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His phone buzzed again. It had begun buzzing about a minute after we got into the car. It continued like it suffered from some kind of tic, going off repeatedly. He hadn’t even pulled it out of his pocket. Instead, he leaned one arm against the closed window and braced his fist just below his lower lip.
“Jake spent the night?” The question came out a little low and almost…hurt?
“We fell asleep watching videos,” I said with a shrug that I most certainly didn’t feel. This was dangerous ground, and I already regretted asking him what was wrong.
Except we should be able to talk about this stuff.
“I was really tired after work.”
“That’s what Jake said when he texted. Also said he wasn’t going to hang out long so you could get some sleep.” Everything about Coop’s tone was guarded.
“He probably did,” I said, glancing at Coop as we pulled up to a light. “But I was tired, and it was late. We fell asleep. It’s not the first time he’s spent the night.”
“We were twelve the last time he stayed over there, Frank.” Coop didn’t approve.
“Okay.”
“And your mom wasn’t home—again.”
“Yeah, I noticed. Thanks.” Thankfully, the light turned green.
“You have a hickey.”
I did? How had I not noticed it? Then again, I’d been kind of floating before and after the shower. It had been so weird to be together like that and get ready. I had to get my hair dry and my curls tamed.
“Are you annoyed that I have it or that I didn’t tell you all about it?” Okay, if we were pushing boundaries, I needed to push some, too.
“I don’t know,” Coop admitted. “I don’t know what I feel right now.”
All the fight went out of me. “Coop…”
“It’s fine, Frankie…I just wasn’t prepared to see Jake’s car there, and then you guys come out, and he’s always holding your hand.”
“He asked me out and so has Ian.”
“And then there’s that,” Coop said. “Bubba has been Bubba forever and now you’re calling him Ian.”
“He likes Ian. Itishis name.”
“He’s never asked any of us to call him Ian.” Fist clenched, he banged it against the door. “Sorry, not mad at you.”
We were almost to the school parking lot. “You sure about that?”
There was a motorcycle in the rearview, and the tsunami in my gut threatened to crash down. Ian was right behind us.
Coop didn’t answer me until I’d turned into the lot and headed for my spot. “I asked you out, too.”
“I know,” I told him. “We just haven’t really talked about it.”
“Are you—and Jake?” Coop frowned.
“We haven’t even gone on a real date.” Yes, it was the chicken answer, but I wasn’t talking about what Jake and I did. That was…private. It was ours.
“And you and Bubba?”
Did Tuesday count as a date? “We have kind of?” I slid into my parking spot.
“Then there’s Frenchy…”
