Beautiful Mess Read online

  Beautiful Mess

  By

  Jennifer Preston

  For Joe-

  Who tore down my walls and claimed my heart. And for that, I will be eternally grateful.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  “So this is Venice Beach?” Carly squinted over the top of her designer knock-off sunglasses, a hint of disappointment in her voice.

  “What?” Ambria asked, her eyes sweeping the boardwalk. “Not everything you expected it to be?”

  “Well,” Carly replied, “I just thought it’d be a little more glamorous, like in the movies and stuff.”

  Ambria laughed. “Carly, everything is more glamorous in the movies. We don’t have to stay. I’m sure we could find something else to do.”

  “Bri, don’t be such a downer,” Carly scolded. “We’re not leaving. We’re going to have fun, get some killer deals, and hopefully see someone famous. Although,” she gave the boardwalk a disapproving glare, “I highly doubt anyone famous would hang out here. Now come on. I don’t want you ruining my day.” Carly sauntered off towards the shops.

  Bri couldn’t help her eye roll. Spending the day shopping with her cousin, alone, was not what she would consider even remotely fun. It wasn’t that she hated Carly, but the girl grated on Bri’s nerves to no end. Carly was spoiled, selfish, judgmental, and only ever talked about herself. How great she was at this, or how wonderfully she did that; how everyone loved her and based all their decisions and opinions on her own. Bri had learned early on that you couldn’t believe most of what came spewing out of Carly’s mouth. The girl was completely fake, from her bleached blonde hair, to her spray tanned toes. Nothing about her was genuine, including her personality.

  “Any day now, Bri,” Carly huffed impatiently, waiting outside the first shop.

  Resigning herself to her fate, Bri let out a huge sigh and followed her cousin into the store. She was used to sacrificing her own wishes for Carly’s, and she rarely opposed Carly in anything. In the interest of familial harmony, Bri was expected to placate her cousin, and not do anything to rile her up or upset her. It wasn’t an ideal arrangement, but Bri was used to it. And she knew it was better than dealing with Carly’s temper. The girl could throw a fit that would put a two year old to shame.

  So Bri spent the next couple of hours following Carly down the boardwalk. Carly kept up a constant stream of chatter as she wove in and out of the shops, bragging about all her outrageous schemes, demeaning the merchandise, and complaining about the lack of cute guys around. As they entered a swimwear shop, Bri could feel a headache coming on.

  “What do you think, Bri? Wouldn’t this be perfect with my red bikini?” Carly was holding up a sarong in a swirling pattern of pinks and reds.

  “Yeah, Car, it’d look great,” Bri replied, rubbing her temples, willing away the oncoming pain. She’d kill for a few minutes of peace and quiet.

  “OMG! Did I ever tell you about the first day I wore that bikini?” Bri tried to answer and deflect Carly’s sure to be enthralling story, but Carly plunged ahead before she could get a word out.

  “My friend Gabby had invited me over to her house to go swimming. Her house is ginormous and they have their own private pool in the backyard. I’m not sure what her dad does, but they are like, totally loaded.”

  Bri wanted to point out that it was Phoenix. A lot of people had a pool, which didn’t make her friend loaded by any means. But deciding to avoid an argument, she let Carly continue.

  “So, I get over there, looking all hot in my new bikini, and the pool people are there cleaning the pool! Can you believe it! We like, totally had to wait for them to finish so we could swim. I was so pissed! Anyway, after what had to be an hour, I started getting really bored. That’s when I got this like, totally brilliant idea! So I turned to Gabby, and I totally dared her to go get the pool boy to make out with her!” Carly squealed with vicious delight. “And guess what she did?”

  “What?” Bri sighed when it became apparent Carly wasn’t continuing without an answer.

  “She went out there, stripped down to her bikini, and like, totally started flirting with him! Then, two seconds later, they were like, totally kissing! Can you believe it?” Carly could barely contain her devious excitement. “Isn’t that the grossest thing ever? I mean, really, the pool boy? I so couldn’t believe Gabby would degrade herself like that? What was she thinking?”

