by Preston, LM
“Someone for you?” Colin slid down near her. “About Taylor and me in the kitchen, it’s okay. I pretty much was attacked. You saved me.” He nudged her with his elbow.
Jewel couldn’t help but giggle. “Really, it didn’t look like it. I mean you’re like a foot taller than her or something.”
“Trust me, the girl is stronger than she appeared. Taylor had her hand in my hair and I was trapped between her hip and the kitchen counter. Real uncomfortable.” Colin smiled.
Jewel grinned at him. “Oh, and how did you get away from her? Seems to me her tongue was pretty far down your throat.”
“You did it for me. You created a diversion. I pushed her away…then walked her home.” He cleared his throat. “I think she hates me now. She asked if you were my girlfriend still. Even though I explained to her that you were just playing a joke when you came over. For some reason, she felt I wasn’t giving her any attention. Apparently, I was trying to make you jealous so you would take me back. That’s the accusation she gave me when she slapped me for the second time at her front door.”
“No! Oh my gosh! I’m really sorry I played that prank on you.” Jewel patted his arm with her hand before jerking it away.
Colin grasped her hand. “I’m not. It was funny. And I liked having a good laugh.” He studied her with his eyes with his thumb rubbing across her hand.
Tingles tickled her hand where his thumb teased patterns. Jewel didn’t know whether to bend her fingers into his or to pull away, but he released her hand before she could do either. “Well, you did hit me with the volleyball. So you started this.” She grinned.
“Aah. That’s where you’re wrong. Jake hit you.” His eyebrow rose. “Not me.”
Jewel’s jaw dropped. “Oh no!” She wanted to laugh at herself and kick herself at the same time. Poor Colin tolerated all her abuse and it was his friend Jake’s fault. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe because it was fun being the center of your attention.”
“So, you forgive me?” Jewel hopped in front of him on her knees, said, “Please,” with a pout. Then she hopped again, making a silly face.
Colin chuckled. A hungry gaze passed over his face just as he pulled her into his lap, ticking her. “I don’t know yet. Torturing may work.” He tickled her more.
She squirmed in his arms. “I give! I give!”
“I accept your apology.” Colin slipped her off his lap, still laughing.
Jewel stared at his lips. Colin’s were full and strong. She wanted him to kiss her, there in that moment, while they were alone. But she sensed his discomfort when his gaze slid from hers to the sea.
She sat up. “So, what are you doing after the summer?”
“Going back to school, living with my cousin’s family. Then I hope to finish up my Art internship at the museum.” He picked up a rock and threw it in the water.
“Hmm, where do you go to school? You got a girlfriend there?” Jewel picked up a few rocks, tossed them towards the waves and missed.
“I go to the same school you do. Been there for three years.” He glanced at her. “I had a girlfriend for two years. We broke up a few months before school ended when she moved away.”
“Now I’m lost. I didn’t recognize you. I know the school is big, but I guess I walk around just thinking of all of my issues. Do we have any of the same friends?” Jewel thought through her memories at school. She still couldn’t place Colin. However, it might be because she’d spent so much of her time working hard to have her close friends stay with her in case her recent ex-boyfriend tried to confront her.
“Um, yeah, do you know a guy named Tank?” Colin rubbed his hands on his legs as if he was agitated.
“I dated a guy named Tank. But we uh, broke up awhile ago. I avoid him, ever since we broke up he started glaring at me in the hallways.” That wasn’t all he’d done. Tank, had also ripped her shirt off her after he’d smacked her hard across the face when she refused to have sex with him. Tank was the guy who made her come up with a plan to always have a friend with her at school.
“Well, he’s my cousin. I live with him.”
Jewel flopped back into the sand. “Oh, wow. I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell me?” Now this was bad. Colin and Tank cousins? At least Colin didn’t seem anything like his butt-head cousin. She felt sick to her stomach.
“I figured that you already knew. I thought you ripped my cousin Tank’s heart to shreds just to be mean.” He tossed several more rocks, one after the other, into the water.
