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70
Cooper Madison had just finished his third beer of the night as he finished watching a Cleveland Indians game on TV. They were in the middle of a road trip, and on this night they were playing at the home of the Texas Rangers.
It was one of the few times Coop had actually sat through an entire baseball game since walking away from the game. Despite their subpar record, he was impressed by the Indians roster. There were a lot of young players like Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore who had the potential to be superstars, and manager Eric Wedge was well-respected by his players. Most analysts felt that the Indians were one front-end-of-the-rotation pitcher away from being contenders.
Due to the time difference, the game didn’t end until just before Cara was back at his place. She had called him a few minutes earlier to inform him that she had arrived back to the Westcott and was bringing her best friend, Lucy Eckert, up to meet him.
Coop wasn’t thrilled about having another new person at his apartment. Prior to meeting Cara, the guest list at his apartment was as exclusive as it gets. Nonetheless, he pretended that it didn’t bother him when Cara apologized for the impending intrusion.
After throwing away his beer bottle, Coop made his way to the elevator area outside his penthouse suite door. He watched the lever on the vintage elevator floor indicator slowly make its way up to his floor. While he wanted to meet Lucy, he wasn’t really sure that he wanted a long evening of socialization and small talk.
Maybe I’ll be able just to quickly meet her out here?
When the elevator doors opened, Coop was taken aback by what he witnessed. Cara, accompanied by her petite friend, had a huge smile on her face and the two were giggling so hard that their faces were red. He had yet to see Cara in this way, and it made him happy to see her so happy.
“Y’all better let me in on the joke,” Coop said.
“Oh my god! I’m sorry, we just were talking about this kid from high school who used to pick his ear wax and eat it during class. We named him the Earl of Earwax!” Cara said as she held her stomach from laughter.
“I see…” Coop replied with a smirk.
“You had to be there, it was so gross!” Cara insisted.
“I’ll take your word on it…”
Cara gathered herself and introduced her friend to Coop.
“Lucy, this is Cooper Madison… Coop, this is Lucy Eckert.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Lucy. Cara has said a lot of nice things about you,” Coop said as he shook her hand.
“Likewise,” Lucy replied with a smile.
“So, y’all have fun?” Coop asked.
“Oh my god, so much fun!” Cara answered.
“Totally, and thanks so much for the VIP treatment at Lola. You really didn’t have to do that, but it was amazing!” Lucy said.
“Well, it was my pleasure. I just wanted to make sure y’all had a good time. Really, I just called Simon and he took care of the rest.”
“Who’s Simon? Is he your butler or something? Please tell me you have a butler named Simon,” Lucy deadpanned.
“Lucy, stop it,” Cara playfully admonished her friend before turning back to Coop. “She’s messing with you, I told her who Simon was on the way over.”
“Oh, I’m sure he can take it, Carebear… So, you gonna invite me in or what?” Lucy asked Coop, who wasn’t quite sure how to respond.
“I’m sorry Coop, just ignore her tough chica routine,” Cara chided.
“It’s fine… I kinda like it. Come on in,” Coop answered.
“Whoa… I never imagined a place this nice existed in Cleveland!” Lucy exclaimed as she entered Cooper Madison’s eleventh-floor penthouse suite.
Coop just smiled at Cara as Lucy made her way toward the balcony doors.
“C’mon, let’s go out here!” Lucy said as she opened the doors to the balcony.
“Good idea!” Cara replied.
