After the struggle of falling asleep, Zela was rudely awoken when her bed dipped, and was quickly consumed with a phone flashlight.

"Damn, do you mind?"

She asked, groggily before the flashlight was quickly turned off, or rather placed down on her bed as she could still see the slight rays of it cascading on her comforter.

"Sorry, I didn't expect it to be so bright."

Nathan admitted, and Zela sighed, as she picked up his phone unintentionally blinding him in the process, looking at the time.

"Are you serious? I just went to sleep an hour ago."

She whined, plopping down onto her silk pillow, as Nathan quietly chuckled.

"I'm only doing as I was told, you told me to wake you up for a run."

He said, putting his hands up, and Zela sighed as she got up on her elbows glaring at him as her eyes adjusted to the dark room.

"Come on, just wear what you got on, it's not that cold out this morning."

Nathan told her, and Zela glanced down at her plaid pajama set that was made of thermal.

As Zela looked out the window, she noticed the sunrise was slowly appearing over the horizon. Rubbing her face, to try and rid of her grogginess, she got out of bed as Nathan handed her a pair of her running shoes.

As she slipped them on, Nathan and her quickly slipped out of the room not awakening Jackie in the process. As the two headed down the stairs, Zela nearly screamed at the sight of Danny casually sitting on the couch.

"Danny, why are you awake?"

She quickly asked, as she placed her hand over her rapidly beating heart, and Danny looked over at her as he pointed towards the TV.

"I can actually watch and study in peace."

He told her, and Zela nodded giving him a quick thumbs up, as Nathan started leading her towards the front door, and Zela at the last minute had to dodge Olivia.

"Bye Nathan, bye Zela!"

Olivia said quickly, as she ran towards her car still putting her shoes on. Zela would have easily questioned it, if it weren't for the fact that Olivia had got caught sneaking in two hours prior.

"Bye, Olivia."

Zela said, waving, as the two headed down the driveway. Glancing over as Olivia was speeding out of the driveway, Zela watched her as she quickly stuck her hand out of the window waving goodbye to them.

Awkwardly waving back, Zela looked over at Nathan who was looking at the ground, and she patted his shoulder, and sighed.

"Let me guess, Erin has no idea."

Zela said, sarcastically and Nathan shook his head as the two quickly started jogging along the road, and Nathan had decided that the two listen to music together, so they were each wearing one air pod.

"How many times has Olivia been here?"

She asked him, as the two watched the sun finally float over the horizon and slowly go into the sky.

"This week? About every day."

He answered, since Zela didn't really run any of the rest of the week due to homework and staying up late studying.

Which is what she was doing last night, but it was thankfully a weekend.

—

"Hey!"

Hearing a faint voice, Zela finally stopped running and Nathan quickly slowed down, and Zela motioned that she was going to go see what Alex wanted. Giving her a thumbs up, he quickly ran off once more towards the house.

Walking over to where Alex was riding his horse, Zela smiled at him and waved.

"Hey, have you seen your sister?"

He asked, and Zela shook her head, and motioned to the phone in her hand.

"She's not here, she texted me about hanging out with Grace and Skylar."

She told him, and he nodded looking down at his horse, and Zela waved to him, not letting him have another word said as he was about to talk again but Zela quickly ran towards the house.

"Hey, I'm gonna shower."

She announced to Katherine, who nodded, as Zela headed up the stairs and into her room. Grabbing herself a pair of shorts and a crop top, she walked downstairs with the rest of her shower utensils in hand.

Speed walking down the stairs, Zela closed the door behind her and locked the door before she quickly got in the shower.

Once she was out of the shower, she dried off and got dressed leaving her hair damp letting it air dry.

Opening the door once she put her clothes in her dirty hamper she had brought down into the bathroom, she walked out and looked around taking note that both George and Katherine were gone.

Looking around confused, she walked around the house noticing there wasn't really anyone home.

Fishing her phone out of her pocket, she realized that Nathan had texted her letting her know everyone was going out to do their own thing.

Sighing, she plopped down on the couch after she had made herself some herbal tea, and took in the quietness, now understanding what Danny had meant.

"Hello?"

A voice rang out, and Zela looked at the entrance to the living room, as Erin came into her line of vision. As the two girls noticed one another, each making a face of disgust.

"Where's Cole?"

Erin asked, not even bothering to put up a fake front, since it seemed like no one else was here.

"I don't know, have you checked behind your ego?"

Zela questioned, and Erin scoffed as she walked up to her keeping her distance slightly.

"If he's not here, just say so."

Erin said, crossing her arms and furrowing her eyebrows.

"And give you the satisfaction that you desire? No thanks. Why don't you invite yourself into everyone's room and look since you invited yourself into the house."

Zela said, as she looked at the TV, one of Danny's films still in the TV.

"Whoa, chill Apple."

Hearing his voice, and the sound of footsteps thumping down the stairs, Zela internally groaned knowing he had heard everything.

"Cole!"

Erin said, quickly changing her entire demeanor, and smiled at him.

"Zela and I were just talking about—"

"I'm a tad busy today, we can hang out another time. I'll call you, alright?"

Cole said, interrupting her and Erin huffed as she glanced over her shoulder at Zela who only rolled her eyes as Cole guided Erin out of the house.

"You know, you could be a lot nicer to guests."

He said, as he walked back and leaned against the doorframe, shaking his head at Zela.

"Why don't you listen to your own advice."

Zela shot back, as she got up and bumped his shoulder with her's, and Cole smirked as he followed her upstairs.

"Quit stalking me."

She muttered, and Cole put his hands up in defense, and looked around as he just now noticed nobody else was home.

"Come on, Apple. Let me show you something."

He said, as he grabbed her wrist rather gently, and Zela reluctantly followed in behind him, as the two found themselves outside.

"What is it?"

She asked, as she realized how late it had gotten, and she looked around, and Cole pointed forward.

"Fireflies?"

She asked, as she had not seen them, ever. They weren't really seen in New York, and Zela looked around amazed as she realized it looked like the whole field around them was lighting up from how many fireflies there truly were.

"You may have lights from buildings during the night, but we have stars that are on ground too."

Cole whispered to her, as he watched her walk away slowly her body feeling safe around all the fireflies. Smiling brightly at the sight of them, Zela placed her hand out, letting one land on the middle of her finger.

"Hey, Apple."

Cole said, as he walked up to her, placing his finger tip to hers, allowing the firefly to crawl on his finger, and Zela watched it, before it flew away and as it did, Zela found herself watching the fireflies light up in the reflection of Cole's eyes.

Cole looked back at her, her brown eyes reflecting the stars, and Cole could've sworn that her pupils were made of the moon as it had perfectly aligned with her pupils.

"Cole..."

Zela whispered, as Cole wrapped his hand around Zela's finger, slowly pulling her closer, and Zela let her body go, feeling herself getting lost in his ocean eyes, the pull of her body feeling as if waves were leading her towards him.

"Zela..."

He whispered back, as the two were close, their breathing being seen in the air, from how cold it was. But Zela had not felt the bitter coldness biting at her skin, because from the simple touch of his hand, kept her entire body warm as if it elicited a fire inside her.

Quickly, the two blinked out of their trance and pulled away from one another as headlights from a car drowned out their scenery.

Looking over and noticing that Katherine was home, along with all the others piling out of the vehicle, Zela cleared her throat and quickly jogged towards Nathan grinning.

Cole watched her, as she kept getting further and further away from him, and it felt like boiling water had been poured on his icy demeanor, because for a split second he could've sworn Zela was melting the ice barrier he had put up around him.