During the Thunderstorm (Natural Disaster) ✔

Chapter Ten

Nina's and Cole's voices were the first things Ally noticed when she unlocked the door and entered the apartment.

It wasn't a surprise finding Cole at her place. Cole spent half his time with Nina, and Nina barely left her bedroom unless it was for running. It wasn't also a surprise to find them bickering about something.

The apartment was small, it had only two bedrooms and a bathroom. There wasn't a table to dine in, but a small island separating the kitchen from the living room. So, when Ally opened her door, she could see Cole hanging out on the kitchen island and Nina standing on the other side.

Both of them sweating and in sports gear.

Ally crunched her nose. "I'm gone for a weekend and this place starts smelling like feet."

"Hey!" Nina greeted. Her perennial serious face lightened up a bit.

"Ally," Cole stood up from the barstool and strolled toward her. "Come here, I missed you."

Ally stepped back, pulling up a hand and scowling at Cole. "No offense, but I'm not hugging you, Cole."

She had enough labor to remove the old lady's saliva off her face, she didn't need to add Cole's smelling armpits to the list. No, thank you, she was good enough.

"See!" Cole turned with an accusatory look at Nina. "Even Ally won't hug me. This blasphemy must halt at once."

"This what..." Ally trailed off. It wasn't her fault she was finding everything confusing, her brain was fried. "What?"

Nina rolled her eyes. "Stop being ridiculous, Cole."

"I'm not the ridicule here," Cole sniffed.

Ally chuckled, though she remained confused about what was happening. It was the Cole Effect, an increment of serotonin whenever she was in his presence. Meaning, she laughed at whatever escaped his mouth, whether it made sense or not. Brain fried or not.

"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" Ally asked, turning to her twin sister since she seemed the most eligible person to answer in earnest and with clear words.

"Cole is complaining about—"

"Not complaining!" He fought back. "It's real everything I say. Nina is killing my essence."

"Your essence?" Ally parroted.

"I'm not huggable anymore," Cole answered in despair. "I'm turning into this hot, piece of meat—"

Ally couldn't help but laugh. Even Nina pressed her lips to fight the urge to chuckle.

"—Girls are getting intimidated by my irresistibility," Cole sounded a bit concerned, but his eyes were sparkling in amusement.

"I'm not following," Ally interrupted with a grin. "You don't want to be hot?"

"I'm already hot, Ally. I'm turning hotter," Cole said with a smile, she had to shake her head. "There's a correlation between my hotness and my huggable evocation. And it is a negative correlation!"

Ally gasped, though she didn't understand a fig. "Terrible."

Nina rolled her eyes again and looked at Ally. "Basically, what he's trying to say—since I'm sure he hit his head this morning and can't speak like a normal person anymore—is that since he started joining me in the morning runs, he has lost weight and says it is harder to pick up girls."

Thanks to her sister for reading Ally's blank mind.

Ally hummed and nodded. "I see..." She turned to Cole. "Why do you think that?"