You Again (Completed) ✔️

28.

I pull my car into Cole's driveway. I see him sitting on the couch with my brother through the window.

They're probably playing C.O.D.

Veronica takes her seatbelt off, turns, and looks at me. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, give me a minute." I turn the ignition off and continue to look in the house. "I'm ready." Blaring the horn, I see the three of them looking outside. I step out of the car and round it to the trunk. Opening the trunk, I grab the bags of groceries with Veronica, and we head to the front door.

Cole is at the door and steps aside to let us in. "Hey, Julia, Veronica. I'll show you to the kitchen." Veronica and I follow him to the kitchen. While we're there, Cole points out where all the utensils we need for dinner are.

I put the food in the fridge. "Can you show me to the bathroom, please, Cole?"

"Sure," he leads the way to the bathroom. "Do you want a drink, Julia?"

"Yes, what do you have?"

"Chardonnay, beer, water, Pepsi Max, orange juice?"

"I'll take the Chardonnay with orange juice, please." He stops at the door to the bathroom, and I walk inside. "Thanks, Cole."

"You're welcome." He walks away from the bathroom.

Closing the door, I walk over to the sink and wash my hands. I dry my hands before walking out and heading toward the kitchen. When I get to the kitchen, I see Cole leaning against the counter, talking to Veronica.

She looks at me as I enter the kitchen. "I had to tell Cole that you like you're alcoholic beverages half and half. So, he made it that way for you."

Cole holds the glass up for me. "I hope you like it,"

I take his drink and drink it. "It's good. Thanks, Cole." I walk out of the kitchen to see my brother fighting.

"You're a cheater," Liam yells.

"No, I'm not," Antwon yells back. "I'm just a better player than you."

Liam punches Antwon's jaw, and his face turns to the side.

"Cole," I yell. "You better get out here."

Cole runs into the living room and sees my brothers swinging their fists at each other. He pulls my brother apart. "I can't believe you two are fighting over a stupid game. Maybe I should eliminate C.O.D. until you can act your age and stop acting like children. Do you think your sister wants to see the both of you beating the shit out of each other over something stupid?"

Antwon looks in my direction. "Like she'd care."

Picking up the pillow next to me, I throw it at him. "What's that supposed to mean, Antwon? I've been home for a week, and you've all treated me like shit. Dad is the only one from our family who has treated me right since I've returned." Looking at Cole, I add. "Cole's treated me better as well. It's like he's the only person who wants me back in this town, and the rest of you want me out. If I chose to leave, you know you'll lose me for good because I won't return." Grabbing my drink, I walk out the front door and sit on the stairs.

I'm alone for a few minutes before the door opens, and Cole sits beside me. He keeps his arms away from me and says. "I do want you in town. Can you please not leave because of them?"

Turning slightly towards him, I say. "Can you please tell me what's going on with my family? Whatever it is, they're taking their anger out on me."

He doesn't look at me as he says. "I'm sorry, Julia. It's not my place to tell you what's going on. I wish it were, but I don't want them to get angry at me because I couldn't let them tell you when they were ready." Cole looks at the house. "If I get them drunk enough tonight, they will talk."

"How do you know?"

"I've been going to pubs with them for a while, and they talk about a lot of shit once they have a few drinks in them. They even spill stuff I'm not supposed to know." He stands up. "I'll start on the drinks for them." Cole walks into the house, and I see him handing my brother his beers. They take it from Cole and start drinking.

Standing up, I walk into the house and sit on the couch. "I'm going to start cooking dinner soon," I tell them before finishing my drink. I carry my empty glass to the kitchen and pull out all the ingredients I need for spaghetti bolognese.

Veronica fills a pot with water and then turns the stove on. She waits next to until the water boils before throwing the spaghetti in.

I'm pulling out tomatoes, garlic, and other stuff to make my sauce for the spaghetti. "Can I have another drink, Veronica?"

"Sure," she pours me some more champagne and orange juice. She places it on the table next to me before she stirs the pot of spaghetti. "I love the layout of the kitchen and how it's open-spaced. You can see everything from here. When we look for a place together, Julia, we should get something like this and entertain our friends."

I'm not going to entertain many people from here. They're pretty much the same people I grew up with. I hope some of them have changed and aren't waiting for Cole to lead them down his mean path again.

"You can entertain people. I'm going to keep my head down and concentrate on teaching children. Maybe redirect some bully's behaviour so they won't have ever-lasting effects on the bullied."

Cole walks into the kitchen at that moment and asks. "What I did. Did that leave an ever-lasting effect on you?"

Looking at the sauce, I nod. "The more time I spend with you, Cole, the more I learn that you can redeem yourself. It's still too early for me to forgive you, though. You're getting closer to making me forgive you, though."

A smile spreads across his face. "I'm glad."

Veronica picks up a piece of paper off the table and looks at it. "You've got a ten-year school reunion coming up?"

"Yep," Cole says. "I've been trying to get Julia to come, but she's made up her mind and has decided not to go."

"Can you blame her? She told me all about what happened at school." Looking at me, she says, "You don't have to hide from them anymore. You're a hero to a little girl who doesn't live in this country. That should be enough for you to get through the reunion with a smile."

Yeah, it should. I'm still unsure if it's what I want to do.

Looking at her, I say. "I'll think about it, Veronica. If I don't go, you could always be Cole's plus one. He'd like to show you around the hellhole we went to."