The boat was pretty big, but it was still a tight fit. There was a single seat next to the drivers, an area in the front of the boat where people could sit, and some bench seats on the side and back of the boat. Alex sat next to Landon who was driving. Kelly and Nate sat in the front with Tommy and Jessie. Billy, Krystal, and Kallie sat on one side, while Peyton, JoJo, and I sat on the other and Cole and Jaxson sat in the back. Peyton made sure I was the one to sit closest to Cole. She practically threw me in his lap.Luckily I caught my balance in time and managed not to fall on top of him.
I gave her a look and she just acted like it was an accident.
Once we were all situated, Landon took off. He drove around to find a good spot where we could all swim. When the boat slowed down enough, I stood up, only to fall back down again when the boat jerked. Instead of falling back in my seat, I fell right into Cole’s lap.
“You know, if you wanted to sit on my lap, all you had to do was ask.” Cole said trying not smile.
“Shut up,” I said as I tried to push myself off of him, but had no such luck. Landon started moving the boat again and I fell back into Cole’s lap and let out a yelp.
Landon looked back over his shoulder and said, “Sorry Tay, just relax a sec.”
I didn’t have to see his face to know he was smiling and did it on purpose. Seeing as I had no choice, I sat back and relaxed in Cole’s lap. And no I wasn’t complaining. JoJo gave me a dirty look and I just smiled.
When Landon finally stopped the boat I asked if it was safe to get up.
“What’s the rush?” Cole said squeezing me a little tighter. I just leaned back into him.
All of a sudden JoJo started coughing. I could tell it was a fake cough, just to draw attention to her.
Peyton smacked her on the back a couple of times—hard—and said, “It’s okay girl, I gotcha.” I had to try hard not to laugh. She almost knocked her over.
JoJo suddenly stopped coughing, gave Peyton a sarcastic thanks, and told her she was fine now.
Once the little charade was over, everyone started to get up. Cole being Cole asked JoJo if she was okay.
“Yes, I think so, I don’t know what happened,” JoJo said still playing the part. “I think I’m going to sit on the boat for a little and rest to be safe.” She leaned into Cole. “Will you stay with me?” she asked him batting her eyelashes.
Cole looked in my direction and I nodded letting him know it was fine even though I wanted to rip her face off. Cole grabbed water for JoJo and the two of them sat down. JoJo rested her head on Cole’s shoulder.
Peyton walked up beside me, pulled me close and whispered, “You seriously gonna let her get away with this shit?”
“Look, I’m pretty sure if I wanted to, I could squash her, but I’m here to have a good time. So at the moment I don’t care.” Peyton sighed and let me go.
We spent about an hour in the water, swimming, playing, and messing around. Cole and JoJo never made it in. Every once and awhile I’d peek over at them, her with her hands all over him and Cole smiling politely. This girl was asking for an ass whooping. I really can’t complain though, I did tell her Cole and I weren’t together and he was single, but still, this chick got on my nerves.
I had enough of swimming and climbed back on the boat. I picked up my oversized towel, wrapped it around myself while I walked to the front of the boat, sat down, and spread myself out. I ignored JoJo and Cole. I didn’t have to look to know she was still all over him.
Once up front, I got a soda out of the cooler—wishing it was a beer—and lit up a cigarette.
Cole came up and joined me in the front.
“Where’s your girlfriend?” I asked him. At the moment she wasn’t suctioned to his side.
“Are you jealous?”
“Ha! Hardly.”
He seemed to find this amusing. “You know I only have eyes for you.” I stifled an eye roll and looked away. “Tatum, I’m sorry if I upset you, I was just trying to be nice.”
I glared at him, annoyed. He was definitely a lot friendlier than I wanted him to be.
“Ah, there’s the look I know and love,” He said.
I turned my head and looked away from him. I know he was trying to make it seem like it was no big deal, but I was hurt and jealous—although I’ll die before I’d admit that.
