Cooper frowned. “Can Ashley be overruled?”
“Not usually,” I said. “Why? Did you have someone else in mind?”
“No.”
“Because I support you,” I went on. “Fight back! Bridesmaid Two is the worst.”
Then I turned him back toward the mirror and gestured at his—everything. “All this,” I said, “should not be wasted on a basic bridesmaid.”
Cooper considered his new cartoon-based handsomeness.
I considered it, too. “You need to know this about yourself, Cooper,” I said. “Time has been good to you.”
“You really think I look like a Disney prince?”
“I don’tthinkit. It’s just a fact.”
“Except I’m better than a Disney prince,” Cooper said then.
“Wow. Bold statement. Okay. Why is that?”
Cooper shrugged. “Because I’m real.”
ON THE WALKto dinner, we ran into Finn, of all people, in the hallway.
Finn greeted Cooper with “Coooop!” and a loud slap on the shoulder. Then he turned to me and said, “Josephine, right?”
“JoJo,” I corrected while nodding, likeExactly right.
Then Finn went on like he was practicing for a quiz. “Maid of honor. Math genius. The girl who fell out of our oak tree.”
“Yes!” I said, raising my hand for a high five. “Nice job!”
May I just point out that we had lived across the street from each othersince birth?
Why was I high-fiving him? These were basic details!
God, my bar was low.
On the other hand, these were basic details that Finn definitely hadn’t known yesterday. Nothing wrong with progress.
Next, the three of us stood there for an awkward second.
Then Finn said, “So. Who gave you that hickey?”
My eyes went wide.
Cooper and I glanced at each other, likeWhat!
I lifted my hand to the place on my neck. Then I said, “I thought you thought it was eczema.”
“I was joking.”
“You were?” Then—because he’d apparently made a joke earlier that I hadn’t laughed at—I giggled as an apology.
“Was it this guy?” Finn asked, nodding toward Cooper.
“No,” Cooper and I said in unison, guilty as crows.
