[A/N] I know that the story's been getting pretty dark lately, but I think it'll lighten up again toward the end, probably.

Cole, you might not want to read this one. You'll probably end up hating me.

Because of the outrageous time that she had to wake up the previous day, Tori would have liked to sleep in, but she had no such luck. At about four in the morning, there was a knock on the door. Tori groaned.

She could hear Grace open up the door, heard Jake's voice, and she slowly got up out of bed, stretching.

She left the room, and saw Jake.

"You ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. Then she snapped her fingers. "Oh! Wait!"

Tori walked over to Grace, and whispered something in her ear.

"Whoa, really?" Grace replied. "You know, that's not a bad idea… Yeah, okay."

Jake looked at them, puzzled. "What was that about?"

"Girl stuff," replied Tori and Grace in unison.

Jake shrugged. "Alright. C'mon, Tori, we gotta go."

Tori nodded, waved at Grace, and left the apartment.

"We got a bit of a walk ahead of us. Cole lives on the other side of the building. We should probably hurry."

Tori followed silently. They were almost to Cole's apartment when Jake asked "Are you okay? You haven't said a word since we left."

She smiled at him. "You amaze me."

"What do you mean?"

"I couldn't stop thinking about what you told me yesterday. And the way that you can just act like nothing is wrong… it's amazing. You must really care about the people around you."

Jake scratched the back of his head. "I don't want anyone to feel like they have to worry about me, that's all. I'd hate to drag down my friends because I can't control my own issues." They had reached Cole's apartment, so the conversation ceased as Jake knocked on the door.

"Cole?" he said quietly. "It's Jake. I brought Tori."

The door swung open almost immediately to reveal Cole, dressed only in a pair of boxers. Tori blushed and looked away.

"Do ANY of you sleep with clothes on?!" Jake hissed.

Cole yawned, flipped him off, and gestured for the two to come inside.

Compared to Jake and Grace's apartments, Cole's was a pigsty. Clothes were scattered all around the floor, and there was a faint smell in the air. Tori wrinkled her nose. The nearby living room held a couch with many holes in it, facing a huge TV, with multiple video game systems plugged in. A small window that looked like it had never been washed was on the far wall.

"You are hopeless," Jake commented. "You couldn't even clean before she got here? Get your ass in here and help me pick this place up."

Cole grudgingly helped Jake remove the clothes from their scattered positions around the apartment, as well as clean the window. By the time they were done, it looked immaculate. There was nothing that could be done about the smell, though.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if this was a bad idea," Jake said.

"No, I'll be okay," Tori said. Cole didn't say a word.

"Alright, if you say so. I'll be in tonight to check up on you. Bye."

"See you later," Tori replied. Jake left, shutting the door behind him.

Cole instantly rounded on Tori. "Let me get something straight right now. I still don't trust you. If it weren't for Jake being such a good friend, I wouldn't be doing this. So count yourself lucky that I'm even letting you stay here."

Tori was taken aback a bit, but nodded. "I'm okay with that. As long as I can stay, at least."

Cole nodded. "Here, I'll show you to your room."

He led her to the same guest room. The bed was noticeably smaller than in the previous two apartments, but she'd still be able to sleep in it.

"Any questions?" he asked gruffly.

"Two, actually," Tori replied. "First, do you have Jake's phone number?"

"What, do you not trust me?"

"You don't trust me," she pointed out. "What reason do I have to trust you?"

Cole returned to the living room, scrawled Jake's number down on a piece of paper, and gave it to her.

"Second question, what do you do for fun?"

"I don't actually come here very often," Cole responded. "Most of my time is taken up in battles. But I guess that's out the window for today."

"So you don't have anything to do around here?"

"Only reason I come to my apartment at all is to sleep and eat. Rest of the time, I'm in the plaza. Sorry. I got some video games, though."

"Hmph. Got any food?"

"Of course. Hungry?"

"Of course."

They returned to the kitchen, and Cole got breakfast going. A few minutes later, he served up toast. Tori looked at him incredulously.

"I can't really cook," he said sheepishly. "Most of the stuff in my fridge is experimental. And I wouldn't want to try something new on a guest. My only test subject is me."

"That seems fair," Tori said. She bolted down her toast, which was surprisingly satisfying, and went to sit on the couch.

"Wanna play a game?" she asked.

"Against you? It wouldn't even be a contest," Cole scoffed.

"I may surprise you," Tori replied. "I beat Jake a couple of times when I was living with him."

"Really?" Cole asked, arching an eyebrow. "Then bring it on, Octo-girl."

For the next few hours, they fought one another vigorously in Squid Racer. To Cole's immense surprise, Tori was quite good. She won just as many sets as he did, and eventually pulled ahead. However, he tired of being beaten, and shut the game off.

"Aw, come on!" Tori cried. "You're such a wimp."

"Hmph. Call me whatever you want," he said. "I don't care." He paused. "I can see why Jake took such a shine to you, though."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did I seriously just gain your trust by being good at video games?"

"I think you did. That tends to be how I gauge people."

Tori shrugged. "Okay."

"But that's not what I meant."

Cole slid closer to her, and Tori recoiled a bit. He grinned. Her eyes widened, and she jumped off of the couch.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked nervously.

"What does it look like?" He got up, pinned her against the wall, and ran a hand along her exposed stomach. She shuddered, and her eyes darted wildly around the room.

