The Bad Boy's Girl (Now Available as a Paperback and ebook)

Chapter Thirty-Six: My Life, A Congregation Of Life's Cruelest Clichés

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Recap: Cole and Tessa along with their friends go on a road trip. Their first stop is New York city and on their drive their, Cole and Tessa get an opportunity to talk. Cole reveals his past with Travis, his addiction and how he nearly died because of a drug overdose. They're finally moving in the right direction with their relationship.

 Chapter Thirty-Six: My Life, A Congregation Of Life's Cruelest Clichés

 My eyes take in the gleaming surfaces of the penthouse and I think that this definitely isn't your typical, rite of passage road trip. We're supposed to be staying in dingy motels, driving for days and staying alive on dubious roadside diner food. If you ask me, that's what I would have preferred but instead I find myself in an apartment that takes up the entire fifteenth floor of the impressive and opulent building on the Upper West Side. It figures though, that this is where my friends and I'll be staying for a couple of days since my dad took it upon himself to make the arrangements. Maybe I'll get lucky and find more destitute surroundings on our next stop.

"Whose place did you this was?" Cole asks, as he takes a look around. 

"Whoever's it is, I'm sending them a thank you basket. Have you guys seen the size of the hot tub?" Beth walks out of the room she and I will be sharing, grinning like an idiot. She's been dying to get me alone ever since Cole and I got here, which would be about an hour later than them because we stayed out and just walked around the city before driving back to the apartment.

"He's a friend of my dad's and he and his family are touring Europe so they won't be back for a while." I answer Cole's question and then narrow my eyes at my best friend who's still looking at me smugly. Maybe it's because Cole's standing so close to me and I'm not running away from him a mile a minute.

"Dude have you checked out..." Alex and Megan walk out from their shared room and Cole dryly completes his sentence, "the hot tub? I already heard."

I wonder why everyone's so excited about a hot tub in the middle of summer. It's a hot tub ergo meant for the colder months. If I didn't know any better...

"We've got to try it tonight, don't worry Tessa I packed your bikini." Beth says in a sing song voice before disappearing into our room. Lucky for her I don't instantly go after her with a butcher knife because Cole started choking the minute she said bikini. She couldn't be more obvious about what she's trying to do if she held out the wedding rings right this moment. We need to have a talk; I glare at her retreating back.

"So," I enthusiastically clasp my hands together facing Cole who seems to have calmed down a bit. "What do you guys want to do first?"  I start rattling off a bunch of options but everyone's in the mood to shower, eat and then go out. So we agree and retreat to our rooms. Beth's on the phone with Travis and lost in her own world. Thinking about Travis confuses me, especially after the revelation in the car. I don't know if I should be angry at him for hiding something so important or grateful that he saved Cole's life. Whichever it is, I'll need to talk to him soon.

Showering helps put my feelings into perspective. The car ride helped us make progress and cleared a lot of misunderstandings but we're still fragile. Sometimes when you have a history of the most important people in your life backstabbing you, trust becomes a novelty. I know that I need to man up and deal with the fact that Cole made a mistake. Something may or may not have happened with Erica but he did put himself in a compromising position and he's sorry enough about that. I've been as cruel as I could and did my best to resist what we have but sometimes you can't fight enough.

The girls and I help each other find outfits since it's going to get dark outside soon and everyone plans on finding a club where they'll believe that I'm twenty-one. I'm guessing it'll be easier to find Ryan Gosling wandering the streets shirtless, looking for a rebound. Though you never can tell with this city, anything's possible.