Jewel wondered if that’s what everyone thought of her now at school. Her friends teased her about it, but she brushed it off because her problems at home seemed so much worse than what went on at school. “That’s not why I broke up with him. We…he, I probably shouldn’t talk about that relationship. But trust me, your cousin deserved to be dumped, probably more than any of my other boyfriends.” Jewel slid her arm over her eyes. Tank…his cousin? The human octopus that seemed to grow like ten hands whenever he got her alone. What a mess.
“I can respect that.”
“How do you like living with him? Are you close?” Jewel hoped not. She liked Colin, who seemed so different from Tank. Where Tank had light eyes and fair skin, Colin was tan, with dark hair.
“Not really that close. But we give each other space. I’ve always been into art and jujitsu, which never really jelled with him. So we just shared a room. My aunt favors him and just leaves me alone as long as she gets the money she needs from the trust fund left for me after my parents’ deaths.”
“I knew you were different than him.” Jewel stared at him a minute. “I do remember you. I saw you once painting the mural at the school, the one on the main hall with some girl.”
“That was me and Summer, my girl, my ex-girlfriend. We both liked most of the same things. She was an artist too, it’s how we met in class.”
Jewel couldn’t believe it, but she was a little jealous of what he had with his old girlfriend. “You dated her for two whole years? You must’ve loved her.”
Colin smiled, with a faraway look. “Yeah, I did, more than anyone. I needed her to love me. I felt alone at a new school, sharing a room with my cousin. Summer was a free spirit and spontaneous, I needed her probably more than she needed me then.”
Jewel sighed. It felt like cotton was stuck in her throat. “Do you still love her like that?”
He smirked. “I guess so, but she’s not here. I can’t say I’m in love with her like that anymore. I’ll always love her, be friends with her, but…”
“Well, at least you had that. With all the boyfriends I had, I didn’t love any of them,” she tried to act nonchalant about it. But the truth was, she wondered if she ever would love someone like Colin had. The way her parents had ripped her heart in pieces by disappointing her time and time again, the heart she’d give to some guy would be totally twisted. If they didn’t see how much she loved them, nor did they care, who else would?
Colin belted out a laugh. “You can’t be serious? You didn’t fall in love with any of them?”
Jewel frowned, what did Colin think of her, that she fell for anyone just because she had a boyfriend, “No. That was my mistake. I made up my mind I won’t be anyone’s girlfriend unless I’m in love with them first. Otherwise it’s a waste of time.”
“Good luck with that.” Colin stood up. “So are we friends now?” He put out his hand to help her stand.
“Truce?” Jewel smiled when Colin nodded back at her. “Then yes, we’re friends.”
Colin wrapped and arm around her shoulder, and Jewel fought the sensation to snuggle against him. Jewel trembled when she felt his warm breath against her ear, and he whispered, “Race you!”
It was official. Colin felt like crud. He and Jewel were friends, and it didn’t help that every single time she came around him, he wanted to grab her, kiss her, hold her, smell her, breathe her in and make her notice him.
But she didn’t. She always came ar
ound him and joked, hardly ever looking him in the eye like she felt uncomfortable around him. He’d pushed, just a bit here and there to see if she was interested and she always politely or jokingly skirted away from his touches. Earlier in the week, he and the guys took the girls out to the boardwalk. He’d won her a teddy bear. Then she’d hugged him before she could stop herself. For an awkward moment he held her there and wanted to kiss her, but didn’t.
He had to get past this, and being at this party thrown by one of Jake’s friends further down the beach would be a good way to keep Jewel in the ‘friend-zone’ where he was safer. Even though she’d been manipulated by the jocks at his school, made an object of some stupid bet to de-virginize her, she wasn’t completely innocent. Each time she broke up with one of the guys who bet on the right to be the one to initiate her, she did it with flair on the cruel side. From twitter post, to notes left on their lockers, to dedicating break up songs used during cheers that she led, and more. If he wasn’t a guy, he’d probably be laughing at her dumping techniques.
He walked to Jake who was joking around with one of the guys at the pool—surrounded by a bunch of girls, as usual.
