Page 214 of Something Rad
“You done?” I ask her, my voice low.
Her eyes snap up to meet mine, but she doesn’t say anything.
A few long seconds go by, both of our chests rising and falling, Cooper shuddering violently and her teeth clicking together, until the rest of the scene around us slowly breaches the bubble we’ve found ourselves in. The gasps and muttered whispers make their way into my ears, and I glance up to find what has to be damn near the entire party gathered around the pool with their wide eyes trained on Cooper and me.
“Come on, Cooper,” I tell her out of the side of my mouth, not wanting to cause any further of a scene. “Let’s get out of the pool.”
“No.”
I look down at her, taking in the shaking of her shoulders and the blue tinge of her lips I can see through her still half present red lipstick. She’s clearly freezing. She looks absolutely miserable. What is wrong with her?
“Why not?” I ask.
“Be–because, I told you. I’m not going anywhere with you. So,youg–get out of the pool. I’ll get out when I’m re–ready.”
I run a hand through my wet hair, frustrated. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“D–does it look like I–I’m kidding?” she stammers.
“You certainly look like a joke, if that’s what you mean.”
The second the words are out of my mouth, I regret them.
Cooper’s spine steels, her brows pulling together. She lets out a scoff, stepping back from me.
“Cooper,” I shake my head, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that–”
“Just g–get out,” she mutters.
“Sara?”
Both of our heads turn to find Alice standing at the edge of the pool.
“What are you doing?” she questions Cooper, throwing her hands in the air. “Get out of there!” When Cooper doesn’t respond, Alice looks at me. “Why is she still in there?”
“If you figure it out, let me know,” I tell her.
“Sara, come on. Get out!” Alice shouts.
Cooper doesn’t budge, just hugging her arms tighter around herself as she continues to pretend like she’s not shaking like a leaf.
I blow out an irritated breath, tracing the length of her shuddering body with my eyes. The red and black thin strapped dress she’s wearing is soaking wet, molding to her body’s every divot and curve. I swallow hard, forcing my eyes back to her face and quietly thanking God that this frigid water is slowing down the blood flow that’s desperately trying to make its way to my groin at the image of her right now. The dress dry was enough to stop me in my damn tracks, butthis, the way it’s clinging to her now just simply isn’t fair.
Who could stand a chance?
Alice calls Cooper’s name again, but her infuriatingly stubborn best friend doesn’t seem to be listening. I turn my head, meeting Alice’s incredulous eyes, trying to pass a question to her through my gaze. The huff she lets out along with the hand she throws out in my direction gives me all the validation I need to make my next move.
I dart forward, bending over just enough to scoop Cooper up and throw her over my shoulder before she even has a chance to protest. It takes a couple of seconds before the realization seems to hit her, the low level hypothermia she’s experiencing probably messing with her brain. I’m already reaching the first step of the pool before she starts smacking her fists against my back, grunting out curses and demands for me to put her down through her still chattering teeth.
When we hit the cold night air, Cooper starts to shiver even harder, her words not even making sense any longer. That only makes my feet move faster as I make a path through the crowd of people, not bothering to look at any of their faces. They’re not my priority right now.
I push my way straight through the back door of Jesse’s house, not caring one bit about the water trails and wet footprints I’m leaving in our wake. A few gasps sound and heads turn in our direction as I storm through the kitchen, making a beeline for the guest bathroom.
As soon as I turn the corner, I spot Grady Fisher, one of the freshmen basketball players, leaned up against the wall with his eyes trained on a brunette girl in front of him that’s telling him a wildly uninteresting story that he’s acting like he’s eating up every second of.
“Fisher,” I bark as I approach him.
Grady immediately snaps to attention at the sound of my voice, every bit of smoothness he was just able to feign melting off of him in an instant. He blinks hard at me, appearing extremely confused about why I would be addressing him.
