Struggles ✔

Chapter 39.

Alexa's POV

As we drove home, we sat in peaceful silence. Cole had one hand on the steering wheel and the other was intertwined with my hand. The radio was the only sound that could be heard. Even Cola was silent.

We arrived home and saw another car parked in front of the house. We looked at each other in confusion. We brought our stuff down and Cola followed inside.

"Marie!!! We're home!!!" Cole calls out as he puts down our stuff. Marie comes rushing out of the kitchen. She looks at Cole with pity eyes.

"Cole, you have visitors in the living room." She says. Cole looks even more confused. He and I walk into the living room.

Cole suddenly froze on his spot when he saw the couple that was seated at the couch. It was an old married couple. They looked around their late 30's. They were both very good looking for their age and if it wasn't for the wrinkles on their face, I would've thought they were in their 20's. Looking closely I realize the man looked a lot like Cole. I looked back and forth at Cole and the couple. I quickly spotted all their similarities and soon came to a conclusion that these were his parents.

"Cole..." the woman says softly

"Mother." Cole, on the other hand , said it with a very cold voice. I was right.

"Son...oh my god you've grown a lot." She says

"No shit. But you wouldn't know cause you're never here. That and you don't care about checking up on me to see how your son is doing." Cole says. He was getting madder and madder as he stays in this room with his parents longer.

"Cole,don't talk to your mother like that." The man said

"Mother? As far as I remember I didn't have a mother or a father since I was 16." He said.
I inched closer to Cole and held his hand. His hand immediately intertwined with mine and squeezes it. I gave a reassuring squeeze  which made hin relax just a bit.

The woman had tears in her eyes and it soon started falling. The man hugged her and comforted her. Cole rolls his eyes.

"Cole...We care about you. Of course we care. You're our son." The woman says through her sobs

"Yeah right. You stopped caring the day Aurora died. You blamed me. I can see it in your eyes everyday. You started leaving for work more often. You left so much to the point you barely come home anymore. You wouldn't check up on me. You didn't even think about how I feel. How much I was hurting. How much pain I was going through. No. You just cared about yourselves." Cole spat out. He let go of my hand and stormed upstairs.

The woman was full on bawling and the man shed some tears. I watched silently as they cried into each other's arms. I walked to the kithen to see Marie sitting at the dining table looking down sadly. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice me.

I prepared two glasses of water and put it on a tray. I carried the tray and set the water down on the table in front of the two. I cleared my throat, making them look at me. They looked shocked to see me. I smiled sadly at them.

"You guys should drink up. I'm sorry for the harsh words that Cole said. You've just really hurt him and seeing you just made those feelings resurface. In anger, he said those terrible things" I say

"No. No. No. We deserve them. We've been the worst parents ever. Everything he said was true." The woman sniffled

"You're not the worst parents ever, trust me, I would know. Now I'm going to talk to Cole. You two should drink some more water then head to bed and rest. I'll make sure Cole will hear you out tomorrow." I say. The woman started crying again but this time she was smiling.

"Thank you dear. Oh my god. You're an angel. Thank you so much." She stands up and hugs me tightly. The man hugs me too and we end up in a group hug.

"My name's Alexa by the way." I introduce myself

"I'm Alicia" the woman says

"I'm Robert." The man says

"Pleased to meet the parents of such a great guy." I say

"Oh you're such a sweetie. Are you a friend of his?" Alicia asks

"Friend and just tonight he asked me to be his girlfriend." I blush a bit when I said that.

"That's wonderful. Cole deserves a girl like you to take care of him." Robert says

"Oh my gosh...did we ruin your night? Oh god we're such terrible people." Alicia says. Her eyes started tearing again.

"It's okay Alicia. Now please get some rest. I'll talk to Cole." I say. They both nod and thanks me once more before going upstairs. I got another glass of water and went up to Cole's room. I walked in without knocking and found him laying in bed on his stomach. I placed the glass of water and started walking out.

"Wait" he said as he sat up and faced me. He opened his arms and I immediately crawled into his arms. He buries his head on the crook of my neck.

"Why the fucking hell are they even here." He swears. This leads to him ranting on and on about how mad he is that they're here.

"They ruined our fucking night. It was going so well. The date was amazing and you agreed to be my girlfriend but then they just pop up out of nowhere." He says

"Cole...please calm down." I finally speak up. He grunts but nods his head.

"I know you're angry but don't you think it's time to forgive them? It's time to let go of this upset feeling you all have. Move on from the past. Do you really think this is what Aurora wants? Her family never going to talk to each other anymore. If I were her then I wouldn't be happy up there in heaven, I'd be feeling terrible and guilty. I don't think that's not what your supposed to feel when you die. You're supposed to feel happy and at peace. But how can Aurora be at peace when her family is broken?" I say all this. He looks at me blankly before ruffling his hair.

"What do you suppose I do? Pretend like they were there for me. Fill them in on what they missed. Or maybe I'll pretend as if were such a perfect family." He says sarcastically

"None of the above. I suggest you forgive them for being such shit parents for the past two years and then start making new memories with them. They weren't there before but they're here now and they're going to make it up to you...if you let them." I tell him. He shakes his head at me. I sigh, getting frustrated. I peel away his arms and stand up.

"You know, you should be glad you actually have parents. Parents who are willing to fix their mistakes. Parents who will love you no matter what. Parents who care. You're actually really lucky to have them Cole. It's a shame you can't see it." I say. I walk out of the room to leave him to his thoughts.

I crept quietly to my room. When I got there, I changed into more comfortable clothes. I laid in my bed and closed my eyes to try and fall asleep. It wasn't long though until I heard the door opening.

I felt the bed dip and warm arms wrapped around my body. I was pulled into a stromg hard chest. It was quite obvious as to who this was.

"You're right..."he whispers

"I've been selfish too. I never thought of how my parents felt. " he says. My eyes stayed closed.

" I know you're awake. I just wanted to thank you" he says. This makes me turn around and peck his lips.

"Anything for you."

He hugs me tightly to his chest and kisses my forehead.

That was how we slept that night. In the comfort of each other's arms.

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