As everyone got home from the awards, Cole had gotten an earful, while Zela was praised for "sobering" him up. As she watched and heard from a distance of Cole's scolding, she looked over when someone patted her shoulder.

"He's not somebody who belongs with someone right now."

Alex muttered, and Zela grimaced at his words as she rolled her eyes, and shrugged his hand off of her shoulder.

"Talk for yourself, you're always having PDA happen whenever Cole's around. It's like you're obsessed with him or something."

She told him, and Alex looked at her with his face getting red either from anger or embarrassment, she didn't know.

"You realize he's gone through so much more than you ever have. So you need to shut the hell up, he lost his literal way of getting a scholarship and being able to leave this town. You have it all going, you're smart so you can get scholarships handed to you."

Zela said, as she started shoving him back, and Alex clenched his jaw, as she was speaking to him.

"You have no right to even speak of him at this point. He may be your brother, but you're making it seem like you're strangers. That's all on you. Not Cole, you."

As she said this, Alex had backed up against the wall, and she was glaring at him as she spoke every word with nothing but pure anger.

"You may hate him for "stealing" your first girlfriend, but news flash, that was almost two years ago. You have a new girlfriend who is way better than Paige could ever be, and you're going to fuck it up by not being kind to your own family. You'll be the odd one out whenever you're invited to family reunions, family holidays, all because everyone doesn't want to talk to someone who is a downright selfish little bitch."

She finished, and she turned around walking away, and she slammed the front door open and ran to her loft the best that her dress could let her.

Quickly changing out of it, she threw it on the ground as she replayed the events that happened at Katherine's award ceremony.

"Fuck."

She said, as she remembered what Jessup had been doing, and she glared as she picked up her phone and called Richard instantly, not caring that it was really late in New York.

"Zela? Are you okay? It's three in the morning here."

Richard said groggily and Zela looked down at her phone that was laying on her bed, the speaker button shining brighter than the rest.

"Richard, you tell Jessup that he is no longer to contact me or any of the Walter's or I'll take legal action against him and his parents. He had threatened to ruin my life if I spoke to another man, and he's caused me to live in hell because of it. You either fix this, or I will."

She said, before she hung up not letting her uncle say anything in return.

"Jessup was threatening you?"

Looking over she widened her eyes as Danny was standing there with Nathan right beside him, and Zela groaned as she nodded her head.

"He was threatening my career and my happiness if I spoke to Cole."

She mumbled, as she ran her fingers through her hair, and Nathan quickly walked over to her and sat beside of her, looking up at Danny.

"What about Cole? What happened between the two of you?"

Danny asked, as he slowly walked over sitting on the other side of her, and Zela shrugged her shoulders as she rested her head on Danny's shoulder.

"We kissed and he kinda admitted that he liked me."

She told them, and both boys snapped their heads to her, and Danny grabbed her shoulders looking at her straight in the eyes.

"You what?"

He said, in complete shock, and Zela slowly nodded her head as she looked down at her hands that were nervously fidgeting with the other.

"Zela this is serious, you're still healing, we've already seen what Cole can do to you whenever he breaks your heart, are you sure this is the right thing?"

Nathan said, and Zela got up and put her hands up in defeat as she shrugged her shoulders, feeling as if she were going crazy.

"I don't know! Okay?"

She yelled exasperated, and started pacing back and forth, as the two boys watched their best friend have a complete episode.

"What if you kinda give it a trial run?"

Danny suggested, and Zela looked over at him in confusion, and he walked over to her calendar that was hanging on the wall and pointed to a specific day.

"The county fair is tomorrow, go with him, and see how it goes."

Danny said, and Zela looked up at him, and she slowly nodded her head, as she sat down nodding her head.

"I can do that."

She said, more to herself than anything, and she could only look around nervously.

"He's going to be spending the majority of it helping Alex for his competition, just stay around there, and try and get along."

—

When Zela was laying down in bed, working on her book, she heard a quiet curse, and looked over her shoulder to where Cole had put a finger to his lips in a way of telling her to be quiet.

"Cole, we're outside, everyone else is inside, asleep. Why do we have to be quiet?"

She said looking at him, and Cole nodded his head mumbling to himself as he sat on her bed, and Zela pulled the comforter up so he could get under it with her.

"Purple? Nice."

He said, and Zela rolled her eyes as she smacked the back of his head, and Cole grabbed her TV remote as he looked for a movie.

"There we go."

He said, and clicked on The Notebook, and Zela looked over at him, and realized he was already looking at her.

"If I asked all the things Ally did, you know? The white house, and everything, would you do that for me?"

Zela whispered, and Cole tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and he smiled down at her, "I'd read you our story every day so you'd remember."

He whispered to her, and Zela smiled up at him, as Cole leaned down softly kissing her lips.