"You still want work?" Billy smiles.

We gave her our numbers the second time we visited so she could call us whenever. Today's Saturday so she said to stop by.

The hour and a half ride is totally worth it when we get here because she always feeds us. Also, sometimes her sixty-something year old mother is up and hangs with us.

"Um..." I think back to when Cole and I made up after the argument at his family dinner table two weeks ago and how it's been so peaceful lately. "I don't know if I am... I mean, it's true that I could use the money, but... I don't know."

The oversized lollipops she gave us the moment we stepped in are just obscene swirls of hard, coloured sugar, but I needed something sweet so I'm eating it.

I can feel the cavities forming.

"Are you kidding?" Chris laughs. "This chick is practically poor. If it weren't for her allowance, we wouldn't ever be here."

"I only asked you to cover gas," I retort. "I'm not poor."

Cole's weekly allowance runs out pretty quick since I go out with Chris every chance I get.

Billy chuckles. "Well, if you ever decide you want one, I have a job for you."

I perk up. "Seriously?"

She nods. "My son is gonna be here in no time and I never could find somebody to help my mama in the new home," she sighs. "I was wondering if you wanted to come and take care of my mama and my granddaughter. I've got work, he's got work, I don't want those two home alone."

"Your mom seems completely healthy to me. Why does she need someone to take care of her?" Chris asks the question that was on the tip of my tongue.

"I don't." Billy's surprisingly gorgeous mother emerges from the back. "You would only be there to keep me company." white hair, elegant build, and a gentle smile.

"Can I really do it?" I question myself out loud.

"You can." Chris lightly touches the back of my hand. "No matter what that bastard says, you can do whatever you want, it's your life."

You don't understand.

"I'll pay you ten dollars an hour," Billy promises, leaving forward. "And I'll need you three days a week, five hours on each day. I'll pay you extra on days that I call you and you're not scheduled."

I hold in my glee. "That sounds awesome, but I have to ask my mom first," ...and tell Cole. "I will call you this evening and let you know."

"Okay, Hun," she smiles at me, satisfied.

"Chris, we gotta go," Christiane jumps up from her stool. "It's almost four."

"Okay, let's go." we go around and hug the two women before taking what's left of our candy and leaving.

My little Beetle is parked down the street from the shop and we hop right in.

I rarely get to drive her lately, but as baseball practice kicks up, Cole can't drive me home, so Chris and I take turns driving each other's cars to and from school.

The drive back to town is like any other with Christiane. Nothing but jokes, laughing, almost hitting animals, and almost driving into a tree. As if driving on a country road isn't dangerous enough, my phone starts to ring. We are about ten minutes away from town, but I answer anyway. Because it's Cole.

'Who is it?' Chris mouths silently.

I answer the phone and mouth my answer. 'Cole.'

She rolls her eyes and slouches down in her seat.

"Hello?" I sound as pleasant as possible. I am already chuckling at Chris propping her feet up in the seat.

"Chris?" he sounds winded. He must be just now getting out of practice.

"Yeah, it's me. Do you need something?" I attempt to ignore the faces that Christiane is making beside me.

"Actually, yes, I do," he replies his voice changes. "Where are you?"

I unconsciously start going a bit faster. "Entering town with Chris," I peek over at her. "Why?"

"Is your family still out of town?" he asks.

I probably shouldn't have let him know about that. I mean, I did tell him I would keep him informed about everything from now on, but I think I know what he is getting at.

Mom, Tom, and Jer left town to go to a distant uncle's funeral. I loathe funerals so I decided to stay home and watch the house. Plus, I have another essay to write and it's a headache.

"Yes, I'm there by myself for the week," I admit.

"Is it okay if I stop by this evening?"

It's hard to answer. "I don't know, Cole," I stutter. "I have that essay and other homework to do before Monday."

"You don't want to see me?" he sounds hurt but there is another hint of something in his voice.

Always jumping to conclusions.

