Chapter Twenty-Three

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~ Adam ~

As it turned out, dinner with Cole rolled around much quicker than Adam had expected.

The following Friday after the bonfire, Adam left his last class of the day to find Cole leaning against the railing outside. Dark clouds had been gathering overhead for the past hour, threatening a downpour that would likely catch Adam on his way to work.

Students milled around them in haste to get home before the storm hit. Adam made his way through the crowd to where Cole stood, the other boy's hands stuffed in his black denim jacket as he watched Adam approach.

Adam stopped before him. "Hi."

Cole jerked his chin in greeting. "How was class?"

"Fine, thankyou. Yours?"

The dark-haired boy lifted one shoulder in a dismissive shrug. "Another day of lecturers trying to get me to care about foreign policy and conservatism."

"Not a fan of change?"

"It haunts me to no end."

Adam rolled his eyes playfully. "So, what are you doing here?"

If Adam was being honest, he wasn't quite sure when he and Cole had gone from being mere acquaintances to actual friends. They'd only met because of their mutual friendship with Piper, even if she was more Adam's friend than Cole's. Adam hadn't even noticed when they'd transitioned to seeing each other without her around.

Cole was standing outside Adam's classroom for the second time in their history of knowing each other. The reason could very well be for the simple fact that Adam was tutoring him, but somehow that didn't feel right to Adam. What did it mean if Adam wanted it to be more?

A flash of silver glinted in the dying rays of sunshine. The Georgio's gift voucher from their success at Trivia Night last week was clutched between Cole's pale fingers. "I figured we'd cash in that dinner."

"Oh," Adam's smile fell. He clutched his bag strap. "Tonight?"

Cole shrugged. "Unless you don't want to."

"No, it's not that. It's just-" Adam's shoulders dropped slightly. "I'm, uh, working tonight."

"What time do you get off?"

"I don't normally get home 'till two."

"Oh." Cole's said, dark eyebrows knitting together. "What about tomorrow night?"

"I work Saturday's as well."

"I take it Sunday's out too?"

Adam's gaze fell to the ground, thoughts of homework and studying and housework filling his weekend plans. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Cole said. He pocketed the voucher and looked back to Adam. "You can't help these things."

"It's not because I don't want to." Adam said, trying to salvage the situation before Cole walked away. "It's just-"

"No, I get it." One corner of Cole's mouth tugged upwards in a half-smile. "We do what we have to do."

"I'm sorry." Adam tried again.

Cole shook his head. "Stop saying that. You don't have to be."

Adam let out a slow exhale. He'd really wanted to take Cole up on his offer. Maybe they could try again during the semester break after exams.

Cole gazed at Adam. "We can always tr-"

A shrill noise cut through the air, cutting off whatever Cole had been about to say. Startled, Adam pulled his phone from his pocket.

Work. 30 minutes.

"I have to go." Adam suppressed a sigh, tucking his phone back into his pocket and lifting his gaze to meet Cole's.

The other boy frowned but nodded slowly. "Okay. Can I give you a ride?"

Adam shook his head. "I've got my bike, but thanks."

Another slow nod. "I guess I'll see you around."

"Guess so."

Cole turned and walked away. Adam gazed after him, eyes trained on his back as he watched the taller boy retreat before disappearing around a corner.

Adam was startled out of his reverie when his phone alarm sounded again. With a sigh, he pulled it out to silence it before turning and heading the other way.

***

The afternoon went by quickly. Night fell as Adam went about his services, frost settling against the shop windows and encasing the building in a biting chill. The storm had passed but left thick fog in its wake.

Adam was completing a tyre rotation on a Ford Fiesta, earbuds in and The Neighbourhood playing softly when the roar of a car engine sounded from outside.

Adam's head snapped up. He removed one earphone, head cocked as he listened for any follow-up noise. Nothing happened but Adam wasn't convinced.

It was just after ten p.m. Marty and the guys had left hours ago. Who would be coming to the garage at this time of night?

Slowly, Adam crept toward the windows. No headlights splashed into the shop from the outside but he clung to the shadows anyway.