Cole reached over and touched my chin with his fingertips and turned my head forcing me to face him. He had moved closer and our faces were only an inch apart now.
“I’m sorry, forgive me, please,” he pleaded slightly brushing his lips against mine. He was playing dirty and it worked. When he was this close to me nothing else mattered. He could have just told me he killed my cat and I wouldn’t have cared. “Besides, why would I spend half the day helping you clean just to spend the day with someone else,” Cole pointed out.
I just smiled and kissed him softly. Then I leaned back into him and laid my head against his shoulder. Cole wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his cheek on my hair. Being in his arms felt so right, which scared me. I never felt this way about someone and I didn’t know what to do.
We sat there like that for a while, until everyone else climbed back on the boat. Tommy and Jessie joined us up front. JoJo seemed to move on quickly. Now she was all over Jaxson. He didn’t seem to mind.
“Are you cold?” Cole asked me.
“A little.” It probably didn’t help that my towel was all wet.
“Here.” Cole took off his t-shirt and handed it to me, then got a dry towel.
“Won’t you be cold?” I asked him. He just smiled and pulled me onto his lap. I took the dry towel and draped it around both of us. Then I put my arms around him and snuggled into his bare chest. His skin was warm and smooth against my face.
The ride back was way too short. Cole helped me off the boat. I started to take his shirt off, but he stopped me. “No keep it on,” he insisted.
“Well it does look better on me anyways,” I teased. Cole got back on the boat to help the guys unload.
I barely made it five steps when JoJo stopped me. “I just wanted to tell you Cole’s yours. Don’t get me wrong, he’s like, totally hot and he couldn’t keep his hands off of me,” she giggled and slapped my arm. “But I know how hard it is for someone like you to find someone,” she said sympathetically touching my arm.
I looked down at her hand and she quickly pulled it away. “Excuse me?”
“It’s okay; you don’t have to be embarrassed. You’re pretty in your own way. I forget that not everyone can be as fortunate as me. You know, have a natural beauty, like mine.” Natural, please, there was nothing natural about her, except for her childlike figure. “I’ll be nice and let you have this one,” she finished and turned to walk away.
That was about all I could take. I lunged at her only to be stopped instantly by Landon. “Down girl.”
“Did you hear what that bitch said to me?”
“Yes, but you will kill her. I love you, but not enough to help you cover up a murder. Trust me, after tonight you’ll never have to see her again. Jaxson already told me he was gonna hit it and quit it.”
“Gross, just make sure he sees some proper ID so he doesn’t get charged for statutory rape.”
Landon put his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, help me take some of this stuff to my truck.”
I still wasn’t too happy about this chick getting away with all the crap she pulled today. I knew I couldn’t get away with trying something so I turned to the one person who could, Peyton.
After I helped Landon carry some stuff to his truck I went to look for Peyton. When I found her, I pulled her aside, turned in the direction of JoJo, and said, “Do your worst.”
Peyton smiled devilishly, happy to finally let her do something. I could only imagine what she had up her sleeve. Peyton walked over to the picnic table where JoJo was sitting with Kallie.
“Hey, you guys wanna help me clean this stuff up?” she asked them.
“Sure,
” Kallie said. JoJo rolled her eyes at her and just sat there. This only fueled Peyton more.
While cleaning up, Peyton ‘accidentally’ knocked over some cups filled with soda that just happened to spill all down JoJo’s back.
She jumped up and yelped.
“Oops my bad,” Peyton said.
JoJo did not look happy.
Peyton turned to Kallie. “Kallie, dig fast.” She threw the mustard bottle to Kallie, well a little to the left of Kallie, but not before unscrewing the cap. Peyton knew this could have gone several ways, but what happened next couldn’t have been any better.
Kallie panicked, not being very good at sports—obviously—and reached with both hands to catch the mustard. She caught it and squeezed it hard enough the cap flew off and mustard went flying all over JoJo.
JoJo screamed.
