Page 29 of Operation Prom Date
“No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Cooper let out a long breath. “Okay, so maybe our coach has talked about it. But if someone sees that on your phone—especially Pecker—he’ll freak.” His eyebrows arched up and he put a hand on his chest. “That’s why you recruited me. To tell you that kind of thing before it blows up in your face.”
“Noted.” I lifted my phone and ran my thumb across the glass, getting a residual thrill over Mick texting me in the first place. “What do I say to him? I mean, clearly, I say no, we’re not a thing. Right?”
“Wrong.” Cooper shifted, the navy and white comforter bunching underneath him. “You dodge. Make him guess. Here—” He snatched my phone from me.
“Hey! Have I ever told you that you have boundary issues?”
“You’re inmyroom, wearingmyclothes, making me stalk a guy onmylaptop. Let’s not get into boundary issues.”
He had a point there. His bedroom was nice, too—spacious and cleaner than I expected, and before he’d come in, I’d checked out the killer view of the lake from his huge windows. And speaking of his clothes, they were soft and warm and smelled faintly like him. I was considering crossing a big boundary and claiming his hoodie as my own so I’d never have to take it off, and it had to do more with wanting to hold on to the sense of security I felt than simply being warm.
Thetap, tapof my phone’s keyboard brought me back to the current situation, and I scooted closer and watched him type out a response, hypnotized by his long fingers and the way the line in his forearm twitched as he typed.
Until I read the words.
Me (well, Cooper posing as me):We hang out sometimes. Did you text me to talk about him, or do you want to know what I’m doing this weekend?
I gasped and reached for the phone, my chest meeting the hard resistance of his shoulder. “You can’t send that!”
Cooper held it out of my reach and hit send. “Too late. You can thank me later.”
“You know, I felt bad about dunking you in the water today, but now I’m glad. If I were you, I’d sleep with one eye open.” I lunged for my phone again and Cooper and I fell off the foot of the bed, ending up in a tangle of limbs on the floor.
Cooper groaned. “Hanging out with you is hazardous to my health.”
I got the giggles as I tried to untangle myself from him, but he shifted forward as I reached across him for my phone, and I ended up in his lap, our noses all but touching.
The mood shifted, the air heavy and thick, and I sat frozen, transfixed by his eyes and the way they locked on to mine. Our dip in the lake had left the waves in his hair more defined, bordering on curly territory, and before I realized what I was doing, I reached up and pulled on the lock that hung down on his forehead.
His breath stuttered, and mine didn’t feel so steady, either. I licked my lips, and he made a low noise in the back of his throat. Awareness zinged through me as my heart beat a rapid rhythm against my rib cage.
A loud throat clearing broke the silence, and I looked toward the doorway, where a blond woman stood.
I scrambled to my feet and Cooper did the same. “Hey, Mom. This…isn’t what it looks like.” He tugged on his shirt. “I know that’s what every kid says when he gets caught doing something against the rules, but we fell into the lake, and Kate was soaking wet, so that’s why she’s wearing my clothes, and—”
The woman held up a hand. “It’s okay. You’re lucky I wasn’t your dad.”
Cooper nodded.
“All the same, why don’t you and…Kate, was it?”
I swallowed, but my voice still came out squeaky. “Yeah. Um, nice to meet you?”
A small smile curved her lips. “You, too. Now, why don’t you come down to the kitchen and I’ll make some dinner.”
“You’re going to cook?” Cooper asked, and the woman gave him a look. There was a bit of reprimanding in the mix, but there was softness and affection, too.
“I can make grilled cheese, as you well know,” she said.
“Right. And cereal.”
She laughed, and I hoped that meant we weren’t going to get into huge trouble. I could handle, like, a tiny bit of trouble, but if anyone yelled, I cracked and panicked.
Cooper picked up my phone and gave it to me. For some reason, his bringing up how we’d been soaking wet earlier made me recall the way his clothes had clung to his torso, and I got caught up staring at it now. Wet or dry, he knew how to fill out a T-shirt, that was for sure.
