Close Encounters - Chapter 5
This one's not long. Hope you enjoy anyway :)
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After reading the same paragraph four times, she finally gave up. She still had no idea what it said. Slamming the book shut, she put it on the table, stood and stretched. Reading was her favorite way to pass the time, but her mind was too occupied with thoughts of Coop.
For a split second, she had allowed herself to believe that maybe he really was interested in something and maybe it was her he was interested in. And then everything had gone to hell. Ava and Lizzie were nice enough, but their stories and versions of “Coop the Hero” were somewhat daunting. She didn’t need saved, so that begged the question, was he really interested in her? It was better if she just walked away now and put him out of her mind.
Her cell phone rang and she reached for it, hesitating enough to be able to hear her ring tone of “Just Dance”. The caller ID flashed the name across the screen and she sighed. Screwing up her resolved, she answered. “Hello.”
“Ashlee” he said dragging her name out, grating on her nerves. “How are you, beautiful?”
Of their own volition, her eyes rolled and she felt a pang of guilt. She was the one who had encouraged him and she had vowed to give him a chance. “I’m really good Stuart, thanks. How are you?”
“Can’t complain. Especially if you’d say you’ll go to a movie with me” he interjected, trying to be smooth. That wasn’t how it came across though.
Resisting the urge to groan, she forced a cheerfulness into her voice that she didn’t feel. “That sounds like fun. When are you thinking about?”
“Well beautiful” he said and she cringed “How about tonight?”
“Oh” she said, searching her memory, silently praying for some other commitment that she could beg off for. “Um” she hedged.
“You don’t have to act coy Ashlee. I already know you’re free” he said, the smirk in his voice clear. “Your mom checked your calendar for me.”
Ashlee pushed down the slight irritation she felt with her mother. Doris had done this all her life. Managing her like she’d manage one of her employees. A bull in a china shop, she’d left Ashlee somewhat broken. But their relationship was mending now and deep down, she knew that Doris did it out of love. That was the one constant. Unfortunately, that left her with no excuses. She sighed with resignation.
“Tonight sounds great Stuart.”
“Outstanding” he exclaimed with smugness. “I’ll pick you up at 7” he said, hanging up.
She looked at the phone, shook her head and hung up. He hadn’t even given her a chance to respond. Stuart Smalls was not a man she would end up with. That was obvious to her just because of the amount of irritation he inspired in her. But, he was a distraction from Coop Cooper. And that she needed. That didn’t mean that she had to make it easy on him though. A point she would prove when she makes him wait an extra thirty minutes when he shows up at her door at 7. She suddenly felt better.
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“Why am I doing this again?” Coop asked Ava, standing outside the movie theater next to CO2.
“Because you’re a good friend and you can’t help saving a damsel in distress” she said, batting her eyelashes at him in an exaggerated way. He laughed, just as she had intended him to do.
“Ok ok, but stop with the saving the damsel in distress thing. Can’t you just leave it at I’m helping a friend out?”
Tempted to tease him, she refrained. Everyone teased Coop about his hero complex, but she had noticed lately that it really bothered him. And after the chaos they had caused the other day, and Ashlee leaving because of it, she promised herself that she’d stop teasing him about it, even if everyone else kept on doing it.
“You’re right. You’re doing this cause you’re a great friend. And I asked you to.”
Coop looked at her, recognizing her effort and smiled. “So if it’s a bad date, you’re going to give me a signal and I’m going to invite myself to join you. Right?”
“Yes” she grinned at him. “And then you’ll come up with some really fantastic reason that you have to go and you have to take me with you.”
“Really fantastic reason?” he laughed. “No pressure there.”
“You’re a writer Coop. You can come up with something.”
“And what’s the signal again?”
“I’ll raise both hands like I’m stretching.” She looked to the side and pushed at him, shooing him away. “Go go go. He’s here.”
Coop took his cue and made his way over to buy a ticket. Shaking his head, he laughed. The things he got roped into. Ava had finally gotten around to asking him what she’d come to Company for the day that Ashlee had walked out. She had met this guy in Company. They had talked for about an hour and he asked her out. She wanted to go out with him, but she didn’t have a great track record. Coop was her insurance in case he wasn’t the nice guy he seemed to be.
Taking his change and his ticket, he turned and ran into someone. Instinctively his hands grasped the other persons arms, and he knew from the heightened awareness who the arms belonged to. “Ashlee” he said, his heart hammering his chest. “We keep running into each other. Literally.”
For a split second, he saw heat flare in her eyes, and then she stepped back, forcing his hands to drop.
“Coop” she said as an acknowledgement. “Are you here with someone?” she asked and immediately regretted it. If her senses weren’t so overwhelmed with him, she would have been able to censor before that question came out. But he did overwhelm her. And that’s why she was here with Stuart. To try to lessen that awareness.
“Well, not exactly” Coop answered, nodding his head towards Ava and Mark. “I’m helping a friend out.” At her confused look, he explained. “First date. I’m just here in case she needs some intervention.”
“Oh” she said and then under her breath “The hero thing.” Coop wanted to protest but was interrupted.
“Got the tickets Ashlee” Stuart said as he came up beside her taking note of Coop and possessively putting his arm around her.
Coop’s eyes narrowed on Stuart’s hand, peeking out from under Ashlee’s arm on her side. Fisting his hand, closed then opened, closed then opened, he resorted to scratching the palm, trying to scratch away the urge to break that peeking hand of Stuarts.
“Um Coop, this is Stuart” Ashlee introduced. “You might know him for-”
“Small nuts” Coop said. His eyebrow raised in challenge and Ashlee choked.
“Excuse me?” Stuart asked, a funny look on his face, unsure he’d heard correctly.
“Stuart’s family owns the company Small Walnuts. I’m sure you’ve heard of it Coop.” She knew that he had because they had talked about it that day at Company
“No” Coop said, quite convincingly “I don’t think I have ever heard of it. Well, Stuart is it, nice meeting you” he shook Stuarts proffered hand, squeezing harder than necessary. He should have felt ashamed of the satisfaction he felt when Stuart grimaced, but he didn’t.
“Yeah, nice meeting you.” Pressing his hand into Ashlee’s back, he urged her to move. “Come on Ashlee, lets go so we can get a good seat.”
“Oh, ok. See you Coop” she said.
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Thankfully, Ava and Mark sat far enough down that Coop could choose the seat he wanted. Scooting past the people on the end, he moved to the empty seat beside Ashlee.
“Coop, what are you-” she asked, confused.
He leaned forward, just enough that Stuart could see he was there. “This seat gives me a perfect view of Ava” he pointed towards her. “Just in case she needs my help.”
“But we’re on a date” she reminded him.
“It’s ok” he said. “Just pretend I’m not here.”
He thought he heard her say ‘right’ and he grinned. A night of possibly running interference for a friend suddenly became an opportunity of a lifetime.
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