Chapter 38

Today's the day Cody and the others get back from Australia. I haven't spoken to him since our phone call. Every time he calls I refuse to answer the phone, I don't text him back or tweet him. I've talked to Alli a lot. Mom's invited everyone around for dinner tonight.

I've rarely left my bedroom, I've hardly eaten and only got changed out of pyjamas or sweats a few times. So right now I'm sitting on my window seat on my laptop and listening to music. For one of the first times in the last few weeks I've gotten dressed.

I'm wearing a tight, white shirt with sleeves which come down to just above my elbows. It's quite low cut but oh well. I also have a high waisted skirt which finishes at half way down my thigh, it's not a tight skirt though.

I heard my name be called, I got up and ran downstairs. "Yeah?" I replied. "Can you help me prepare for later?" My mom asked from the kitchen, I walked into the room. "Sure, what do you need help with?" "Well, you could make some brownies for me?" "Yup, what's for dinner?" "What do you think?" "Barbeque." We said at the same time, I giggled.

"All done, I'll come back down in a bit to cut them out and put them on a plate." "Please don't disapear in your room again." "What do you want me to do?" "Can you go over to Amy's and pick up Lilly?" "Nooo." "Lauren, please?" Fine." I moaned and went into the hall to put on some shoes.

I slipped on some simple, white flats and left the house. I knocked on the door once I got to the house and waited for someone to answer. "Lonnie!" Paul's voice snapped me from my thoughts, I smiled. "Hey dude." I hugged him.

"Come to get Lilly?" "Yup, Cody and everyone are coming over for dinner in a few hours. Save me." I moaned. "Just don't give in to him, you deserve better." He told me. "Want to come in?" "Sure." I smiled as he invited me in. I walked into the house and kicked off my shoes.

"I can't stay long though." "That's fine, at least a half hour?" "Yeah." "Okay so, my room?" "Let's go." Paul led the way, I followed him into his room and sat on his bed. "Wow, I love your room. It's so big!" I admired it, Paul laughed.

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty big but I don't have my own bathroom." "I do and a balcony." I gloated, Paul pushed me playfully. "It's good to see that you're happy or at least smiling again." He got serious, I looked away.

"How did you even find out?" "Cam told me." "Oh." "He was really worried about you, he still is." "I met up with him last week, we talked about everything." "And how are you feeling now?" "I don't want to be pulled in by him. Cody's so good at it and it's not fair becuase I can't fight it." I admitted.

"Maybe it's because you don't want to fight it?" "I wish I wanted to, I want him back but I don't want him thinking he can do whatever he wants to and get away with it." "I think you should do what makes you happy, Cody isn't the type of guy to mess you around. He really loves you and I know it he knows he messed up and at least he's trying to fix it. A lot of guys would give up after the first few hours of being ignored but Cody's still going after three weeks."

Paul was right, Cody isn't like the others. He's different and I guess I should at least hear him out, I just get too mad when I think of what he did. How could he kiss another girl after promising me? I don't understand.

"Look, just think about it. You don't have to make any decisions now but when you do remember what makes you happy." He lifted my chin and kissed my cheek. "You're a special girl, Lauren. It just takes the right guy to realize it." He told me.

"Thank you." I smiled and hugged him once again. "Wanna play some video games?" "Yeah!" I got up and grabbed two controllers. "You're going to have to teach me before we play together." I told him. "That's fine, sit here." Paul patted the space infront of him.

I sat down, he pulled me back against him and put his arms around me. He held his hands over mine and showed me what to do as well as telling me what all the buttons did.

"I better get going now, I've been here almost an hour." I stood up, Paul did too. "Alright well, see you soon." He smiled. "Want me to walk you to the door?" "Yeah and help me find Lilly." I laughed, Paul laughed too.

Once we'd found Lilly we left. Lilly and I walked home hand in hand, she never fails to make me feel good. "Is Cody home yet?" Lilly asked me. "You know he doesn't live with us, right?" "No but it's his home too because he's always with us."

"Lilly, do you remember what I said? Cody and I aren't together anymore so you won't be seeing him everyday." It broke my heart to have to admit that. "So do you not love Cody anymore?" She looked up at me. "No, I love him so much." "Then why aren't you with him anymore?"

"Because Cody did a bad thing." "What did he do?" I didn't want to have to tell her the truth. "Maybe you can ask him that one." Lilly nodded, we walked into the house. I kicked off my shoes and walked into the kitchen ready to cut up the brownies.

"You took a while." Mom looked me up and down. "Sorry, Paul and I were talking and we lost track of time." I smiled. "Alright well Angie texted me a minute ago saying they were just leaving." "Oh no." I took a step back.

