Certified Disaster (Beautiful Mess Book 2) (6 page)

“Hi, Cole,”
Connor leaned in and shook Cole’s hand
as soon as he’d been released by the twins.

“Hello, Mr. Donnelly,”
Cole smiled. 
Shouldering Bri's bag, he slid his hand into hers.  Feeling embarrassed, and a
little guilty at abandoning him like that, Bri gave him an apologetic smile.

“Hi, Summer,”
he smiled at Bri’s stepmom.

“Summer?”
Connor turned a questioning glance at
his wife.

“What?”
Summer shrugged.  “Mrs. Donnelly
sounds so old.  I told him to call me Summer a long time ago.”

“Oh.  Well Cole, I told Jimmy we’d
pick you up and bring you home, if that’s okay?”

“Yeah, sure, that’d be great. 
Thanks.”
 
Cole
smiled.

“Well, this way then.”
 
Connor led the
family out to the parking garage, while Liam and Logan told Bri and Cole all
about their new bikes, their new preschool, and the puppy they wanted for
Christmas.

Thanksgiving morning dawned bright
and warm, oh how she’d missed the California weather, and Bri woke up excited. 
In order to maximize their time, Cole and his dad, and Bri and her family were all
going over to the Hamilton’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  The Hamiltons were
like Cole’s second family.  Bri had met Scott, Sharon, and their kids,
Sebastian and Claire, last Christmas when she spent a few days with them on
their boat in Catalina.  Bri and Claire had become instant friends, and they
had kept in touch after Bri left for college.  Bri hadn’t seen Claire in
months, and was excited to get to spend some time with her. 

Claire had insisted that Bri and her
family come over early, so Bri quickly got ready, and helped usher her family
out to the car.  As they pulled up to the Hamilton’s house, Logan and Liam
gawked at the size of it.  Bri’s attention was immediately drawn to a familiar
motorcycle already parked in the driveway.  She knew how much Cole had missed
his bike, and she would bet he’d spent the entire day yesterday riding it
around town.  She missed that bike, too, despite her initial fear of it, and
figured it shouldn’t be too hard to convince Cole to take her out for a ride
later.  

They rang the bell, and Bri could
hear Claire’s excited shriek, even through the thick door.  Sure enough,
pounding footsteps sounded from inside and the door was thrown open.  Claire
was out the door and hugging Bri, before Bri, or anyone else, could say
anything. 

Warmly returning Claire’s hug, she
smiled.  “I’ve missed you too, Claire.”

“Oh my gosh,”
Claire pulled back, “it’s been so
boring without you, you have no idea.  Now come in, and tell me everything
about college life.  Have any cute professors?”

“Hi, Bri,”
Sharon smiled as she arrived at the
door.  She introduced herself to Bri’s dad and stepmom.  “We’re so happy you
could make it.  Please, come in and make yourself at home.”

Bri and her family followed Sharon
into the living room, where everyone else was watching football.  Cole jumped
up, and pulled Bri in for a kiss, not seeming to care that they had an
audience.

“Seriously?  I thought you two would
be past the whole making out in public phase by now,”
a wry voice interrupted them.

Bri pulled back from Cole and turned
to see Sebastian smirking at them. 

“You know you’re just jealous, Seb,”
Cole quipped back. 
“You haven’t even gotten to the making out in private phase.  It would help if
you could actually
get
a girlfriend.”
 

Instead of replying, Seb punched
Cole in the arm, and they bro-hugged it out.  Turning to Bri, he smiled.  “Hi,
Bri.”
 
He
stood for a moment, looking like he wasn’t sure what the proper protocol was. 
After a long, uncomfortable moment, he finally pulled her in for a hug. 

“So how much have you missed me?”
she teased, trying
to dispel the awkward tension.

“About as much as you’ve missed me,”
he pulled back with
a smug smile, but his cheeks were flushed. 

“Hey there, Barracuda,”
Jimmy smiled.

“Hi, Jimmy.  It’s so good to see
you.”
 
Bri
gave him a tight hug.

