“I’d stay here forever if I could,” he admits. “So, what had you walking out?”
I don’t want to answer that.
“It was nothing,” I tell him, pulling my legs up to my torso and wrapping my arms around them.
“You’re such a liar,” he smiles. “I could tell you were upset.”
I roll my eyes. Cooper has always been able to read me like a book. “It was nothing.”
Cooper lies down, the snow crunching underneath him. “You’re kinda cute when you’re jealous,” he says with a smile.
“And you’re kinda ugly when you’re a dick.”
I lay down next to him, closing my eyes as little snowflakes hit my freezing face.
Cooper suddenly spreads his arms and legs, kicking me. “I don’t think I’ve ever made a snow angel,” he says suddenly. “I feel like that should be a bucket list item, don’t you? Making snow angels on the beach.”
I look at him suspiciously. “That’s what you’re putting on your bucket list?”
“Why not enjoy the little things? Not all of us are going to grow up to be rich and famous, Amara,” he grins, pushing me to the side.
I laugh, the sound eerie along the silent beach. There’s something, I don’t know. Beautiful? Scary? About such a quiet beach, but at the same time, the waves sound so much more intense as they lap at the shore.
“What am I going to be famous for?”
“I don’t know. Inventing something. Being you. We allknow that you’ve got what it takes. Me? I don’t see myself leaving this place.”
The snort leaves me before I can stop it. “I think it’s the opposite.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The silence wraps us in a cocoon, and a moment later, Cooper starts to make his snow angel.
I scoot up so that I don’t hit him, and start making my own, my thigh hitting his arms as we go.
Suddenly, Cooper is in a fit of laughter, and there’s nothing I can do other than follow him.
“What are we laughing about?” I ask between giggles.
“Anything!” he sings. “Why not. We’re alive here.”
He sits up, rolling to his knees. I prop myself up, blowing the hair out of my face.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his green eyes burning into mine.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“It looked like you were drinking a lot.”
“Your sister was just handing me drinks the whole afternoon. But I mean, it was mostly water.”
“Still had alcohol in it.”
“I’m okay,” I assure him, starting to get curious about why he was asking.
“You just seemedreallyjealous back there,” he teases, his face transforming again with a giant smile.