“What’s up? How long you staying?” Colin asked.
“Till I find someone to walk home with?” Jake laughed.
“What’s up with Megs? I thought you and her were hitting it off.” Colin’s eyes scanned the party to see Jewel was there with Megs. He spotted Jewel flirting with some guy. At least it appeared like she was by the way she was laughing with him. But Megs was sitting beside her, glaring at Jake.
“She’s mad at me because I told her I just wanted to have fun this summer. She wants more and I don’t do ‘relationships’ so she’s been giving me the death glare ever since.” Jake glanced over at Megs, appearing a bit uncomfortable before turning away from her.
Colin chuckled. “Dude, she’s going to hurt you.” Colin slapped Jake on the back as Megs scowled harder to the point where her eyes were almost slits.
Jake shrugged. “I’ve moved on. She should.”
Colin’s eyebrow lifted, and he noticed Jake’s sized up Megs once more. It didn’t appear to Colin that Jake had actually moved on, but whatever.
Colin started to go in the opposite direction of Jewel, not wanting to get angry watching the guy she was with get closer to her as the music picked up. Taylor was walking in his direction, and he turned hoping to avoid her. He swung around, barely missing, the girl in front of him.
“Hi, you look like you’re running from someone.” The girl smiled at him, then stuck out her hand. “I’m April.”
“Colin.” He shook her hand. Colin eyed the guy getting closer to Jewel and noticed the uncomfortable stance Jewel took as she tried to step away. Screw it, he was getting Jewel out of here. “Excuse me.”
Colin stormed over to the boy that was cornering Jewel. “Hey, she’s with me, okay?”
The guy pushed him. “No, she wasn’t.”
Jewel stepped between them. “Yeah, I am.” She grasped Colin’s hand. Relief flooded her features when she dragged him away through the crowd of kids dancing and talking.
Colin’s breath caught when she finally slowed down. They made their way out of the back yard of the house. She tugged him a bit further until they stepped onto the beach. Jewel’s see-through white blouse flapped around her black tank top. She twisted around to smile at him and released his hand.
“Thanks,” Jewel said breathlessly.
“Anytime.” He wanted to grab her hand again, but instead he stuffed his in his jeans pockets.
“That sleaze wouldn’t get the hint. I told him I was waiting for somebody.” She slid off the thin blouse and tied it around her waist. Her black t-shirt clung tightly to her darkly tanned skin.
Colin snatched his t-shirt off and tossed it over his shoulder. “Want to go in the water?”
She smiled at him and his heart swelled—literally, he felt like it grew.
“Beat ya!” She pushed his chest and ran into the waves, splashing him as he hit the water.
“Come here!” Colin splashed her back. Her sandy brown hair was blown to and fro by the wind as he chased her. He grabbed her around the waist, holding her while the waves crashed in. His hands actually shook when he pulled her close. He had it bad. Real bad. And if he didn’t get a grip, he’d be her next humiliated dumpee.
Jewel stopped laughing. A wry smile bloomed on her face as she touched his cheek. “What did you think about me when you…before you saw me here this summer?”
Why did girls always ask these questions, the ones they really didn’t want to hear the truth to, but asked guys anyway? Colin didn’t want to answer, didn’t want to tell her what he thought about her. “I don’t think I should…”
“Please, I want to know what people at school really think about me. Most of all, what you think of me.” Jewel’s eyes pleaded for answers.
“I…uh…” Colin stepped away and tilted his chin towards the sky at the sprinkling of drizzling rain. “I thought you were shallow, easy, and stuck-up.” He swallowed, and searched her eyes, hoping she didn’t think worse of him for misjudging her. Water teased the corners of her eyes; he didn’t know if they were tears or raindrops from the slight drizzle of drops from the gathering clouds above.
Jewel staggered back. “It’s not true! Why? I didn’t do anything wrong. Ask your cousin what he did!”
“I didn’t have to. It’s what everyone thought, but…” Colin reached for her.
