Page 95 of Something Rad
“Well, I hate to break it to you, baby,” I say, putting my car in park, “but you’re one of us now.”
“Only for two more weeks,” she mutters.
I pause on my way to grab the door handle. “Right,” I say, then clear my throat. “Hallelujah.”
I push open my door, hopping out and walking up to the sidewalk. After a few seconds, I realize Cooper isn’t following me. I turn around, leaning down to glance through my car window to see what the hold up is.
I find her staring into a little compact mirror, applying her red lipstick. My brows pull together as I watch her swipe the color onto her already naturally red lips, her eyes hooded and mouth pouted as she does so. She raises her hand to her face, swiping at the corners of her mouth with her pointer finger and pressing her lips together. Then she puts the lipstick down, flipping her head over once in front and back up, fluffing up her hair. She finally opens the door, signaling me to stand up straight again.
She steps out of the car, her full lips freshly painted and her auburn waves falling over her shoulders, and I guess I’m staring at her, because she looks up at me with a weird expression. “What?” she asks.
“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head. I just don’t know why my throat feels tight all of the sudden. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
We make our way up to the front door, Cooper automatically putting her arm around my waist and me slinging mine over her shoulder the second we cross the threshold like the well-oiled machine we are.
I wasn’t kidding when I said every cool kid in Bay View is here. The foyer alone is packed with people, and the crowd only gets more dense as we push our way into the living room. I knew we couldn’t miss this tonight. When Lisa McDaniel’s parents say they’re going out of town for the weekend, there’s only one place to be on Friday night.
The lights are dim and AC/DC’sBack in Blackalbum is blaring from a record player in the corner as people mingle around in groups, cans of cheap beer and wine coolers in hand.
I glance down at Cooper and find her stiff at my side, looking something like a deer in headlights. “You good?” I ask her.
She nods slowly. “We’re here,” she says.
“Good observation, Cooper.”
She doesn’t even have a snarky comeback, just looking up at me. “What now?”
I open my mouth, but don’t even get a chance to form an answer as a loud voice appears at our side.
“Well, look who it is!”
I glance up, realizing it’s coming from Brad Marshall, one of my basketball teammates, right as he throws his arms around me.
No, not just me.
MeandCooper. “Hey, man,” I say. “How’s it going?”
“Fantastic, man,” he grins, his crazy blue eyes having a more suspicious gleam in them than usual as he looks between me and Cooper. “Especially now.”
I laugh. “What do you mean by th–”
I don’t get to finish my question before Brad raises his thumb and forefinger to his mouth, letting out a whistle. “Look who I found!”
An eruption of cheers sounds from behind us, and Cooper and I both spin around to find it coming from a group of people on the living room couches. I just have to squint my eyes slightly in the dark to immediately make out Jesse, Denise, Paul, Ginger, and Lisa within the bunch.
“Well looky here!” Paul whistles, standing and grinning at us.
“The happy couple!” Denise says, far too enthusiastically. “Come join us!”
Cooper and I exchange a subtle glance, me just as unsure as her as to why they’re acting so weird. Eventually, I shrug, and we make our way over to the couches, Brad’s hands practically guiding us from behind. Paul and Ginger scoot over, leaving a spot open. I motion for Cooper to sit in it but she gives me a look telling me that’s the last thing she wants to do, so I plop down in it instead. She’s still standing, and I try to motion with my head for her to at least sit on the arm rest of the couch. She glances between it and me several times, and I eventually give up, turning my head back forward.
Stubborn, stubborn, Cooper–
She completely catches me off guard by sitting right down on my lap. I go stick straight, but she doesn’t seem to notice, looping her right arm around the back of my neck. I try to look at her, but her eyes are scanning the rest of the party, her body relaxing into me as if this situation is entirely normal.
She never fails to surprise me. I’ll give her that.