“Hi, Bri,”
Scott rose from his chair and walked
over.  “Why don’t you introduce me to your family?”

She made introductions all around,
and then everyone settled in the living room.  Summer  went to help Sharon in
the kitchen, and Liam and Logan went outside to play on the Hamilton’s backyard
play set.  Cole pulled Bri down onto his lap, and they all talked while they
watched the game.

“Any chance you’d want to take me
out on your bike today?”
she asked Cole quietly.

“Let’s go right now,”
he smiled down at
her.

“No way,”
protested Claire, who was sitting next
to them.  “You get to see her all the time, Cole.  I don’t, so today Bri stays
with me.  Anywhere she goes, I go.  Right, Bri?”
 
She turned pleading, puppy dog eyes on Bri.

“How can I say no to that?”
Bri laughed. 

“Good,”
Claire beamed triumphantly, while Cole
groaned.  “Now that we’ve got that covered, Bri, how about we go out to the
patio where we can talk.  Football is boring.”
 

“Okay,”
she agreed.  She leaned into Cole’s
ear and whispered, “Give me ten minutes, and then come rescue me.”
 
Knowing how
intense and focused Claire could be, Bri figured she’d better have an escape
plan. 

She followed Claire out to the
patio, where she told her all about Duke and college life.  Claire told her all
about her new boyfriend, and getting her driver
’
s
license.

“Dad still won’t let me drive by
myself, though,”
she
pouted.  “He says I need more practice before he lets me out on my own.”

“And he’s right,”
Cole interjected,
taking a seat next to Bri.  “I’ve seen you drive.  The thought of you out there
on the road is truly terrifying.”

“Ha ha,”
Claire reached over and smacked him.  “Like
you were the best driver when you were my age.  I remember the stories Jimmy
would tell us.  Didn’t you run over your trash can a couple times?”

They sat outside, enjoying the warm
California sunshine, until it was time to eat.  Sharon made a fabulous meal,
and everyone shared stories and jokes while they ate.   After devouring the
pies Summer brought, it was time to go.  Cole offered to take Bri home, and she
eagerly accepted.  After saying goodbye to everyone, she hopped on the back of
Cole’s Ducati, and they sped away. 

In no hurry to get home, Cole took
the scenic route, driving past their old high school.  It was funny, they hadn’t
graduated from Santa Monica High that long ago, but it already seemed like a different
lifetime.  She let all her high school memories flood her, the good and the
bad, as she thought about all that had happened to bring her and Cole to this
point. 

She smiled as Cole parked in front
of the beach by her house, where they had often used to walk.

“Feeling nostalgic, too?”
she asked as she
followed him down to the sand.  She removed her shoes, and let the cold waves
lap around her feet.  Man, she missed this.  She hadn’t realized just how much
she’d missed the ocean.  It was like it was a part of her now, and she wasn’t
whole without it.  Cole held her hand as they turned to walk along the shore.

“Maybe a little,”
he smiled at her.  “Do
you know how long it’s been since I was able to properly kiss you?”
 
He stopped, and
pulled her into his arms.  She gazed up at him, getting lost in his beautiful
gray eyes. 

“Far too long,”
she replied softly,
and pulled his lips down to hers.  Bri’s heart swelled, so grateful that they
were here, together, despite everything that had tried to keep them apart.  She
tried to show him how grateful she was for him, how much she loved him, and she
felt his answering love for her.  A love so pure and deep, it still shocked
her.  She was still getting used to feeling these kinds of intense emotions,
but she couldn’t deny that she was quickly becoming addicted to it.  She loved
the rush his touch brought, the way his lips could ignite a fire inside her. 
And she loved feeling like she was the most precious thing on earth, treasured
and cherished above anything else.  She hoped he felt the same love and
devotion from her, as she tried to tell and show him every day exactly what he
meant to her. 

Yes, she and Cole had overcome a lot
to reach this point.  And as the future lay ahead of them, stretching vastly
before them like an endless ocean, Bri knew they could face whatever came their
way, becoming stronger and more unified because of it.  Theirs was a future
worth hoping for, worth believing in, and she was excited to see where it
brought them.

