Beautiful Mess(13)

“Heck, no! If she’s going to be rude and hypocritical, she can go pout at the car by herself!”

“Well, good,” he smiled. “Now that I know you aren’t in any rush to get out of here, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you.” Cole shoved his hands in his pockets nervously.

“Oh, really?” she smiled, finding his nervousness endearing.

“Well, I was wondering, if you don’t have any plans on Saturday night, if you’d want to go out with me?” he smiled at her.

Bri felt her stomach bottom out, and her face fell. She had not expected that. “You mean like a date?” she asked weakly.

“Yes, exactly like a date! What do you think?”

Bri was unable to form a reply, as there was a small battle waging inside of her at the moment. Her brain was telling her that this was probably a bad idea. She hardly knew this guy, and this was way too fast. It was too soon to even think about dating again, and she’d just end up getting hurt. Again. And, she was a little scared by Cole’s offer. Maybe it was too soon.

But her body, which had been reacting to Cole ever since they met, was screaming yes, yes, please yes! It had been so long since she had felt anything like what she felt around him, and her body was desperate for more. Even though she didn’t want to admit it to herself, she was definitely attracted to him, and her body was begging for a chance to get close to him.

“Um, Bri?” Cole’s voice pulled her from her inner battle.

“I’m sorry, what?” She wasn’t sure if she had missed something.

“You still haven’t given me an answer.” He looked a little concerned.

“Yes,” Bri replied softly. Her body made the decision before her brain could interfere.

“Yes?” Cole’s face lit up. “As in ‘Yes Cole, I’ll go out with you’?”

“Yes,” she managed a weak smile.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because you look like you’re going to throw up or something. You know, if you don’t want to, you can just say no.”

Bri felt guilty at the uncertainty on his face. “No, no, it’s not that,” she tried to reassure him. “It’s just that… well, I haven’t been asked out in a while. I wasn’t expecting it, and I guess you just caught me off guard.”

“You’re sure, then?”

“Yes,” she nodded, more confidently than she felt.

“Okay, so I’ll pick you up on Saturday?” The apprehension left Cole’s face and he smiled.

“Um,” a twinge of fear shot through her, and she decided it’d be best to play it safe. “How about I meet you somewhere? What did you have in mind?”

“Have you been down to the Santa Monica Pier yet?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“How about you meet me down in front of the pier on Saturday at like seven? We can get some dinner and hang out.”

“That sounds great!” And it did sound great. Her heart gave a leap, and she felt a stirring of excitement. “Well, I’d better go make sure Carly hasn’t pissed off any more locals. Bye, Cole,” she smiled, blushing slightly.

“Bye, Bri. See you Saturday,” he smiled back.

Bri couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. And not even Carly’s anger fueled ranting and raving could dampen her spirits.





The next few days seemed to drag by, as if time itself was conspiring to prolong Bri’s misery. Carly was a writhing, fuming mass of anger that nobody could stand to be around. Bri tried to avoid her as much as possible, but there were only so many places to hide. Her dad even took Friday off of work and took the family to Disneyland in the hopes of cheering Carly up a bit, but to no avail. By the end of the day, even Bri’s little brothers had had enough of Carly’s constant whining and complaining. It was so bad, that Connor insisted that his daughter take Carly to the airport by herself the next day.

“Why drag the whole family all the way there and back?” he had justified himself. “It’ll be easier for everyone if you just take her.”

Bri saw right through her dad, but he rarely asked her for favors like this, so she relented and agreed to take one for the team. Plus, she needed visual confirmation that Carly was leaving the state and not coming back, before she could relax.

“You so owe me,” she shook her head.

“Yes I do,” her dad had agreed.

So the next morning, way too bright and early for a Saturday, Bri and Carly headed out for the airport. The only good news was that Carly was in a silent, pouty mood that morning, and didn’t say much the whole way. Bri pulled up to the curb in the departures lane and turned to her cousin.