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His eyes widened briefly, and then he burst out laughing. “Oh, God. I forgot about that.”
“Who the hell was Maisy Jackson, and why did you knock out her tooth?” Ian glanced back and forth between us, some of the tension leeching out of his face.
Coop looked at me, and I grinned at the plea in his eyes. “Hey, you started it,” I reminded him. “You brought up Robbie.”
With a dramatic sigh, Coop looked at Ian. “In first grade, Maisy Jackson decided that she didn’t like me. She was the little queen of the class, and she would announce daily who she liked and who didn’t like.”
Maisy had been a drama queen, and I hadn’t seen her since sixth grade, so hopefully she’d gotten over herself.
“But every day, she didn’t like me. Some days, she liked Frankie, but never me. Frankie and I still played together, but Maisy insisted Frankie couldn’t play with me on the days she like Frankie.”
Ian snorted. “She sounds like a treasure.”
“She was a horror show, but we were six. I just didn’t like that she wanted to tell me who I could play with, so I just agreed with her and did what I wanted to do. Then she threw a softball at Coop.”
“Smacked me right in the face, knocked one of my teeth out,” my best friend admitted with a sigh.
“And you…?” Ian looked at me.
“Threw the ball back at her. And the tooth I knocked out wasn’t loose.”
He put a hand over his face and just cracked up. Coop grinned. “We all went to the office, Frankie didn’t miss a beat. The principal asked why she did it, and she said, and I quote, ‘I thought she’d want it back. Since she threw it at us in the first place.’” His expression sobered a beat. “Us. Not me. Us.”
I shrugged. “You were my best friend. I wasn’t going to let her hurt you just cause she didn’t like who I was playing with.”
“I’m still your best friend,” he said seriously. “Even if you don’t want to acknowledge it right now.”
That was probably true. The laughter dried up, and we were left sitting in the quiet with only the music and rising volume of the partygoers filtering through the night air.
I glanced at my phone. It was closing in on nine. I’d stayed way longer than I intended. “I should probably go walk through the party.” Even if I had zero desire. “Then I think I’ll go home.”
“Frankie,” Ian said, catching my hand. “Is there a way to fix this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to fix it?” Coop asked. “I know we’re not being fair. This—this is a lot, and we want you to say we can fix it, but do you want to fix it?”
“I had sex with Archie last night, I’d really like it to not be something I did and then—this.”
Silence met my announcement.
I guess Archie didn’t tell them everything.
“Maybe that changes your minds about me. Or maybe you get why I’m not really feeling it at the moment.”
Ian tightened his grip. “Archie—are you okay?”
That wasn’t the question I was expecting, but I stared at him. “No, Ian. I’m not okay.”
“He meant with last night,” Coop stated, his gaze intent.
“I was…I was feeling pretty great, until he told me about the plan.” I sniffed, because there were tears clogging at the back of my throat, and I didn’t want to do that here. I didn’t want to do that at all. “I’m sorry if that disappoints you.”
“It doesn’t,” Coop said rolling up onto his knees. “Frankie, nothing you’ve done is going to disappoint me. Do I like all of it? No. Do you have the right to be mad at us? Yes. Do I want you to let us try to fix this—yes.”
“Maybe we don’t try tonight.” It was the closest to a concession I could come to. “And maybe—maybe don’t be so mean to someone who was trying to be a friend to me.”
“Rachel?” Skeptical didn’t begin to cover it, and Coop shot a look at Ian.
