"Ew get a room,"

I could feel my face heating up at the thought of Olivia teasing Cole and me.

"Chill, she's only joking," Cole laughed, throwing the towel back at Olivia.

Oh yeah, of course, how dumb of me.

I attempted to play it off coolly as I removed myself from the situation out of sheer embarrassment, "I knew that,"

I could hear Cole chuckling as I ran into Daisy's tent.

"Oh my god," I breathed out.

"What happened?" Daisy asked, worried.

I twiddled my thumbs, "I think I like Cole. No, I know I do,"

"I know," Daisy smirked.

"You what?" I was in shock.

She took her hands in mine, "Girl, I've seen the way you look at him! Even if you didn't know it, your body was showing it,"

Just then, the tent zipped open, causing me to jump.

Phew. It was only Olivia.

"We talking about Scout's blatantly obvious crush on Cole," Olivia stated matter-of-factly

"You too?!" my face went bright red.

Olivia shrugged, "For the record, he likes you too,"

My heart began beating faster than ever when she said that, "H-he does?"

"Yeah, a lot," Daisy's tone screamed 'duh'.

I just thought he was disappointed in me for getting back with Trent, but it was so much more than that.

"Well?" Olivia began, tapping her fingernails on the wooden slate she was holding.

"Well, what?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

Daisy rolled her eyes, "When are you going to make a move, stupid?"

"Oh, I don't know," I stalled, "I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet,"

"You are, Scout!" Olivia reassured, "The past few months, and in particular, the last couple of weeks with Trent hasn't even been real, let's be honest. All you could think about was hanging out with Cole, going to Allerton with Cole, working with Cole,"

The list went on.

"The list goes on," Olivia literally took the words out of my mouth.

"You literally bailed on Trent to stay with Cole," Daisy pointed out, "Sure, you could say you forgot, but why? Because you were actually having fun with a guy for once,"

I was speechless. They were so right about everything.

"So, why not take a chance? With something real," I smiled at the two of them, understanding exactly what they meant.

"Precisely," Daisy nodded

Olivia grinned from ear to ear, clapping my back, "Atta girl,"

I blushed - it was official, I was going to give things a try with Cole.

***

"WHERE IS SHE?"

I groaned.

I recognised that voice anywhere.

Just when things were finally slotting into place for me, Trent had to come by and ruin it.

But this time, I wasn't going to let him worm his way back into my life.

He was out, for good.

I unzipped the tent and got out, completely uninterested in what he had to say, but realising it was the only way to get rid of him.

"Trent what're you doing here," I rolled my eyes at his drunkard state.

"We're not done talking, yet, hun," Trent replied, making me want to gag.

Hun? No thanks.

"Uh no, I think we are, hun," I retorted, shaking my head, "There's nothing else to say here, we're done,"

"You can't do that," Trent walked towards her, "Don't you love me?"

I swiftly ignored the ever so slight pit of guilt in my stomach, trying to creep its way in, as I knew it was just a ploy, and I'd end up getting hurt again.

I looked around me, at the people I truly loved, and the ones who loved me for me, and that moment I knew, "No, I don't, I never did,"

"What did you just say to me?!" he shouted, voice rising as he came face to face with Cole, "So you're just going to leave me for this loser, do you even know who he is?"

How dare he talk to Cole like that?

I absolutely wasn't having that, "I don't care who you think he is because Cole is 100 times the person you'll ever be,"

His eyes darkened, scaring me slightly, "Scout, you can never leave me, you're literally nothing without me. You're just a runaway lunatic without me,"

That. Was low. Even for Trent.

He knew how much my past haunted me, I thought he still had that much respect for me, not to use it to tear me down.

I wanted to be strong, to think of an awesome comeback, but I couldn't take it any longer.

As tears began to stream down my cheeks, I wanted to end the conversation once and for all, "Just go, Trent,"

***

Believe me, I loved Daisy and Olivia's company, I really did, but right now I wanted nothing more than to be alone.

"If you need anything," Daisy spoke softly, "Anything at all,"

"We're here," Olivia finished.

Shortly after, they left, leaving me by myself.

