The ride wasn’t long, even though we were a good fifteen minutes from the beach, Cole was driving fast. And when I say fast, I meant fast. We made it in five, and we barely had any red lights. But I had to admit that I was happy that I didn’t have to be enclosed in a small space with him for a long time.
We didn’t talk much during the drive, and after a few awkward minutes, he turned on the radio to fill the silence. That worked for me. When he turned in the parking lot, he turned to me again and smiled. I didn’t have time to open the door before he was out and pulling mine open. He took my hand and we walked towards nowhere in particular. When we finally picked a bench with a view on the river, he put his arm around my shoulders.
“So, s’been a long time since I got to talk to you...” He said tentatively, and I nodded in response. I didn’t really know what to say to this. “You were avoiding me for a long time. You know, it broke my heart.”
“It wasn’t a long time, only a few weeks,” I said, laughing and slapping him on the chest.
“Well, it was awfully long for me anyways,” he said while taking my hand, which retreating, and put it back on his chest. I tried to pull back but he was too strong and I gave up after a moment. He was already looking toward the river, like he didn’t even realize that I was uncomfortable, and that I was struggling to get free.
“So how’s Liam? Or should I say, your boyfriend?” He asked casually, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“He’s not my boyfriend and you know that I barely see him anymore.”
“Oh, really?” He said, turning towards me, “well I’m pretty sure I saw you guys kiss at your party,” he said, laughing in my ear. My breath caught in my throat.
“Who told you?” I asked, I was pretty sure I already knew the answer. Rose. She must have told him, even though she swore to me she wouldn’t.
“Nobody told me, I saw you,” Cole said.
I turned to face him, seeing him looking back at me. “Yeah, you heard me. I went to your house to see if you wanted to do something. And then I found a huge party going on. I must say that I was really disappointed that you haven't invited me,” he smiled at me, making what he said sounded like a joke, but I didn’t laugh. He knew that there was a party at my place last Friday. Everybody in the gang were talking about it and how it would be a huge party and that our house would be full of hot girls (for the guys). Rose had said that at some point I had invited Cole, even though I definitely didn’t remember. And apparently he had said no, having to do something else that night.
He could not say that he didn’t know. “You knew. Don’t you say otherwise,” I heard him chuckle under his breath before he answered.
“Okay, maybe I knew. But it doesn’t change anything does it?” He asked, smiling down at me. He continued without giving me the chance to say something in response to that.
“Anyways, I was feeling pretty alone at home so I decided that maybe I should go to your party after all. When I arrived there, I saw you head outside with Liam,” he said. “Hope you don’t mind that I was there,” he said again, seeing that I had nothing to say.
What was I supposed to say to that anyways? I didn’t know he was even invited before Rose told me, four hours before the party.
“No, I don’t,” I said, a bit harder that I intended.
I saw him look down at his watch, calculating the time we had been here. And that simple gesture made me mad. I was boiling inside. Like he didn’t want to be here, with me and he had better things to do. Pinching my lips together, I shrugged his arm off my shoulders, pulled myself up and began walking away, leaving him sitting on the bench. Well, if he wanted to do something else, I was giving him an easy escape. But a second later, he was at my side again and grabbing my wrist.
“Wait. Hey, don’t be mad, Alicia,” he said, falling in step beside me. God, I thought, why am I here again? I didn’t even want to be here. I only wanted to be alone, curled up in my bed.
“Look, I just want to go home. I don’t fucking care if you were there Friday or not. And if you did see something happen then, it was nothing,” I said, without looking at him. I felt him sigh beside me and then he took my hand and blocked the way with his body.
“You don’t need to freak out. If you want to go home, we’ll go. It’s not a problem, okay?” He said gently, lifting my chin so my eyes were leveled with his. A shiver passed through me when he touched my face. He saw too, and I saw a smile spreading across his full lips.
We were walking back to Cole’s car when I saw them. They were just going out of their car. It didn’t take long before they saw me too, but Rose was obviously acting like there was nothing wrong. Liam had turned his back to us the second he looked our way and Ben’s eyes were wandering over us, taking in Cole’s arm around my waist and the closeness of our bodies. I instantly broke Cole’s embrace to meet them.
As I walked to them, Cole trailing behind me, I found myself having a weird feeling building inside of me. I didn’t like it. Jealousy. Why was Rose with my brother and his best friend? Why hadn't they invited me along? I didn’t like to be left out, but it was an entirely different story when it was my best friend and my brother.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” Rose asked, with a big smile spreading across her lips. It faded soon after we arrived at her side.
“We were just taking a walk,” Cole said, coming up behind me and taking me by the waist.
“I was going to call you, but Ben said you were gone with him,” she said to me, nodding toward Cole and me. I nodded because I didn’t know what else to say. There wasn’t anything, I guess...
“Everybody’s coming,” she continued, asking me silently with her eyes to forgive her. I did, nodding toward her and forcing a smile on my lips.
“We could stay a while... Right babe?” Cole said, moving his hands higher on my hips. Rose’s eyes were big with surprise, scanning me and then passing to Cole and back again. I knew exactly why she was so shocked. I wasn’t precisely the type of girl to let my boyfriend call me little names and touch me in public. With the few boyfriends I’ve had, I started screaming at them if they called me babe or sugar, when I was sure, was because they forgot my name. But this time, I didn’t bulged, letting Cole’s hands sliding underneath my shirt and stroking the skin on my stomach.
I wanted to prove to myself and the others that I wasn’t the kind of girl to mourn a guy that was obviously not interested. Plus, Liam was there to see all the show. Even though I was pretty sure he couldn’t care less, it was still a mini victory, seeing him come to stand beside Rose with Ben following, and then look away when he saw us.
“So... Maybe we should...” Rose drifted off, nodding to the parking lot around us. It was getting busy, cars filling it bit by bit.
“Yeah, we should move before we get run over,” I said with a big smile, feeling Ben’s cold stare on me. At the same moment, a car stopped beside me and its windows rolled down.
“Hey, Alicia!” A guy said, his head popping through his open window.
“Hi,” I said back, realizing that it was Riley. A bunch of girls got out of the car and came rushing to our little circle. Some were my friends, but others I didn’t even know. They gave hugs to everyone, even Liam and Ben, and started chatting about some party that was coming this weekend. I turned back to Riley. He was watching them, a half smile spreading on his lips.
“I better go park the car…” He said, finally realizing I was watching him. I waved at him while he pulled away to find a parking spot. When I turned back to my friends, half of them were gone.
“They left to search for a volley-ball court, so we can play,” Rose said to me, smiling shyly.
“Yeah, I better go with them, they might need help,” Cole said in my ear and then kissed my neck before leaving, turning to wink at the two of us. We didn’t say anything, watching him retreat slowly into the sun. When we couldn’t see him at all anymore, I heard Rose take in a breath.
“Okay, what is wrong with you?” She asked slowly, like she was scared of what I might say.
“Nothing. Why do you think there is?” I asked back.
“I don’t know… I thought you didn’t like it when guys called you names,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Yeah, well I don’t mind after all. I actually find it quite sexy,” I smiled at her but she didn’t smile back.
“And I thought you liked Liam. What happened to that, are you giving up?” She said, her voice low.
“Yeah, well… It couldn’t work out anyways, I had to move on sometime,” I said.
I was trying hard to make my voice indifferent and saying this myself had made me believe that moving on was the best thing to do. I couldn’t wait all my life for some guy, I had to move on someday and the sooner, the better. Rose didn’t answer to that; instead she started walking to where all of our friends were waiting. She stopped after a second and turned back, motioning for me to follow her. I ran to her side barely having time to stop before falling in step beside her.