"Are you okay, honey?" I nodded, I couldn't find words to say. I only have a matter of five minutes to get my act together. I don't know if I can do this. Just then there was a knock on the door. "A lot more than a minute ago." I muttered as I walked to open it.

"Lauren!" Tommy tackled me with a hug, I smiled and hugged him back. "Hey mate." I ruffled his hair as everyone else came in the house. "Cody!" Lilly shouted and ran to him, I watched as he picked her up and spun her around in circles.

"I missed you, smelly." He kissed her nose, she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. I found myself smiling at the sight and then snapped myself out of it. I turned and walked out into the backyard.

I sat down with my legs in the pool, someone came and sat next to me. I looked over and smiled. "I missed you, Als." I hugged her, she hugged me back. "I missed you too." She hugged me back. "So how was the rest of the vacation?" I asked.

"It would of been better with you there." "I'm sorry." "I understand, it's cool." I looked into the water, I heard someone clear their throat. "Uh, I gotta go inside." Alli got up, someone else replaced her space. Cody.

"How are you?" He spoke softly, I can't do this. I got up and walked inside, I went straight to my bedroom and onto my balcony. "Can you please talk to me?" Cody shut my balcony doors, I turned to face him. "I've got nothing to say to you, I don't want to be pulled back and just standing here with you makes me want you." I confessed.

"I want you too, why can't we just move past it?" "I can't forget this, Cody." "I didn't say forget, I said move past." He moved closer to me. "That hot tub was broing without you." He whispered, I looked away from him.

"Remember the first night?" He continued. "When everyone else had gotten out and it was just us in there." I looked back at him, his face was inches from mine. "Do you remember?" He ran his finger along my jawline. "I remember." I whispered.

"And do you remember our first time?" I knew his game, I needed him to stop. "Cody stop." "What about our first kiss?" I pushed him backwards, he didn't move. "Do you miss me?" I felt his hand on my waist, he tried to pull my body into his. I refused to give in.

"Bab-" I put my finger in his lips. "I'm not your baby." "You were." "You messed that up though, didn't you." "Let me fix it?" "Get out my room." "I'm not in your room." "You are." "I'm on your balcony." "Cody, I don't want to do this."

"Why won't you let me talk to you?" "You weren't talking. I'm not willing to play your games." "Fine, don't but talk to me. Please? I need you." "Why did you do it then Cody?" "I wasn't thinking, I didn't mean to hurt you." "Well that's the thing, Cody. You did it anyway." I pushed past him.

"Please, Lauren? I'll do anything." He grabbed my wrist to stop me from leaving my room. "If you keep doing this I'll slap you again but this time, harder." I warned. "I deserved it and I probably deserve millions more." "You're right." I raised my hand.

"No, not now." He stopped me. "I wasn't going to but it's nice to know we're on the same track. Now if you don't mind please leave my room." I spoke calmly, Cody laughed a little. "I'm not leaving, last time I talked to you. You said you missed me."

"I do miss you, but the old you. The one I fell in love with, not the one I can't trust." "You can trust me, I wasn't myself. I'm sorry." He insisted. "Just get out, I don't want to talk to you anymore." I pushed him out of the door. "Dinner!" I heard Angie call us.

"You can tell them I'm not hungry so I won't be joining you." "You're eating whether you like it or not and this time I can make you." "You ca- Cody! Put me down!" He carried me down the stairs over his shoulder. I punched his back and kicked my legs.

"You're going to drop me!" "Shut up." He let go of me with one hand. "Cody! Stop messing around!" He laughed again as he walked outside. "She said she's not hungry but I said she has to eat something." He placed me on the floor.

I tried to turn around and walked away but he caught my wrist. I swung my hand at him but he ducked, he gave me a smug look. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Sit down guys." Cody sat down, I walked over to my dad who was stood with Brad making food.

"Daddy, I'm not hungry." I leaned on him. "You haven't eaten much over the last few weeks, please just eat something." "Like what?" "This." He picked up a burger and put it in a roll for me. "I'm not hungry." I moaned, dad started poking my mouth with it.

I giggled and hid my face in his chest, they laughed at me. "Come on then you can escape." He said, I opened my mouth. He placed the burger in there. I took a bite of it as I walked away. "I'm going back inside, dad said I only have to eat this." I went to walk inside.

"You eat it out here so we know you've eaten it." Mom told me, I stood in the doorway as I ate it. "Now can I go?" I begged, mom nodded. I smirked at Cody and ran off. I'm not staying here while he's here so I put my shoes on and left through the front door.

As it was getting dark there wasn't many people around, I went to the beach. I took off my shoes and carried them as I walked along the sand. I kicked the water and splashed around. The beach always helps me to clear my head. I heard someone clear their throat.