  “And that’s my cue to leave,” Bri murmured. She’d had enough of Carly’s stories. She had to get out of there before she let Carly have it, or her head exploded. “There’s a jewelry shop we passed that I’m going to go look at. Why don’t you find you a top to go with this,” she indicated the forgotten sarong in Carly’s hands, “which you should totally get, and I’ll meet you outside when you’re done, okay?” She turned and left before Carly could object.

  Once outside, Bri took a deep breath to cleanse herself of her annoyance and frustration. She took a minute to appreciate the silence, and the pounding in her head seemed to lessen slightly. Bypassing the jewelry shop, she spied a bench set back in the shade. She plopped down on the warm metal, pulled out a water bottle and chugged down a couple of aspirin. With her headache relief in sight, she took a book out of her bag, determined to enjoy her few minutes of solitude. She was just beginning to lose herself at Longbourn, when a very huffy, very upset Carly ruined her respite.

  “Seriously, Bri? Reading?” Carly sneered, wrinkling her nose as if she had just found Bri digging through the garbage. “We’re supposed to be having fun shopping and you’re reading! You are seriously such a nerd.” Carly gasped in horror when she saw Bri was reading Pride and Prejudice. “And if reading instead of shopping weren’t bad enough, you’re reading a freaking school book! Could you seriously be any more boring? I don’t know why I bother with you, Bri! Sometimes I wonder how we’re even related.”

  “Carly, I don’t understand what the big deal is.” Bri’s temper was slowly growing, and she struggled to suppress it. Redheads were famous for their tempers, and while she didn’t consider herself an actual redhead, she was still claimed by their infamous wrath. “I was done in that store, you weren’t, so I came out here and started reading to kill some time. What is wrong with that?”

  “Well, I thought you were coming out here to look at jewelry, not ditch me for a book!”

  “I looked at the jewelry and didn’t find anything,” Bri lied easily. She was used to lying to Carly to mollify her. “So I sat down over here to wait for you. How exactly does that make me boring?” she glared at Carly.

  “Fine! You’re not boring. But from now on, no more books. We’re shopping for crying out loud, at least try to act like you enjoy it.”

  “Alright, no more books,” Bri conceded. “But you have to speed things up. You’re taking forever.”

  “Fine,” Carly huffed reluctantly. “I’m starving.
Let’s go find something to eat.”

  The girls stopped at a small burger stand, where Carly questioned the appearance and sanitation of everything from the employees to the food. But her apprehensions didn’t stop her from downing an entire double cheeseburger and a whole basket of fries.

  After meandering down the boardwalk a little further, Carly grabbed Bri’s arm and started pulling.

  “Oh, we like, totally have to stop and get a tattoo!” Carly squealed, dragging Bri over to a henna tattoo stand.

  “I’m good, thanks,” Bri replied.

  “Fine, be a downer,” Carly snipped. “But I’m getting two! I know just where I want them.”

  A couple of fake tattoos and a few bucks later, the girls set off again, Carly admiring her new body art.

  “This is so perfect,” She beamed at the sun tattoo on her right breast. “This is will like, totally get guys to look at my boobs! Look, they’re already checking out my rack!” She pointed at a guy walking past them, who Bri was pretty sure hadn’t even noticed Carly, let alone her chest. She nearly laughed out loud at her cousin’s shallowness, and the fact that Carly didn’t have much of a rack to speak of. She quickly turned her snort into a cough, but judging from the glare Carly gave her, she wasn’t fooled. Carly turned to the beach, and her eyes lit up as she saw a few artists that had set up shop out there.

  “We are so going to have our pictures drawn, and don’t even think about trying to get out of it. I’ve always wanted someone to draw me.” Carly pulled Bri out onto the beach. “Now, let’s see...” she scanned the artists. “We don’t want to end up with a total creeper. There!” She pointed down the beach a little ways. “That guy looks about our age. Let’s go there.” As they got closer, Carly grabbed Bri’s arm and squealed into her ear. “And he’s hot! This is so perfect! I’m looking for a little Summer Lovin’ and this guy like, totally fits the bill. So this one is mine, got it? You just stay out of my way, and let me do my thing.”

