Together in Berlin

Chapter 3 - Cole's POV

Chapter 3 – Cole's POV

I waved at Beth in her bus until I could not see it anymore. I stood on the sidewalk with the biggest smile.

            God, she was too adorable for her own good.

            Every time I saw Beth after being apart from her for a long time, it always kind of hit me, how much I had actually been missing her. It was easy to forget it when I was busy and running around and not allowing myself to think about her for more than a second.

            But when she was standing in front of me with little whisps of hair curling around her face, her freckles on her cheeks and her pink lips smiling at me, it always tugged on my heartstrings in a specific strange way, how much I had actually missed her, how much a part of me had been missing before. And now that she was there in front of me, I was finally whole again.

            I should probably have gone with her to her class, but I was also jetlagged, and in desperate need of a shower and some food.

            I walked back to apartment, this time not as fast as earlier because I knew Beth wasn't waiting for me back there.

            When I got back, the door was locked so I knocked.

            Nikki opened it a slit, keeping the door chain on. "Secret password," she hissed at me.

            I rolled my eyes. "Let me in."

            "Nope, not it," she replied and shut the door in my face.

            I knocked on the door again and when Nikki opened it this time, I said, in a little condescending tone, "Nikki Grayson is an extraordinary human being."

            Nikki grinned. "Kiss ass. And still not it." She closed the door again.

            I knocked again, and after sighing heavily, I said, "Smelly farts."

            Nikki smiled a Cheshire cat smile. "You may enter."

"You are such a weirdo," I told her as I walked into the apartment.

She flipped me off as I followed her back to the kitchen. "Takes one to know one."

I laughed. "Not gonna argue with you."

Once in the kitchen, I rummaged through their fridge and after the many don't touch that, that's mine screams from Crazy-Grayson, I managed to make myself a sandwich and sat at the table with Beth's cousin.

"So, how's life?" I asked her, as she was finishing off her own lunch.

She raised an eyebrow. "Small talk? Really?"

I chuckled again. "Hey, I'm genuinely curious."

"You're getting boring with your old age," she said, shaking her head at me.

I flipped her off. "Shut yo mouth, I'm not that old."

She made a grimace at me. "Ancient. A living relic."

I shook my head. "No respect for your elders."

"Absolutely none," she replied with a satisfied grin, but then added, a little thoughtfully, "the more I study in design the more I think I'll never become a famous designer."

"Why not?" I asked before taking a bite of my sandwich.

"I'm not psychotic enough, or like willing to destroy enough ecosystems," she sadly admitted.

"Ah well, if you're not ready to turn all the lakes into different colors because of your fabric's dye can you really say that you want it enough?"

"Exactly," she nodded in defeat.

"You'll need to start an eco friendly brand," I remarked.

Nikki made a face. "But eco friendly high fashion isn't the norm."

"It should be."

"Not gonna argue with you on that," she said, and then took a deep breath. "How's work?"

"Not well enough," I admitted thinking about all the setbacks we had and all the troubles we were getting just because we wanted every adult that wanted to adopt children to have the opportunity, regardless of their marital statues, or sexuality. "I hate most human adults, like the old ones."

"Well, that's better than me, I hate most humans, regardless of age."

I chuckled. "Very gloom and doom today."

"I should have been born when being emo was a thing."

I nodded in agreement. "A missed opportunity."

"Quite."

            Nikki sighed again and got up, picking up her plate. "Well, gotta go work on school stuff before I go to class. You think you'll survive on your own?"

            I grinned. "I hope I can manage."

            "Alright, bye bye you ancient relic," she said, and headed to her room.

            "Bye you weird Grayson Girl."

            I finished eating my sandwich while I checked my emails and messages on my phone.

            Jayden had texted me. It was not the time to get caught.

I replied, Can't talk, doing hot girl shit hoping that it would give me a few hours of peace.

            Once I was done eating, I washed my dishes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

            The struggle was real. The water pressure was a joke and the shower head was too low for me, so the water hit me in the neck because I was too tall. If I wanted to wash my hair, I had to crouch down a bit.

            I wasn't complaining though. I'd take all of my showers here for the rest of my life if that meant I could always be with Beth.

            When I was clean and feeling more refreshed, I stepped out of the bathroom with clean clothes on and walked into Beth's room. Unsurprisingly, it smelled like her, but it was like I wasn't expecting it for some reason and the familiarity and comfort of it made me smile like a lunatic. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

One day, Beth and I were going to live together and our home would always smell like her. My heart warmed just thinking about it.

I felt like being a little bit snoopy and looked around her little tidy space.

Beth's room was always in order. I loved that about her. Everything had its place. I looked at her books on her desk and the pictures pinned to her wall. There were pictures of her family and friends and a few of me too. I smiled at the ones she had decided to put up, the majority of them not my most flattering pictures. I was doing silly faces or just something stupid. It made me chuckled. It probably made her laugh too.

            On her nightstand, the bracelet I had made for her a while back was sitting there. I took and it realized the clasp was broken.

            I made a mental note of it. I'd have to go buy a couple of things to fix it later.

I was sitting on her bed now and my exhaustion suddenly hit me. I let myself fall back and wrapped my arms around one of her pillows. I snuggled in her blankets and fell asleep, feeling surrounded by Beth.

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Hello my little Pumpkins. Welcome back to another chapter of Together in Berlin.

Less Beth and more Nikki in this one. I hope you enjoyed seeing Miss Grayson. ;P

Alright, I'll leave you alone now! See you tomorrow! :D