Escape || Cole Walter

Thirty Nine

In the middle of the night, Im not able to sleep at all. A light is shining bright through my window, driving me mad. Ive got so much on my mind. There will always be something going on Ive come to learn, but it is just worse tonight.

All of the issues seem to have been resolved with Cole. But these last couple days, it still hasnt been the same as it used to be before all of our drama. Weve just been sharing small looks, and cute little conversations. Neither of us has mentioned the night we got stuck, or our future.

As Im lying wide awake in our warm bedroom, random thoughts bouncing from one side of my mind to the other, the constant sport of my mind is disrupted by the feeling of Jackie slipping into my bed. She stays silent, faced the other way. She gives me no explanation, just crawls in and lays there.

I turn over, towards her body, with a smile on my face, and she follows a couple seconds later. "Hi sis." I whisper with a genuine joy. Slowly, Jackie and I have been able to come over everything. I know I am able to talk to her about anything now.

"Hi Elle." She responds, wearing the same smile we share. It was our mother's. That's the number one thing people tell me when they knew her. It used to be a huge compliment, but now, every time it shatters my heart all over again.

"Cant sleep?" I ask her. She shakes her head, the small smirk falling off of her face. "Me either."

"Whats on your mind?" She asks me, wrapping her arm around me.

Shrugging, I squint my eyes, trying to decide if I even want to talk about any of this right now. "I have to talk to Alex about things that might be happening with Cole soon. And the wedding."

"Ugh, the wedding!" She groans as we giggle together. Hayley and Wills wedding is officially tomorrow. It was kind of a shot gun wedding, but they wanted it small, and soon, so Jackie and I made it happen. "I am so nervous."

"Oh stop, we all know you are going to do good." I roll my eyes.

"We." She corrects, pointing at my forehead.

"We are going to do good." I edit my sentence, making sure she still hears me.

"I guess." She admits. "Are you still planning on talking to Alex?" Jackie asks, regarding when I blabbed to her about Cole. The first thing either of us thought about was Alex. So we decided I needed to talk to him.  "Telling Alex is going to be hard. Tell me if you need anything okay?" I nod, imagining how the conversation will go. Ive been meaning to talk to him for a couple days straight, but weve been super busy, and I havent been able to get time to talk to anyone. I dont want him to feel like Im a Paige. But if my leading on goes on anymore, I will for sure earn that name. "Look, if he really cares about you like he seems to, he will understand. At least you didnt get involved." Jackie pep talks me.

"Thank you Jackie." I close my eyes, still listening. "What has been on your mind?" I ask her.

She sighs, the scent of clean, minty toothpaste filling my nose. "Ive been really really missing New York. Like its calling to me. I havent really connected to this place as much as you have. My interview is also driving me crazy." I nod, completely understanding that. Jackie had her interview a couple days back, and just like me, boched it. I cant imagine it was as bad as she made it sound though. It was one question, that was just for fun. I am hoping Jackie gets into this summer program with Stanford, she out of anyone deserves it.
Over the past couple talks weve had, I can tell she isnt truly happy. Jackie has been throwing on a happy face so she doesnt worry anyone else. "Also, the person I like doesnt really like me back. Its getting exhausting staying here." My sister adds, her voice clearly exhausted.

My eyes open as well as my mouth. "Excuse me who?" I ask, taken off guard by her sudden drop of information. In the several months that weve been here, Jackie has not once mentioned a love interest. "Jackie hello?" I repeat, shaking her shoulders as a joke when she doesnt answer.