"Can't you leave me alone for five minutes? Just accept that we're over." I didn't turn around. "Since when were we together?" I heard Dan, I turned around. "Oh sorry, I thought you wer-" "I know, they're back today aren't they?" "Yeah, they're at mine right now."

"Is that why you're here?" "Yup." I looked out to sea, Dan walked over and stood next to me. "How was it? To see him for the first time?" "It was painful, I really miss him. I want to work through this." "Then why don't you?" "What if he does it again?" I looked at him.

"Lauren, he left the girl to follow you, he has tried for weeks just to have a conversation with you and now he's trying to work for you. He's really trying and I know it." "How do you know he's working for me?" "Because if he'd left you alone at your house, you wouldn't of escaped." "Oh."

We were quite for a little while. "What I'm trying to say is, give him a chance. If not for him, for you. I know how much you love him and I know how much he loves you." I sighed, he was right. I do love him. "Fine, I'll talk to him." "Better do it now." Dan turned around, I did too.

A hooded figure was walking this way. "How do you know that's Cody?" "I just do." "He put you up to this, didn't he?" "I'll see you soon, Lon." He pulled me in for a hug and then kissed my cheek, he walked off. "Why can't you just give me some space?" I asked as Cody approached.

"What do I have to do? Just say something and I'll do it." He stood close to me, I looked down and giggled. "What?" Cody laughed, I looked into his eyes. "You've got wet shoes and your pants around your ankles are wet." I giggled again, he looked down and laughed.

"Okay, let's take a few steps back." He moved out of the water, I followed him. "I'll do anything." He turned serious again. "Can we just be friends? Just until I get used to being around you." I looked at him, the sparkle that was normally in his eyes had disappeared.

He looked broken. I could tell what I just said made it worse. "No, come on. We can do better than that, please? I'll buy you all the jewlery in the world, take you shopping. Anything, I can't just be your friend. I can't do that, you'll fall in love with someone else and I can't let you do that." He pulled me closer to him.

"I don't want materials, I want to be happy." "I can do that, I'll make you happy." "Bu-" "Want me to go in the water again?" He joked, I laughed and looked down to then lift my head up again and look into his eyes. "I want you to promise me you'll never ever touch another girl and never ever fall in love with another girl."

"There's a slight problem there. I'm in love with another girl." I looked at him confused. "She's so beautiful, about this high." He held his hand to just above his hip. "She looks just like you, I love her more than anything or anyone." He carried on, I knew he was talking about Lilly.

"Well actually, I love one other person more than I love her." "Who?" "Who do you think?" I smiled at him. "As long as you love me too." He held me held me against him, I nodded. "I do." "Good." He moved his face closer to mine, I hid mine in his neck.

"Okay, that's fine whenever you're ready." He kissed my head, I looked him in the eyes. "I'm scared of getting hurt again." "I'm not going to ever see her again and I'll never touch another girl." "Other than the girl you're in love with." "Not threatened by a six year old are you?" He laughed.

"What about when Jenna comes to Cali?" "How did you know about that?" "I was there, Cody." I gave him a blank look. "I told her I'm not going to see her anyway." He said, I smiled. I wrapped my arms around his neck. My eyes switched between his eyes and his lips.

I was trying my hardest not to give in, they were like magnets. He was a magnet. "Do it if you want to." I looked at him and then his lips once more. "I-I'm not sure if I want to." I whispered with my forehead against his.

"I'll change your mind." He gently pressed his lips against mine and then pulled away and looked at me. I moved my face in for more, he laughed and did it again. This time I kissed back, our lips moved together slowly. I've waited three weeks to be able to do this.

I felt a drop of water hit my cheek, I pulled away from Cody and looked up. More drops of water fell from the sky, it started to pour down. "Oh my gosh, I'm soaked!" I giggled. Cody laughed and pulled me back in to kiss me again. We kissed in the rain for a while.

I moved away and ran into the water, I splashed around as the rain continued to pour. Cody ran after me, we played in the water. I started shivering after a while. "Let's get you home and into something warm." Cody took my hand and led me across the beach. I picked up my shoes before leaving the beach.

We walked inside the house, leaving our shoes outside. I pointed up suggesting we go upstairs, Cody nodded. We quietly made our way to my room, I went straight into the bathroom. Once I was done I came out to get dressed.

"What are you gonna wear?" I asked as Cody came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "I didn't think that far." He sat down on the bed, I giggled and climbed onto his lap. "Maybe you don't need anything?" I kissed his neck.

Cody didn't say anything, he layed down. I continued to kiss him. "Well?" I whispered as I kissed his abs. "No, not tonight." He dismissed. For the first time ever he was saying no? I sat up and looked at him confused. "Why not?" I asked.