  Not one to stand between Carly and what she wanted, Bri agreed. Plus, she thought it would at least be amusing to watch her cousin in action. As they walked, Bri checked out the poor guy who had just been painted a target by Carly. His back was to them, but Bri could see that he was tall, had black hair, a nice body, and a great butt, that his black fitted t-shirt and board shorts seemed to accentuate. She felt a bit bad for the poor guy. He didn’t know what was about to hit him.

  At their approaching footsteps, he turned to greet them. Bri was struck by a pair of grey eyes, thick, dark eyelashes, and the most delicious mouth she had ever seen. He had a full, almost pouty bottom lip that perfectly complimented his thinner upper lip. Those lips turned up, revealing a dazzling smile. Bri was suddenly very grateful for her dark sunglasses, because she was suddenly unable to keep from staring.

  “Well, hello, ladies!” A deep, rich, voice greeted them. “What can I do for you?”

  Carly gave Bri a pointed look before taking charge.

  “Hi! I’m Carly, and this is Bri,” Carly waved at her dismissively. “We wanted to have our pictures drawn and were hoping that you could help us out.” Carly gave him her most charming smile.

  “Um, sure, I can do that. Though I have to warn you, people aren’t really my strength.” He motioned to the beachscapes displayed behind him.

  “Oh,” Carly leaned forward flirtatiously, her eyes never leaving him. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

  “Okay then,” he smiled. “Why don’t you ladies have a seat over here.” He showed them to a bench he had pulled up underneath the canopy he had set up to provide some shade. He reached out and shook their hands. “I’m Cole, by the way. And it was Carly, right, and Bri? Well, give me just a minute to get set up and we’ll get started.” He grabbed a big pad of drawing paper and sat down behind an easel.

  Carly had been watching him appraisingly, and decided to get the conversation started.

  “So, Cole, you seem a little young to be trying to make a living out here on Venice Beach,” she began tactlessly. When Cole raised his brows uncertainly, she barged right along. “I mean, you look young enough that your parents should care that you’re down here alone with all the weirdoes. So do you live on your own, or are you just poor or something?”

  “Carly!” Bri hissed and hit her in the arm.

  “Ouch! What was that for?” she hissed back.

  Very aware that Cole could hear everything they were saying, Bri leaned in and lowered her voice.

  “That was incredibly rude! I can’t believe you would say something like that!”

  “I’m just trying to find out how old he is! How is that being rude?”

  Bri just shook her head and rolled her eyes at her super-inappropriate cousin.

  “So, Cole,” Carly continued brightly as if he hadn’t just heard their whispered conversation. “How old are you?”

  Glancing at Bri, Cole continued drawing as he answered Carly’s question.

  “I’ll be eighteen in October. I’ll be a senior in high school this year. What about you two?”

  “Bri will be a senior, too, but I’m going to be a junior. I’ll be 17 in March, but I can’t wait until I’m 18 and I graduate! Then I can tell my mom where to shove it when she tries to tell me what to do. I bet you can’t wait to get out of your house, Cole.”

  Again, there was something rude and demeaning implied in Carly’s tone that set Bri on edge. But Cole ignored it and continued drawing.

  “Actually, I’m in no hurry. My dad pretty much gives me free reign, as long as I stay out of trouble. So,” he changed the subject, “How do you two know each other, from school?” Cole had directed his question to Bri, but Carly answered.

  “Oh, no, we’re actually cousins.”

  “Really?” Cole looked between the two of them doubtfully.

  “Like, totally, though we don’t look anything alike. I got the good genes from my mom and her dad’s side of the family. Bri got her mom’s red hair, poor thing. I’m actually visiting from Phoenix. I’ll be here for the next week.”

