Mindless

Eight

~Callie~

"Oh, my god. Pull over." Cole demanded from the passenger seat. 

"What? Why-" 

"Callie. Pull. Over." I screwed my eyebrows up and did as he said, we'd been driving all of 10 minutes. 10 minutes into the hour drive and I was exhausted as it was. I'd worked all day today and had managed to swap shifts around so I could have all of Friday and Saturday off both jobs, Sunday I'd had to book off as holiday from Belle's but I was back at the bar on Sunday evening so in reality, I didn't use too much time off for the wedding, it just meant I didn't have a full break before heading up there. Tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner, then the wedding on Saturday and hopefully we can get out of there on Sunday morning fully intact with my family believing the lie that me and Cole are together. 

Cole climbed out of the car, mouth moving as he walked around the front and pulled the door open beside me. 

"Out." 

"Wha-" 

"You are literally the worst driver I've ever met in my entire life. You're not driving."

"That was the dea-" 

"I did not think I would end up dead by letting you fulfil your end of the bargain. I'm changing it. Out. I'll drive." He dipped his hand into the car, clicking the button to unfasten my belt without looking. I don't even know what his deal was. Sure I'd been in the wrong lane and moved over later than I'd like but I was hardly going to have us both killed. I rolled my eyes, climbing out the car. 

"You're such a drama queen you know?" 

"You almost had someone slam into the back of us Callie. There was someone right behind us." 

"There was not." He pulled a hand down his face. 

"Get in before someone knocks you over." 

"So dramatic." I climbed into the chair, buckling up as he did the same, returning us to the silence of the car, not even broken by radio play. Cars whirred past us on the highway. Cole's hand gripping the wheel tight, the one closest to the window leaning against the door so casually. The past 2 months feel like such a weird blur. How I ended up here with Cole driving me to this thing, some joint lie we'd have to hold up. If I'd have told myself the first time I saw Cole off the ice that this is who I'd be taking to Liz's wedding, I'd have had myself locked up and thrown away the key. 

I don't think everyone's perception of Cole is right. I mean, I caught a glimpse of the side everyone is apparently so scared about back in the club on Friday but I don't think he's like that unless he's pushed to it. Not a single one of our other conversations have made me concerned in the slightest about my safety. Not like Lil and Theo were making it out to be anyway. He does have this dark cloud around him but after Friday, the way he checked me over after I walked into a fucking door. That wasn't a violent, dangerous man. That was a man who's seriously misunderstood.

"So," Cole finally speaks. "Rules." 

"Mhm?" 

"What you got for me?"  I shuffle in my seat so I can face him more. 

"I've got 7." 

"7?" 

"Yep." 

"Okay, hit me with them." I took a deep breath. Me and Lil had written these together when she called Saturday after hearing I'd left with Cole. 

"Okay. Rule 1. This only continues whilst it benefits us both. The second one of us stop benefitting from it, it's over." 

"Agreed. 2?" 

"When this is over, the break up stories we will tell people have to be agreed on beforehand and there's no room for us to change it in the future. Neither of us need a hit to our reputation." He nodded slowly. "Agreed." 

"Yep. Makes sense to me. 3?"

"We agree on all stories beforehand and if there's ever a point we tell a story we haven't agreed on, we tell the other at the first opportunity, and never paint the other in a bad light. We're supposed to be in a happy, loving, healthy relationship." 

"Okay." I gave him a second, waiting for any adjustments but it never came. So I gave him rule 4, no dating other people in public, including one night stands or flings. Whatever he wanted to call them. He needs to keep them private. Rule 5, physical contact only when we are around people we are trying to fool. "Do we really need that as a rule?" 

"Yes." Cole chuckled, shaking his head before urging me on. "Rule 6. If we have to do any more over night stays, we stay in separate rooms and if that's not possible, separate beds or one of us take the floor. We take that in turns or a flip of a coin." 

"You've put a hell of a lot of thought into this Cal." 

"I'm not leaving anything to chance." 

"Let me guess, your last rule is not to fall in love with you?" I stared at him. This wasn't a joke. Theo apparently demanded I put this one in there to save his own ass but it made sense. 

"This isn't a real relationship. There's no room for feelings to get tied into it. This is mutually beneficial and that's the only reason we'll be spending any time together." 

"And here I was thinking you were finding a reason to spend time with me because of your little crush on me." I scoffed. 

"I do not have a crush on you Ambrose. Your ego doesn't need that kind of boost, you'll fly away like a hot air balloon." He chuckled at me. "Any rules to add yourself?" 

"Yes, actually." 

"Okay?"

"We get 2 off limits conversations each." 

"2?" 

"If we're supposed to be in this so called 'loving and healthy' relationship, we should know as much as possible about each other. If I didn't put a cap on it, something tells me you'd block off your entire life." He looks over at me for half a second. "Right?" 

"You're not wrong..." 

"Exactly. But we both deserve to have somethings we keep private. If there are specific things that happen to come up, we can veto it." 

"Just like that?" 

"Just like that." He nods. "But obviously we can't veto everything or if your parents ask me something, I won't have any answers." I weigh it up in my head. I definitely have more than 2 things I'd like to veto but this also means there are only 2 things he can veto and I'm nothing if but a little nosey and Cole is like this undiscovered creature I need to know everything about. I highly doubt anything will come up outside of my family and that's not exactly veto worthy anyway. 

"Okay." 

"Okay, and one last one-"  I rolled my eyes. "You don't drive us anywhere. It'd look bad if my girlfriend ended up dead." 

"Oh come on, my driving is not that bad." 

"It really is that bad Callie. I actually feared for my life." 

"You are so dramatic. There was no one behind us, I checked the mirrors." 

"There was a lorry Callie!" Cole pulled his hand down his face, struggling to stop himself from laughing. "Rule 9, you're not allowed to drive." 

"Fine. I'll be the passenger princess but I'm in charge of music."