A Very Sprouse Summer

Love is in the Air (Chapter 15)

"I'm so so sorry about Simon. He can be a real pain sometimes" Lili sympathetically says to Riley and Cole. Simon has already stormed off with some older kids.

"What's his deal, Lli? He's really not doing well at making a good first impression." Cole responds.

"I don't know what gets into him. One minute he's fine, and then the next he is out of control. He just really..." Lili trails off not sure what to say next.

"Sucks?" Cole smirks.

"Yeah" Lili tiredly smiles. "That's the word".

"Well, we're not going to let him ruin this great night. But, I will say this. I don't trust him. If he's near me again... or any of us... I'll have my guard up." Cole says with full honesty in his voice.

"Ok, thanks." Lili smiles while touching Cole's hand.

This catches Cole's attention, making him look up at her quickly with a glimmer in his eye.

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**COLE'S POV**

Riley runs off with [y/n] to the photo booth, so it's now just Lili and I.

"Do you want to grab some fresh air?" Lili asks. I notice she has a pinkness to her complexion. I'm guessing it's blush, and it really suites her nicely.

"I think that's the best thing I've heard all day" I smile.

We walk outside onto the lit porch. There are lights everywhere and I see some other people outside too.

We walk over to the bench and sit down together.

"So..." Lili starts off, "congrats on winning the game."

"Oh, coke and pepsi?" I laugh. I totally forgot that that's what we had initially started playing before the big blowup. "Thanks, it took a lot out of me to win that whole thing with Riley" I laugh.

"Haha! You're a nice older brother. I could see it meant a lot to Riley that you were her partner" she sincerely says.

"Thanks, I try" I smile while casually trying to wrap my arm around Lili's shoulder.

"It really is. It's a nice quality to be ... nice. It can be hard to find nice people these days" she looks down at her manicure. Her nails are a soft pink that matches her dress.

"Hmmm? How so?" I quietly ask.

"Well, I don't know. So many people just take for granted when a person is nice to them and don't really return the favor. But why do we have to try to do the right thing. It should just be innate" She responds looking ahead deep in thought. I really like her. We are able to have conversations like this and not feel judged or pressured to share any more or any less from what we are feeling.

"Lili" I look over at her. This makes her look into to my eyes.

We don't say anything, but both go in for a kiss. It was sweet, special, and felt right. Like we were both reciprocal of each other's needs and were just doing the right thing at the right place in time.

Lili looks up at me, smiles, and then leans her head onto my chest. "I love when it's almost dark outside during the summer but not quite. It's like on the verge of becoming the night even though it's about 8:00" she hums onto my chest.

"Mhmm. I love the night time. If I can live in 24 hour darkness I could get used to it" I whisper into her ear.

Lili laughs. "Haha! I don't know about that"