Stolen Innocence

Chapter Three

The week went really quickly, Cole and I had been texting each other, and I seen him daily at school. He kept asking me to go over to his house, but I made up believe-able excuses. I wasn’t ready to go back there after what happened. So every time he asked I told him Mum or Dad need my help with something.

It was now the day of the paddock party, Colin was picking me up at six, and I had to be home by midnight. Which was pretty fair, considering I was only seventeen. My parents knew they could trust me, I would never sneak around, and they knew I hated alcohol.

I was extremely nervous, a part of me wanted to go have a good time with Cole, and I was looking forward to having a good talk about ‘us’, but a part of me also wanted to stay at home and not leave.

I face timed Ella and showed her what I was wearing. I had decided to wear nice long top, with a pair of blue jean tights and some boots. I made sure the top wasn’t too provocative or revealing; I really didn’t want to give Cole any wrong signals.

Ella knew how nervous I was, she told me to try and have fun and if I really wanted to be with Cole, we need to work things out together, and focus on making some new happy memories together.

Ella knew I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was confused about how I felt about Colin. I knew a part of me loved him, but I didn’t know if we were meant to be together anymore.

I heard a car horn beep, it startled me. I knew that meant Cole was out the front. So I said goodbye to Ella and grabbed my handbag and my jacket. I ran downstairs and kissed my parents goodbye and headed out the door. Cole was already standing beside the car, he looked good. He had jeans on and a black T-shirt with a jacket over the top.

“You look nice Em” He said pecking my cheek as I jumped in the car.

He smelled really good, I don’t know what aftershave he had on, but I had never smelt it on him before, but I had smelt it somewhere. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Mmm You smell nice” I said with a smile,

“I used Rickys aftershave” he laughed,

As soon as he said it I remembered that I had smelt it on Ricky the day he drove me home.

The drive took about twenty minutes, it was a nice scenic drive. I stared out the window while we talked. The grass was a beautiful vibrant green colour. The rolling mountains in the background looked like something out of a country movie. It was so amazing.

I have always loved the feeling of the wind blowing in my face, it was cold but refreshing. I started to think about how the air changes when you leave the city and head out to the country side. It’s so much more fresher and cleaner, no toxins. I couldn’t help but take a deep breath in and close my eyes taking in that very moment.

Colin and I had been talking and laughing, and getting along okay considering everything that had happened. I still wanted to make sure we had our talk tonight. It was the main reason I agreed to come. I was hoping that tonight might help us, as a couple, or help us go our own ways. Maybe its what we need to make us fall in love again, our maybe tonight might make us agree that it wasn’t really working. Either way tonight was going to help me make my mind up about being together-or not.

Colin placed his hand on my knee, which startled me a little, and I flinched.

“You really do look nice Emily” He said with a smile,

I smiled saying,

“Thanks Cole”

“Ive been thinking a lot, about us, and I know I scared you the other day, and I’m really sorry about that. But we have been dating awhile now Em, so I was hoping after we have our little talk to night, maybe we can finally take our relationship further. Like maybe you can prove to me how much I mean to you. I don’t mean s*x, just like, something else” He stuttered,

I felt myself go tense, a feeling of anger sweeping over me. Nothing had changed, it always went back to s*x. Suddenly I found myself blurting out,

“I don’t have to f**k you Colin. I don’t have to prove s**t to you. If your going to start fighting about s*x again, then you can take me the f**k back home!” I shocked myself as I screamed at him,

Wow I couldn’t believe I said that, I didn’t mean to sound so aggressive, but I couldn’t help myself. Everything went quiet and I glanced over at Colin, and his jaw was clenched tightly. He looked extremely pissed off. I honestly didn’t care if he was angry, how dare he assume I would have to have s*x i or do something s****l with him, to prove I love him.

“I’m not going to fight with you over it Emily, lets just forget I said anything and have a good night.” He said breaking the silence.

“I don’t want to fight with you either Cole, I just don’t feel comfortable or ready to take things that far yet. I’m sorry I snapped at you. It just gets a bit much hearing about s*x all the time.” I explained softly.

Cole didn’t say anything, he kind of just sat there in silence for the rest of the trip. I know I must of sounded like a looney the way I just snapped, but I’m over hearing about s*x!

We were pulling up to Michelles property, it was old fashioned yet beautiful. A lovely huge Queenslander style house, with a massive verandah that wrapped around the whole house. It looked old, but inside was very modern.

Cole parked the car and shut the engine off and looked at me,

“Let’s have a good night together. I’ll make sure it’s one we will never forget” He said with a smirk, it sounded weird- the way he spoke but I brushed it off and forced a smile as I hoped out of the car.

Cole met me at the front of the car, and grabbed my hand and interlocked his fingers with mine, we started walking around to the rear of the house. Thats where the music was coming from and we could hear a heap of people talking.

People were smiling and saying Hello to Cole, so many people knew him. People I had never seen before. We found some chairs on the back deck to sit down on.

“I’ll go get us a drink. I’ll be getting myself a double shot.” Cole said sounding happy,

“Yeah okay, but go easy Cole. Don’t forget you’ve got to drive home” I said worriedly and he rolled his eyes at me.

I sat there for awhile, I don’t know how long, but it seemed like a while. I got over being by myself, I didn’t feel like being at the party anymore. Colin was acting different tonight, and I really didn’t like it. There was something going on with him. It was like he was two different people. One minute he wanted to be with me and told me how much he loved me. Next minute he was ignoring me and pretending I wasn’t their. I was beginning to feel whiplash from his mood swings.

