A small smile cracked through Madeline’s persistent scowl.Peonies.
And that’s how the car ride ended, with Madeline acting annoyed and me wondering what peonies were.
13
Madeline
After we dropped off the Nashes, I got into the front seat with Dad and had to endure his questions about what had happened between Cooper and Dahlia.
He didn’t come right out and ask if Cooper had been hitting on another girl in front of me, but the question was layered into his comments.
Despite what Cooper alleged about not flirting with her, after he sat down, the two had stared into each other’s eyes and smiled nonstop. The way she’d pulled out her phone in an obvious attempt to get his number—not exactly low-key.
I told my father that Cooper apologized in the car and claimed he was just being nice to Amelia’s friend, but I made it clear that I was still upset.
The weird thing was that I really was more upset about it than I should’ve been. I didn’t have to channel some wounded character to create the tone in my voice. The rejection was already there, twining through my chest.
I’d glammed up tonight to play the part of the doting girlfriend. I’d flirted with Cooper in the car. I’d whispered sweet nothings into his ear—and okay, we’d actually been discussing buckwheat pancakes, but I’d done it in a sweet-nothings sort of way.
Cooper had held my hand, and that had stupidly set my heart beating faster.
Method acting apparently had its downsides. I’d started to believe my own role a little too much.
When he saw Dahlia and so easily ditched me, it was a painful reminder that even when I was doing my best to keep his attention, I still wasn’t in Cooper’s league. Dahlia was. Dahlia and her barely masked manipulation of guys—she was beautiful enough and popular enough to be Cooper’s type.
I was tempted to call off everything with Cooper just so I could have the satisfaction of dumping him, even if it was only in front of our parents.
“These things happen,” Dad said, trying to console me but sounding too happy. “Maybe you’re just not right for each other.” He wasn’t telling me that I was overreacting or reading too much into their conversation. He was glad things weren’t going well. “If you don’t want to go with me to Cooper’s football game next Friday, I’ll understand. I’m sure Nicole will too.”
“You’re going to next week’s game with her?” I asked. “I thought you wanted to go to the symphony.”
“The symphony plays on Saturday nights. The football games are on Fridays. Looks like I have my weekends booked for a while.”
That was enough reason to continue being Cooper’s fake girlfriend. If our parents married, I was not only going to have to endure Cooper moving into my house, he’d bring Dahlia over too.
The thought of the two of them cuddling in my living room made me want to hurl.
So Cooper and I needed to repair our fake relationship witha grand gesture of flowers, and from now on, I’d have to remember that when he flirted with me, it was only for show.
Selena, at least, was sympathetic when I called and told her that Dahlia and her popularity posse had crashed my fake sort-of-double-date with Cooper and our parents.
She made a tsking sound and said, “If he can’t see that you’re a better catch than Dahlia, he doesn’t deserve you.”
“He doesn’t,” I agreed.
“So it’s a good thing none of it is real.”
“Exactly,” I agreed again.
“None of it is real, right?”
“None of it,” I said. Except for the part where I noticed how attractive he was.
“I’m coming over anyway,” she said. “I know your dad won’t let me stay because you’re grounded, but someone needs to bring you key lime pie.”
She was right about that. And my dad must’ve sensed it because he let her stay for a half an hour before reminding us I was in teen prison and couldn’t have visitors.
Over the weekend as I did my homework, I half listened for the doorbell, the sign that a floral delivery person had come. I wondered what Cooper would put on the card and if any of it would be sincere.
