“But my pumpkin’s already in front of you,” Jake says gesturing at it.
“Sorry, Jakey. It’s first come, first served, and Cooper asked before you.” Jake pretends to pout, and I pat him on the leg. “I’ll do yours next, don’t worry.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles.
Cooper grabs Slug’s pumpkin and sets it in front of me. “Mine’s covered in paint, but here.”
A big knobby growth is directly in the center of the uncarved side.What am I supposed to do with that?
“Hey!” Slug says, looking at his pumpkin, which has two uneven triangles for eyes and a rectangle for a mouth carved into it. “That’s my masterpiece!”
“Don’t worry,” I say, studying the pumpkin, the gears in my head turning. “I won’t mess with that side of it. And you can still display your side. No one wants to see Cooper’s face any more than they have to anyway,” I tease.
Everyone laughs as I grab my carving tool.
“Wouldn’t have to worry about that if you were carving me,”Jake mutters. I elbow him softly in the ribs, and he throws a playful, arrogant smirk my way.
When I look away, Cooper’s watching us. I shoot him a mischievous smile because I knowexactlywhat I’m going to do.
An hour later, dark clouds are rolling in. Around us, people are packing up their trays and tablecloths and setting them under the gazebo.
“Are you done yet?” Jake asks with an exaggerated sigh. He’s lying next to me with his hands laced behind his head. Chloe and Slug are next to him in a heated debate over recent diss tracks released by two rappers.
And Cooper is sitting directly in front of me.
He’s trying to be helpful, making himself available in case I need a reference. Which I don’t, because over the last three weeks, I’ve stolen more glances at him than I care to admit. Instead he’s just a distraction. Even when I’m focusing on the pumpkin, I canfeelhis eyes on me, his soft but penetrating gaze burrowing into me, making my blood simmer and adding a splash of pink to my cheeks.
Again, it’s a miracle I still have all ten fingers.
“Almost,” I tell Jake. “Hand me a paper towel, Coop.”
Cooper passes the roll to me. I tear two pieces off, dab them with a bit of red paint, and use them as my final additions before looking at my handiwork. Now,thisis a masterpiece.
“Okay,” I say, pressing my lips together so I don’t spoil the reveal with a giggle.
I turn the pumpkin around to show everyone.
Jake, Slug, and Chloe stare at it, confused, but Coopereruptsinto a full-fledged belly laugh. He’s rolling at the joke meant just for the two of us, and god, it feels good to have made that happen.
Chloe looks at us, then back at the pumpkin. She cocks her head to the side. “I feel like I’m missing something.”
Slug scratches his chin. “Yeah. It’s clearly Cooper, but what’s with the paper towel?”
“The ugly knob…,” Cooper says between gasps, actual tears in the corners of his eyes as he looks at the red paper towel pieces sticking out of the orifices I created, “is my bloody, swollen nose.”
“I don’t… get it,” Jake says.
It’s the worst pumpkin I’ve ever carved. But I managed to get Cooper’s hair right, and the dimple carved into the left cheek is a dead giveaway that it’s him. I also think I captured his magnetic eyes perfectly.
His laugh is contagious, and soon, the two of us are so busy cracking up, we don’t notice the first drops of rain.
But within seconds the sky opens up and dumps on us.
The few remaining townspeople run frantically for the gazebo, but the wind is blowing the rain sideways, and everyone taking cover under it is getting drenched.
Chloe grabs Cooper’s hand and pulls him toward the Caffeinated Cat. “Come on! Let’s go hide out in the shop!”
Cooper turns around to face me. Our eyes lock, and he’s about to say something when Jake takes my hand. “My car’s over here. We can wait this out in there.”
