“Hi there,” she smiled at Cole.
“Good morning.” Cole leaned in and gave her a long kiss. “Oh, yeah,” he pulled back with a grin. “I can get used to this!”
Bri pulled him back for another kiss. “Me too!”
She grabbed her books and closed her locker. Cole reached for her hand, and led her down the hall.
“Are you walking me to class?” She deliberately ignored the gaping mouths and dropped jaws as they walked.
“That is what normal high school couples do, right?” He stopped outside her door and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I gotta run. I’ll meet you at your locker before History.”
“Bye,” she watched as he raced off in the opposite direction.
As they walked together into History, all conversation in the room stopped and everyone turned to watch them. As they passed by, Bri caught Trey glaring at them, but he quickly averted his eyes. Every other pair of eyes followed them as Cole walked Bri to her seat.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We’ll be old news in a couple of days, and no one will pay any attention to us.”
“I can’t wait,” she gave him a small smile.
“Me too.” He kissed her temple before taking his seat next to Trey. Both boys tensed, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the other’s presence.
After class, Cole and Bri headed to the lunch room, where they were immediately the center of attention. Bri tried to ignore all the eyes on her as she led Cole over to the table where her friends were waiting.
“Hey guys,” Bri smiled as she sat down. Layla gave her a reassuring smile.
“You guys mind if I join you?” Cole flashed a charming smile at the table as he sat down next to Bri.
Wide eyes and raised eyebrows were the only indication that smoking hot, uber popular basketball-slash-football stars didn’t eat with them every day. Bri smiled at her friends as they tried to act like everything was normal. There seemed to be an unspoken pact not to mention what had happened the day before, and Bri was especially grateful. She realized how lucky she was to have friends who loved and supported her, no matter what.
“So, who wants to come to the game with me and Bri on Friday?” Layla got the conversation rolling.
“We’re in,” Jess nodded at Ethan. “Where’s it at?”
“It’s down in Long Beach,” Cole replied. “You guys are coming?” He seemed genuinely pleased.
“Of course,” Bri grabbed his hand under the table and squeezed it. “We wouldn’t miss it.”
“Well, you know I’m in,” Devon slung his arm around Layla.
“Us, too,” Maddie and Corbin agreed.
As her friends continued to chat, Bri shot a brief glance over to Serena’s table where Cole usually sat. Serena, Natalie, and Erica were all glaring at Bri while they talked. Quickly averting her eyes, Bri tried not to let it bother her. Instead, she smiled up at Cole sitting next to her. He winked at her and put his arm around her, pulling her into his side. Yep, this was definitely worth it.
Their whole group drove down for the basketball game on Friday, and Bri was touched by how easily and fully they had accepted Cole into their group. After handing poor Long Beach their butts, Cole ran up into the stands to find Bri, and gave her a huge victory kiss. Layla, and the rest of her friends, cheered and hollered, embarrassing the crap out of her.
“You are one lucky girl,” Layla slung her arm across Bri’s shoulders, and they both watched Cole’s butt as he ran off to the locker room.
“Hey, go drool over your own boyfriend,” Bri teased.
“Boyfriend, huh?” Layla raised her eyebrows.
“Yep, boyfriend.” Bri couldn’t help her smile.
“Bri, Bri, Bri,” Layla exclaimed as she turned Bri and herded her out of the gym. “We have some serious debriefing to do with you.”
Cole was front and center, like always, at Bri’s competition the next day. And after each dance, he ran out to the hall and tracked her down for a kiss.
“You’re going to spoil me if you keep this up,” she teased him after her fourth dance.
“Well, the way I see it, I’ve wanted to do this after each dance in every one of your competitions. So this is more like making up for lost time!”
“Oh, then by all means continue,” she laughed and kissed him.
Cole was waiting in the school parking lot to take her home that night. After saying goodbye to Layla and the rest of the team, Bri ran over to him.
“Congratulations on another win!” Cole picked her up and spun her around. “You guys kick some serious ass, you know that?”
“Well, I have some dang good motivation.” Bri wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned into him.