She shrugs. “Making him jealous might be a perk, I guess.”
“I’m not trying to play games. I just want to move on from this.”
“Then do it with Jake.”
I sigh. My cousin just doesn’t get it. Cooper is the only exception. I don’t want or need a guy to fawn over. If he doesn’t want to be with me, then I just want to survive the next few weeks here and get home as unscathed as possible.
We spend the next three hours selling dozens of pumpkins. If I’ve learned one thing being in Bramble Falls, it’s that the people here take their fall events seriously. And this one is no exception. Sloane says it’s one of the most anticipated events of the year, and as the day goes on, there’s no denying it. Everyone’s excitement is palpable.
We’re so busy taking money, passing out pumpkins, and chatting with people, that I don’t notice when noon rolls around.
I don’t notice when Cooper gets into the line.
Our eyes collide when he steps up to the table. Neither of us says anything. What is there to say?
Sloane clears her throat. “Do you need a pumpkin?”
He swings his eyes to her, and he holds out his money. “Yeah. Thanks.”
My heart feels like it’s being shredded as I hand him a pumpkin. He takes it, and nausea rolls through me when his fingers graze mine.
But I’m my dad’s daughter. So I give him a convincingly genuine smile. “I hope you and Chloe have a fantastic time at the prom.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “I—”
“Be on your way now, Coop,” Sloane says, shooing him away with her hands. “Next!”
He glances at her, probably figuring out that she knows about last night, and nods.
I’m giving him what he asked for. Even if it’s killing me, I’m pretending last night didn’t happen. The least he can do is give me space.
He shoots me one last unreadable look and leaves, taking his future Pumpkin Prom proposal with him.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Over the next week, I keep my head down at school. When Jake texts me at lunch, asking where I am, I tell him I’m meeting with my guidance counselor about college stuff or tutoring freshmen who have study hall during that time. Really, I skip eating and do homework in the library.
I do not once look in Cooper’s direction.
When he asked me to forget the kiss happened, I’m sure he meant he still wanted to be friends. But I don’t knowhow. I don’t want to axe him from my life, but things are different now, no matter how much he wants to pretend like they’re not.
It’s easier to avoid him until I go back to the city.
But Jake is nothing if not persistent, and by Friday—after four days of incessant begging and complaining—I’m back at our lunch table.
“You’re coming tonight, right?” he asks on Friday as he slides into the seat next to me with his food. Cooper eases onto the bench across from us, sitting next to Slug.
“To the drive-in movies?” I shrug. “Maybe. I haven’t been to one since…” My eyes meet Cooper’s, and I wonder if he’s also rememberingFree Willy. “Well, since middle school.”
“We always put a mattress in the bed of Cooper’s truck and load it up with blankets and pillows. It’s a good time,” Jake says, throwing his arm over my shoulder. “Think of it as more time to hang out with your favorite person.”
I glance at Cooper. He looks at his tray and says, “You should come.”
“Okay,” I say because I don’t have a good excuse not to. At least not without screaming from the rooftops that it’ll be too hard to sit there with Cooper, knowing what it’s like to kiss him and knowing it won’t happen again.
Jake grins at me. “Perfect. We’ll swing by and pick you up then.”
At the end of the day, Sloane meets me at my locker instead of the flagpole out front, excited to tell me that she and Asher are going to the Pumpkin Prom together. “As friends, of course,” she’s sure to add.
