Beautiful Mess
Authors: Jennifer Preston
Beautiful Mess
By
Jennifer
Preston
For Joe-
Who tore down my walls and claimed my heart.
And for that, I will be eternally grateful
.
“So
this is Venice Beach?” Carly squinted over the top of her designer knock-off
sunglasses, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“What?”
Ambria asked, her eyes sweeping the boardwalk. “Not everything you
expected it to be?”
“Well,”
Carly replied, “I just thought it’d be a little more glamorous, like in the
movies and stuff.”
Ambria
laughed. “Carly, everything is more glamorous in the movies. We
don’t have to stay. I’m sure we could find something else to do.”
“Bri,
don’t be such a downer,” Carly scolded. “We’re not leaving. We’re going
to have fun, get some killer deals, and hopefully see someone famous.
Although,” she gave the boardwalk a disapproving glare, “I highly doubt anyone
famous would hang out here. Now come on. I don’t want you ruining
my day.” Carly sauntered off towards the shops.
Bri
couldn’t help her eye roll. Spending the day shopping with her cousin,
alone, was not what she would consider even remotely fun. It wasn’t
that she hated Carly, but the girl grated on Bri’s nerves to no end.
Carly was spoiled, selfish, judgmental, and only ever talked about
herself. How great she was at this, or how wonderfully she did that; how
everyone loved her and based all their decisions and opinions on her own.
Bri had learned early on that you couldn’t believe most of what came spewing
out of Carly’s mouth. The girl was completely fake, from her bleached
blonde hair, to her spray tanned toes. Nothing about her was genuine,
including her personality.
“Any
day now, Bri,” Carly huffed impatiently, waiting outside the first shop.
Resigning
herself to her fate, Bri let out a huge sigh and followed her cousin into the
store. She was used to sacrificing her own wishes for Carly’s, and she
rarely opposed Carly in anything. In the interest of familial harmony,
Bri was expected to placate her cousin, and not do anything to rile her up or
upset her. It wasn’t an ideal arrangement, but Bri was used to it.
And she knew it was better than dealing with Carly’s temper. The girl
could throw a fit that would put a two year old to shame.
So
Bri spent the next couple of hours following Carly down the boardwalk.
Carly kept up a constant stream of chatter as she wove in and out of the shops,
bragging about all her outrageous schemes, demeaning the merchandise, and
complaining about the lack of cute guys around. As they entered a
swimwear shop, Bri could feel a headache coming on.
“What
do you think, Bri? Wouldn’t this be perfect with my red bikini?” Carly
was holding up a sarong in a swirling pattern of pinks and reds.
“Yeah,
Car, it’d look great,” Bri replied, rubbing her temples, willing away the
oncoming pain. She’d kill for a few minutes of peace and quiet.
“OMG!
Did I ever tell you about the first day I wore that bikini?” Bri tried to
answer and deflect Carly’s sure to be enthralling story, but Carly plunged
ahead before she could get a word out.
“My
friend Gabby had invited me over to her house to go swimming. Her house
is ginormous and they have their own private pool in the backyard. I’m
not sure what her dad does, but they are like, totally loaded.”
Bri
wanted to point out that it was Phoenix. A lot of people had a pool,
which didn’t make her friend loaded by any means. But deciding to avoid
an argument, she let Carly continue.
“So,
I get over there, looking all hot in my new bikini, and the pool people are
there cleaning the pool! Can you believe it! We like, totally had
to wait for them to finish so we could swim. I was so pissed!
Anyway, after what had to be an hour, I started getting really bored.
That’s when I got this like, totally brilliant idea! So I turned to
Gabby, and I totally dared her to go get the pool boy to make out with her!”
Carly squealed with vicious delight. “And guess what she did?”
“What?”
Bri sighed when it became apparent Carly wasn’t continuing without an answer.
“She
went out there, stripped down to her bikini, and like, totally started flirting
with him! Then, two seconds later, they were like, totally kissing!
Can you believe it?” Carly could barely contain her devious excitement.
“Isn’t that the grossest thing ever? I mean, really, the
pool boy
?