Cole had always loved fishing. 
Getting up at the crack of dawn, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the boat
as it cut through the waves; everything about it.  But most of all, he loved
the peace.  No talking, it scared the fish away, no one to impress or
entertain.  It was just him and his thoughts.  It was nice to have some quiet
time to center himself.  He hadn’t been fishing since he’d left for Duke, and
dang, he had missed it.

But this morning, his calm center
was a little harder to find, as some of his and Bri’s choice moments together
ran rampant through his head.  Their make out session on the beach last night
replayed itself over, and over; as did that night in his room, when that idiot
Matt had barged in and interrupted them.  He had been so close!  He had waited
so long, and Bri had finally been ready, and bam!  His stupid roommate ruined
everything, and sent Bri back into regression.  She hadn’t said anything, but
Cole could tell that whatever readiness she’d had before had fled, and they
were back to square one: waiting, again.

Which was even more difficult now
that he’d had a small glimpse of what he was missing.  Holy hell, he didn’t
think he could survive this much longer. 

Imagining all the ways he wanted to
kill Matt made him feel slightly better.  With no roommate to interrupt them,
things would be so much better.  Longingly, he let his mind play out how
differently that night might have ended in a Matt-free world…

“Hey,
Cole
!”

He snapped out of his daydream,
realizing that someone had been shouting his name.  “What?”
he turned to Seb, a
little perturbed about being interrupted.

“Oh, nothing.  Just thought you
might like to know you’ve got a bite on your line.  I’m sorry, I thought you’d
come out to fish, not stare out at the ocean with a dopey grin on your face,”
Seb smirked.

“What?  Oh, crap!”
 
Cole quickly
gripped his pole, and reeled in the line.  Sure enough, a small fish dangled on
his line.  Too small to eat, Cole removed it and tossed it back.

“Quite the haul you’ve got there,”
Seb quipped. 

“Yeah, and you’re just the master
fisherman,”
Cole
shot back.

“I am the master of many things,”
Seb smirked.  “What
were you thinking about, anyway?  It must have been good to distract you like
that.”

“You don’t want to know,”
Cole shook his
head. 

Seb gave him a knowing smile.  “You’re
right, I really don’t.”

“Okay you two, enough.  You’re
scaring away the fish,”
Jimmy grunted.  Scott shot Seb a warning look.

Looking around the boat, Cole
smiled.  He had
really
missed this.  It wouldn’t be very often anymore
that he, Seb, Jimmy, and Scott would be together like this, and he wanted to
enjoy every minute.  It was Saturday morning, and he and Bri would be flying home
the next day.  He didn’t know when he’d be back home, so he was absorbing
everything.

But even as he was enjoying being
with his family and friends, Cole was missing Duke.  North Carolina was
beginning to feel as much like home as California was.  He didn’t know if he
should feel guilty about that, but it was the truth.  Maybe it was because he’d
always wanted to get out of L.A., or maybe it was because Bri was at Duke, and
she was where he wanted to be.  His family would always be his family, but the
house he’d grown up in didn’t feel like his home anymore. 

Cole puzzled over this much less
distracting chain of thought, until it was time to reel in and headed back to
shore.  After showering and eating lunch, Cole decided to call Bri.  He knew
she was spending her last day home with her family, but he couldn’t help it, he
missed her.  She must’ve missed him too, because she answered after the first
ring, and immediately invited him over. 

So he spent his last afternoon home
with Bri and her family.  Liam and Logan kept him busy wrestling and playing
football, and even Connor and Summer didn’t seem to mind him hanging around. 
It was like he was one of the family.  He smiled to himself at that thought. 
Thanks to Bri, his family had doubled in size.  Summer insisted that he stay
for dinner, and invite his dad over, too.  After dinner, they all played games
until it was time for the twins to go to bed.

“Cole, will you come tuck us in?”
Logan yawned.

