So this is the penultimate chapter :O I really hope you like this chapter, it leads pretty well for the final one too...Please do let me know what you think of it! :)
‘Did I tell you I got the pink hair dye?’ I call out to Cole as I spot the bright pink bottle on my window ledge in my en-suite bathroom. I pick the bottle up and walk back into my bedroom to see Cole taking pictures of a few things for his course. We’re trying to get all of our work done today so we have the weekend together purely to celebrate Cole’s 20th birthday, which is tomorrow.
It’s been three weeks since I’ve started university and the same for Cole starting college. He’s thriving and picking up a lot of new ideas for his photography. He’s even got a job now attending fashion magazine shoots thanks to Mr. Bentley’s wife Shannon, who had her baby a week ago, a little baby girl named Suri. I’ve now got a paid job at the dance school as a choreographer for the 16-18 GCSE group Lois has, but they’ve now become my group. Despite my university work piling up, dancing still is the best stress reliever for me and keeps my fitness up.
‘Are you gonna dye it? Don’t feel like you have to for me,’ Cole says, putting his camera down and looking across the room at me. He looks all sun kissed today. With some bright Autumnal weather, Cole caught the sun yesterday and now has a gorgeous dusting of freckles over the bridge of his nose. He looks even sexier than normal, with natural highlights in his dark brown hair and glowing skin; he is the epitome of gorgeous right now and is a picture of health.
‘I don’t mind, I miss the pink anyway. Do you want to help me?’ I ask, playing with the ends.
Cole smirks at me and questions, ‘You’re too lazy to do it yourself?’
‘No, I just thought it might be fun,’ I lead on suggestively. ‘You, me, the bathroom, the water...’ I trail off.
Cole laughs and shakes his head, picking up his camera again. ‘No way, I don’t want to risk having pink hair, babe. I’ll be here for when you’re done.’
‘Remind me why I love you again?’ I ask with my eye brows raised.
‘There’s not enough time in the world for you to recount why you could possibly love me,’ he teases, but he also knows that’s incredibly true. I reluctantly go off alone and pinkify my hair and come out with a towel wrapped around my head. Cole’s seen me looking far worse, so nothing embarrasses me about him seeing me less than presentable. I scan through the pictures Cole has taken recently of blonde me, which makes me rather glad I’m going back to my pink hair. I stop at one picture, where someone else has taken Cole’s camera and has taken a picture of when Cole and I were lying in the garden, sunbathing together yesterday and smile. We’re holding hands and both laughing at something.
‘I think my mum took this one,’ Cole tells me.
‘You must get your skills from her,’ I smile. ‘It’s beautiful.’
After the allotted time to let my hair go the shade of pink I want, I head back to the bathroom and wash the excess dye out, towel drying it briefly, before taking my hairdryer out and blow drying it. After twenty minutes, I look in the mirror and can’t help but beam at my pink hair glowing back at me. At that moment, Cole walks back into my bedroom with lunch and smiles widely at me.
‘I do love your pink hair,’ he begins, walking over and dropping our lunch onto my bed. Cole takes up hand and draws me to stand up to him, promptly running his fingers through my newly pink hair and tilts my chin to look at him.
‘Now I won’t lose you in a crowd,’ he tells me with a laugh and kisses me nose swiftly, before I nudge him and pull his head down to kiss me properly. The smile on his lips sends me crazy; I love knowing that I can make Cole have that reaction. He pulls me flush against his body and nudges my bottom lip open and slips his tongue in.
After a few teasing kisses, Cole pulls away and rests his head against mine and kisses me softly, before saying, ‘Come on, let’s get our work done so we can enjoy the weekend without that hanging over our heads. You can go back to looking at your crowning vaginas,’ Cole teases with a wink.
I roll my eyes but can’t help but smirk. My life would honestly be nothing without this goofy guy I have the pleasure of calling my boyfriend.
♥♥♥
We got all of our work done last night, which means now we’re totally free to enjoy Cole’s birthday today and the weekend together, but not until I have finished university for the day. Now this birthday is particularly important for Cole, because I know his family never thought he’d make it to his 20th birthday, so they’re going all out for the celebrations today. I’ve been itching to leave university all day, but I’ve got this one last tutorial to get through and then I am free.
Gemma, a girl from my tutor group, nudges me, causing me to wake up out of my daydream. ‘You’re in a daze staring at that clock, Hope. Want to be somewhere else?’ She asks curiously.
I nod eagerly, my whole face lighting up at the thought. ‘Yeah, it’s my boyfriend’s birthday today, so I just want to head home already for the weekend.’
She sends me a smile and asks me how old he is.
‘He’s twenty today. It’s pretty special today,’ I admit, before I receive a disapproving look from my tutor for talking.
