A KNOCK ON THE DOOR DISRUPTED the little family dinner (including Hayley and Veronica) as they were all celebrating Nathan's return to the chaotic household.
Nobody but Veronica and Nathan seemed to notice the knock, so the boy got up and opened the door for whoever was stopping by the house so late in the evening.
As Nathan opened the door, Veronica could see his face light up immediately and her assumption was confirmed as her brother entered the house while nervously fiddling with his fingers.
The two of them talked for a short while and kissed.
Veronica choked on her drink as she saw how passionately her brother was kissing Nathan (she always thought that he was an emotionless little gremlin) and Cole, who sat next to her, had to hit her on the back so she wouldn't die.
"What's up with you?" He asked after she had calmed down and her face had returned to a kind-of normal color, instead of the tomato red it was colored moments before.
The girl just pointed in the direction of Nathan and Skylar, as the pair now walked up to the table, both wearing a huge grin on their faces and with interlocked hands.
All Veronica wanted to do was throw up, seeing her brother all lovey-dovey was really not necessary.
Cole quickly got up and went to get a chair for Skylar so he could join the big family at dinner, or at least have some dessert. Though he was interrupted by the ringing of the house telephone and picking up, he held a short conversation with Jackie who had gotten lost during one of her jogs outside.
"Skylar, just take my chair, I have to go and get Jackie, she got lost in the woods," Cole explained, the keys to the car already in his hand and a jacket thrown over. While he didn't particularly like Jackie, he wouldn't just leave her stranded in the middle of nowhere with a thunderstorm approaching.
Veronica quickly stood up and offered to join, so she could maybe calm Jackie down a bit and without waiting for anyone's response, she went outside, getting the blankets out of her car and putting them in the Walters' car so Jackie could warm up later.
The pair drove in silence, only the soft music playing from the radio disrupted the silence between them, until Cole had enough of it. He braked and turned over to face Veronica, who was picking at her cuticles once again, some fingers already bleeding.
Taking her hands in his, he spoke softly, "Come on, everything will be alright, we'll find her and she'll be a bit scared but perfectly fine otherwise."
His words weren't calming Veronica down, she knew how creepy the forests around here were and she just wanted to get to Jackie before the rain began to pour down, which it would soon. "Can't you just keep driving? I'll feel better when she's in the car with us."
Cole shook his head and held her hands a bit tighter as she wanted to remove them from his grip. "I'll only continue driving when you stop being all stressed out. It's just hurting you when you worry about her that much, she'll be fine."
Veronica just nodded, knowing that he was right, his grip loosened and she squeezed his hands in hers for a short moment before removing them.
And then something happened that neither of the two had expected.
Cole leaned in, closing the short distance that was between them and kissed Veronica. His lips perfectly fitting against hers and his hand resting on her cheek. This kiss reminded them of all the kisses they'd shared in the past, their lips effortlessly fitting against one another.
For a moment, it was as if time were frozen and Veronica couldn't move nor think, but then, as the rain began to hit the windshield, she removed herself from him, her hand lashing out and without realizing it, she slapped him in the face.
"What was that for?" she asked, her voice raising to a shout as she removed her seatbelt and exited the car, anger taking over her thoughts.
All Veronica had wanted was for the two of them to go back to being best friends, all she wanted was to have her best friend back, the person she could talk to about everything and nothing at all. But had he taken her attempt of rekindling their friendship as her wanting to get back together with him?
Standing in the soft rain, Veronica realized that there was no way she could walk all the way back to the Walters' so she just decided to sit down in the backseat, not once listening to Cole's excuses and his attempts of reasoning with her.
He had kissed her without her consent to top everything and crossed one too many lines by doing that.
The rest of the drive to Jackie was filled with Cole's pointless efforts to explain himself and Veronica ignoring him.
When Jackie joined them in the car, she looked between the pair that hours before had seemed as if they were high on cloud nine and now weren't even sitting next to each other. Taking a blanket that Veronica offered her, Jackie cuddled into it, trying to figure out what had happened yet again to pull the two of them apart.
Noticing the red mark on Cole's cheek, Jackie's frown deepened, but at the same time she could guess what had happened and in some strange way she was amused by it. So the life of the seemingly perfect Veronica Summerhill wasn't as perfect as she made it out to be.
When the trio returned to the ranch, Veronica was the first to exit the car and without as much as a glance back at them, she entered the house, looking for her brother who still sat in the dining room, talking to Nathan.
Thanking Katherine, Veronica announced that she would be leaving, hoping that no one would notice the anger bubbling inside of her.
"Sky, do you want to drive home with me?" she asked before leaving, not exactly knowing how her brother got here.
Skylar shook his head. "No it's alright, I drove here by myself, I'll get home soon, though." While speaking, his brows furrowed as he eyed his sister, knowing full well that something was off.
Veronica nodded and left, not even bidding her goodbye to Cole who had just walked into the room, his clothes soaking wet. He watched her go, his expression faltering a bit and Skylar could see that he had raised his hand slightly, as if to hold onto Veronica's hand and ask her to stay, but he let it fall to his side soon enough, telling everyone that he would go to sleep.
As Skylar looked back and forth between the front door and the staircase he wondered what had happened yet again to drive Cole Walter and Veronica Summerhill away from one another so soon after they had made up.
HOPE speaks!
okay another chapter for you my loves <3
I actually planned on finishing this story since I have two extra days off of school but some things got in between that. I do however plan on finishing it before next Saturday since I'll be going away on a school trip the following week.
anyways! I hope you liked this chapter and are ready, because the next ones will (probably) follow shorty, seeing as I just need to edit them.
love you all lots and hope you have a great day/night 🩵
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.
