I Love Him, I Love Him Not - 12

Hello guys!

So, I've been kinda busy with GCSEs and all that boring stuff. It's a good thing I have nearly all of this prewritten, otherwise I'd have absolutely no time to post!
:)

Star: :) Thanks. I would put in Cole's point of view except I've already written this, you know? It's a sort of account of her life from Summer. If you really, really want, I'll have something that's in third person, but having Cole's POV would just set my whole thing off balance. Sorry, I know I sound like a dork, but it's true. Maybe in the next story. : D If you want something in third person, just leave me a message! :)

Mary: Hey! I totally get you about the beggining - it does start off a little lacklustre, doesn't it? I'm glad you had faith and kept reading, though. Thank you!

B: Thanks a billion! :) :) :

Everyone else: Thank you for your wonderful comments and enjoy the next chapter!

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Cole, unsurprisingly, drove a very fancy sports car of some kind. I had never been in it before, but had seen it numerous times.

"Nice car." I complimented him as he pulled the door up and cradled me briefly in his arm as he carried me in. I looked up at his face as he lifted me clean off the ground and placed me in the comfortable leather seat. He was as indescribably handsome as ever, and a stranger.

"You think this is nice?" he laughed, tugging at the seatbelt and handing it to me to click in. I obliged quickly. "Wait till you see my ride at home."

He closed the door and jogged around to his own side, sliding in with ease. I couldn’t imagine any car more beautiful than this one.

"Really? This is a Lamborghini, right? What make is your ride in Constantia?" I asked interestedly. Cole laughed.

"Well, she’s called Lightening…"

"So she’s fast, right? Another sports car?"

"Well, you could say I use her for sport." Cole grinned. I looked at him confusedly. "She’s a horse."

My eyes widened and then I blinked. Once, twice, thrice. Hard.

I tried to imagine Cole as a cowboy, but could not, for the life of me, come up with the image. Well, even if he was a cowboy, I’m sure he made a heart-stopping-ly handsome one, the kind that all the milkmaids fancied.

Oh god. Milkmaids.

"Cole..." I began, going into stage one of shock.

"Yes?"

"This Constantia place. It – it is, like, with the modern times, isn’t it? We won’t have to travel everywhere by horse? That’s just you, right? You like riding or something?"

Cole turned to look at me worriedly, and then sighed. "I’m sorry, princess. I should have explained this to you from the start. You see, since Constantia’s time rate is incredibly slow, around one year to your twenty, we haven’t quite developed as quickly as this dimension has. But no, not everybody goes by horse. Most women go by cart. And you, of course, will have the royal carriage."

Oh my God. Victorian times or something. I was going back in time as well.

"Uh..." I started again, staring lovingly down at my jeans and stroking the soft suede of one boot. "Will I have to wear dresses? Hooped dresses?"

Cole laughed. "God, no. They went out years ago. But yes, you will have to wear dresses. At all times. Even to bed, because you don’t know who might see you. It was a shock to come back to this place after eighteen years. Calves and thighs showing everywhere.
Scandalous."

My mind slowly went over his words, and then something clicked.
"Wait – come back? You were here before?" I asked carefully, noticing the way his grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white. His face was suddenly as dark as thunder.

"Um, that’s not something I wish to discuss, your highness." He muttered, and then swung abruptly into the college parking lot, landing a place neatly in a space that had looked half the cars size. The slight jolt to my ankle made me forget about the story momentarily, and I groaned.

"Could you please be more careful?" I asked, grinning. "Princess in pain here."

Cole looked worried, and then was abruptly calm as he took in my teasing smile. "Princess is a pain, more like." He teased right back, pressing the button to release my seatbelt. I narrowed my eyes at him – indicating that my hands were working – and began to open up the door. "Nu-uh." Cole reached over and slammed it back into place again. "We’re going to act like we’re still going out, so not to arise any suspicions, so let me be a gentleman and do it for you."

He smiled, hopped out, and walked over to my side of the car. Opening the door, he reached down and scooped me up as easily as if I weighed nothing at all, and lifted me out the car. I sighed as he held me in one arm, showing off of course, and locked up the car with the other. He manoeuvred us out of the tight smidgen of space between our car and another, and set me down gently on the tarmac.

I slipped my crutch onto my arm, took my bag, and looked up to see the whole car park staring at us.

"Aw, crap. Way to go, Romeo." I muttered, blushing. I began to hobble forward, and Cole smiled, sideling up to me and placing an arm around my waist.

"There. Is that better?" He asked, supporting most of my weight.

