Four am

chapter twelve

Quick recap.

"Cole." I say when I reached him.

"Hey slow poke, I was wondering when your pretty head would figure out where I was." He slurred heavily while taking a swing from his flask. I take it from him and put it in the pocket of my hoodie. I take a seat beside him.

"I was still drinking that."

"And I don't give a fuck do I?"

"Peanut?"

"Yes, Cole." It feels like I'm talking to a four year old. I'm cutting him some slack for his behaviour because I know he feels hurt. He doesn't show emotions at all he always puts on this cold front but deep down there are some emotions. Real emotions. He's showing me how vulnerable he is right now and I'm grateful that he called me.

"Why doesn't my mom love me?" Most teenage boys don't respect their mothers and think that they are always controlling and annoying but when you don't have that you realize what you're missing.

"Cole I know she loves you. She just needs to help of the kids in Africa." I told him and spoke slowly.

"But she needs to take care of me! Her own son." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Whatever fuck that shit, I've been taking care of myself since I was 12." He abruptly stands up. "Let's go peanut."

I stand up as well. "Wait Cole, do you want to talk about it more." I was lightly tiptoeing around the subjects. "It might help."

"No Zoelle, let's go home, wherever that is." He slurred out. I walked over to him and put my arm around his waist to steady him.

We... well I decided we should take Del's car back to the house and get Cole's car later because Del still needs to go to work tomorrow.

We made it back to the house and I helped Cole out of the car. "Cole you need to be very quiet and make sure not to wake anyone up okay."

"Okayyy Pean-." I put my finger over his mouth because he was screaming.

"Shhh just don't talk." We walk up to the front door and it's locked. Shit I need to start bringing house keys with me more often.

"Cole, do you have keys to the house?" I asked him.

"Nope, but we can go to my house. I think I remember where it is, there's a key under the flower pot." I was debating whether or not to drag his drunk ass to his house or to get him in trouble.

-

"Cole are you sure this is your house?" I asked him.

"Yeah it looks right, I think. Why do all these houses look the same." I am on the verge of leaving his drunk ass out here to sleep tonight.

"Cole." I say turning to him. "Look at me and focus. Which one is your house?"

"That one." He says pointing to the house we are standing in front of. "The key is under the flower pot. Yo, can I have some more pot right now."

I lift the pot up and there it was. "You guys really shouldn't keep your key there." I say ignoring his question.

"Oh who gives a fuck." I got a harsh response from him. I manage to get the door open and push him into the house. I make sure to lock the door behind him. We start walking up towards the stairs. His house is clean, modern and open concept. There isn't many pictures on the wall to show that a family lives here. 

It must get lonely living here alone while your parents always travel. I guess I can say I'm glad that he's living with us so he's not alone.

"Lets go peanut." He grabs my hand and spins me around. "Do you want a tour of the place?" He asks, dragging me up the stairs.