Page 61 of Eye of the Beholder
I pull out my phone and text him quickly:You and Jack look like you’re little girls sharing secrets at a slumber party.
I watch him as he stops talking to Jack abruptly, pulls out his phone, and reads my text. He grins and looks up, and his eyes find mine. I just shrug and smile, taking a drink. Then I look away again, because I can only justify so much staring.
My phone buzzes.Says the girl drinking from a juice box.
I smile and reply.Glorious Grape. Not as good as Awesome Apple, but I still know you’re jealous.
The bell rings, and I jump, startled. As I throw away my trash and make my way to my next class, I feel a sense of calm and relief steal over me. I didn’t realize how tense I was feeling about Cohen, but if he’s texting me like normal, things can’t be that weird, can they? It will be fine. We’ll ignore the other night and everything will be fine.
When I get to Cohen’s house later that day, it’s actually Lydia who opens the door. “All right,” she says. “I’ve been thinking about the best—”
“Tutoring first,” Cohen says, walking casually into the entryway, his bag over one shoulder. “Thenwe’llteach her how to flirt. Not you.We.I don’t entirely trust you,” he says to Lydia.
“Only one of us can boast an unfortunate ex, and it’s not me,” Lydia says. “I don’t think it’s my dating advice that should be held suspect.”
I wince and look at Cohen. “She’s right, Coco. She wins this round.”
Cohen looks at me and raises an eyebrow. His lips twitch; I can tell he’s stifling a smile. “I thought we agreed you would never call me that ever again, Willy.”
I look at him innocently. “I don’t remember that conversation.”
He grins. “We’ll go over the finer points. Come on.” He jerks his chin, and I follow him up the stairs.
“So,” I say when we get to his room. “Reading comprehension. Oh,” I say, suddenly remembering. “I brought you something.”
“Is that so?” he says, cocking his head to the side as he sits on the edge of his bed. “What did you bring me?”
I put my bag down on the floor next to the desk and pull the zipper open. After feeling around for a second, I find what I’m looking for. I pull out two juice boxes and hand one to him. “This,” I say, unwrapping my straw and pushing it into the juice, “is Awesome Apple.”
He laughs. It’s a sound I’m coming to look forward to. “All right,” he says, still smiling. “Let’s see if it’s any good.”
“Of course it’s good. I just could see how jealous you were today, so I brought you one.”
He grins, eyeing me as he takes a long drink. “It’s good,” he says when he’s done. “But not good enough to warrant bringing to school.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, sitting in his swivel chair.
“I know normal people drink bottled beverages instead of drinks made for children,” he says.
I shrug, grinning. “I’ve never been much for normal.”
“No,” he says, studying me. “I don’t think you have. Now, are you going to teach me about reading comprehension?”
“I’m putting it off,” I say, finishing off the last of my juice box.
He raises his eyebrows at me. “Because?” He holds out his hands, and I toss him my empty drink. He chucks it in his trash can.
“Because the longer it takes to do reading comprehension, the less time I’ll have to do all this flirting nonsense you and Lydia want to do.”
Cohen rolls his eyes. “It’s going to be fine. You already know how to flirt. You’ve been doing it. It’s more just some tips for talking to Jack. Or guys in general, I guess. That’s really what you need. Just tips on conversation. That was the only thing wrong with your behavior on Saturday.”
“I know how to talk to guys,” I say, although that’s debatable, as is the claim that I’ve been flirting with Jack.
Cohen’s skeptical expression says he agrees with my doubts. “You freeze up. Don’t deny it—you get this sort of panicked look on your face. I’ll just help you with some safe topics of conversation. Lydia might get more into flirting stuff, I guess. But I don’t think you need that.”
“I haven’t ever flirted with Jack,” I say. “I definitely need the help.”
Cohen grins. “I didn’t say you’d been flirting with Jack. I just said you’d been flirting.”
