Title: Invincible
Rating: T
Summary: It's Cole's first year as a college freshman and he invites Starr and friends to his first official college party at the dorm he shares with his good friend Harvey. The song is "Invincible" by Jesse McCartney.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from OLTL or the song or anything.
"Starr, hurry up, we're gonna be late!" Langston shouted up the stairs to Starr as she pulled a comb lightly through her hair one last time.
"I'll be down in a minute!" she shouted back as she picked up her purse and hopped down the stairs, "are you ready for our first official college party!?!?" she asked Langston, concealing her grin.
"I've been ready," she replied, rolling her eyes as she grabbed her keys and walked out to her car, "let's just go already or it'll be over before we get there!"
They both got into Langston's car and made their way to Harvey and Cole's dorm. When they pulled up in front and walked to the door, Langston knocked and waited for a minute before someone opened the chained door.
"Password?" he said, faking a serious face.
"Cut the crap Harvey," she said, pushing her way into the room and wrapping her arms around his neck as Starr squeezed past them to find Cole.
She walked through a cluster of drunk dancing people to find the kitchen, where she had planned to meet Cole. When she pushed the swinging door that led to the bright, sweet-scented kitchen, she nearly tripped over a girl kneeling on the floor feeling around with her hands.
"Hey, have you seen Cole Thornhart?" she asked her.
The girl looked up and squinted in her direction, "Does it look like I can see anything right now? I lost my contact, can you help me find it?"
"Sure," Starr said, getting down on the floor and feeling for the tiny contact lens. As she crawled around on the floor for a couple minutes, she barely noticed the legs that appeared a couple feet ahead of her. She swiped her hand across the floor and felt the tiny piece of glass, "Found it!" she shouted to the other girl.
"You sure did," said a familiar voice above her head. She looked up and found that her face was inches away from Cole's groin. She backed up quickly and rose to her feet.
"Cole!" she shouted as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist and planted a kiss on his lips.
Cole pulled his face away long enough to say, "I missed you so much," before returning his lips to hers. A few feet away, they heard someone clear her throat. They turned around and saw Meghan standing there folding her arms, trying to hold back a grin.
"Oh, sorry," Starr told her, getting back down onto the floor and handing her the contact lens. As she walked away, Starr turned back to Cole and grinned from ear to ear, "Now where were we?" she asked, leaning in close to him and draping an arm over his shoulder.
"Yo Thornhart!" yelled an older guy on the other side of the room as he walked toward the embracing couple, "Does your girl want a beer too? We got plenty to go around."
"Beer?" Starr questioned, raising her eyebrow at him, "Cole, do you drink?"
"It's nothing," he said, kissing her cheek, "I'm just having a couple drinks to relax, it's no big deal."
"No big deal?!" she shouted, pulling away from him, "Don't be stupid; you don't need to drink to have fun!"
"Starr, calm down," he said, reaching a hand out to touch her arm, "it's just a couple beers with the guys. To loosen up after midterms."
"You never needed to drink before," she said, pulling away from his hand, "Why now? What's so different about college that makes you need to drink?"
"I know what I'm doing," he said, looking over his shoulder at the group of guys gathered near the back of the kitchen.
The guy who had spoken earlier walked over and turned to Cole, "You commin' or not?" he asked, holding a beer bottle in each hand.
"Fine!" she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, "Booze it up with your new 'friends' and I'll go find Langston and Harvey."
I said don't do it babe
Said it ain't worth it babe
But you did it anyway
Four or five drinks and you were on your way
Starr left the kitchen and walked into the crowded living room, trying to find a path through the crowd. When she finally found a seat, the couple of people who were practically smothering each other on the other end of the couch kept kicking her. She glared at the pair and, upon further inspection, noticed Harvey's familiar platinum blonde hair mixed in between Langston's roaming fingers. She rolled her eyes and jabbed at Harvey's sneaker with her elbow as it moved toward her side again, "Damn, guys, get a room!"
Langston giggled, pulling away from her enthusiastic boyfriend for a minute, "Where's your boy toy?" she asked, sitting up straight and adjusting her top.
"Probably being a drunk idiot with his new 'friends'," she said, folding her arms and gazing distractedly at her best friend, ⌠can we just go home now?"
"Drunk?" she replied as her mouth hung open, "When did he start drinking?"
"Don't get me started, let's just go," Starr said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the door. They left the party, and started walking to the car as they heard someone shouting at them.
"Starr!" the voice shouted, "Don't be mad! I love you! Come back!"
They turned around and saw Cole in the doorway, starting to follow them.
"Just go back inside and leave me alone!" Starr said, turning back and getting into the car with Langston. They drove away and made their way home. When Langston dropped Starr off at home, she went upstairs and changed into her pajamas. Just as she sat on her bed, about to grab her ipod to distract herself with some music, she heard the phone ringing downstairs. She ran down the stairs and picked it up.
"Starr, it's Cole," Langston said, sounding stuffy, "He was in an accident, you better come right away. He's in pretty bad shape."
September 1st, 2003
It took the life right out of me
Hung up the phone
Raced out the door
Broken
When Starr arrived at the hospital, she looked around frantically for her friends and saw Marty pacing around the back of the waiting room. A few feet away, she found Langston sitting in a chair by the corner, holding hands with Harvey. Her face was red and her eyes were all puffy. As she looked up and saw Starr coming toward her, she released her boyfriend's hand and hurried over, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"He's in the ER right now. They're trying to do what they can," she said, pulling slightly away from Starr, "It doesn't look good though, he's been in there for an hour already"
Tried to believe that it wasn't true
But in my heart I always knew
That being the life of the party would catch up to you
Your family was waiting and crying for three damn hours
"How did it happen?" Starr choked out, holding back her tears.
"He came after you," she replied as Harvey came over and put an arm around her shoulder, "even after you said to go back. He tried to drive after us and follow you home."
"Yeah," he said, "he got into his car and drove off before any of us could stop him. He was going so fast and he lost control. Apparently the car ran into a telephone pole"
I said don't do it babe
Said it ain't worth it baby
But you did it anyway
Four or five drinks and you were on your way
Everything was cool on the straightaway
But you took that turn doing eighty-five in a thirty-five
Why babe?
They all sat there for two more hours before the doctor came out and broke the news that Cole didn't make it. Starr burst into tears and collapsed into Langston's arms. Harvey wrapped them both in a hug and held them as they sat and sobbed together.
My mind goes crazy tryin' to figure out
Just where you would be four years from now
And what you were thinking when the lights came down
Doctors were trying to save you for three damn hours
Who ever said that life was fair
When you live without a care
When you're invincible
A/N: I wrote this for 2 Starr/Cole messageboards and figured I'd post it on so I have at least one story under my belt here.
Also, if you have any ideas for a song to use as a possible sequel, feel free to tell me in a review.