Spring Fling (17 page)

“So we‟ve got the whole place to ourselves?”

Ava turned the timer on the dryer. “Yes.”

Ava wondered why Cooper wanted to know if they had the house to themselves.

She hoped he wasn‟t planning to make a move on her. For most guys, a girl and an empty house equaled a make-out session. She‟d been pretty up-front that she
wasn’t
looking for romance. She knew most couples would be thrilled to have an empty house to themselves, but this
wasn’t
a date. She and Cooper were friends. Nothing more.

Stop it, Ava!
she scolded herself. Cooper agreed to be
just
friends. You‟re not that irresistible! Trust him!

“Hey, do you mind if I toss this in?” Cooper asked, pulling off his wet T-shirt.

Ava couldn‟t help but notice Cooper‟s defined muscles. It was obvious that he worked out. Ava threw the T-shirt into the dryer and then reached for an oversize white T-shirt from a basket of clean laundry. “You can wear this until yours is dry,” she said, handing the T-shirt to him.

She didn’t need to be staring at those muscles!

“Thanks.” Cooper pulled the T-shirt over his head, using one hand to slick back his wet hair. “Unless it stops raining, it looks like we‟re housebound. What do you want to do?”

“We could watch a movie.”

They went into the living room and started flipping through Sharla‟s extensive collection of DVDs.

“What are you in the mood for?” Cooper asked. “Something funny? Something scary? Something classic?”

“You pick. I don‟t care.”

Cooper pulled out a DVD called
Last Summer
and handed it to Ava. “I haven‟t seen this. I heard it‟s good.”

“This movie is
so
sad!”

Cooper put the DVD back with the others. “We can watch something else.” Ava snatched it back. “No! We have to watch it! It‟s good sad.”

“Good sad?”

“You‟ll see,” Ava said as she popped the disc into the DVD player and sat on the couch. Cooper took the seat next to her but left some space between them. Just enough if he wanted to
casually
reach out…

Ava stopped her overactive imagination.
He’s not going to try to put his arm around
you! Focus on the movie!

The plot of
Last Summer
was centered around two high school sweethearts, Misty and Robbie, who are seniors and expect to go off to college together. But then Misty gets a fatal disease—it‟s never specified what she‟s dying of—and only has until the end of the summer to live. Misty and Robbie spend every second together until finally, on Labor Day weekend, Misty collapses on the beach and dies in Robbie‟s arms. Before she dies, Misty makes Robbie promise that he‟ll go to college and then medical school and one day find a cure for the disease that killed her. A sobbing Robbie, who begs Misty not to die, promises that he will. The movie then ends with an older Robbie playing on the beach with his daughter, Misty, while his wife, Sarah Jane (who was Misty‟s best friend), watches them.

As the movie played, Ava forgot that Cooper was sitting next to her. She became lost in the tragic love story of Misty and Robbie. No matter how many times Ava saw
Last
Summer
—this would be her tenth time—she became engrossed even though she knew how it ended. Maybe that was because each time she watched it, a little part of her kept hoping Misty wouldn‟t die and that she and Robbie would be together forever.

“What did you think?” Ava asked when the end credits started rolling.

“What a chick flick!” Cooper exclaimed.

“Is that good or bad?”

Cooper hissed. “Bad! That movie was
so
cheesy!”

“Don‟t you have a heart?” Ava sniffed.

Cooper took a closer look at Ava. “Are you crying?”

“No, I‟m not.”

“Yes, you are.” He pointed a finger. “Those are tears in your eyes.” Ava sniffed again, wiping them away. “Maybe I am. Just a little. It happens whenever I watch
Last Summer.
It‟s so sad.”

“Are you sure it was just the movie?”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe it has something to do with Josh?”

Ava was speechless. How did Cooper do it? He was like a mind reader! He always knew how to zero in on anything Josh-related.

“The first time I saw the movie was with Josh,” she admitted. “And it made me realize how much I cared about him. Can you imagine loving someone with all your heart and not being able to save them? To watch helplessly as they‟re taken away from you?” Ava sighed. “I guess I identify with Robbie. He loved someone and then he lost that someone.”

