Chapter 6 Oakley
OAKLEY
Cole: Picture Image
Opening the text on my phone, I smile when I see Cole and a baby goat taking up the entire screen.
His vivid brown eyes are shining brightly, a huge smile on his face showing off his perfect teeth.
I’m staring at the picture when another one pops up on my screen.
The second picture makes me laugh loudly when I click on it.
It’s a live picture, so I can see the exact moment the goat tries to lick Cole’s face, and he freaks out.
His eyes get scarily huge, his pupils dilating as he realizes the goat’s tongue is about to touch his face.
The live motion cuts off before I can see what happens next, but I can only imagine Cole freaking out and shrieking when he feels the rough tongue.
I send off a quick text before continuing my workout.
Oakley: Love it! Send me more!
After placing my phone back down on the ground, I grab hold of a dumbbell and start working on my next set. From the corner of my eye, I see a man approaching, but I wait until I hit twenty-five before giving him my attention.
“Hey. Oakley, right?” The man says, stepping closer to me. It takes me a few seconds to recognize the face, but once I do, I grin excitedly, nodding my head.
“Jensen, nice to see you, man. I didn’t know you came to this gym.
” Jensen is Lennox’s boyfriend and is best friends with Lennox’s brother, Nick.
I’ve heard the stories of Lennox and Jensen getting together behind Nick’s back, which doesn’t sound too bad until you’re told that Jensen and Nick have been best friends for years, and it was actually some drama, which I’m glad I missed.
I’ve only hung out with Jensen a few times when the guys from Peaches have hosted their game nights, and he seems to be a pretty fun guy.
“I just found it a few days ago. I happened to be walking back to the smoothie shop next door when I saw their ad on the window for a sauna, and that sounded like heaven, so I thought I would try it out. I’ve been here every day since.
” He snickers, his eyes darting behind me. “Is your better half here with you?”
“No, Cole is out at some goat-yoga thing,” I say, already knowing who he meant by my better half.
It’s not the first time someone has called Cole that or referred to him in that manner.
At this point in life, I just roll with it.
It’s easier to do that than to try to explain our friendship. Most people don’t understand it anyway.
“Ah, Lennox is there too. I’m sorry, but I don’t see the appeal of doing yoga next to some smelly animals.
Lennox invited me to go, and it was a quick hell no.
I love that man, but even I have a line I don’t want to cross.
Working out next to goat shit is one of them.
” He shudders visibly, as thrown off by goat-yoga as I am.
“Hell yeah! That was my exact reaction when Cole brought it up. Kudos to them for wanting to try it and go, but hell no. I’m content in my little gym bubble where there’s air conditioning and no smell.”
Jensen and I fist-bump, laughing at being in the same predicament. “Mind spotting me?”
Jensen and I spend the next hour spotting one another, taking turns keeping the conversation going.
He tells me more about him and Lennox and about his job in tech.
I tell him a bit about myself, not able to share much because there’s really not much else going on in my life.
After wrapping up with the weights, Jensen and I make our way over to the sauna to sweat out the rest of our time there.
“Are you coming to game night at our place this weekend?” Jensen asks, taking a spot on the bench next to me. His towel opens slightly, and he quickly closes it, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.
Cole hasn’t said anything to me about another game night, and I don’t want Jensen to know that.
“I’ll have to see. I know I’ve missed a couple.
” Which is true, but it sucks. The last couple of times the Peaches crew got together, Alex started a fight and made me too late.
By the time I was driving over, finally on my way, Cole was already texting me to let me know he had left for the night.
And there was no reason for me to go if Cole wasn’t there.
“You should. Cole’s been quiet the past few times. I realize I don’t know him that well, but I know he’s not shy.”
“Quiet?” I question, my heartbeat speeding up.
Cole never mentioned anything about not having a good time at game night.
Hell, if anything, he would come home and talk my ear off about everything they did and all the fun they had.
Each story he told would make my jealousy spike, and I had to keep reminding myself it was okay for him to have other friends besides me.
Even if I hated hearing how much fun he had without me.
“Yeah, more reserved might be a better word. He would still interact and hang out, but it was as though there was something on his mind or something that was bothering him. Lennox figured it was because you weren’t there.”
“Yeah, that might be it.” I play with the loose thread on the towel, thinking about how horrible I feel and that I can’t believe I could hurt Cole. “I hate that I missed it. I had a blast the few times I’ve gone.”
“Well, I hope to see you at the next one. I have to head out; Lennox is going to be home soon, and I want to make sure I have something ready and cooked for him on the stove.”
Standing up, I fist-bump him, feeling like a kindergartner who’s made a new friend on the playground. “No worries. Same time tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I can be here.”
Jensen takes off, and I sit back down on the bench, my mind wandering to Cole and what Jensen had said about Cole being quiet.
I swear, the couple of times I’d missed out on game night, Cole came home with a large smile plastered to his face, telling me about all the fun they had.
He would tell me about the karaoke, the card games, hell, even the time they played strip poker, and he finally won.
Was he lying? Was he just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear?
He knew I felt like shit that I’d missed it, and knowing Cole, he wanted to spare my feelings.
