Beautiful Mess (29 page)

“What?”
Bri was confused.  Her brain was still half asleep that early in the
morning.

“You
and Cole.  We saw you two talking yesterday.  Are you guys like a
thing now?” Natalie clarified.

“Um,
no,” Bri lied.  “We’re just friends.”

“Oh. 
Well, what were you talking about?”  Erica adopted a more friendly tone,
hoping to extract some info.

“Nothing,”
Bri’s mind scrambled to come up with a reason Cole would be talking to
her.  “He just had a question about our History assignment.”

“Really?”
Natalie asked skeptically.  “Because you two were standing pretty
close.  It looked like more than just a question about homework.” 
She crossed her arms, challengingly.

“Well,
it wasn’t,” Bri bit back.  She was starting to get angry now.  “The
hall was just really loud, that’s all.  Remind me again how this is any of
your business?”  She glared at the girls in front of her.

“But,
you think he’s hot, right?”  Natalie smirked.

“What? 
No!”  Bri was totally caught off guard.  She felt her face flush,
revealing that she did in fact think Cole was hot.

“Bri,
I’m going to give you a bit of advice,” Natalie took on a patronizing
tone.  “Forget about Cole.  There’s no way he’d ever be interested in
someone like you anyway.”  She gave Bri a derisive once-over.  “And,
in case you didn’t know, Cole belongs to Serena, and Serena doesn’t share.”

Everything
clicked into place for Bri, things finally making sense.  She smirked at
the two obnoxious girls in front of her.

“Wow,
Serena must really be worried if she sent you two to threaten me.  You
might want to let her know that the last time I checked, it was illegal to own
anyone anymore.”  She narrowed her eyes at Natalie.  “Cole’s a big
boy.  He can decide for himself who he is, and isn’t, interested
in.”  She smirked, turned on her heel, and walked away.

Bri
spent the rest of the day fuming over Serena, Natalie, and Erica.  She
wasn’t afraid of them.  If Serena wanted to start something, Bri wasn’t
going to back down.  But she knew that if Cole found out Serena was
targeting her, he’d have second thoughts about bringing their relationship out
in the open.  All day long, she kept going back and forth about whether or
not to tell Cole about Serena’s threat.  That is, until she saw the smug,
victorious, smile Serena gave her after school.  The girl already thought
she’d won.  Rolling her eyes, Bri decided she wasn’t going to let Serena
come between her and Cole.  Keeping secrets from him would only drive them
apart.  They were stronger together, and she intended to keep it that
way.  Having made her decision, she let go of her frustration, determined
that nothing was going to ruin her night.  Closing her locker, she headed
home to change for her date.

A
light drizzle had begun to fall, and Bri was relieved when Cole pulled up in
his truck to pick her up.  After jumping inside, she leaned over and gave
him a slow kiss.

“Well,
hello to you too,” he smiled.  “I didn’t know you were going to get all
dressed up for me.”  Cole took in her cream baby doll dress, brown leather
jacket and brown boots appreciatively.

“Well,
it is a date, after all,” she smiled back.

“Yeah,
but now I feel bad I didn’t stop and change for you.”

“Oh,
don’t!  I think you look great.”  And he did.  He was wearing
her favorite dark, butt-accentuating jeans and a fitted black t-shirt. 
His black hair hung in his grey eyes.  Bri lifted her hand and brushed it
back out of his face.  Cole turned his eyes to hers and smiled.

“So,
where are we going?”

“There’s
a great Chinese place across town.  I thought we’d start there.  Bri,
what are those?”  He pointed to the textbooks sticking out of her bag.

“What? 
I have homework,” she replied.  “It is our study night after all.”

“Yes,
well, I was hoping to be studying something else tonight,” he flashed her a
devilish grin.  Bri laughed while her cheeks flushed.

“Well,
maybe we can do both.”  She raised an eyebrow at him. 

“I
just might hold you to that,” he laughed and squeezed her knee.  He let
his hand linger there the rest of the drive.

They
got to the restaurant and were seated at a booth towards the back where it was
quiet.  After ordering their drinks and food, Bri decided she may as well
get the inevitable out of the way. 

“So,
I had an interesting conversation with Natalie and Erica this morning,” she
began.

“Oh,
really?”  Cole’s eyebrows shot up.  “And what did they have to say?”

Determined
not to make a big deal out of it, Bri replied, “Oh, they just wanted to warn me
to stay away from you.  Apparently, Serena sent them to feel me out and
find out what’s going on between us.”

Cole’s
face paled a little.

“And,
did you tell them anything?”

“Of
course not.  It’s none of their business.  I told them we were just
friends, but I’m not sure they bought it.”

“Damn
it,” he let out a breath.  “This is what I was afraid of.”

