She rolled over onto her stomach, and laid her head on her arms, which gave her an unobstructed view of Cole. She watched him draw a bit, saw him talk to a couple of people who stopped to look at his work. Then, to her horror, Cole looked directly at her, a cocky smirk on his face. He winked, telling her that he knew she’d been watching him this whole time, and he was calling her out on it. Bri smiled guiltily before she could stop herself. Totally busted now, she felt her cheeks flush, which caused Cole to laugh. Bri rolled over, completely embarrassed, and turned her attention back to Carly.
“So, Carly, what’s the plan here?” she asked. “Are we just going to wait around indefinitely for him to come over?”
Carly scanned the beach and got a determined look in her eyes.
“Nope, enough waiting. If he’s going to keep playing hard to get, fine. I’ll just have to take a different approach.” She grabbed her towel and a bottle of tanning lotion, and strutted her barely-there bikini up the beach, right past Cole. She didn’t stop, or even glance his way, but her butt was swaying, just begging for his attention.
Cole glanced up briefly as Carly passed, but then went back to his drawing, unconcerned.
Carly strutted right up to a small group of high school aged boys who were tossing a Frisbee around. Bri couldn’t hear what Carly was saying as she bounded right into the middle of group, capturing their attention. It then dawned on her what Carly was doing. This was her Plan B. Carly was trying to make Cole jealous by flirting with other boys. Bri couldn’t believe it. Did Carly really expect a guy who wasn’t remotely interested in her to get jealous enough to go claim her for himself? Bri knew Carly was shallow, and not the brightest thing, but she didn’t know her cousin could be this juvenile.
Suddenly, Carly’s high pitched laughter rang out down the beach and got both Bri’s and Cole’s attention. They both watched as Carly playfully pushed the chest of a tall, burly, blonde boy. She laid out her towel, and sprawled out on her stomach. She smiled up at the boys and held up the bottle of tanning lotion. The blonde she’d pushed grabbed it from her with an enthusiastic smile, and proceeded to lather up Carly’s back for her. Bri thought she saw the guy grab Carly’s butt in the process, and Carly’s less enthusiastic laughter confirmed that he had, in fact, copped a feel.
Bri felt a twinge of worry. She hoped Carly knew what she was doing, and she wasn’t getting in over her head. Hopefully, she’d end this charade before things got out of hand.
Bri glanced over at Cole to see how he was reacting to Carly’s little display. A second later he looked over at her, and she was relieved to find no trace of jealousy on his face. In fact, he looked slightly relieved as he smiled at her.
Dang it, caught again. She was getting a little tired of seeing that cocky, knowing grin on Cole’s gorgeous face.
Wait a second...gorgeous? No, she did not just think that Cole was hot! Where did her stupid brain come up with that? Unfortunately, her brain didn’t have time to defend itself, because he started walking towards her, and she lost her train of thought.
"I thought redheads didn’t tan so much as burn,” Cole smiled and sat down beside her on the sand.
“First of all,” Bri replied, taking a little offense. Just a little, though. “My hair is not red. It’s auburn. And second, I have worked long and hard to get my skin to the point where it will tan. So, no, all “redheads” don’t burn.”
“My mistake,” Cole held his hands up in surrender. “Don’t ever call a girl with red hair a redhead! I’ll have to remember that in the future,” he laughed.
“You’d better!” Bri smiled. “It’ll save you a punch in the nose!”
“You wouldn’t!”
“I don’t know, we redheads are known for our tempers. And nothing upsets us more than being called redheads!”
“Not a redhead, bad temper...got it!” he laughed. He leaned in and nudged Bri’s shoulder as she laughed with him. “I have to say, I was worried that I wouldn’t get you alone long enough to talk to you today.”
“Oh, really?” She was surprised he’d wanted to talk to her at all.
“Yeah. I was really relieved when your cousin left to make some new friends. I was a little worried what she’d do to me if came over while she was here.”
“But, you’re not worried she’ll look over here, see you talking to me, and come hurt you?” Bri raised her eyebrow.
“No,” Cole looked a little confused. “Why would she do that? It looks like she’s moved on, found someone new to torment.”