Matty swam to the middle of the pool. He put both feet on the ground. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You’ve been asking a lot of ‘em tonight. What’s one more?”
“Why didn’t you want to rap tonight?”
Coop swam backwards to the shallow end. Matty could watch him cut through water all night. “Did you listen to the people who rapped on that stage? They were good, really good.”
“Who says you can’t be good?”
“They poured out their souls.”
“And you can’t?”
“I’m a kid from the suburbs. I’m just like any other Browerton undergrad dipshit. There’s no gang story behind my tattoos. I got them over the summer because they looked cool. My dad got a tattoo also, as part of his midlife crisis when he lost his job.” Coop’s head shot up. “Don’t tell anyone that, about my dad.”
“Of course. I’m sorry. Has it been tough?”
“We’re in a beautiful pool half-naked. We don’t need to talk about my family.”
“But that right there! You have something to rap about.”
“Thanks for the tip, Kanye.” Matty registered the edge behind his joke. He didn’t want to push too hard, but something about the night made him keep going, like social rules didn’t apply at this hour.
“The best art comes from pain, right? Is there anything else that makes you upset when you think about it?”
“Well, I just don’t think about it.” Coop gave Matty a smirk.
His heart raced as Coop swam back to him. The hairs on Coop’s forearms waffled in the water.
“You’re lucky,” Matty said. “You have this talent. All I’m good at is school.”
“Being smart is a pretty good talent to have.”
“It’s not a talent. It’s a constant game. It’s all about being the smartest one in the room. Whenever I was getting teased, that’s what I told myself. I’m smarter than them. No matter how cool they were or how many friends they had, there was one area where I was always better than them. So I have to stay smart in order to keep that statement true.” There was something in the look Coop gave them that said he should keep going. Coopwantedto hear more. “Junior year, the trig midterm was brutal. Everyone thought so, but I knew I aced it. And I did. I got a 92. But this popular kid who was on student council and dated a cheerleader and drove a Mercedes his parents bought him got a 94. I was devastated. I had to go to the bathroom and cry, which I hadn’t done since junior high. It felt so personal. Like if I wasn’t the smartest, then I was worthless.” Matty felt winded from all that. He couldn’t believe what he was revealing to Coop tonight.
“You’re not worthless.” Coop slipped his fingers through Matty’s. His grip was strong, protective. Matty’s heart pounded in his ears. His erection was back in a flash, pounding against his boxers. How could this all be the same night? Time seemed to bend sometime after midnight.
Matty wished he knew what was going on inside Coop’s head. He didn’t want this to end.
“Can you rap for me?” Matty asked.
“Right here? Right now?”
“I won’t boo you offstage. I’ve seen how you can improvise. Let’s see the performance that Squadron missed.”
“I thought we were supposed to be quiet.” Coop licked his lips. Matty wondered if Coop just as nervous as him.
Coop moved to the center of the pool. He ran his fingers over his head, giving Matty a beautiful view of those arms.
“You did your first ice luge. That was so tight./We went to Squadron, then we took flight./Now we go swimming in the moonlight./That’s what happens when you go out for the night.
“Hung out by Whole Foods and sat on a cart./You may not rap, but you can be smart./You think the night is over, that we are gonna part./But it’s only two a.m., and the night’s about to start.”
The night was in control. And it was the night that made Matty swim forward and kiss Coop. And it must’ve been the night that made Coop pull him to his chest and kiss him back.
Chapter 13
Coop