"You're too vulnerable." He sat up again, I kissed his lips. "No I'm not." "I'm not taking advantage of you, Lauren." He moved me off his lap. "I'm giving you the advantage." I stood up on my knees as he got off the bed. "I said no." "Fine." I folded my arms and sat down.

"I'll be back in a minute." He left the room, I got under the blankets and turned on the tv. I pulled my shirt down so you could see the top of my bra. Cody walked back in with some pants on, I'm guessing he got them from Trey.

I ignored him as he got under the blankets and sat next to me. "You're mad at me now?" He asked, I shushed him. "I'm watching tv." "Oh I see." He said sarcastically, I looked at him. "I like what you've done with your shirt." He acknoledged.

"But it's not gonna work." He pulled it back up, I sat on his lap once again. "Come on." I moaned. "Earlier you hated me and now you want to do that with me?" "Fine, I'll find someone else." I went to get up. Cody fell forward so he was hovering over me.

"No." He said, I smirked. My plan worked. "Why not? If you won't, I'm sure others will." I moved my hands across his chest. "I thought you don't like playing games?" He asked. "I like my games." I smiled innocently. I moved my hands lower, Cody looked at what I was doing.

"Do it back up." He told me, I grinned and shook my head. He grabbed my hands and pinned them above my head. "Your pants are still undone." I pointed out with a smirk. "And while you're doing this you can't do them back up." Cody was trying not to laugh at me.

"I can see you, trying not to smile." I moved my hips upwards against his. "Stop." He pushed me back down with his hips. "This could go on all night." I giggled. "And unlike you, when I play games. I win them." I wriggled my hands free from his grip.

"If this was the other way around you would hate me by now." He said, I laughed. "I know, being a girl's amazing." "Is that so?" He placed his lips on my neck. I moved my head for him to do it more, he teased me a little with his tongue.

I ran my fingers through his hair. "Cody, come on." I begged, he ignored me. "Two hours ago you weren't sure if you wanted to kiss me and now you want to ha-" "Things change." I put my finger on his lips, he kissed it and then sat up.

"I'm real hot." I moved my shirt up, showing my stomach. Cody watched me do it. "Want me to open a window?" He smirked, I rolled my eyes. "Just give up." He laughed. "You wouldn't tell Jenna that." I smirked, Cody's eyes got dark.

"Don't use that against me!" He warned. "Well, would you?" I moved my head to the side. "That's it." He quickly removed my shirt and threw it on the floor, I giggled as he kissed my stomach. "Is Cody getting annoyed?" I provoked him more.

He picked me up and threw me a little more down the bed, I let him remove my sweat shorts. "If you ever use that on me again, I'm telling you now. You won't get what you want." He warned me, I smiled. "Stop looking at me like that." He said annoyed.

Brad called Cody's name from downstairs. "Oh would you look at that, not enough time." He smirked and pecked my lips before getting up. He threw my shirt at me. "You might wanna put this on, get's kind of cold in bed alone." He said smugly before leaving.

"I hate you!" I called after him. "Love you too." He replied, I laughed to myself as I got dressed. I got back under the blankets and turned off the tv. I noticed my phone light up, I picked it up. Why is Cody calling me? He's just left.

"What do you want?" I asked as I placed it to my ear. "Invitation's open for tomorrow, just so you know." "I don't want you tomorrow." "You will." "I'm tired, Cody. Leave me alone." I stretched out. "Got tired kinda quick." "It's amazing what happens when you leave me."

"I'm still downstairs." "Oh." I giggled. "Well not anymore." I heard him outside my room, I hung up and sat up when the door opened. "I thought you were going?" "Are you still tired?" He kicked the door closed, I shook my head.

"Good, I forgot to tell you something." "What's that?" "You forgot to pack this when you left Australia." Cody threw my ring at me, I looked at it and then back to him. "You know, that hurt when it hit me." I giggled as I remembered throwing it at him.

"Sorry about that." "It didn't hurt as much as when you slapped me though." He walked to the edge of the bed, I slid the ring back onto my finger. "But how about you make it up to me now?" He crawled up to me, I nodded as he connected our lips.

"I thought you didn't want to take advantage?" "I can't let all your hard work go for nothing.. And just one more thing, you can play that game all you want as long as you know who the coach is." He smirked and layed me down while kissing me.

"Wait." I pushed him off me and sat up. Cody sighed. "What now?" He asked annoyed. "Are you not leaving soon?" "No, I'm staying here." "Sure?" "If you don't shut up I will go home." I giggled and kissed him once again. "Now let me make it up to you." I sat on him.