Mustard was in her hair, on her face, all over her arms and legs and white bikini. I started cracking up and so did Peyton. JoJo just stood there, shocked and humiliated. Kallie tried to help her clean it off, but JoJo yelled at her and stomped off to the bathroom with Kallie close behind. I came up next to Peyton and told her good work. Then I helped her finish cleaning up.
The guys were finished unloading the boat and started to help us clean up. Tommy looked at the mustard on the ground and asked what happened.
“JoJo and Kallie had a little accident,” Peyton said trying not to laugh.
“What did you guys do?” Landon asked automatically accusing us.
“We didn’t do anything,” Peyton and I said using our best sweet and innocent voices. Landon just shook his head and walked away.
We had everything finished by the time the girls were back from the bathroom. JoJo managed to clean most of the mess off of her, but her bathing suit was another story. The soda stained the back and she had mustard stains all down the front. It looked like she shit and pissed herself. Granted our little act might have been immature, it was worth it.
JoJo just grabbed her stuff and walked away without saying a word to anyone. “I guess I better go,” Krystal said following JoJo and Kallie. Once they left we all said our goodbyes and headed on our separate ways.
Tommy told us he was going to catch a ride with Jessie. This made me very happy. When we got to my house we said goodbye to Peyton and Cole walked me to my door. “You want to come in?” I asked Cole.
“I don’t want to keep you up.”
“No it’s fine, besides, I owe you.”
“Owe me for what?”
“You helped me clean so I could go to the lake and we really didn’t get to spend much time together.” He hesitated, not sure. “Come on, well watch a movie.” He said okay and followed me in.
I got some water out of the fridge for us and gestured for Cole to have a seat on the couch and then turned on the TV. I sat down next to Cole and he put his arm around me. He still didn’t have a shirt on, partly because I was wearing it.
“I had a really great time tonight,” Cole said.
“You mean with JoJo.”
“No, the time I spent with you,” he said very seriously meeting my eyes and I knew he was telling the truth.
He leaned in and kissed me. It was just like the first time we kissed soft and gently—until I kissed back. The kiss grew harder and more intense. I pulled him down on top of me, my hands slowly moving down his bare chest. I felt his body shake slightly at my touch.
Cole took his hand and tangled his fingers in my hair and I kissed him harder. With his other hand he slowly reached under my shirt. His hand slid up my side and back down to my hip grazing my skin lightly. It was that soft touch that sent shivers down my spine. Our hips pressed together.
Feeling the intensity of the kiss and wanting more, Cole took his hand from my hip and slowly moved it back up my side, this time pulling the shirt with it. As he pulled the shirt up I shifted slightly so he could pull it off. He moved his lips across my jaw and down my neck. He then brushed his lips across my chest while tracing his fingertips along the brim of my bikini top and down to my belly button. As he moved his lips back to mine I slid my hand around the back of his neck and into his hair.
He now had his hand on my lower back and was pulling me tighter against him. The feel of our bare skin touching was like a burning fire. I knew if I somehow didn’t take control of this I wouldn’t be able to stop. I moved to roll over on top of him, forgetting we were on the couch, and knocked him right off.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”
“If you wanted to stop all you had to do was ask,” he joked from where he landed on the floor.
Feeling embarrassed, I helped him back up on the couch. “I’m sorry, it was an accident.”
“It’s okay,” he smiled lightly. “I should go.” He kissed me on my forehead and stood up to leave. I didn’t want him to go, but I knew things would go too far if he stayed so I walked him to the door.
“Thanks, again,” I said.
“Goodnight Tatum,” was all he said and walked away.
I closed the door behind him and slid down to the floor. What the hell am I going to do? I think I might be falling for Cole. Scratch that, I think I already did.
The life given to us by nature is short, but the memory of a well spent life is eternal
- Cicero
Chapter 7
I headed up to my bedroom trying to shake the thought of being in love with Cole. This is the last thing I wanted, to fall in love. I don’t want this. I don’t want to have my heart broken. I thought of calling it quits with Cole for a while, to get my head on straight. I told myself this feeling is lust, not love.
