“One hour, and then neither of you get a choice in the matter,” she informs us.
She doesn’t leave until I’m sitting on the couch though.
Can’t blame her.
My legs aren’t as solid as I’d like them to be.
I tuck them under me and glance at Cooper.
“You okay?” he asks. “For real?”
“Definitely been worse.” Hashtag makes a fuss of lumbering to his feet and sighing heavily while he moves from Cooper’s lap to mine, where he plops down immediately, purring louder than my tour bus engine. I rub his head and let mine drop back against the sofa. “Why did you stay?”
“I don’t leave teammates behind.”
I blink at him once, and then I crack up, which unfortunately makes my sore belly jiggle in all the wrong ways. “I amnotyour teammate.”
“Are we on Team Wooperly or what?”
“Teamwhat?”
“I mean, we could be Team Waper, or Waverper, or Cooly, but I think Team Wooperly has a better ring to it.”
Hashtag looks at him, makes a weird low growl noise, and starts swishing his tail like he’s annoyed.
“We arenotdoing this celebrity name thing. You came here so I could ask you a few little questions. Insecret.”
Gah, that grin. “It’s so clandestine—we totally need a code word. Like Team Wooperly. And clearly once we start talking, magic will happen. I’m awesome. You’re awesome. Together, we’re like, awesome quadruplified.”
“Quadruplified? That is not a word.”
“My sis—”
My brows raise, and his grin goes all kinds of self-deprecating.
“Ah, fuck,” he mutters. And then he plows on ahead. “My sistergot me a word-a-day calendar, andquadruplifiedis too a word. Also, I dare you to put it in a song.”
You did this to yourself, Waverly. Also, why is it this easy to smile at him when he’s being ridiculous? “You really are always like this, aren’t you?”
“Fantabulous? Hells, yeah. We’re a lot alike that way. I wake up every day and choose to be the baseball version of a rock star god, you wake up every day and choose to be the pop star version of a rock star god…” He sets aside his Gatorade and rises. “But you can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep. C’mon. It’s sweet dreams time.”
“Is that a code word?”
“Nope.” He twitches his fingers at me, offering a hand to help me up. “I won’t be able to sleep unless I know you’re getting the rest you need, so do me a solid and let me tuck you in. Total complete vulnerable honesty here? If I don’t sleep, I’m all talk on having the best game of my life tomorrow.”
“Are you being…responsible?”
He winks. “Don’t tell anyone. That’d totally blow my reputation.”
“Hate to break it to you, but I can’t move.” I point to Hashtag, who’s still twitching his tail like he’s debating if he wants to eat Cooper’s face. “Cat’s on me. It’s a rule. I only move when he moves.”
“Huh.”
“I know. It’s a hard life.”
He studies me, then my cat, and then he lifts a finger in the air and starts drawing on an invisible chalkboard. “Carry the two,” he mutters. “Cross-pollinate with the baby dragon mascot, divide by zero, combine an acid and a base, throw out McElroy at first, and multiply it all by infinity…”
“What are you doing?” And why am I grinning like this?
