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“Yeah?” He barely glanced at her. “Don’t have time right now, Laur. Maybe later.”
“But it’s lunch…”
“Exactly.” He extracted himself from her grasp even as he kept a firm grip on me. What did he think I was going to do? Vanish into the flow of the crowd? Half-turned, but still moving, Coop pivoted to give Laura a once over. The weight of those piercing gray-green eyes was impossible to deny, and Laura straightened, her chin and chest lifting. Definitelynota coincidence. “Looking good, babe,” he said. “Real good.”
Before he even finished the heated compliment, he’d already focused away and we were on the move. Laura’s gaze skipped from Coop to me. A part of me wanted to apologize because Coop was an idiot. The rest of me just shrugged. Coop was also Coop. If Laura wanted to swap spit with him, she should get used to it. He did what he did on his schedule and no one else’s.
She vanished into the sea of students. Coop didn’t slow down. He shoved open the door to way too bright sunshine and wall of heat waiting for us outside.
Eeling out of his grasp, I dug my sunglasses out of my backpack. I slid them on before tugging the straps over my arms. It was an oven outside, the sun beating down mercilessly on us. If the school let me wear hats, I’d have a baseball cap on in a heartbeat.
“Keep up.” Coop produced his own sunglasses and tucked them into place. The hot breeze rifled his hair as he led the way toward the parking lot.
“Let’s go,” Jake yelled as soon as we rounded the corner. He stood on the running board of the driver’s side of his sunshine yellow SUV. The thing was just so bright. He’d gotten it at the end of our junior year when he bootstrapped his class placement to the top ten percent.
“I take it we’re going off campus for lunch,” I stated rather than asked as I followed Coop. Archie already sat in the front passenger seat and Bubba had the backseat. Coop herded me into the middle between him and Bubba.
I hated the middle, and he damn well knew it. The seat cushion there was not comfortable, but I stripped out of my backpack. Bubba snagged it from me to drop it into the rear with theirs before I settled. Coop’s backpack followed. No sooner did Coop close his door than Jake settled in the driver’s seat, seatbelt on, and eased the SUV into motion.
Getting out of the parking lot was a pain in the ass, but if we went out by the football stadium, we could slip out a much more unused entrance.
Bubba stretched his arm along the back of the seat, and the lack of space left me sandwiched between him and Coop. Leaning forward, I said, “Turn up the A/C?” Even in shorts, they were going to roast me back here.
Jake flipped it higher. His phone rang, but he just hit ignore as Maria’s name popped up on it.
Jake and Maria. Archie and Patty, Bubba and Sharon, Coop and Laura. “Are you guys playing hooky from the girlfriends?”
“Broke up,” Archie said over his shoulder.
“Not dating,” Bubba said, his eyes still closed as he tipped his head back. Why the hell was he so tired today?
“Not my girlfriend,” Jake said with a flick of his fingers.
Coop, however, said nothing. When I glanced at him, he made a face.
Five minutes later, we slid into the parking lot at Blaze’s. The pizza place was a longtime favorite of ours. I snagged my backpack on the way out of the car and Coop said, “You can leave it, it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but I brought my lunch.”
“We’re having pizza.” Jake tugged the backpack out of my grasp and slid it back in the car. “My treat. You skipped the pizza party in June, so now we’re making up for it.”
I hated when they paid for me. But Bubba and Archie had already vanished inside, and Coop gave me his smug,I-know-something-you-don’tlook. Rather than arguing, I spread my hands. “Thanks, Jake.”
“You’re welcome, Frankie.” He winked then shoulder-checked Coop as we passed him. Inside, the restaurant was darker, so it took a minute for my eyes to adjust. The scents of pizza hit from all sides and my morning snack and coffee seemed a long, long way away. I grabbed two slices from the available trays—one keto crust with grilled chicken, mozzarella, and mushrooms with a light garlic pesto sauce and another keto crust with sausage and applewood bacon with a familiar red sauce.
Right behind me in line, Jake loaded his plate. We grabbed cups when we got to the register. He paid, and I waited a beat for him, then we got our drinks and went in search of the guys. They’d claimed a rear table with Coop following right behind us.
“Congratulations to us for having made it to senior year. Only one-hundred eighty days left until we graduate,” Archie said. He toasted us with his soda and I laughed.
It seemed like forever and no time at all.
We all made like our various sodas and lemonades—and it looked like Bubba was just drinking water—were toast-worthy drinks. Finally, digging in, I sighed happily at my first bite. Okay, I could admit the pizza was a great call. My peanut butter and jelly sandwich would have filled the hole, and I preferred saving every dime I could, but warm cheesy pizza tasted amazing.
Across the table, Jake stared at me as he bit into his slice. I crossed my eyes at him, earning another laughing smile. Wrinkling my nose, I kept eating. As annoying as their presumptuous behavior could be, it was also as familiar as the halls of the high school. It was just the way the guys behaved. Pushy, occasionally kind, and always looking after each other.
I used to think that applied to me. Eating the pizza Jake paid for reminded me of that same feeling. But we all knew better. Twice, I’d considered asking them and twice I’d discarded it, words unspoken. For all that we’d hung out for years, I was and wasn’t a part of their group.
My choice.
