Beautiful Mess Page 2

  Ignoring Bri’s outburst, Carly continued her conversation like nothing had happened.

  “Do you have any tats, Cole?”

  “Nope.” He tried his best to keep a straight face, but Bri was still giggling. Interested to see where this train wreck of Carly’s was going next, Bri pulled herself together.

  “Really?” Carly was a bit taken back. “But, you totally look like the type of guy who would be really into that sort of thing.”

  Bri instantly sobered at her cousin’s superficial remark, and glared at her.

  “So, really Cole, no tats?” Carly continued, not sounding like she believed him at all.

  Cole’s eyes flickered over to Bri and she gave him an apologetic smile. Carly could be impertinently judgmental. He gave her a quick, small smile in response, before answering Carly’s question.

  “Nope, no tattoos.”

  “Well, why not?”

  “I don’t know, I guess they’re just a little too permanent for me. With my luck, I’d get one and two weeks later I’d be sick of it. They’re just not my thing. Too much commitment,” he shrugged.

  Carly sensed an opportunity to get in a dig at her cousin.

  “Bri has a tattoo,” she announced, a satisfied smirk on her face. “A real one.”

  “Really?” Cole raised his eyebrows and looked at Bri. He seemed to find that a surprising and appealing piece of information. Bri felt herself blushing under his gaze, and turned her head.

  “Although,” Carly continued, not liking Cole’s interest in Bri, “it’s so small, it’s hardly noticeable. I don’t know why anyone would go through all that pain and practically hide it. I mean if you get a tattoo, you should want people to see it.”

  Cole looked positively intrigued now, and Bri couldn’t help but smile as heat crept up her cheeks.

  Suddenly a very loud, very annoying Kesha song started blaring from Carly’s purse.

  “Oh!” she pulled out her phone. “Do you mind if I take this?”

  “No. I’m almost done anyway. Go ahead,” Cole barely glanced at her.

  Carly answered her phone with a loud “What up girl?” and moved down the beach, leaving Cole and Bri alone.

  From the way Cole was eyeing her, Bri could tell he was trying to figure out just where her tattoo was. Seeing the suggestive gleam in his eyes, she decided she had better change the subject, and fast.

  “So,” she began, feeling the need to apologize for Carly’s rudeness. “I’m sorry if my cousin is a bit...” Rude, obnoxious, frustrating? Her mind tried to find the best way to finish that sentence. “Much.”

  He smiled at her choice of adjective. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not anything I haven’t seen before and won’t see again,” he finished a little bitterly.

  “Well, I’m really sorry if she upset you,” she continued sincerely. “If you haven’t noticed, Carly is a bit of a self-absorbed snob. The fact that other people do in fact have feelings, never even crosses her mind.”

  Cole gave a short laugh and some of the bitterness disappeared from his face. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, this is Los Angeles. And L.A. is overflowing with self-absorbed snobs. She fits right in. In fact, are you sure she’s not from around here?” he joked.

  “No, thank goodness! That girl can’t go back home soon enough. She’ll be lucky if I don’t murder her in her sleep before she leaves!” Bri laughed. She managed to get another chuckle out of Cole and smiled.

  “But seriously,” she said, wanting Cole to know that she meant this. “I really hope she didn’t offend you.”

  “Nah, this city is crawling with girls like her. You learn pretty quickly not to take what they say personally.”

  Bri nodded, relieved that he wasn’t angry.

  “Alright, I’m all done here. Let me just get cleaned up and I’ll wrap it up for you.”

  Bri stood, and unsure what to do with herself, she wandered over to Cole’s paintings. She found that they were even more amazing up close. She was stunned by their depth and detail. He was very talented, especially for someone so young.

  “So, you must really love the beach,” she surmised, noticing that the vast majority of the paintings were of the beach or ocean.

  “I guess,” he shrugged. “I paint it because that’s what the tourists want.”

  “Hmm,” Bri thought about this. “But, you’re an artist. Shouldn’t you be painting what you want?”

  “You make it sound so simple,” he laughed. “Even if I knew what I wanted to paint, no one would buy it.”

