Struggles ✔

Chapter 8.

Cole's POV

After she calmed down, I walked Lexi home. She and I talked about stuff other than our fucked up lives. On our walk, we stopped by the drug store.

"What are we doing here?" Lexi asks facing me

"What's the name of your medicine?" I ask. Her eyes widen.

"Cole, you don't have to." She shakes her head at me

"Lexi..."

She sighs and goes to the counter to ask for her medicine. I smile and take the money out from my wallet. I ask 2 for two of her medication and pay for it. I hand them to Lexi and she sighs, looking at me.

"I promise I'll pay you back." She says but I shake my head

"Don't. You don't have to." I say

"But-"

"You wanna pay me back? Take care of yourself." I say and she nods her head, smiling up at me.

She gives me a tight hug and I grin widely. She gives the best hugs.

"Come on beautiful, let's get going." I say. Her eyes widen and she blushed bright red. Her hair fell in front of her face and I smiled at her. I brushed the hair out of her face and she blushed even more.

I took a good look at the girl I once called my enemy. I'm an idiot for ever calling her ugly. I never really took a good look at her before. Every time I saw her I was just annoyed.

Lexi was far from ugly. She was beautiful. She had beautiful soft silky chocolate brown hair. She had natural red lips that stood out thanks to her pale skin. And I know this is pretty cliché but I love her eyes. It was unique blue-grey color. It was a pretty color,yes, but I love her eyes for another reason.

Her eyes held so much mystery, secrets and emotions. Not many, maybe even no one, can understand her, except me. I can read her eyes and I can tell when she's truly happy. She's opened up to me and now I can read her like an open book, just by looking at her eyes. And that's what I love about her eyes. It makes me feel special that I'm the only one who can understand her and really know who she is. Her eyes are the gates to her soul, and she closed it a long time ago, but she let me in. She trusts me, the asshole who caused her pain. She trusts her enemy, the person she despises.

I was brought back to reality by a sudden shake. I blinked and realized Lexi was shaking me. She had a grin on her face.

"Dude, I lost you. I  was talking to you, but then while I was talking you just went off to la la land." She says and I smile sheepishly at her

"Sorry. I was just thinking." I say

"About what?" She asks

"...you."

"Real smooth Cole." She blushes bright red

"You're so cute when you blush. You look like a cherry tomato" I say, which makes her blush even more

"Shut up." She grumbles

"What were you really thinking about?"

"I'm telling the truth. I was thinking about you." I say

"Yeah yeah whatever. Anyways, I think you should get going. I can walk myself from here." She says facing me

"Uhm no way." I say

"Why? It's getting dark." She says

"Precisely. Lexi, you're passing through the most dangerous part of town and it's getting dark. Why are you even headed there anyways?!" I exclaim

"Uhm maybe because I live there." She says. My jaw drops and I can't believe what I just heard.

"Your adoptive parents got you, a girl, an apartment in the most dangerous part of town?! How stupid can they be?!"

"Well it's the cheapest." She shrugs and I shake my head

"Nope. Nope. Nope. I'm not leaving you." I say

"Cole...-" she starts

"I am going with you Lexi. That's final." I cut her off and glare at her. She sighs and nods her head

I can't believe this is where's she been living for the past years. The part of town where all the drug addicts, drunks, rapists and all other criminals are. I'm surprised she's lived this long.

"I'm surprised you haven't been murdered or raped yet." I blurt out. She laughs and takes out pepper spray and her phone.

"You have no idea how many times these two things have saved me." She says

"These men are scared of pepper spray?" I chuckle

"Hey, this things hurts like hell. But if that doesn't scare them I have a pocket knife with me too" She says

"Damn woman."

"Haha yeah" She says

We reached her apartment safely. No one bothered us and we were still alive. Lexi's apartment building looked really old and rusty. It looked broken and abandoned. When you go inside you can immediately smell smoke. Her apartment was really small and looked like it was giving up.

The walls were a dirty yellow color. The floor was creaking with every step and it felt it was about break beneath my feet. Everything looked rusty. There was a table with two chairs, a sink, a refrigerator and a cubby hold taking up the whole apartment "living room". There were two other rooms, which I'm guessing is the bedroom and bathroom. I didn't even wanna see what it's like in there.

"Thanks for walking me home Cole" Lexi smiles at me

"Lexi...you should go to sleep. You must be exhausted." I say

"Uhm okay? Are you sure you'll be okay?" she asks

"I'll be fine. I'm just gonna rest my legs then I'll be on my way" I say and she nods. She gives me a hug and walks into the bedroom.

I sat on the chair and took out my phone. I told my maid, Marie, to prepare the guest room as we will be having a guest who will be staying with us for a while.

I am not letting Lexi stay in a dangerous place like this.

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