A/N: Thanks bonbon, Mel, Kimberly, kandykane33, and Summerland Chick for reviewing I'm glad you like it! If you guys have any suggestions for the plot or anything, I'd love to here them
I avoided Bradin for the next few weeks. This wasn't easy as Playa Linda had a shortage of places to hang out for people my age. He had attempted to talk to me several times but I had years of experience in the fine art of evasion.
I really hadn't meant to explode like that… I mean, Bradin was a nice guy; it really wasn't his fault that he didn't know me. Cough Even though we pretty much grew up together…
This whole avoiding thing was getting old, though. Summer was almost half over and though I had made a few new friends, I missed Bradin. I figured I might as well be mature about this and talk to him again.
So I found myself on the beach once more, wondering if he would show up. I saw him talk to blonde girl but he seemed pissed off at her and he soon walked away from her. It was then that he spotted me.
I stood up and walked over to him, "Okay, I'll stop avoiding you now."
"Do you want to grab a drink?" he asked.
"Sure." I smiled.
We had some lunch and talked a bit.
"Listen, I'm so sorry about-" Bradin started.
"Don't. Let's just have a nice lunch and we can talk about stuff that's going to get me riled up later, okay?" I grinned.
"All right," He nodded.
The lunch went great and we were having a lot of fun when a waiter told Bradin that some girl had wanted them to give him a note.
Bradin read through it and sighed. "I'll be right back, okay?"
"Is everything all right?" I asked.
"Yeah," he brushed off. He walked off behind the café but reappeared a few minutes later.
"Do you want to get some ice cream?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure," I responded.
A while later, we were sitting on the beach again and the sun was getting low once more. We were talking about nothing in particular when Bradin leaned in and kissed me!
Shock and surprise registered instantly. Damn he had soft lips! Before it had fully sunk in that Bradin was kissing me, he pulled away.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go," he said in a rush.
"What?" I gawked in confusion.
"I'm sorry, you're great, you're wonderful but I can't, I have to go," he apologized before standing up and leaving me alone on the sandy floor.
The next day, I decided to ask him what the hell was going on. I was shifting nervously a few feet from his front door, arguing with myself about whether or not I should ring the bell when I heard Bradin's voice ring distinctly from somewhere close by. I didn't mean to ease drop but, in my defense, I couldn't exactly tune the voices out…he wasn't troubling to keep his voice down.
"So, no change from last night, either, huh Bradin?" a deeper male voice spoke.
"On your second night out, that's pretty damn good," added a second voice that had an unmistakably Aussie accent to it.
Bradin chuckled. "Yeah."
"So this was with that Sara girl again, right?" the Aussie questioned.
"Yeah." Bradin replied, "Two nights in a row, man!"
"Our little boy's all grown up," the first male voice said.
"See, you weren't as bad in the sack as you thought, now were you?" Aussie. Wait, in the sack?
"Who knows, all I can tell is Sara sure as hell kicks ass in the sack and she didn't seem to be having an awful time, either," Bradin laughed.
WHAT! My brain went numb as I finally registered what it was they were talking about. Oh my God! I immediately regretted coming down here and hastily whirled around to leave. In my knack for having bad timing, the front door opened and the girl I remembered as Nikki came out.
"Oh, hey," she smiled in a friendly way, "Jessica, right? Bradin's just over-"
"You know what, I actually made a mistake in coming here, I'll just-" I jabbed my thumb behind me in indication and provided a weak smile before stumbling over the garbage in my suave exit.
Unfortunately, Bradin and the people he was talking to were very close by and had heard Nikki greet me. Greaaat.
"Jessica?" Bradin was now standing about a foot away from me.
"Never mind…" I muttered, limping as fast as I could away.
"Wait," Bradin caught up to me and stood in front of me.
I really should not have come here… "No, I'm going to go-"
Bradin said. "…Um…how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know that-" I glanced at Nikki, who was trying to slip by us. "Long enough." Nikki finally succeeded in leaving and the two older men had left to give us some privacy as well.
"So you heard all that, huh?" Bradin bit his lip.
"Yes, yes I did. Very interesting to know that you had sex last night. You know, I would think that a conversation like that would be held, I don't know, somewhere not in the open?" I muttered. I was ranging from being pissed to shocked to devastated… How could he! "So, that girl on the beach yesterday, that was Sara, right?"
"Yeah," he answered hesitantly.
Things were beginning to fall into place… "You were using me, weren't you? To make her jealous," I stated in astonishment.
"Jessica, it's not like that," he told me.
"Get the hell away from me, okay?" I whispered hoarsely. "And stay away!" Tears were welling up and I couldn't even stand to look at him. I moved around him and fled.
Of course, the one time Bradin kisses me, he was using me to make some hot chick jealous. Why else would he kiss me? Did he have any interest in me at all! I felt my entire spirit crumble.
