What could have been.

- Chapter 33 -

"Take your boots off Now!" I shout whisper to Cole.

Tilting his head, he scrunches his face in confusion to my demand. What can be so confusing about me asking him to remove his loud boots? Every step he takes, causes me to cringe at the thought of it waking Eden or Jocelyn and them finding me sneaking him into my room. Well, technically it isn't sneaking in if he turned up, is it? Either way, I rather just avoid them waking at all cost.

"Your boots are too loud," I say, pointing down. "Take them off."

Cole stands with his hands on his hip nodding with his lips parted slightly, turning his attention down when I raise my brow and nudge him.

"Ok. Give me a minute." He brushes me off. Leaning down he unties both laces then steps on the heel of one boot to remove it. When he tries to remove the second boot by raising his leg to pull it off, Cole hops on the spot a few times but then he loses his balance and falls on his ass. Cursing the entire time while he's going down. Whereas, I try to contain my laugh that is bubbling in me to come out. I move over to him. Kneeling in front of where he's sat with his legs bent at the knees.

"I fell." He whispers looking up at me with wide eyes and rosy cheeks.

"I saw." I bite down my bottom lip, still trying to make sure my laugh doesn't burst out as I can see his feeling embarrassed. I reach out a hand and tell him to put his arm over my shoulders so I can help him back up and we can once again attempt to go to my bedroom. Like dead weight, he slips out of my hold after a few steps forward and collapses onto the sofa when we pass it. Laying with his left forearm covering his face, he extends his right hand out to me. "Come. Lay with me."

"Not here," I tell him and he has the nerve to shush me. I cross my arms across my chest, giving him a stern look in return. And, firmly as my voice will allow it, I instruct him to stand up. But it doesn't even cause him to flinch instead he sits up. Taking in my attempted stern request, Cole looks me up and down and breaks into laughter. Well, here's the Cole I knew a few weeks ago, laughing at me, it's been a while.

I run over to him as quickly as my legs will allow me to. Covering his mouth when I reach him but, in an attempt, to silence him, I only manage to stifle his laugh enough that no one but Cole and me can hear it and he finds the opportunity to nip the palm of my hand.

Slowly, I remove my hand from his mouth and reveal his huge smile which only brings out my smile.

"You're so beautiful."

I look down at my plain navy shorts and boxy white crop top and giggle.

Sure I am.

"Sure," I say rolling my eyes.

"You don't believe me?" I should be embarrassed right now at my appearance. I can only imagine what my hair looks like, I fell asleep with my hair up in a bun and it's has fallen out. I never had a problem with the way I look, I mean conventionally I guess I'm pretty. I like my eyes, their hazel with a hint of green and although I have small lips, I've always liked how they kind of resemble a small heart. My upper lip is fuller than my bottom lip. Eden always tells me that my cupid bow is well-defined which is something I never paid attention to but I guess it's a nice feature to have. When I was in high school, a group of playground bullies would call me chipmunk because of my high rounded cheekbones. I hoped as I got older my fuller cheeks would settle less into a babyface and more like an Angelina Jolie bone fracture but it never happened. The way I look or how much I weigh has never been a problem of mine. Nowadays I see models online that have a similar body shape to mine which has helped with me accepting my pear-shaped body as I've gotten older and my mum always reminded me that this is who I am and how I will look always look, so love yourself. And I do, to some extent.