by Cindi Madsen
That’d leave me with two social disasters on my hands, because I’d never pull off my goal to land Mick without Cooper by my side.
Chapter Seven
Cooper
I knocked on the door to Kate’s house Friday night and then kicked a stray rock off the cement block that acted as their porch. We’d gone for our usual practice on the lake this afternoon, but right as we were getting into a good groove with our pacing, Dad called to remind me I was supposed to meet him at his office.
So we’d cut it short, and I was still reeling from the news that Dad arranged an internship for me with his firm over the summer when Kate called me in a panic. “It’s been four days!” she’d shouted into the phone, loud enough I’d yanked it away from my ear. “And I still haven’t even talked to Mick, and now it’s the weekend…”
Honestly, after that, I didn’t catch many more actual words. Let’s just say she was freaking out.
So I’d offered to come over to talk strategy. It was better than dwelling on my planned-out future that was suddenly starting sooner than expected, and the suffocating feeling the internship news had brought on.
The guy standing in the yard next door bent over the hood of an RV, a tool in his hand, and I saw not just plumber’s crack, but most of his grand canyon.
The door swung open. “Oh good, you’re here.” Kate grabbed my arm and yanked me inside so fast I almost tripped on the threshold. “I hope you have a plan, and this one better be more foolproof than your last one.”
“You mean my one about starting a conversation with him?”
“Technically, that was my goal first, you know.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
She threw up her hands. “It’s not. I need more than you telling me to try to talk to him. I need the actual conversation fed to me.”
“I hear that that’s bad for you.” I gave a dramatic sigh. “All empty calories, possible link to diabetes…”
She tilted her head and shot daggers at me. And she wondered why people assumed she was serious.
“I thought you were going to go with the football angle.” We’d discussed as much yesterday on the lake.
“Yeah, but then I realized that’d work if, like, I’d just watched one of the games last weekend and could bring up what’d happened during it. But it’s not football season anymore, and if I mention that I’ve seen him playing after school, doesn’t that sound totally stalkerish?”
Oh, hell. She’s giving me that deadly determined look. The one that says she wants me to actually answer. “Not if you word it right,” I said, hoping I’d worded my response correctly. With her, questions I assumed were rhetorical weren’t, and honest answers weren’t always appreciated, either.
She ran a hand through her hair, switching the bulk of it to the other side. Several strands fell in her face and I had the urge to brush it back for her and see if it was as silky as it looked.
“It’s just so hard to approach him when he’s got all his friends around, or worse—all the girls,” she said. “How is someone like me supposed to have a chance when every other girl in the school is practically throwing herself at him?”
“Because you’re not like every other girl.” I put my hands on her shoulders. She was wearing a tank top, and her skin was smooth and soft, and whatever perfume or soap she’d used smelled girly and awesome, and…delicious. That was the best way to describe it. So good I wanted to take a lick.
Clearly it’s been too long since any girl threw herself at me.
I quickly dropped my hands. “But before he can see that, we have to get him to see you. That involves talking to him. Making him think about you.” Man, this conversation was weird, and one I hoped I’d never have to have. Or, I guess more like I’d never known I would need to hope for that, but I definitely did now. “And I do have a plan for that.”
She nodded over and over and some of the tension leaked out of her posture. “It’s just that prom is only getting closer.”
“I know.”
“Which means we’re on a tight deadline.”
“I understand.”
Her lips pressed together, the shimmery lip stuff on them drawing my attention for a moment before I snapped out of it. My focus was crap today. I blamed the bomb Dad dropped and the fact that it’d been a while since I’d kissed anyone. As soon as I got Pecker to notice Kate, I really needed to find a girl for myself. Hell, maybe I’d even go to prom.
I thought about the hoopla, from the tux with the matching vest or cumber-whatever-the-hell-it-was to the expectation of a fancy dinner and limo rides, and ruled it out. No thanks.
“But do you? Do you really?” Kate asked. “I don’t think you understand how important this is to me. I feel like you think prom is just a silly dance.”
She wasn’t far off. “I get it, it’s a rite of passage or whatever, but to me, it’s more like…” A big waste of time. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I softened it to, “A lot of time and effort for one little night you’ll barely remember in a few years.”
Dealing with things like the big dance and other high school drama would only cut into time on the lake, and now I had even less of it. I’d fulfill my end of the bargain, but I wasn’t going to let anything else get in the way.
Since Kate still looked concerned, I added, “But I understand that it’s important to you, and I won’t let you down, okay?”
“Okay,” she said with a nod. She gestured over her shoulder. “Want a Dr Pepper? I was about to grab one.”
“That’d be great, thanks.” I followed her as she walked into a cozy kitchen that was vastly different from the large, ultra-modern one in my house—it was stainless steel and hanging pots over a massive granite island, all function. The decorations in this room had no rhyme or reason. A clock with colorful owls but no numbers sat over the stove, teacup-covered curtains hung over the window at the sink, and a wooden shelf held an assortment of ceramic figurines. Things like colorful roosters, cats, and a split in half Scooby Doo van. A closer glance revealed them to be salt and pepper shakers.
