don’t catch it. I’m already back down the hall, almost to my bedroom. If I’m going to spend the night out with Caroline trying to teach her how to get some, I need to get ahead on work now because I will need a lot of drinks to get through it, which means I’ll do fuck-all on Saturday.
“If I go—and that’s a big if—you’re buying drinks! And I am not doing karaoke!”
2
Caroline
“Bossy jerk.” I shake my head. “Nope. Bossy ass. Yeah, Cooper Bennett is an ass.”
I slip my gray chinchilla-soft blanket around my shoulders, cocooning myself back into its warmth, and crawl onto the couch to resume my state of I’ve had a long day and all I want to do is be a bum.
“Bossy cheap ass too,” I add, my teeth beginning to chatter because my once cozy blanket is now cold. I was out of my haven for too long. I’m freezing again.
I’d say I can’t believe Cooper won’t turn the heat up, but the man is so tightfisted when it comes to the bills. If I even dare leave the water on for more than two seconds when brushing my teeth, he’s there to turn it right back off and scold me for running up the bills like I don’t pay my fair share too.
I don’t understand where he gets it either. It’s not like he grew up fighting to get food on the table or struggles his way through life now with his cushy video game developer job. There’s no solid reason for him being so stringent with his money other than wanting to make me miserable.
Who am I kidding? He probably gets off on bossing me around just like he has since high school.
We attended the same schools since kindergarten and had several classes together, but we weren’t what you’d describe as friends. Hell, I wouldn’t have even called us acquaintances. Cooper had his friends and his admirers from playing every sport he could sign up for.
Me? Well, I had my books. And I was happy in my own little bubble of quiet.
We didn’t truly interact until my parents went through the world’s most amicable divorce and I moved before the start of our freshman year. Not wanting to uproot me from a school district I’d been in my whole life, my dad—who I opted to live with full-time—moved us right across the street from my now best friend.
And Cooper being Cooper took it upon himself to “take me under his wing,” which apparently meant forcing me to put my books down and talk to actual humans.
Much to my initial dismay, the guy never left my side. But eventually, I grew used to him.
He can be overbearing, sure, but on the other hand, he’s helped me overcome my perpetual shyness in many ways, so I guess I can’t bemoan him too much.
“Thank you…ass,” I mutter.
“I know you’re not in there mumbling about how much you hate me,” he singsongs from his bedroom.
“You’re right. I’m just gushing over how much I love you.”
Not.
“That’s what I thought!”
With a roll of my eyes, I point the remote toward the TV and press play, turning my beloved vampires back on, trying to drown out my best friend’s clacking away on his keyboard.
“And don’t roll your eyes at me!”
“Are you spying on me or something?”
“No. I just know you that well.”
I do it again just to spite him.
The episode continues, but by the third time I’ve rewound a scene, I realize my mind is about a million miles away.
Instead of focusing on the fictional love story playing out before me, all I can think about is my sad excuse for a love life.
And that’s just what it is—sad.
I can’t remember the last time I went out on a date. Or even had a guy ask me out. Hell, I can’t remember the last time a guy was even interested in me for anything other than sex.
Cooper’s right. The dating apps I’m willing to sign up on—AKA the free ones—are full of dudes just trying to hump and dump, as he so elegantly put it. It’s not really my style. I’ve always been a relationship kind of gal, but if relationships aren’t working, maybe I should give something else a shot? Coop has no problem doing the one-night-stand thing. Perhaps I need to take a page out of his book, get him to teach me how to do a one-night stand.
Is that even how you say it? Do a one-night stand?