Cole pulled me through the crowd, saying hello as we walked past some of his friends, and into the kitchen.
“Cole,” Ben shouted, dragging Cole’s name out for a few seconds. “Hey, Oakley, you came too.” Ben almost stumbled on the spot but managed to grab onto the worktop to stop himself falling. “Get yourselves some punch, or there’s beer, or punch, and I think some JD. I think I drank it though. I dunno,” he rambled, shrugging his shoulders.
“Okay, man.” Cole chuckled, tightening his arm around me and guiding me to the fridge. He grabbed us two cokes and handed me one. He wasn’t going to have a beer? Before the fridge door closed, I pointed to the bottles of Becks at the bottom. He shook his head.
“I have something very special to chauffeur home later.” I rolled my eyes at him. That was just plain cheesy. Cole chuckled and winked at me.
I sipped my coke and watched Cole joking and messing around with his friends. It was nice seeing him play wrestling with Ben and teasing Kerry about her awful luck with men. However, as I watched him wrap his arm around Ben’s neck, I couldn’t help feeling a little envious.
“Wanna dance?” he asked casually, once he had gotten back to his feet after wrestling Ben to the beer-stained floor. I nodded and threw my empty can in the bin.
I held onto Cole’s hand tightly and pressed myself into his back as we pushed our way through the crowd. How did Ben even know that many people? He must have just put an open invitation on Facebook or something. There were way too many people here for the size of the house. I didn’t envy Ben for having to clean up in the morning. I didn’t really think parties were like the teen ones in movies, but this one certainly conformed to the stereotype.
No one seemed to even notice I was with Cole, or they just didn’t care. I felt light, like I was floating almost. Acceptance meant more to me than it probably should. I’d heard people at school say they didn’t care about being accepted, but that was just because they already were.
Cole finally stopped in a tiny bit of space near one of the speakers. I don’t think he could have found a worse spot to dance; there was barely room for one person! It meant we were close. My chest was pressed against his, but I still felt comfortable. With growing confidence, I wrapped my arms around his neck. When he didn’t push me away, I smiled.
The song changed to Beyoncé’s ‘Halo’. It was one of my favourite songs and reminded me so much of my relationship with Cole. If it wasn’t for him, I honestly didn’t know what I would be like or how I would have coped. Without Cole even knowing it, he kept me from falling apart.
Slowly, he bent his head and pressed his forehead to mine. Like every clichéd romance movie, everyone but us seemed to disappear. I wanted him to kiss me so much. All my insecurities of not being good enough for him vanished as his lips parted, just inches from mine.
After what felt like years, his soft lips brushed lightly against mine. I felt like my body was on fire, as if every nerve ending was alight. It was the most incredible feeling, almost overwhelming. His lips moved in time with mine, his hand behind my head, wrapping into my hair.
Suddenly, Cole pulled away. Had I done something wrong? I followed where he was looking. A crowd had gathered around the stereo, which was now silent. I had been so caught up in the kiss that I hadn’t even noticed the music had stopped.
Biting my lip, I forced myself to be brave and look up at Cole. He was glaring at the stereo as if he wanted to murder it. I smiled at the thought of him not wanting to end the kiss either.
“Wanna go outside for a bit?” he asked, nodding his head towards the door. I started walking, and he followed. Okay, act normal: this is Cole.
Ben’s front garden was trashed too. The grass was littered with crisp packets, bottles, cans of alcohol and plastic cups. Spotting a clean space on the floor, I sat down cross-legged and waited for whatever was coming next. Cole laid on his side in front of me, with his head perched on his hand. He didn’t say anything, and usually that would be just fine, but this was a different kind of silence.
I picked at the blades of grass just to have something else to focus on. The awkwardness that fell over us was unbearable. The kiss meant so much to me, but it wasn’t as important as having him in my life. Recently it seemed like every now and then he wanted more, and other times like he was happy to be friends. I didn’t understand why so many girls gushed about liking someone; it was just plain hard work. Lying down beside him, I bit my lip.