“Cole,”
Bri said forcefully.  “I don’t care about Serena.  I know you’re
worried she’ll try and make my life hell, but that’s because you assume that I
care what she, or anyone else at that school, thinks about me.  I
don’t.  I have four more months with these people.  Let them think or
say what they want.  I could care less.”

“You
don’t know how vicious Serena can be.  I just don’t want to put you
through that.” 

“Let
her do her worst.  I know the truth, you know the truth.  Nobody else
matters.”  She looked straight into Cole’s eyes.  “The only thing I
can’t handle is having to hide from everyone for the foreseeable future. 
You are my boyfriend.  I want you to
be
my boyfriend.  All the
time, not just when no one is looking.  I want to eat lunch with you, and
hold your hand on the way to class, and get to do all those things that normal
high school couples do.  Before we head off to different schools and different
lives, and it’s too late,” she finished quietly.

Cole
took a deep breath, a little shaken by her words. 

“I’m
not saying I want you to march into school tomorrow and announce it over the PA
system.  I’m just saying let’s stop letting fear of Serena dictate who we
are to each other.  Okay?”  Bri gave a hopeful smile.

“Okay,”
He conceded after a moment.  “We should still take it slow a little
longer, until I can find a good time to break it to her.”  He ran his hand
through his hair.  At Bri’s dubious expression he added.  “No longer
than a week, two at the most.  I promise.”

“Fine,”
She huffed.  “You have
one
week, but the sooner the better. 
Serena’s under the impression that she owns you.  It might be a good idea
to set her straight.”

“What?”
Cole’s head snapped up.  Bri chuckled at his indignation.

“Oh,
yeah!  That was Natalie’s main point.  I needed to keep my hands off
Serena’s property.  Okay, enough Serena talk.  She’s already taken up
more time than she’s worth.”

“I
agree,” He smiled.  “So, how was the rest of your day?”

Their
food arrived, and they continued talking and laughing while they ate. 
They were debating ordering dessert when a familiar voice interrupted.

“Am-Bree-ah!”
Trey drawled.  He came sauntering up, a bag of take out in his hand. 
“Fancy meeting you here!”  He leered at her.  Trey caught sight of
Cole and did  a double take.  “Cole?  Hey man, what’s up? 
What are you doing here?”  Trey looked between Cole and Bri, confused.

Cole’s
body had gone rigid with shock at Trey’s appearance.  His demeanor
instantly changed to one of bored indifference, causing Bri to scowl.

“Nothing,”
he replied dismissively.  “We were just studying.  Bri is helping me
out in math.  What are you doing here?”

“Just
picking up some take out for me and Serena.”  Trey glanced at the
table.  “Where are your books?  I thought you were studying?”

Bri
turned to glare at Trey as she lifted her book laden bag off the seat beside
her.  She dropped it with a smirk.

“Yeah,
well, we just finished up and were getting ready to leave.  You about
ready?”  Cole asked Bri, sounding like he could care less if she was ready
to go or not.

“Whatever,”
she mumbled angrily.

“Hey,
hold on a sec,” Trey slid into the booth beside Bri.  “What’s the
rush?  Why don’t you stay a minute?” he asked her.

Bri
flicked an anxious glance at Cole before answering.

“Um,
Cole is my ride, so I’d better go since he’s ready.”

“Don’t
be silly.  I can take you home.  That cool with you, Cole?” 
Both Trey and Bri turned their eyes on Cole.  Trey’s were questioning,
Bri’s were warning.

“Um,
sure, man.  Saves me a trip.”  Cole dropped some money on the table.

Panicked
now, Bri turned pleading eyes on Cole, begging him not to leave.  He seemed
unsure of what to do for a moment, until with a sigh, his shoulders slumped and
he turned to go.

“Catch
you later,” he said to no one in particular, and walked away.

Bri
watched in shock as Cole left her alone with Trey.

Trey
moved to Cole’s empty side of the booth and smiled.  Bri’s stomach dropped
to her knees.

“So,
you’re tutoring Marra, huh?  You know, I could use a little extra help
with math, too.  Any chance you could help me out?”

“Um,”
Bri turned her focus from the jackass who just left her, to the jackass in
front of her.  “My scheduled is really full right now.  If you need
help, go talk to Mr. Tillman, and I’m sure he can find someone to help
you.”  She didn’t even try to keep the anger and impatience out of her
voice. 

“Oh,
okay.”  Trey was visibly disappointed.

“Look
Trey, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve got a ton of homework, and your food is
getting cold.  I really need to get going.”  So she could go kick
Cole’s ass for abandoning her.

“Fine,
let’s go then.”  Trey grabbed her hand to help her out of the booth, and
held on to it as they walked out of the restaurant.  Bri finally managed
to extract it as they reached his pretentious,
way-too-expensive-for-a-high-schooler, car.  The rain had stopped, but the
clouds still swirled and rumbled, matching Bri’s mood.

