Beautiful Mess (2 page)

Ignoring
Carly’s jab, Bri turned her attention to Cole’s artwork.  She needed a
distraction from Carly’s horrible flirting.  There were a couple of black and
white cityscapes that were stunning, even from a distance.  The majority,
though, were ocean and beach scenes done in a variety of styles.  But one
painting in particular caught Bri’s attention.  It was a painting of a
sunset, and the colors were so unique and vibrant, she couldn’t tear her eyes
away.  It appeared this guy was very talented.

Following
Bri’s gaze, Carly started in surprise as she noticed all the paintings behind
Cole.

“Cole! 
Did you do all of these?” Carly was amazed.

“Yeah,”
He shrugged off handedly, but there was a distinct note of pride in his
voice.  “Some of them are older, but most I’ve been working on since
school got out.”

“Wow. 
They’re...” Carly began.

“Beautiful,”
Bri finished softly.  It took her a couple of seconds to realize she had
spoken out loud, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Thank
you,” Cole smiled at her, his eyes warming from her compliment.

She
smiled back, fighting her urge to drop her gaze.  His smile was stirring
up butterflies in her stomach.  A sudden elbow to her ribs brought her
back to reality.

“Yeah,
Cole, you’re like super talented.  I bet you make a killing selling your
paintings and stuff.”  Carly gave him an appreciative once-over. 
Apparently, the idea that Cole had money made him even hotter in her
eyes.  “So, do you like tattoos?” Carly smiled slyly. “Um, yeah, they’re
okay, I guess.”  Cole glanced at her.

“Well,
you’ll be able to appreciate this then.  We stopped at one of the henna
tattoo shops, and I got this,” Carly stood, turned, lifted her shirt and
lowered her shorts, revealing the swirly tramp stamp on her lower back. 
“What do you think?’

Bri
wasn’t sure if Carly was referring to the tattoo, her hot pink thong that was
clearly visible, or her butt that she had all but shoved in Cole’s face. 
Cole looked as if he wasn’t sure either.

“Um,
that’s pretty nice,” he replied uncertainly.

Carly’s
smile faltered as she stood.  But then she turned to face Cole, her eyes
sparkling.

“And,
I got this one,” Carly pulled down the top of her tank to reveal not only her
sun tattoo, but also the top of her lacey black bra.  She used her arms to
squeeze her breasts together and leaned over to give Cole a better view. 
Cole’s eyes widened in shock as the fake sun tattoo was pushed right up under
his nose.  After a brief glance, he turned his eyes back to the
drawing.  But his eyebrows remained in his hair.

Seeing
the utterly confused look on Carly’s face as she sat back down, made Bri want
to laugh.  This was Carly’s brilliant plan?  Shoving her butt and her
push-up bra created cleavage, yes, even the girl’s cleavage was fake, in Cole’s
face?  And she had really expected it to work?  Bri almost felt sorry
for her cousin.  Almost.  If this was Carly’s idea of flirting, it
was no wonder she couldn’t get a boyfriend.  The poor girl had no skills,
at all, but watching her try was hilarious.

“So,
um, any reason you chose a sun?” Cole was being nice, trying to move past the
fact that Carly had practically flashed him.  Bri did notice that he
didn’t give Carly’s boobs a second glance, which earned him bonus points in her
book.

“Yeah!”
Carly perked up.  “I wanted to get something that represented me, and I
thought a sun would be good, because I do live in Phoenix and it’s always sunny
there.  Plus, I love the sun, and spend all my time laying out.”

Bri
knew for a fact that Carly burned to a crisp in the sun, hence the spray on
tanner.  But hearing her try to sound deep and profound nearly had Bri
laughing out loud.

“Wow,
Carly,” she managed the most serious expression she could.  “That’s really
deep.  It must’ve taken a lot of time and some serious thought to come up
with that.”  Bri had to stifle a giggle.  But Carly, being Carly,
didn’t notice the sarcasm and smiled proudly.

“Yes,
as a matter of fact I did think really hard about it.”

