That One Girl

Chapter 4

***Another long one! ;) I think I had too much fun with this one, especially with Cole's POV.

I don't even know why I'm putting this here, but THE CONYA IN THIS BOOK IS PLATONIC. PLATONIC CONYA. PLATONIC CONYA. PLATONIC. CONYA.***

***(Cole's POV)***

"Have a seat," I tell Nya, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table for her.

She knows that I mean nothing by the gesture, so she thanks me before seating herself. Believe me, if it were Jay who did it for her, she would've pushed the chair back in before getting it for herself. She's desperate not to let him have feelings for her, but it's not really working.

"What's this about, Cole?" she asks cautiously. "Is it Jay?"

"Yes. No. Uh...mostly about you." I scratch behind my ear. "How have you been doing?"

"Cole, you better not have separated me from Jay just to ask me how I'm doing." She raises a brow skeptically.

I cough. "Okay. Um, mind telling me what this is about you running away?"

Her face pales. "I...Jay told you?"

"He was emotional enough earlier that he just wanted to get that secret off his chest."

She clenches her eyes shut and curses, then bites her lip. "Sorry. Kai's swearing tendencies are starting to wear off on me." She rubs the side of her nose. "I..."

"Before you even try to lie, Nya, know that it won't do any good. Jay's told me you have a tell."

She scowls. "Which I still need to figure out what is." She shakes her head. "Fine. Yes, I'm running away."

"Why?" I exclaim.

"Because I'm messed up?" she laughs humorlessly.

"No, you're not. Jay's messed up. You...you're fine, right?"

She doesn't meet my gaze. "I'm not messed up the way Jay is. I just...Cole, you don't know what happened with my parents, but..."

"I know enough. They died in a car accident, right?"

"Yes. And Kai and I were with them. And I killed them."

"You what?"

She shushes me. "Don't wake Lloyd or Zane up, please. That's the last thing I need right now." She massages her temple.

"Fine." I lower my voice. "How did you kill them?"

"I distracted my dad. Told him I hated him. It was rainy, we drifted into the lane of oncoming traffic, we had to swerve to avoid being hit by a semi-truck, we hit a guard rail. The end. Don't tell Kai, because he doesn't remember. Head injury."

I shake my head. "I understood literally none of that."

She sighs, looking up to the ceiling to avoid tears. "I was a bad daughter, Cole, and I have to live with the blame for that. And I was fine as long as I kept those feelings locked away, but I spilled everything to Jay back in February."

"And...all those feelings resurfaced?"

"Exactly. Then Lloyd overheard, and he used those feelings against me. And I came to realize that I tend to hurt people."

"Not really. You just...weren't very emotionally mature back when your parents died."

"In a way, I can see that." Her voice lowers to a hiss. "But then...Jay's mom...I killed her, too."