by Preston, LM
His friend Jake rushed in behind him. “I hope she’s okay, because I didn’t mean to hit her with the ball,” Jake commented. “I’m sorry she blamed you, Colin.”
Colin shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to hang around. I’ll stay with her till she wakes up. Since I’m the one she tried to attack,” he laughed. Colin couldn’t help it. Since she’d seemed to calm down and was humming in her sleep. A small dimple appeared on her cheek and she twisted her body so she spooned his hips as he sat on the bed.
“Cool. Thanks for taking the rap for me. It was a stupid plan.” Jake slapped Colin on the back and left.
Colin moved so Jewel was no longer wrapped around him. His hand itched to adjust her neck on the pillow, but he thought better of it and put his hand on his knee.
Amy walked over to stand next to him. “Maybe you shouldn’t be here when she wakes up. She’s been in a bad mood since she broke up with her boyfriend.”
Colin lifted an eyebrow. “Who?” Then he waved a hand. “Don’t tell me. I don’t care anyway. I want to apologize and get it over with.” That was the Jewel he knew from school. The Ice Princess, or Queen of Hearts they called her, since guys lined up to give her their hearts and she usually ripped them in two before stomping on them. Colin had to watch his cousin destroy everything in their room into pieces after she’d broken up with him by sending him a picture with a sign saying, “I’m sorry but it’s over.” Priceless. Even though, if he was honest with himself, he’d found Jewel to be an enigma.
Every time he’d passed her in the hallways at school, he got a shock of electricity in his chest. He didn’t know why, because he didn’t see anything about her that made him want her. Up until this year, he’d been in love with Summer, his girlfriend of two years. It didn’t stop him from seeking out the ‘break-up princess’ in the hallways though. Jewel always seemed to have other girls around her, not only her cheerleading friends either. It almost appeared to him that she worked at keeping her friends laughing with all the jokes she made, not to mention the times she’d used those same girls as a backdrop for some of her over-the-top boyfriend ‘dump’ tricks to the jocks in the school. He’d heard she’d even had a blog that she posted her creative break up tactics to share with other girls. Colin didn’t believe that story on her, but after her blow up at him earlier, it just might be true.
“I’m telling you if she wakes up and sees you there, she’s going to flip out,” Amy insisted. “If you want to apologize, we’ll be at the boardwalk later today. Maybe then if she’s not still mad at you, she’ll listen.”
Colin shouldn’t care if Jewel accepted his apology or not. But he did. Even though he wanted to despise her, something in him couldn’t. Maybe because she was beautiful, even with the splotchy birthmark on the side of her neck that she tried to cover up with her hand even in her sleep.
Jewel snuggled closer to him, her arm snaking to rest around his hip. Colin tensed. It tingled. He knew he had to get out of there.
“Cool, catch you later.” Colin hurried out of the room and down the blue paneled hallway to get as far from Jewel Depree as he could.
Colin watched Jake and Chad toss a football on the boardwalk. They always played the same game to get the attention of the ladies. Well, earlier that day it hadn’t worked, and Jake made a joke that he could pop the volleyball over to the girls sharing the beach bungalow with them. Thanks to Jake’s lack of skill, instead of hitting the volleyball on the deck to give Jake an excuse to say hello to the girls next door, the incident got Jewel hurt. The duplex beach house attached to Jewel’s was owned by Jake’s father. Every summer, Jake invited Colin to come with them. It was the best gift his friend could ever give him. It got him away from his distant family and made him more relaxed, which was something he never felt at home.
Leaving his aunt’s house to stay with Jake for the summer also gave him some time with his friends from his old neighborhood. It had only been hard to be away all summer long last year when he was dating Summer. He’d missed his best friend and Summer worked hard to talk her parents into bringing her up for a few weekends. But that was over now, she was gone. Moved out of state. Even though they talked on the phone, they both knew a long distance relationship wouldn’t work.
“Hey, you coming or what?” Jake waved him over to the three girls standing next to the candy shop on the rickety wood boardwalk. His blond hair and blue eyes always worked to lure in girls.
