He shrugged. “I just didn’t realize we had that in common. My dad is gone for work too. He’s in Alaska working on an oil rig.”
Oh. It wasn’t pity or judgment. It was understanding. I relaxed a bit. “I guess neither one of them minds the cold or the sea. Maybe they’ll hit it off too.”
Cooper shook his head firmly. “That would be too weird. Also, I’m pretty sure my dad still wants to work things out with my mom.”
I’d been about to walk away from my locker, but my eyes snapped back to Cooper. He was serious. He still held out hope for his parents’ marriage.
My disbelief must’ve been evident. Cooper said, “My father wants to reconcile. I’ve already texted him that he’s got competition, and he’s suddenly calling my mother a lot more.” Cooper cocked his head again. “You didn’t think my dislike of you was the only reason I wanted to keep our parents apart, did you?”
“Yeah.” Because it had been my only reason, and now I felt petty about that.
I glanced around the hall at the people coming and going. Cooper and I had talked for so long that the school was becoming more crowded. I lowered my voice. “If we want our parents to put the brakes on their relationship, we need to work on beingmore convincing as a couple. And when I say we, I mostly mean you.” I turned to walk down the hallway. I didn’t expect him to follow, but he kept pace beside me.
“Convincing how?”
My gaze swept the area, searching to see who was around. “Aren’t you worried your friends will see us walking together?”
“Nah.” His expression was unconcerned. “They know our parents are dating. If they see us, I’ll tell them we’re plotting how to escape the next family event.” He shot me an impatient look. “What do you mean I need to be more convincing?”
My voice dropped to a murmur. “For one thing, don’t flinch when I touch you.”
“I don’t flinch when you touch me.”
To prove my point, I reached out and put my hand on his arm. He totally flinched out of the way.
“See,” I said.
His head whipped left and right, checking whether anyone had seen the gesture. “That’s because we’re at school. I didn’t flinch last night.”
I raised my eyebrows to let him know I thought he was deluding himself.
He coughed in annoyance. “My mother knows I don’t do public displays of affection. It would seem suspicious if I suddenly changed that.”
We walked in silence for several steps. I considered the cold, hard bleachers that awaited me on Friday night. “You could always fake an injury during the game so we don’t have to get ice cream afterward. Or,” I said, perking up, “you could fake an accident beforehand so I don’t have to go to the game at all.”
He gave me the side-eye. “A scout might show up. I’m notfaking an injury just so you don’t have to sit through another football game.”
“Fine,” I said, “but you’ll have to be convincingly flirty when we’re with our parents. Work on that, okay?”
He shook his head. I wasn’t sure whether that meant no, he wasn’t going to work on it, or whether he was shaking his head in disbelief because I’d told hot, popular him that he needed to improve. That’s the problem with amateur actors. They don’t realize how bad they are, but everybody else does.
We’d reached a juncture in the hall where Cooper had to turn. I knew this because I’d learned his schedule back when we were pulling pranks. Dahlia stood there, talking to one of her friends, but also obviously waiting for him. I felt an unreasonable spike of annoyance seeing her there. I bet Cooper wouldn’t flinch if Dahlia put her hand on his arm.
“See you later,” he told me, his attention already on her.
She brightened when she saw him, then noticed me next to him. Her eyes momentarily iced over.
Cooper sauntered toward her, and I was forgotten, discarded as unimportant. I couldn’t change that, but I could tweak Dahlia. “See you Friday night, Cooper!” I called.
He didn’t respond. Dahlia’s gaze snapped back to me. More ice. At that moment, I really did hope she went up to Cooper’s mom at the game and said something to her. It would serve her right.
15
Cooper
Dahlia smiled a lot while we walked to her first-period class. She asked me questions, clearly interested in everything I said. Claire had told me that Dahlia blew off some of the girls in her drama class, but I was only hearing one side of the story. Dahlia probably had her reasons. Madeline didn’t really know Dahlia and had judged her anyway—the same way she’d judged me.Homewrecking date. Sheesh. Madeline could wield humor with dangerous ease.
I’d already noticed that about her from her texts. She was flirty and funny, and even though I told her I’d be a man of few words, I wrote as much as she did.
