Him & Her

Ch.6

Ch6
Elizabeth stood in front of Cole's big two story white house, wondering if she should knock on the wooden door or not. Had Cole been serious that he wanted her to come or was he joking? And if he had meant it, was it a trap? Or did he really just want to finish the project before the deadline, which was two days from then, which happened to be Christmas eve.
Elizabeth raised her hand, her finger an inch away from the red doorbell. She hesitated then closed her eyes and pressed the button.
She heard nothing from inside as she waited, then she opened her eyes and rang it again. Nothing. She pressed her ear against the door and listened. She could hear voices from inside, one of them the unmistakable deep voice of Cole. Elizabeth stood straight and raised the big silver ring door knocker that hung from the mouth of a gargoyle and let it fall twice.
She waited as she heard footsteps approaching and the door squeaked open. Cole stood there, smiling, "I knew you would come." he said, perfect teeth showing. He was wearing black pants and a long sleeved black shirt. Elizabeth thought that black was not his color, it didn't go with his bright blue eyes and dirty blond hair. But she put that thought away as Cole stepped aside and motioned for her to come in.
Elizabeth stepped inside and felt totally out of place with her yellow cotton shirt and bright blue jeans in the dark room. Everything was black; the walls were painted black, the couches were made of black leather, the big rug in the middle of the big room was black, even the tent that was set up between the black tv and couches was black- wait, a tent? And there was a big trampoline that took most of the space in the living room. The dark interior of the house was the opposite of the bright outside.
"What..." Elizabeth couldn't find any words.
Cole laughed softly, "Yeah, thought you might say that."
"Who is it Cole?" a little girl's voice squeaked from inside the tent.
"Yes, who's here Cole?" that voice also came from inside the tent, but it sounded older.
"It's just a friend, she came so we could do a project for school." Cole answered, then he grabbed a black jacket from a dark coffee table next to one of the couches. "You might want to put this on." he handed it to Elizabeth who took it and put it on, zipping it up to cover her bright shirt. It was several sizes too big, so it must have been Cole's and the sleeves covered her hands and the middle reached below her waist.
The front of the tent opened and out came a little girl with a wave of golden hair that cascaded down her shoulders with eyes that were exactly like Cole's. A much older woman with the same bright hair stepped out too, but she had hazel eyes; both of them wore black clothes too.
"Um, hello." Elizabeth smiled, trying to hide her surprise.
"Oh, hello!" the woman who must've been Cole's mother grabbed her hand and shook it, then let go of Elizabeth's hand as if it was burning hot. She smiled at Elizabeth who smiled back.
"Elizabeth, this is my mom. Mom, Elizabeth." Cole said.
"Hi!" the little girl said as she grabbed Cole's hand.
"And this-" Cole held the girl up into his arms, "Is my little sister, Matilda."
"Hi." Elizabeth smiled and gently squeezed her small cheek. Matilda smiled, blushing and buried her face into Cole's shoulder.
"Oh!" Cole's mom screamed so loud it made Elizabeth and Cole jump. "I should make some cookies for you!" Cole's mom smiled, but her eyes seemed to have a hidden secret behind them. Then she took Matilda from Cole and ran through a black door into what must've been the kitchen.
For a moment Elizabeth and Cole stood awkwardly as she stared at the closed door and he stared at her.
After what felt like forever Cole spoke, "So, do you want to get started?"
Elizabeth looked at him with her brown eyes and whispered, "Can I ask you something?"
Cole's stunning eyes darted to the door that led into the kitchen and then back at Elizabeth, "Let's go to my room, then we can talk."
Cole led her up a flight of stairs at the far side of the room that led up to a hallway that branched off to several closed doors. Cole walked over to the first grey door and stepped inside, Elizabeth right on his heels. Cole closed the door when she was inside and faced her, "I guess you deserve an explanation about the whole black-themed house thing."
"Cole, I-"
He cut her off, "No really it's ok."
That wasn't really her question, but he insisted, so she let him speak.
"My dad left my mom and I when I was...about 6 and I haven't seen him since then."he said.
"Oh, with all the black stuff, I thought he was...you know, gone." she shifted on her feet.
Cole laughed softly, "I wish, but no, he's still alive somewhere. The problem was that my mom couldn't accept the fact that he was gone, so she just thought he had died. I don't think her brain let her accept that he had left her the day my little sister was born, so it somehow put the idea in her head that he was dead, so she started the whole everything-should-be- black thing." he sighed, "I kind of understand why she thinks he's dead. My dad left her with barely enough money to get by, no job, and two kids...that's a lot of responsibility. Soon the stress kicked in, plus she was always so tired, so she kind of...slipped."
Elizabeth felt uncomfortable as Cole looked at her for her reaction; she felt wrong in the empty room and her yellow shirt seemed to be glowing, even though it was covered by the black jacket.
"Lots of people say that I look like my dad, and even sometimes my mom thinks I'm him-" Cole shook his head.
"Let's do this project now." he said in his usual tone. He walked past her and pulled out a laptop from under her bed, "So, I was thinking of doing it on Roman Mythology, because I like that stuff so we're doing it if you like it or not, got it?"
Elizabeth sat on the floor next to him and asked him in a serious voice, "Cole, why am I here?"
Cole laughed, "We have a project to do."
She stared into his electric blue eyes and repeated, "Why am I here?"
For the very first time in Elizabeth's whole life, she saw that Cole wasn't able to look her in the eyes and watched in disbelief as he looked away.
"We could have gone to my house, you've never talked about your family in your whole life, and I thought you were out to get me. One day, you're throwing milk cartons at me and embarrassing me in front of everyone and the next you invite me to your house and tell me your life story?" Elizabeth thought it sounded harsh, but she couldn't help it; Cole was the most confusing, unpredictable boy she knew.
"I...I don't actually know why myself." he laughed and looked back at her, but he didn't look into her brown eyes. "I guess you're just different than everyone else; I don't know what to do around you sometimes." he said, his eyes on her lips.
Now she started to feel awkward, so she blurted, "Roman Gods!"
He laughed and turned back to his laptop and repeated, "Roman Gods."
Elizabeth stared at the laptop screen as Cole began searching Roman Gods and she thought that she would probably never understand what went on in his brain.