Page 74 of Something Rad
I test her, taking another step closer. She takes a half step back. “Because I’d rather talk to you,” I say.
Denise tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder and the strong scent of her wafts over me. My nose scrunches involuntarily. She smells so clean, but not in a natural way. There’s something harsh about it. Something forced. I know she’s always worn this same perfume, but I don’t know why it seems to be hitting me differently today. I shake my head, playing it off and refocusing.
“So, can I assume I’ll see you at the dance tomorrow?” Denise asks. “With your next innocent choice of prey on your arm?”
I lean back, tilting my head at her. “Yes to the first. No to the last.”
Denise’s brows raise. “You’re going by yourself?”
I chuckle. “Is that really a question?” Denise gives me a confused look. “I’m spoken for,” I say.
“But…who…?” Denise shakes her head as I tilt my own at her, and I can see it in her eyes the moment it clicks. She rears back. “You’re bringingSara Cooperto the Back to School Dance?”
“Of course I am,” I reply, crossing my arms over my chest. “She’s my girlfriend.”
Denise breathes out a laugh. “You can’t be serious.”
“Apparently, I can be.” I take a step forward. Denise doesn’t take a step backwards this time. “Sara Cooper sure thinks so.”
Denise stares at me, her blue eyes blinking.
I stare back until something catches my attention in my peripheral vision. I ignore it at first, but then realize it’s a blur of red. I glance to the side, finding Cooper standing at the door to the library, backpack straps in an iron grip.
A weird feeling pricks at my chest when I meet her eyes. Something like guilt, and I don’t know why, but it’s quickly replaced with a flood of warmth that I don’t quite understand either. I ignore both, a smile spreading across my face. “Baby,” I say, my back straightening, “there you are.”
Cooper tilts her head, an odd expression flashing briefly over her face as she looks back and forth between me and Denise. Suddenly, she snaps out of whatever trance she’s in, plastering her own smile on her face and letting her hands fall. “Here I am,” she says. She leans against the library door frame, jutting out one hip while placing a hand on the other, drawing my eyes to her waistline. My gaze trails further down as she crosses one ankle over the other. And suddenly, that red skirt is a lot shorter than I remembered.
“Wanna come and get me?” she asks.
My eyes snap straight back up to Cooper’s face. She reaches up with one hand pushing her coppery curls behind her ear, her red lips pulling into a smirk. And right about the time I start wondering if my ears just played a trick on me, she speaks up again. “Honey?” she adds, cocking her head at me.
I let out a low whistle. “Absolutely, I do.” I stroll straight over to Cooper, not giving a glance in Denise’s direction as I do so. I notice that Cooper’s eyes, however, stay glued specifically to Denise. Right as I reach her, she flashes Denise the sweetest smile.
God, she’s good.
Then she turns that smile on me as I sling my arm over her shoulder, pushing open the door to the library and leading the both of us through it.
One, two, threesteps across the threshold. The door closes behind us and, the moment that it does, Cooper’s smile falls and my arm slips off her shoulder. We put a few feet between us, me straightening my vest and Cooper shaking out her hands like she was just touching a dead animal rather than me.
“Sheesh, Cooper, you can at least be subtle about it.”
“What?” she asks, her eyes shooting up to meet mine, her hands still twitching at her sides and her shoulders nearly touching her ears. She seems to realize, glancing down at her body and relaxing. “Oh, whatever– I mean…Sorry. I guess,” she sputters.
I stare at her as she starts to pace back and forth within the five foot radius around her. Something is clearly bothering her.
“You good, Cooper?”
“You talked to Denise?” she asks, not answering my question.
I tilt my head. There’s that weird feeling in my chest again.Whatisthat?“Yeah,” I nod. “You saw me talking to her.”
“And?”
“And, what?”
Cooper stops in her tracks, turning to face me. “Did she believe it? Is it working?”
I don’t respond right away, making her take a step closer to me.
