The coolness is a soothing balm, numbing the pain.
I head right up to my room, wanting to avoid my mom before she can see me and question what happened.
The last thing I need is my mom’s pity. I got enough of that in high school.
Locking the door behind me, I walk to the mirror above my dresser to inspect the damage. Peeling the ice pack away, I look at the red fingerprints around my neck and groan.
“How the hell am I going to hide this?” I mutter, fingertips grazing the marks again. Good thing I wear hoodies. I’ll just have to make sure the hood is up. No one but my sister gets close enough to me to notice, anyway.
Sighing heavily, I pull my clothes off and crawl into bed, setting my alarm for early tomorrow morning. At least something good is gonna happen this weekend. I’m dying to get my car back.
Once I’m lying down, I place the ice pack back on my throat and close my eyes.
With each breath, sleep starts to pull me under.
My brain won’t shut off, though. Thoughts of Cooper rush through my mind. His smile, his laugh, the way he’s so damn genuine. The way he looked when he was on top of Mickey. Powerful and untouchable. Like some kind of superhero, there to save the day.
God, how delusional am I?
Am I that starved for human connection? A friendship? Am I idolizing this guy just because he is a decent person?
How fucked up did my past make me? Maybe I should be seeing a therapist or something because nothing about anything in my life is normal.
He was just nice, Blake. Stop thinking too much into it. Is it that hard to believe that people can be good?
Sadly, yes.
Part of me wonders, though, if this is some kind of fluke or if he really is just a stand-up kind of guy?
****
I’m regretting booking an appointment this early, but it’s the only time I’ll have available until next weekend. I’ve got school all week during the day, and the shop is closed by five on weeknights.
I could go another week without it, I guess, walking isn’t so bad. But I know Val has some spidey senses or something, because she just knows when I’m walking home and shows up out of nowhere.
It’s not that I don’t appreciate her help, it’s that I don’t want to feel like I’m a burden to anyone or that I expect anything. I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.
That's why I’m driving at a snail’s pace with my hazards on, praying the car doesn’t die on me, or worse, blow up before I make it to the shop.
Every time a car honks its horn, I jump and curse. Sticking my hand out the window, I wave them off. “Go!” I shout.
The car zooms by, and when I look over, I see the driver flipping me off.
“Lovely.” I sigh, just wanting to get to the shop in one piece.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot with a few minutes to spare before my appointment.
As I’m looking for a place to park the car, the damn thing decides to die. Right in the middle of the parking lot.
“You have got to be kidding me.” I groan, letting my head fall to the steering wheel.
There’s a knock on my window. My head snaps up and to the side, eyes growing in size when I see a familiar head of blond hair and a set of blue eyes.
“Cooper?” I whisper to myself.
His lips lift into his trademark boyish smile. “Fancy seeing you here, Latte Boy.” He winks, stepping back.
Opening the car door, I scowl, cheeks warming. “What are you doing here?” I ask with more snap than warranted. I don’t mean to, I just wasn’t expecting him to be here.
