Seven:

Patrick looked a little uneasy as Jon and I positioned ourselves on either side of him on the couch. He looked from me to Jon, and back at me again. We all sat there in silence for a few minutes, which felt like hours. Jon then spoke up, “Pat… look, please don’t get mad at me after I tell you this…”

“You were lying to me, weren’t you?” Patrick assumed.

“Just let me finish what I am going to say without interrupting me.” Patrick and I both sat in silence as Jon continued, “no, Cole did not throw herself at me. We both wanted,” he hesitated for a minute, “each other. And she wasn’t lying when she told you that we had sex ‘many times.” he said using air quotes. He then continued on, “I didn’t want to tell you because I know how protective you are over her, and how much you are going to be pissed at me after I am done talking…”

Patrick sat there for a minute, keeping his focus on the ground. “Jon… I don’t even know what to say, you just fucked up a lot of things.” He said, using extra emphasis on the words ‘a lot’. “You probably would have been better off telling me in the first place, you know that right? But anyways, how many times did you get your way with my sister?”

“Yeah I do know that...” He paused, “and three, or four… maybe five times… but don’t worry, I plan on making up with Marie and telling her everything so you won’t have to worry about your sister and I any longer.”

Patrick sat there, stunned for a brief moment, “good. Because I don’t ever want you touching my sister again anyway,” he replied. And that was the end of the conversation.

I was shocked at what Jon said, yes. But I was more hurt than anything. I sat on the couch, motionless, as Patrick stood up, “well I need to make sure that Bree is okay up there, since she hasn’t come downstairs yet.”

“Bree?” I questioned.

“This girl I met last night.”

I should have known. I just nodded and let him walk upstairs. Jon and I sat on the couch, silence overtaking the room, as Patrick entered his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

“Well it looks like you won the bet, so when do you want to go to dinner?”

“Save your money and take Marie out.” I stood up, walked toward the door, grabbed my coat, slid my feet into my shoes, opened the door, and stepped outside. I needed to get away from here. To go on vacation or something. I couldn’t deal with Jon’s bullshit anymore. Acting on impulse, I hopped in my car and headed to the airport. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and called the first person I could think of, Aaron.

“Would you mind if I came and stayed with you for a few days?” I asked.

“Oh no, of course I don’t mind. Is everything okay?”

“Not really. I’ll talk to you when I get there though.”

“Okay.”

I then hung up, and stuck my phone back into my coat pocket, whipped my credit card out of my pocket and paid for the earliest flight to Buffalo, which was in an hour. The lady who gave me my ticket looked a little shocked that I didn’t have any luggage with me. I just smiled, grabbed my ticket, walked over to the waiting area, sat down, and waited for my flight to be called.

A long hour went by, and my flight was finally called, I went through security and sat down. I had gotten the window seat, which was a relief. I placed my head against the window as the plane took off, and drifted off to sleep not too long after that.

I woke up just as the plane was landing, walked off the plane and into the Buffalo airport. I called Aaron and told him that I had landed and to come get me. I waited around for twenty minutes or so, until he called me and told me that he had pulled in. I walked out into the parking lot and immediately recognized his spiked black hair and muscular stature. He looked just as good as I remembered. I ran over to him and he immediately wrapped his arms around me. “God Cole, I’ve missed you,” he whispered into my ear, as he spun me around.

“I’ve missed you too,” I replied while giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as he set me back down on the ground. We then got into his car and began driving to his house. “Oh just so you know I kind of have a roommate, but he’s stoked to meet you, so it’s all good.”

I let out a slight chuckle, “alright. What’s his name?”

“Ryan.”

“Okay,” I replied.

Soon after, we pulled into his apartment complex and he guided me upstairs to his room. He slid the key into the doorknob and opened it, revealing a pretty decent sized apartment with a black and red color scheme. I noticed a guy sitting on the couch, who I assumed was Ryan. He was pretty cute. Dark brown hair, muscular, blue eyes, etc. He immediately stood up from the couch and walked over to me. “Oh you must be Cole?” he asked while offering a hand to shake.

I grabbed on to his hand and shook it, “Yep, and you’re Ryan?”

“Mhm. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh man, I can only imagine.” I joked.

He chuckled a little bit, “well make yourself at home.” He said.

“Thanks,” I replied with a smile.

Just then, my phone began to ring. I looked down at the caller ID and the name read Jon.

I clicked ‘ignore’. For now, I was going to forget about him and all of the shit he put me through. I decided to text Patrick and tell him that I was okay and not to worry about me because I didn’t want him calling the cops to have them looking for me.

He replied asking me where I was and I told him I was in Buffalo visiting some old friends from high school. I didn’t want to tell him who exactly because I didn’t know if he would approve of me staying with two guys. He texted back saying to be careful, that we would talk when I got back, and not to be gone for too long because he didn’t want to be lonely. I chuckled at this and replied okay. And that was the end of our conversation, even though I was still a little pissed off at him, I had to admit that he was always looking out for my best interest and I loved him for that. I then sat down on the couch in between Ryan and Aaron who were both watching some stupid reality show. “Who were you texting?” Aaron asked me.

“Well at first Jon called me, but I don’t want to talk to him, so I ignored his call and then I texted my brother and told him where I was.”

“You mean he didn’t know?” he asked worriedly. He knew how Patrick was, considering all of the years that we had been friends; Patrick was always all over him about everything we did together.

“No. Well he does now and doesn’t care, so we’re all good.”

“Oh okay.” He replied, “So… who’s Jon? Your boyfriend?

“Haha, not exactly. It’s a long story.”

“Well spill it Colezy.” He replied, using his childhood nickname for me.

I then went on to tell him and Ryan everything that had happened between Jon and I. To say they were shocked at the end of my little speech was an understatement. “Damn, so you got in on with Jonathan Toews? Hockey superstar?” Ryan half-joked.

“Haha yes,” I replied. My stomach growled, I didn’t realize how hungry I was. I passed on plane food so I hadn’t eaten since way earlier this morning. “I’m hungry. What’s on the menu for dinner?”

“Well considering the fact that we don’t have food here, we can always go out somewhere...” Aaron suggested.

“Sounds good.” I replied.

We then walked out of his apartment, downstairs to the parking lot, got in his car, and began driving to some diner that Ryan swore was the best in town.