Perchance (11 page)

             
She pulled away from me and I instantly felt a loss.
I still felt the impression of her torso against mine.  She blushed
and it lit up her face and made her look even more beautiful.
 

             
We finished our lunch and then the bell rang. I gathered up our trash and threw it away while she got up and got her bag on her shoulder.

             
I started to walk next to her and her hand brushed mine for the most minute of moments and she cleared her throat. 

             
“My class is down here.” She pointed to the opposite way that I was going.

             
“Too bad…you were about to hold my hand.” I left her shocked and made my way to my next class.

             
I thought for sure that spewing out all of that heavy mess over the phone was going to drive him away.  But it just came out of my mouth before I knew it.  I didn’t mean to say it. I didn’t really want him to know all of my hang-ups but
it just came out.  Here I was thinking that maybe I had a chance to do well in school and maybe have at least a few dates with this great guy and I had ruined it.  It was like my brain was at war with my heart and my hormones.  Too bad that most of the time my brain had control of my mouth.

             
So I woke up in a pissy mood.  I got dressed in some jeans and a v-neck t shirt and threw on some shoes and barely brushed my hair.  I had to put it up anyway because Josie had a convertible.  We got
there and I brushed my hair out and checked out my fat lip.
  The win
d had really done a number on my hair
.  I wished that I could just take back all the crap I said last night to him, but at the same time, it was all true.

             
We walked
towards the school and Josie put the heel of her hand to one side of her mouth and left the other side open to tell me something.

             
“Look out, hotties at twelve o’clock.” I just rolled my eyes at her goofiness.

             
Then Cooper and Troy stepped out in front of us and he said ‘good morning’ and something about eating before school and handed me a bag. I walked away confused, but when I looked in the bag, my heart melted.  Inside were three little blueberry muffins and a bottle of orange juice.  How was I supposed to concentrate on school with this kind of gooeyness going on?

             
I looked at him over my shoulder and smiled, and he smiled back at me. 

             
He could not be cuter or sweeter.  What am I gonna do?

             
Classes were boring and I was upset that I didn’t have any classes Cooper but at the same time I wasn’t.  This meant that I could actually concentrate and maybe pull some good grades. 

             
Lunch came quickly and I had to navigate the halls with my map in tow to find the cafeteria.  A group of giggly, gorgeous girls passed me and when one of them hit my shoulder she said ‘Oops’ in an
I’m not sorry at all
way.

             
I got in the line for food and I’ve been poor and hungry, but this stuff just looked flat out disgusting. 

             
Then, like he could re
ad my thoughts, Cooper stood next to me.  He held
a bag of something and whatever it was had to be better than what was in front of me.  We started to make our way outside to eat, but I heard a shrill voice calling Cooper’s name. I knew it wouldn’t be long until the beauties of this town got wind of him.

             
I heard her inviting him to sit with her and her friends, so I just saved him the effort and made my way outside alone.  I found a tree to sit under and decided that no lunch was better than slop or watching Cooper’s new friends.

             
And again, just when I had underesti
mated him, he stood above me and looked
as if I was such a dummy to think that he would sit with them.  He had made me lunch and said it was because he wanted to help me do well in school.  I couldn’t believe that he was even still talking to me after last night and even more he was helping me?  He brought me breakfast and lunch? Of course it was then that my mother’s words echoed in my memory.

             
Guys butter you up good, get what they want and then hit the road.

             
But I kicked her words to the curb and reached out to
hug him.  I wanted
to have that feeling that I had yesterday when he held my hand and wondered if it could be repeated. And did it ever get repeated.

             
He ran his hand down my spine and every muscle and nerve in my back felt the
ripple of
tingles that
each of his fingers had
left behind in their wake.  And I might
’ve
be
en
nuts, but I could almost testify in a court of law that he had smelled my hair.  And it made me blush to no end.

             
We stood
up
, walked into the school
and in the main hallway parted ways but he had cracked a joke about me trying to hold hands with him. 
Is that something he wanted? Is that something people just do without going on a date?
They say women are confusing but this
guy
had me more confused than anything.

             
I went to my next class which was history and then I went to math for my last class of the day. 

             
Whe
n I left math, Cooper came
out of a classroom which I knew belonged to Aunt Brenda.  Poor Cooper,
I heard she was a tough teacher and I was glad I didn’t have her
myself.  I saw his shoulders
slumped
over
so I walked up behind him and poked him in the ribs.