I looked around at everyone else, they were happy, laughing and talking, having fun. Here I was by myself; I glance over and their was Colin over in the corner, talking to a bunch of people. I could tell they were talking about me, they kept looking over at me, it was making me feel uncomfortable. I had the urge to message my parents and ask them to come pick me up down the road.

Leaning over to grab my phone I heard,

“Here is your drink, sorry it took so long. People kept stopping to talk to me, I cant help that I’m popular.” Cole said passing me a cup.

I looked at him but my expression was blank, we have been here for near half an hour, and he had already ditched me!

“Don’t worry its only a soft drink.” Cole said smugly, as I grabbed the cup,

Was he cracking a joke? Or being a smart a*s? I honestly could tell anymore. All these hot and cold mood swings were really getting to me.

“Thanks” I said bluntly “Do you want to go somewhere ad talk now?” I asked him,

I was pretty keen to tell him how I felt. Sitting their in silence after getting ditched again, I had made my mind up. I didn’t want to be with him anymore, I can’t be with someone who is nice to me one minute, then being a total jerk the next. I wanted to tell him nicely though, I didn’t want to make him angry. I was hoping we could still have some kind of friendship.

Cole huffed at me,

“Oh come on Emily, we just got here. Can you try and have some fun first. Before s**t get serious. Don’t suck the fun out of the party Emily.” His whole tone in his voice was full of attitude.

I didn’t even bother reply to him, instead I grabbed my phone out and started scrolling through f*******:. Ignoring him instead.

“Are you going to sit there on your phone all night?” Cole asked

“Well, are you actually going to talk to me? The whole reason we came to this stupid party was to spend time together and talk. So far you’ve ditched me since we f*****g got here! All you’ve done is make up excuses about NOT talking!” I snapped at him,

“Pfft, seriously? Your not ruining my night. I’m going back to chat with my mates, Ill give you some time to calm the f**k down. We will talk when I get back.” He said walking away before I even got a chance to say anything.

He was really starting to get on my nerves, I wasn’t in the mood for his bullshit. I drank my lemonade while I watched Colin laughing and talking with his mates. Their stares were really starting to get to me, talk about uncomfortable.

After what felt like forever, I got up and started to walk away. It was dark, but there was little solar lights in the garden, so I decided to follow them down to a walkway. I didn’t exactly know where I was going, but i didn’t really care. As long as I was away from Colin.

My mood had changed, I was so angry now, and over Colin’s s**t. He wasn’t going to change, and as long as I let him keep doing it- It would never stop. I started digging through my handbag as I walked, I was going to get my phone for a torch. My plan was to find somewhere quiet, then I was going to ring my parents to come get me. I didn’t give a f**k what Colin thought anymore, I didn’t want to be with him anymore. My mind was made up.

“Emily, wait!” I heard Colin’s voice behind me, but I ignored him and kept walking,

I heard his foot steps getting closer.

“Emily, can you hold up for a second!” He said catching up to me. I spun around and look straight into his eyes.

“Go away Colin! I don’t even want to be near you right now, I’m going home. I didn’t come here for you to f*****g ignore me! I came so that we could talk, because I don’t know if I want to do this-us anymore! I was hoping you might actually want to talk to me, and explain what the f**k happened at your house that day; But instead all you’ve done is ignore me and speak to me like s**t” I was growling the words as I said them,

Colins facial expression was stunned, he looked shocked and pissed off at me at the same time. I turned back around and kept walking, I noticed there was an old wooden seat under a big tree so I decided to sit down there. It was nice sitting, it over looked a dam, and the reflection of the moon was lovely. The wind was creating little ripples in the water and the moon looked like it was moving gently. It really was a nice place to sit an reflect.

I took a deep breath, and unlocked my phone. I scrolled through until I found my mums number, I was just about to press call when I heard,

“Look, I’m sorry okay. I knew you wouldn’t want to be with me anymore after the way I carried on the other day. I knew I had ruined everything.” His arm was extended and he was offering me a drink. I looked up at him confused,

“It’s boring soft drink” Colin added,

I stared at him for a few seconds without replying,

“Come on, we will sit down and have a talk. You’ve been wanting to talk all night, so don’t go quiet on me now” he laughed,

“Fine.” I said grabbing the drink from him,

He sat down next to me and put down his cup and said,

“Cheers to a night we will either remember or forget”

It was a weird sentence, I ignored him and took a sip. Then I took a deep breath in, and decided to talk,

“I know things have been off between us lately Cole. SO I think its time we just admit that this isn’t working-us being together. We are two different people. We need to just accept it.” My heart was pounding as the words came out, I was so scared of what he was going to say, but I was only stating the obvious.

He took a sip of his drink and glanced out over the water, he sat there quietly for a few minutes, and he never said a word. So I didn’t say anything either. I took another sip of my drink, thinking it tasted funny, like it was extremely flat, it was so bland.

“Yeh your right, we seem to be too different people lately. I don’t think we should waste any more of each other’s time.” Cole said breaking the silence.

“I don’t want us to end on bad terms though Cole, I would really like it if we could still be friends though, I don’t want things between us to be awkward.” I explain,

“Nah it doesn’t matter any more Emily, Things are never going to be the same after tonight.” He said with an emptiness in his voice,

I turned to look at Cole, and looked at him. Suddenly everything around me become fuzzy, and dark, everything was spinning uncontrollably. I closed my eyes and my head felt like I was floating on a cloud. I tried to talk to Cole, and ask for her. But my mouth opened and nothing came out. I blacked out.