Beautiful Mess(49)

“You being here is the best present you could give me,” he said sincerely.

Bri smiled. “Well then, Happy Birthday! I’m sorry I’m a little late.”

“Thank you,” his eyes bore into hers, and Bri’s breath caught. She felt a familiar ache in her chest as she gazed at him. She felt her cheeks flush and dropped her eyes.

Cole glanced back at the doors to the house warily. “Um, Bri, please don’t get mad, and I know this isn’t the best timing, but any minute now Serena’s going to come charging out those doors looking for me. When that happens, please do not listen to or take seriously anything I say to her. I’m going to have to be pretty dismissive, and I don’t want you to think that’s how I feel.”

“Okay. Thanks for the warning,” she replied quietly.

He let out a frustrated breath. “It’s too bad we can’t go find a dark closet somewhere to hide in. Someplace no one would find us.”

Bri quirked a brow at him. “You want me somewhere dark, and secluded, and all alone with you?” she teased, letting the implication hang.

Cole’s eyes widened. “Bri, I swear that’s not what I meant! I just want to spend some time alone with you.” She grinned as he floundered. “Talking! That’s all! I just want to talk!” His face was bright red.

“Calm down, Cole,” Bri laughed. “I know what you meant. Besides, there are worse things I could think of than hiding from lame parties and crazy ex-girlfriends with you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Cole’s eyes danced. “That’s very good to know!”

“CJ! What are you doing out here?” Serena’s snippy voice demanded from the door. Cole and Bri both turned to see a slightly tipsy, very unhappy cheerleader watching them.

“Nothing,” Cole shrugged. “I just needed some air.”

“Were you talking to her?” Serena glared at Bri.

“Um, yeah. So?”

“What were you two talking about?” She crossed her arms and scowled at Cole.

“Nothing. I think the entire conversation consisted of “Hey, how’s it going? Good. You?”. You want to read something into that?” Cole crossed his own arms, indignantly.

“Well,” Serena pushed as she took a wobbly step closer. “Did you want to talk to her?”

“No, Serena, I was just being polite! You might want to try it sometime!” Cole huffed as he stomped up to her. “Now, can you please turn off the jealous crazy and we’ll go back inside?” Serena smiled up at him and linked her arm through his. She flashed Bri a warning glare before she let Cole lead her inside.

Bri watched them go with a boulder in her stomach. She had no idea what Cole saw in Serena, besides her perfect goddess face and body, but the fact that he seemed to prefer Serena over her made Bri feel sick. Yes, Cole had said that he was trying to protect her. And Bri had seen Serena make enough girls cry to know that the girl was ruthlessly mean. But, still... did he have to date her?

Bri hung out outside for a while longer, trying to calm her mind, before deciding to go check on Layla. She walked back inside, and though she told herself she wasn’t going to look, her body betrayed her again and her eyes swept the living room looking for Cole. She was very glad when she didn’t see him or Serena on the couch.

That is, until she turned the corner and caught them making out in a dark corner. She stood for a moment, frozen by shock, and then dashed out of the room. Anger and hurt warred within her, even though rationally she knew she shouldn’t be feeling this way. She went to find Layla, desperate to get out of there.

Layla was still up in the front room with Devon. She was laughing up at him, and Devon had his arm slung around her shoulder. Layla looked like she was in heaven. Everything deflated out of Bri. She couldn’t ask Layla to leave now, it wouldn’t be fair to her friend. Realizing she was stuck here for the foreseeable future, Bri sighed and turned, and ran into a hard, wide chest.

“I’m sorry,” she stepped back and looked up. Her face instantly fell.

“Bri! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Trey’s speech was starting to slur a little, and Bri would bet that wasn’t just soda in his cup. “So, what do you think?” He motioned to the party around them. “Having a good time?”

“Yeah, sure,” Bri replied indifferently.

“Did I give you the tour yet?”

“The tour?”

“You know, of the house?”

“You know, Trey, that’s okay. I don’t need a tour of your house. I was actually just heading outside.” Bri made to move past Trey, but he threw his arm around her shoulder.