  “Well, maybe you should figure it out.” She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Don’t give people what you think they want, give them what you want them to have. I think you’d be surprised at the outcome.”

  Cole’s head cocked to the side as he considered what she’d said. Bri turned back to her perusal of his work, and stopped short in front of the sunset painting she had admired earlier.

  “Oh, wow,” she breathed. It was even more amazing up close. She could see now that it wasn’t a sun about to set, like she’d thought before, but a sun that had already sunk halfway below the horizon of the ocean, and was perfectly reflected in the calm sea before it. The colors were more wild and vibrant than she had seen in any sunset before, and she was captivated by them.

  “You like it?” Cole’s voice startled her. She hadn’t heard him walk over, and when Bri turned her head, he was standing surprisingly close behind her. Her first instinct was to step away from him, but she couldn’t make her body move.

  “It’s breathtaking,” she replied softly

  “Wow, you keep handing out compliments like that and my ego will get so big even I won’t be able to stand me!” he laughed. But in his eyes Bri could see the pride he took in his work, and how much her compliment meant to him.

  “Well,” Bri laughed. “We don’t want that now do we?”

  Shaking his head, Cole walked back over to the easel. “So,” he held up the drawing he’d done, “what do you think?”

  She was momentarily taken aback by what she saw. Bri’s auburn hair wasn’t that vibrant, her eyes weren’t that deep and soulful. And she knew for a fact that her lips weren’t that full and pouty. Nope, the girl in the drawing was far too beautiful to be her. She noticed that Cole had captured Carly well, too, but without as much embellishment. Bri gave him a searching look, wondering how he saw all of this in her. But he just smiled.

  “Do you like it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, I’m glad.” He stood there awkwardly for a moment. Bri’s mind snapped back into action and she realized that this was probably the part where she paid him.

  “How much do I owe you?”

  “Um, how about twenty?”

  “How about I give you thirty, “ Bri pulled the cash out of her purse. “A little extra for having to endure Carly’s, um… advances.”

  “Advances?” Cole looked at her incredulously. “You mean that was her flirting with me?”

  Bri laughed. “Sadly, yes! She was throwing you all her best material, and you kept shutting her down. She was going crazy trying to figure out why it wasn’t working!”

  “Wow!” He laughed too. “Someone really needs to give that girl some pointers! Heck, even just some basic people skills would help!”

  “Maybe that’s what she’s doing on the phone right now.”

  “Yea, getting advice from her stuck up friends on how to demean a guy enough to get him to finally go out with her!”

  They both burst out laughing. They were laughing so loud, they drew Carly’s attention from down the beach. She quickly ended her call and rushed back, not looking at all pleased.

  “Hey guys!” She gave Bri a malicious smile. “What are you two laughing about?”

  “Oh, nothing, I was just telling Cole a joke.” Bri tried to calm herself down, but the look on Carly’s face threatened to crack her up again.

  “Well, next time don’t leave me out. You know how much I love a good joke.” She g
ave Bri the evil eye before turning to Cole.

  “Is that it?” Carly bent over the drawing Cole had laid out on the table in front of him. “Wow, Cole, this is amazing! You captured me perfectly,” she beamed at him. “And look, he even managed to make you look somewhat decent, Bri,” Carly smirked. “It seems you’re better that you let on,” she smiled at him.

  Ignoring that jab, Bri decided they’d tortured poor Cole long enough. “Well, we should probably get going,” She ignored Carly’s outraged glare.

  “Okay, let me tie this up for you.” Cole rolled up the portrait and tied a piece of black ribbon around it. He handed it to Bri, but Carly snatched it out of his hands.

  “Thank you so much! You know, we might head back this way sometime next week. Are you going to be around?”

  “Um, I’ll probably be here Monday and Wednesday.”

  “Well then,” Carly gave him a sly smile. “Maybe we’ll see you next week, then.”

  “Sure, maybe next week,” Cole smiled, even though Bri was certain he wanted nothing more to do with Carly. “Bye, ladies,” he looked at Bri. “It was nice to meet you.”

  Bri smiled and nodded.

