The sound of the doorknob turning caught Bri’s attention, her fear and panic mounting as Cole walked in with a can of soda in each hand.
“Hey, I...” Cole began. Then he noticed the shocked, confused expression on her face. His eyes widened as they traveled down to the sketchbook in her hands. “What are you doing?” He set the drinks on the desk and stormed over to Bri, ripping the sketch book out of her hands. “Where did you get this?” he hissed angrily.
“It was... it was just sitting on the nightstand.” Bri was still too shocked to even register his anger. Her brain was momentarily frozen, refusing to function. She didn’t know whether she wanted to scream at him, or burst into tears.
“Oh, and so you just decided to snoop through my things?” his voice rose incredulously. “What the heck were you thinking?”
Bri was only thinking one thing.
“It’s me,” she said quietly, lifting her eyes to Cole.
“What?” He clutched the book tighter, fear gripping his eyes.
“It’s me,” she pointed to the book. “Why? Why am I in there?” her voice rose with panic.
“What? It’s nothing. I was just working on human figures for my drawing class. I was practicing drawing people.” He tried to brush her off, like she was making a big deal out of nothing, but Bri could see the fear he was trying to hide.
“There weren’t any other people in there. Just me.” She finally looked Cole in the eye. Her shock was wearing off, anger and indignation rushing in to take its place. “What are you doing, Cole? Why am I in there?” she demanded.
“You want to know why?” Cole yelled, exasperated. “Fine! I’ll tell you why. You’re in here,” he lifted the sketch pad, “because I can’t get you out of my freaking head! You’re all I think about. Ever since that first day you showed up on the beach. I’ve got you stuck in my head, and no matter what I do, I can’t get you out!” He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down a little. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Ambria. Not that I want to,” he finished quietly.
“What?” Bri gasped. A whole new slew of emotions rushed through her. But, not wanting to deal with them just yet, she pushed them aside.
“Come on, Bri. This shouldn’t come as such a big surprise. I told you last summer how I felt about you.”
“But... but, that was months ago! Everything is so different now,” she protested.
“And you think my feelings for you have changed?” Cole replied, incredulous. He took a step towards her.
“I... I don’t...” she faltered, her mind not able to process this.
“Bri, nothing has changed. You are still the most beautiful, interesting, amazing person I’ve ever met.” He reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“But... what about Serena?” Bri’s mind was finally beginning to function again, though she was still confused. “You two were together for months. How could you date her if you like me?”
Cole let out a sigh. “Serena was just a distraction. You were so angry at me, and you had every right to be, but I knew you wouldn’t give me another chance. I went back to Serena hoping to take my mind off of you. That’s the only reason. We weren’t even officially dating or anything. I just... I’ve been miserable without you. I thought being with someone else would help me move on or something. But it didn’t work. In fact, it made things even worse because it just added another layer of guilt, on top of everything else. I’m so sorry, Ambria. I messed things up between us, I know that. I made a lot of mistakes, and I regret it more than you will ever know. But, I really like you, Bri. I think we could have something special. And I would give anything, do anything, if you’d just give me a chance,” he pleaded.
The honesty and openness on Cole’s face was almost irresistible. For a moment Bri wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him, and give him the chance he was asking for. She was so tired of fighting her feelings for him. Yes, she definitely still had feelings for him. She had tried to bury them, convince herself that they didn’t exist, but they had never gone away. Now, Bri realized that they had been slowly edging their way back to the surface for the past few weeks. A very large part of her wanted to give those feelings a chance, as she looked at him longingly.
“Please, Bri,” he begged, stroking her cheek lightly.
Bri dropped her gaze and took a deep breath. It was all too much, too overwhelming. This just wasn’t something she could do right now. She took a moment to compose herself, before meeting Cole’s eyes. When he saw the expression on her face, he dropped his hand.