As the clock hits 2pm, I jump up in glee and run out of the room and head for my car which is parked near the town centre.
I managed to get a cheap car the week after university began, and even though I still feel like a rusty driver, I have perfected my route back home to one hour and twenty minutes. I stuffed Cole’s presents into the back of my car this morning so I could head straight to his place rather than dallying and wasting time going back to mine to retrieve them. I bring out the presents I’ve bought Cole and eagerly rush to the front door and knock several times over. Within seconds, the door swings open. Obviously, it’s not my darling boyfriend as he still has an afternoon college class, but Willa.
‘Hi Hope, come on in,’ she smiles broadly. Willa has organised a massive party with all of their family and Cole’s greatest friends. Half of them are already here, whereas a select few people are bringing Cole straight back here after college.
I go through and notice the gorgeous array of food laid out in their dining room table. There are banners up and Cole’s favourite music playing. Cole has no idea this is all happening, so I’m so very excited to see his face.
‘This is brilliant, Willa,’ I tell her, smiling back at her.
Willa has to dash off to pick Jennifer up, so Edward introduces me to his extended family before I finish off hanging the balloons still waiting to be put in their place. Willa and Jennifer arrive back before Cole, which Jennifer cannot contain her excitement about. Everyone is hyped up for Cole’s arrival, but I need to change into something more presentable and party like. I go up to Cole’s bedroom and change into a pair of shorts and a loose floral shirt with a slit down the back, exposing the back of my bra. I’ve also gone to the trouble to wear some heels to make my legs look a little longer for the birthday boy.
Soon enough after I’ve changed, there’s that knock at the door and Willa goes to answer it. I can hear his footsteps approach as the front door closes and the whole room has gone deadly silent, before he steps in and we all jump out and cheer surprise. Momentarily, I panic that Cole’s heart won’t handle the sudden surprise, but that passes as I see him begin to laugh and watch his hair bounce up and down as he chuckles with Miro and Nevaeh.
Everyone crowds the special birthday boy and I can’t help but want to join in, but hold back with Jennifer.
‘What did you get him?’ She asks, looking over at my presents wrapped with photos of us. Since Cole is such a photography freak, I thought it would be a nice idea to transfer the many pictures he’s sent me of us onto paper to use them as wrapping paper.
'You'll have to wait and see,' I tell her, wrinkling my nose at her.
I watch Cole’s eyes scan the room, before he sees me and beams. He excuses himself from everyone before rushing over to meet me. Excitedly, I jump up onto his waist and hug him tightly as he swings me around. Cole and I have no shame for kissing in public anymore; life’s too short to worry about what other people think about you. I press one, two, three long kisses to his bee stung lips before pulling away and placing my feet back on the ground.
‘Happy birthday, you old man,’ I tease, locking my fingers with his. He pulls me flush against his body and kisses my again.
‘Did you know about this?’ He asks, scanning the room and smiling at all the effort everyone has gone to.
I nod sheepishly.
‘It’s a good job I love surprises then,’ he chuckles. ‘This is cool though, everyone I love is here.’ His eyes then lock on my presents and he widens his eyes at me and tugs me behind him to pick them up. He full on laughs before commenting, ‘Hey, it’s us, babe. How did you do that?’
‘Ah I have my ways,’ I tease and tap my nose. Jennifer scampers over and begins to look at all the photos before Cole laughs, ‘I don’t want to tear our pretty faces apart.’
‘COLE! You’re not wearing a top there,’ Jennifer exclaims as she points out a picture of shirtless Cole posing for me. I guess I should have been pickier with what pictures I chose considering the ones on there. I lift them out of her reach and distract her by asking her to grab me a drink. I nudge Cole and then point to a picture of Cole and I lying in bed after some fun between the sheets and I don’t want her innocent mind tainted by her brother’s scandalous behaviour.
‘Hope’s a bad girl,’ he sing-songs and then cracks himself up. ‘I’m glad you’re not into dirty talk. I don’t think I could take it seriously.’
I whack his arm playfully, as we go to get some food to eat before he opens his presents. I hope he likes them. I spent a long time debating over what he could possibly want, so I’m hoping they make him happy. I also probably spent much more than I should have done, coming in at over £300, but boy is he worth every penny.
We take our food outside with his presents and sit with his bunch of friends, including Wesley, Esme, Miro and Nevaeh. Things are less awkward now seeing as Esme has found herself a new boyfriend, but I still doubt that she likes me. Though maybe she has found someone who reciprocates her feelings now? I hope so, I hope this boyfriend laughs and makes her feel the way she wanted Cole to make her feel.
I hand Cole his presents, three in total with a card too. ‘Which one first?’ He asks, checking them out in size.
I shrug, ‘Whatever order.'
