Salvaged (29 page)

I rolled my eyes and felt my face turn hot.

"Charlie, I'm serious. You may not see it, but I do."

He stopped and waited for me to respond. "Is this necessary?" I
complained.

"Yes."

"What I hear you saying is that you ... think that I'm ... pretty." I
spit out the word and then covered my face with my hands.

"And?"

"Don't make me say any more; it's horribly embarrassing."

"Hey, I admitted that most the girls at my school wanna go out
with me. Now that's pretty embarrassing."

"Can I keep my face covered when I say it?"

I heard him laugh. "I guess so."

I talked quickly from under my hands. "What I hear you saying
is that you think I'm the prettiest girl you know."

"Why is that so bad to say?"

"I don't know. It just is."This was now beyond uncomfortable. It
was actually physically painful.

"You're hot, totally hot. I bet all the guys think so."

"Stop it, Riley."

"You've lived here less than a month and two guys are already
after you. That's got to say something."

"Enough, please."

"All right, I'll stop. It's true though." He laughed as he gently
removed my hands from my face and held them again. "Okay, you
were trying to say something about Cooper."

"I was trying to say that I don't see it as going out with Cooper.
The thought never crossed my mind, so I never dreamed that's the
way he saw it. I mean, he hardly knows me; how can he want to ask
me out that fast?"

"I wanted to ask you after only seeing your picture."

"Riley," I moaned.

"I'm serious." The sound in his voice confirmed his statement.
"That's why boys ask girls out. They like something about them, and
they wanna spend more time with them to find out if there are more
things about them to like. You don't have to be totally in love with
someone before going out with them; you just have to want to get to
know them better. That's the point of dating."

"I wouldn't know that. Nobody's ever asked me out before." I felt
like an idiot admitting the fact that nobody had ever been interested
enough to ask me out on a date.

"I asked you out, sorta."

"I know, but you asked me out after you told me you liked me.
Cooper hasn't said anything like that. I think he just wants to be
friends. I'm someone to hang out with."

"Have you ever seen the movie When Harry Met Sally?"

"No. Good grief, what are you, the walking movie encyclopedia?"

"No, seriously. I'm ordering it tonight. It'll give you a lot of
insight into the male mind."

"That sounds scary. Is it a horror movie?"

"Ha, ha."

"Are we done with this whole thing now?"

"Not quite." He grabbed my hands tightly so that I wouldn't pull
them away.

"Oh, all right." I was growing more annoyed with the entire
process and wanted it to end.

"I wanna apologize for the way I acted today."

"You do?" Oh no, as if I weren't weak enough as it was, now
he was apologizing, which meant my little war would have to end
immediately.

"Yes. It was uncalled for, and I never should have raised my voice
to you like that. I'm sorry."

His voice sounded so loving that it made my heart start melting.

"I was excited to see you because I hadn't seen you all day. So
when I walked in there and saw you talking to Truman, I freaked
out a little."

I glared at him.

"Okay, I freaked out a lot," he admitted calmly. "It's obvious
that I don't like the guy anyway, but when he mentioned you going
to his house on Saturday and everything, I about lost my mind. I
got angry and scared, and I took it out on you. I shouldn't have. I'm
really, really sorry."

"Thank you for apologizing, Riley. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome. I've already apologized to your Gramps, but I
still need to apologize to the girls."

"You don't need to apologize to them; they loved every minute
of it." I thought of them sitting at the clinic completely enthralled
in the action.

He gave me a small grin. "No, I do need to apologize. I don't want
them to think that I believe it's okay for me to talk to you like that."

I looked down and watched as he stroked the top of my hands
with his thumbs.

"How can I resist you when you're so darned sweet?"

"Why would you be trying to resist me?"

"Isn't that what we're doing here? Trying to stay away from each
other until I move out?"

"I knew I was trying to resist you. Do you have to make yourself
resist me?" He sounded hopeful.

"I'll never tell," I teased.

"Uh-huh. Interesting." He winked at me. "There's one more
thing to say, and then I'm done and we can go to sleep-or try to
anyway.

"Go for it."

"I want you to know that no matter what the reasons were
behind that kiss tonight, I've never felt like that before."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've kissed a few girls... "

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Okay, more than a few, but that's beside the point. What I
mean is that I've never felt the way I felt when I kissed you. With
you it was like my whole heart was involved. It's the most amazing
kiss I've ever had."

I yanked my hands out of his and covered my face in embarrassment. "Get out! You're so full of it."

"No, I'm not, I'm totally serious. I had to walk away or I could
have been there doing that all night, I swear. I've never felt like that
before."

By the temperature of my cheeks, I knew that I was turning
crimson. "Well, unfortunately, if I tell you it was great for me, it
won't matter because I don't have anything to compare it to."

"But was it?" His voice sounded hopeful again.

"Yes."

"Do you wanna do it again?"

"Oh yes."

He laughed. "Let's hope that the rest of the summer flies by or
your dad decides to move back early."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed."

Cooper and I made our way through the buffet and then took a seat
at a table. I'd begged Gramps to join us, but he refused. I was stuck
having a one-on-one lunch with Cooper Truman, and I wasn't looking forward to an hour-long conversation. I planned on staying as
far away as possible from any personal discussions, so I made sure to
start the conversation.

"So, Coop, tell me all about how you got into Cornell and your
school plans. I'm very curious seeing as how we're sort of on the
same path."

