“But, Mo . . .”
She cut me off with a raise of her hand. “You might think you’re a man and you might look like one too, but Momma still rules the roost, big boy,even if the rooster left the coop.”
“Okay, that was weird, Mom. But what about texts or calls, I can’t be without my cell phone,” I complained, wondering what type I had in what I assumed was 2013 all over again.
“Mow the grass and straighten out the garage, son. Maybe when I get back from the cemetery I’ll reconsider. Until then, use the landline if you have an emergency.”
I laughed out loud. “You always been this tough?”
Mom pointed at my feet and then gestured her hand up and down my body a couple of times from across the room. “I don’t know who this boy is today, but I’m still the mom. I have to be tough. Now get to it.” And then she twirled around like a version of Stevie Nicks and exited the room.
“Yes you are,” I whispered after her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Cooper
“He’s acting weird.”
“You’ve mentioned that ten times already, Cooper,” Hastings stated before leaning forward and placing the straw in his mouth. After a sip of Coke, he added. “So, why dontcha narrow it down for me?”
Michael Hastings was hot. He’d been the new kid last year and every girl wanted him the very day he’d arrived in math class. I was preoccupied with being lovesick over my best friend Mike Hill, so I hadn’t noticed at first.
“I can’t,” I began. “I know Mikey so well that I can see when he’s got something on his mind, but this was different. He looked lost,” I added. “Like he was new to earth or something.”
“New to earth?” he asked, looking at me confused or bored. Maybe both. “Like an alien?”
I waved a dismissive hand at him and turned to the parking lot in time to see Mikey’s girlfriend, Jennifer James, getting out of her BMW convertible. Megan Wright, cheerleader, co-diva, and second hottest girl in school followed from the passenger side. The sight of them turned my stomach. I’d never met a pair so in love with themselves.
“I’ll ask Jennifer,” I said, gesturing outside and waiting for the gruesome twosome to walk into the McDonalds we were in. “She keeps him on a short leash. She’ll know.”
We stared as they sashayed through the fast-food joint, most eyes following them.
“Boys,” Jennifer cooed. “Another date? Megs and I aresoooojelly of you two.”
Jennifer looked ridiculously hot as usual. Her toned midriff was visible above a skirt so short I thought I could see her pubes. Hastings took a second look, making me wonder if he was actually as gay as he said he was.
“We’re friends, Jen,” Hastings corrected, sending an alert to my brain. Like I said, Hastings was masculine in that traditional square jawed sorta way but I wondered if he played both sides of the field. “Buddies. Right, Coop?” he added.
Jennifer feigned shock and covered her perfectly painted mouth. “Nobody is allowed to call him Coop,” Jen pointed out. “That’s reserved for Mike Hill.”
I was surprised Jennifer knew my feelings about my nickname. However, she was correct.
Hastings was nonplussed. “Even if I wasCoop’sboyfriend?” he dared.
Jennifer looked from him to me, in search of a headline news story for her cheer gossip fest. “Is this true, Cooper?” she asked.
“Yeah, Cooper,” Megan chimed in, right on cue as Jen’s parrot. “Are you boys officially an item now?”
“We are not,” I stated. And truthfully, I was as confused as they were.
Hastings came out after every girl in school chased him for two weeks. We were all attracted to his dark and brooding good looks. High cheekbones, a square jaw, full lips, and a nose almost too big. His jet black hair hung in waves and crowned his olive-skinned face.
“We are not,yet,” he corrected possessively, giving me a look that once again made me feel a tad weak-kneed. But I knew I was in love with Mikey. I also knew Mikey didn’t have the same feelings for me. I knew he loved me, just not in the way I wished; so here I was, finally giving other possibilities a shot.
“I think the two of you are so hot together,” Megan announced, tugging at her miniskirt and flipping her hair back simultaneously, not an easy thing to do while trying to maintain a teasing pose in six-inch wedges. “Right, Jennifer?”
“Well at least it keeps Cooper from wanting my man,” she stated. “ThatMichael is off the market. No offense, Michael,” she added, looking atHastings.
“Why don’t we quit with all the Michael references,” I said. “You have Hill and I have no one,” I added, glancing at Hastings and reminding him that two can play his game. I didn’t want to play games but I also hated not having a guy of my own. If Mikey only felt the kind of love reserved for a best friend, I could accept that. Besides, Mikey and I were closer than any of these teenage fantasies.
