thirteen

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[ cole ]

I was falling deeper and deeper into the world of Nora.

It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It was actually a fall that was worth feeling.

After watching Star Wars with her friends, who I always thought were too weird but were actually really nice, I sat on her couch to take in these thoughts.

Things like enjoying the movie and dancing in her backyard were the slow motion kind of falling. Everything else was a blur. There was no in-between.

"Cole, they're gone now." She walks back in the living room. Spencer and Georgia had decided to leave right after episode one ended.

I nod, pretending not to look at her. She's wearing sweatpants and a giant striped t-shirt. Even though the outfit is simply comfortable, she makes it appear odd.

"What did you want to ask me earlier?"

"Oh." I rack my brain, remembering my earlier conversation with my mother. Her and all of her plans for my life were overwhelming.

But I didn't want to talk about her.

"Do you believe in things unseen?"

She gives me a curious look, one that's slightly different than the rest of her wondering faces. She looks almost amused.

"Yeah, I do."

I watch her eyebrows raise, challenging my response that she already knows.

"Well, I think that what you see is what you get. That's all there is."

"That doesn't make any sense."

I want to laugh at her statement. Her fighting nature makes me sort of happy.

"Why doesn't it?"

"What are you living for?"

I don't know the answer. "Well, what're you?

"God."

"The great Nora Nightingale believes in God?"

The idea seems absolutely insane. She doesn't seem like the crazy religious type. She's just a nature freak.

"I believe in things that believe in me."

Her responses become more and more dumb.

"How do you know God, if he's real, believes in you?"

She smiles one of her brightest smiles.

"I feel him. I don't love anything just because I see it."

I fight the urge to ask if she loves me.

"Cole."

My gaze, which had fallen to the floor, raises to meet her stare.

"Beauty is more tangible than your eyes lead you to believe."

"But God-"

"God is beautiful."

She waves her arms wildly in the air as if to say it's all around you, you idiot!

I look away from her, suddenly feeling drained.

"Let's go outside."

"No more God talk, okay?"

"You started it." She gives me a friendly nudge, not angered at all by my disbelief.

I shake my head at the ground.

"Nora, you're such a mystery."

She places her finger on my lip. "Shh."

Then she runs away.

I chase her.

It's a fairytale.

"You're so slow!" She yells from the back of the house.

I catch her as soon as she enters the backyard. I let my arm wrap around her waist. Her feet raise above the ground slightly.

She laughs and it's the first time I don't think of her smile as too big.

I bury my face into the crook of her neck and can't help myself when I whisper, "Am I a mystery too?"

She stops laughing and easily tells me no. "You're no enigma, Cole."

Her feet hit the ground.

"Then what am I?"

She faces me as I back away from her.

"I'm not sure. Maybe a shooting star because they're really bright and pretty, but they're only there for a little while."

I don't understand, but her face is so hopeful. Yet, her voice is sad.

"But it might be simpler than that," she continues. "I think maybe you're just budding into something. Like your roots haven't really sunk into the soil yet."

She whispers. "Maybe you're a seed."

My face wrinkles in confusion, although her thoughts are satisfying enough.

I know she means none of her words in a mean way- she's too kind.

She just wants to tell me the truth.

And really, it's not bad being a seed, because I have plenty of room to grow.

But I don't want to be what I am.

I don't want to be me.

"Cole, where are you going?"

I'm already heading towards the kitchen, ready to flee yet again.

She rushes after me, grabbing me with more force than I ever thought she could have.

"Nora, just leave me-"

She touches my shoulder in a soft motion.

She then proceeds to kiss my cheek. My whole body turns off.

"Sorry." Her face is red.

Everything in me sets on fire suddenly.

I kiss her.

Not on the cheek. Not just a brush.

But I really kiss her.

It's the best and worst moment of my life.

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[A/N]
WOWOWOWOWOWOW
would you believe me if I told you I didn't plan that ending.

I literally just wrote it. not sure how that happened......

anyway .. sorry for taking so long. I had a little accident and had stitches (if you ask what happened, I'll tell you I was attacked by a crocodile) and also,  this month has been fullllllll of activities.

OKAY so can you still tell the difference between Nora and Cole? Like how they sound?

and WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER?!

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