He leaned in to try and kiss her, but she ducked out of the way, grabbed a nearby phone, and ran into the guest room. She locked the door and shoved a couple of clothes hangers underneath it. She shuddered again.

Quickly, she dialed Jake's number into the phone and waited for him to pick up. After the third ring, he did.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Jake," she said urgently. "You need to come up here now."

"Tori?" he asked. His voice took on a frantic tone. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Is Cole with you?"

"Just come up here! Please, please come up here!" she begged. "I'm still in the apartment!"

"I'm on my way," Jake replied, and hung up.

Tori sat against the door and waited.

{asterisks}

It only took a few minutes before she heard a knock on the door. Cole opened it. "Jake? What are you doing here?"

"Tori called me," he replied. "…Why didn't you know? And where is she?"

Tori wrenched the clothes hangers out from under the door and burst into the living room. She quickly ran over to Jake and hid behind him.

"Tori? What happened?" Jake asked.

Tori pointed a shaking finger at Cole. "H-he was coming on to me!" Jake's eyes widened while Cole's narrowed.

"He WHAT?!" Jake yelled.

"Oh, come on!" Cole said, annoyed. "There was nothing stopping me! You shouldn't make such a big deal of it!"

"Nothing stopping you?" Jake asked dangerously. "What was the ONE thing I told you not to do? I specifically said that I didn't want you touching her!"

"Why?" Cole asked, folding his arms. "Do you just want to keep her all to yourself?"

Jake faltered for a second, before returning to his anger. "You know full well that is not the damn reason! How the hell did you think this was okay, you sleazeball?!"

Cole started an explanation, but Jake stopped him. "You know what? Forget it. I don't want to hear a word out of you. I'm taking her back to my apartment."

He had a backpack on him, so Tori turned into an octopus and hid herself inside of it. Jake slammed the door behind him and stormed back to his apartment.

When they arrived, Tori emerged from the backpack with a scared look on her face. "Jake? Are you okay?"

"No," he said angrily. "I'm not. God, I can't believe he would do something like that… I thought he was my friend."

"He might still be," Tori said, tentatively. "How long have you known him?"

Jake thought for a moment. "I think it's coming up on… five or six years now."

"And do you think that's worth throwing away because of what he did to me?"

"I don't know," Jake replied. "Part of me knows you're right, and the other part wants to punch him in the face."

"Which part are you going to listen to?"

"I don't know. I'll decide later. Anyway, you aren't going back there."

"I didn't want to."

"And it might not be a good idea to send you to Adam's, either…"

"So can I just stay at Grace's apartment?"

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea."

"…Can I stay here tonight, though?"

He stared at her. "What for?"

"I know I can trust you. And I really need someone I can trust right now."

"Let me guess. You want to sleep with me again, too."

"Can I?"

Jake nodded. "Sure."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"So, are you gonna forgive him?" Tori asked.

"Yeah, I probably should," Jake replied. "I need him for your escape, at the very least."

Jake picked up his phone, and disappeared into his bedroom. From outside, Tori could hear him talking. A few minutes later, he came back out.

"Well?" she asked.

"We're all good," he replied with a smile. "And he also gets why you don't want to go back."

"Good to know," Tori replied.

Silence again.

"Hey, I have a question," Tori said. "Why can't you just bring me back home right now? I mean, you have that backpack. I could just hide in it and we could slip back into the valley while no one's looking."

"I thought about that," Jake replied. "And I decided it wasn't a good idea. You see, if I sneak you back undercover, then the cops won't know that you're gone. We need to make a big spectacle of ourselves, because that way, they'll know we brought you back, and my apartment can be left in peace."

"Alright, then. What's the plan?"

"I'm almost finished drawing it up. When it's ready, I'm gonna call all you guys here to make sure you've got it down."

"Sounds like a plan," Tori said. "On that note, I'm getting hungry."

"I got some hot dogfish in the fridge that I can fire up. Sound good?"

"Yeah."

Ten minutes later, the food was ready. They scarfed it down quickly; both were quite hungry. When they were finished, they sat back on the couch.

"Is there anything you want to do?" Jake asked.

Tori thought for a moment. "Oh! Yesterday, Grace taught me how to dance!"

"You learned how to dance?" Jake said. "I thought what we had was special!"

Tori stuck her tongue out at him. "Anyway, I want to show you. I think I'm pretty good.

Jake smiled. "Alright, let's see it. Is it the song I think it is?" Tori nodded, and he tuned his phone into her song, and let it play as she danced along.

From the moment the song began, Jake was amazed at what he saw. Tori performed the dance that Grace had taught her flawlessly, moving fluidly with the rhythm. Jake couldn't believe his eyes.

When the song ended, all he could say was "Wow…"

Tori grinned at him. "You liked it that much?"

"That was amazing!" Jake cried. "That was, without a doubt, one of the best dances I've ever seen!"

Tori blushed. "Thanks. But you should be complimenting Grace. She was the one who taught me."

"Yeah, but you were the one who performed. In my mind, that deserves a bit of congratulations."

The blush deepened.

"Thanks for the performance, but I gotta go to bed," Jake said, stretching.

"I'll join you," Tori replied, and followed him into his room.

They climbed into the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

[A/N] DON'T HATE ME COLE

This chapter seemed kind of uneventful to me, but the last three are gonna make up for it, believe me.