Every inch of the white fridge was covered in pictures, some newer ones of Kate and her mom, and some older of them with her dad. He wore Air Force fatigues in most, and several had him in his uniform. I knew he’d passed away a couple of years ago, right before Kate started at AA, but I didn’t know enough to broach the topic.
The cool can Kate handed me felt nice against my palm, and the crack of the tab and hiss of the bubbles were all that filled the air for a moment.
When Kate pulled the tab on hers, she groaned. “Thanks to the horrid training schedule you’re forcing on me, even opening a soda hurts.”
I grinned at her. “You love it.”
“I love the lake. The rowing—especially the kind required to go fast—I could toss right in the water. I’d just watch it sink, happy as could be.”
I put a hand over my heart like an arrow had hit me. “You wound me and my sport with your words.”
Her laughter echoed through the colorful room. “You’re too much.” She took a swig of her soda and gestured toward the hallway. “My notebook’s in my room. Let’s go put together a full game plan for Operation Prom Date. I always feel better when I get my strategies down on paper.”
I wondered if her dad used to speak in all military code, and if that was why she talked in terms like that and insisted on naming our operation. But again, it was above my clearance level. Great. Now I’m doing it.
The uniquely decorated kitchen had nothing on Kate’s room. Bright blue paint on the walls, colorful paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and the black fan had white polka dots. A beaded curtain hung over her window, sending flashes of colored light around the room and across her dresser, where several framed pictures sat. The bursting-at-the seams bookshelf on the opposite side also had bigheaded figures lining the shelves. Oh, and a giant lizard wearing a tiny, yellow knitted scarf sat in the middle of her bed. It cocked its head at
me, making the spiky parts on its neck stick out.
“That’s Klaus,” Kate said. “Don’t worry, he’s got a much better temperament than his namesake.”
“Oh? And who is he named after?”
“An original vampire. From the show The Originals? Technically he was on The Vampire Diaries first, but they did a spin off, and anyway…” She scooped up the creature as she sat on her bed. “Klaus kills for fun—the vampire. This Klaus is too lazy to do much of anything.”
I sat next to her on the bed, still taking in her collection of figurines.
“That’s my Funko Pop collection. I paired them up the way they should be on the shows.” She gestured at one in a green hood and the blond figure next to him with the glasses. I realized it was from Arrow.
“I ship Olicity the hardest.”
“‘Ship’ them?”
“I want them in a relationship. Like I’d put them in a ship together so they’d be forced to see they’re perfect for each other, bribe the writers to get them together, ship them. Partnership, friendship, please-God-put-them-in-a-relationship-already ship them.”
“Oh-kay.”
“It’s a common phrase. Oliver and Felicity are totally my OTP, which means one true pairing, if you haven’t somehow heard of that, either. I also ship Alexa and Clarke on The 100 a crazy amount, and I was pretty mad at the writers for a while, but something happened and…well, I won’t spoil it, but I might’ve teared up. Then of course there’s Stydia and Captain Swan”—she pointed at a blond figure wearing a red jacket and a goateed dude with a hook for a hand—“I used to be all about Damon and Elena, but there toward the end, I shipped her and a coffin. Which sounds mean, I know, but vampires don’t technically die, so a bit nicer?”
“I’m still judging you too much for saying ‘ship them the hardest’ to judge you for the vampire stuff.”
She smacked my arm and I laughed. Honestly, I was also trying to keep up with all the words she’d spouted, trying to make sense of them. We’d spent the past few afternoons on the boat, and the more time I spent with her, the more amused I was by her, even though I only understood about half of what she said.
Klaus crawled higher on her lap and she rubbed his chin. I never knew a lizard could smile, but damned if the thing didn’t grin. Kate caught my eye. “Just call me Khaleesi, mother of dragons. Or dragon, as it were. Please tell me you at least get that reference.”
“Game of Thrones. I’ve only read the first book, though. Okay, half of the first book, but I meant to pick it back up. But then I sort of just watched the show instead.”
She glanced around like someone might be listening and then leaned in. “Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve never read the books.”
I leaned a few inches closer, until I could see the different shades of green in her eyes. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“You’re starting to have a lot of my secrets, so I certainly hope so.”
Unexpected warmth swirled through my chest. I’d never thought I would want to be a secret keeper, but there was something about having Kate’s trust that made me proud to be one.
She pulled out a notebook and my tingly happy vibes faded a bit when I saw the outlined list, Operation Prom Date written across the top. Which was stupid, because that was why I’d come over.
The same organizational skills that had me inwardly groaning now had come in handy during the past few days of training, just like I’d guessed they would. She’d even done some calculations on how much faster we’d have to row to beat our previous times, even though she also joked she should hide them from me so I wouldn’t “get all crazy and practically kill us” trying to do better.
“Okay, so for reals, I’m going to talk to him this week.” She tapped the end of her pen to her still-shimmery lip. The same full lip I shouldn’t be noticing. But when I dropped my gaze, all I got was an eyeful of her legs—their crossed position made her shorts hike up higher on her thighs and now I was thinking about those. “Cooper?”