“Yeah. Hurry up, man,” Chad joked, his brown skin and buffed muscles a contrast to his white t-shirt. He flexed his muscles at the girls just to get a few blushes out of them.
Colin grinned at them. His friends were determined to hook him up with a new girl. Maybe it was time he moved on, so he jogged over. “What’s up?”
Jake elbowed him. “This is Sheri, Taylor and Pam, they want to come to the beach house and hang out with us tonight.”
Colin raked a hand through his hair. It never failed. Jake always made it known that they were at the beach house alone. It impressed girls, big-time. If his father knew he’d probably hang out there more often, but Jake made it seem like they were hanging out doing nothing whenever his father dropped in to check up on them.
“Hi, Colin.” Taylor smiled and stepped closer.
Colin eyed her long red hair and green eyes, thinking he got the best pick from the group. “Hey, did you want to go get some ice cream, hang out on the beach up there and talk?” He tilted his head in the direction of his friends. “Away from these guys?”
Taylor’s mouth made a surprised O and Colin frowned wondering what he’d said wrong. The hairs on his neck rose. He could’ve sworn he felt the warmth of someone’s breath tickling his ear.
Jewel smacked her teeth from behind him. “Did he tell you he has a girlfriend?”
Colin spun around to see Jewel standing there, her honey brown hair draped over her dark tan shoulders, a yellow bikini top covering full breasts, and her hands on her curved hips. She pursed her lips at him.
Taylor stuttered. “You…she? Oh!” Her hand shot out like lightning as she slapped Colin in the face then stormed off to catch up with her friends.
“What did you do that for?” Colin yelled and stepped closer to Jewel who was bent over laughing. He couldn’t believe Jewel would seek him out to do this kind of damage. Now he knew she was exactly like his cousin stated, a tease and a manipulative witch.
“That’s payback, for this.” Jewel pointed at the small bump over her eye.
“It’s not what you think!” Colin ran his hand through is hair. He couldn’t keep his eyes from traveling down her chest to land on the bellybutton ring, shaped like a butterfly, above her shorts. What the heck was wrong with him? This was Jewel, reigning breakup Queen of Hearts, and the last girl he wanted to see practically naked and sticking out her pouty lips at him.
“Yeah, I bet, it’s on. You haven’t begun to pay for this.” Jewel pointed at the bump. “I had to cover up the bruise with makeup. You’ve ruined my summer.” She glared at him. “So I’m ruining yours.” With a huff she twisted around and sashayed away.
Instead of him being angry, he couldn’t help the buzzing in his chest, as her swaying hips strutted down the boardwalk.
Jewel stared at her reflection in the mirror and patted on several extra layers of makeup hoping it hid the purple spot on her forehead. Then she put more foundation on the circular spot at the base of her neck. Her dreaded birthmark that she wished would just go away. Although, ever since she was a little girl, the brown mark taunted her by getting bigger. Finally the mark stopped growing when she’d reach twelve. Before her father had left, he used to tell her the birthmark was fairy kissed and it held her magic. For the longest time she believed that—until he’d left. Ever since that day, the birthmark was harder to look at. It reminded her that her father hadn’t loved her or her mother enough to stick around.
Even with thoughts of her dad, her mind couldn’t stop skipping to Colin. How tall Colin was, how h
is voice sounded, how he made her feel. The short time she’d followed him to catch him at just the right time to exact her punishments made her chest tickle with butterflies, her tummy feel weird and her hands shake. The truth was, it took a lot of self-control to make herself walk away and not peek back over her shoulder when she taunted him in front of that girl. What was wrong with her? Why Colin? The guy who slammed her upside the head with a volleyball and ruined the only bikini she had the money to purchase by saving all her money from her part-time job.
It’d been a few days since her prank on the boardwalk, but she made sure to see Colin every chance she got. Casually, peering at him from under her shades while pretending to be sunbathing. Also, she was guilty of checking out his broad chest from her vantage point in the beach waves, while he was helping his friend Jake fix some of the wood planks on the deck. All of this was because she was trying to figure out another way to prank him.
