad!" She gets up.
"No, don't do that" KJ chimes in. "We've got it covered."
Lili quickly walks over to our table while [y/n] unsurely sits back down.
"Cole, I overheard Simon and his friends were looking for you. Just stay here" she interlocks her fingers with mine while speaking. This calms me down.
"You know, this is supposed to be my family's vacation. Simon is not too hospitable, he really should watch out for a bad review on yelp" I smile.
She smiles back at me but still looks worried.
I notice [y/n] and KJ smiling at each other. They probably are referencing the fact that Lili and I are basically together. I can't help it, but that makes me smile to myself too.
A very frantic Joyce walks over to our table. Come on, no more family pictures Joyce!
"Cole?" She sweetly gets my attention.
"Oh, hi Joyce."
"Listen, I am so sorry to hear about Simon. Elliot just told me what him and his friends were saying and how they treated you. They are all on probation for the rest of the night."
"Oh wow" I'm actually speechless, "Thank you." I manage to respond.
"It is all my pleasure. Again, I am very sorry. His behavior is inexcusable." Joyce responds before walking towards some other guests.
"Elliot would say something" Lili smiles, "He always does the right thing."
"That's awesome" [y/n] smiles in return.
It's totally obvious what's going on between [y/n] and Elliot, but I won't bring anything up.
---------------------------------------------------
*Back to your POV *
That's really sweet of Elliot. Not only was he brave enough to rat out his annoying cousin, but he is helping my family out.
"I'll be right back" I announce while getting up.
"Elliot is at the photo booth" Lili calls out.
"What?" I ask shocked. I can feel myself turning red.
She just smiles back. I giggle and turn to walk in the direction of the photo booth.
"Hey!" I greet Elliot from behind.
He turns around, "Hey [y/n]! What a night" Elliot huffs with a forced grin.
"Tell me about it.... Thanks for talking to your aunt." I quietly say.
"You don't have to thank me. It was the right thing to do. It made me so mad to find out how Simon was talking about your brother"
"Thanks. And that was after he pushed Riley on the dance floor and tried to pick a fight with Cole outside" I reply.
"Oh, I only heard Simon talk with his friends about picking a fight, I didn't know he actually started to go through with it" he responds staring into space.
"Yeah, but Elliot. You know, Simon's actions have no reflection on you." I console him.
He doesn't answer and just stares down.
"You do know that?" I ask again while touching his shoulder.
This gets his attention. "Thanks. I know, it's just.... it's just hard sometimes." he pauses rubbing one of his eyes. "I just don't want him soiling the family name"
"Oh, I'm sure people love your family. This whole night is to honor your family. Simon is just... Simon." I smile.
He smiles back and surprisingly hugs me. "Thanks [y/n]. You're the best"
I hug him in return and reply "It's all true Elliot."
"So what do you think?" Elliot asks holding up two picture frames from the photo booth line we are waiting on. One frame is a traditional wooden brown and the other is a magnet reading 'double trouble'.
"Decisions decisions" I say rubbing my chin, "I think the wooden frame. It's classy".
"I agree" he smiles at me and holds on to the frame to give to the photographer, "we'll have two of the wooden frames please"
"You got it.... You two can walk in front of the curtain and join hands."
We both stop and stare at the photographer is disbelief.
"I'm kidding! Pose however you two would like" he kindly smiles.
We decide to have our backs facing each other with our arms folded in front. We then take a more traditional picture with our arms on top of each others shoulders.
Looking at his camera, the photographer smiles, "Beautiful! You two should model... the pictures will come out shortly" he tells us.