Oh Brothers

Chapter 24

I roll over in bed and hit something. I open my eyes wide and see Cole lying under me, fast asleep. I carefully roll back over and memories of last night quickly come back.

Oh god. Kidnappers. I could get taken again and - no calm down Ara, you'll be fine. You'll totally be fine because you don't even know how to get out of this room, how could kidnappers find you. Oh, great. I'm talking to myself again.

I look around the room and see the door that most likely leads to an en suite bathroom. I stand up and glide over in my socks and pull the door open.

Yes! Bathroom! I dig around and find spare toothbrushes and toothpaste. I do my business use the bathroom and when I come out Cole is just waking up.

"Ara?" he asks confused then his face morphs into realization and he looks back at me, "how are you feeling?"

"Dandy!" I exclaim and jump on the bed.

"Dandy?" Cole asks, already amused by me.

I nod my head, "yeah. I'm honestly fine right now. I'm not going to let what happened get me down, I'm going to keep living and being me."

Cole looks impressed but he doesn't say anything more about it, "what do you say to breakfast?"

I scrunch my nose, "you say the word breakfast weird."

"No, you say breakfast weird!" Cole argues.

"Look you did it again! You're supposed to say it like 'brek-fist' not literally 'break-fast'," I retort.

Cole shakes his head, "then why is I spelled that way?"

"A lot of words are spelled differently than they're pronounced!" I exclaim.

Cole leans back and smirks at me, crossing his arms, "name one."

"I could name thousands!" I huff and mirror his position.

"One will suffice," Cole's breathtaking smile widens, distracting me. My mind goes blank.

"I, uh, can't think of any right now, but -" I ramble.

"You can't think of any because you're wrong," Cole cuts me off.

"I am not wrong! I'm just hungry so my brain is lacking fuel right now so I will get back to you after I eat!" I say and jump of the bed.

"Excuses, excuses," Cole teases and I scrunch my nose again and storm out the door. I look around the hallway and realize I have absolutely no idea where I'm going.

Cole comes out of the room behind me and I start walking down the left side of the hall.

"And where do you think you're going?" Cole asks from behind me, his voice fraught with amusement.

"To the kitchen," I call out behind me.

"You're going the wrong way," Cole calls out. I stop in place and make a full turn around and march down the other way. As I pass Cole he latches onto my hand and pulls me to him.

"Are you mad at me, Ara?" Cole asks, his eyes baring down into mine. My breath gets caught in my throat and my heart is furiously pounding away.

"No, that would be ridiculous, I have no reason to be mad you," I say.

"Are you mad anyway?" Cole asks, taking a step closer to me even though I didn't think there was enough room for him to do so. Our faces were only inches apart.

I slump my shoulders in defeat, "no."

"Come on little firecracker, let's get some food in you," Cole pulls me down the hallway, still holding onto my hand. I follow willingly like a lost little puppy.