He goes for the big box present first and carefully removes the sellotape to not rip our faces apart. He turns the box so he can see what’s inside before gawping at me, ‘Hope, you shouldn’t have.’ I watch excitedly as he pulls out an expensive camera lens I knew he had been wanting, so I took it upon myself to hunt it down and treat him to it. He quickly opens it before grabbing his camera and fiddling with it. Quickly, he swaps the lens over before beaming at me as he looks through the shot.
‘Oh wow, Miro look at this.’ Cole leans across and shows Miro and I suddenly feel pretty happy I've managed to get him it. It makes me feel like the best girlfriend getting Cole something he wants so dearly.
He turns my chin to face him before kissing his lips. ‘I love you,’ he tells me. ‘I really love you.’
‘I know, I love you too, now open the other two,' I encourage excitedly.
Cole obliges and opens the next present. I bought him two tops which I knew he had been deciding over, so took the plunge and bought them for him. If there weren’t so many people around, Cole would happily strip off and change top to show me his appreciation.
Last but not least, Cole opens his final present from me. Carefully, he opens the card envelope and smiles when he sees what it is. Out slips a hand drawn heart with some money falling with it.
‘You said you wanted a tattoo, so I’m paying for it,’ I smile, explaining the cryptic present and £50 enclosed.
‘Did you draw this?’ He asks, picking it up and inspecting.
I nod, a little cautious to admit I spent quite a while on designing this heart shape. ‘You don’t have to get that one done, but it was just a hint.’
‘No, I love it. I want that one done,’ he tells me earnestly. He lifts my hand and places it on his chest and smiles as he can tell I can feel his heart beating steadily. It’s his heart now. It feels right to call it that, my dad gave him the best chance at life. He places the hand drawn heart on his wrist and declares he’s getting it tattooed there ASAP.
Cole opens the rest of his presents from Miro and Nevaeh and he looks like he’s got a bundle of presents from them. He opens the first one and I notice its running shoes, which seems like a bit of an odd and random present to get someone. I sceptically raise an eyebrow at him and so does Willa.
‘What do you need with running shoes?’ I ask, noticing the Nike logo on the side of his black and blue trainers.
Cole looks over at Miro and Nev and now I know he’s not telling me something.
‘What are you hiding, Cole?’ I ask slowly, my eyes narrowing.
He lifts his trainers up and says, ‘Well, I want to run the London Marathon.’
Firstly, shock takes over me. Cole running? I’ve never seen him do any type of sport, let alone running. But Cole running with a heart transplant? The idea is implausible, stupid in fact. This is something he should not do at all.
‘You’re having a laugh,’ I tell him, unable to take him seriously, laughter escaping from my lips, waiting for him to tell me he’s kidding.
‘I’m quite serious,’ he tells me. ‘I’ve applied and am waiting for confirmation that I can do it next April.’
‘When did you apply?’
‘I applied last week. It’s on my Bucket List, Strawbs, I’ve always wanted to do it.’
‘B-b-b-but your heart?’ I question, my own heart beat speeding up. ‘Most normal people can’t run, let alone put extra strain by deciding to run with a heart condition.’
‘I’m going to do it, Hope,’ he tells me regardless.
‘Even if it kills you?’ I challenge, wanting to see his response as it is entirely possible that this could be too much for him to handle.
He doesn’t answer me directly but diverts, ‘I want to raise money for the British Heart Foundation for the support they gave me and also the donor support I received. It’s something I want to do.’
‘While that is extremely courageous and lovely of you, Cole, you don’t need to. Please. I don’t want you to hurt yourself by doing that. Its twenty six miles! You’ve not walked that in the past year, babe.’
‘I like a challenge,’ he tells me with a wink, taking his loafer boat shoes on and trying his trainers on. He looks so pleased with them as he bounces his feet up and down.
I give him a long look before saying, ‘If you train and find it too hard, please don’t do it. Please.’
He knows what I’m talking about. The prospect of losing Cole comes back and haunts me every so often. I try to keep it at the back of my mind as best as I can, but I still sometimes have this overwhelming fear that his body will reject his heart again suddenly and things will get worse; and I highly doubt running twenty six miles in under a day will make his heart any better.
‘I’m not going to be foolish, but I’m going to try my best to train and do it. It should be good for me anyway, a little bit of light exercise.’
Everyone laughs and then it dawns on me the people who have been listening have been doing so this whole time.
‘It’s not light exercise,’ I counter and frown at him.
‘Come on, be supportive and be my cheerleader for me. That’s what I really want.’
I sigh and look at him. If Cole wants to do something, he will try his very best to do it. He’s equally as stubborn as me in that respect. He won’t give up without a fight, but neither will I. I want him to be serious about what he could possibly be going through.
Cole moves onto opening the smaller present and Nev and Miro laugh as Cole’s face tinges pink. He takes one out and my eyes widen in embarrassment.
