Close Encounters - Chapter 4
I felt pressured with this chapter cause I promised that I'd post on the weekend. When I feel the pressure, nothing comes, lol Thankfully, something came eventually *laughin* Here you go...
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Title: Close Encounters
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine and thank God cause it sucks now, lol Not my characters either, I only borrowed them. What I write is in no way associated with GL (that should be obvious in that Coop and Ashlee are in it....together, lol) And I'm not getting any money for this cause, well nobody would pay me for it, lol Purely for entertainment.
Summary: This is about narrow margins. Those times when something happened at a certain point in time that you just missed, either before or after it happened. What would have happened if it hadn't been Beth that Coop ran into? This story begins on that fateful day. This is alternate reality. Coop and Ashlee don't know each other...yet.
Dedication: This is for J, who writes and writes and writes for us and has asked nicely *browbeat me, cough* to write her something. Only for you would I put myself through this, lol Here you go sissy. *hugs and love*
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Surreptitiously, she glanced at the other woman. Her assessment of “Ava” without even seeing her wasn’t far off. Tall, willowy, and brunette. The only thing she’d missed was the long flowing hair. Her hair was shorn short, chic in it’s style. Ava had most definitely been a model at some point. If she hadn’t, she could have. She silently sighed.
“She’s not-” he started but was interrupted by Ava.
“Coop, I need your help” Ava said, inserting herself between Coop and Ashlee.
Assuming Coop’s focus was no longer on her, Ashlee picked up her purse and shifted in her seat preparing to stand, trying to inconspicuously remove herself. She didn’t quite make it.
“Ashlee, wait” Coop said.
Ava turned, realizing then that she had interrupted something. “Hi, I’m Ava” she said, eagerly introducing herself to Ashlee. “I’m really sorry that I interrupted. I just need Coop’s help. Do you mind?” she asked, confusing Ashlee.
“He’s your boyfriend. I don’t exactly have a right to mind” she smiled.
“Oh” Ava looked from Coop to Ashlee. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Thank you” Coop exclaimed, gesturing with his hands. “I’ve been trying to tell her that, but she seems to think I’m a ladies man.”
Ava laughed. “A ladies man?”
“Thanks” Coop said, sarcasm dripping from the word, and rolled his eyes.
She turned to Ashlee. “Coop is a great guy. He really is. He’s just got to save everyone.”
“I do not” he protested.
“Save everyone?” Ashlee asked.
“It’s true” Daisy chimed in. “Lizzie.”
“Yeah, Lizzie, and me” Ava said. “Although I kind of needed saving.”
“Yeah” Daisy agreed.
“Who’s Lizzie?” Ashlee asked.
“Don’t forget Marina” Buzz reminded in his gravelly voice.
“Marina?” Ashlee wanted to know, bewildered. How could he say he wasn’t a ladies man?
“Marina doesn’t really count though Buzz because she‘s related” Ava said.
“Lizzie counts though” Daisy yelled as she walked across the room.
“Yes she does.”
“I count for what?” asked a pretty, tiny, blonde girl that Ashlee hadn’t even realized had joined the group.
“As someone Coop saved” Ava explained. “We’re explaining Coop’s hero complex.”
“I’m still here. I can hear you guys” Coop reminded them. That didn’t stop them.
“Oh he’s definitely got a hero complex” the newest addition agreed. “Who are we explaining it to?”
Ava pointed to Ashlee. “Ashlee, this is Lizzie. Another ex-girlfriend of Coop’s.” To Lizzie she said “I think I accidentally interrupted something between them.” To Lizzie she said “I need his help. Again.”
Ashlee’s eyes widened and she shook her head adamantly from side to side “No” she said dragging the word out. “We just-.”
“Awww, that is so sweet” Lizzie said. “So is he saving her from something too?” Lizzie asked, confused.
“He needs to have her save him with his writing” Daisy said, again from across the room. “He really needs an editor.”
