Me & Timothy Cooper (7 page)

Tim
halted before him,
his weight
leaning
on one hip.

“
Yo
, man,
heard about you and the Beauty,” Martin said.

The Beauty.
The guys called her that sometimes. He’d never minded it before, but now it galled him.

“What of it?”

Martin shifted his feet. “Think you can get me in with her?”

In with her?
His face heated. “No.”

Martin never flinched.
“So you and her, you’re like … exclusive?”

“Yeah, we’re exclusive.”

“Lucky dog,” Martin said, and he lumbered away.

Tim tried to forget about it. Martin was only one guy in a school full of guys, b
ut a simmering began in his gut and a suspicion
that he was wrong.
This was proved out at lunch. He seated himself across from Southern and
soon found
the pair of
them
seated in the midst of a crowd of guys
.
She didn’t seem to notice – at first.

“We’ll leave tonight at six,” he said.

She raised her head from contemplation of today’s mystery meat, her fork poised overhead.
“Tonight?”

He quirked a smile.
“You forgot?”

“I forgot what?”

“Our date.”

Her eyes lit then, and she dropped her fork on the plastic tray with a clatter. “I didn’t figure you wanted to do that. I mean, it was for the project and all, and we’re together all the time anyhow. So …”

“
So what?
Why does that matter?”
he asked.

“Well it doesn’t.” She relaxed in her chair and the slant of her body pulled her shirt taut across her chest.
He noticed. And so did every guy
at the table.

Why didn’t this bug him before?

“So you don’t want to go or you do?
Because I’d like to take you.”

“I’ll take you.”

She flipped her gaze toward the
new
voice.
“Really?”

Trevor
Hankin
.
No way
he
was
taking her anywhere. He had a reputation.

“Sure. Name it.”

Her mouth gapped open. Tim was partially grateful because it meant she wasn’t speaking.

“I’ll take you too.”

She twisted the other direction, her mouth still agape.

Luis
Minski
.
Better than Trevor.
But no.

“If
you
want to go out sometime that is,” he finished.

The simmering in Tim’s gut enflamed.
He
raised his voice. “No one is taking her anywhere for any reason, but me.”

They stared at him. She stared at him.

Gees, why did she wear that shirt?

He stood to his feet and taking her by the elbow, one crutch in his
right
hand, removed her, limping, from the table. She followed along behind
, hobbling
on one leg
and
glan
cing back at her untouched food
until they moved into the hall
and
were
out of view. He dragged her into the recessed doorway of a
nearby
custodial closet.

“What was that about?” she asked, having located her tongue.

“Please don’t ask,” he said.

But Southern was all about questions. She’d ask.

“Seriously?
Suddenly, I’m popular?” she said.

He sighed. She didn’t get it, and how could he explain?

“You’ve always been popular,” he said, “You just didn’t notice.”
If he had stared at her, so had every other male.

“Really?”

Footsteps sounded in the hallway, so he pushed her further toward the locked door and waited until the
sound
receded.

“Tim?” she asked.

He gazed down at her. “You’re going to make me explain. Aren’t you?” It was inevitable and regrettable. He ran a finger down her cheek. “You’re more than a pretty
face
, Southern. You’re the best girl in this school, and every guy here knows that. But now … after yesterday …” He hesitated. This would hurt her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. “They think you’re easy.”

Her face turned white, pale white. Even her lips lost their color. And she struggled for air.
Leaning on him, she clutched at his shirt. “
Eas
-easy?” she whispered. “But I’m not … and we talked … and … Easy?” She barked out the last word.

Her color returned in a rush, her cheeks
becoming crimson; her eyes flashed
. “Easy. Well, you tell me Mr. Cooper. Mr. Timothy Cooper, what are you going to do about it?”

Good question. He’d gotten her into this as much as she had.

She jabbed at his chest. “The whole school thinks we’re sleeping together.
Including the faculty.”

She was dramatizing. She couldn’t know that. Well, except for Mrs. Walker who had indicated
it
.

“And I trusted you.” Jab. Jab.
“Trusted you to take care of me.”
Jab. Jab. “Walk me to class.
Carry
my books, you said.” Jab. “And I didn’t argue because I couldn’t
do it for myself.
”

He grasped hold of her finger. That was starting to hurt.

“Here I was feeling lucky.
Lucky because me and Timothy Cooper were an item.
Or at least everyone would think so. But now
me
and Timothy Cooper are only an item until the next guy comes along because God knows I’m easy!”

She was shouting now. Lunch had let out
minutes before
and a crowd had gathered behind them.

“Southern, stop, you’re making a scene.”

