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I shrugged. “They’re good and easy to fix. We’ve got—oh, Mom splurged.” I pulled out three boxes triumphantly: potato skins, chicken fingers, and mozzarella sticks. “I know I said I’d cook.”
“Nope,” Coop said with a grin. “Sold.” He moved into the living room and toed off his shoes before leaning in the doorway as I got the tray set up with all the different options. They all needed to cook in the oven for about the same length of time.
Oven on, I shoved the tray in and added about three extra minutes to the cook time for the preheat and twirled. “Touchdown.”
Coop snorted. “That’s not how that works.”
“Yeah, I know, and I still think I’m the only person in Texas who doesn’t care.”
He chuckled. “Where do you want to do this?”
I grabbed some sodas out of the fridge. “Bedroom is probably more comfortable, but we can also use the sofa—except… No table.”
He winced. “Was your mom mad?”
“She didn’t care,” I told him. He frowned as he took his soda, then pivoted to follow me back to my room.
“She didn’t care?” Disbelief soaked each word. “We broke the table.”
“She didn’t—how is your arm by the way?” I motioned to where he had the fat square Band-Aid on his right triceps.
“It’s a scratch,” he said.
He dropped his backpack on the floor. Once I sat on the bed, back to the headboard, he settled on it next to me. One of the perks of having a full-sized bed—we both fit.
“I can’t believe she didn’t care,” he said, then took a swallow of the soda before setting it aside and stretching his legs.
“Maybe it meant more to me than her.” She certainly had a lot of other things on her mind. Things I really didn’t want to think about. “So, for now at least, I don’t have to replace it, and we’re not exactly using the living room that much.”
“I am sorry Frankie.”
“I know,” I said bumping his shoulder. “It’s done.” Stretching out, I snagged my laptop and pulled it over to prop against my thighs. Opening it up, I tabbed us over into a fresh document and typed out our book title followed by lit project.
We sat there staring at the screen absolutely silent and then Coop began to snicker and a giggle tore loose in me. “Yeah, we school good,” he joked. “I still think the escape room would have been fun.”
“Too complicated,” I pointed out. “Not to mention if we try to find time to go to one now without everyone else…”
“Yeah,” Coop said with a sigh. “Okay…thinking hats on. What can we do to convey the understanding of the story via pop culture that is creative and different?”
Well, if I already had that answer, we wouldn’t be staring at a blank page. For now, I squinted at the wall. I had photos stuck in different places, a couple of posters, and a painting we’d done at one of those painting and wine places—we’d done it without the wine, but all five of us had gone and it had been a hysterical night.
The painting was of a rain drenched Paris street focused on a coffee shop. There were only supposed to be two chairs at the table, but we’d each added more. Mine had five chairs, one for each of us. When had we done that? Summer between sophomore and junior year? Bubba had gotten his license first. It had been the first time we all piled in a car and went somewhere without our parents.
So. Awesome.
“Maybe we should work on essays,” Coop suggested and made a face. We’d been sitting there dead quiet for ten minutes. Laughing, I tabbed out of the document and over to Netflix. The oven timer would go off soon.
“Find us something to watch with food and we’ll see if we come up with something while not thinking about it.” Some of the best solutions to my problems came when I focused on other things. “And no…”
“…horror. I know. No horror. We won’t ever do that to you again. I think you almost ruined Jake’s football career when you nearly dislocated his arm.”
Laughing, I made my way to the kitchen. I’d pulled out the plates and the condiments—marinara for the mozzarella sticks, sour cream for the potato skins, and ranch dressing for the chicken fingers—and had everything set up before the timer went off.
My stomach gurgled as I split the food evenly.
“Was that last Godzilla any good?” Coop yelled.
“I have no idea. I like the monster island one.”
