Page 30 of Operation Prom Date
“Kate?” Cooper extended his hand. “You coming?”
Part of me was dying to see if Mick had texted back, but there were too many eyes on me right now, and I couldn’t refuse Cooper’s hand.
Once I took it, warmth tingled through me, pushing all thoughts of checking my phone to the far corner of my mind.
Chapter Seventeen
Kate
As I walked toward the school on Thursday morning, my thoughts were caught up in reliving moments from last night. I’d had such a fun evening with Cooper, from our impromptu swim in the lake to hanging out in his room, and even after that, having dinner with him and his mom.
She was beautiful, the kind of woman I imagined won crowns in pageants. Which was probably why I’d expected her to be cold. Now I mentally kicked myself for stereotyping. I wanted to defend myself by saying I’d been burned by girls who looked like her before, but that was no excuse.
Mrs. Callihan made us grilled cheese, and then I pressed for stories about Cooper—it was only fair that I gather intel on some of his embarrassing moments since he’d witnessed way too many of mine.
“When he was little,” Mrs. Callihan had said with a smile, happy to indulge me, “he was obsessed with space, and used to constantly spout off facts about solar systems and planets. I’d ask him to take out the trash in the evening and then I’d find the trash on the back doorstep, and he’d be out on the shore of the lake with a telescope. I used to call him my little space case.” She’d ruffled his hair and he dodged away, his entire face red.
“Thanks, Mom. That’s enough stories for now.” Cooper had put his hand on my shoulder. “I should probably take Kate home before her mom starts to worry.”
“No, no. It’s still early.” Mrs. Callihan had glanced at the time, and her warm smile faded. “Oh. It’s later than I thought.” A strange look passed between them, an unspoken conversation I didn’t have the translator for.
Since my clothes had dried, I’d changed and Cooper took me home. We hadn’t talked much on the way, but it was a comfortable silence, one I hadn’t scrambled to try to fill. And not because he didn’t deserve my chatter that time.
Bonus, when I’d started to take off his hoodie in the truck, he’d told me to hang on to it so I wouldn’t have to be cold for the few steps it took to get to my front door. I’d wanted to wear it to school this morning, but I figured that’d make it look like we were a couple, and our act was supposed to be more casual friends who might be hooking up.
I paused and let that sink in. Honestly, I’d been so wrapped up in how much fun I’d had yesterday evening, I’d almost forgotten that our hangouts were part of a deal. I needed to remember that before I got carried away and started making the confusing tingly attraction vibes I occasionally felt with him into something they weren’t.
But we’re real friends now, right?Having someone to confide in, someone who made me laugh and even look forward to school had made this last week and a half so much better, and I didn’t want to do anything to mess that up.
Which meant chalking up that moment on the floor of his bedroom to not ever being that smooshed up against a boy before and refocusing on my mission. The one he was assisting me with.
Unable to help myself, I took a tiny whiff of the hoodie before placing it in my locker. Just because Cooper had really amazing smelling cologne, and it was okay to think friends smelled sexy.
I grabbed my books for my first class and turned down the hall. I spotted Cooper in the crowd and waved.
He nodded back at me, a grin spreading across his face, and anticipation tingled through my veins.
I started toward him, planning on greeting him by calling him Space Case. But then Mick stepped up to me, and I nearly tripped over my feet. I opened my mouth to speak before realizing I didn’t know what to say, and panic rose up.
My teeth popped as I snapped my mouth closed, embarrassingly loud, and my body heated, giving my deodorant a run for its money.
“You never texted me back, you naughty vixen,” Mick said.
Oh, how embarrassing. He’s not even talking to me.I spun around to see who the lucky girl was, but no one else was around. Which just left me as the recipient of his words, but the thought of me as a naughty vixen was laughable.
My focus got lost in his perfect features, the sharp line of his jaw and that sexy indention in his chin, and the cheekbones that should be illegal on males so that women could havesomethingto hold over guys like him.
“Kate?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “It was just so late when I got home, and I didn’t want to wake you up.”
He nudged me with his elbow, the smirk that frequented my dreams twisting his mouth. “You can wake me up anytime.”
Since the open mouth, gasping-for-air fish face couldn’t possibly be sexy, I pressed my lips together and forced them into a smile.I can do this. Carefree, light…
“I’ll make a note.” Wait. Note making was serious. “Or I won’t.”
His eyebrows drew together and nervousness bound my lungs, and talking whilst unable to breathe wasn’t as easy as it sounded, and it didn’t sound all that easy in the first place.
