Beautiful Mess(4)

“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.

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.”