Page 52 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

Carter attempts to interject, but Cooper swats his hand in his brother’s direction as he says, “Socks.” We both take a precious second to laugh at his expense, reminded of the time we were sneaking around Carter’s room and Mike was forced to explain masturbation to us way earlier than we should have learned.

“You think this is a sport.”

“Video games are a sport,” he says matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes and he tilts the screen down.

“I’ll never get one of these.”

“Tattoo.”

Tilt. He doesn’t need my confirmation to know he’s right. He knows I don’t believe anyone should get a tattoo unless they are confident they’ll never change their mind about whatever it represents–and how unlikely I think that is.

“Your favorite food.”

“Spaghetti.”

Tilt.

“Troy’s favorite food.”

Cooper laughs. “Ice cream.” Troy shrugs, not bothered by the idea that dessert shouldn’t count as food.

“Damn, you’re quick,” Carter says with a shake of his head.

“I’m not proud of it.” Cooper shoots me a wink.

With an eye roll and a prayer my brother didn’t catch that, I force my focus back on the game. “You’re afraid of these.”

“Balloons are fucking terrifying,” he groans.

Tilt.

I roll my eyes. Cooper chuckles right before he says, “Zac Efron.”

“What the fuck,” I hear Carter mutter under his breath, and catch the other two shaking their heads out of the corners of my eyes.

Tilt.

“Oh! Public sex.” My cheeks heat a little at the word, and I catch the other boys raising an eyebrow. Cooper doesn’t hesitate. “Playground.”

I circle my hand indicating for him to guess again.

“Mmmm. Slide.” Over the summer we caught strangers having sex in the tube slide at the park where we always skate.

“Uhhhh,” Dean half chimes in, misunderstanding. Part of me wishes whatever he is thinking is true. The realization that I’ll never get to experience that level of intimacy with Cooper has been a tough pill to swallow.

Cooper ignores him, flipping the screen down again with six seconds left on the clock. I freeze, my brain searching for another way to describe the word quickly enough. Four seconds. “Tablecloths at–”

“Cherries,” Cooper spits out before I even finish my sentence and before he recalls what it reminds him.

The phone vibrates in his hand, making a dinging bell noise before it recalls our nine correct cards. I see the memory of our breakup resurfacing in Cooper’s mind, but Carter’s voice pulls him from it.

“Yeah, bullshit. This is why you two should never be allowed on a team.” He laughs.

Cooper and I shrug.

Scanning the table, I soak in the moment. The boys are all smiling, joking and teasing. I glance at the parents in the living room, our Moms leaned into our Dads on the couch. All morning I was so worried. With how close our families are, it feels like there will always be this constant reminder that Cooper and I aren’t together anymore, and there’s no escaping it. But getting away from him would mean getting away from everyone else too. And that’s something I could never do.

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