I have one week. One week until I leave. One week until I leave Cole. One week until I leave Noah, and Zac, and the rest of the hockey team. Just one week. Just one.
"Hey Sweet Thang. Ready to go?" Cole walks into my room with his swim trunks and a tank top on. Sunglasses sit on top of his head.
I slip daisy dukes and a tank top over my bikini and grab my beach bag. "Yep", I smile, finally grabbing my aviator sunglasses and giving Cole a kiss. "Hi".
We head out to his car and head to Noah's parents vacation house on the beach for my going away party. Our flight leaves at noon a week from today. The moving vans meet us at our new house on that Saturday.
We soon arrive at the house where already most of the guys have shown up. Matt brought Cara, because they made a promise to each other that they would spend every waking minute together before we leave, and he goes back to college at the end of the summer. Matt and Cara aren't going to be that far away from each other. Since Matt was accepted to Michigan State last year, and Cara is going to Ohio State University this year, they would only be a few hours away from each other. Cole and I would be an eighteen hour drive from each other.
Cole opens his trunk and pulls out a cooler of drinks. I can already hear guys yelling at the entrance of the house. The door is wide open and the guys rush in. All of them rip their shirts off, run to the back of the house, out the back door, down the beach, and finally into the ocean water.
Cole and I walk into the house to find Noah unpacking bags and bags of marshmallows, chocolate bars, and boxes of graham cracker. He notices me and a smile lights up his face. "Hey, Princess", he says to me.
"Hey, what's with the fifty pounds of s'mores stuff?", I laugh.
"You do you realize how many of us are here, right? We eat like pigs", he says back, smirking.
"Where do you want this stuff, Dude?" Cole walks in with the cooler. "I have those cans of soda". He means alcohol.
I turn to him with an unimpressed look, "You are seventeen, and you brought beer to my going away party. That's low, Cole", I laugh.
"The guys want what the guys want", he says back.
"Just put them on the patio. The rest should be here soon. How many did you bring?" Noah interrupts our fake argument.
"sixty-four", Cole says, walking out the back door onto the patio.
"Hey sis, long time no see", Cara says walking into the kitchen behind me. She only wears shorts over her bright blue bikini. She holds her tank top in her hands as Matt comes in with another cooler. I roll my eyes.
"Where do you want them?" Matt asks Noah.
"Patio with the others". Noah says, nodding his head to the patio.
"More beer, really?" I turn back to Noah.
"No, I promise. That's soda. We don't all choose to drink", Noah looks to the door to make sure no one is coming. "Logan and Derek", he whispers. Cara and I laugh.
Noah finally sets everything on the counter in piles for later and we head out onto the patio. The guys greet Cara and I and go back to their shenanigans. Cara and I roll my eyes again.
"I'm going up to our room for a minute. I need to put my bag away", I tell Cole, he nods and I walk back into the house.
I head into the foyer and up the stairs to the second floor. Cole told me our room was the third door on the left. I find the room and walk in. Cole's bag already sits on the edge of the bed. I put my first bag down and head into our bathroom to put my little bag full of toiletries on the counter. I take out my hairbrush and hair band and throw my hair into a messy bun on top of my head. I strip down from my regular clothes, so I stand examining myself in just my bikini. This one has black bottoms and a hot pink and green strapless top.
Heading back downstairs I hear wet feet running through the house, and screaming. There is always screaming. I see Matt running through the house chasing Cara with a small crab in his hand. I stop on the stairs, laughing my a$$ off.
"Matthew Berg. You touch my sister with that crustacean, I will end you. Do you hear me?" He stops and looks at me. Cara thankfully has enough time to grab the crab from his hand and runs back out the door. I follow them and she throws it as far as she could into the ocean. I watch as Matt runs after her and he throws her into the ocean.
"Hey! Lets get this party started", Noah yells to Matt. He looks back to Noah with a small, innocent wave.
Noah notices me and looks me up and down. I look at him and roll my eyes. "Stop looking at me. I do have a boyfriend". He snaps out of his little trance.
I stand next to him, watching out over the guys on the beach. Cole throws a sand ball at Derek, hitting him on the back of the head. "You're mine, Mere. You always will be". Noah puts his arm around my shoulders.
"I'm going to miss this", I say somberly. "This is my entire life and I have to leave it behind".
"I know, Princess. But you will come back here for college next summer and everything will be right back to where it is now. I promise", Noah says, looking down and smiling at me. It makes me feel a little better.
"Come on, the water is great", Cole runs up to us, taking my hand and pulling me to the water. He rushes me, and the water is actually warm, which I appreciate. Noah soon joins all of us in the water. We splash and play, and soon someone found an inner tube, and it sits 2 people. Every single one of us fights for it. Soon enough Cara and I win it for ourselves, and trust me, it wasn't that easy. But all of us playing hockey before did help. I think Matt and Cole helped us a little bit, but we did it mostly on our own.
6 hours later, the sun sets and a few guys start the bonfire. It's huge. The wood is set up in a pyramid shape, and the fire is at least 20 feet high. Noah has set out blankets and towels for us to sit on.
As Noah comes back from the kitchen with 10 boxes of crackers, 4 bags of gigantic marshmallows, and 15 bars of chocolate, he asks, "What are you going to miss most, girls?" He distributes the food through out all of us, handing a few of us marshmallow roasting sticks.
"As much as I didn't like the cold, winters here haven't been all that bad. But I am definitely going to miss hockey here. Our teams were so good the past few years, I don't want to leave that". Cara says. "But of course I am going to miss Matt". Cara nods for me to go before she starts to cry.
"I think I am going to miss the friendships that I have created with every single person on the hockey team. I mean my first day at school I was already friends with two of you, and soon after that I met the rest of you. I think I created a better friendship with you guys than I have with most of the kids back in my original home". I look over at Cole, he looks at me contently. "I will miss Cole the absolute most of all. As all of you now know who my first boyfriend was, I made a lot better choice. He helped me through so much, and I know I helped him right back. I couldn't have asked for better". Cole takes me into a side hug and gives me a lingering kiss on the cheek. I can feel tears swell up in my eyes.
Our night ends at 3AM. Cole and I head up to our room. I'm too tired to change into my tank top and spandex. I just fall into bed. Cole falls next to me. He wraps his arms around me, his head rests between my shoulder and neck. His breath smells faintly of alcohol and chocolate.
"I love you", he whispers into my ear.
"I love you with all my heart. I will never leave you. No matter what".
And then I was asleep.
Edited: 3/11/22
YOU ARE READING
One More Day (Counting on Hockey #2)
Romance*book two of the Counting On Hockey series. Read Just Another Goal prior to this book* Meredith and Cole are going into their Senior year of high school. They are inseparable together. Now both playing hockey, and being together for now more than a...
