Page 16 of Cooper & Jake
“Fuck, I hate that I’m missing all this,” Wyatt’s voice booms through the speaker.
“You’re not missing anything,” I tell him, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “We just hung out for a few hours. We only talked. That’s it.”
“Oh!” Peyton yells, my ears ringing from how loud he is. “And now he’s going on a breakfast date!”
“It’s not a date,” I mutter.
“A date already, Jakey. I don’t know. How do we know this guy is good for you?” Wyatt says.
“Oh, trust me, Little Dude is amazing. I like him. You would be fond of him too. But the issue is how to make sure they keep in touch.”
“I can figure it out myself,” I tell them, both loving and hating my best friends at this very moment.
“Psh, no. We’ll figure it out. We’ll make a plan while you’re out at breakfast. Speaking of which, you’re going to be late.”
Looking at the clock next to the bed, I jump up when I realize I slept in. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” I hiss, running to the dresser and grabbing a fresh pair of underwear. I hurry through a shower, and when I reenter the bedroom part of the suite, Peyton is still talking to Wyatt, who is now devising a plan for me and Cooper. “You do know I’m an adult and I know what I’m doing, right?”
“Hey, we’re just making sure you’re doing it right. But do us a favor and don’t fuck it up at breakfast, okay?”
“Whatever,” I mumble, getting dressed while they keep chatting away. “Are you doing anything this morning?”
“Taylor and I are going to go for a run down Main Street.”
“Taylor?” I try to think of who he’s talking about when it hits me. “Cooper’s Taylor?”
“Actually, she’s Jared’s Taylor. She’s so nice and sweet. When you and Cooper left, we got to talking at the bar. I even mether husband and kids on FaceTime. We figured we would get ditched at some point today by you two, so we made plans of our own.”
“Oh, well, that’s good, I guess.” More time with Cooper by myself. “I’m going to head out. I’ll be back in a little bit, and then we can head over to the reunion to see what events they have on for today.”
“Sounds good, man. See you later.”
I say goodbye to them both, then slip on my shoes and head out of the room. Cooper is staying at the same hotel, so when we parted ways at the elevator, we made plans to meet down in the lobby. The entire ride down, I’m a mess. My hands are slick and sweaty, my heart is beating way too fast, and there’s sweat all over my head and neck. I don’t know why I’m so nervous now, when I wasn’t at all last night.
Fuck, last night was full of so many emotions. First, hanging out with Cooper was just like it was twenty years ago. We were so at ease with one another, no nerves in sight. But then it turned dark when he told me about his parents. Fuck, if I had known about what happened, I would have tried to reach out.
Hell, I should have reached out to him no matter what.
But I can’t change the past; all I can do is move forward.
The elevator chimes, and when I walk off, I’m blown away by the gorgeous man standing in front of me. He’s wearing these tan chino pants with a pastel green polo shirt. Because he’s not looking at the elevator, I ogle him longer while he stares out the window. He has changed so much, but in many ways, he’s still so similar to the young boy I used to know. The nerves are picking up in my stomach as I approach him.
“Hey,” I say, getting his attention by reaching out to touch his arm. “You ready for breakfast?”
Cooper smiles at me, nodding his head. “Yeah, let’s do it. Where should we go?”
“I searched for brunch places and found one that’s just down the road. Figured we could walk there if you’re up for it?”
“Sure.”
Cooper leads me out of the hotel, and I follow right behind eagerly. “How did you sleep?” I ask, trying to fill in the silence.
“Okay. You?”
“It was all right. Peyton was waiting for me when I got back. Had a million and one questions for me.” I chuckle, remembering Peyton quizzing me on what happened. Luckily, I was able to sneak away into the bathroom, and when I got out, he was asleep.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