He probably didn’t want it to seem like he didn’t have a fun time.
My body sags softly as sweat rolls down my body.
Fucking Alex. I shouldn’t have let her back me into a corner.
I tried to get away from her, but she kept blocking me in the doorway and arguing with me until it was too late.
Well, fuck. I spend the next few minutes thinking of ways I could make it up to Cole.
Because that’s the one thing I’m going to do for sure: make it up to him.
The front door creaks open quietly as I walk into the apartment.
I kick off my shoes, doing a double take before picking them up and placing them off to the side and out of the way.
The apartment is quiet as I walk in, only the sound of shuffling feet against the wood floors letting me know that I’m not alone.
Turning the corner, I chuckle when I see Cole dancing around the living room.
He’s wearing a pair of black sweatpants with a matching hoodie and his headphones placed over his ears.
He doesn’t notice me because his eyes are closed shut as he sways to whatever music is blaring in his ears.
Dancing with Cole is one of my favorite things to do, so my feet are moving before I realize I’ve made a conscious thought to do so.
He’s facing away from me, his hips moving slowly, so I’m guessing it’s a slower song he’s listening to.
Grabbing hold of his waist, I spin him in a circle, encasing him in my arms. Cole melts right into me, his hands reaching out toward my shoulders.
We’re nearly the same height, six-foot-one, though I’m about an inch taller.
But we’ve danced like this time and time again, so even though I have no idea what music he’s listening to, my body knows how to follow his.
We stay quiet for a few minutes, Cole listening to his music, me only listening to the soft sounds of our breathing.
I don’t think I can even count the number of times I’ve come home and danced around with Cole.
Sometimes it’s more club-style music with both of us twerking around the living room, but most times it’s like this.
Both of us quiet, holding one another as the music plays softly.
The song comes to an end, and the next one cues up, blasting through the speakers. Cole takes the headphones off his head and throws them down onto the couch with a small bounce.
“Hi, how was your day?” I ask, walking over to the kitchen and grabbing us both a bottle of water.
“Oh god, you have to come to yoga with us next time!”
Wrinkling my nose, I shake my head. “Yoga? With the goats? I think I’m okay, thanks.”
“You would love it. I know you would. You like all animals, so what’s wrong with a goat?”
I take a spot on the couch, patting the spot next to me for Cole to take. “There’s nothing wrong with goats. I just like my workouts to be animal-free. That’s it.”
“Will you try it one time? For me?” he asks sweetly, looking at me with his wide doe eyes. He knows it’s already hard enough for me to say no to him, but I can never turn him down when he gives me the puppy-dog eyes. It’s my weakness, and he always uses it to his advantage to get what he wants.
“Fine. But the second a goat tries to stick its head up my ass, I’m out.”
“Deal!” Cole yells, jumping out of his spot to land on my lap. “I know you’re going to love it!”
Cole climbs off my lap as quickly as he jumped onto it. I grab hold of his hand, knowing I need to talk to him about what Jensen said today at the gym. “Can we talk?”
“Duh. We talk about everything.”
Well, this conversation is going to prove that’s not the case, but I don’t want to upset him by saying that. “I know. So I ran into Jensen at the gym today.”
“Oh?” His eyes dart down to his hands, which are currently rubbing up and down his thighs. His nervous tic that he doesn’t realize I know about.
We both know that he’s only been around Jensen on game nights, so he probably knows what I’m going to bring up. “Remember the last game night when I wasn’t able to get away, and when you got home, you were telling me about all the fun you had? You even went into so much detail about it.”
“I remember.”
“Well, according to Jensen, you were extra quiet and kept to yourself, just sat there on the couch. Why would you lie to me?” I ask, my heart hurting at the fact that he lied.
Cole blows a raspberry, twisting his hands around.
“When I told you about all the things they did, I automatically included myself because I didn’t want you to feel bad.
I know you hated not being able to come, and I get it.
Alex was important, but I also know you, and if you knew I was upset, you would have felt like shit.
Then I would have felt like shit, and honestly, it’s just better for neither of us to feel like shit. ”
“But you obviously did,” I add when he gets quiet. “I want to make it up to you. I never should have missed out on it. Not after telling you I was going to be there. So I want to go to the next one.”
“Really?” His voice gets high, a small smile trying to break through his stoic facial expression. “There’s actually going to be a game night tomorrow at Preston and Jonas’ place. I offered to bring chips and salsa.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Cole, I’m sorry I missed the last couple ones. And I’m also sorry you didn’t feel as though you could tell me.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was asking you to choose between Alex and me.”
“There’s no choosing,” I tell him, turning to make sure he looks me in the eye when I say the last part. “I’ll always choose you over anyone. You’re my best friend.”
“Yeah, until you meet the girl you’re gonna marry.”
“Even then. She’ll just have to figure out a way to realize we’re a package deal and no one can split us up.”
Cole laughs, tossing his head back against the pillows. “Okay, I believe you. And thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
I gather him into my arms, placing a kiss on his forehead. “Just promise you won’t lie again.”
“Promise.”