WHERE WE ARE ; COLE WALTER

016

"ERIN, DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?"     Veronica asked her friend as she walked up to her locker.

The blonde looked up in confusion from her textbook and by the look on her best friend's face she knew exactly what time it was. Shaking her head, Erin took a few steps backward, looking at Veronica in horror.

"No way, ask Skylar to help you take out your braids," she told her, "the last time I helped you my hands hurt for the whole week."

Veronica looked at Erin with puppy eyes and clasped her hands together, "Please, Erin, whenever Skylar helps me, he just rips at the braids and tears my hair out. He's as useless as always."

Erin mustered her friend, "But why do you want to take them out? You've only had them in for like two weeks and they're not grown out, like at all."

The black girl just shrugged, "I want to wear my natural hair and I'm in desperate need of change."

Erin just sighed in defeat, she couldn't say no to her best friend anyway but she really wondered what made Veronica want a change, since she had been so proud of having convinced her father to let her do braids just a few moths ago. 

Quickly Erin was engulfed in a tight hug, Veronica shouting a loud thank you, for the whole hall to hear. Erin escaped the hug rather quickly, "What's up with you, though, you're acting kind of strange."

"What do you mean? I've always been this way," Veronica responded in confusion, tilting her head to the side. Though, she knew exactly what Erin was talking about. Veronica had kind of stopped being her usual smiley-self, forcing a smile on her face most of the time, which then only looked like a strange grimace and she avoided Cole like the plague.

Of course, the pair had to cross each other and greet one another in their shared classes, however if they encountered one another in the halls, Veronica turned around and chose to walk the longer way to class, while in the past she had always run up to Cole to chat and spend some time with him.

Not really buying her act, Erin nodded slowly, she could just ask Veronica about it later, when they were taking out her braids during the many hours this will take, there surely will arise the opportunity to talk about what the hell was going on with Veronica Summerhill and Cole Walter.

It was late at night now. Veronica sat on the floor, Erin had positioned herself on the bed and while Gilmore Girls played on the laptop both of them were fully concentrated on taking out the million braids in Veronica's hair.

Deciding that enough was enough, Erin shut the laptop, consequently pausing the show and forced Veronica to look at her. "So, now that we're alone and I have to be your servant for the rest of the night, tell me what happened. You and Cole haven't even so much as looked at each other for the past few days and whatever this is, it's been going on for way too long."

Veronica contemplated what excuse she should make up for her best friend, or if she should finally stop lying. This could be her opportunity to come clean and tell Erin everything that she has been keeping a secret. 

But she knew that she would hurt Erin and she didn't want that.

"Stop with the thinking, just tell me whatever's been going on. I'm sure I can take it," Erin interrupted Veronica's rambling thoughts.

Playing with the braid she was about to undo, Veronica finally began to tell Erin the truth. The whole truth about what had been going on with her and Cole, how they had started dating in secret and how they had just broken up.

While Veronica rambled on, her hands fidgeting and her gaze directed to the floor in shame, Erin just listened, not once intervening. She just listened as Veronica poured her heart out to her and for some reason, everything made sense now and the best of it all; it didn't hurt. 

Erin always knew that there were some hidden feelings between Cole and Veronica but she was also kind of too preoccupied with her own crush on the boy to truly realize it and hearing those words now, it was like a burden was lifted from her shoulders.

To begin with, Erin really only held onto her crush on Cole because he was viewed as attractive by so many people in school and all of them always told her that they would make the most wonderful couple if they ever got together; the pretty cheerleader and handsome quarterback.

As Veronica finished, a silence settled in the room, though it was not as tense as she had expected it to be, she herself was just tense because she was awaiting Erin's response.

"So? Do you hate me?"

Snapping out of her own thoughts, Erin shook her head and sat down next to Veronica, taking her fidgeting fingers in her hands and held onto them. "Why should I hate you? You loved him and I know that you still do. I just had a silly crush on him."

"No, no your feelings are serious, you also like him. I am the worst friend ever, Erin," Veronica began to ramble, and as she wanted to apologize, Erin covered her mouth with her hand, a soft smile on her face.

"We've been friends for a long time now, Vee, and you've been the bestest friend I could ever wish for," Erin stated, thinking of all the moments, be it happy or sad ones, the two of them had shared; especially that one time when Erin had accidentally written 'bestest' on a test, which made the two grammar freaks laugh for days about the dumb mistake and it worked even now as a smile made its way onto Veronica's face. "And some dumb guy like Cole Walter won't stop our friendship. But really, you shouldn't be the one to ask me how I feel about this, I should ask you how you're doing."

The blonde looked Veronica in the eyes, waiting for a response, though she only threw a glance at Erin's hand, which still remained on her mouth. "Oops, sorry," Erin said as she quickly removed her hand from Veronica's mouth, a sheepish smile settling on her face.

Without warning and for the second time today, Veronica engulfed Erin in a tight hug and by the way Erin could feel her shirt slowly getting wet, she could only guess that Veronica really needed this hug right now and didn't let go until the girl's tears had stopped.

"What do you say to ice cream?" Erin asked as she stood up, knowing that ice cream was one of the many ways to lift Veronica's mood.

Veronica nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks, "But only if it's chocolate chip ice cream." 

HOPE speaks! 

i have to say, I love Erin, I really do and this chapter, i will hold it close to my heart since I really like it, even if I just randomly began to write it today since I didn't yet know how I could get the thanksgiving episode to go along with this story, anyway, that's an issue for another time. 

I hope you liked this chapter and have a great weekend :)