Page 167 of Something Rad
“Iknowit’s you.”
I take a step closer to her, forcing her backwards. It’s obvious that she thought she had a lot more buffer space to work with when her back hits my car and she lets out a silent gasp, realizing she has nowhere else to run.
“You’re so full of shit, Cooper,” I grit, my eyes darting all over her face.
She blinks back at me. We’re close enough now that we don’t have to scream at one another to be heard. “What?” she breathes.
“Either that or you clearly have no idea the effect you have.” The statement flies heatedly out of my mouth before I instantly snap my jaw shut, looking away from her.
Goddammit.
Cooper’s spine steels. “TheeffectI have?” she questions me. “Onwhat?”
I shake my head, still not meeting her eyes. I can sense her getting angrier the longer I avoid her gaze, and something about that satisfies me.
Time for a taste of your own medicine, Cooper.
“What effect could I have, Robbie?Pleasetell me. Because, if I remember correctly, the entire reason that we’re in this mess together is because you agreed with me that I havenoeffect,right? That I’minvisible?” I don’t answer her right away, and she doesn’t give me a spare moment to, pushing on. “That I’m just an unextraordinary antisocial poindexter that nobody wants to be friends with. That nobody wants to know–”
“I wish you’d stop talking that way about yourself,” I cut her off, my eyes slowly shifting to meet hers, a heaviness settling between us as I tilt my head at her. And when I speak again, there’s a deep strain to my voice that I don’t expect.“Really, Cooper, it’s killing me.”
She swallows hard, trying her best to stand her ground, but I don’t miss the way a shiver seems to go down her spine. She raises her chin, and the next words out of her mouth are like a knife to my chest. “It’s not anything you haven’t said yourself.”
“Cooper…” I shake my head. “We need to get one thing clear. I have never once said…or even remotely thought…that you were anything less than extraordinary.”
Her lips part, and the flush that makes its way to her cheeks has my heartbeat pounding in my eardrums.
“And, for the record,” I continue, my tongue pushing into the center of my lower lip, my gaze settling on her mouth, “I think anyone that doesn’t care to know you is a damn fool.”
I can see the gears turning in Cooper’s brain. I can see the way she’s leaning on the car more for support. I can see the speed of her breathing increase with each passing moment. I’m just not sure what any of it means. I’m not sure of what I’m doing right now. All I know is that I’m frozen to the spot where I stand, and I can’t manage to peel my eyes away from the girl I spent the last two weeks of my life convincing myself I’d be fine to never see again.
“Why is this song so long?” she suddenly mutters.
“You’re Prince’s biggest fan,” I reply, not missing a beat, finally tearing my gaze from her lips to find her eyes instead. “You tell me.”
For a girl so in love with stories, she’s entirely too good at straying from the plot. But if that’s how she wants to play this. I’ll roll with it.
“Yeah,” she says, swallowing hard. “Right.”
“Aren’t you?” I question her. “I mean, that’s what you said.”
Cooper appears to force herself to nod.
“Which is the only reason why you’re insisting on playing this nearly nine minute masterpiece at top volume in the middle of the night,” I say, my voice even.
She presses her lips together, blowing a breath out of her nose.
“That’s the only reason,” I repeat. “Right, Cooper?”
Her eyes slice into mine so fast, I have to stop myself from flinching.
“No,” she mutters.
“What was that?” I ask, raising an eyebrow and ducking down, testing her.
Cooper stands up to her full height, which brings us even closer together, and I ignore the flower field's worth of heavenly scent that crashes over me as she does it. “It’s not the only reason,” she says firmly.
“Then what’s the other reason?” I ask, pronouncing every individual word.