  “Bye, Cole!” Carly sang, and the two girls headed back up the beach.

  As she was walking away, Bri felt eyes on her. She turned her head and found Cole watching her walk away. A slightly cocky, definitely amused grin broke out on his face, and Bri couldn’t help the smile that answered his. Carly, noticing her distracted cousin, turned around also.

  “OMG! Did you just see that?” Carly asked giddily. “Cole was like, totally checking me out! Oh, I’ve so got this one in the bag!”

  Chapter 2

  The rest of the weekend passed tortuously slowly. Carly dragged Bri to all of the typical L.A. tourist traps, which wasn’t so bad in and of itself. It was Carly’s constant gabbing that drove Bri crazy. Carly went on and on about how Cole was totally into her, and how she couldn’t wait for her summer fling to pan out. If Bri had to endure another detail laden rundown of how Carly was going to seduce Cole and have her way with him, she was going to strangle the girl. Literally.

  And Bri wasn’t the only one struggling with Carly. Bri’s dad, Connor, was a patient man, but his niece sometimes pushed him to his limits. He could only take so much girl talk and gossip before he broke. Summer, Bri’s stepmom, didn’t even try to pretend that she could stand Carly, and avoided her as much as possible. Carly, of course, didn’t even notice. Bri’s twin brothers, Liam and Logan, were only three years old, and didn’t know any better. Luckily for them, Carly pretty much ignored them, except when they would sneak into her suitcase and play sling shots with her bras.

  Sunday night, Carly barged into Bri’s room.

  “So,” she plopped onto Bri’s bed. “What do you say we head back down to Venice Beach tomorrow? Cole said he’d be there, and I’ve only got a few more days before I go back home. I gotta get this thing going.”

  Five more days. Bri only had to survive five more days. She had serious doubts she’d make it.

  “Um, I guess we could go.” Bri felt she should try to break it to her cousin that Cole wasn’t really interested. She should try to spare her some embarrassment. It was the right thing to do. “Carly, are you sure he really even likes you? It just didn’t seem like he was that interested.”

  “That’s because you are clueless when it comes to boys. I mean, how could you possibly know anything? You’ve never had a boyfriend, for crying out loud!”

  Bri had in fact had a boyfriend before, but that wasn’t something she wanted Carly knowing about, so she didn’t say anything.

  “You see, Bri, it’s all a game. Boys pretend they aren’t interested to get you to want them more. It’s how they’re programmed or something. Guys never come right out and tell you they like you. You have to like, force it out of them. Girls, on the other hand, have to let a guy know they like him. If they don’t, he’ll just move onto the next girl who shows interest. It’s like, totally unfair, but you have to play the game to win.”

  Bri gaped at her cousin. That was the most absurd thing Bri had ever heard. Girls were supposed to throw themselves at guys to get them, while guys didn’t have to put in any effort? It was insane! Who actually thought like that? Well, obviously the misguided girl in front of her. Bri felt a little sorry for Carly right then. What a crazy, bass-akward take on dating.

  “Whatever, Carly,” she said, unconvinced.

  “Just wait, you’ll see tomorrow. I’m going to play Cole so hard he won’t know what hit him. Give me half an hour with that boy and it’ll be make out central. Good thing, too. I’m a little hard up over here, if you know what I mean!”

  “Carly, ew! Way too much information!”

  “What? Just because you’ve never even kissed a guy and have no idea what I’m going through...”

  Again, not true, but Bri wasn’t going to push the point.

  “Okay, new subject,” Bri interrupted before Carly could get into the details of her make-believe sex life. “So what time do you want to go tomorrow?”

  “We leave by 10:00 at the latest. I need all the make out time I can get!” Carly bounced happily off the bed and headed out to the hide-a-bed in the den.

  Finally alone, Bri changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been thinking about Cole, too. His face seemed to sneak into her mind more often than she’d ever admit. She found she was a little excited to see him again tomorrow, which surprised her. She hadn’t gotten all tingly over a boy in a long time, and she barely knew this guy. It was ridiculous to feel this way about someone she’d just met. She managed to brush off her excitement as really looking forward to seeing Carly humiliate herself again tomorrow.