  Ignoring Carly’s jab, Bri turned her attention to Cole’s artwork. She needed a distraction from Carly’s horrible flirting. There were a couple of black and white cityscapes that were stunning, even from a distance. The majority, though, were ocean and beach scenes done in a variety of styles. But one painting in particular caught Bri’s attention. It was a painting of a sunset, and the colors were so unique and vibrant, she couldn’t tear her eyes away. It appeared this guy was very talented.

  Following Bri’s gaze, Carly started in surprise as she noticed all the paintings behind Cole.

  “Cole! Did you do all of these?” Carly was amazed.

  “Yeah,” He shrugged off handedly, but there was a distinct note of pride in his voice. “Some of them are older, but most I’ve been working on since school got out.”

  “Wow. They’re...” Carly began.

  “Beautiful,” Bri finished softly. It took her a couple of seconds to realize she had spoken out loud, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  “Thank you,” Cole smiled at her, his eyes warming from her compliment.

  She smiled back, fighting her urge to drop her gaze. His smile was stirring up butterflies in her stomach. A sudden elbow to her ribs brought her back to reality.

  “Yeah, Cole, you’re like super talented. I bet you make a killing selling your paintings and stuff.” Carly gave him an appreciative once-over. Apparently, the idea that Cole had money made him even hotter in her eyes. “So, do you like tattoos?” Carly smiled slyly. “Um, yeah, they’re okay, I guess.” Cole glanced at her.

  “Well, you’ll be able to appreciate this then. We stopped at one of the henna tattoo shops, and I got this,” Carly stood, turned, lifted her shirt and lowered her shorts, revealing the swirly tramp stamp on her lower back. “What do you think?’

  Bri wasn’t sure if Carly was referring to the tattoo, her hot pink thong that was clearly visible, or her butt that she had all but shoved in Cole�
�s face. Cole looked as if he wasn’t sure either.

  “Um, that’s pretty nice,” he replied uncertainly.

  Carly’s smile faltered as she stood. But then she turned to face Cole, her eyes sparkling.

  “And, I got this one,” Carly pulled down the top of her tank to reveal not only her sun tattoo, but also the top of her lacey black bra. She used her arms to squeeze her breasts together and leaned over to give Cole a better view. Cole’s eyes widened in shock as the fake sun tattoo was pushed right up under his nose. After a brief glance, he turned his eyes back to the drawing. But his eyebrows remained in his hair.

  Seeing the utterly confused look on Carly’s face as she sat back down, made Bri want to laugh. This was Carly’s brilliant plan? Shoving her butt and her push-up bra created cleavage, yes, even the girl’s cleavage was fake, in Cole’s face? And she had really expected it to work? Bri almost felt sorry for her cousin. Almost. If this was Carly’s idea of flirting, it was no wonder she couldn’t get a boyfriend. The poor girl had no skills, at all, but watching her try was hilarious.

  “So, um, any reason you chose a sun?” Cole was being nice, trying to move past the fact that Carly had practically flashed him. Bri did notice that he didn’t give Carly’s boobs a second glance, which earned him bonus points in her book.

  “Yeah!” Carly perked up. “I wanted to get something that represented me, and I thought a sun would be good, because I do live in Phoenix and it’s always sunny there. Plus, I love the sun, and spend all my time laying out.”

  Bri knew for a fact that Carly burned to a crisp in the sun, hence the spray on tanner. But hearing her try to sound deep and profound nearly had Bri laughing out loud.

  “Wow, Carly,” she managed the most serious expression she could. “That’s really deep. It must’ve taken a lot of time and some serious thought to come up with that.” Bri had to stifle a giggle. But Carly, being Carly, didn’t notice the sarcasm and smiled proudly.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact I did think really hard about it.”

  The pleased, self-satisfied expression on Carly’s face was too much for Bri’s self-control, and she burst into laughter. She laughed so hard it actually brought tears to her eyes. Even Cole couldn’t contain a snicker, which he politely covered up with a cough. But Bri continued laughing until her sides hurt.