Her phone rang and her mother’s face appeared on the screen. No way she was answering that one either. Jewel picked up and applied her cherry lip-gloss and waited for the final beep of her phone that signaled her mom had hung up. Talking to her mom lately had always resulted in her biting her tongue, hoping to not tip her mother’s mood swings over the edge. When her mother had a new guy, she’d want to talk about him all the time. Then she would tell Jewel she should be more polite to the guy. It would end in Jewel finally losing her temper, being unable to hold in all her anger at her mother waltzing one guy after another into their home who snatched more and more time she had with her mom away from her. It wasn’t as though she didn’t want her mom to be happy, it was that only Jewel really noticed that her mom wasn’t happy at all – not one bit, since her father left them. But how could she blame her mom for being a fake? Jewel couldn’t deny that she herself had been perpetrating the fraud of being the happy, funny cheerleader who didn’t have issues for the longest time.
So what her mom had a nice house, but what no one else knew but Jewel was, they were about to lose it to the bank. Her mother had been posing around town like she was wealthy, but all those divorces cost her mother everything. And lately, the men her mother fell for were freeloaders, who didn’t have a reliable job and milked her mother of loads of money for their habits. Gambling habits, drug habits, or spending habits. Jewel’s chest ached just thinking about this.
A broken sigh slipped from Jewel’s lips as she started to apply eyeliner. “Ugh!” Jewel threw the eyeliner on the dresser. What was she doing? She was supposed to be forgetting about this stuff and having a good time.
Megs came in the room and tied her sundress straps behind her neck. “What’s got you in a mood? This isn’t like you. Remember we’re on vacation.”
Jewel smacked her teeth. She loved her cousin, and figured when school started back she would ask her mom if she could move in with Megs. That way she wouldn’t have to change schools, and she’d be out of her mother’s hair, which was what her mother had been hinting at since she got a ring from her new, much younger fiancé.
“Hey, really, you have to lighten up. If you don’t you can’t go with us.” Megs smiled and nudged her with her elbow.
Jewel couldn’t help it, she smiled. “Okay, who wants to stay in the beach house all day? Where are we going?”
“Next door. Jake and I, well…he likes me and we are going down the beach to have a bonfire with his cousin and best friend, Colin.” Meg was playing with her hair.
Jewel narrowed her eyes at that, because Megs only played with her hair when she was hiding something. “Please tell me you don’t plan on setting me up with anyone.”
Megs bit her lip. “What makes you think that?” She pivoted away and picked up her purse.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’ve been my best cousin forever and I know what it means when you play with your hair.” She laughed.
“Okay, if you want to sneak it out of me, Jake’s friend from the beach house up the road thought you were cute, and um, he’ll be there. Oh, and Colin—you know the guy you pretended to be his girlfriend, and dumped a bucket of sea water on from your window?” Megs put her purse on her arm and smiled coyly. “He’ll be there too.”
Jewel couldn’t hold back a laugh, the image of a frowning Colin teased her and she recalled that prank being almost as good as the first one she did on him.
“So? I don’t care if Colin is going to be there – or this other guy. Do you remember that I recently broke up with Matt? Why would I want to go jump out and get another boyfriend? I don’t ask for these guys to chase me, they ask me. Then you and Amy pressure me into being their girlfriend saying I’m being mean and that I need to give these guys a chance. But that’s not working. It never has. Maybe…maybe I need to be alone for awhile. It’s like I’m alone when I’m dating these guys anyway.” Jewel plopped on the bed, “On second thought, you go on without me.”
Megs pulled at Jewel’s arm. “No! You will not hide out in the beach house. I didn’t bribe my aunt to let you come so you could sit around and feel sorry for yourself.” She gave up her tugging on Jewel’s arm to sit next to her.
