Beautiful Mess(43)

There was a knock on the door at 5:30 sharp. Bri had to admit, she’d been impressed. Cole hadn’t been late or blown her off once. When he was there, he listened and paid attention to her explanations and examples. He seemed to be making some real progress.

Bri rose and went to answer the door. She had the house to herself, as she did every Tuesday. Her brothers had soccer on Tuesday nights, and her dad was never home before 7:00. It was about the only quiet time she had.

She opened the door to a beaming Cole. Unable to help smiling in return, she asked, “Hey, what has you so happy tonight?”

He didn’t say anything, but held up a piece of paper. Curious, Bri took it and looked it over.

“95%! Cole that’s awesome!” She smiled as she handed him back his math test. She motioned for him to come inside, and he walked in, in full swagger mode.

“Yep, I’m pretty amazing!” he joked. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that well on a math test before.” He dropped his bag by the table as Bri went to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of sodas out of the fridge. “Wow! Refreshments? This is a first,” he shot at her as she handed him a Mountain Dew.

“Well,” she shrugged, “you acing your first math test is cause for celebration. Well, a small celebration, anyway.” She nodded at the sodas.

“Small? Are you kidding? Coming from you, this is huge!” he teased. “I remember when you used to do stuff like this for me all the time,” he said softly. “It’s been a while.”

“That’s because I used to like you back then,” Bri gave Cole a look before sitting down at the table next to him. She picked up his test and looked at it again. She didn’t really feel like getting down to math business, and so she decided to break her no- non-math-related-conversation rule. To be honest, she was tired of pushing Cole away.

“Well, this ought to help your GPA,” she set the test back down. “So, where are you thinking about going to college?” She tried to sound casual, but the stunned look on Cole’s face told her he realized what she’d just done.

“I’m sorry,” he shook his head, dazed. “Was that a non-math related question I just heard?”

“Not exactly. You said you needed my help to maintain your eligibility. I’m just wondering where it is you want to be eligible for.”

“Um, okay,” he seemed taken aback, but quickly continued. “Well, I’d love to go somewhere out of state, but my dad wants me to stay closer to home. I’ve already gotten some football scholarship offers from some local Pac 12 and Mountain West schools. So, I’m looking at UCLA or Cal,” he shrugged.

“You don’t sound too excited about that. Don’t you want to play football?”

“Well, given the choice, I’d prefer to play basketball. But my dad was a football player in college, and he wants me to follow in his footsteps, I guess. Plus, I’m not too thrilled about staying in state.”

“Oh?” This surprised Bri. “Why not?”

“I’ve lived here my whole life. I’d kind of like to go somewhere else, see someplace new. But, like I said, my dad wants me to stay close. So, I’m just trying to keep all of my options open.” Looking like he knew he was taking a calculated risk, he asked “So, what about you, Bri? How’s the Stanford prepping going?”

“Good, I guess,” Bri smiled. “Although, I must have been insane, or going through a serious bout of self-punishment, when I signed up for my classes. I swear, the homework alone is going to kill me.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Yes, and dance on top of that. Though, I might break down and kill a couple of those girls and get kicked off the team. They’re driving me crazy!”

“Let me guess, Natalie and Erica?”

“How did you know?”

“They’re Serena’s friends. They love to gossip and bitch. They don’t like you much, by the way!”

“Yeah, thanks, I hadn’t picked up on that,” Bri laughed. She looked up at the clock. “Well, we should probably get to work.”

Nodding, Cole pulled out his book and they started. At the end of the hour, Cole packed up his things and Bri followed him to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and paused.

“Ambria,” he began hesitantly. He looked like there was something he wanted to say, but he just shook his head and looked away.

“What?” Bri pressed.

He turned back and smiled at her sadly.

“Nothing. It’s just... I really enjoyed talking to you again tonight. I’ve missed you, that’s all,” he shrugged. “Goodnight, Bri.”