Jewel slapped his hand away. “You were stuck-up and judgmental. You never even tried to get to know me. To see for yourself, but you believed what everyone else thought. I-I’m sorry I asked. I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“I’m sorry too.” Colin wanted to tell her everything, but telling her what the guys at school were doing to her didn’t seem like a good idea. Especially now that she was mad at him.
“Tell me, what changed? What do you think about me now? Will you…want to be my friend when we get back?” Her hands nervously rubbed her arms.
“I don’t know what I want.” That wasn’t quite true; he wanted to tell her how he felt. That he wanted more, but he didn’t deserve it after the things he thought about her. After what his cousin tried to do to her. If he told her, he wouldn’t have a chance with her, not even as a friend.
Thunder lit up the sky and Jewel started to run. Colin couldn’t let Jewel go back alone. Colin ran after her, catching up in no time. Another clap of thunder lit the sky, and when he grabbed Jewel’s hand, he yanked Jewel into his arms.
“I want this.” His lips touched Jewel’s. Colin couldn’t help himself, couldn’t stop. The rain fell harder, but it didn’t cool his heated skin. Jewel’s lips froze, stunned. Colin pressed his lips deeper into hers, and Jewel whimpered then wrapped her arms around his neck. Colin deepened the kiss as if starving, thunder, and rain only fueled his desire to get closer. Colin dipped inside the warmth of her lips and was lost.
Jewel pushed him away, her shaking fingers touching her lips. “I. Uh. No!” And she ran. This time, he didn’t chase her.
Colin kept his distance, but followed until he made sure she was inside her beach house. Exhaling the breath he’d been holding, he sat on his deck, berating himself for pushing things too far. The pounding rain soothed the fire kissing Jewel had left on every inch of his skin.
Jewel stayed in her room the next day. And the next. Colin didn’t call or even try to talk to her. Jewel supposed she asked for it. He must be starting to think that all the things he heard about her was true. That kiss. It rocked her. She felt it to her toes, in her heart, her stomach. Everywhere. She wanted more.
Colin just caught her by surprise. Pushing him away and running seemed the best thing to do at the time. It was emotional overload, all because Colin—the one guy that her heart leaned towards, actually believed all those awful things the kids at school gossiped about. Being with her, couldn’t be what Colin wanted. Finding out Colin was one of the haters fr
om school broke her heart. Still…Jewel was amazed at how good he could kiss. Passion as if he was starving for her made Jewel wonder if Colin had ever kissed anyone else like that. What made him want to kiss her, of all people as if he’d been holding in the desire to do so for his entire life? Did he want revenge for the break up with his cousin? Jewel shuddered, just thinking about the last time she was alone with her bully ex-boyfriend. It was the same scary feeling that paralyzed her when alone with her mom’s fiancé.
Colin’s cousin probably bragged about her in some cruddy way. Jewel wasn’t stupid, she knew her ex-boyfriends probably lied about their relationships and what they did with her. Jewel had heard some of the guys whispering about her, then they whistled lewdly whenever their paths crossed. And what they said, she didn’t want to deal with. But it made her even more specific when she broke up with them, because before, her ex-boyfriends lied and told everyone that they dumped her after they screwed her. The names they’d call her were crude. Names her father had called her mother after they got divorced, and worse.
She’d started to think of Colin as her friend. Maybe, someday, as more. That was a stupid idea considering their last time together. Jewel covered her eyes with a hand. Her head throbbed with all the thoughts rolling around inside.
Megs was banging at the door. Jewel turned away from the noise and peered out the window. The rushing seas reflected the pounding in her chest. Jewel flinched at the knocking, which got louder. Jewel figured Megs was kicking more than hitting the door now.
“I’m coming!” Jewel wouldn’t fight it any longer, she’d let Megs in. She unlocked the door to Megs standing there with her hand on her hip, tapping her foot.
Megs stormed in. “Jewel, you can’t stay locked up in here.” She smacked her teeth. “I mean, what’s wrong with you? We were having a good time until you brushed me and Amy off.” Megs sat next to her.
“I’m sorry, but Colin and I, we just…I don’t know.” Jewel bent her legs and wrapped her arms around them, rocking on her bed.