The two “exes” nodded in unison. “He so does” Lizzie said. “Maybe he could finally get one of those books finished then” she laughed.
“He has three started now you know” Ava said.
“No” Lizzie exclaimed in surprise. “When did he start the third one?”
“Hello” Coop said in a loud, sing-song voice. “Can you not see me still sitting here? Pop” he said to Buzz “could you help me please.”
Buzz shook his head. “Sorry son. I know better than to get in the middle of a bunch of women discussing a man.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“Sorry” Buzz said, not sounding very sorry at all. “Self preservation.”
“It’s really because he knows we’re right Coop” Ava said.
“Right about what?”
Everyone turned to the newcomer. Marina joined the flock around Coop and directed her question at nobody in particular. Lizzie answered though.
“We’re right about Coop having a hero complex.”
Marina laughed. “Can I get in on this discussion?”
“No” Coop said louder than he intended.
“Come on Coop. You’re not trying to deny it are you?” Marina asked in disbelief.
“Yes he is” Lizzie said before Coop got a chance to respond.
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Coop couldn’t imagine what Ashlee must be thinking right now. He had been luckier than hell that she happened to be the same girl Buzz had been trying to fix him up with. Mentally he was kicking himself. For months, Buzz had been haranguing him about Daisy’s friend. He should meet her. He should go out with her. She had a great personality. Coop laughed to himself. That’s what he got for assuming “great personality” was a disguise for some shortcoming.
Ava and Lizzie couldn’t be more different from Ashlee. He didn’t have a lot of personal experience with her, but he did have some, and coupled with what Buzz had told him about her over the months, she was special. Not that Ava and Lizzie weren’t special. They had each been important to him at that time in his life. But he was in a different place now. And he was a different person. Although, not an entirely different person.
As much as he hated their teasing, they were right. He did have a tendency to try to save women. Lizzie had been a mess when they got together. Messed up by so many different factors of the Spaulding family. Between her father and mother, she had enough issues. Add her grandfather in the mix and it was a miracle that she hadn’t been locked away in the mental institution permanently. But she had actually come a long way since then. She’d stood up to all of them and become a better person. And Coop probably had a lot to do with that.
Ava was his next mission. Finding out that she was adopted made her vulnerable and of course someone that Coop needed to help. But things were never easy for him. When he had finally gotten to be with Ava, Lizzie had told him that she was pregnant with his child. Thankfully, Jonathan had done the right thing and let him know that he was the father and not Coop. That opened the way for him and Ava, but it wasn’t for long. Jealousy was a trait he wasn’t proud of but had in spades. But when he had to fight so hard for a woman, he didn’t want someone else taking that away from him. The problem was, that was exactly what had caused his break up with Ava. They’d moved past that though and had become good friends.
But Ashlee was different. As far as he could tell, she didn’t need saved from anything. Or at least if she did, that wasn’t the reason he was interested in her. She’d challenged him from the very beginning and even now, she wasn’t making it easy for him. She was someone he needed in his life and if he had anything to say about it, she would be. But first, he needed to try to get this chaos under control and get her alone.
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Ashlee’s head swam. She wasn’t exactly sure how it had gone from relatively quiet bantering to total and complete chaos, but here she was, in the middle of it. Well, not exactly in the middle of it. The women had positioned themselves between her and Coop and their backs were to her. They had completely abandoned the “conversation” and now were seemingly trying to convince him that they were right. It was somewhat amusing, but also overwhelming.
Following the conversation as best she could, she determined that Coop apparently had some type of hero complex. That was agreed upon by everyone except Coop himself. And if she were following the conversations correctly, that seemed to be what drew him to the women standing in front of her. Well except for Marina. It would be natural for him to want to save his niece. But following the conversations was becoming increasingly difficult, because they were now louder and overlapping. Each person animatedly trying to make their point.
How different this was from the quiet existence she had had for so long. But it was different in a good way. Part of her thought it was exciting to have such camaraderie in conversations. Even with the teasing and loudness and overlapping conversations, she could tell there was no animosity in any of it. And part of her was intimidated by it. She had been the wallflower for so long, it was difficult to be in the spotlight.