  But deep down, Bri knew it was more than that, as Cole’s eyes and lips dominated her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

  “Okay, here’s the plan,” Carly stopped Bri. They were just north of where Cole was sitting, but he hadn’t noticed them yet. It was about noon on Monday, the 10 am departure time having been greatly delayed by Carly’s inability to choose an outfit, and the Venice Beach boardwalk was fairly quiet. “After we get over there,” she eyed Cole, “and say hi, I want you to take off. Go shopping, or go find us a spot on the beach, I don’t really care. I just want you gone.”

  “Wow, Car, I’m really feeling the love here. You know, I’m not your chauffeur. You don’t get to order me around.”

  “Ugh,” she sighed impatiently. “Don’t be so dramatic Bri! I just need some time alone with Cole to work my mojo. I’ve only got a few more days before I go home. My window for some hot, California-boy lovin’ is closing fast. I have to work quickly.”

  “And you think that’s what’s going to happen?” Bri looked at Carly skeptically. “You’ll just walk over there, bat your eyelashes, and bam! You two will be tongue tied, just like that?”

  “Just watch and learn,” Carly replied smugly. “Give me fifteen minutes, and he won’t be able to keep his mouth off me!”

  Bri grimaced at yet another visual she didn’t need.

  Carly adjusted her red bikini top, yes the infamous red bikini was back, trying to coax as much cleavage out of it as she could. It wasn’t much. She smoothed her new red sarong and tossed back her hair.

  “Let’s go,” she commanded. “Time to get my mack on!” With that, Carly threw her shoulders back and stalked her way down the beach. She was like a lioness hunting her prey. Poor Cole was going to have his hands full.

  “Hi, Cole,” Carly practically purred as she sauntered up to him.

  Cole looked up, his eyes landing first on Carly. Then, as they found Bri, he smiled.

  “Well, hello, ladies! It’s nice to see you again. Bri, and um, Carly right?” He smiled at Bri again.

  “Nice to see you, too, Cole,” Carly tried for a sexy smile, but it came out more like bared fangs. “And you remembered my name! You must have been thinking about me,” her voice dropped suggestively.<
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  Bri couldn’t believe how forward Carly was being. Well, actually she could. Cole looked like he couldn’t quite believe it either. He seemed to be struggling with an appropriate response. Bri decided to step in and save him the trouble.

  “Or,” she turned to Carly. “It could be that we were just here a couple of days ago. Even you could remember something for three days.”

  “But still, I must have made an impression,” Carly eyed Cole seductively.

  “Oh, I’m sure you made an impression all right,” Bri murmured, causing Cole to laugh. Carly turned a menacing smile at her cousin.

  “Don’t you have something to do, or a book to go read?” Carly’s voice was tight with anger. “Like, now!”

  Bri eyed her cousin for a moment. But her desire to see Carly humiliate herself won out over her pride. She smiled sweetly at Carly.

  “And so I do.” She picked up her beach bag and gave Cole an apologetic smile. His eyes begged her to stay, but she just winked at him, and hoped he was prepared for what was coming. She felt his eyes follow her as she left.

  Bri walked a little ways down the beach. She stopped when she was far enough away not to look like she was eavesdropping, but close enough that she still could. This was a show she did not want to miss. She began to set out her things as she listened.

  “So, Cole,” Carly attempted to regain his attention. “You didn’t answer my question.” When Cole turned back to her with a blank look, she sighed. “Were you thinking about me?”

  “Oh, um, I don’t... really...” Bri heard Cole’s voice trail off as she slipped out of her tank top and board shorts. She adjusted her black bikini before chancing a glance at Cole. Sure enough, he was watching her, the goofy smile on his face telling her he liked what he saw. Bri quickly glanced at Carly, who was glaring daggers at her. She pretended she had no idea what they were talking about and proceeded to apply some sunscreen. When the talking didn’t immediately resume, Bri knew Cole was still watching her. Feeling a little smug, she laid out on her towel. Her sunglasses allowed her to watch Carly and Cole without being obvious.