“Are you?” He slipped his arm around my shoulder. It was an invitation to move closer, to practice our kiss.
I kept my distance. “Does the gambler’s fallacy take into account that some relationships might be cursed? Because I feel like there’s a high probability that if I start aggressively kissing you, your neighbor’s dog will get loose, think I’m biting your face, and attack me.” My gaze swept across the houses on his street. “Which of your neighbors have dogs?”
“You’re stalling.” He smiled again, this time with a teasing look in his eyes. “Who would’ve thought that the drama queen got stage fright?”
After that sort of challenge, I had no choice but to kiss him. I placed my hands on his shoulders, leaned over, and pressed my lips to his. Soft kisses. He was warm and smelled of aftershave. I wondered if he always put it on after the game or whether he’d worn it for me. I liked that idea, that he’d thought of me when he put it on.
After a minute, he pulled away enough to look at me. “That’s you being aggressive?”
“I have to work up to aggression. I’m not a cavewoman. I have some finesse when I kiss a guy.”
“Oh.” The humor returned to his voice. “Sorry to interruptyour finesse. Let me know when you get aggressive, and I’ll give you my critique then.”
“You’re going to critique my kiss?”
“Isn’t that what you do in drama? I’m only helping you improve.”
I leaned away from him and folded my arms. “Maybe you should just save yourself the trouble and show me the right way to do it.”
“Fine,” he said.
He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me closer. I just had time to unfold my arms before his lips came down on mine. The kiss was insistent. My pulse pounded like a drumbeat, so loud in my ears that I almost worried he could hear it.
The same electricity I’d felt when we’d kissed at the refreshment shack was back, making me dizzy, making me stupid. My hands slid across his chest and wrapped around his neck.
I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that on the swing. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this was only supposed to be practice, and we ought to stop and watch the app on Cooper’s phone to see his mother’s location.
We didn’t, though. We just kept kissing. I was mesmerized by the feel of his lips on mine. Each time his hand traveled up my back, it sent shivers throughout me.
Could he kiss me like this and not care at all about me? Had his acting improved that much?
I mean, I wasn’t ignorant to the fact that guys used girls. But my mind searched for some straw to hang onto, some belief that this was real for him as well.
The front porch suddenly lit up. For one confused moment,I didn’t know what was happening. I’d actually forgotten why we were doing this.
I pulled away from Cooper and didn’t have to fake the shock or embarrassment I felt as my dad’s car pulled into the drive.
Our parents had come here a lot sooner than I’d expected and were no doubt staring at us in horror. The car parked and the headlights switched off.
I glanced at Cooper to see his expression. He ran his hand through his hair and swallowed in embarrassment, but his eyes looked triumphant. “See,” he whispered, “it went just as planned. No disaster.”
He was wrong about that. The disaster had just happened inside me. The kiss had shown me how much Cooper meant to me. And I meant nothing to him.
Our parents emerged from the car. Both looked more surprised than angry.
“You’re home earlier than I expected,” Ms. Nash said tightly. “I’d ask what you were doing here, but it seems pretty obvious.”
My father cleared his throat. “Why don’t I take Madeline home with me? That way Cooper doesn’t have to make a separate trip.”
Cooper took hold of my hand. “I don’t mind driving her. You guys don’t have to end your date yet.”
“Yes, we do.” His mother walked stiffly toward the door. “Because I need to talk to you about a few things.” The look on her face made it more than clear what those things were.
“Okay.” Cooper squeezed my hand and leaned toward my ear as though about to tell me some tender goodbye. He whispered one word. “Success.” Then he turned and went into the house with his mom.
I plodded to my father’s car and slumped in the front seatnext to him. I really didn’t want to talk about kissing Cooper right now. Or ever.
On the way home, my father lectured me about how I ought to think carefully about my actions. He emphasized that he didn’t think I was considering consequences enough. I should’ve felt happy that our parents finally believed that Cooper and I were an item.
