“So you’re saying we’d only have half-as-much fun if we rushed it?” I raised my eyebrows.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Head tilted, he squinted at me. “Definitely not saying that, but I still want to take my time. Enjoy every aspect of it. That’s okay, right?”
“Yes,” I answered swiftly. “It’s more than okay.” But he hadn’t taken his time with… Nope, I shoved her name unmentioned out of my head. She didn’t get to be a part of this.
And he just said I was more important and worth taking his time. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For saying I’m worth it.”
The look he gave me sent another wave of warmth through me. “Hell, Frankie… if you need me to tell you that every day, then you better get ready to be sick of it.” When he held out an arm, I slid right against him and he hugged me tight, whispering, “You’re the best. Never forget that.”
It was easy when he was holding me and telling me.
It really was.
So I savored the moment. “Pizza. Compliments. Kisses. Now songs. I think you’re pretty perfect, too.”
Sprawled on his bed an hour later while he worked through the minor key change in “Message in a Bottle”, I confirmed my earlier opinion. Ian had a gift.
Even more, we had the right song. Poignant. Haunting. Memorable.
And all him.
Take Our Time
Jake: What’s going on?
Coop: Still waiting on Obermeyer and the SRO
Bubba: Ugh. Is Frankie freaking out?
Archie: No, she’s talking to Marsha.
Bubba: Good talk? Bad talk?
Coop: Bad, she’s trying not to cry.
Jake: Fuck. I’m coming back.
Archie: Stay there. She wanted you to not
get in anymore trouble.
Jake: …
Coop: A is right. SROs just got here.
Bubba: Tell us what happens.
Archie: Will do.
A little later…
Jake: Bubba’s on the field.
Archie: SRO finished report.
Has to photograph. Filing with cops.
Coop: A taking Frankie home. Then work.
I’ll get her car cleaned.
Jake: …
Coop: Yeah, it’s bad.
Archie: She’ll be okay. We got her.
Jake: Taking her car to her after?
Coop: Yes. Okay, A just left with F.
Jake: …
Coop: Who is targeting her?
Jake: Sharon did Instagram thing.
Why? Something else happen?
Coop: Gotta talk to SRO, gimme a few.
A little later…
Archie: Frankie at work.
Jake: B still on field. How is she?
Archie: Not happy. Hanging here for
a bit. What other thing happened?
Jake: Waiting on Coop.
Coop: Just got to detail place. Took time
to clear the windshield.
Jake: Fuck.
Archie: Spill. What did we miss?
Coop: 5 mins. Want to get her car in.
Archie: I like her boss.
Jake: Yeah?
Archie: Gave her a hug when she got here.
Jake: Cool.
Coop: Ok. Arch, don’t let F see your phone.
Archie: Ooookay.
Coop: Fajardo had us doing practice essays for AP today.
Frankie didn’t even start on hers at first. Just sat there
staring. She looked upset. Finally got started, moved slow.
Jake: WTF she can
write essays in her sleep.
Archie: Let him finish.
Coop: After class she wouldn’t talk about it.
Archie: This was right before lunch?
Coop: Yeah. Someone wrote on the
essay assignment, something like
“Fitting for you, don’t you think?” on
Scarlett Letter excerpt.
Archie: What. The. Fuck.
Jake: Who is Fajardo’s TA?
Coop: Idk. There isn’t one in our class.
Archie: Why didn’t you tell us at lunch?
Jake: Because she didn’t want to
make a fuss.
Coop: Frankie is trying to pretend it didn’t
bother her.
Archie: Then her car.
Jake: It’s one of the girls.
Coop: Yeah. Probably.
Archie: Sharon? Maria? Patty? Laura?
Who?
Coop: I don’t think it’s Laura.
Jake: If you say she’s too nice, I may hit you.
Coop: No, just—it wasn’t a bad
breakup.
Archie: Girls never tell you when it’s bad.
Jake: No. They don’t.
Archie: Sharon’s already out for her.
Jake: Maybe.
Bubba: It’s not that Thorns
person is it?
Coop: Because of the posts over the
weekend?
Jake: We need to catch them
Archie: We need to do something.
Staying at Mason’s.
Bubba: Be there after practice.
Jake: Ditto
Coop: Be there when car is clean.
Archie: Think of who else might target
her cause of us.
Jake: It is us, isn’t it?
Archie: Yeah. And they are going to regret it.
Chapter Sixteen
What are you willing to lose?
The fact I had to leave my car with Coop irked. Archie had been great on the drive to my place, he didn’t nag or try to pry things out of me. All he did was say, “What do you need?”
While he fed the cats, I got changed into my uniform and washed my face. The burning urge to cry was almost as humiliating as what they’d done to my car. The Instagram tags kept coming, so I went into the app long enough to shut off notifications.
