Page 10 of Coping Skills

Chapter Six

Daniel groaned when he heard the doorbell ring.

“I got it!” Coop called from the living room.

Daniel rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. He was fucking tired. His legs felt like stretched out rubber bands after all the running he’d done—those fucking freshman dicking around had made Coach Hanson run the team extra hard—on top of his lower body workout and run this morning. He’d already iced down in the training room before coming home, but he needed to stay on top of the ibuprofen tonight or he’d never be up to his usual speed by the game in two days.

And now Coop had someone coming over and hadn’t bothered to let him know. Fan-fucking-tastic. He wasn’t in the mood for some random chick in his space drooling all over his roommate—and all the girls drooled over Evan Coopman with his dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and the smile he claimed dropped panties faster than the speed of light. Sometimes when Daniel was in the living room when Coop brought his latest conquest home, the chick would look at him and decide she was super kinky and offer a threesome if he wanted to join in. Which he didn’t. Ever.

Flopping down on his bed, resigned to spending the evening in his room instead of watching TV or playing video games like he’d planned, he heard Coop’s voice, followed by female laughter that he recognized. Sitting up, he was about to go out there, when a knock sounded on his door and Coop poked his head in, his dark hair flopping over his forehead.

Coop looked him up and down, his blue eyes amused. “Good. You’re decent. You have a visitor.”

Daniel looked down at his bare chest and athletic shorts. Sure. Good enough. He followed Coop out to the living room, where Elena stood holding a pie plate covered in foil, looking around their living room, shifting from one foot to the other.

When he came into the room, her eyes landed on him, and they widened as they traveled over him. He liked when she looked at him like that, when that tell-tale flush came to her cheeks, tinging her skin with the lightest hint of pink. Not a blush. That was the look her skin got when she was aroused.

Coop plopped down on the couch, reminding Daniel they weren’t alone. With one arm thrown along the back of the couch, Coop took a pull off his beer, making no effort to hide the fact that he was watching them like they were some kind of dinner theatre.

Wanting to regain control of the situation, Daniel spoke first. “Hey, Elena. I wasn’t expecting you.”

Her eyes flicked over his chest once more, and it took all his willpower not to puff up and flex under her approving gaze. Instead, he tried to remain casual.

Finally, she met his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that. Sorry. I, um, I wanted to surprise you.” She held up the pie. “I found a recipe for chess pie.” She glanced at Coop, who still stared at them both avidly, now turning his gaze on Daniel, his blue eyes twinkling, dark eyebrows raised as he waited for Daniel’s response.

“Let’s take it to the kitchen.”

He briefly considered grabbing a T-shirt, but decided not to. Let her look. Maybe she’d quit blowing him off every time he asked her out if she kept eye-fucking him like that. And they’d at least be out of Coop’s eyeline in the kitchen, if not out of earshot.

Grabbing paper plates and plastic forks out of the cabinet, he watched as Elena took the foil off the pie, revealing the golden-brown top on the custard filling. His mouth watered just thinking about digging into a slice of that.

Elena eyed the disposable dishes, then looked at him. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “We don’t like doing dishes. We have them, but prefer these. I do have a real knife to cut it with, though.”

“How grown up of you.”

She laughed at his narrowed eyes. He pulled a knife out of the drawer and handed it to her. “I’ll let you do the honors since you made it.”

Her fingers brushed his as she took the knife out of his hand, and he swore he felt electricity coursing between them, but she seemed unaffected, so he pretended to be as well. For now.

She cut a slice of pie, using the knife and a plastic fork to get it onto a plate in one piece, and presented it to him. “You try it first. Tell me if it tastes right. I’ve never made this before, so I hope I chose a good recipe. They all seemed pretty similar, though, so I just picked one at random. I used my normal crust recipe, because I like it better than the one suggested.”

He took the plate and fork she held. The crust broke as he cut into it, little bits of flaky goodness falling onto the plate. The custard filling was a burst of sweetness on his tongue, perfectly complemented by the buttery crust. He moaned aloud. “Oh my God. That’s so good.”

She smiled at his words, until her pleasure turned to embarrassed horror when his jackass of a roommate yelled, “If you’re going to get a blowjob, could you take it into your room at least!”

Elena covered her face with her hands, but Daniel couldn’t help laughing at her embarrassment, yelling back at his roommate around a mouthful of pie. “Shut up, Coop! You’re just jealous that someone made me a delicious pie, and you can’t have any.”

“Oh, is that what we’re calling it these days? My bad. I missed the update. Make sure you add that one to Urban Dictionary.”

Elena’s shoulders shook, but she didn’t make a sound. She was laughing, right? This was funny. At least, he thought so. “Elena?”

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but laughter burst forth from her, finally audible, and she fanned her face, trying to take a deep breath. “Oh my God. You guys are horrible. I’ve never had my pies compared to sexual favors until I met the both of you.” She shook her head.

He laughed too. “Whatever. This pie’s almost as good as sex. I’m going to have another piece. You need to try it. You made the damn thing. You have to have at least one piece.”

Slicing the pie for both of them this time, he gave her a plate and a fork and they both sat at the table, eating their pie without talking.

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