H;)w To Flirt

H;)w To Flirt: Twenty Three

Dedicated to Peach342! Thank you for the comments!!!

Get your One Shots in! I would love it if every single one of you wrote one!!!! (Do it for Cole!) Wow... that has become my new motto....

Cole looked at me warily, "I can't tell you here, and not with them around."

"well then where do you want to go?" I asked calmly.

Cole pondered for a moment, "come on Idiot, let's go for a walk."

He was surprisingly light on his feet and well balanced for a guy who had drunk as much as he had. He pushed away from the bar stool and grabbed my hand, leading me through the crowd.

"How are you not... tipsy?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Truth? Most of the empty glasses in front of me were from drinks I bought for other random people at the bar. I hate drinking alone. Also, I hold down my alcohol very well... I definitely would not pass a Breathalyzer though."

I nodded in response as we turned onto the sidewalk outside of the bar. I wasn't entirely sure where we were headed or even where we were for that matter, but I kept pace with Cole as we continued down the street.

"So... Tessa?" I prompted.

Cole sighed, "Tessa was my best friend growing up. She was like a sister to me, kind of like how you are to Ashton. I was always the one who was there to protect her. Except on the day of the accident. Tessa and I had decided that going camping would be a fun summer activity, but of coarse, Tess being Tess, decided that we needed to pack everything on the planet, so we ended up having to take two cars. everything was going fine on the trip. I was in one car and Tessa was in the other, just in front of me. Everything was going fine that is, until the fox but across the road in front of Tess. Tess did the only thing that made sense to her, being the animal lover that she was, and tried to swerve around it. The guard rails of the bridge should have stopped her... all they did was slow her down for a second as they tore off. That was the hardest day of my life and the last day of Tessa's. Her body wasn't even found until several months later because the damage caused between breaking through the guardrails, hitting the water and the current of the water itself had torn apart the car. In fact, that's actually why I left home. After about a month of searching, my parents told me that maybe I should stop obsessing over the police finding her and let it go. We got in a big fight and I ran."

I glanced sideways at him as he made a left turn at the end of the street, moving as if he had a specific destination in mind, "she wouldn't want this you know. At least from what I've heard about her, I don't think she'd want this."

Cole seemed bewildered, "wouldn't want what?"

"for you to blame yourself like this. You shouldn't have to feel guilty all the time" I replied.

"I would feel guilty if I didn't feel guilty though."

"Yeah, but wouldn't you feel more guilty knowing that she'd probably feel guilty from making you feel guilty about her death?" I reasoned.

Cole gave me an intense look of confusion, "say what?"

I shook my head, "look Cole, Tessa loved you obviously, and you cared a lot about her. Tessa's life was unfairly taken from her, and your parents apparently think she's better off forgotten. That leaves you, Cole, as the only one who can help her family remind the worlds that Tessa did live and that she was amazing while she was still here.  You can't do that though, can't keep her memory alive, if you don't keep living and by letting yourself be consumed by guilt... you're not living."

Cole stayed silent for a long while, and if it weren't for the fact that I could see his chest rising and falling as he walked down the street beside me, I'd almost think he wasn't breathing. In fact, I was so caught up in looking at Cole, waiting for him to reply, that when he stopped suddenly, I almost kept right on walking. I looked around, taking a second to take in the surroundings. We stood on a small stone foot bridge that crossed over a small creek in the park about a block from the bar. Cole led me over to a bench that sat in the middle of the bridge, obviously there so you could look down into the water.

"Ironically enough, Tess and I used to come here all the time. She loved it because of its quiet beauty" Cole grinned ruefully.

"I completely agree with her" I sighed softly.

"You know" Cole started, "I think you were right about what you said before. Wherever Tess is now, she's probably going crazy over me. If she were here now, she would give me such a beating and tell me I was acting like an idiot. I miss her, God knows I do, but I guess that's a good thing because by missing her, I'm remembering her."

I smiled and, wihtout even thinking, grabbed Cole's hand. His eyes flickered down to our entwined fingers and then back up to meet my eyes. Already, I was blushing profusely.

"Sorry" I muttered, yanking my hand away.

Cole's annoyingly beautiful smirk overtook his face, "don't worry Idiot, I understand that you're madly in love with me."

Cole's fingers brushed against the faded marker no my cheek. This caused my blush to deepen.

"Come on" I got up, "we left Ash and Tyson at that bar; we should probably go get them."

Cole got up and stretched, "fair enough. Hey, so how'd that date with lover boy go? Did the flirting tips help?"

I let out a shakey laugh, "well..."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey folks!

 So, over the weekend, I more or less finished writing H;)w To Flirt (exciting right?)

Right now, we're looking at about twenty eight chapters with what I personally believe to be a rather humerous and clever ending ;)

Hopefully, I'll be able to show the last couple chapters to my friend Benji, get her input, and then make any changes and finish it up if necessary :)

For now though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Coming Up: Purple Cole.... XP

COMMENT>>>VOTE>>>FAN>>>ADD TO YOUR READING LIST>>>AND SHARE WITH OTHERS!

Do it for Cole ;)

Until Next Time Lovlies!

P.S. Sorry the chapters have been so short lately!!! :$