Cole's point of view.
"Hey you." I send a small grin to November as I take a seat at her counter.
Have I come here Friday, Saturday and now Sunday? Yeah.
I know... But I am just trying to make her my friend. That is all.
It's chill.
I had an argument with my friend Ivy earlier, she was being slightly reckless with her mental health and it's been stressing me out because I am here and she's miles away and like how do you help someone miles away?
I couldn't sleep.
So I am here, in the middle of the night, again. Smiling sheepishly at November's almost annoyed face.
"Cole." She says and I am a mess because I really like the way she says my name.
"Hey."
"Three nights on the trot?"
"I like your company." I say and she frowns a little to herself.
Her hair was up in a ponytail and the apron tied round her waist. Yesterday she had pretty much ignored my company all night because it was a Saturday and it was quite busy.
But I watched her, and she would occasionally send me a small smile.
She was so distant, guarded.
But sometimes she'd look at me and she would look amused, almost happy and I would forever come back for that I don't care if the only time she can see me is when she's working and she has pretty much no choice to.
"It's quiet tonight." I say and she nods groaning.
"I have been so bored."
"See, you like that I come." I say and her lips tug upwards. Her natural lips are such an unnaturally dark pink colour, it contrasts with her porcelain skin and light eyes. I honestly don't understand how I never saw her at school before.
"Maybe only today." She says and I grin.
"Coffee?" Nova asks and I nod placing some money on the counter.
"My dear Nova?" I say and she raises and eyebrow at my propositional tone.
"Oh god what."
"You know how I broke my phone?"
"Mm?" She asks pouring me some coffee absentmindedly.
"Well I lost all my numbers, so like can I get your number back?" I say and grin. I thought about this on the way over.
Was a pretty good idea, even if I say so myself.
"Cole you never had my number." She chuckles at me and I cock my head at her.
"Well damn, I thought I did."
"Sure you did." She muses and shakes her head at me.
"Well now I'm confused and being confused feels like shit, anyway, can I get your number to cheer me up?" I say leaning back and watching her intently.
She groans in annoyance and I love it.
"Nope."
"But."
"We aren't sleeping together again, we aren't being friends." She lays out for me and I widen my eyes at her joking.
"I just wanted your number, jeez do you just see me as a piece of meat?"
"Cole." She huffs and I grin.
"Wow now you really need to give me your number, you just offended me."
"No I didn't." She rolls her eyes at me and I lean on the counter more, I'm not even going to lie, she is probably one of the most endearing girls I have ever met.
It might be because she just isn't interested.
But still.
"Okay but what if there is an emergency. What if something happens with Linc and Rose and I have to get in contact with you but I cant because you refused to give me your number."
"No." she laughs again not falling for my crap and I sigh in defeat.
Well damn I thought it would work.
"How about snapchat?"
"No." Nova says and I feel myself filling with amusement.
"Insta?"
"No."
"Facebook?"
"Nope."
"You Are killing me." I say and she almost looks proud of herself.
I open my phone and go to air drop and smirk to myself when I see Nova's iPhone.
I click off it and screenshot my own number, and then air drop her my number.
"Cole." She groans when she looks down at her phone and see's what I've done.
"Look, there. You are in control. Just call me when you want to hang out." I say and she shakes her head at me.
Do I expect her to call? Nope. Do I look forward to the possibility of it anyway? Yep.
I watch as she scrolls through her phone and then sighs, her eyebrows pulling together.
"What's up?" I ask and her eyes flicker up to me.
"Do you have makeup on?" I ask suddenly, unable to keep the question away and she looks even more confused and shakes her head at me.
Jesus Christ.
"Okay sorry, what's up?" I ask again, pretending not to be confused how she looks so good at 1AM.
"Nothing just." She slides her phone towards me and I raise my eyebrows at an offensive post on Instagram.
"Doesn't it just hurt your soul when you see that some people actually think that way?" She asks me and I look at her, a small smile growing on my lips and I just nod letting her continue.
"Just, there's so much ignorance and hate in the world and it sucks sometimes."
"It does." I nod.
"I just." She starts cleaning the glasses, or well polishing them as she talks as if I wasn't even here, her thoughts just pouring out of her. "What a world we live in you know, there is so much information available, like jeez we are swimming in resources, an ocean of information but." She looks up at me. "I feel like everyone's just drowning in ignorance."
I nod and I can't help it, lean my elbows on the counter and just listen to her, my eyes bearing into hers even though she was looking down again.
"The hatred is deep routed." I say and she nods and then she shakes her head at me.
"It's not even that, hatred isn't what's ruining the world it's misunderstanding. Hatred is born out of misunderstanding."
"I suppose." I say and lean forward a little. "But although I might not understand something, it doesn't mean I immediately turn to hatred."
"Then maybe you are one of the good ones." She smiles and carries on putting away the glasses.
"This is what I've been trying to tell ya." I say and she rolls her eyes at me.
We both turn suddenly when the bell above the door goes off.
