On Tuesday, Bri drove over to Cole’s house, feeling a little nervous. She didn’t know why she was nervous, it’s not like this was some big, sit down dinner with his family or anything. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her bag and got out of the car. She knocked on the door, and a moment later a freshly showered Cole answered.
His still wet hair hung in his eyes, and she could faintly smell his shampoo. She’d never admit it to anyone, but she loved the smell of Cole’s wet hair. She’d grown quite accustomed to it over the past little while. Yep, it was definitely not fair that he smelled so good.
“Hi Bri! Come on in,” he smiled and motioned her inside.
She walked into the familiar living room. A man with Cole’s same dark hair was sitting on the couch. He turned and smiled at Bri, standing up to meet her.
“Bri, this is my dad, Jimmy. Dad, this is Ambria.”
“Ambria, so nice to finally meet you,” Jimmy smiled, his light blue eyes shining. “Cole talks about you all the time. It’s nice to finally put a face with the name!”
“Dad!” Cole huffed. “Don’t listen to him, Bri, he likes to exaggerate. I think it’s because he’s getting so old,” he joked. “Old people exaggerate everything!”
“Yeah, well, this old man still has more game than you, Sport!”
Bri smiled at Cole, glad she wasn’t the only one saddled with parental nicknames.
“Now Bri,” Jimmy motioned for her to sit down. “Tell me about yourself.” He smiled warmly and sat down next to her on the couch. “It isn’t often I get to meet Cole’s girlfriends.”
Bri’s breath caught, and she blushed. She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Luckily, Cole jumped in and saved her.
“Dad!” He sat down exasperated. “I told you, Bri and I are just friends. Stop trying to embarrass me, it’s making her uncomfortable.”
Jimmy leaned closer to her. “I’m sorry, Bri, I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that embarrassing Cole here is too much fun!” He winked and sat back.
Knowing that Cole’s dad hadn’t been serious, Bri relaxed. She told Jimmy a little about herself, and they talked for a few minutes. She found that Jimmy shared his son’s easy going, gregarious nature, so different from the Cole she saw at school. In fact, as Bri watched Cole and his dad tease each other good naturedly and swap one-liners back and forth, she realized that this was yet another version of Cole she hadn’t seen before. This sarcastic, wise-ass Cole, though he shared a lot of qualities with her Cole, was a stranger to her. And while she found his playful banter funny, and was laughing out loud at the exchange, she felt a little sad as she fully realized that who Cole was changed depending on who he was with. This scared her a little because it validated her fear that she didn’t really know who he was. And how many more versions of Cole was she going to come across? She was worried that she would never know the real him. Shoving aside her concerns, Bri focused instead on getting to work as Jimmy left her and Cole to their homework.
The next few weeks seemed to fly by. Dance kept Bri busy as the team prepared for their competition season that began in December. Most of the girls had come around and weren’t as hostile towards Bri anymore, which made practices much more bearable. The team also had some more halftime performances as the football team advanced to the semi-final game for the state championship, which they lost. Cole had been upset, but he’d had a great game despite the loss.
Layla and Devon were quite the item now, so she didn’t have as much time to hang out with Bri. Bri completely understood, and while she missed her friend a little, she was glad that Layla was happy.
At school, things between Bri and Cole remained the same. They continued to keep their distance, except in ceramics where they could talk. Cole still ate lunch with a very pouty Serena, despite their breakup. But when they passed each other in the halls, Cole’s eyes always sought Bri out, and he always had a smile or a wink for her.
Trey, on the other hand, had ignored Bri ever since that night at the party. His face took a while to heal, but he had refused to say what had really happened. Instead, he pretended that Bri didn’t exist, which suited her just fine.
Cole finally got to meet Summer, Liam and Logan. The boys were instantly smitten with him, mainly because he would play with them for a while after he and Bri were done studying. It was the twins’ reward for leaving the them alone so they could work. The boys were quickly becoming Cole’s biggest fans. Even Summer didn’t seem to mind him coming over, and she would even set out drinks and snacks when he was there.