"Okay, just come over later," I tell him. "It'll give me time to eat, shower, and get some work done."

I can just hear his smile. "Gotcha, darlin'." he hangs up.

"You are such a pushover." Chris gets out as we pull up to her house. "It pisses me off." she slams the door behind her.

I don't like when she's mad at me. "I love you, too, babe." I laugh she storms off up the driveway to the colonial house she lives in. "Call me tomorrow morning!"

Turning around with a smile, she flicks me off jokingly. "Whatever, bitch!"

»»------(¯' ´¯)------»»

"You remembered that I was coming, right?" Cole hugs me tight and while he kisses my neck, his hands grope my ass and the small of my back.

"How could I forget?" I put pressure on his chest in a gentle attempt to get him off. He does back off and I take the opportunity to close the door. "You just came a little early, that's all."

He smiles. "I couldn't wait to come see you."

I wish he had called and told me he was coming so soon. Maybe I would have had time to wear something other then a loose t-shirt and knee high socks. All that's on under my shirt is underwear. The house was hot so I gave myself a pass. Clearly a bad idea.

I walk back to the kitchen. The gloves I was wearing while washing dishes, dripping wet in my hands. I plan on tossing them in the sink before I go upstairs to put on pants.

Right as I throw them and they plop onto the bubbles, my arm is grabbed and I'm turned around.

Cole's lips are over mine in an instant. He turns me around and picks me up before placing me on the bar. The fingers of his left hand squeeze my breast and it sends a shock through me.

"I can't..." I pull back but his mouth is on mine again.

There are multiple reasons that I don't want to do it with Cole right now.

I mean, we've been together like this four times now -- the first, third, and fourth time were all in the back of his truck -- but I just don't want to, because I'm not in the mood. On top of that, I'm not so sure of the potency of the birth control pills I bought in the city. And, Cole seemingly hates condoms so...that doesn't help.

The sides of my underwear are pulled on. My hands fly down to stop Cole from pulling them off.

"What's wrong?" he doesn't look mad, but slightly irritated.

"I just don't feel like it right now." I pull my shirt down more. "I mean, why can't we just sit around and... talk for a while."

"Chris, I'm tired of sitting around and just talking," he complains.

Give me a break, Cole.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Not today, Cole, okay?" I kiss his cheek.

"Alright," he pulls his keys out of his back pocket. "Then I'll just go." he kisses my cheek back and turns around to leave. "I told my parents I was gonna be over a friend's house tonight, so I might just do that."

I jump down from the bar counter. "Don't leave, yet." I plead while reaching for his sleeve. My heart-wrenching at the thought of what kind of friend he could be referring to. "Why are you leaving?"

"That's easy, Ms Selvey," he turns around and kisses me. "I love you so much, I just don't think I can handle sitting here and talking to you all innocent like for very long."

Don't leave me here alone, please. Don't replace me.

He turns to leave again and I squeeze his sleeve. "Don't go, yet." I fidget making my thighs rub together. "I can do it, just not down here." I take his hand. "Come up to my room."

Without any hesitation, he follows me up the stairs and down the hall towards my room.

I pull him in so I can close the door. I don't have a reason to do so since we are here alone, but it just feels better that way.

Almost immediately, Cole swings me around and tosses me onto my bed. It's only made up because my mom did it this morning before they left. The dark purple comforter makes an airy sound as I collapse onto it.

My lamp is the only light on in my room, however, I can clearly see Cole as he takes off his shirt.

"Wa... wait for a... "

He kisses me hard. His tongue in my mouth.

He stops kissing me long enough so that he can whip off my shirt. My hair flies into the air and a good amount of it goes over my face.

No bra was covering me, so I'm bare. My arms cover them, and he changes that by taking both my wrists and pulling them over my head. He squeezes them so hard that I arch my back and wince.

After moments of kissing my breasts and stomach, he let's go of my hands, but I know I'm supposed to keep them in place. Next thing I know, my underwear is slipped off and he is undoing his belt.