The
pleased, self-satisfied expression on Carly’s face was too much for Bri’s
self-control, and she burst into laughter.  She laughed so hard it
actually brought tears to her eyes.  Even Cole couldn’t contain a snicker,
which he politely covered up with a cough.  But Bri continued laughing
until her sides hurt.

Ignoring
Bri’s outburst, Carly continued her conversation like nothing had
happened. 

“Do
you have any tats, Cole?”

“Nope.” 
He tried his best to keep a straight face, but Bri was still giggling. 
Interested to see where this train wreck of Carly’s was going next, Bri pulled
herself together.

“Really?”
Carly was a bit taken back.  “But, you totally look like the type of guy
who would be really into that sort of thing.”

Bri
instantly sobered at her cousin’s superficial remark, and glared at her. 

“So,
really Cole, no tats?” Carly continued, not sounding like she believed him at
all.

Cole’s
eyes flickered over to Bri and she gave him an apologetic smile.  Carly
could be impertinently judgmental.  He gave her a quick, small smile in
response, before answering Carly’s question.

“Nope,
no tattoos.”

“Well,
why not?”

“I
don’t know, I guess they’re just a little too permanent for me.  With my luck,
I’d get one and two weeks later I’d be sick of it.  They’re just not my
thing.  Too much commitment,” he shrugged.

Carly
sensed an opportunity to get in a dig at her cousin.

“Bri
has a tattoo,” she announced, a satisfied smirk on her face.  “A real one.”

“Really?”
Cole raised his eyebrows and looked at Bri.  He seemed to find that a
surprising and appealing piece of information.  Bri felt herself blushing
under his gaze, and turned her head.

“Although,”
Carly continued, not liking Cole’s interest in Bri, “it’s so small, it’s hardly
noticeable.  I don’t know why anyone would go through all that pain and
practically hide it.  I mean if you get a tattoo, you should want people
to see it.”

Cole
looked positively intrigued now, and Bri couldn’t help but smile as heat crept
up her cheeks.

Suddenly
a very loud, very annoying Kesha song started blaring from Carly’s purse.

“Oh!”
she pulled out her phone.  “Do you mind if I take this?”

“No. 
I’m almost done anyway.  Go ahead,” Cole barely glanced at her.

Carly
answered her phone with a loud “What up girl?” and moved down the beach,
leaving Cole and Bri alone.

From
the way Cole was eyeing her, Bri could tell he was trying to figure out just
where her tattoo was.  Seeing the suggestive gleam in his eyes, she decided
she had better change the subject, and fast.

“So,”
she began, feeling the need to apologize for Carly’s rudeness.  “I’m sorry
if my cousin is a bit...” Rude, obnoxious, frustrating?  Her mind tried to
find the best way to finish that sentence.  “Much.”

He
smiled at her choice of adjective.  “Don’t worry about it.  It’s not
anything I haven’t seen before and won’t see again,” he finished a little
bitterly.

“Well,
I’m really sorry if she upset you,” she continued sincerely.  “If you
haven’t noticed, Carly is a bit of a self-absorbed snob.  The fact that
other people do in fact have feelings, never even crosses her mind.”

Cole
gave a short laugh and some of the bitterness disappeared from his face. 
“Well, if you haven’t noticed, this is Los Angeles.  And L.A. is
overflowing with self-absorbed snobs.  She fits right in.  In fact,
are you sure she’s not from around here?” he joked.

“No,
thank goodness!  That girl can’t go back home soon enough.  She’ll be
lucky if I don’t murder her in her sleep before she leaves!” Bri laughed. 
She managed to get another chuckle out of Cole and smiled.

“But
seriously,” she said, wanting Cole to know that she meant this.  “I really
hope she didn’t offend you.”

“Nah,
this city is crawling with girls like her.  You learn pretty quickly not
to take what they say personally.”

Bri
nodded, relieved that he wasn’t angry.

“Alright,
I’m all done here.  Let me just get cleaned up and I’ll wrap it up for
you.”

Bri
stood, and unsure what to do with herself, she wandered over to Cole’s paintings. 
She found that they were even more amazing up close.  She was stunned by
their depth and detail.  He was very talented, especially for someone so
young. 

