Torn In Two.

Part 6

Gemma's POV

I turn my attention towards the door and knock twice before taking a step back. Cody is now standing right beside me. He seems to be nervous as he stares down at his long fingers and keep cracking his knuckles.

"Stop doing that!" I pull his hands apart and look at him with a blank, almost expressionless face.

"Uh..sorry!" He puts his head down and just stares at his fingers before sighing.

"Are you alright?" I question. He looks pale for a moment before flashing me one of his boyish grins.

"Yeah just.." As he is about to finish his sentence the door before us opens wide only to reveal a blue eyed woman, aged around 45 with her hair pulled back in a neat bun. She looks at Cody and then at me and soon enough a huge smile is plastered on her face. Cody looks so much like his mother.

"Hello son.." She smiles warmly at Cody. He returns a sheepish smile back at her.

"...and who is this lovely lady you have here?" She smirks and winks at me. Just like Cody. I guess the teasing trait runs in the family.

"Hello Mrs. Winters. I'm Gemma Downer. I'm your neighbour and Cody's classmate as well." I give her a toothy smile. She ignores my smile and chooses to grab my arm, not harshly but it's a mild pull. She drags me into the kitchen and forces me to sit on one of the stools near the counter. She grabs a nearby stool and sits next to me.

"Mom! Please do not scare the neighbour away. She may turn out to be a serial killer who's using that house as a hideout and if you piss her off she may come and get you too." Cody yells at his mom as he goes up to the fridge to get some water. Before taking a sip from his bottle he winks at me. I let out a low growl at that. Little monkey faced idiot.

"So Gemma, are you what Cody says you are?" She questions only to increase my nervousness. What does she mean by that?

"Um...I'm sorry? What am I?" I question back.

"A serial killer..?" She says softly and comes closer to me. I shift uncomfortably in my stool. Wait. What? A serial killer? Christ! This family is crazy!

"Oh my! Oh no! I'm just a normal 17 year old girl who is about to punch her neighbour's son." I whisper yell and run towards Cody and jump on his back and cover his eyes.

"Wha..? Get off, Gems! This is unfair. I wasn't even prepared for the attack." He tries to get me off his back but my hold is too strong.

"That's what you get for fooling around with me! Ha." I get off and punch him straight in the back. He bends back in pain.

"Ouch!! That hurt. What are you a WWE fighter?" He moans in pain. Gotcha jerk.

"See I'm normal." I grin as I take my seat in front of his mom.

"Very! I really like this girl! Where'd you find her? A museum?" She chuckles and shakes her head and soon stops. Her face is full of concern now.

"Wait. Weren't you children supposed to be in college right now?" She asks us both with a worried expression.

"Yes mom. But, we decided to do some shopping with you. Since you wanted to spend time with your wonderful son. Gemma's just a loner so I decided to call her too." He giggles and comes over to place his hand on his mom's shoulder. They really do share a beautiful and fun relationship. But, where's his dad? Hmm. Work maybe?

"Loner? My bum! So shall we get moving, Mrs. Winters? We can go to local coffee shop maybe to grab some nice coffee and waffles." I clap my hands and get up from my stool.

"Oh my darlings! You two are such wonderful kids. Bless. Okay let's go. I'll just grab my keys and then we can get moving." She smiles at me and walks off to I'm guessing where her room was.

"She's so cute and sweet all the time. But, I was just thinking...where's your daddy? I'm sorry, you don't need to answer that if you don't want to." I feel like hitting my head with a pan now. Why did I even ask him that?

"Let's not talk about this. Oh look! Mom's here. Let's go!" He walks away and I just stand there questioning myself 'why doesn't he want to talk about his dad?'.

"C'mon honey, we have to go now!" Mrs. Winters calls out from the entrance.

"Coming.." I walk out and stop beside Cody. We're waiting for his mom to lock the house.

He doesn't look at me but just sighs and walks down the pathway to his mother's car.

I follow him.

"Alrighty! Let's go." Cody's mom gets in the car after which Cody goes in at the back followed by me. I sit next to Cody in the back seat. As I'm getting myself comfortable in the seat, I can feel Cody staring at me.

When I turn to look at him, he takes out his phone and starts texting someone. This time I'm the one who's sighing.

"Elle's Coffee Shop it is then!" Cody's mother chirps and smiles brightly at the two of us.

"Let's go!" I chuckle.

"For the love of God, Cody. Leave that goddamn phone of yours alone for once. Socialise, son. Socialise." Mrs. Winters complains from the driver's seat.

"Fine mom! Oh! Hello, napkin. It's nice to meet you." Cody grabs the napkin box and starts to talk to it like it has life.

"Jesus help me.." She shakes her head and sighs.

"Hello there, napy! It's me, Gemma! Your home girl!" I start talking to the napkin box too. Let's all be weird together in this car!

"Napy? Home girl? And you thought I was weird, mom. Look around! Open thy eyes." He laughs at me after that. There it is. That's the real Cody now. I unknowingly smile as I see him laugh. Seeing him happy, I giggle like a little girl. He makes me happy without even knowing it.

"Ooh! We're here. There's no crowd too. Lucky day, eh?" Cody's mom is way too happy to realise that she has stopped the car in the middle of the road and there are cars honking behind us.

Cody looks at his mom and then at me and then shakes his head and smiles sheepishly. That smile will one day either make me or break me.

"Mom!" He smiles again.

AN : Extremely sorry for this super late update. I've been through a lot lately so yeah. I'm back though. I missed you guys. I love you all. Don't forget to vote and comment. xo