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I almost laughed. “And off to the poppy fields we go.”
He sighed. “Okay, so I’m not following what you’re pissed at us for. So rather than worry about what you’re mad at everyone else for, will you talk to me like I’m five and tell me what I did wrong?” He sounded so plaintive that I wanted to make it better for him. “I want to fix this, but…”
“But you don’t know why I’m mad? Or you don’t know how to fix it?” I had the shorts stacked up, so I added them and the jeans to the basket. Two more bras went in and then I started matching the socks. Fortunately, I pretty much wore the same white socks, so everything matched.
“Yes.” He closed the distance between us to lean against the washers next to me. “C’mon, Frankie. I hate it when you’re mad at me.”
I wasn’t really a fan of being angry with him either. When I had the last set paired, I tossed them all in the basket and then picked it up. “Fine, but not in here. It’s hot.”
He nodded and reached for the basket, but I didn’t let it go.
“I have it.”
Raising his hands away, he backed up and then led the way out of the laundry room. At least there was some shade in our courtyard and along the way, if we took the long route. The lack of privacy in the courtyard meant I needed to spit it out before we got there.
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I want to do all the same things in high school that the rest of you are? That I want to go on a first date? Maybe I’d love to get asked to go to a dance or ask a guy to go a dance. That I’d like to have the crappy stories about the guys I just don’t click with and the crazy ones about the guy I didn’t stop kissing long enough to get out of the car and go in to see a movie?”
The blank surprise on Coop’s face was a humbling enough answer. I shook my head.
“That’s why I’m angry. Because the four of you decided I didn’t get to do that for some reason, yet not a one of you keeps it in his pants. You may not have had sex because you didn’t have a condom, but you’re hardly a virgin.” None of them were. I knew exactly when each one had scored the first time and with who.
See, there are some things I could have lived without knowing.
“It might even be fair, if there was some kind of parity where you told me about your issues with Laura, and I could bring up the crazy crap I had to put up with from Mac.”
“Mac Harper?” Coop’s eyes narrowed.
I sighed, turning to face him. He had to stop abruptly or collide with me. “No, dipshit. Mac was an example of someone Imightbe seeing.”
He frowned. “But you’re not seeing him.”
“I’m not seeinganyone.” Itsy bitsy little lie, but I wasn’t seeing Mathieuyet.“Because you, Aramis, Athos and Porthos decided I needed to be protected and that no guy at school was allowed to ask me out.” At least Coop read enough to get my point about the Three Musketeers.
Folding his arms, Coop frowned. “Okay. We did that. Sorta.”
“Sorta?” I raised my brows.
“Well, we didn’t take out an ad, Frankie. We just… made it clear that we weren’t going to let anyone pick on you or take advantage. Guys can be pretty shitty to girls, if you haven’t noticed.”
I swear, I didn’t laugh but that was some seriously whacked shit. “No kidding,” I said in the most deadpan voice I could muster. “You know what’s shittier?”
“What?”
“Friends who go out of their way to sabotage you. I had to hear it from Rachel Manning… that the reason I didn’t have a date to the spring dance was because no guy wouldeverask me. No guy would dare, so if I wanted to go to that dance, I had to take my self. But isn’t itsocute, how you guys the made sure no one would ever bother me? I’m practically untouchable.” I almost had Rachel’s insincere bitch tone down. It wasn’t quite fair to Rachel, as she’d been in a mood at the time, but Iwasn’tin the mood to be fair to anyone. She’d gotten some pleasure out of slamming me with that. Mostly ‘cause she’d hit on one of them, and they’d shut her down, so instead she used me to get back at them.
I got the politics of it, but the thing was, my feelings had been the ones hurt.
“You and the guys—you took your dates and you partied.”
“You came to the dance,” Coop said. “I didn’t think you cared about the dating thing.” When I scoffed, he held up his hand. “No seriously, I’m not making this up. I’ve seen a lot guys hit on you… yet you never respond.”
What the hell was he talking about? Why did they all keep saying that?
“That’s the thing,” Coop told me. “You never noticed. I thought—I thought you were just shutting guys down. You didn’t want to flirt or to go out with anyone. All I wanted to do…”Him, not the guys. He was making a distinction. “I wanted to have your back. I don’t want someone to do to you…”
“What you’re doing to Laura?”
He frowned, and then glanced down. “I broke up with Laura last night.”