I so couldn’t believe Gabby would degrade herself like that? What was she
thinking?”
“And
that’s my cue to leave,” Bri murmured. She’d had enough of Carly’s
stories. She had to get out of there before she let Carly have it, or her
head exploded. “There’s a jewelry shop we passed that I’m going to go
look at. Why don’t you find you a top to go with this,” she indicated the
forgotten sarong in Carly’s hands, “which you should totally get, and I’ll meet
you outside when you’re done, okay?” She turned and left before Carly could
object.
Once
outside, Bri took a deep breath to cleanse herself of her annoyance and
frustration. She took a minute to appreciate the silence, and the
pounding in her head seemed to lessen slightly. Bypassing the jewelry
shop, she spied a bench set back in the shade. She plopped down on the
warm metal, pulled out a water bottle and chugged down a couple of
aspirin. With her headache relief in sight, she took a book out of her
bag, determined to enjoy her few minutes of solitude. She was just
beginning to lose herself at Longbourn, when a very huffy, very upset Carly
ruined her respite.
“Seriously,
Bri?
Reading?
” Carly sneered, wrinkling her nose as if she had
just found Bri digging through the garbage. “We’re supposed to be having
fun shopping and you’re reading! You are seriously such a nerd.”
Carly gasped in horror when she saw Bri was reading
Pride and Prejudice
.
“And if reading instead of shopping weren’t bad enough, you’re reading a
freaking school book! Could you seriously be any more boring? I
don’t know why I bother with you, Bri! Sometimes I wonder how we’re even
related.”
“Carly,
I don’t understand what the big deal is.” Bri’s temper was slowly
growing, and she struggled to suppress it. Redheads were famous for their
tempers, and while she didn’t consider herself an actual redhead, she was still
claimed by their infamous wrath. “I was done in that store, you weren’t,
so I came out here and started reading to kill some time. What is wrong
with that?”
“Well,
I thought you were coming out here to look at jewelry, not ditch me for a
book!”
“I
looked at the jewelry and didn’t find anything,” Bri lied easily. She was
used to lying to Carly to mollify her. “So I sat down over here to wait
for you. How exactly does that make me boring?” she glared at Carly.
“Fine!
You’re not boring. But from now on, no more books. We’re shopping
for crying out loud, at least
try
to act like you enjoy it.”
“Alright,
no more books,” Bri conceded. “But you have to speed things up.
You’re taking forever.”
“Fine,”
Carly huffed reluctantly. “I’m starving. Let’s go find something to
eat.”
The
girls stopped at a small burger stand, where Carly questioned the appearance
and sanitation of everything from the employees to the food. But her
apprehensions didn’t stop her from downing an entire double cheeseburger and a
whole basket of fries.
After
meandering down the boardwalk a little further, Carly grabbed Bri’s arm and
started pulling.
“Oh,
we like, totally have to stop and get a tattoo!” Carly squealed, dragging Bri
over to a henna tattoo stand.
“I’m
good, thanks,” Bri replied.
“Fine,
be a downer,” Carly snipped. “But I’m getting two! I know just
where I want them.”
A
couple of fake tattoos and a few bucks later, the girls set off again, Carly
admiring her new body art.
“This
is so perfect,” She beamed at the sun tattoo on her right breast. “This is
will like, totally get guys to look at my boobs! Look, they’re already
checking out my rack!” She pointed at a guy walking past them, who Bri
was pretty sure hadn’t even noticed Carly, let alone her chest. She
nearly laughed out loud at her cousin’s shallowness, and the fact that Carly
didn’t have much of a rack to speak of. She quickly turned her snort into
a cough, but judging from the glare Carly gave her, she wasn’t fooled.
Carly turned to the beach, and her eyes lit up as she saw a few artists that
had set up shop out there.
“We
are so going to have our pictures drawn, and don’t even think about trying to
get out of it. I’ve always wanted someone to draw me.” Carly pulled
Bri out onto the beach. “Now, let’s see...” she scanned the
artists. “We don’t want to end up with a total creeper.
