June 20, 2009
8:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn Hotel Room


I laid there on the stiff Holiday Inn mattress, staring up at the ceiling. Cole was laying on his own bed a couple feet away from me. "This is so awkward." I murmured.

"Tell me about it," Cole replied. A strange silence fell between us, until Cole abruptly sat upright in his bed. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I just remembered that my mom is supposed to be visiting tomorrow morning and now I won't even be there!"

"Well it was your bright idea to come down to the beach." I muttered flatly.

"Well you agreed." he remarked. "Plus, I only came down here for you." he added softly. "I couldn't stand seeing you so upset."

I told myself not to give into his sweetness, but I just couldn't control it. "You know, if you weren't such a jerk, you'd probably be the sweetest guy I've ever met." I told him.

"Yeah, and if I weren't such a jerk, I’d be lucky enough to have you." He sighed, rolling over on his side, facing away from me.

"Well, I've forgiven Ash so many times so it would only be fair for me to forgive you too." I said.

He rolled over so that he was facing me, his face lighting up. "So you're forgiving me?" he asked hopefully.

A smile slowly spread across my face, "Of course I'm forgiving you, I love you." The joyful look on Cole's face was enough to make me feel happier than I ever have before. After all, this was the first time I'd ever told him that I loved him.

"I love you too." he replied sincerely. “And I’m so sorry about what I said back there on the boat. Yeah, at first I went out with you because of you’re looks. But then I actually got to know you. And now, I really do care about you.” Then he tentatively stood up from his bed and came over to mine. I sat up and Cole sat down next to me. He gently tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, as he looked into my eyes.

Then his lips met mine and he cradled my face in his rough hands. His kiss started off soft and gentle, but as I wrapped my arms around his neck, he pressed his lips even harder against my own.

I pushed down on his chest until his head was resting on the plain white pillow. It felt so dangerous making out with Cole like this. Ash and I had never gone this far before. The most we'd ever done was just a regular kiss. But kissing Cole was different. It felt risqué. And I liked it. A lot. I ran my hands through Cole's dark hair and his hands slid down to my waist. And then, ever so slowly, they began to travel up, under my shirt.

I felt something inside of me snap as Cole touched the bare skin of my lower back, and I pulled away from him.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Was I moving too fast?" I nodded, my mouth feeling dry and velvety. Then I stood up and took a deep, cleansing breath. "Sorry, I thought this is what you wanted." Cole told me, sitting up.

I opened my mouth to tell him that I most definitely didn't want this to happen yet, but the beep of my cell phone interrupted me.

I grabbed the phone off of my bedside table to find that I had a new text. From Ash. It read: Hey, wutcha doing?

I bit my lip and texted back: Nothing, how about u?

"Who's that?" Cole asked me.

"Um, no one," I replied hastily. "Just my mom,"

Cole smirked knowingly. "You mean Ash?"

I shrugged sheepishly in response. Cole was about to say something else, but my cell phone beeped again. I read Ash’s new text message silently in my head: I'm just thinking about u

I immediately felt guilty. And I also felt like I should tell Ash the truth.

"Let me guess," Cole said, "Ash just said something completely fake, yet mildly sweet, so now you feel bad."

"It was so not fake!" I cried. "And it was totally sweet! He told me he was thinking about me."

Cole's eyebrows knitted together, "Seriously? I thought he would try a little harder than that, but I guess not."

To my surprise, my phone beeped yet again. "What could he have to say now?" I wondered aloud. The I read: Call me

"Would you excuse me for a moment?" I said to Cole. "I have a phone call I need to make." Then, without waiting for a response, I slipped into the hotel room's bathroom and shut the door behind me. Once I was inside, I called Ash.

"Hi," he answered.

"Hey, why'd you want me to call you?" I asked.

"Well the truth is, I didn't tell you the truth just now. I’m doing more than just thinking about you. Kristy just came over and tried to make a move on me."

"What?" I shrieked.

"I'm so sorry, Evalynne. I didn't even realize what was going on, and before I knew it, she was kissing me."

"She kissed you?" I cried into the phone. I was pretty sure that Ash would be deaf by the time I hung up.

"I'm sorry," And I could tell by his voice that he really was, but I just couldn't believe Kristy would do something like that. And I also couldn't believe how incredibly honest Ash was. Before I knew what was happening my guilty caught up with me and I began talking.

"Ash, I lied too. In fact, the truth is, Cole and I were just making out in the bed of a Holiday Inn hotel room. We were at it for probably four minutes straight, until he slipped his hand under my shirt. Then I pulled away."

"What?" Ash screamed. "That perverted jerk!"

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, feeling ashamed.

"That's it, I'm coming to pick you up."

"Ash, we're at Marconi Beach; that's four and a half hours away."

"I don't care. I don't want to leave you alone with Cole any longer. So I guess I'll see you in four and a half hours." Then he hung up.

I groaned and flipped my phone shut. I loved Ash's loyalty, but sometimes it was a little much. What sane person would drive four and a half hours away to pick their girlfriend up when she's already going home in the morning?

I opened up the bathroom door to find Cole standing right outside of it. "So what did he say?" Cole asked.

"He just...uh....wanted to say hi." I lied. I couldn't tell Cole that he was coming to pick me up. Cole would make a huge deal about it, and at the moment, I wasn't really in the mood for more drama.

"Oh," Cole replied, looking away. He knew I was lying. It was obvious, he totally knew I was lying. "I'm kind of tired, I think I'll go to sleep now." he murmured, walking over to his bed.

"Yeah, me too." I agreed. So I climbed under the soft comforter on top of my bed and turned on my side so that I wasn't facing Cole. Then I shut my eyes and fell asleep.