“You’re
right
I’m making a scene.
Because I want this fixed.
I want …”

There was only one thing to do. One way to make her shut up. He grabbed hold of her cheeks and kissed her.

Full-on-the-mouth, exploratory, good-heavens-she’s-great, kissed her.
What-have-I-started-because-I-can’t-stop
kissed her. Whistling-crowd
-go-get-‘
em
, kissed her.

When he pulled away, her mouth was moist and swollen and her eyes were huge. “
Wh
-
wh
-what … w-w-was
th
-
that?”

He smiled.
“Me solving the problem.
Now, are we going out tonight or not?”

“Y-yes.”

“Just you and me.
No one else.
Ever.”
He said this last bit rather loud

“Yes.”

“Okay then. Now …” and he swept her from her feet, hooking her crutches over his arm. “Since you’re my girl, I’ll get you to class.”

And he turned around, the crowd parting for him as he carried her down the hallway.

***

Timothy Cooper ki
ssed me in the school hallway in front of ever
ybody and
said it was just the two of us.
Period.
Me and Timothy Cooper.
Dating.
Whodathunkit
?

I was crazy about him,
heart-pounding crazy,
crazy
-
can’t-think
crazy.

By the end of the day, the rumors had evaporated, and it was a given
school-wide
that
me
and Timothy Cooper we
re seeing each other. Lisa
Mait
on
asked me what it was like to kiss him, and I obliged her
with a description
because it was amazing.
Amazing.

Mrs. Walker was even nice to us, so I fairly
sailed
through class and out the door. Nothing could bring me down.
Nothing.

I dressed up nice for our date, wearing a knee-length white halter dress with a crochet top
and a short denim jacket. Tim said I looked beautiful, which added to that
floaty
feeling I’d had all afternoon. Then his mom wished us a good evening and we left for church.

But
I wasn’t prepared for church.
Nor for
t
he downfall of my mental high.

CHAPTER 9

“Pastor
Eckles
, this is my girlfriend …” Tim paused. He’d called her Southern so long, he’d forgotten her name. “Taylor,” he added.

Pastor
Eckles
, a thirty-year-old local college graduate with a winning smile and spiked
hair,
shook Taylor’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Taylor.” He turned to Tim.
“Didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Tim.”

Tim draped his arm around Taylor’s shoulders. “I didn’t two days ago.”

“Ah,” he said.

Taylor’s expression said she
was thinkin
g the same thing he was.
What does
‘ah’ mean?

“Well, welcome,
Taylor,
we’re glad to have you.”

S
omeone switched the music
on
in the loudspeakers cutting off the
rest of the
conversation, so w
ith a
goodbye
glance at the youth pastor,
Tim
prop
ped
Taylor
up
and
led her to a seat
. She’d insisted
on leaving the crutches behind.
He spun a chair into
a
reverse
position
as a prop for her foot.

“Tim!” Eric
’s familiar booming voice
called
out
over the thu
mping music. Tim rose
,
and
they
c
lasped hands
. “Dude, I heard you and Southern hooked up.”

Tim dr
ew a line across his throat
.
T
oo late
.

And
Eric realized his mistake. H
is face flushed
,
he stammered his apology
. “
S-s
orry,
Tay-
tay
lor
,
I didn’t see you.”

If looks could kill, Eric would be dead.

“Obviously,” Taylor said. “And I see my nickname has spread as well.”

“I … I … well, you see …” Eric fumbled his words.

She crossed her arms. “Yes? Go ahead.”

Tim reseated himself. “Don’t be sore,” he said, “Eric’s the one who originally called you that.”

She was sore.

“And you just decided to pick it up, huh?”

Ouch.
She was really, really sore.

“Now, don’t be that way,” he pleaded, “It was a compliment.”

“
Uh huh.
Is us ‘hooking up’ a compliment too?”

Eric seated himself to Tim’s left. “Of course, it was,” he said. He was trying to help, but he wasn’
t helping. Tim shut him do
wn with a glare and
reached for Taylor’s hand,
folding their fingers together.

Dating was complicated, and he was beginning to think girls were even more complicated.

“Timothy Cooper?”

Tim glanced up into the eyes of a
petite blonde. She
looked familiar. W
hy?

“You don’t remember me?” she asked.

He scrunched up one side of his face
, which didn’t help
. “No, I’m sorry. Should I?”

The girl looked down at his and Taylor’s fingers, seemingly weighing her options. “We were in elementary school together. Brianne?”

Brianne. No. Not Brianne.
If all the blood was draining from his face, he wouldn’t be surprised. Brianne was … was … the first girl he ever kissed.
Please don’t say so.