The Career ✓

04

ALLIE

   Hey, Alec.

WHERE IN THE WORLD DID YOU THINK TO INVITE THE LITERAL, LIVING, SOLID COLE GREENE OVER TO OUR HOUSE?

Deep breaths.

His smooth blonde hair and piercing eyes catch me every single time. I would call him cute, but that's not suitable. It's more like hot in a fancy designer skirt.

     Not literally, of course, since how would I know if he even owns one, but- okay, I've got to stop talking about his hotness, but oh, boy, those lips look so-

    Anyway, as soon as I sat down, Alec burst into the room uneasily. "Hey, Allie, I need a favor." 

I groaned. "I've been helping you all week! What is it now?" 

"It's just simple, I just need you to sit with Cole. Gwen and I found this super cool short collection that only takes half an hour. I promise we'll stop after that."

"I don't care what you do, Alec!"

"Fine, fine, just please, sit with Cole." 

My jaw dropped and I immediately agreed. "Of course." 

I held out my pinkie. It was our classic spin on the Pinkie Promise: we held out our pinkie fingers to each other and slipped them away into an all handshake and then switched to thumbs and then shook those and then we linked pinkies. 

      It was complicated and required sharp movements, but we'd learned it in first grade and had been doing it ever since. My eyes caught on Cole's, standing in the doorway expectantly, and Alec stopped dead in his tracks, not even needing to follow my gaze. On his way out the other door, he leaned and whispered in my ear, "Be polite. And we're too old for that." I swear I caught his smirk.

    ***

I turned around, groaned, and gathered my stuff.

"So, do you usually sit there all the time? Like, you don't even watch movies or whatever Alec and Gwen are doing?" 

"They haven't done that before." I said quietly. Cole got the message and shut his mouth. As soon as we got seated, he opened it again.

"What's this? And how do you do it?" I couldn't believe Cole was actually talking to me. Perhaps I could tutor him or something. That would be super fun. Would it though? I scooted my chair closer to him, grabbed snacks from the kitchen, and we sat, figuring out every problem in our entire study book, and when we were done, he hit us with shocking news: "I can stay here until the weekend, if you don't mind." 

     Just as he said that, Alec and Gwen walked in. Gwen had her backpack and loads of completed homework in her hand. "Hey, guys," She greeted us, and then walked out the door.

 "Is it that late?" I wondered out loud, but nobody noticed, as Alec shared his news. Alec shrugged and walked over to the phone to call Mom. She picked up and said, "Sweetie, I'm at work." Alec quickly turned off the speaker and began pacing the kitchen.

     When he hung up, he said, "That's fine. She's working at a hotel. She stays there overnight. She won't be back for about a month." 

    "And you're okay with being home alone, every day, for a month? She is, rather?" 

 I smothered a laugh, amused at Cole's confused expression. He'd never heard of working moms before? Perhaps never ones that left the house for an entire month and never came back. Apparently enjoying it too, Allie noticed a hint of a smile on Alec's face as he shrugged. "Yeah. Why not?" 

  After Cole had arranged his sleeping bag on the floor, he pulled out an expensive phone and Alec and Cole sat there playing games. Since it wasn't that late, I showered but didn't go to bed yet. Instead, I took out a book and read until dinnertime.

      When it happened, I cooked pasta and covered it with my homemade sauce, pouring each boy and me a glass of milk. When I called Alec and Cole down, they responded with 5 more minutes. When they finished, they walked down, talking.

     Alec took a seat casually as I washed my hands and wiped them on a table. Then I pointed to the sink. "I cook, you wash. My rules." 

   Cole was obediently the first one to place himself there. As he dried his hands, he seemed to like our home. "It's cozy." He said. "And it doesn't feel like there's unused space. I love it here." 

      Alec turned on the fireplace and I turned on the TV, watching one of my shows as I ate. They just quietly talked to each other about their game, nothing I wanted to hear, but soon I found something I did: They talked about each other's crushes.

    I'd never seen Alec blush, but he did when Cole asked him, pretending to think. He lowered his voice so I couldn't hear, but I lip-read anyway. I noticed he slightly pointed at me, but otherwise I could figure it out. Figures. They were scared I'd care about whoever they cared about. Ha! That was the funniest thing I'd heard in my entire life.

   When I finished, I took everyone's empty plates, washed them, and put them in the dishwasher. Exhausted, I hopped on my computer and began typing another page of my novel. After finishing a few, I noticed it was 10:00 already. I walked into Alec's room.

     "Goodnight, sleepy-heads!" I called as I closed the door.

"Wait, it's only ten!" Alec opened the door after me, reaching down the hall and stretching his voice so it would reach me, halfway through my door.

"Don't care!" I called back in a sing-song voice, shutting my door and turning off the light. As I snuggled into bed, I thought about the day's events.

      Cole Greene was all I could think about as I slowly but surely drifted off to sleep.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thank you to everyone that has contributed to the wonderful characters of Cole, Allie, Alec, and even Gwen! I'm so excited and I hope you've enjoyed it so far! What are you waiting for? Readdddddddddddd! 

    :D