NERO
Cosette hasn’t been herself for the past few weeks after our encounter with Callista.
The kid was gone as fast as she had come, but it was impactful enough to leave a mark on Cosette.
She’s been spacing out a lot, and I would find her gaze lingering on mine and the other guys’ phones as if she’s willing them to ring.
I know she’s worried sick about Callista, not even cancelling the line she had on that phone so the kid could use it if she needed it. It wasn’t until she got the new phone from her network provider that they suggested they’d just transfer the previous line to the new phone because it hadn’t detected service, and they suspected the SIM had been taken out of the phone.
“Hey,” I called her attention on our drive home from school, slipping my hand on hers that was resting on her thigh. “You still thinking about Callista?”
She turned to look at me for the first time the whole drive, since she’s been staring out the window. “Yeah. I wonder if I did the right thing letting her go by herself,” she muttered, voicesmall and soft. “But I felt it. She needed to do… whatever she had to do on her own.”
“It must’ve felt like it because we’re older than her, but she wasn’t our responsibility, C. She might be a kid, but she’s her own person. Even if you stopped her, you don’t think she’ll just run away the next time she could? We’re strangers to her. You did the best you could, and you gave her what you think might help her. That’s enough.”
Cosette nodded, and I knew she’s come to the same conclusion herself. She just needed to hear it from someone else.
I felt her fingers thread between mine, squeezing to find comfort in the touch.
“We’re home.”
Parking the car, I shut off the engine and quickly got out of the driver’s side to open C’s door for her. As usual, she gave me a shy mutter of thanks every time I did so, giving me a soft kiss on the cheek.
Siege’s Camaro was not so far behind as Dex parked behind my truck while C was unlocking the door for us. Since the heart-to-heart talk I overheard her and Hoyt had, her dad has toned down his protectiveness a little bit, switching from his impromptu work from home setup to going back to his office.
That gave us a few hours between the end of classes until he came home to hang out, having to leave before or after dinner, as he set the boundaries of having sleepovers up in Cosette’s room off-limits.
The guys and I respected that. After all, it won’t be long before we’re off on our own to?—
“College!” C shrieked from inside the house and I just about ran on instinct, only to see her holding up her phone, screen facing me and the guys, showing an email with the subject: ‘University Admission Decisions Now Available for Viewing’.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket, seeing the same email from the application portal we both used, and I could hear my blood running in my ears.
“We got ours too,” Dex said from behind me, and I looked at C.
“Open together?” I asked, and she nodded, looking way too nervous than she should.
I didn’t doubt for a second that Cosette Evangelista would get into any university she goddamn wanted to be in. They’d be lucky to have her.
What I did worry about was how I’ll take it if we didn’t get into the same universities. Even before we got together, I’d been imagining college life with her, and now a little less begrudgingly, her two other boyfriends too.
Following Cosette to the living room, we all sat on the couch, and I saw her logging onto the portal, which made me follow. After inputting my credentials, the loading symbol going in circles felt like it was mocking me to wait patiently.
“Well, I got into… a lot of them,” she said, letting out a drawn-out exhale, her eyes now turned towards my screen as mine was still loading.
Once the symbol vanished, with the list finally on display, C put her phone beside mine, and we had over five universities in common that we got into.
And that was just the first page.
“We both got into Crouse University, huh?”
C immediately cheered, turning to me and lunging at me with a hug, making me laugh and hug her back.
Cosette didn’t let it linger, as she pulled away after a beat, looking at the two sitting on the other couch without a sign of nervousness in their bodies.
“Did you two apply to Crouse?”
Dex only smirked, handing Cosette his phone, and on there was an email from the Director of Admissions himself.