When I came back out, Archie slipped his phone into his back pocket before he held out his arms. Call me weak, but I wanted that hug. I leaned on him and closed my eyes for about thirty seconds. Then we had to go, I was already late.
Marsha had been fantastic. Despite the fact I’d worked at Mason’s for two years and had my routines down to a fine art, I was so off-center for my shift. It took me twice as long to get shakes pulled, I had to double-check every order I took, and more than once, I caught myself examining every student I recognized and those that were in the right age range to be at our school.
Were they the ones who painted my car in condoms?
There were obvious picks—Sharon? Maria? Patty? But I didn’t want to accuse anyone. Sharon had posted the pictures. As bad as those were, I even understood why she did it. That did not paint her the villain of any story, much less my own.
Archie parked himself at a table in the corner of my station and had his homework out. But every time I glanced over at him, he was either watching me or studying the customers. Paranoia could be contagious. Though, whenever our gazes collided, he’d give me an encouraging smile and it helped.
It helped a lot.
Coop slid into the booth when I was in the back pulling fresh ice cream tubs. The grin he tossed me when I caught sight of him squeezed me like a warm hug. I glanced outside, and there was my baby, parked neatly next to Archie’s Ferrari, all cleaned up and sparkling.
Relief flooded over me. No sign of the sticky mess or the condoms. I owed Coop a huge kiss and a hug. As it was, I made him a strawberry shake and delivered it before I took his order.
“On me,” I told him.
“Nah,” Archie said. “I insist.”
He’d already insisted on covering the cleaning. “Yes, but I control the check, so you don’t get to.” I stuck my tongue out at him, and he laughed.
“Well, I’m starving, so I’ll take the Big and Thick, since you already brought me the thick.” He winked before taking a drink from
his straw.
“Smartass,” I teased, then looked at Archie. “You want anything else?”
“Grab me a Coke?” Leaning forward on his elbows, he said, “I’m probably going to be here a while.”
“Me, too,” Coop said as he passed me my keys and then started opening his backpack.
“You got it.” I pocketed the keys, then grabbed Archie’s finished plate. “Thanks for taking care of her for me, Coop.”
“Anytime,” he said, the corners of his mouth curving. “You know that.”
Funnily enough, I kind of did. It was Coop. He never minded helping me out, even when I didn’t want to ask. I owed him.
Thirty minutes later, Rachel arrived and grabbed a spot at the end of the counter. “Hey,” I greeted her. I hadn’t really seen her that day.
“Hey,” she said, giving me a narrow-eyed study. “You have your chin up and you can still smile, good.”
I’d almost managed to stop thinking about my car for five minutes until she said that. “Girl’s gotta eat,” I tried to keep it light.
“Yes, she does. And I’m starving, so the usual for me, and if you have time, I have more poetry homework.” The hopeful look in her eyes made me laugh.
“I’m starting to think the only reason you’re talking to me is for help with your homework.”
“We can fix that,” Rachel suggested. “Pick a night, and we can grab a movie or something.”
The offer was so smooth, I blinked. “Really?”
“Why not? You’re pretty smart. I imagine you have to have at least semi-decent taste, and while I truly appreciate the homework help, it’s not the only reason I’m talking to you.”
Well, now I felt like an ass. “Sorry, I guess that did come out kind of bitchy.”
“Not even a little,” Rachel said easily. “You’re always busy, but you have my number right?”
“Actually… I don’t know if I do.”
She held out her phone. “Put yours in, and I’ll text you, then you’ll have mine. And don’t worry about when you’re free, just pick a day. We’ll make it happen.”
The offer shouldn’t have thrown me, but it kind of did. “Thanks.” I plugged in my number and added my name to the contact, then hit save before I passed it back to her. “I’ll get your order in.”
“Cool,” Rachel answered. “There, sent you a text.”
Then the number of people coming in began to pick up, so I only got to talk to Rachel a handful of times. Once to deliver her shake, then her food, and once more to answer her question on the poetry assessment she was writing. The funny thing was, she seemed to have a good handle on it. I wasn’t sure if it was lack of confidence or what that had her asking for help.
Ian and Jake arrived during the chaos as a good half of the football team, their girlfriends, and more poured in the door. The volume climbed, and I was on the move. I barely had time to think, which was probably a good thing because I couldn’t focus on Sharon and Maria taking over a table on my side, or that they were brittle and polite when I came to get their order.
However, the fact that I had four gazes laser focused in my direction while I spoke to them was a little unnerving. “Surprised you made it in today,” Sharon said. “Then again, nothing really slows you down, does it?” She winced and snapped a look at Maria, who just glared at her. “Fine.” The last huffed word was not directed at me.
