Soulmates

62

"Cole??" Colby's dad called out as the sound of keys hitting the counter downstairs filled my ears. "Yeah! We're up here!" Colby called out as he stood up.

We were looking through his old yearbooks. It was so cute seeing him back when he was so awkward. You could tell he hadn't found his confidence yet but I still thought he was adorable.

"Come on, let's go downstairs." Colby said then held his hands out so he could help me up. I nodded then grabbed his hands and stood up.

When we got downstairs Colby's dad was in the kitchen drinking some water. "Hey!" He said and put his glass down before coming over to give Colby a hug. "Glad to see you're on your feet again!" He said and rubbed Colby's back.

"Yeah, I feel better than ever." Colby said as his dad gave me a hug. "How have you been, Violet?" He asked as I smiled. "I've been okay. How about you?" I asked as we walked to the living room to sit down.

"I've been good! We've been really busy but we are so excited you guys are here for the holidays." He said as we sat on the couch. "We're so happy to be here. I miss you, dad." Colby said and put his hand on my thigh, caressing it gently with his thumb.

"I miss you too, son. What have you been up to?" He asked as I stiffened slightly. I didn't know if Colby told his parents about the kidnapping and I didn't know if I really even wanted them to know.

"Um..we've been dealing with some stuff but we got it all worked out." Colby explained as the front door opened.

"Cole baby!" Colby's mom explained as she came into the room. "Hi mom." Colby said and stood up to hug her. I stood too and watched them as they swayed back and forth. "I've missed you." She said and rubbed his back causing him to laugh.

"It's only been a month, mom." He said as they pulled away from eachother. "It doesn't matter." She said then turned to me. "And how are you, sweetie?" Colby's mom asked as she gave me a hug. "I'm good, thank you for inviting me to come." I said and hugged her.

"Your family now, of course you're invited to come." She said with a laugh. "Let me get dressed then we can go to dinner. We have to get Gage at the airport at 7." Colby's mom said then scurried off to the bedroom.

I noticed she was wearing scrubs so I was intrigued as to what she did for a living. I knew Colby mentioned something about nursing but I was curious to hear more about what she did.

We all got our shoes on then made our way to the cars. "Are we going to Olive Garden?" Colby asked as he opened my door for me. "Of course. It's tradition." Colby's mom said as he chuckled and I got in the car. "Meet you there." He said then closed my door and jogged around to get in the drivers side.

"Tell me about the tradition." I said as he started the car. "About why we go to Olive Garden?" He asked with a laugh and took my hand.

"No, about the tradition of thanksgiving." I said as he laughed. "Wait, really? You're supposed to be the smart one." He said causing me to laugh.

"Why do you go to Olive Garden, dork." I said as he chuckled. "When I was a kid that's the only place I wanted to go. Like every day when I got home from school I would ask my mom. Every birthday we went there, so every time I come back to visit it's the first place we go." He said as we focused on the road.

"That's cute. Little Colby just wanted some spaghetti." I said as he laughed. "Actually I just loved the little mints afterwards." He said as I shook my head. "You hate chocolate and mint though." I said as he pulled into the parking lot.

"Yeah, but little me was obsessed." He said as I nodded. "Well, that was a very cute story." I said then scrunched my nose at him. "Get ready for a lot of those stories. I've never really introduced a girlfriend to my parents, they're gonna have fun with it." He said causing me to laugh.

"Ya know that's the only perk of having dead parents." I said as he gasped from the shock of tat comment. "You'll never know how embarrassing I was." I said with a wink. "Right, I just have to see for myself now." He said causing me to gasp this time.

"Rude!" I said then got out of the car. "Is Colby teasing you?" Colby's mom said as she got out of the car next to us. "Just a little bit." I said with a grin.

"Stop it or you'll be single again, Cole." She said as Colby shook his head. "Come on." He said, ignoring us, as he led the way inside.

When we sat down Colby made sure that I was on the inside of the booth which I appreciated. "So Violet, how do you like Kansas so far?" Colby's dad asked as we waited for our drinks.

"By first looks it reminds me a lot of Ohio. I can't wait to really explore it though." I said with a smile. "I'm sure Colby can bring you to some of his old hang out spots. He and Sam were always running around exploring things." He said as I looked up at Colby. "I'd love that." I said then scrunched my nose at him.

We sat and enjoyed dinner only to have a fight at the end about who was going to pay the check. Colby and I ultimately lost the argument but it was still worth a shot.

"Alright, we're gonna pick up Gage. You guys can head back to the house or you can tag along." Colby's mom said as we walked back to our cars. "I think we'll head home." Colby said and nudged me. "What do you think?" He asked as I shrugged. "I'm alright with whatever." I said as he unlocked the car.

"Yeah, we'll head home." He decided as his parents nodded. "See you there." His dad said as they got in their car.

"I wanna make them a cake." I said causing Colby to laugh. "You what?" He asked as I shrugged. "My mom used to make a cake for whoever was letting her stay at their house." I said as he grinned and took my hand.

"You're fucking adorable." He said and started driving to the store. "No, my mom was fucking adorable. It's her tradition." I said as he grinned. "But you're adorable for doing it too." He said as I shrugged.

"Maybe. It's nothing special, just an easy cake." I said and squeezed his hand. "Whatever you say, V." He said then pulled into the parking lot.

When we got to the cake mix selections I huffed out a breath. "What's wrong?" Colby asked as I shrugged. "I don't know which one they'll like." I said as he laughed and grabbed the box of yellow cake.

"They love yellow cake with chocolate frosting." He said as I nodded. "I knew I liked them." I said then grabbed the stuff. "To the eggs!" I said then took his hand and pulled him along.

We gathered all the ingredients then went back to Colby's parents house.

"Are you gonna help me?" I asked and set out all the ingredients. "Yeah, if you want me to." He said and pulled the mixer out for me. "Hmmm if you could just get me a cake pan and measuring spoons I think I'll be good." I said as he nodded and pulled the things out for me.

"I wasn't kidding when I said you were adorable." Colby said and wrapped his arms around me from behind as I tried to measure the ingredients.

"You're adorable too. Now let me work." I said with a laugh and leaned my head back so it was resting on his chest. "Okay, but I get to taste the batter." He said then kissed my cheek. "Sounds good." I said as he sat down in one of the tall kitchen chairs.

"What smells so good?" Colby's mom asked as they all came into the house. "Violet made you guys a cake." Colby said with a grin. "Violet! You didn't have to do that!" She said and came over to give me a hug.

"I like her already." Gage said as he came in. "I'm Gage by the way." He said and waved. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for letting me invade your Thanksgiving." I said causing him to laugh. "You're not invading. I'm just surprised Colby finally got a girlfriend." He said then put Colby in a headlock.

"Shut up." Colby grumbled causing us all to laugh. I loved how easily I was able to get along with Colby's family. It took away a lot of stress I have been feeling about coming here.

I really felt like I belonged.

A/N: hey guys. Sorry for the few and far between uploads. I'm just really busy with work, I hope you understand and I hope you're still enjoying the story. Love you and thanks for reading.