Page 113 of Something Rad
“Ow!” she yelps, holding her hand to her chest. She looks between her hand and me with wide eyes several times before asking, “Did you justflickme?”
The light turns green and I take off. I reach for the dial, tuning the radio back to the original station, glancing over at Cooper over top of my sunglasses as the song resumes once again. “I did. And you deserved the flick.”
“Why?”
I hold my finger up, shaking it at her. “You don’t turn Journey off in Linda.”
“Linda?” she repeats.
I simply double tap my knuckle on the dashboard.
Cooper’s brows raise. “You named your junk Hank…and named your car…Linda?”
“Beautiful, ain’t she?” I ask, glossing over the first part of her question.
“If I say she’s gorgeous, will you let me change the station?”
I shake my head, grabbing my chest like I’ve been fatally wounded. In fact, I think I have. “Cooper, you’re hurting me. They’re from our very own Bay Area.”
“Who is?”
“Journey!” I snap.
She rears back. “Okay…? That’s great. Go, Bay Area. Their song is still making me fall asleep.”
I scoff, incredulous as I shoot her a look.
“What’s the big deal?” she asks. “The song’s just slow.”
I bark out a laugh. “You’reslow.”
She just blinks at me.
Wow, good one, Robbie.
Hey, cut me some slack. I’m under duress here.
“So is that a yes to changing it…or…?”
I shoot daggers at Cooper, and she pauses her reach towards the radio again. “Cooper, I think we need to add to our ground rules.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little late in the game for that?”
I ignore her question, holding up three fingers. “In this car, we worship the Father, the Son, andtheSteve Perry.” Cooper opens her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. “And I won’t hear any more disrespect from you on the matter, young lady.”
She lets out a scoff. “But–”
“Hey, look at that!” I grin, pulling into the Groovy Movie parking lot. “We’re here anyways. So it doesn’t even matter.”
Cooper’s still staring at me open-mouthed as I come to a stop right in front of the building. She shakes her head at me, an exasperated half-smile coming to her face. “You’re ridiculous. You know that, right?”
“Oh, I know it. But I love it when you remind me, baby.” I wink at her and she makes a show of pretending to gag as she opens the door.
I sneak a chuckle out before she can turn back around to face me. “Thank you for the ride,” she says.
I tilt my head at her. “Well, we couldn’t have you coming down with pneumonia before the big election.”
“Yeah, I suppose that would have been pretty tragic.” She laughs, somewhat uncomfortably. “Well…I really appreciate it. Thanks again.”
