As he got closer, all my visual questions started answering themselves.
And then I knew. Even before he pulled off the shades.
Dammit.
It wasn’t Finn. It wasCooper.
Cooper.In a vest.Looking almost sadistically cool. Not to mention: radically different from the last time he’d showed up unannounced in my life looking like Grizzly Adams.
He smiled big when he saw me recognize him—and then, in one graceful swoop, he dropped his bag, sidled up to me, crooked his arm around my neck, and clamped me into a headlock.
“Cut it out!” I said, instantly mad, as I batted his thigh to make him let go.
He kept me clamped against him as he greeted my parents.
He was messing up my blowout. Monster!
“Cooper! Let go! Cooper!” I protested. Then, appealing to a higher power: “Mom! He’s messing up my hair!”
But I guess my mom was just as mesmerized as the rest of us.
“Cooper,” she said. “Were your eyes always this blue?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cooper replied.
Now I was thrashing around like a caught sailfish—but to no avail.
Cooper was bigger than he used to be.
“Where’s JoJo?” Cooper asked next, like he had no idea he had me in a headlock.
My parents thought this was hilarious.
“She should be around here somewhere,” my dad said, playing along.
“She’s not playing hooky, is she?” Cooper asked, clamping me tighter as I kicked at his leg.
“She wouldn’t dare,” my mother said.
Finally, I landed a good jab to the shin, and when Cooper flinched, I was able to bite him on the hip.
“Ow!” Cooper said, like I’d attacked him for no reason.
He released me, and I stood up, indignant—and then I punched him in the stomach.
“JoJo!” my mother scolded as Cooper doubled over.
But he recovered fast and stood back up straight to say, in my defense, “That’s our standard greeting, Mrs. Burton.”
I tried to give him a withering glare, but Cooper just started laughing.
“You look exactly like a rooster right now,” he said, reaching for his phone.
“Don’t take my picture,” I said, well aware of how ridiculous I sounded. “And don’t call me a rooster.”
Cooper shrugged. “Stop looking like a rooster and I’ll stop calling you a rooster.”
I flipped Cooper off and turned to my mother. “How could you let him mess up my hair? This blowout cost a hundred bucks!”
