"It's almost your birthday, huh?" mom mentions while I sweep the whole living room. I just shrug my shoulders. "What are your plans?" she asks.

"I don't know," I reply, placing the broom away and wiping the sweat that started to build upon my forehead. "I kind of want to cut my hair shorter," I say, brushing the hair strands that got stuck to my sweaty forehead.

"Your hair is already so short, honey," mom comments.

"The last time I got this cut was four months ago already," I argue and she just sighs.

"I bet if Chelsea were here, she would beat you up for cutting your hair in just a span of four months," mom says and I flash her a look.

"Stop saying those stupid statements," I say before rushing upstairs to my room. I check my phone and there I saw a text from Cole.

let me take u somewhere

cant

why?

i dont wanna

I place my phone under the pillow and turn to my side. I play with my bangs that already grew unnecessarily long. I almost fell asleep when mom started knocking on my door. I stand up to open it.

"Cole's downstairs," she says and turns to leave right away. Wow, great.

I go downstairs and saw Cole playing with his car keys.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him and he just beams at me.

"Let's go, shall we?" he says, grabbing me by my shoulders. "Your mom here already allowed you to." He winks at me and I just shoot mom a look.

"You better enjoy once in a while, Amelia," mom says in a threatening way.

Cole drags me outside and into his car.

"Where are we even going?" I ask him, lifting my legs and hugging them to my chest.

"First, wear your seatbelt, young woman," he says.

"I hate seatbelts," I stubbornly object and he just chuckles.

"Then I won't tell you," he says.

"Whatever," I say before we both fell silent.

I lean my head on the window, silently watching the other cars beside us. Soon, it starts to rain. The droplets of water building upon the car's window. I trace my fingers on the droplets as if I could touch them.

I turn to look at Cole who was driving and not saying a single word. He doesn't even complain about the rain, instead, he was just smiling, looking like a maniac.

"What are you smiling for?" I ask him, putting my legs down.

"I'm glad I trusted the weather forecast," he says and I just furrow my eyebrows at him. "You'll know later," he adds, smiling at me.

I look away and look outside the window. What is Cole Beckett planning on?

Cole soon parked the car and went outside. He beckons me to come out, his whole body soaked with rainwater.

"Are you crazy?" I shout, rolling the window down as he closed the door.

"Come on, trust me," he says and I give him a doubtful look. "You won't regret it, I swear," he assures.

I go outside and I can immediately feel the raindrops soaking my clothes. Cole suddenly covers my eyes with his hands.

"What are you doing?" I say, trying to remove his hands away from my eyes.

"Shh, just walk," he whispers to my ear and I can feel the warmth of his breath on my ear. I walk as he guides me to wherever he's bringing me.

He finally releases me and when I take a look around, I can't help but gasp. It's just a simple park but for some reason, it looks so lovely with the rain.

"W-wow," I stammer, my lips trembling because of the cold wind.

"Wow, alright," he repeats, putting his arm around my shoulder. "Let's take a picture, shall we?" he says, getting his phone from his pocket.

"Are you really going to use your phone in this rain?' I ask him and he nods.

"Waterproof, baby," he says, pretending to kiss his phone. We take a selfie, wet clothes and all that.

"Did you really just do this for the project?" I ask.

"What do you think?" he gives the question back and I just shrug my shoulders. "Of course not!" he exclaims and runs around like a little boy.

I soon found myself smiling at him. What are you even trying to do, Cole?

We play tag around the rain and when I was trying to chase him, I slipped. He approaches me, his face filled with concern.

"Stop looking at me like that when I know you badly want to laugh your ass off," I tell him and he starts to laugh so hard. He falls down on his knees, laughing. "I hate you," I say and he just won't stop laughing.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. It's just that you were like a little girl who still can't walk properly," he says and I hit him on his harm. "Ouch!"

"Sorry not sorry," I say and stand up on my own.

"Help me get up," he says and I didn't bother lending my hand.

"I got up on my own, now get up on your own," I say and he just huffs before standing up.

"So, I heard that your birthday's coming?" he says.

"How did you know about that?" I ask him.

"Didn't I tell you I know a lot more about you than you think?" he says and I feel shivers down my spine. When he notices the change in my expression, he flicks my forehead and starts giggling.

"Hey!" I shout, touching my forehead.

"Just joking. Your mom told me," he says, grabbing the back of my head and bringing it against his chest. "Advanced happy birthday," he mutters.

I can feel his heartbeat and how he was trembling in the cold. I just let him close for a while, not saying anything. He also just keeps silent and for some reason, I felt so warm inside. I can still feel the raindrops against my skin but I stopped trembling.

His whole body also stops trembling. I raise my head to face him and I was surprised by how close his face was to mine.

"You're turning 18 soon, huh?" he says, rainwater dripping from his hair.

"Yeah," I say so softly it was almost a whisper. "Yeah," I repeat, clearing my throat.

"You could already get arrested," he jokes and I narrow my eyes at him. I push his chest and pull away from him. He removes his hand from the back of my head and we both just stare at each other's eyes.

I can feel myself drowning in his dark blue eyes. It's like the ocean. When I realized this, I look away. He grabs my chin and softly turns my head to face him.

"For some reason, I think you're afraid of my eyes," he whispers and I can't help but start trembling once again. Not from the cold, but from his voice and his eyes.

"I-I'm not," I say and he just lets go of my face.

"How are you and that Avery guy?" he asks, walking to a bench nearby. I sit beside him as he removes his jacket and places it around me.

"He stopped talking to me ever since the Halloween festival," I reply, my whole body still trembling. I hug the jacket tighter around me.

"Do you want to get back to the car?" he asks and I nod.

We walk back to his car and he turns on the heater. I place my hands against the warm air.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cole suddenly says and I shoot him a questioning look. "Whatever's happening between you and Avery," he explains.

"No," I firmly say.

"Okay," he says.

We fall silent for a while before he starts to speak again. I remove my hands away from the warm air and hug my legs against my chest.

"Do you have any problems?" he says and I look at him sideward.

"No," I lie, hugging my legs against my chest tighter, placing my chin in between the top of my knees.

"Because if you do, you could always talk to me about them," he tells me.

"I don't think you have time for such things. You're such a Mr. Popular after all," I humor and he doesn't laugh or even smile. His face remained serious.

"I would listen to anything you have to say, Amelia. I mean it," he says with sincerity in his voice and eyes. I look away.

No, Cole. Don't tell me those things and just end up leaving me in the future.

I've had enough.

Stop it.