He slips off his jeans and pushes me up closer to the front of the bed by my waist. I can clearly see his boner pushing his boxers from the inside.

Go slower this time.

During times like these, there is so much I want to say to him, but I just chew on my lip.

I suck in a lung full of air and gasp when he lifts my hips and thrust inside of me. It's like I'm healing very slowly down there or something. I mean, it doesn't hurt as much as the first time, but it still feels painful. Maybe I'll never get used to this. It'll probably always hurt.

A thought occurs to me as he moves.

Is he wearing a condom?

I prop myself up with my forearms. "Cole, stop!"

He ignores me.

"Cole, stop, pull out! Pull out, now!"

He stops for a brief moment.

I move my own body away from him and wrench his hands away with my fingers so that I can get him out of me. The very instant I do that, I look down and see my worst fear.

No condom.

"What, Chris?" his eyes darken and he crinkles his nose.

I jump from the bed and find my shirt. "We fucking talked about this, Cole!" I inadvertently start to cry as I put my shirt back on. "I begged and pleaded with you, but you are just so fucking stubborn."

I scoop my underwear up off the edge of my bed and storm out of my room towards the bathroom.

"What in the hell are you going on about, Chris?!" he stomps out after me.

I splash water on my face. "I'm talking about how you never do even the smallest things I ask of you!" I don't mean to yell, nevertheless, I'm steaming and he's gonna hear this. "Never! Even though you constantly give me rules and I try to follow them so I can be a good girlfriend to you, you never show me the same courtesy!"

"Don't you speak like that to me after I put up with all your shit every day!" he points.

I scoff and push past him. "Whatever, Cole." I walk into the hall.

"Where do you think you are going?!" he grabs my left arm so hard I almost scream.

"I'm going to go finish the dishes." I tug on my arm to get it out of his tight grip. "Let go of me, Cole!"

He smiles dryly. "I'm not done talking to you, Chris." he doesn't yell and that scares me.

His hold on me is so strong, I whimper breathlessly.

"That hurts." it feels like he is breaking my arm. "Let go...!"

He throws me to the floor roughly and I grab the handle to the closest door. I think it's my mom and Tom's room.

My legs are pulled out from under me as I'm dragged across the carpet floor. I am finally able to let out a scream, but it's cut short when a hard slap hits my cheek. It throws my head to the side and I gasp in disbelief at how sudden it was and how much it hurt.

"You wanna talk back!?" another slap to the opposite cheek. "Go on, do it!"

He pulls my legs again and tries to drag me back towards my room. My bare skin that comes into contact with the carpet burns. My hands grip for the walls but can't take hold of anything.

"Let...go!" I kick and cry.

The moment I feel his grip on my ankles loosen, I crawl away as fast as I can towards the stairs.

Getting to my feet, I try to run down the stairs, only to trip about halfway to the bottom. Tumbling down the rest of the way hurt, but it doesn't stop me from getting back up and attempting to run to the other bathroom.

"Where're you going?" Cole comes behind me and grabs my hair. "Thought you could run away from me?"

I scream. "No!" I reach for the back of my head where he has a grip on my hair. "Cole, stop!"

"It's always 'Cole, stop' with you!" he backhands my face.

I should have kept my mouth shut earlier.

I look at him behind tears. "I'm sorry, okay?" it's hard to make them stop, my body on fire.

"No, it's not okay, Chris!" he slams me against the wall. "Who gave you the right to raise your voice at me?"

"No one..." I'm cut off when I'm thrown to the side and I crash into an end table, I scream again. A lamp is knocked over and it smashes to pieces when it comes into contact with the floor. "I just got mad at you."

"Mad at me?!" he pulls me up by my shirt. "What for?!"

I don't look at him. "I asked you to wear a condom... you didn't... I got mad." the more I talk, the softer my voice gets. "Last time I asked you nicely to start wearing one."

"You asked me nicely, huh?" he snatches me again and almost punches me in the face before the bell rings and saves me.