Marty had cameras but they were just for show. They'd broken over a decade ago and Marty had never bothered to fix them. In a town like Spring Creek, everyone knew everyone anyway.

Adam reached the nearest window and cautiously raised his head to look out. There were no cars in the drive and the last headlights on the main road had been over twenty minutes ago.

Adam felt a chill run down his spine. He wasn't concerned about being in the shop alone at night. It was the way things were and Adam had gotten used to it long ago.

Still, an unnerved feeling was growing in his stomach. The roller door was down, and Adam was sure he'd locked the office door. Hadn't he?

He startled a moment later when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Before he could respond, a knock sounded on the door. Adam snapped his head up in the direction of the office. He crossed the workshop, checking his phone again to make sure he hadn't read the message wrong.

I'm outside.

Cole was here. Cole had come to see Adam.

Sure enough, when Adam unlocked the garage door, it swung open to reveal none other than Cole Decker standing on the doorstep of Marty's Garage. Adam's heart slammed against his ribcage at the sight of him.

Cole's dark hair looked like ink bleeding against the night sky. He was dressed in his usual black-on-black, a wool cableknit sweater fighting the good fight to keep the bitter chill of winter from settling beneath his pale skin. Beneath the material, his tattoos seemed to writhe in the dark like some Lovecraftian nightmare. 

A takeout bag hung loosely in his left hand, his keyring clutched in the other. Dark eyes settled on Adam.

Cole lifted one finger in greeting. "Hey."

Adam breathed. "Hey."

"Did I scare you?"

Adam noticed he was visibly tense. Dropping his shoulders, he loosened his grip on the doorknob, "No, I was just, uh-" He shook his head. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

Adam gestured for Cole to enter. The taller boy stepped past Adam and over the threshold into Marty's crammed office. Adam was impressed that Cole didn't visibly cringe at the musty smell of seventies carpet and motor oil. The former was far used to it by now.

Cole made a beeline for Marty's desk, pushing the Systemax monitor aside and dumping the takeout bag on the surface with his keys. He perched himself on the corner and began unloading the contents of the paper bag.

"What's this?" Adam asked, stepping closer. He noticed the logo on the side of the bag in the light. Georgio's. "You went to Georgios?"

"You said you had to work tonight." Cole lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Figured you'd be hungry."

"Wait," Adam's eyes widened in realisation as Cole pulled another plastic container from the bag. "You brought me dinner?"

"Correction, I brought us dinner." Cole lifted a paper tray with two Sprite cups from the bag. He set it down beside the takeout containers, unwrapping a paper straw and stabbing it through one of the drink lids.

Adam's eyes widened at the sight. "You didn't have to do all this. I ate earlier."

Adam very intentionally left out the fact that his 'dinner' consisted only of a warm muesli bar from the bottom of his backpack. Occasionally Piper would force him to take microwaveable leftovers her roommate had made since Adam's eating habits were "sending her to an early grave" but even then Adam usually forgot to eat. He was there to work. Gourmet meals had never been his luxury.

"I know I didn't have to." Cole said easily. "I wanted to." He glanced up at Adam. "You coming?"

Adam realised he'd been stalling in the doorway. Slowly, he crossed the office toward the desk, sitting down in Marty's antiquated chair, the cracked leather barely hiding the cigarette burns, and pulled his knees to his chest. 

The old radio was crackling in the corner, wheezing its way through some seventies blues tune. Cole reached over and turned the dial down to mute. He took out his phone, typed something into it and set the device down on the desk.

A soft acoustic piece began to play through the small speakers, filling the office with a tranquil melody Adam was sure he'd heard before but couldn't pinpoint where.

Before he could ask, Cole cracked the lid off one of the plastic containers and held it out to Adam. "You're not vegetarian, right?"

Adam's stomach growled loudly at the sight of steaming beef lasagne inside the container. He was glad the music drowned out the sound. 

He shook his head. "No, uh, I'm not vegetarian. Or anything."

"Good."