There!” She pointed down the beach a little ways. “That guy looks
about our age. Let’s go there.” As they got closer, Carly grabbed
Bri’s arm and squealed into her ear. “And he’s hot! This is so
perfect! I’m looking for a little
Summer Lovin’
and this guy like,
totally fits the bill. So this one is mine, got it? You just stay
out of my way, and let me do my thing.”
Not
one to stand between Carly and what she wanted, Bri agreed. Plus, she
thought it would at least be amusing to watch her cousin in action. As
they walked, Bri checked out the poor guy who had just been painted a target by
Carly. His back was to them, but Bri could see that he was tall, had
black hair, a nice body, and a great butt, that his black fitted t-shirt and
board shorts seemed to accentuate. She felt a bit bad for the poor
guy. He didn’t know what was about to hit him.
At
their approaching footsteps, he turned to greet them. Bri was struck by a
pair of grey eyes, thick, dark eyelashes, and the most delicious mouth she had
ever seen. He had a full, almost pouty bottom lip that perfectly
complimented his thinner upper lip. Those lips turned up, revealing a
dazzling smile. Bri was suddenly very grateful for her dark sunglasses,
because she was suddenly unable to keep from staring.
“Well,
hello, ladies!” A deep, rich, voice greeted them. “What can I do for
you?”
Carly
gave Bri a pointed look before taking charge.
“Hi!
I’m Carly, and this is Bri,” Carly waved at her dismissively. “We wanted
to have our pictures drawn and were hoping that you could help us out.” Carly
gave him her most charming smile.
“Um,
sure, I can do that. Though I have to warn you, people aren’t really my
strength.” He motioned to the beachscapes displayed behind him.
“Oh,”
Carly leaned forward flirtatiously, her eyes never leaving him. “I’m sure
you’ll do fine.”
“Okay
then,” he smiled. “Why don’t you ladies have a seat over here.” He
showed them to a bench he had pulled up underneath the canopy he had set up to
provide some shade. He reached out and shook their hands. “I’m
Cole, by the way. And it was Carly, right, and Bri? Well, give me
just a minute to get set up and we’ll get started.” He grabbed a big pad
of drawing paper and sat down behind an easel.
Carly
had been watching him appraisingly, and decided to get the conversation
started.
“So,
Cole, you seem a little young to be trying to make a living out here on Venice
Beach,” she began tactlessly. When Cole raised his brows uncertainly, she
barged right along. “I mean, you look young enough that your parents
should care that you’re down here alone with all the weirdoes. So do you
live on your own, or are you just poor or something?”
“Carly!”
Bri hissed and hit her in the arm.
“Ouch!
What was that for?” she hissed back.
Very
aware that Cole could hear everything they were saying, Bri leaned in and
lowered her voice.
“That
was incredibly rude! I can’t believe you would say something like that!”
“I’m
just trying to find out how old he is! How is that being rude?”
Bri
just shook her head and rolled her eyes at her super-inappropriate cousin.
“So,
Cole,” Carly continued brightly as if he hadn’t just heard their whispered
conversation. “How old are you?”
Glancing
at Bri, Cole continued drawing as he answered Carly’s question.
“I’ll
be eighteen in October. I’ll be a senior in high school this year.
What about you two?”
“Bri
will be a senior, too, but I’m going to be a junior. I’ll be 17 in March,
but I can’t wait until I’m 18 and I graduate! Then I can tell my mom
where to shove it when she tries to tell me what to do. I bet you can’t
wait to get out of your house, Cole.”
Again,
there was something rude and demeaning implied in Carly’s tone that set Bri on
edge. But Cole ignored it and continued drawing.
“Actually,
I’m in no hurry. My dad pretty much gives me free reign, as long as I
stay out of trouble. So,” he changed the subject, “How do you two know
each other, from school?” Cole had directed his question to Bri, but Carly
answered.
“Oh,
no, we’re actually cousins.”
“Really?”
Cole looked between the two of them doubtfully.
“Like,
totally, though we don’t look anything alike. I got the good genes from
my mom and her dad’s side of the family. Bri got her mom’s red hair, poor
thing. I’m actually visiting from Phoenix. I’ll be here for the
next week.”