Ava, Lizzie, and now Marina crowded around Coop, cornering him and caging him in like an animal, and she laughed. She watched to see if there were any remaining feelings between his exes and him, but she didn’t see any. What she saw was comfortable friendship and affection for a guy that really seemed to be a good one. Still, she wasn’t sure if Coop was really interested in her or if he was interested in the challenge she’d given him. The shock of seeing him when she walked in had worn off, but she still needed a little time to figure Buzz’s son out.
Lynn had returned from her break about a half hour before, so Daisy was free to go. Catching her eyes, Ashlee indicated as inconspicuously as she could that they should go. They had become such good friends over the last several months that she was able to convey without words her desire to leave unnoticed. Making sure not to bump into any of the ladies beside her, she slid off her stool and quietly made her way to the door. With one last look back, she noticed that Coop’s vision was completely blocked and for reasons she didn’t want to examine, she felt disappointed.
Daisy touched her arm and Ashlee turned to her friend. Her raised eyebrows asked her if she was sure she wanted to leave. Ashlee nodded and followed her out, her thoughts going back to what Buzz had said earlier. Self preservation.
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The level of noise was to a point it was like an electrode zapping his nerves. The female voices overlapped, all trying to be heard, all trying to convince him they were right. He was caged in. They had formed a wall around him, completely cutting him off from Ashlee. He didn’t think that was their intention, but that was still what had happened. Enough was enough.
But before he could stop the insanity, a gravelly “Ladies” was bellowed by Buzz. Immediately, silence ensued and all eyes turned towards him. “Give the guy a break will you. Saving beautiful women and making them stronger isn’t exactly a bad trait to have.”
All three had the decency to look chagrined and Coop could have kissed his dad. They slowly parted ways and moved aside.
“Thanks pop. Ashlee-” Coop slid off his stool and stopped. Craning his neck, he looked all around Company. No sign of her or Daisy. Turning to the three women who had cornered him, he narrowed his eyes. “I can’t imagine why she left without saying anything.” Shaking his head, he mumbled “She probably ran.”
The three ladies exchanged looks. Ava patted his shoulder in a comforting way. “We’re sorry Coop. We weren’t trying to run her off.”
Lizzie’s sympathetic pat took over for Ava. “We got carried away Coop. We’re sorry.”
Sighing, he put his hands on his hips and hung his head, then looked up at them. “I know. It’s ok.”
When Lizzie and Ava walked away, Marina lingered behind. She studied him in a deafening silence. After what seemed like hours, he finally said “What?”
“Something is different.”
He puffed out air from his lips as if he were dismissing what she said and rolled his eyes, careful to keep them averted from her.
“Coop?” she prompted.
He closed his eyes then reluctantly looked at her, raising his eyebrows in question. Since they were close in age, they were more like friends than uncle and niece. She could read him better than anyone else, other than Buzz, and it left him feeling completely vulnerable.
“She’s different, isn’t she?”
He looked away. How could he answer her questions when he wasn’t sure of the answers himself. He didn’t understand why he felt such a need to have Ashlee in his life. It didn’t make sense, since he barely knew her. But he believed in fate, and signs, and gut feelings. Sometimes the universe knew things that you didn’t and you just had to embrace it. He was embracing it now. He didn’t know how he knew it, but he knew he was supposed to be with Ashlee.
“Yeah” he whispered. “She’s different.” He slid back on the chair, took a deep breath and looked her in the eye, needing to see the truth in what she thought. “And after today, she may not talk to me again.”
“What do you think, grandpa?” Marina asked, looking past Coop to Buzz, who was standing behind the bar now.
“I think Ashlee’s a smart girl” he said, wiping down the bar just for busy work. “You had a connection. That was obvious before everything went crazy. She’s not going to let the craziness scare her away.” He patted his son’s hand reassuringly. “She’ll be back.