Cooper moved closer to Ava on the couch. “It‟s okay to be sad,” he said. “But you can‟t live in the past. You have to move on. Robbie did!”

“I know.” Ava rested her head against Cooper‟s shoulder. “It‟s just hard, you know?

My heart says one thing and my head says another.”

“Maybe your heart needs to be distracted,” Cooper said as he pulled Ava into his arms and began to give her a kiss.

Ava knew she should tell Cooper to stop, but she didn‟t. She didn‟t push him away.

She didn‟t ask him what he was doing. She let him kiss her.

It was a very soft, very gentle kiss.

A caring kiss.

But it was still a kiss.

When he finished, he pulled away, sliding back to his side of the couch. “I‟m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn‟t have done that. It‟s just that you seemed so sad and I didn‟t want you to be sad anymore.”

“That‟s okay,” Ava said.

It was only a kiss.

Friends kissed all the time.

But they don’t kiss each other on the lips!
a little voice reminded Ava.

She jumped off the couch. “Why don‟t I make us some popcorn?” She didn‟t wait for an answer. “Be right back.”

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid!

What had he been thinking, kissing Ava?

If he wanted to scare her off, he had done it. After all, she‟d just gone running into the kitchen.

But he couldn‟t help himself.

She‟d looked so sad and vulnerable.

So hurt.

He‟d wanted to take away that hurt. He‟d wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her close and tell her that everything was going to be okay. That she didn‟t have anything to worry about. No one was ever going to hurt her again because he was going to protect her.

Whatever progress he‟d made was now gone.

He was back at square one.

Ava‟s guard was going to be up again.

The thing was, he‟d been okay with just being friends.

But then he‟d lost all control.

He could try explaining that to Ava, but would she believe him? Would she give him another chance?

He wished he had someone to discuss this with, but he couldn‟t tell the guys about the kiss.

If he did, he‟d win the bet.

That stupid bet!

He needed to call it off ASAP because if Ava mentioned his kiss to her friends, there was the chance that one of them would mention it to his housemates. He was specifically thinking of Ava telling Danielle and then Danielle telling Ethan. If that were to happen, there was always the risk of the bet coming up, and that was the
last
thing he wanted to happen. He had kissed Ava because he
wanted
to. Not because of some bet. He wouldn‟t want her to think his kiss didn‟t mean anything, because it did.

Even though Ava was afraid of getting her heart broken again, he knew that she liked him. And it wasn‟t because he was the richest guy at South Ridge High. She liked him for who he was. She might not want to admit she liked him, but he could tell that she did.

That meant a lot to him.

And then there was their kiss.

Yes, she‟d been freaked out and gone running into the kitchen. But she hadn‟t ended their kiss.

She hadn‟t pushed him away.

She‟d let him kiss her.

That meant something, too.

He just needed to figure out what his next move was going to be.

In the kitchen, Ava found a bag of microwave popcorn. As she waited for it to pop, she ran her fingers over her lips, remembering Cooper‟s kiss.

It was so different from the kisses she‟d gotten from Josh.

It had been softer.

Sweeter.

Gentler.

Only one word that could describe Cooper‟s kiss.

Nice.

Chills went up and down her spine.

As much as she hated to admit it, she‟d liked Cooper‟s kiss.

She‟d liked it a lot.

The microwave dinged and she pulled out the bag of popcorn. She opened the bag and emptied it into a glass bowl, adding a dab of butter and dash of salt, trying not to think of Cooper, but unable not to.

She‟d told him she only wanted to be friends.

But she‟d allowed him to kiss her.

Did that mean she wanted to be more than friends?

She didn‟t know!

“Is the popcorn ready?” Cooper called out.

“I‟m on my way,” Ava answered, deciding she wouldn‟t think about Cooper‟s kiss anymore. She was going to pretend it hadn‟t happened. “Let‟s watch another DVD.

Something bloody and scary.”

No more sad, romantic movies. They’re too dangerous! They make you do things
you shouldn’t do!

“When is this rain going to stop?” Wanda asked as she stared out the living room window.

Mindy didn‟t know what to say. Wanda had been asking her the same question for the last hour. It wasn‟t like she had a direct line to Mother Nature!