He smiled at me. "No small talk? You get straight to the point."

"Sorry, I don't know anyone else that's close to my age and is doing
what I want to do. We can have small talk if you would prefer."

"No, I want to talk about whatever you want to talk about."

"Thanks." He seemed genuine, but I was cautious. "So school?"

"Well, I've been planning on being a veterinarian for years, so all
of my schooling has been in preparation to get in and out of undergrad as soon as possible. I attended UCO in Edmond the summer
before and during my senior year of high school."

"Really? Did you CLEP out of school classes or what?" I was
intrigued and cut into my chicken fried steak while I listened.

"Yes. I went all AP during high school and then CLEPed out of
every class I could-I think about thirty hours. As I said, during the
summer and at nights, I took college courses at UCO. Cornell will let you transfer up to sixty hours, so I cut two years off my undergrad
while I was still here and started up there as a junior."

"So this fall you're already going to be a senior?"

"Yes, and you can apply for Cornell vet school in the spring of your
sophomore year, so that's what I did. I got accepted to early admissions into the DVM program. I'll actually start vet school this year."

"So you'll finish three years earlier than most?"

"That's the plan."

"That's amazing. How would I do it if I wanted to?"

"Cornell, or any vet school, wants you to focus on science and
chemistry, so I took every science class in high school and my year
at UCO but then tested out of English composition, English lit,
economics, Spanish, and stuff like that."

My curiosity was growing. "How did you prepare for the tests?"

"Have you gone AP through school?"

"Yes."

"Then you shouldn't have any problem. But they have study
guides just in case you need them."

"Great, thanks for the information. You could be saving me a lot
of time. Not as much as you of course, but some anyway."

"I can take you up to UCO one day if you'd like, that way you
can get all the information you need. It's so close by. It only took me
about twenty minutes to get to class every day."

I noticed he hadn't touched his food.

"That sounds great. I would appreciate that." My mind was
spinning with all the new possibilities that lay ahead of me.

He folded his arms onto the table and stared at me. "Where do
you want to go to school?"

"You eat, Cooper. I'll talk if you eat. We can't have you passing
out during the middle of a surgery or anything."

"Deal." He cut open his potato and smothered it in butter and
sour cream.

"I was thinking I would go to UCO for my undergrad and then
try to get into O SU for vet school. My Gramps knows a lot of people up there, so hopefully I won't have much trouble. Plus, I've always
done very well in school."

"You never considered Cornell? I would think that would be
your first choice seeing as how your dad teaches there and you lived
there for so long."

"You think I would go for which, undergrad or vet school?"

"Both."

Actually, I hadn't thought about it at all. "Well, my dad's moving
back here at the end of the summer, so he won't be there anymore."

Cooper took a bite of his potato and then placed his fork onto
his plate. His manners were impeccable.

"Plus, I don't fit in with that type."

"What type is that?"

"The English riding type," I teased.

"Oh yes, that type-don't you hate them?" I found Cooper's
sense of humor surprising.

"I'm not cut out for that kind of life. I'm more your plain, lowerincome type. I don't think I would fit in."

"You'd be surprised, Attie; not everybody up there is highbrow. I
don't think I am. My parents are the ones with the money, not me."

"Are you being humble, Coop?"

"Not so much humble as honest." He blushed and looked down
at his baked potato. "I try not to get into all that stuff. I go to class,
go home, study, and repeat it all the next day."

"Sounds exciting, or not."

"You can live through anything if you know it isn't going to last
forever." He looked back up at me. "Would you not agree?"

"Yes, I guess I would."

Fidgeting a bit, he grabbed his soda and took a sip. "I didn't
want to bring it up, but... " He shrugged.

"Go ahead, you can ask."

"How are you doing? I know you've been through a lot over the
last year."

"Oh, I just try to make it day by day. Not much else I can do."

"I can see that. Not see it physically necessarily," he clarified quickly, "just, well, I understand what you're saying." He shook his
head in embarrassment. "I'm not making any sense, am I? I'm not
good with this type of thing."

"What type of thing?"

"You know, emotions. We aren't very emotional in my family.
We don't talk about them, and we certainly don't show them."

"Then you better stay away from me because I'm one big emotional mess. That's about all I know how to be-emotional."

"I'm not scared; I find it intriguing." His eyes blazed as he looked
at me.

Uh oh, there it was, the "I-can-dazzle-everyone" look.

I became uncomfortable and looked down at the table.

"What do you like to do?" he asked.

"I like to hang around my friends and have fun, not be so serious
all the time. For the last year, my life has been nothing but serious.
I think I needed to relax and enjoy things for a while. I mean, God
spared my life for some reason; it wouldn't be wise not to make the
most of it."

"I would agree with that."

"You know, Cooper, I don't know much, but one thing I'm certain of is that we don't know when our time is up down here. I would
hate to think that you missed out on fun because you had to prove
yourself to someone."

"You think that's what I'm doing? Trying to prove myself?"

"Honestly?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Yes, I do."

"Interesting. You've known me all of a few hours and you've got
me figured out," he said with sarcasm.

"I'd rather try to figure you out than myself. We've all got issues,
I can tell you that, and I'd much rather focus on somebody else's."

"Sure, you can focus on me anytime."

We continued talking as Cooper finished his baked potato. It
struck me how different he was than what I thought he would be.
I'd definitely judged him wrongly, and so had Riley.