Page 136 of Something Rad
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
* * *
I can feel the gentle bounce of Cooper’s knee as she leans against the side of my car next to me. I glance to the side, looking her up and down.
“What?” she demands, raising her brows at me.
“What’s the matter, Cooper?” I ask.
She hugs her arms tighter around herself as she shrugs. “Nothing.”
“Really? Nothing at all?”
“T–that’s what I said,” she insists, and I don’t miss the way her teeth chatter as she does.
I had shown up at Cooper’s house at seven o’clock sharp, and the moment she stepped outside in her little denim skirt and short sleeve blouse, I knew she was going to be freezing tonight.
“Are you going like that?” I had questioned her.
“Likewhat?” she asked, her brows furrowing.
“Well,that,” I said, motioning to her outfit.
She scoffed. “You know, Robbie, now that you mentioned it, I don’t have to go at all.” She spun on her heel to go back inside, but I grabbed her by the arm before she could slam the door in my face.
“Cooper, relax. I’m just saying, I don’t think you’re going to be comfortable.”
“Really? That’s weird. Because I’m alwayssocomfortable around you.”
I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm. “I just mean that I think you’re gonna freeze. The drive-in is out in the middle of a field, and it’s supposed to really cool down tonight.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted, yanking her arm from my grasp.
“Are you sure? You don’t want to put anything else on?”
“Robbie,” she huffed, “if I go back inside that house, you’re gonna have to drag me out by my hair to get me to leave it again.”
“Well, don’t tempt me with a good time, Cooper–”
“Shut up,” she cut me off, walking past me out the door. “Let’s go.”
Now, we’re at the drive-in, the sun has gone down, and I’m watching Cooper shake like a leaf with her arms crossed so tightly that she has to partially be cutting off her own air supply. It doesn’t bring me any satisfaction to see her shivering and uncomfortable like this.
But also, it kind of does.
“Just making sure,” I say. “You’re not…I don’t know…cold?Or anything?”
“N–no,” she stutters.
“C’mon.” I nudge her shoulder. “Talk to me, Goose.”
Cooper’s head snaps in my direction as she stares daggers at me.
“You know, Cooper, fun fact: geese fly south for the winter.”
She raises her brows at me.
“Because they get cold.”