Cole began piling food onto the paper plates he'd produced from the bag, along with two sets of cutlery. At the sight of three different kinds of pasta, a pizza entreé and bread sticks, which were miraculously still warm, Adam only realised then how much food the gift voucher had been worth.

"Wow," he said, eyes wide. "You really went full out, huh?"

Cole didn't lift his gaze from where he was unloading a container of fettucine. "I didn't think it should go to waste. Even if the food is from a three-star restaurant."

Adam could only imagine the kind of meals Cole had grown accustomed to in his luxurious upbringing. The boy practically had a coffee cup glued to his hand every time Adam saw him, but Adam wondered if Cole kept to the ritual of the lavish meal when he'd moved out of home. 

Now that he thought about it, Adam didn't even know where Cole lived. He knew from Piper that he didn't live with James, but Adam couldn't imagine Cole living in a small suburban house by himself either. Not if the rumours of his family's wealth were true, though Cole had made it clear he didn't associate with that willingly.

Before he could ask, Cole beat him to the punch.

"So," Cole slid one of the plates across the desk to Adam, piled high with more food that Adam thought he could ever eat. "How long have you worked here?"

"A few years." Adam said. "Started when I was fifteen."

"You like it?"

"It's quiet."

Cole flicked a glance around the tattered office. "Your boss is a real lowbrow, isn't he?"

"He's perpetually stuck in the seventies." Adam agreed. "He blames it on the divorce. I blame it on the alcohol."

"You ever thought of telling him that?"

"Sure, if I wanna get my ass kicked. Besides, I'm the only one here usually. The rest of the guys handle Marty during the day."

"You work everyday?"

"Except Sundays."

"What about class?"

Adam shifted in his chair, dropping his gaze from Cole. "I manage."

Cole moved past the tension shift with ease. Adam was grateful. "Will you get in trouble for my being here?"

"Nah, Marty normally doesn't care what I do. As long as I finish the work and lock up properly then it's as if I could run naked around here and no one would know. I don't, by the way."

The corner of Cole's mouth tugged upward. "I'm not judging."

A silence fell between them but it wasn't uncomfortable. A new song began playing on Cole's phone. John Rzeznik singing about broken things and the truth of knowing someone.

Adam swallowed a bite of pasta. "So, where's Prince Charming tonight? Aren't you two normally glued at the hip?"

"Usually, but these days he's more interested in making heart eyes at your Rachel Roth."

"Ooh, props to you on the reference. I approve. But I retract all praise when she finds out you just called her that."

"Why would she find out?"

"Because she's Piper."

"Good thing she has Gatsby to bore her death with tales of neoclassical literature." Cole's eyes widened in horror. "Oh God. Raven and Gatsby. What have we done?"

"We," Adam gestured with his fork between them, "didn't do anything. I played no part in this."

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be." A smirk was growing on Cole's lips. "You're really going to let me take the fall for this?"

"You knew about them before I did."

"That still confuses me. You two are the embodiment of matching friendship bracelets. How did you not know?"

Adam snorted. "I wouldn't phrase it like that, but yes. Piper's my best friend. She just likes to act tough and pretend she's not into anyone. You have to read between the lines."

"So, you didn't read between the lines?"

Adam laughed and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, in all fairness, it's not like she's super open about that part of her life anyway. She's always fussing over me even though I tell her it's unnecessary." 

"Can you blame her?"

Adam sighed. "I can take care of myself. She deserves to focus on celebrating things in her own life."

"I'd think that includes you."

A blush crept onto Adam's cheeks. He nibbled on the end of a bread stick, not trusting himself to speak. 

Their conversation quieted for a moment, music filling the small space between them. 

Cole took a sip from his drink. The cheap soda looked artistically puerile against the backdrop of his expensive rings. 

Adam gestured to the other boy's signet ring. Before he could stop himself, he'd asked, "Why do you wear it?"

Cole followed Adam's line of gaze. He frowned and Adam thought maybe he'd made a terrible mistake. 

"I just mean-" he tried, "well, you've made out that you don't have the best relationship with your family and I guess..."

