"VERONICA!" KATHERINE EXCLAIMED as the girl walked into the kitchen, the woman quickly running up to her to hug her. "I haven't seen you in such a long time, what happened?"
The girl shrugged, unsure whether or not she should tell Katherine about what had happened and decided to settle for, "Life's just been a bit busy right now."
The ginger haired woman didn't buy the act, but knew when someone didn't want to talk, so she left it at that. "Well, Cole's somewhere outside, I haven't seen him since we finished eating, you can go look for him if you want to."
Shifting in her place, Veronica didn't move to go outside and finally Katherine understood what had happened and now she needed to know what the heck was going on with Cole.
Her son was losing everything he held dear to him and as his mother, she at least needed to try and make up for some of it; furthermore, she knew that losing Veronica would throw Cole completely off road and no one knew what would happen then.
"Veronica, honey, you know you can tell me what happened and you know that if I'm going to take a side, it'll be yours," Katherine told her, trying to get more out of the girl and at the same time sound a bit jokingly.
Veronica sighed and sat down on one of the stools, "It's complicated but to sum things up, we had a fight and didn't really talk anymore after that."
The woman nodded, "Let me guess, it happened after that party at the lake house."
"Yes," Veronica responded, looking down to the floor, not knowing what she should do now. While she got along with every Walter in some way or another, Cole had been the one thing connecting her to his family and now that link was gone. She was scared to be thrown out and lose them forever.
A hand was placed underneath her chin and Katherine lifted her face, "Come on, show me your beautiful smile. And you don't have to worry, we all love you and just because you and Cole aren't on good terms right now, that doesn't mean that you don't get to spend this day with us," there was a moment of silence between them as Veronica only nodded. "But as a mother, I have to ask you one thing: please, try to talk to Cole. He's throwing his life away and I know that no one but you can get through to him."
A bitter smile made its way onto Veronica's face as she almost laughed out loud at the irony of this situation, thankfully, though, she could hold herself back. "Okay, I'll try talking to him, but Katherine, I don't think it will do any good."
"Just you trying is enough for me, honey," Katherine spoke as she turned back to the dishes she had been cleaning up until Veronica had arrived.
What Katherine hadn't told Veronica was that ever since that night after the party Cole had closed himself off and was in a worse mood than he had ever been, none of the families members could explain the shift in his mood, but now the mother began to understand her son and what had been happening behind her back all along.
Making her way outside once again, Veronica couldn't help but pick at her fingers. She was nervous. Very nervous. This won't go well, but for Katherine, she had to at least try and talk to Cole.
Knowing exactly where to look for Cole, Veronica made her way into the little workshop that was attached to the Walters' barn. Deciding that she would only make his mood fouler by jumping in the shed unannounced, she knocked, using the secret knock signal the two of them had invented when they were younger.
Her knocking was only followed by silence, so she decided to enter, opening the door slowly and soon spotted Cole, who stood at the worktable, a wonderful blue and white colored teapot in front of him as he watched the door with attentive eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, turning back to whatever he was doing with the teapot.
Veronica subconsciously crossed her arms over her chest in a protective manner, though soon lowered them to pick at her skin once again. "Shouldn't I be the one to ask you that? Thanksgiving is your favorite holiday, so shouldn't you be inside with your family instead of being in this shed here all alone?" she asked him, tentatively taking a few steps in his direction.
"And shouldn't you be at home instead of visiting your ex's family?" he asked his words leaving his mouth in a sharp tone.
Bewildered by his rudeness, the girl took a step back, distancing herself from him once again. "Just so you know, I was invited and really? Do you have to be so rude to me? I've never done anything to you. I just told you the truth," Veronica told him and after taking a deep breath she continued, full well knowing that he would hate her after she had spoken these words.
"And if you must know, I'm only talking to you right now because your behavior and this whole 'my life is over because I can't play football anymore' act is even worrying your family. They are worried for you, Cole, they don't know how to approach you since you always shut them out and they thought that at least I could help but well, that was a shot in the dark, right?" Veronica laughed bitterly at that.
"I mean look at you, you love them, we both know it but instead of using the opportunity to spend time with them, you prefer to wallow in self-pity in this dirty shed here because you're too afraid to let go of the past and move on. News flash Cole, life goes on, if you want it to or not, so closing yourself off to finding new opportunities will do you no good."
Cole stared at her in shock, he had never heard such words leave her mouth and he knew that the mean things she said, well, Veronica would never speak them if she didn't have to.
He observed her, still in complete silence, the way her fingers continued to pick at each other, even though some of her cuticles were already bleeding, the way her eyes started to tear up and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop them from coming.
Was this really what he had become? Because of him and his actions his family was hurt and the person he loved the most was standing in front of him, crying and he wasn't even able to comfort her since he had messed up. Cole wanted to, no, needed to leave this small shed. It was as if the walls were moving in on him, crushing him.
The blond walked past Veronica, breathing heavily as he left the shed, though, as soon as he had opened the door and glanced outside, he regretted his decision.
Outside were Jackie and Alex, kissing; the girl he liked and his little brother, the one who had an easy life, being smart, good at horse riding and just in general, Alex was a better person than him and Cole had always been envious of him.
Curious as to why Cole had suddenly halted, Veronica walked up to the door, sniffing silently as she wiped away some of the tears that had escaped. When she spotted what he was looking at a sigh left her lips, though it was not one of relief, but rather one of desperation. "So all of this was for nothing. What will you do now?"
Without waiting for an answer, she walked off, leaving Cole to look between her leaving figure and the kissing pair.
If he could just turn the time back, everything would be good again.
YOU ARE READING
WHERE WE ARE ; COLE WALTER
Fanfiction. . . IN WHICH . . . things get a lot more difficult for Veronica Summerhill once Jackie Howard shows up in the little town of Silver Falls and threatens her 'friendship' with Cole Walter.