I watch in amusement as two kids walk in, probably no older than fifteen.
She huffs and walks down to where they stand looking up at the board.
"I can't serve you guys, you's aren't supposed to be here without a parent." She says softly to them and I watch in amusement as they get an attitude.
"Just serve us, we're literally giving you money." One of the boy states and I raise an eyebrow at his tone.
"Nope, go home it's late." She says to them and they lift their hands up in annoyance.
"Who do you think you are." One of them says and I chuckle, both of them whipping their faces round to me and one of them widens their eyes at me and the other gets defensive.
"What are you laughing about mate?" He says, his head moving to the side and I meet Nova's eyes and I expect them to look amused but instead she looks a little stressed.
I look back at the little tough guy and raise my eyebrow at him again shaking my head in amusement.
"Get out." I say and the blonde kid looks at the brown haired kid but nope this kid isn't backing down.
"Something funny?" He spits out at me and I roll my eyes.
"Yes." I say and stand up. Immediately towering over them and I walk towards the little kid.
For fuck sake I was just having a nice conversation with this girl.
I look down at him and I then at the other kid, the one that looks significantly more scared.
"Do I need to tell you to get out again?" I ask slowly and the other boy shakes his head and pulls the tough guy backwards by his backpack.
They leave after a few nonverbal looks and I sigh sitting back down and taking another sip of my coffee.
"You didn't need to do that." Nova says and I shrug.
"No I mean it, like why do you think they were out so late. Do you think they are ok?" She asks and I lift my eyes to her concerned ones and I then pull them away quickly.
Her eyes are such a cold colour, but why do I feel warm when I look at them?
"They are just being lads, don't worry about them."
"Should I have just served them?" She asks me and I shake my head at her.
"November, when they learn to respect people then maybe they should be served, not when they don't deserve it."
"Do you recon he was hurting." She asks and I frown.
"You mean the lil angry one?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe, but you don't have to worry about that."
"Isn't that what they say, the kids with the anger, the ones that act out are the ones perhaps hurting the most?" She says and I nod.
"Yes but I don't believe people's hardships excuse their bad behaviour. Okay, so you might be able to understand it, but it doesn't make it okay." I say and she nods looking at me intently.
"But with kids, it's more about red flags isn't it? Like their bad behaviour doesn't burn them for life, it should be seen as a warning sign, like somethings not quite right here." She says and I look at her in admiration.
This girl has a lot of empathy.
And it's not misplaced, but I know for a fact some people are just bad. There is no reason to see further than that. Surely?
"I don't know, I mean yes of course in some cases. And I hope to god in those cases that those kids are helped but like take even me for instance, I've done some shitty things, got myself involved in things that I shouldn't have... but that wasn't a cry for attention, I didn't need help." I say and she smiles softly at me.
"I don't believe that." She says openly and leans on the counter facing me. "I recon there was something somewhere that made you into the person you are today and okay, maybe when you were involved with Yuen you weren't like needing help but surely it would have been better to stay away and if someone had maybe pulled you out of that, then you might have been helped you know?" She says and I listen to her intently.
Nova talks about the world as if she's lived a thousand lives and she see's things from such a different perspective that makes me question everything I know.
Wait
Yuen.
Huh.
Yuen Vix is basically one of the top guys in the Craven Park gang. They don't hold much power over the city anymore, but that is where all the drugs come from, all the illegal shit.
I was mixed up with them once, I had friends that were members. Yuen wasn't a good guy, like one of the guys I just believe is just purely bad.
"Yuen?" I say and her eyes widen as if she hadn't realised that she had said his name.
"How the fuck do you know him?"
She looks at me cautiously and then sighs in defeat.
"He's my ex." Nova says and I stare at her shocked. Her what? There's no way.
I sit up straighter and look at her intensely. She looks down and I feel the awkwardness radiating from her.
Well I definitely hope he doesn't find out I'm pretty much obsessed with his ex. That wouldn't be pretty, he's not a massive fan of mine anymore and well, he has a lot more friends in this town than I do.
"Oh..." I say and watch her. She looks tense, almost the same way Ivy looks like when she's talking about everything that happened to her and my eyes widen in anger because I hope to god Nova hasn't gone through anything similar to what Ivy has.
Ivy was attacked by her friend last year, that's why she moved here in the first place. She was recovering from sexual assault and she is one of the strongest people I know. But I mean, I know her so well and I hate that Nova right now looks a little like her.
"I didn't know that you knew people like that." I say quietly and she sends me a short smile.
"I don't anymore."
"So when you say you are trying to be good, the way your friends keep telling you to stay away from me? It's because..." I say and she nods once.
"Yeah, so obviously my friends know that and I, I cant get mixed up in that shit again." She says and I frown at her.
"November, I haven't been mixed up in anything to do with them in years."
"I saw you there last year." She sighs and fills my coffee cup up again.
She what??
"You went there?" I ask, she went to that place?
"I practically lived there for a bit Cole." She says slowly and looks away from my surprised eyes.