“Of course, squirt,”
Cole smiled.  He
tried to act unaffected, but he was really touched the boys wanted him to put
them to bed.  Bri smiled warmly at him as he followed the twins to their room. 
Not having had any siblings himself, he wasn’t exactly sure what “tucking in”
involved.  Luckily
both boys jumped into bed and pulled their covers up.  Cole walked over to Liam’s
bed and ruffled his hair.  “You two better get right to sleep if you want to
take your sister and me to the airport in the morning.  We have to leave early.”

“Okay, Cole.”
 
Liam reached up and gave Cole a hug. 
Surprised, Cole squeezed him back.  “Goodnight.”

“‘Night, buddy.”
 
Cole moved over to
Logan’s bed, where he was pulled in for another hug. 

“I wish you didn’t have to go,”
Logan whispered
sadly. 

“I know, I wish I could stay, too. 
But I’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

“Okay,”
Logan nodded.  “Goodnight.”

“‘Night, kiddo,”
he smiled.  He
stood and turned, and saw Bri propped in the door frame, watching him.

“I don’t know if I should be mad
that I’ve been replaced,”
she smiled as he closed the boys’
door. 

He chuckled.  “I’m just new.  They’ll
get over me when I lose my novelty, and then it’ll be back to Bri, Bri, Bri.”

“Yeah, you’d better hope,”
she teased.  “Want
to go take one last walk down the beach before we leave?”

“Absolutely.”

“You’d better have brought your
motorcycle.”

“Of course!  I haven’t left her side
since I got here.”

“Again, I don’t know if I should be
mad that I’ve been replaced,”
she laughed.

“Nothing and no one could ever
replace you, baby,”
he
tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.  “You’re my whole world.”
 
She smiled, and he
leaned in to kiss her.

“I know you two are adults now,”
Connor’s voice
broke them apart.  “But do you have to shove it in my face?”
 

Bri and Cole exchanged guilty smiles
before Bri replied.

“Come on, Dad, you knew this was
coming.  After all, you were the one who insisted I get on the pill before I
left for college.”
 
Bri
winked at her dad, who had been shocked into silence and had turned bright red.

“That was prevention, not
permission!”
 
Connor
finally found his voice.  Cole, who had also been shocked into silence, just
stood there gaping at both of them.

“I know, I know,”
Bri grinned, and
patted her dad consolingly on the arm.  She then grabbed Cole’s hand and pulled
him to the front door.  “We’re going down to the beach for a walk.  I won’t be
too late.”

“Back by eleven,”
Connor called after
them.

“Still with the curfew?”
she teased before
waving goodbye.

After she was situated behind him on
his bike, Cole found the courage to ask, “You’re on the pill?”

“Of course.  You know, bright future
and all that.”
 
She
hugged herself against him.

Cole couldn’t help the satisfied
smile that crossed his face.  Maybe she wasn’t as apprehensive as he’d
thought.  She was thinking about it.  He wondered exactly what she was
thinking, but decided not to push it.  He might just find out first hand soon
enough.  He grinned, and gunned the bike down the street.  

December arrived, and with it the
Blue Devil’s first pre-season tournament.  Being the top seed, they got to play
all four of their games at home, breezing through the field to win the final. 
It was kind of a surreal experience, knowing that thousands of people were
watching them.  Cole was still trying to get used all the TV cameras and
reporters everywhere, none of whom were at all interested in him.  He wasn’t
sure if he was grateful for that or resentful, as he watched Jordan doing more
and more of the post-game interviews. 

Not that Jordan didn’t deserve it. 
He was playing great, living up to all the freshman phenom predictions.  But
every once in a while, Cole really wished someone would pay just a little
attention to him.  Being second string and only playing a handful of minutes a
game wasn’t likely to garner much attention.

Their next tournament was held at
Madison Square Garden in New York, and as Cole got ready to board the bus with
the team, he was admittedly a little nervous about what was coming.  He’d never
played on such a big stage before, and he just kept praying that he wouldn’t do
anything humiliating on national television.  That was a whole new pressure he
never dreamed he’d have to deal with. 

