She stood in front of the door, and froze. Cole stood there with a bunch of red roses and a smile.
“Cole,” she said.
“Hey. Erm, so I saw these at the florist, and I thought of you.”
She leaned against the door and stared at him. “You thought of me.”
“Yes, I did.” He glanced at the flowers and then up at her. “I’ve been … busy. Words are not my strongest thing, and I do struggle. I’ve not been ignoring you, and I’m not angry at you for going back to work part time at the library. I know you’re really good at it, and I’m so happy for you.” He stopped, took a breath, and smiled. “Will you go out with me tonight? Just for a walk and we can talk.”
“Yes, I will.”
Juliet handed her a jacket.
“You want rid of me?”
“No, I just want you to be happy, and we can’t afford another carton of ice cream every night. Go, have fun.”#p#分页标题#e#
Elena closed the door behind her. Cole handed her the flowers, to which Juliet opened the door again. “I’ll put these in water for you.”
“Thank you.”
Cole took her hand, and together they left her apartment building.
“I didn’t know what to think,” she said. “I don’t know what we are, and if I should be expecting anything from you. I’m sorry. I don’t … there’s a lot I’m not sure of.”
She felt crazy just putting her own doubts into actual words. This wasn’t because of him at all. This was her own fault, no one else’s. Cole was perfect in every single way.
He stopped, and took her hands. “Just ask me, Elena.” He cupped her chin, and tilted her head back. “You can ask me anything, and I will do my best to answer.”
“What are we?” she asked, blurting the words out. “I don’t know if we’re dating, or having fun. What are we doing exactly?”
This time, he smiled. “Is it too childish to say we’re boyfriend and girlfriend? Should I write it on a piece of paper? Will you be my girlfriend, Elena?”
At first she thought he was mocking her, but she saw he wasn’t. He was being serious.
“If you sent me a piece of paper like that with boxes, I’d tick yes. I’ll be your girlfriend. What about you? Would you be my boyfriend?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I kind of have to. I mean, I did cut your hand, give you stitches and all. I guess I can make it up to you like that.”
This time she did chuckle.
He grabbed her waist and pulled her close. “I don’t know how you could have any doubt that I wanted you.”
“So where were you then?”
“I was actually called to the city. Someone there had heard of my work, and for some reason, they decided to give me a go. It turns out, the guy is a friend from high school. He’s now a big time CEO guy. It was a pretty big job at one of his buildings. One of the floors was leaking. I got it fixed but ended up being there most of the day. I wasn’t ignoring you. Every time I tried to catch you, it was late. I’ve been wanting to do this all week.” He pulled her close, and slammed his lips down on hers. All of her doubts left her with his kiss. “I don’t know how you could think that there’s nothing something between us. I can’t go a moment without thinking about you.” He pressed his lips against hers again, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’m kind of insecure. I don’t have a good track record with men, and we didn’t really put a label on this thing, and I didn’t know what to call it. I guess I was just … confused.”
“Don’t be. Any time you have a question or you have something you need to say, say it. I’ll never hold anything against you.” He kissed her again.
He opened his mouth as if to say something more, only he didn’t finish what he was saying. Nothing came out of his mouth, and she frowned. “What is it?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“You can tell me anything.” She squeezed his hand. “Anything at all.”
“I missed you, Elena.”
“I missed you, too.” She winked at him. “Shall we go to your place and we can show each other how much we’ve missed each other?”
“Are you just using me, Elena James? I’m surprised.”
“You want to use me, too, so don’t go pretending you’re perfect. We both know you’re not.”
He twirled her around and lowered her gently. He held onto her tightly, and she was laughing.#p#分页标题#e#
“You’re right, I want to use you. I want to fuck you, and make you forget everything else in the world.”