Wednesday morning I was up and ready for work by ten. I hadn’t spoken to or seen Cole since Sunday. He had text me, but I chose to ignore it. Hoping he would think I wasn’t interested in him anymore and move on.
By the time I got to work it was chaotic. Stylists were running around everywhere trying to organize their stations and keep up with their clients. I have never seen it this busy on a Wednesday before.
“Peyton, what’s going on? Why is everyone so wound up?”
“I don’t know. We got slammed with phone calls today for people wanting to get in. Everyone is over-booked.”
“Is there some big event going on?”
It was Jenna that answered me. “There’s some kind of beauty pageant. They all called at the last minute.”
I checked out my schedule and I was booked with up ‘dos’ and makeup all day. I didn’t mind, they were two of my favorite things to do. Most of the older stylists usually past them on to us, but being booked like this they had no choice to take some of their own.
I set everything up at my station and got to work. I wasn’t as panicked as the other girls, like I said these were the two things I enjoyed to do the most.
By two o’clock most of us had finished with last of the contestants. They ranged in ages from five to eighteen. My lungs felt like I inhaled about twenty pounds of hairspray and my fingers were coated so bad I could’ve stuck myself to the wall. Once things settled down the other stylists seemed to relax. After I finished with my last girl, I decided to take my lunch break.
“Hey Peyton you hungry?”
“Starved.”
“Let’s go to Tino’s and eat.”
Tino’s was one of the local restaurants in our shopping plaza. I took some of the tips I made so far today stuffed them in my pocket and headed out the door with Peyton. That’s when I ran into Cole. I guess avoiding him is going to be harder than I thought, just seeing him sent chills through my entire body.
Caught off-guard all I managed was, “Hi.”
“Hey,” he said with his shoulders slumped. He didn’t look like his usual chipper self. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Uh yeah, Peyton I’ll meet you over there.”Peyton nodded and left for the restaurant.
I waited for Cole to say something. He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.
“So, um…did
I do something wrong?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I just thought you were mad at me or something since you won’t text me back.”
I could see the worry in his eyes. “No, I’m sorry I’ve just been really busy.”
I knew he could tell it was a lie. The last thing I wanted to do is hurt him, but spending time with him makes it harder for me to not want to be with him. I know it sounds silly, but I’m not that girl who falls in love and I don’t want to be. I thought we could just keep things casual. At least until I can find a way to let him down easy, but every time I looked into his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, it made saying no that much harder.
I gave in a little. “Look, how about tonight we go see a movie. I get off around five.”
“Alright, I’ll call you,” he said perking up slightly. I gave him a smile and said goodbye, then went to meet Peyton.
“Hey you alright?” Peyton asked right away.
“Yeah fine, why?” She didn’t answer. She just looked at me strange and went back to looking at her menu. We ate lunch and headed back to the salon. I finished up my work day and went home to check out what movies were in.
Great, nothing but romantic comedies. There was one scary movie in, and that, I was not interested in seeing, but it seemed better than the other choices. I called Cole and suggested the scary movie. He seemed fine with it and said he’d pick me up at six so I got ready and waited for Cole.
As soon as he picked me up I felt like it was our first date all over again. Neither of us seemed sure what to say, like there was some tension between us. We didn’t talk until we arrived at the theater.
“What did you do today?” I asked Cole.
“Just hung around.” He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk. I could tell he was upset by something, but was afraid to ask. I had a feeling it was me and didn’t want to have to confess anything.
We didn’t talk the rest of the night. It was awkward, and uncomfortable. When the movie was over Cole dropped me off and we said goodbye. I didn’t know what to say to him. I was starting to feel bad, wishing I never met him only because that would make this easier. I felt selfish and I wanted to text and tell him something. Something that would help, but there was nothing I could say now. Not when I was trying to keep my distance.
The Hairdresser Diaries Page 14