             
He
jumped a little and smiled at me. 

             
“Hey Rem…” He didn’t sound like the Cooper I knew, well barely knew.

             
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

             
“Ugh, I know it’s your aunt, but man, she’s tough and she’s making us read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.”

             
I laughed and told him that reading a little book by a girl was not going to hurt him.

             
We talked all the way to his car and he offered to bring me home but I told him that I already had plans with Josie.  She and I were going to see Edith, but I didn’t tell him that.  He asked if he could call me again and I told him that I would call him when I was done studying.  He wrote his number on my hand and winked at me. 
Then he said he forgot something and he and Troy went back into the school as Josie and I left.

             
When we got to Edith’s apartment, she answered the door and she was in such a great mood.  I had visited her several times over the past week and her moods shifted from one day to the next, but never in a bad mood.  Some days she was more talkative and some days she was just hilarious.  She would go on and on about how ‘girls these days don’t cover up their goodies.’  Today was one of those days.  She
had us in hysterics for the who
le hour we were there.  Then she and J
osie picked and prodded me for more
info
rmation about Cooper.  They
ganged up on me for sure.
She also said that I didn’t need to look for a job because she was going to pay me a hundred dollars a week to clean her apartment on Mondays and Thursdays.  That was music to my ears.  I tried to tell her that she was paying me too much, but she wouldn’t hear it.

             
Her loud wall clock struck four and
she rushed us out
like her carriage was going to turn into a pumpkin. A
t the door she whispered in my ear, “If he really, really likes you, he will continue to prove it until you believe him.”

             
I looked at her and squinted my eyes at her comment. 
The old bat knew something. I suspected Aunt Brenda.

             
She practically shoved us out and told us to get home.  Josie dropped me off later and told me to hurry up and get my homework done so I could call my man.  I rolled my eyes at her ridiculous comment and went in th
e house.  Aunt Brenda made dinner as
I sat at the table and talked to her as she cooked and finished my little bit of reading.  It was the first day of school and I didn’t have any real homework yet. 

             
She turned around while her pots simmered and went to her room.  She came back with a bag and pulled out a new cell phone and a charger. 

             
“I got this today after school.  This way I don’t have to worry about you. “ She winked at me.

             
“So, it has nothing to do with me, only you worrying.”

             
“Exactly,
you’re so smart. By the way it h
as unlimited text messaging.  You know, in case you want to do that sort of thing with someone.”

             
“Smooth Aunt Brenda, real smooth.
And thank you so much. I’ve never had one.
” I laughed at her.

             
We ate dinner and
talked about school as we washed the dishes.  I was really beginning to love her.  She treated me like I was her kid.  Mom hadn’t called in a while and when I called her, it always went to voicemail. 

             
I went into the living room and she not so subtly reminded me that I had a phone with texting capabilities. 

             
I sent two text messages, one to Josie and one to Cooper.

             
Cooper’s return message came back almost immediately and it scared the crap out of me.  My ring tone was set to some loud bell and I needed to find out how to change it.  It sounded way too much like the bell at school.

             
Cooper:
Hi! This is a surprise.  When did you get a cell phone?

             
Me:
Today. Aunt Brenda got it for me. I have no idea how to work
it. It took me ten minutes to
text you.

             
Cooper:
I’m glad you figured it out.  I can show you how to work it at lunch tomorrow.

             
Me: OK, good.  This ringer is driving me nuts.

             
Cooper: LOL. 

             
Me:
What?

             
Cooper: Laugh out loud. Can I call you instead? Are you done with your homework?

             
I guess I took too long to answer.

             
Cooper:
It’s ok.  I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.  I know u r studying.  Ttyl.

             
I stared at the text for a few minutes.  First of all I had no idea what
‘
ttyl
’
meant and second I wanted to talk to him, I just took too long to answer.

             
So I walked into my bedroom and shut the door and dialed his number.
He answered quickly.

             
“I thought I had pissed you off.”

             
“No, if I was still studying, I wouldn’t have texted you.  Anyway, it’
s the first day, I didn’t have
much.
Besides, it takes a lot to piss me off.
”

             
“So…um…what’s ttyl?” He laughed at my ignorance and we talked for a while.  Then there was a knock on my bedroom door. I went to answer it.