VERONICA STOOD IN THE CROWD, her hair half up - half down and dressed in brown boots, a long, white two piece and an old leather jacket of her dad. She smiled as she watched all the people around her, dressed in the school's colors, Veronica herself had put on some face paint in red and gold to make her dad happy.
As she walked through the crowd in search of Walters apple cider stand, she stopped occasionally to chat with someone, a huge smile on her face at all times as she watched everyone cheer, shout and enjoy themselves.
Finally, with her hair a bit ruffled, Veronica has found the antique cart and there stood Cole, trying his best to fix something or whatever he was doing.
The girl decided to sneak up on him, sneaking her arms around his waist. The shocked gasp that left Cole's lips made the girl laugh loudly, moving back to let him turn around.
Cole's expression lightened up a bit as he took in her complexion and the smile she wore was contagious. He bent down quickly and placed a soft kiss on her cheek, never taking his eyes off of hers. "You look amazing," he whispered in her ear as he finally moved away.
Veronica turned her head away from him, playing with the sleeves of her jacket. "Thank you."
"Shouldn't you be standing front row to listen to your father's speech?" Cole asked, looking over to the stage where Mato was practically shouting into his microphone.
The black girl shook her head quickly, her braids flying around at the quick movement. "No way, he practiced that speech the whole night yesterday, I heard it so often that I know it by memory."
Cole chuckled and pushed his hair away from his eyes as he looked over the crowd gathered around them, his gaze trailing over the football team and all of a sudden, his eyes turned cold and he turned back to the cart.
Veronica knew what was up and decided to stay by his side as he continued to fix the cart, telling him of the book she had been reading the whole night, and how many outfits she had tried on before finally settling on this. Then she went on to ask him if he would pick her up for Parker's game tomorrow and so on.
She knew that he was listening, but she also knew that he wasn't truly taking in her words. Veronica knew that maybe it was useless rambling on like she did right now, but she did not know what else to do and Cole appreciated the effort she put in to distract him from his self-pity, though it wasn't really working.
Finally, the boy had fixed whatever was wrong with the cart and they went over to stand behind the stall to sell some apple cider, not knowing where Jackie and Alex had gone off to.
Veronica stood to the side, sipping on some apple cider as she watched Cole sell yet another cup. As she looked around her, she noticed Alex and Jackie, a sweet smile making its way on her face as she waved over to them.
"I thought you weren't coming," Alex said to Cole, sparing Veronica only with a small smile.
Cole shrugged as he put away the money he had just earned, "I had a change of heart."
"That would require you to have one," Alex retorted. Veronica had to admit that the brothers' back and forth was a bit pitiful but also quite amusing; she decided to hide her smile by taking another sip from her cup.
Cole scoffed at Alex's reply and went around the stall, "Hey, we're happy to leave, right Ronniekins?" He put his hand around Veronica's shoulder, the girl just nodding in confusion, not really getting why the two brothers were having a cat fight.
She looked over to Jackie who sighed and asked Cole to stay, not once even glancing in Veronica's direction as she convinced Alex to let his brother remain there.
Jackie walked up to Cole and he slid his arm off of Veronica's shoulder, talking with Jackie about the cart and what was wrong with it. In the meantime, Veronica went over to Alex, the two of them watching Cole and Jackie stand next to each other on the cart.
However the pang of jealousy she felt as she watched them soon disappeared, as she heard the announcement of the new quarterback being made, the quarterback who would replace Cole from now on. Quickly, she walked over to him, and without anyone noticing slipped her hand in his, squeezing it tightly to show him that she was there for him, would always be there for him.
Cole looked away from the stage, down to their interlocked hands and squeezed back.
He knew he had to get over football, that he should start with something new, but ever since he was little, football has been his life, he couldn't just abandon it in such a short time. And no one seemed to understand this, well, no one except Veronica.
They stood there, with their hands interlocked until Jackie cleared her throat and went off, saying something about checking on the auction table. Veronica finally let go of Cole's hand and as she spotted Erin in the crowd, she kissed his cheek quickly, without even thinking about it and went over to her best friend, greeting her with a hug.
"I'll go take a break," Cole told no one in particular, his eyes leaving Veronica as he spotted Jackie in the crowd, leaving Alex to stand alone at the stall.
YOU ARE READING
WHERE WE ARE ; COLE WALTER
Fanfiction. . . IN WHICH . . . things get a lot more difficult for Veronica Summerhill once Jackie Howard shows up in the little town of Silver Falls and threatens her 'friendship' with Cole Walter.