“So,
you must really love the beach,” she surmised, noticing that the vast majority
of the paintings were of the beach or ocean.

“I
guess,” he shrugged.  “I paint it because that’s what the tourists want.”

“Hmm,”
Bri thought about this.  “But, you’re an artist.  Shouldn’t you be
painting what
you
want?”

“You
make it sound so simple,” he laughed.  “Even if I knew what I wanted to
paint, no one would buy it.”

“Well,
maybe you should figure it out.”  She lifted an eyebrow at him. 
“Don’t give people what you think they want, give them what
you
want
them to have.  I think you’d be surprised at the outcome.”

Cole’s
head cocked to the side as he considered what she’d said.  Bri turned back
to her perusal of his work, and stopped short in front of the sunset painting
she had admired earlier.

“Oh,
wow,” she breathed.  It was even more amazing up close.  She could
see now that it wasn’t a sun about to set, like she’d thought before, but a sun
that had already sunk halfway below the horizon of the ocean, and was perfectly
reflected in the calm sea before it.  The colors were more wild and
vibrant than she had seen in any sunset before, and she was captivated by them.

“You
like it?” Cole’s voice startled her.  She hadn’t heard him walk over, and
when Bri turned her head, he was standing surprisingly close behind her. 
Her first instinct was to step away from him, but she couldn’t make her body
move.

“It’s
breathtaking,” she replied softly

“Wow,
you keep handing out compliments like that and my ego will get so big even I
won’t be able to stand me!” he laughed.  But in his eyes Bri could see the
pride he took in his work, and how much her compliment meant to him. 

“Well,”
Bri laughed.  “We don’t want that now do we?” 

Shaking
his head, Cole walked back over to the easel.  “So,” he held up the
drawing he’d done, “what do you think?”

She
was momentarily taken aback by what she saw.  Bri’s auburn hair wasn’t
that vibrant, her eyes weren’t that deep and soulful.  And she knew for a
fact that her lips weren’t that full and pouty.  Nope, the girl in the
drawing was far too beautiful to be her.  She noticed that Cole had
captured Carly well, too, but without as much embellishment.  Bri gave him
a searching look, wondering how he saw all of this in her.  But he just
smiled.

“Do
you like it?”

“Yes.”

“Good,
I’m glad.”  He stood there awkwardly for a moment.  Bri’s mind snapped
back into action and she realized that this was probably the part where she
paid him.

“How
much do I owe you?”

“Um,
how about twenty?”

“How
about I give you thirty, “ Bri pulled the cash out of her purse.  “A
little extra for having to endure Carly’s, um… advances.”

“Advances?”
Cole looked at her incredulously.  “You mean that was her
flirting
with
me?”

Bri
laughed.  “Sadly, yes!  She was throwing you all her best material,
and you kept shutting her down.  She was going crazy trying to figure out
why it wasn’t working!”

“Wow!” 
He laughed too.  “Someone really needs to give that girl some
pointers!  Heck, even just some basic people skills would help!”

“Maybe
that’s what she’s doing on the phone right now.”

“Yea,
getting advice from her stuck up friends on how to demean a guy enough to get
him to finally go out with her!”

They
both burst out laughing.  They were laughing so loud, they drew Carly’s
attention from down the beach.  She quickly ended her call and rushed
back, not looking at all pleased.

“Hey
guys!”  She gave Bri a malicious smile.  “What are you two laughing
about?”

“Oh,
nothing, I was just telling Cole a joke.”  Bri tried to calm herself down,
but the look on Carly’s face threatened to crack her up again.

“Well,
next time don’t leave me out.  You know how much I love a good
joke.”  She gave Bri the evil eye before turning to Cole.

“Is
that it?” Carly bent over the drawing Cole had laid out on the table in front
of him.  “Wow, Cole, this is amazing!  You captured me perfectly,”
she beamed at him.  “And look, he even managed to make you look somewhat
decent, Bri,” Carly smirked.  “It seems you’re better that you let on,”
she smiled at him.