AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Since when has Cooper knocked on our door? He usually lets himself in.
“Oh—hey.” My eyes go wide and my cheeks blaze with heat as what went down last night flashes through my head. I awkwardly thumb over my shoulder. “Jackson is inside.”
“Cool. But I’m not here for your brother today. I’m here for you, T.”
“Me?” That squeak was a whole new octave for me. “Now?”
Cooper ducks his head and his mouth curls into his signature swoonworthy smile, the dimple popping out to mess with my fluttering insides. It’s exacerbated when he gives me an intent once over, something bright and warm flaring in his eyes as he catalogs every inch of me.
“Yep.” He pops thep. “You. Now.”
My stomach dips as a shallow breath rushes out of me. Now.Now. In my head, theit’s happeningGIF from The Office plays on repeat. There’s no way to stay calm in this moment.
“Get in.”
I blink out of my shock. Cooper has moved to brace against the open door of his Jeep, watching me over the rim of his sunglasses. My lips part and he offers me a cocky grin, nodding to his ride.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
He swings his keyring around his finger. “For burgers.”
“Oh.” Surprise colors my tone.
“What?” The smooth, rich sound of his chuckle coils around me as we climb into his Jeep. “You said you wanted to hang out, right? Just me and you.”
He’s teasing me, but the hot flush spreading over my skin feels too good for me to care. I will my prickling cheeks to not be red and stare at my lap while he backs out of the wide driveway between our houses. I’m not paying close attention to the direction we’re headed, too absorbed in shooting him surreptitious glances.
Like everything else, Cooper looks confident and relaxed right now, one hand resting over the wheel, wind from the open window moving the messy hair sticking out beneath his hat. Taking a girl out for burgers is no big deal to him. It’s probably been a weekly thing for him since he started dating. To go out with him without Jackson as a buffer is a pretty big first for me. I never made time for boys, and I’m anxious about not knowing what to anticipate.
“Quit thinking so hard over there.”
“I wasn’t,” I protest.
The corner of his mouth lifts. “Liar.” Switching to grip the bottom of the wheel, he reaches over to tap my temple. “This is always going. You gotta turn it off if this is going to work.”
I scrape my teeth over my lip. I want this to work. It needs to, so I’ll be prepared for anything in college.
“You’re the master.”
“Mm, I like the sound of that.”
The flattening of his mouth doesn’t match his cocky words or his smoky tone. Before I can ask what’s wrong, we’re pulling into the drive-thru at In-N-Out.
Cooper adjusts his backwards cap and hooks his arm over the open window on his side of the Jeep to place our order. “Can I get a 3x3, animal style, two orders of fries, a chocolate shake, and a double-double—” I open my mouth, leaning forward to make sure he gets mine without onion, but he’s already on it. “—without onions.”
He shoots me a quick glance. “Want Coke or pink lemonade?”
Why me, baby?
“P-pink lemonade,” I stammer embarrassingly, distracted by another memory from last night of Cooper pressing me against the wall, hot breath fanning over my skin while he murmured to me.
He winks and returns to finishing our order. This is kind of…intimate. If Jackson were here, I’d think nothing of it. The three of us have grabbed In-N-Out plenty of times together. But with just me and Coop? He knows my order by heart. He pays, turning me down when I offer to chip in for my meal. It’s a little boyfriend-y.
All of it stokes a warm ember in my chest.
Why him? More like who else but him. He’s so suave and sure of himself, it gives him an unbeatable allure.
With a guy like him, I can get out of my head and stop over-analyzing, let myself feel in the moment.
