Southern Belles, a Novel About Love, Purpose & Second Chances (9781310340970) by Sarah Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

green with envy.
    “Hey girls, I’m sure they won’t mind sharing
the booth,” Trudy yelled over the crowd, once she spotted us.
    “Thanks Tru, it’s busy in here today.” I
said, yelling back over the noise.
    “Yea, it’s the last rush before everyone
leaves for school tomorrow.” She said, as she came closer towards
us.
    Walking to our table, CeCe had already
caught the gaze of at least two of the guys sitting in the
booth.
    “We’re not really going to sit with all
those guys are we ladies?” Richie implored, frowning all the
way.
    “Richie, are you intimidated by those hot
beefy guys?” CeCe said wincing back at Richie.
    “Are you kidding Ce? Nah, I’m not
intimidated, I’m just going to go catch up with Veronica.” Richie
smirked as he quickly turned towards her table.
    “Hey boys, you’re sitting at our table but I
guess I’ll let it slide if you scoot over,” CeCe said grinning.
    One of the guys parked at our table who was
staring at CeCe, turned quickly towards the back of the booth,
pretending to be looking at something before flipping back around
and declaring to CeCe, “your name must be gorgeous”.
    “How did you know?” CeCe said coyly,
flipping back to see the look on Veronica’s face.
    Yes, another score for CeCe! She was always
looking at ways to keep the score at least even if not ahead of
Veronica’s accomplishments. CeCe scooted into our booth and I slid
in right after her. I sat there listening to the conversations
going on around me feeling like an outsider. CeCe loved being in
the spotlight and soaked up the attention of all the guys
surrounding us. The heat of the day and the salt from swimming in
the ocean all afternoon tired me out. I loved the beach and spent
most of my time there when I was not in school or at Trixie’s.
There was a picture I kept pinned to my mirror in my bedroom that I
imagined as me in a tropical beach paradise. I found it in a
magazine once, several years ago. It was of a young woman, dressed
only in a white, simple bikini, standing on a stretch of sandy
beach in between two small lush islands. One hand held a snorkeling
mask while the other lay gently at her side. Her relaxed smile
depicted the ethereal beauty around her. Although I didn’t know
where the photograph was taken, I could tell it was some foreign
country with great, raw beauty. It was a picture of inspiration
that made me work hard in everything I did so that one day I would
reach my dreams of traveling the world and discovering the
unadulterated and rare treasures of the globe, like this. Being at
the beach kept my dreams alive.
    “Hey Char; do you want to go to the
party?”
    Suddenly I was yanked back into some sort of
conversation that I had not heard a word of since I sat down. These
guys were cute but all the same. They were just hanging out in this
town for a novel time. Probably, most of them were from Savannah
and were here escaping all the ordinariness of the big city, like
most of the college guys and girls that were not full-time
residents of our community. None of them stuck around and usually
were condescending towards the locals, as if they were better than
us because they had second homes here. Anyway, it sounded like we
had just been invited to some sort of last summer bash. Since, I
had no plans other than dinner with the family and Aunt Juanita; I
figured a party might help to speed up the countdown to tomorrow. I
could finish the packing in the morning if I really needed to.
    “Yeah, I think I could fit that in.” I said,
trying to look as if I’d been listening the entire time.
    An hour later and two milkshakes down, we
were back in the car heading towards home. CeCe was going on and on
about one of the guys she had just met and how he was in his second
year at Georgia Tech, studying something she couldn’t quite
remember the name of. It wasn’t really important anyway. It was
only his good looks, flirtatiousness, and prestigious front that
caught her