Trey
tried to start some conversation as he drove, but Bri refused to say anything,
fuming in anger instead.  After a few failed attempts, Trey’s temper got
the best of him.

“You
know, Bri,  I don’t get you.  I’ve been nothing but nice to you,
since the first day of school.  And all you ever do is give me the cold
shoulder.  What is your freaking problem?”

“My
problem?” she replied incredulously.  Trey picked a bad day to start a
fight.  “Oh, because I don’t instantly swoon the minute you flash me a
smile or give me a bit of attention, I
must
have a problem!  I
guess my
problem
is that pompous, self-absorbed, egotistical jerks just
leave me cold!”

Trey
glared at her, and Bri felt a knot of fear form in her stomach.  She could
see the fury building in his eyes.

“No,
your problem is that you’re just cold, period!” he replied venomously. 
“You’re nothing but a frigid bitch, who doesn’t feeling anything for
anyone.  Your heart’s as cold as your bed.”

She
sucked in a pained breath.

“Stop
the car!” she demanded, her heart pounding.  “I’m getting out. 
Now
!” 
She had to get out of there before she started crying.  There was no way
in hell she was going to let Trey see that he’d gotten to her.

Trey
didn’t argue, or try to convince her to change her mind.  He just pulled
to the side of the road.

“Thanks
for the ride, asshole!”  Bri slammed the door and Trey sped off.

She
stood there panting, desperately trying to fight the tears that wanted to
come.  A part of her couldn’t believe that Trey had actually dumped her on
the side of the road like that.  The other part of her wasn’t at all
surprised.  And all this just added to her anger at Cole, for putting her
in this position to begin with.  Furious, she turned and started walking
down the sidewalk.  She was still a few miles from home, and it would be
dark soon.  She hitched her bag up on her shoulder and quickened her pace.

Ten
seconds later a familiar truck pulled up alongside her.

“Bri!” 
Cole called out through the passenger  window.  He sounded
frantically worried.  “What are you doing?  What happened?”

“I’m
walking home.”  She turned her meanest, angriest glare on him.  At
least he had the decency to pale under her stare.

“Bri
get in the truck,” he demanded.  When she refused to look at him and
continued walking, he added, “You’re mad at me, I get it.  But at least be
mad at me in the truck!  This isn’t the best place for you to be walking
by yourself.  Please Ambria,” he begged.  “Get in and let me take you
home.”

Bri
halted, fighting with her pride and her sense of self preservation. Finally,
with a very angry groan, she climbed into the truck.

After
a minute of silence, Cole gathered enough courage to ask, “Want to tell me what
happened?”

“You
mean
after
you abandoned me with your d-bag friend?”  She
fumed.  “Well, let’s see.  He hit on me, and when I didn’t fall for
it, he called me a frigid bitch and left me on the side of the road!”

“He
what?” Cole yelled.

“Don’t
you
dare
get angry!” Bri seethed, her anger and hurt overcoming
her.  “This is your fault!  How could you do it?”  A tear
slipped down her cheek.  “How could you just
leave
me there? 
How could you
DO THAT
?” she screamed, tears falling full force
now.  The emotional weight of everything that had happened that afternoon
was overwhelming her.

“Ambria,
I’m so sorry!”  Cole turned anxious, pleading eyes on her.  “Trey
showed up, and I panicked!  I didn’t know how to handle him.  I
didn’t know what to do.  God, Bri, I’m so sorry.”  He reached out for
her.

“Don’t
touch me!”  She wiped furiously at her tears.  “I am so angry with
you right now, you have no idea.  You hurt me, and all I want is to hurt
you back.  It’s taking everything in me not to punch you right now.”

“Do
it,” he begged sadly.  “Punch me, kick me, whatever you want.  I
deserve it.”

More
tears flowed, and she took a few breaths to try and reign in her anger. 
“I just... I can’t be around you right now.  Please just take me home,”
she demanded stoically.

Cole
nodded, and a few minutes later pulled into her driveway.  He turned to
her desperately.

“Bri...,”
he began apprehensively.

“You
need to not call me for a while,” Bri said, refusing to look at him.  Her
voice sounded as dead as she felt.

“Ambria,
please!” he pleaded with frightened eyes.  “I made a mistake.  I
screwed up royally, I know that!  Just,
please,
give me a chance to
make this right!”

Bri
took a deep breath, pushing her bubbling emotions back down.  “I need some
time.  Maybe we can talk in a couple of days or something,” she said
quietly, and climbed out of the truck.

Cole
grabbed her hand, stopping her.

“
Don’t
,”
his eyes glistened.  “Don’t shut me out.  Talk to me,
scream
at
me, whatever you need to make you feel better.  But don’t just walk
away!”

She
glared at Cole’s hand, and then at him, until he removed it.

“I
don’t know if I’ll ever feel better.  Goodbye, Cole.”