His nerves were only outweighed by
his regret at having to leave Bri behind.  Since she was a freshman, she wasn’t
part of the cheering/dancing contingent that would travel with the team for the
tournament, and he was feeling really bad about leaving her.  She was obviously
feeling something similar as she pouted up at him.  He was intentionally the
last in line to board the bus, and taking advantage of every last second he
could get.

“I’ll be back before you know it,”
he smiled down at
her.  “You won’t even have time to miss me.”

“Yeah right, too late for that. 
Besides, if you guys win, you won’t be home until Tuesday.  That’s like five days
from now.”
 
She
snuggled against his chest.

He was trying not to let it show,
but it was killing him to have to say goodbye.  This was the first time they’d
been apart since they’d gotten back together that summer.  He remembered all too
well how miserable he’d been without her before, and while things were
definitely different now, he still wasn’t looking forward to that ache in his
chest, or that feeling that half of him was missing.  Even if it was only for
five days.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you
when I get back.”
 
He
pressed a kiss to the top of her head, inhaling the scent of her hair one last
time. 

“You’d better,”
she smiled and
tipped her lips up for a kiss.  He was only too happy to oblige.

“Marra!  You planning on getting
your own ride to New York?”
one of his coaches yelled from the bus. 

Reluctantly, Cole and Bri separated,
and he waved as he got on the bus.  Matt had saved him a seat, and they both
watched Bri out the window as the bus pulled away. 

“Yeah, I’d be pretty reluctant to leave
that, too,”
Matt
teased him.  Cole punched him in the arm, and then settled in for their long
ride to New York.

Cole’s first glimpse of the Big
Apple nearly took his breath away.  It was late at night, but the city was
still alive and buzzing, like it had no idea that the rest of the country was
fast asleep.  L.A. was by no means a small city, but the New York skyline was
overwhelming.  The team checked into their hotel, briefly went over their
practice and game schedules for the next day, and went to sleep. 

Walking into Maddison Square Garden
the next night for their first game was an experience Cole would never forget. 
The stadium was packed and the atmosphere was electric.  He was happy to see a
lot of Duke fans in the crowd.  There were sportscasters and reporters
everywhere, some of whom he recognized from ESPN.  As he took the floor with
the team to warm up, the crowd erupted, and Cole couldn’t help but feel amazed,
proud, humbled, nervous, and excited, all at once.  This was the biggest moment
of his life so far, and he took a moment to soak it all in.  But then Coach
called them into a huddle and focused the team’s attention.  It was time to get
to work.

The game passed in a blur for Cole. 
He watched as his fellow teammates played seamlessly, like the well-oiled
machine they were.  Finally, Coach gave Jordan the signal to come out, and Cole
was up.  Waiting at the scorer’s table, time seemed to stop as his heart began
to pound.  He tried to tell himself to calm down, that this was just another
game, not a big deal.  But he almost couldn’t hear the buzzer signaling him
into the game over the rushing in his ears.  The Blue Devils had the ball, and
when Mike inbounded the ball to him, Cole almost lost it, he was so worked up. 
Taking a minute to calm himself, he shut out the crowd and the cameras as best
he could, and focused on the nine guys on the floor in front of him.  Instinct
took over and everything else disappeared, and he played as well as he ever
had. 

All too soon, Jordan came in to replace
him, having gotten a much needed rest.  Jordan gave him a high five as Cole
came off the floor and sat back on the bench.  Knowing that he could play on a
national stage and not make an idiot of himself lifted a huge weight off his
shoulders, and when it was his turn to get out there again, midway through the
second half, he was ready.

The team won easily, and that night
Cole snuck away to call Bri and tell her all about it.

“I have to say, I’m still not used
to watching you on TV like that,”
she said.  “It’s kind of trippy. But you were amazing, and you looked
hot out there.”

“Thanks,”
he smiled.  In fact, he couldn’t seem
to stop smiling all night.  “I just wish you were here with me, then this night
would be perfect.”

“Me, too.  One day I will be,”
she promised.  “You
should’ve seen everyone here when you hit that three.  I thought the place was
going to explode.  I’m really proud of you, Cole.”

“Thanks, baby.  I just wish I could
do more, you know?”