There Is No Light In Darkness (Darkness 1)

For the most part, I didn’t let the girls’ foolishness upset me. I knew Sasha, the head cheerleader, was behind most of it. She and Cole had a heated relationship in the past. She had a heated relationship with most of the athletes in the school, though. Apparently, Cole was her favorite. The thought made me sick, but I shrugged it off. If this was high school, I could only imagine what things would be like for him in college. Cole got a scholarship to play football at Duke University. Scouts flocked to most of the games during his last two years. He was the protégé everyone was after. He was the hot quarterback with the striking green eyes, killer smile, and effortless charm, who also happened to be book smart.

I realized the opportunities would be endless for him once he got to Duke. Girls would be throwing themselves at him left and right, and there, nobody would know or care about me. Hell, if they knew me here and didn’t care about me, what would it be like there? As much as I trusted him, I couldn’t live with the doubt. I knew it would only take a couple of days of him not calling me back to drive me insane with jealousy. I’d rather get a clean break and nurse a broken heart now than deal with it later.

Becky and Greg were both going to the University of Southern California. Greg got a football scholarship there. Becky had some money saved up, but she planned on paying for most of it with student loans. She was just glad to be getting out of Illinois and following Greg wherever he went. Aubry and I were going to attend the University of Chicago. I knew Aubry was secretly jealous of Becky because California was a good place for advertising, which they were both studying. He refused to let me go to Chicago alone though. Cole begged me to apply to Duke and go with him, but I couldn’t do that to myself. Besides, I loved Chicago and was glad that I was finally moving to the city, and I couldn’t ask Cole to give up his scholarship for me, either.

When we got to the lake, we batted off the usual batches of pesky flies—also known as cheerleaders. Or rather, ex-cheerleaders, since we were out of high school, and they were out of a hobby. I was sure some of them would go on to become great housewives and cheerleading coaches. Not to knock them all—less than a handful of them were nice to me and hadn’t tried to steal my boyfriend. I waved hello to those three and continued my walk to the water. We put out lawn chairs and a cooler. I started to strip off my shorts and shirt when I noticed that Cole had run off somewhere. When I looked up, I saw him talking to Sasha. I felt the blood drain from my body as I watched her run her hand down his chest, and even though he stopped it from reaching the band of his shorts, I was already seeing red.

“Becky, can you please turn around?” I huffed through clenched teeth.

Both Becky and Greg turned their heads to watch Cole and Sasha’s exchange.

“Cowboy, you know he doesn’t like her,” Greg said, trying to pacify my emotions.

“It doesn’t matter, Gregory,” I responded angrily. “Why is he even talking to her? Why is he standing so damn close to her? And why haven’t I ever seen you doing anything like that?”

He took a deep breath, but said nothing. Exactly. Silence. Greg never had that issue because Greg knew when to keep his dick in his pants. I cursed myself a million times for letting myself love Cole. I cursed myself again for cursing myself for letting myself love Cole. He was one of my best friends—despite his past actions—and I knew he would never cheat on me. But still, that hurt.

The longer I watched their exchange, the more furious I got. I decided to walk over to where Steve and his friends were sitting. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but I was so livid that I couldn’t stop myself. I was wearing the tiniest red and white polka dot bikini that I could possibly fit into, which got Steve’s attention immediately. Cole hadn’t seen it yet, I’d been saving it for that day since it was our last trip to the lake together. Steve’s friends left us alone, and we started small talking about college. Steve was going to Northeastern University in Boston. He had plans to become a doctor like his father. At one point, he leaned into me, tucked some loose hair behind my ear, and caressed my earlobe. I shook his hand off, and looked at him, my wide eyes asking him what he was doing.