“I’m not feeling sorry for myself.” Jewel threw up a limp smile. “Okay, maybe a little. But you know my mom. I don’t want to be like her. It bugs me how she jumps to the next guy that seems interested. That’s been my mistake. I want something real.”
“Real? Well I get that, but the only way you are going to find something real is to get out there and meet prospects. Especially, when we are on a beach vacation. I mean, when was the last time you’ve been to the beach?” Megs bumped elbows with her.
Jewel smirked and tapped her finger on her chin. “When my father was married to my mom. He liked the beach then.”
“Yeah, I remember Uncle Richard did love the beach, before what’s her name came along.” Megs snorted.
“I guess so, but,” Jewel shrugged, “let’s not go there.”
“Fine. You coming? It’ll be fun and you’ll get to play another prank on Colin.” Megs winked. “I’ve seen your mind working and the ‘I’m gonna take a picture of your glare’ staring in his direction when you don’t think anyone’s watching.”
“I really shouldn’t. I got him slapped last time. I should apologize. That’s so not like me to be that catty.” Jewel’s chest fluttered. Maybe she was, just a little bit catty. But if she didn’t want him to dislike her like all her ex-boyfriends, maybe she should just leave him alone.
Jewel watched Megs practically skip over to Jake. She’d been avoiding Colin and the others for a few days. After she pulled her water prank on him she felt stupid and silly but didn’t have the guts to confront him and apologize.
Something about him made her come out of herself, want to play and tease. With her boyfriends she played the sweet girl who always acted perfect. Most of the time, they never even wanted to listen to her, they just went on and on about whatever sport they played, or who they didn’t like. Oh, and they told her time and time again how ‘hot’ she was. Then usually, they tried to see if she was ‘ready’ for the big step in the relationship. Unfortunately, quite a few of them got forceful and scared her. That’s usually when she felt the need to dump them. It became almost a burden to make sure that whenever she was walking the halls at school, her friends were around her to make her feel safe. The confrontations she’d had with one guy left a bruise and bump on her head after she’d broken up with him.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think about having sex with the right guy and all. It was just that she didn’t want to be manipulated into it. But the thing was, everyone, even her cousin, had thought she’d already done it. They assumed that just because she’d had tons of boyfriends, she got them and kept them wanting her because she had sex with them. Funny but they seemed to want her the more she told them no then their previous girlfriends who had no problem saying yes to sex or whatever else her ex-boyfriend wanted from other girls.
Jewel searched around for Colin. “I may as well get the apolog
y out of the way since I’m crashing their party,” she mumbled as her eyes landed on Colin, who was propped back against a rock. Unfortunately, bile bubbled up in her throat watching the blond haired girl leaning in and planting kisses on his smiling face.
She stepped back. Colin’s eyes landed on hers. Jewel blinked, shocked that she was actually tearing up. Over him? Colin? Stupid, she was stupid. “What’s wrong with me?” She turned away and walked as fast as she could towards the rushing water, away from the cozy fire and torches that lit up the sands.
Finally she got to the edge of the water and sat just shy of the waves. “Colin probably thinks I’m crazy and a stalker.”
“Why would I think that?” Colin’s light voice floated above the crashing waves.
Jewel’s eyes widened. Just great, now she did look like a fool. “Oh.” she cleared her throat and brushed nervous hands down her sandy legs, “because of what I did to you the other day. Uh, and the day before that.” He was gorgeous. The kind that didn’t wear it like he knew it. His wavy hair blew against his face and she just wanted to reach out and touch it. Instead, she ran sand through her fingers and turned towards the sea.
He sat next to her. Close enough for Jewel to smell the soft cologne he wore. Part of her felt self-conscious, like she should scoot away. Another part of her wanted to move closer. But she crossed her arms and berated herself for acting so needy.
Colin laughed. “The best one was when I got slapped. Yeah, that was a good one.”
She smiled back at him. “I guess it was.” She giggled. “I’m really sorry though. That’s so not me. I’m not usually so vindictive. At least back home when I’m in school I’m not that way.” Her skin tingled at his acceptance and light response to her rather mean joke.