“Are we going to hang around this house all day?” Wanda complained, pacing from one end of the living room to the other.

“We could play some board games,” Mindy said.

Wanda yawned. “That‟s so junior high.”

Vivienne looked up from the copy of
Seventeen
she was reading on the couch. “I love Scrabble!”

Wanda ignored her.

“Go to the movies?” Mindy asked.

Wanda stared at Mindy like she was crazy. “
Without
dates?”

“Wanda
never
pays when she goes to the movies,” Vivienne said.

“And she
doesn’t
watch the movie,” Lacey whispered into Mindy‟s ear as she walked over to the CD player. “She goes through a lot of lip gloss that way, too.” Mindy didn‟t know what to suggest next. She knew she was the host, but Wanda was shooting down every idea she came up with.

“I can‟t believe this house doesn‟t have an indoor pool!” Wanda exclaimed. “If it did, at least we‟d be able to take a swim.”

“We could go to the country club,” Mindy said. “They have an indoor pool.”

“I don‟t do crowds,” Wanda stated. “Everyone is going to be at the country club today.”

Mindy racked her brain trying to think of something—
anything
—that Wanda might like to do.

“Why don‟t we go to a spa?” she suggested. “We could get manis, pedis, and a full day of beauty treatments.”

“That sounds like fun!” Lacey exclaimed.

Mindy held her breath, waiting for Wanda‟s answer.

Please say yes. Please, please, please say yes!

Wanda yawned. “Since there‟s nothing better to do, I guess so. Let me go upstairs and get my bag.”

“Me, too,” Lacey said as she hurried after Wanda.

“You guys go without me,” Vivienne said, rubbing the sides of her head. “I‟m going to stay home. I have a headache.”

“Are you sure?” Mindy asked, sitting next to her. “Can I get you anything before we go?”

Vivienne looked around to make sure no one was around. “Now that you mention it, you could get me something.”

“You name it!”

“I‟m in the mood for something Italian.”

“Pizza? Pasta?”

Vivienne shook her head. “I was thinking more like veal.”

“Parmigiana?”

“Marsala.”

Mindy‟s eyes widened. Vivienne
didn’t
have a headache. She was just looking for a way to spend some time alone with Damian!

“Think you could help me?” Vivienne asked.

“Absolutely,” Mindy said, pulling out her cell phone and dialing Damian‟s number.

Danielle and Lindsey were having a girls‟ night out with Jade and Crystal. That morning, before heading out to the mall, Jade had declared she wasn‟t spending enough time with Danielle and wanted to do something about it. So they made plans for that night.

They were at a karaoke club called the Sing Along and were studying the song list. Ava was originally going to come, too, but changed her mind after dinner, saying she didn‟t feel like going out. When they‟d left, she‟d been nestled on the couch with a copy of Stephenie Meyer‟s latest novel.

“I want a diva song!” Crystal exclaimed. “Something by Mariah Carey or Beyoncé.”

“I‟m going to sing Cyndi Lauper‟s „Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,‟” Jade said.

“Good choice! Maybe after you sing it, we will,” Crystal said. “Have you noticed those two guys in that corner booth checking us out?”

“Where?” Jade asked excitedly.

Crystal pulled Jade away from the table. “Come on! Let‟s go to the bathroom. We‟ll have to walk by them!”

“What about you, Danielle?” Lindsey asked after Jade and Crystal had left. “What are you going to sing? I can‟t make up my mind between Britney Spears‟s „Toxic‟ and Christina Aguilera‟s „Beautiful.‟”

“No way am I getting up onstage!”

“Why not?”

“I‟m not into embarrassing myself!”

“So you embarrass yourself. Big deal! We‟re on spring break! We don‟t know anyone here. Come on, Danielle. Cut loose! I thought you were going to be Daring Dani this week!”

Danielle gazed around the packed club. There were so many people. And they would all be looking at her once she got up onstage. Her stomach began doing nervous flip-flops at the thought. At the same time, the idea of pretending to be a pop star was kind of fun. Usually when she was home alone in her bedroom, she‟d sing along with the radio or her iPod, using her hairbrush as a microphone.