"How do you even know him? And ok, since last year, but literally more than a year ago now. I haven't gone near any of that stuff." I say trying to convey my sincerity.
Obviously, she doesn't want anything to do with me. Fuck.
You know when they say your demons, your actions come back to bite you on the arse. Well I feel like I can safely say I have experienced that now.
Surprisingly she nods slowly at me and I try and see if she believed me but she always looks so guarded.
Well shit.
"Family friend." She says quietly and I nod slowly. A family friend? The Vix's, they were literally just drug dealers like how the hell did she get mixed up with them.
"And how did you just stop then?" She asks and I frown at her words confused.
Huh?
Oh my, she thinks I am involved in the fucking gang.
I wasn't.
I haven't ever been really. I just knew them, went there a few times, did shit I shouldn't have.
She takes in my sudden realisation and her eyes scan my face. "Nova I was never involved with them that way, I never was one of them I just." I shrugs and looks at her, I didn't know what I was doing then, I was just bored. "I was looking for trouble."
"So you're not?"
"No. God no." I say and shake my head at her. Of course she would think that. Especially if she saw me there.
She was there, what shit did she see?
She looks so fucking innocent. Makes sense now, why she's not.
I look at her and watch as she stares at the counter, and I know she's reliving something and I just, I probably should have known then that this shit was intense with her but I just, it made me want to get closer to her.
I couldn't help it. It didn't change anything.
Especially since when I watched her shake it off I can't tell anymore if it was the same stuff as Ives, there seems to be so much more hidden within her eyes and I immediately know she has so much going on.
"Do you still have contact with him?" I ask and she shrugs shaking her head.
"Not a lot."
"I um, I don't remember seeing you there." I say and she sends me a soft knowing smile, she always does this as if she was almost amused by her own secrets.
"I know. I only saw you once, before the party I wasn't even sure you existed."
"Huh?" I laugh and she leans on the counter in front of me.
"Just that, like mysterious bad boy vibes."
"Well you must have liked the vibes." I wiggle my eyebrows and try to lighten the atmosphere; I could listen to her for hours but something tells me she needs the distraction and thankfully she laughs at me.
"I was drunk." She states and I grin.
"Yeah so was I. I don't remember a lot." I say sadly and she shakes her head at me amused.
"That is oddly comforting." She says I frown. "I however, can remember everything." She offers and my eyes widen at her almost mischievous words.
"Good memories?" I ask and she shrugs smiling at me and leans closer to me.
"I got you to moan, a grown ass man moaned under me. I was pretty impressed with myself." She smirks and I am so unprepared that I close my eyes at the sudden memory that popped up.
Heat. Fuck sake November Grace I am not prepared for you to flirt back. That is not our dynamic.
I open my eyes and shake my head at her amused eyes. "I remember now too." I say and she laughs at my tone.
"I'm sure you do." She says and I smirk at her. "So do I." She says suggestively and I groan placing my head on my arms on the table and she laughs at me again.
It's almost as if she's suddenly realising, she enjoys torturing me.
"And so the reason you won't hang out with me is?" I ask and she sucks her lips into her mouth in amusement.
"I am, we are hanging out." She smirks, gesturing between us.
"No properly."
"I'm trying to be a good girl Cole." She laughs and I lean back on my chair watching her closely, my eyes dancing with amusement.
"I don't think that is what you want though."
"It honestly is." She nods and I cock my head at her.
"Well I stand corrected." I muse and then take a long drink of my coffee. Just watching her as she smiles at me.
That lil smile.
I cant help but think about the fact that we are here, in the middle of the night, alone. And that there is a little private room like ten feet away from us.
I want her, there's no denying it.
Usually once is enough but I think it's easy to say that this is different than my usual hook ups.
"I would like to tell you, that you my love, are driving me insane."
She rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head in amusement.
"You should go home soon. Tonight's a school night." She says and I give her a look.
"You'd be here alone. Yeah. No." I say and she rolls her eyes.
"I'm tough." She laughs and I nod.
"I believe that." I smile at her but still there is no way I am leaving.
"It's a school night for you too, yanoe." I say and she shrugs.
"I skip Mondays when I work on Sunday, they know that I have to work sometimes so."
"Well damn you aren't even going to be at school?" I say and she shakes her head.
"Go home, sleep."
"Nah, I'll sleep afterschool."
"Cole." She groans and I chuckle at her.
"You know, you can sit down." I say and pat the seat next to me and she shakes her head.
"I need to stay behind here." She says and then gets out the cleaning chart, ticking off the little things she's done tonight.
It's been weird spending these past few nights here, she never forces me to go but is constantly trying to push me away. Apart from a few moments where it's almost as if she forgets that she's supposed to be keeping her distance.
Those moments are my favourite.
I've literally had like four conversations with this girl and I am almost infatuated, I probably should have known then that I was getting myself into something deeper than what I am used to. That I saw her a lot differently than my usual causal things.
But I didn't know then, and I don't think I would have even stopped myself if I had known.
HI night!