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.