I threw rocks at the lake furiously, resentful at how the world always found a way to screw me over.

There was next to nothing good in my life.

As I found an even bigger rock to throw, someone stopped me.

"What are you doing?" Cole laughed as he snatched the rock away from me and tossed in on the ground.

He wrapped a blanket around me, causing me to offer him a weak smile.

For some reason, even though I'd just asked the girls to leave, I found myself wanting Cole to stay.

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, taking in the night sky, filled with bright, luminous stars, shining above us.

"Well, this feels like deja-vu," I snort-laughed, thinking back to a couple of days ago when we last hung out in this same spot after the same person hurt me.

Cole was just always there for me. I hadn't realised it until now but he really was.

"I'll say," Cole replied, looking into the distance, "Sorry for how things went down, again. Your past looks like a soft area,"

I took a deep breath in, "It is, and I couldn't help but think he was right,"

Cole looked at me in disbelief, "Look, I may not know exactly what happened, but you are so much more than a runaway girl,"

"Thanks, Cole," I managed to smile, "The real reason why I left Porterville if you want to know, is because my foster mum left me, without any warning. The social services came to get me, but I knew I didn't want to go back to that hellhole, so I had no option but to-"

"Run," Cole nodded beginning to understand my situation better, "I know the feeling,"

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Really? How so?"

"Oh, erm, just running from that guy, y-you know, it was scary," Cole replied, coughing.

"Right," I laughed, patting his back jokingly, "You're such a loser,"

He definitely just said he knew the feeling to make me feel better, which was cute, I had to admit.

But no one truly knew how it felt to be unwanted, exiled even, until they had experienced it themselves.

"But you know I mean it when I say Trent doesn't deserve someone as great as you," Cole reassured me, smiling.

I had enough of talking about him, "Let's forget about Trent now,"

Ignoring me, Cole carried on to my annoyance, "No, I literally can't get over it. He's honestly such an idiot for ever letting you g-"

Unable to take his waffle any longer, I pulled him close and gently pressed his lips against mine.

Kissing Cole felt so different to kissing Trent.

In the best way.

Our lips moved in sync slowly, both of us taking in each other's company.

With Trent, it was all fast and rough, but with Cole, I felt relaxed and safe.

I could have kissed him all night.

But alas, he pulled away after some time.

He was breathless, unable to comprehend what I had just done, "Wh-what was that?"

"I just wanted you to shut the hell up," I explained, raising my eyebrows.

He scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, right, that's all,"

I pushed him lightly, "Only joking. I like, you, doofus,"

He was shocked, to say the least, but a smile began to creep onto his face, nevertheless, "You do?"

"Sure Trent cheating on me was sad and all, boohoo. But there was one guy I couldn't stop thinking about whenever I was with him," I looked into his eyes.

"Oh yeah?" Cole smirked, "Who's that then?"

I rolled my eyes, laughing "Count on you to ruin the moment,"

"Well, I like you too," Cole said sincerely, taking his hands in mine, "I liked you from the moment I saw you on the train tracks,"

I could barely hold in my laughter at the near-death experience that reunited us, high-school strangers, together, "But I was so mean when we met, you weirdo. Why did you like me then?"

"I don't know," Cole chuckled lightly, "There was just something about your fiery personality that I couldn't get enough of,"

I blushed at that.

"You're so cringe, you know that, right?" I scoffed, laying down.

Cole flipped me off as laid next to me he brought me into his embrace.

I snuggled into his warm arms, as we gazed at the full moon above us.

"Cole," I whispered, prodding him gently.

No answer.

"Cole?" I asked.

Still silence.

He must've fallen asleep.

I kissed him on the cheek, "I'm glad you're here,"

▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭

On time again? No wayyyyy look at me go pahaha

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter - make sure to give me a vote and a comment to let me know x

THE LONG AWAITED MOMENT HAS ARRIVED. #SCOLE IS REAL PPL LETS GOOOO!!

What are your thoughts on them finally admitting they like each other? Personally loved finally writing it hehe ;)

Next update: 15/9/20 (hopefully, no promises tho lmao)

Teaser: the moment we've all been dreading...