Page 83 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

When we get back to his house, Cooper practically pushes me in the door and toward the shower, refusing to take one with me. Once I’m freshly clean and smelling like his apple cider scented body wash, I wrap a towel around my body and make my way toward the clattering noise in the kitchen.

I stop next to the fridge, taking in everything spread over his kitchen island and the chair next to it. “What’s happening?” My eyes roam over the bleach, the bottle of pink hair dye, some cap thing, and a comb.

“I’m giving you highlights, duh.”

“You are doing them?” I raise an eyebrow.

He shrugs, seemingly confident. “I watched a few YouTube videos. How hard can it be?”

My feet stay glued to the tile floor, the wooden kitchen chair trying to lure me to it.

“What’s the matter? You don’t trust me?” The magic words combined with his puppy dog eyes do the trick. Of course I trust him.

“Okay, let’s do this.” I sit on the chair and Cooper immediately picks up the comb to brush the tangles from my hair.

“What’s the worst that can happen anyway? If I mess it up, we’ll just dye all of it pink.”

“Cooper!!” I turn around, slapping his stomach. He humors me with a fake ooof.

“I’m playing.” I face forward again, taking a breath as he picks up the hair dryer, reminding myself he’s never let me down before.

“Ouch!” I scream with a jump.

“I’m sorry.” Cooper looks at me with wide, terrified eyes, nearly dropping my curling iron he picked up from my house while I was at my pole dancing class.

He still hasn’t let me look at my hair, washing and drying it for me. It was the sweetest thing until he convinced me he could curl it too.

He cannot.

I laugh to assure him he didn’t hurt me, take the wand from him and set it on the counter. “Just let me look at it,” I tell him.

Nerves seep from his features, but he nods, following me to the bathroom.

Standing in front of the mirror, I flick on the light. I run my fingers through my dirty blonde hair, hot pink strands from the bottom layers peeking through. My shock must give the wrong impression because my boyfriend says, “You hate it, don’t you? I’m sorry, we can go get it fixed by someone.”

I turn into him, one hand pressing to his chest, and a finger pressing against his lips. “Cooper, I love it.”

“You do?” His worry shifts to confusion.

“I can’t believe you did this. It looks like a professional did it.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, I’m never doing it again. That was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done in my life. But . . .” I wait for him to finish his thought. “You look hot.”

I pull away to example my reflection again. “I do, don’t I?” The girl smiling back at me exudes happiness. This list really was the best idea.

Chapter fifty-one

COOPER

THEN

“Alright, I’m calling it. You two are too cute for me right now,” Troy says with a sigh, the bonfire crackling next to him. I wouldn’t want to be around us either if I found out my girlfriend of four years was cheating on me. Sophie and I have spent the better part of the past month and a half checking items off her bucket list ever since we went skinny dipping. The first few weeks Troy and Emily joined in on the fun until we showed up to her dorm to pick her up for a concert in Portland and Greg–the douche Troy claimed as a friend up until that very moment–answered the door with a very flustered and freshly fucked Emily.

“Hold this, please,” Sophie whispers, handing me her just made S’more. She catches Troy before he walks away, looping her arms around his waist, clear she refuses to accept anything less than a twenty second hug. It only takes a few seconds for him to give in, wrapping his arms around her and his head falling to her shoulder.

She must tell him something because he nods against her, then says something in return as he pulls back, heartbreak clear in his gaze as it catches mine. I’ve agreed with Sophie since the beginning. Emily has never been good enough for Troy, but I also know how much love can distort your perception of reality and how easy it is to not hear anything anyone else tells you.

I give him a half smile and a goodnight before he turns on his heel and heads inside our house. Before he’s even through the back door, Sophie is in my arms, sadness radiating off her.

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