The One Night(15)

I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. “Great answer. I know just the place we can go. It’s the best.”

“I shall look forward to it. In the meantime, I’m going to eat these nachos.”

“Did your parents ever text you to let you know they made it safely to your apartment?”

“Yes.” Cooper shakes his head, chuckling. “They took a picture together. Mom was wearing one of my shirts, and Dad borrowed a pair of my socks. They thought it was hilarious that they were playing around in my closet. I don’t understand them sometimes.”

“Not sure my parents would do the same. They would raid my kitchen, though, only to sadly realize I don’t have anything in there but salt, pepper, and ketchup.”

“You mean to tell me your parents don’t go grocery shopping for you?” he asks.

My eyes shoot open in surprise. “Wait, your parents go grocery shopping for you?”

“Yeah,” he says in a serious tone. “They go grocery shopping, and then I go grocery shopping in their cabinets.”

My face falls flat. “What are you, in college still?”

He laughs. “I do a lot of shit for them around the house. I don’t mind taking the occasional bundle of bananas from them. But for a large load of groceries, I do that on my own so I can write up my schedule. My parents’ are just supplemental groceries.”

“Schedule? Do tell me more about this. Do you have a food schedule?”

He pauses, giving it some thought. “More like a menu.”

“Stop, really?” I stifle a laugh. Cooper Chance is just full of surprises. “Do you write it out on a whiteboard or something?”

“I do. That way, I know what I have to take out of the freezer meat-wise the night before. And when I make a menu, I don’t nearly have as much food waste as I do when I wing it. Did you know it takes lettuce twenty-five years to decompose in a landfill?”

“What?” I ask in outrage. “But it’s a vegetable.”

“But it’s combined with all the other trash out there. It’s why you should compost. Do you compost?”

“I don’t have time to make myself dinner. Do you think I have time to compost?”

“That’s not very PNW of you.”

I chuckle. “There’s a lot about me that’s not very PNW. Do you know I’ve never paddleboarded?”

“You mean to tell me you don’t do that on the weekends?”

“Not so much.” I glance down at the plate between us. There are two chips left. We each take one and tap them together in a mock toast. The flow between us feels easy, as if I don’t even need to try. And that should add on to the nerves I had at the beginning of this sit-down, but for some reason, it washes them away. Because being with Cooper feels right. “I did jump through a sprinkling hydrant once to cool off. Does that count for water activity?” I crunch into my chip, almost groaning over the final taste of cheesy goodness.

“I would like to say yes, you know, to win points with you, but although running through water can be quite impressive, I’m afraid it doesn’t qualify as PNW water activity. More like . . . NYC.”

“All I got out of that is you want to win points with me.” I lean my elbow on the table and prop my chin up. “Tell me about that.”

“Well, doesn’t everyone want to win points with everyone?” he asks, almost confused.

“Depends. Are you trying to impress me or build our friendship or . . . ?” I wiggle my eyebrows. “Get lucky?” Part of me can’t believe the words that just came out of my mouth, but a bigger part loves that I’m going there.

He chuckles. “Whenever a girl is involved, probably all three.”

“Even friendship?”

“Isn’t it more fun if there’s friendship?” he asks.

“Valid question. And if I look back at all of my failed romantic endeavors, I’d say there was never much friendship involved. Just carnal magnetism.”

“Carnal? Really?”

“I mean, isn’t that what sex is all about? Being carnal?”

He shrugs. “Things with Dealia were always . . . tender.”

I cover my mouth, trying not to throw up all over this table. “Dear God, Grandpa, do not use the term ‘tender’ when referring to sex.”

He chuckles. “That’s what it was, though. I tried spanking her—Jesus, why am I saying this to you? You’re her friend.”

“That I am, but I kind of need you to finish that spanking sentence. I’m very interested in hearing how it ends.”

He sighs. “I tried spanking her once, but she was so offended that she slipped her clothes back on and pulled the blankets all the way up to her neck, turning them into a chastity belt. After that, I kept things tender.”

“I’m literally gagging over here with that word. Please don’t say it again. I’ve never considered sex to be . . .” I swallow hard. “Tender.” He smirks, and that smile eases some of the bile that rises to the back of my throat. “Sex has always been extremely physical for me.” I pause and tilt my head to the side as it occurs to me: “Wait, have you only ever had sex with Dealia?”

He shrugs. “We were each other’s firsts. Of course she’s the only one I’ve ever been with.”