I jerked my head up and swallowed. “You talk to him. Say hi or whatever. Bring up football if you want. But you’re gonna need something more to really set your plan into motion.” I racked my brain for an idea, one that would work, because I needed to stop thinking thoughts I shouldn’t. “We need to do something big.”
Chapter Eight
Kate
The “something big” hung in the air, more intimidating by the second. Cooper seemed to be deep in thought, that little crease between his eyebrows that formed when he went into Mr. Serious mode on the lake showing up. I didn’t dare interrupt, hoping genius had just struck. Especially if it was the kind of genius that’d help me not feel like such a failure when it came to my prom plans.
I also hoped it wouldn’t be scary. Big sounded scary. Plus, like I said, Mr. Serious face, and that usually meant barked orders.
Finally his gaze returned to the present day and my room. “There’s a party tomorrow night. You’re going to go with me. And we’re going to act like…”
I’d never liked cliffhangers, not on my TV shows, not in books—especially when the sequel’s release date was months to years away—and definitely not in my real-world conversations. “Like what?”
“Like we came together, but not as a couple. As in a casual thing.” He ran his hand over his jaw and then rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you think you can do that?”
The amount of oxygen I took in thinned and my gut tightened. “So I’d go with you and just play it cool?”
“Yeah. But also, I might put my arm around you, or stand really close. Maybe make it look like we could be more than friends, but not like we’re in a relationship.”
“That seems like a very odd limbo to be in.” I frowned at the idea of being tugged around like that, thinking a guy was into me, only to find out he acted like that with other people, too. But that was what everyone did these days, right? It certainly fit in with Mick’s usual MO. He and the girls he “dated” were together one night, not the next. Sometimes they were even hanging on other people or kissing them in the halls within the same week.
“We can try to think of another way if you’d be uncomfortable,” Cooper said.
“No.” I put my hand on his arm, vaguely noticing it was, in fact, as firm as it looked when I sat behind him every day on the lake. “I’m overthinking, as usual. It’s just pretend, so it’s not like it matters.”
He nodded. “Just pretend. Once we take some of that serious edge off, then guys will see you as the easygoing chick they’d like to take to a party.”
“And then to the party.” I needed to hear the end result, because the part of me I didn’t realize was so opinionated hated the thought of people thinking I skipped from guy to guy so easily.
Eyes on the prize. I just need Mick to see me first. I’m sure if he met the right person he’d want more, and that person’s going to be me. This is the way we’ll be able to get to know each other and get to that point.
I pulled my notebook to me and scribbled “Mick and I go to prom together” in giant letters. Staring at them helped soothe my nerves.
Then I looked up at Cooper, whose hazel eyes were fixed on me. That made another calming wave rush over me. It wasn’t like it’d be hard to act like I found Cooper attractive. Flirting with him would be almost natural, like how natural it was for my mom with complete strangers. Maybe I needed a guy I trusted on the other end of my pretend flirting, but practice made perfect, right? In no time, I’d be managing it with the guy who rendered me incapable of speech with one of his sexy smirks. Or you know, by simply looking my way.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
With that out of the way, I figured we could get on with our Friday night. I flipped my notebook closed and tossed it aside.
“So that’s that?” Cooper asked.
“For now.” I glanced at the time. I hardly ever had plans on the weekend. Even Mom had gone out tonight—I’d practically had to shove her out the door, but I knew
she needed nights out with her friends. She was more of an extrovert than I was. As much as she accidentally flirted, she never dated. For her sake, I wanted her to move on, but for mine, I was glad I hadn’t had to deal with it yet. I wasn’t ready for some strange guy to come in and change everything; to make that feeling of Dad never living here again that much more permanent. “Did you have somewhere else you needed to be?”
“Need? No.”
Ever since the pretend-we’re-more-for-the-party discussion, the vibe had turned a bit weird, and I wanted back the easy one Cooper and I normally shared. “We could watch a movie or something? But if you’ve got more exciting plans, or—”
“I’m down for a movie.” One corner of his mouth kicked up, way too mischievousness in the curve. “But I get to choose it.”
My fingers curled around my remote protectively. “Giving out movie choosing privileges isn’t something I do lightly.”
“Well, I don’t hang out with the Mother of Dragons lightly. Especially when the dragon’s been giving me dirty looks for the past five minutes.”
I looked down at Klaus, who did look quite disgruntled about not getting all my attention. “Down, boy. Wait to blast him with fire until we hear what movie he’s going to make us sit through.”
Hesitantly, I extended the remote.
Cooper took it from me, his callused fingers brushing mine, and the vibe changed again, this time more electrically charged. Which had to be a mix of anticipation and anxiety over what movie he’d pick—yeah, that was definitely why my stomach crawled up to kiss my ribcage.
He scrolled through the options, pausing on movies I planned on protesting against a few times, only to move on. The cover for Terminator: Salvation filled the screen. “This was what I was thinking.”
“I haven’t seen it.”
“I think you’ll like it. And I’m saying that as your trusted secret keeper.”