"Yes." I admitted grudgingly, winding my own arm around his waist and letting him half carry me up the steps to school. Irena and Nathan met us at the doors, and Irena raised her eyebrows pointedly at our suddenly affectionate behaviour. I shrugged nonchalantly and Cole just kissed my forehead sweetly.

I think I had to fight tears at this point, knowing that it was all fake. I smiled weakly as his lips met my skin, looking away the whole time.
I remembered the task I had to complete, and decided to make these last two days as good as I could with Irena, Nathan and all my other schoolmates in general.

"So, guys, what do you say to coming over to mine tonight? I feel like a lazy night; we’ll order in pizza and watch a movie. My mum isn’t going to be there." I said, grinning hopefully.

"Well..." Irena began, her expression softening as I pouted at her. "Fine, then. Nathan, are you up for it?"

Nathan nodded. "Should be good. We need a bit of relaxation."

I smiled, sighed internally, and turned to Cole. "How about you, Cole? Will you come?" I asked, trying hard to be girlfriend-y by smiling up at him and using my one free hand to play with my hair. Cole shrugged.
"Wouldn’t miss it for the world."

And that is how we came to be sitting in my living room late one Wednesday night. We had battled over choice of movie, and Irena and I had won, so we were watching 10 Things I Hate About you, which was about a guy who gets paid to pretend to like a girl just so another guy can go out with the girl’s sister, who is the most popular girl in the school but can’t date unless her sister does.

I glanced over at Cole quite a few times, especially when the guy goes to great lengths to get the sister to notice him, just so he can get paid.

His eyes were fixed on the screen, but a muscle in his jaw that I had never noticed before was leaping. I watched all the way through, and then at the end, when they kiss and make up and have a happily ever after, I stood up so quickly that I knocked the empty glass on the coffee table over.

"Um, I’m going to get a drink. Anyone want one?" I asked quickly, swooping down to grab the glass.

"Um, yeah, I’ll have a Coke, thanks." Nathan said sleepily, blinking up at me. I smiled.

"I’ll have a water, please." Irena added, grinning. I looked at Cole, who only shook his head silently. His eyes were still fixed on the screen.

Sighing, I hobbled to the kitchen and turned the hot tap on. I dipped the empty glass under the gradually warming water, turning it over and over until I had almost scalded myself. When my skin could finally withstand the heat no more, I put it on the drying rack, grabbed Irena and Nathan’s drinks, a bag of crisps and some popcorn before making my way back to the room.

Drat.

I didn’t take long enough. The hero and heroine were still kissing, lingering on each others lips like they couldn’t get enough. I narrowed my eyes at the TV and then handed out everything to everybody, glad when the ending credits rolled.

"All right, my turn now." Nathan announced, hoisting himself off the couch and moving towards my DVD collection. "Something good and scary, so I can get over the internal emotional scars that I have just obtained from watching that movie."

Irena rolled her eyes. "It wasn’t that bad. Don’t over exaggerate."

"Yes," Nathan said, imitating stabbing a dagger into his chest. "It was."
I laughed and dug my hand into the sweet popcorn as Nathan looked through the films. He pulled one out suddenly, a triumphant look on his face.

"Aha! The Ring!" He yelled, showing the DVD cover to us. I immediately stiffened up. You could show me all the scary movies in the world, and they wouldn’t get me freaked out like that one.

"Um, do you think we could watch something else?" Irena looked equally as apprehensive as I was. Her fingers were clutched around a pillow. Nathan grinned maliciously.

"Oh, scared, baby? Don’t worry," He puffed out his chest and beat it playfully. "I’ll protect you. Nobody can knock out little girls like I can."

Irena giggled and grabbed his hand. He bent towards her for a brief kiss, and I had to look away. The longest relationship I had ever been in had been a fraud, after all. That had to leave me some internal scars of my own.

Standing up, I took the DVD from Nathan and inserted it into the player.
The spooky piano music came on, and the autumn leaves blew away to reveal credits. Then the menu came on. There were three choices.
Play, Scenes, and Settings.

"Okay, wait, let me fill up on snacks." I said, succumbing to the reality that I would be watching a film that would most probably end in me wetting myself. And not in the funny way, either.

Standing up, I went back to the kitchen to get bowls to tip the foodstuff into, and then picked up a bottle of fizzy pop and fruit juice. I took glasses and set everything up on the coffee table.

"Turn the lights off, too." Nathan ordered, smiling in anticipation. "And do you have any blankets we could use, please?"

Oh great. There would be a lot of squealing and cuddling up.

"Um, sure." I said, walking back out again and going in the closet under he stairs. I got two blankets – one for Nathan and Irena, who could share, and one for Cole as he was seated in the armchair, alone. I was on the roomy couch facing the TV, on the opposite end to the happy couple. But, apparently, not for long.