Emily
Cole was avoiding me.
He somehow managed to completely disappear on Saturday, despite me spending the best part of an hour looking for him.
I had a sneaky feeling Annabell was helping him, as I saw her a couple of times with a mischievous grin on her face as she watched me walk by.
From the little I had seen of him though, he looked like he was doing better. The black circles under his eyes had gone, and his smile looked real instead of forced, like it was last week.
I just hoped that he was finally moving on.
It wasn't until Thursday that I realised I was missing something, when Casper asked,
"How was Cole on Saturday?"
I found the question odd, as Casper made it clear he didn't want to be involved when I asked him to speak to Nathan last week.
Casper was not one to pry into other people's business. He was a very private person himself and so he didn't enjoy those sort of conversations, and avoided them at all costs.
"He was doing better, why do you ask?" I said, carefully observing his reactions.
"Oh you know, just showing an interest."
"Pfft," I replied, "when have you ever shown an interest? When I asked you to talk to Nathan, the most I got from you was 'he seems fine to me'."
"I'm sorry," he said smiling, and coming over to wrap his arms around me. "I just find it funny how Nathan is clueless when it comes to this sort of stuff."
"Ah, you're pleased to have found the chink in his armour then?"
"I wouldn't have put it like that....but yes, I suppose it's good to find something he's not good at."
I felt myself sighing and I rested my head onto Casper's chest.
"Hey, is everything alright?" he said, pulling his head back a little to try to see my face.
"Yeah," I said softly, "but I just wish Nathan would see what he's missing out on. Cole's great. I really think they would be perfect together."
Casper wrapped his arms tightly around me and kissed the top of my head.
"Don't worry about it. He'll come to his senses eventually."
"I don't think he will," I said shaking my head. "The longer they're apart, the more I feel like it's all hopeless."
"Trust me, he's already wavering."
"What?!" I said, pulling back out of Casper's warm embrace. "Casper Bournville, is there something you're not telling me?!"
Casper laughed, but I could also see a flicker of guilt in his eyes.
You see, the thing about me and Casper is that we made a pact very early on in our relationship to tell each other everything.
When mates were bonded together, they found it near impossible to keep anything from each other, because the bond meant you could feel each other's emotions.
Because we weren't bonded like that, we had always made an effort to be completely honest with each other.
"I'm sorry," he said holding his hands up in surrender, "Nathan threatened to kill me if I told you."
"And you think I wouldn't kill you for not telling me?" I said, staring him down with my hands on my hips.
"That's why I'm telling you now?" he said, with a grimace.
"Go on then," I said, "and you better not miss anything out!"
Casper leant across and grabbed my hand, pulling me over to the sofa and sitting us down.
"They've been texting."
"WHAT?!"
"Every night at 10 o'clock, they text each other for about an hour."
"EEEEkkkkkk" I let out a sort of squeal while I gripped on tight to Casper's wrist.
"Woah!" he said, while trying to pry my fingers off.
"So does that mean he's changed his mind?" I asked eagerly.
Casper looked thoughtful. "Not yet, but I think he's definitely considering it."
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" I shouted, so excited that things might work out after all. "I can't wait till Saturday!" I squeaked.
"Oh no! Promise you'll stay out of it!" Casper said, a look of horror on his face.
"If I could just..."
"No!" Casper interrupted.
"But if I..."
"No!"
"Just one little.."
"NO!"
"Fine!" I huffed, throwing myself back in the chair and crossing my hands over my chest.
"Good," Casper said, before picking up a newspaper and flicking through the pages.
My minded started plotting.
What Casper didn't know.......
Afterall, surely a little nudge in the right direction wouldn't cause any harm......
*****************
It didn't take me long to catch up with Cole on Saturday.
"Hey, how's things going?" I asked cheerily.
"Good, thanks," he replied with a sheepish smile.
"Oh come on," I said, hitting him playfully on the arm, "I know what's been going on!"
"What do you mean?" he asked, suddenly looking panic stricken.
"The texting?" I said, not quite sure why he suddenly looked anxious.
"How did you know?" he asked, his eyebrows raised, causing worry lines to appear on his forehead.
"That doesn't matter," I replied, "what matters is what you're going to do next."
"Of course it matters," Cole said rather frantically, "If Nathan finds out you know, he might stop texting."
"No he won't," I said, with a dismissive wave of my hand. "He's in too deep now."
"You don't know that," he replied, "and what did you mean by 'what I'm going to do next'? I can tell you what I'm going to do next. Nothing!"
"Ah, come on Cole, don't be like that...," I pleaded, giving him my best doe eyes.
He just rolled his eyes and carried on working.
"You need to remember that Nathan has no experience with this kind of thing, and so he's going to need you to help him."
Cole looked over at me dubiously. "Help him how?" he said, mistrust seeping off his words.
"Well, I thought maybe a visit was in order...."
"What, he's coming here?" he said, suddenly looking around as if he would magically appear from behind a tree.
Gosh, he really was adorable at times.
"No silly, we would take a trip to see him!"
He shook his head wildly.
"No, no, no, no, that's a bad idea."
"How do you know that? From what Casper tells me, Nathan has really changed his whole attitude about the mate thing."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean, that your little texts have been the highlight of his day, and that maybe he's ready to take the next step."
Cole blushed a little at my words, and I had to force myself not to pinch his adorable cheeks.
"What if he doesn't want to see me though? What if he gets angry because we strengthen the bond again. It's already starting to get easier. I don't want to start the whole process again."
"Oh Cole, Cole, Cole," I said shaking my head, "And why do you think it's got easier? It's because you two are talking!"
"No we're not!" he said, shaking his head furiously again. "We're only texting, so we're not doing anything wrong."
I had to stop myself from laughing at his naivety.
"Right, so spending an hour every night, texting each other information about yourselves, is not strengthening the bond? Flippin' heck Cole, of course it's strengthening the bond! Why do you think the pair of you are walking around with silly grins on your faces!"
Cole looked shocked, but I saw the realisation start to hit.
"Oh my god! Nathan's going to go mad! Oh shit, he'll never speak to me again!"
I watched in amusement as Cole's face crumpled, and I felt a warmth knowing how much he had actually grown attached to Nathan.
"It's ok Cole," I said, gently, putting a hand on his arm. "Nathan is fully aware of the impact the texts are having. And he's fine with it."
"What?" he asked, looking up at me in amazement.
"He wants to be with you Cole."
He hadn't exactly said that, but I was pretty sure by the time I'd finished with them, they would be together.
"Shit," he said, running his hand through his messy blonde hair.
"So what do you say about that trip then?" I asked wiggling my eyebrows.
Cole smiled, and I could see a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"Where exactly would we be going?"
"Home of course! To Worthington Manor."