He wouldn’t get on the elevator, of course. I could catch him on the stairs.
But guess how badly that guy wanted to get away from me?
At the elevator bank, he glanced back and saw me running—and then, against his entire personalityand his lifelong cleithrophobia, he slipped through the elevator doors just as they were closing, and he disappeared.
I TOOK THEstairs two at a time. I told myself to stay focused. I had to catch him before he disembarked. Coopercould not leave this shipbefore I explained that I hadn’t slept with Finn.
I mean, what right did Cooper have to be mad at me for anything I had or hadn’t done with anyone?
Yes, I was swooning over all the realizations, and yes, he had just kissed me senseless—but let’s not forget that he “didn’t sleep—at all—even for one minute” last night with my least favorite person on the planet.
Nothing he could be imagining about me was worse than that.
Of course, if he’d slept with Sock Girl only because he thought I was off canoodling with Finn… maybe that made it better?
Or maybe that made itso much worse.
I mean, at least tell me the truth about my destiny before you give up on me forever!
Right?!
If that was even what was going on.
Because I had no idea what was going on.
All I knew was I had to catch him. Everything rested on setting the record straight—about Finn first. And then about this: When I’d said that kiss Cooper gave me just now was “not even close” to the same, I meant that in alet’s-get-marriedway.
Though maybe I wouldn’t put it like that.
Look. Did that smoking-hot-to-the-melting-point, blindfolded, deeplyadultkiss Cooper had just bestowed upon me resemble in any way the chaste little peck I’d received on the playground as a kid?
No.Obviously—no.
But I didn’t need a replica kiss for proof. I didn’t need proof at all.
I believed Cooper.
I could always tell when he was lying, for one thing. But—more important—he would never lie about something like this. Something that mattered.
It was true because he said it was true. And that was it.
More than that, I wanted it to be true.
Did it mean the entire story of my life had been built on a lie?
Maybe. There was a lot to unpack there.
But I had my whole life to process that. Right now, I just had to stop Cooper.
WHEN I MADEit to the gangway, Cooper was nowhere in sight, but I didn’t slow down. In fact, I upped my speed.
But just as I launched into a full sprint, my dad intercepted me. Physically. He hooked his arm around my waist as I was running past him—restraining me like a seat belt before letting me drop to a full stop beside him.
“Whoa, whoa—slow down!” my dad said.
I turned to face him. “Dad!” I said, breathless. “I can’t stop!”
But my dad pointed at me. “Stay right there.”