‘Condoms? Really?’ Cole asks, eyeing up the box of durex condoms.
‘Yeah, giving you both a helping hand,’ he winks and it dawns on me that neither Nev nor Miro know that Cole’s no longer a virgin. This actually fills me with joy that Cole has kept it so private and has not gone boasting to his friends. Can’t say I did the same, Belle knows near enough everything about what I’ve done.
Placing my hand on Cole’s leg, I squeeze him gently and smirk at him.
Cole grins and rests his hand on my lower back and squeezes the bare skin there. ‘Thanks guys, that’s generous of you. You don’t want us procreating then?’
‘Just work on losing your v-card first, Cole,’ Miro advises, and I have to stop myself from laughing and letting the secret slip.
The rest of the party goes well until it is merely the Mellors and I watching TV together, which is the perfect end to Cole’s birthday in my opinion. I’m busy telling Willa all about my day at university today, and we’re discussing the key roles of a midwife and her own experiences during child birth. Cole isn’t as turned off as I thought he might be, but looks to her with interest.
‘I had an absolutely lovely midwife when I had Cole. Do you remember Edward? She was just fabulous. Jennifer’s midwife was equally as lovely and I had a student midwife in as well. It’s such a big job to take on, but I can see you being very good at it. What did your dad think?’
I smile at her question. I love that she includes my dad in conversations. ‘He was really supportive. He wanted me to do whatever I wanted.’
'That's all parents want, letting your children do what makes you happy.' She smiles at us both, before declaring she's heading off to bed. She places a kiss on Cole's forehead and tells him a quick happy birthday and that she loves him. I smile as Cole nudges his mum, a little embarrassed, but I find it beautiful she still loves and cares for him as if he were a child. I guess in parents eyes, their children will always be their babies.
After Willa bids us goodnight, Cole rests his hand on my exposed stomach and I raise an eyebrow at him. ‘How do you think you’d deal with labour?’ He asks interestedly.
‘Awful,’ I chuckle. ‘I think I’d be so emotional and in pain. My dad used to make fun of me when I ran to him crying from paper cuts.’ I place my hand over his on my stomach and squeeze it gently.
‘I’ll be there to make you feel better,’ he tells me, in all seriousness his eyes focused on mine. We’ve never openly spoken about us having children, and to most, this could be a daunting conversation to have so early on in a relationship, but with us, nothing seems wrong to discuss. It feels right to talk about our future without any fear.
‘I doubt my husband would be pleased at having you in the room,’ I tease him with a smirk, knowing he can take it.
He rolls his eyes and nudges me with a laugh. ‘I’m going to be your husband and the father of your children, Hope.’
‘You promise?’ I whisper quietly, hoping it’ll be true. I know no one can 100% keep promises, but I want this promise to last. I really do. I want us to grow as old as we can together. I want to do all those things despite knowing that every day is unpredictable and anything could happen. I want him as my husband; I want him as the dad to my children. I want him in my life forever, but while nothing is ever guaranteed, you just have to hope.
He nods assertively. ‘I promise you. It’s on my bucket list anyway,’ he beams and I can’t stop my heart from swelling. He knows all the right things to say and the difference with Cole is that all the promises he has made to me so far, he has kept. I have hope in him that he won’t ever let me down. ‘You want to head to bed now?’ He asks, nuzzling into my neck.
‘But It’s only 11pm,’ I laugh. ‘Don’t you want to stay up later?’
Cole lifts up the bag full of condoms that Nev and Miro bought him and says suggestively in a lower voice, ‘I thought we could put these to good use and end my 20th birthday in style.’
I grin excitedly and stand up, grabbing his hand and racing him up the stairs like a pair of excited children. I open the door, squealing as Cole chases behind me, before I crash down on his bed in fits of laughter. Cole crawls on top of me, his breathing ragged like mine as he traps my body beneath his and lowers himself down on top of me, driving me crazy. I can feel his breath wash over my skin as he inches closer and I sigh as how hot I’m feeling. Not only do I love this boy for how well we get along, but also our physical attraction and chemistry is also so strong and electric.
‘Happy birthday, Flash,’ I say, grabbing the hem of his top and pulling it over his head. His heart scar comes into sight and I turn him underneath me before I pepper kisses down his heart scar seductively. The amount of love I feel for this boy is indescribable. I can feel the amount of love I have for him pulsing through my veins and it makes me feel a little overwhelmed and extremely grateful the longer I think about it.
‘I think Miro thinks you’re becoming a man tonight,’ I jest with Cole, as I fumble with his button and draw down his zipper before pulling his jeans down.
‘Well, let’s not disappoint him then,’ he laughs, as he leans forward, pressing his supple lips against my own, before pulling me back onto his bed, set on ending his 20th birthday on an orgasmic high...