To his surprise, Cole let out a single laugh. He gazed down at the silver ring, rotating his hand slightly as if examining all angles of it. "I suppose you're right in a way. But what better way to piss off a man whose spent his entire life building an empire than to brand all of your mistakes with it?"

Cole's father was dead. "Your brother."

"Brendon Decker." Cole sighed, almost thoughtfully, but Adam knew better than to think it fond. "He's gotten real comfortable with that stick up his ass."

"What about your younger brother?"

Cole cocked his head. "What?"

"You've mentioned you have a younger brother. Is he like Brendon?"

"Max? God no. He's my ringer. That's a terrifying concept in itself, though I suppose I can't really blame him. He was only eleven when our dad died and it messed him up quite a bit. The little hellion gets himself into more trouble than he's worth."

Adam leaned back in the chair, attempting to keep a straight face as he sifted through his memories of Cole's family history.

Much of Decker Petroleum's operations were public knowledge in a town this small. Press coverage at the time of Owen Decker's death revealed in-depth information about the founding family's personal lives, the news articles being just ambiguous enough to suspect the mental state of Owen's widow, Adelina. Cole's mother. 

Adam didn't buy into small-town gossip. His priorities were bigger than Spring Creek's rumour mill. Anything he'd heard over the years had been passed on through student dialogue on campus which Adam never paid any mind to in the first place. Only a handful of information stuck, but nothing about Cole's brothers.

"How old is he?" Adam spoke eventually. "Your brother."

"Sixteen. He lives with Mum at the family estate up in Winchester."

"Do you miss living there?"

Cole barked out a laugh. "I haven't lived there in years. Not since-" he broke off.

Adam's brow quirked. "Since your dad died?"

Cole leaned back against the wall. He'd shifted to sit fully on the desk by now, one leg stretched out before him while the other was drawn inward to his chest. At some point he'd reached into the pocket of his black denim jacket to retrieve a battered lighter, which he'd been routinely flicking open and closed for the past ten minutes. A small flame appeared each time, barely caressing the skin on his thumb before it was snuffed out against with an audible clink.

"Let's just say," he said, a delicateness to his tone Adam had never heard before, "that Max is the one who can stand being there the longest. And he's only ever home to sleep and change clothes."

Adam didn't know how to respond to that. Luckily, Cole didn't need him to.

"I suppose I should let you get back to work, huh?" Cole's signature smirk commanded his sharp features once again within seconds. "Wouldn't want your pay to get docked for my enroachment."

Adam wondered how long one could wear a mask before it eventually molded with their skin. 

They packed up the food together. After a two-minute staredown of each demanding the other kept the remains of their hoard, Adam eventually caved and promised he'd take half only if Cole did the same. Adam missed the smile on Cole's face as he went back to cleaning.

Once their mess had been cleaned up and Cole's boot marks appropriately buffed from the surface of Marty's desk, Adam was walking him to the door.

The bitter night air hit Adam in the face as soon as he swung the door open. In the effort to hide his shiver, he stepped aside to let Cole pass. 

Cole turned once he was on the doorstep. One hand was stuffed in his pocket while the other held the remaining leftovers.

"Thankyou." Adam said honestly. "For everything. You really didn't have to do all this."

Cole shrugged. "Six nights a week alone in a dark garage. Figured you might want some company."

"I'm glad you did."

"Me too."

Adam watched Cole another moment longer. "I guess I'll see you around?"

One side of Cole's mouth tugged upwards in a devasting smile. Adam's heart slammed against his ribcage at the appearance of a small dimple in Cole's cheek. How had he never noticed them?

"Sure." Cole said, eyes never leaving Adam's. "Goodnight, Adam."

"Goodnight, Cole."

And just like that, he was gone.

Adam closed the door gently, taking the time to carefully lock it before turning and crossing the room to unmute the radio. He liked the quiet, not silence.

Just as he was headed back into the workshop, a car engine flared to life outside. Adam raced to the window to catch a glimpse of Cole leaving but he wasn't quick enough. 

All he saw were the scarlet tones of tail lights disappearing down the highway and into the night.  

Feeling warm and fuller than he had in a long time, Adam watched them go with a smile.

***

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