Escape || Cole Walter

Twenty Two

"Elle! Elle!" I hear muffled through my ears. Curiously, my groggy eyes open and they meet Jackie's familiar baby face. "Happy birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!" She starts to sing.

"Ugh no!" I groan, turning around so my stomach is on my mattress. My head is pounding like crazy right now.

"Happy birthday dear Elle, happy birthday to you!" She finishes off loudly, getting closer to my ears. "Come on you're officially seventeen!" She squeals, practically shoving me off my own bed with excitement.

"A year closer to death hooray!" I laugh.

Turning around I see her roll her eyes and then sit up, beginning to blabber more than normal. "Stop your pessimism and let me do my thing, planning. We are going to have an excellent day."

"I wish Lucy was here." I whisper.

"I know." Her voice lowers with pain. "But I am going to try. It'll be good."

I nod, my throat getting more and more painful as I hold off the urge to cry. " Okay, you can lay here for a couple more minutes but then you have to get up. I'm gonna pick out an outfit."

As she stands up I quickly sit up, arguing immediately. "You can't touch my closet please!" I'm terrified of everything her preppy- self puts together. I mean honestly how can you be a fashion designers daughter and dress like that?

Laughing she continues to walk over as she calls over her shoulder, "Better get up then."

Groaning, I set my feet on the cold ground and stand up slowly, all of my grandma joints feeling terrible. "I'm getting too old for this." I joke as I walk over to the closet.

"You're life is just beginning." My sister says from behind me as she watches me closely pick out my outfit. Neither of us have any idea if that's true. She could've said that to Lucy, but Lucy didn't make it.

Turning back at her I shake my head with my teasing smile fading. I don't know if she realizes how much she is offending me right now.

I pick out a black baby tee, with my favorite flattering Levi's jeans. After putting all of that on, I put my hair in two pigtail braids that fall down onto my shoulders. "I wanna get a tattoo." I say, glancing over at Jackie as I do my makeup for the first time in a couple weeks.

The last couple weeks have been hard. I would come home, do whatever chores I needed to, and then held up in my room. Sometimes I would go to dance, and sometimes I wouldn't. But after this birthday, I'm hoping it will get better. Especially with all of the hard holidays in my rearview.

"You want to get a tattoo?" Jackie practically yells. I nod my head with a smile. Jackie chose to wear a pear of nice blue jeans, and a frilly purple top. It's not the worst choice she's ever made. I'll give her that.

"Who wants a tattoo?" Cole asks, peeking his head in from the door. His blue eyes meet mine through the mirror and he nods his head. "Ohh."

"Hey, who invited you?" Jackie asks with a grin. He struts inside, holding his hands on his hips in the middle of the room.

He shrugs, his eyes still on me. "I overheard and wanted to investigate. I had to know which one of the two angels wanted their bodies marked forever." He teases.

"Bye Cole!" I yell, finishing up my mascara.

"Happy birthday New York." His mischievous voice smooths through the room. "What are the plans?" He asks.

"Well some of them are a surprise. But she told me she wanted to get as much free stuff of course, and then we are inviting everyone to go have an ice skating party." Jackie answers for me. But my eyes fly to hers the moment she mentions the ice skating. That was supposed to be a surprise for Cole. He told me he always wanted a winter birthday just so he could go ice skating a long time ago. And it was a very good idea.