“Thanks, Frankie,” Maria said with a faint, if genuine smile.
“You know, at least she has stock in condoms, that should keep them busy for a week,” Patty said as I walked away from the table. Sharon laughed, but Maria groaned.
“Shut up,” she said. “That was nasty, whoever did it.”
Well, score one for Maria. Of the three, I had always liked her best, anyway. They were lucky I wasn’t the type to spit on their food or in their shakes. The idea was gross period, but I had to admit, it made me smile.
Throughout the rush though, the guys never left and Rachel held up her end of the counter, and it was like I had two bastions of safety in the place because I had begun to dread every table I approached. Some had smirks. Some snickered. Still, others didn’t seem to give a damn one way or the other.
Not that it made me feel much better.
The fact all four of them were waiting for me when I walked out of Mason’s was enough to pull a tired smile. I don’t think I’d ever been this exhausted. Coop leaned against the back of my car, while the other three stood, forming a loose circle.
“There she is,” Ian said, stretching out an arm, and I slid against him as he wrapped it around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “You look beat.”
“I am beat,” I admitted. “I think even the aches on my feet have aches.”
“You were running your ass off,” Archie said. “How you feeling otherwise?”
“Tired.” I leaned into Ian for another sweet moment, and then made myself straighten up. “Now I still have homework to do and cats to herd.”
Coop snorted at the herding comment, but it was Jake whose gaze I caught. I could see the question in his eyes. Did I want him to come over? I did and I didn’t. But all the reasons I did were about me, and all the reasons I didn’t were about what other people had been doing.
So tonight, I was picking me and I nodded. He gave me a small thumbs up and a smile.
“Go home, call or text when you get there?” Ian asked, and I nodded. He brushed a kiss to my forehead before he let me go.
“I’m hitching with you,” Coop said as he headed for the passenger seat. Archie snorted, then stole a hug and pressed a kiss just behind my ear.
“Call me if anything else goes wrong,” he said, and it was in this stern voice. “Or if you just need to talk. Capiche?”
I gave him a little shove. “I’ll be fine, thank you for everything today. You were a hero.”
“Heh,” he said, his grin growing. “See, I was a hero.”
Rolling my eyes, I added, “Coop was a hero, too.”
“I offered to blow off practice,” Jake argued.
“I know,” I soothed giving him a sideways hug. “You and Ian are heroes, in my book. All of you are.”
“Well, fine, I’ll share the title with them,” Archie grumbled, but his grin didn’t diminish. “Go on, sleeping beauty, go get some rest. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yep. Thank you again, Archie.”
Neither Jake nor I mentioned Jake coming over.
Ian peeled off for his bike, and Archie slid into his car. Jake waited for them to start moving before he said, “Pizza? Chinese? What are you in the mood for?”
“Wings,” I admitted. “Spicy barbecue wings.”
“Got it.” He grinned. “Be there soon.”
“I’ll leave the door unlocked, I need a shower.”
“And now I have incentive to hurry.” His grin grew, and I laughed.
“That wasn’t quite what I meant.”
He winked, but didn’t argue.
On the drive home, Coop didn’t waste time. “I want to say something, and I want you to listen to it. Then I want you to think about it before you respond, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed. I’d been all kinds of tense since discovering what had been done to my car. The fact I’d ended up leaving her with Coop while Archie got me home and then to work had thrown me all evening. Behind the wheel of my baby again, though, I was more me. The stiffness in my muscles bled away even as the aches in my feet became more pronounced. We really had been busy as hell.
“You didn’t want to tell me about the comment on the essay thing earlier. It really upset you. And don’t try to tell me it didn’t. I’ve known you a long time, I know when something is off.” He paused for a beat. “It bothers me that you didn’t want to tell me. I thought—yeah, Frankie doesn’t like to make waves. You never have. You always go along to get along. It’s one of the things that is sometimes adorable about you, and utterly frustrating.”
Glad we were cl
ear on that.
It was dark so that even when I glanced at him, I couldn’t quite make out his full expression.
“But the thing is… someone hurt you, and you were just going to let them hurt you and not let any of us help. I had to basically coerce it out of you, and then you didn’t want to talk about it. I get that you have that right, but, Frankie, there’s so many times someone has hurt you that you shut down and you won’t let me help.”
There weren’t that many times.
“Usually it’s about your mom.”
Okay, he might have a point there.
“But this is different… this is happening because of choices I made, choices the guys made.”
I opened my mouth to protest, and he clucked his tongue.
“Listen, please. Listen to all of it, then think about it before you tell me to shove it.”
Changes and Chocolates: Untouchable Book Two Page 22