cole

So he earns your undying love by reading a book under a tree?" Cole said dryly. "Why didn't I ever try that approach? I like books and trees.

He'd only been gone two seconds, but the room got brighter when they were together, as if they were two elements that became brilliant in proximity. At Sam's clumsy efforts to carry the vacuum, Grace smiled a new smile that I thought only he ever got, and he shot her a withering look full of the sort of subtext you could only get from a lot of conversations whispered after dark.It made me think of Isabel, back at her house. We didn't have what Sam and Grace had. We weren't even close to having it. I didn't think what we had could get to this, even if you gave it a thousand years.

We all have scars, Mia; they are supposed to make you stronger, not paralyze you._ ~Cole

He was gorgeous, and I absolutely, no question, had to be drooling. After a quick and hopefully stealthy check _ big show, I wasn__!- I found myself wonder what color his eyes were. Brown maybe. Or even hazel. Either way_wow, just wow. Deer? Headlights? Hi, I__ Ali.

He ignored me, thank God, saying to Kat, "Let go of Frosty's leash. You're choking the life out of him." Kat's eyes narrowed to tiny slits, a sure sign of her aggression. "He deserves to choke. He didn't keep little frosty in his pants this summer." the words snapped like a whip. "He did." Cole snapped back with unwavering confidence."Not.""Did.""Not!""Did,""Not, not, not!" she shouted with a stomp of her foot."What are we five?" Cole said."Six.

I don__ know what circumstances occurred in your life for you to build such a strong brick wall around your heart, but I do intend to tear it down." ~Cole

I know._ He leaned in and brushed his knuckles across her cheek. __nd you can try and pretend it__ okay. That you__e strong and tough and you don__ need anyone. That you didn__ need her. But that__ all bullshit. I know it, and you know it.__avannah stared at Cole.__ou__e so pushy. I told you my story. Why can__ you leave it alone?___ave you ever dealt with it?__he__ spent so many years holding it all inside.____ here right now, aren__ I? I obviously dealt with my past._____ not talking about surviving it. Yeah, you survived it. But you haven__ let go of it._ He rubbed her arm. __hat she did to you mattered. It wasn__ fair.__e was wrong. She was fine. It didn__ matter. She had always shown everyone how strong she was.__how me how you feel, Peaches.__er bottom lip trembled. She got up, walked to the window to look outside, staring at the darkness, not really seeing anything but the years falling away, stripping away the cool, confident woman she was now, revealing the scared little girl she once was. She__ vowed to never go back to that place, to never revisit those feelings again, yet here she stood.Cole wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened.__t__ okay to be vulnerable, Savannah, to let someone see you scared._____ not scared. Not anymore.

Can you play the piano like Beethoven? Or sing like Carly Simon? Can you take fie pages' worth of quotes and turn them into a usable story ten minutes before deadline? I don't think so, unless you have more hidden talents I don't know about. We all have our special sills. They don't make us better or worse than each other. Just different

She leaned against him, listening to his strong heartbeat as they cuddled together.Maybe he didn__ say all the right things, and maybe he didn__ do it all in the right way, but he was hers, and she was his, and they__ figure it all out together. Because she knew now that both of them were in this for the long haul, and that he__ be there for her no matter what.And that__ what counted the most.

Are those chocolate chip?'' Cole reaches her first and claims one.''Oh, my godness.'' Nana sets the tray aside and coos the guy. ''Cole, dear, you have a boulder-size knot on your jaw.''''River did it.'' Cole smirks at the guy. ''And he insulted my mom. And my dad.''''River Marks.'' Nana shakes her head, as if her heart is acually breaking. ''How could you be so rough? And so insensitive!''River glares at Cole before bowing his head. ''I'm sorry, Nana.''''The human body is like a flower. Treat it well, and it will bloom.'' She approaches the ring and extends two cookies. River and I accept with eager thanks. ''Let's be kind to each other and keep our punches away from the face and groin.'' ''Yes, ma'am,'' we say in unison. Then of course, we devour the offering as if we've never tasted sugar.''Good, good.'' She brushes the crumbs from her fingers. ''I'll leave you kids to your practice.'' She kisses Ali, then Cole, and leaves.''Are you a rose?'' River sneers at Cole. ''Or a lilly?''''Orchid. And your jealousy is showing.'' Cole responds.

Cole gets up and then says, __dam. Five texts. I can read them to you._ He pauses. __nless they__e personal._ I roll my eyes. __ot that it__ any of your business, but I__ pretty sure he__ desperately in love with my sister._ Cole snorts. __e__ crazy._ __e__ have to be, right?

If the eye really was a muscle, I had pulled it long ago.

Cole envisioned the next few weeks passing as a sort of painless montage: there'd be music, and different moments of the townspeople hard at work building a defensive wall around the perimeter of the town, and digging holes to serve as traps, and training with the few weapons they had. There'd be a wiping of perspiration and drinks raised to one another and the exchange of friendly smiles between comrades, and perhaps deeper, more meaningful glances between him and MaryAnn.But by midmorning of the first day, Cole had come to the unavoidable conclusion that the remainder of the experience would in fact drag on in exceedingly real time, with lots of heaving and hoing and digging and hauling under the hot sun, full of the kind of intense straining that raised the danger of a really spectacular hernia. And, judging from the few tense conversations he'd had so far, he foresaw a series of increasingly strident arguments with Nora regarding matters strategic. Plus, of course, at the end of all this effort they'd all probably be dead.

Well," I ask, leaning over him, "do you wish to stay?""I do.""And why is that, Cole?" I say, tipping toward him so that our noses nearly brush."Well," he says with a smile, "the weather's quite nice.

How are you still sane?""Who says I am? I only stopped asking myself the escape question when the walls started to answer me."Shit.

Jared was completely gone now, holding his stomach and laughing so hard that tears were running down his face. Matt turned on him and snapped, "It's not funny," which only made Jared laugh harder."Any of you guys strict about top or bottom?" Angelo asked, "'Cause if so, you'll screw it all up-""Literally," Cole said."And we'll have to start all over." Angelo turned to Matt. "If you got a strong preference you better say so now.""Lay it all out, so to speak," Cole said."On the table." Angelo said."For all to see.""Zach does like to watch," Angelo said, winking at me, and I was relieved that with the direction the conversation was going, nobody took him seriously."Then it's settled!" Cole said. "Who's going where with whom first? Zach, I think you're up." He winked at me. "Or you soon will be.""Oh dear God," Mat moaned, hanging his head. "I knew I shouldn't have come.""Don't worry about it a bit," Cole said. "I'm sure Zach can coax at least one more out of you."Jared laughed so hard, I was amazed he managed to stay in his chair.

What was the point of finding something worth living for if my life was no longer in my own hands?

He paused and let out a little sigh. Then I__ saying it wrong, because it has everything to do with you. I want what Hades and Persephone had, and I can__ do it without you. The only time the queen of the Everneath has been overthrown is when an Everliving has found his perfect match. I__e spent my whole life - and it__ a long one, trust me - looking for my perfect match, and it__ you. I knew you were different from the first moment I met you. The first moment you placed your hands on mine. You remember?