The Space In Between(14)

Her eyes bugged out when she realized there was a man standing in my bedroom. “What did I miss?” she questioned as the cheese on her slice of pizza slid to the floor.
“I should probably get going,” Cooper said, and I agreed before he even finished his thought. We wedged our way past Ladasha, who was fast to follow behind us. Cooper turned to me once we reached the front door, smiling. “I would really like to see you again though, Andrea. I’ve never done this before.” He paused and his cheeks turned rosy with embarrassment. “Well, I’ve done this, just not like this. Ya know?”
He was cute, trying to find the right words. But I couldn’t help but feel a knot in my stomach growing larger and larger. “Coop,” I whispered, trying to make him understand. But his green eyes lit up at the sound of my voice. He rested his hand on his chin and studied me.
“Andie,” he whispered back. I didn’t correct him. To tell you the truth it sounded kind of nice. I opened the front door and allowed him to kiss me on the forehead before he exited. “I’ll call you.”
“Don’t,” I begged.
He grinned and strolled down the hallway. I could still see his dimples in my head as he walked away. I stepped into the hallway and looked in his direction. “No really, Cooper. Don’t.”
Tossing his hand up in the air, he waved goodbye to me. I sighed. That goodbye wave was sexy, too. And that would probably be a problem. I stepped back into my apartment, closed the door, and slipped down to the ground. Ladasha walked over and slid down to join me.
“Was there an extremely sexy man in our apartment?”
“Yep.”
“And you…had sexy time with him?” she questioned.
“Yep.”
A level of silence filled the room. We sat there, both a bit stunned. Finally Ladasha found the ideal words to say. “Take that, Richard Gere!” she hollered and stood up to do a victorious dance. It involved a lot of awkward air humping and invisible ass slapping. I couldn’t help but chuckle at my overreacting friend. As I glanced at her, my smile faded when I realized what I’d done. Ladasha also figured out what I’d done and her smile evaporated.
“Andrea…” Her voice was soft, filled with concern; I shook my head and stared forward.
I ‘d just had sex with Cooper Davidson.
Crap.





I WAS DIRTY. Turning on the shower, I stepped inside as the water began to hit my skin in random spurts. Picking up the soap, I started rubbing my ghost-white skin, scrubbing harder and harder, trying to erase the past few hours from my memory.
I promise to love you without reservation. Comfort you in times of distress. Encourage you to achieve all of your goals.
No…
I scrubbed more intensely, watching my skin turn red, trying to make the guilt that had somehow sunk into my soul disappear. My tears began to mix with the water droplets. There was no way to tell the liquid streams apart from one another. I let my body fall to the tub and sat there. I sobbed into my hands, allowing the water crystals to slap me with the reality I was now facing.





MICHELLE WAS FORCEFULLY dragging a kid over with her as she came to visit Eric and me. The kid looked a few years older than me, maybe nine or ten.
“You guys! This is my cousin Cooper. He’s spending the summer here because his dad is crazy.” Michelle sang, bouncing up and down. He had a camera hanging around his neck and shifted his feet on the ground, not looking up at us.
“What’s with the camera?” I asked, watching as his eyes rose up to meet mine. My tummy started swirling around as I watched his lips curve into a nice grin and his dimples appeared.
“My mama gave it to me, before I left. What’s your name?”
“Andie Evans. This is my brother Eric.” Cooper didn’t look over to acknowledge Eric, he just kept smiling at me, making me feel a bit weird. “Why are ya looking at me like that?”
His cheeks reddened and he went back to looking to the ground, kicking around dirt. “Just never seen anything like you before, that’s all.” His eyebrows frowned as he slapped his face. “I meant that in a good way. It came out wrong.”
Michelle rolled her eyes and began walking near Eric. “Come on you guys, let’s go to the park. Last one there buys everyone ice cream!” Eric and she went running off down the street.
Cooper cleared his throat and held up his camera in my direction. “Can I take your picture?”
I ran my fingers through my hair, and prepped myself for my first ever photo shoot. Placing my hands on my hips, I turned to Cooper, begging him to only capture my good side.
His hand ran over his face and his green eyes smiled my way. “Don’t worry. I don’t think I can miss it.”


Chapter Six

I SAT IN Kyle’s office watching him grin ear to ear at me like a proud papa. “Hell yeah! See! What did I tell you? A one-night stand has a way of changing a dude’s perspective on an issue. Now we can move on, and I got a few papers for you to sign. Which magazine do you want to reach out to first? Star? Us Weekly? I can get the cover on People.” Kyle went searching on his computer, with his pleased grin still framing his face.
I had to admit, I couldn’t stop smiling either. “Listen, Ky.”
He snorted and nodded his head as he kept at his computer. “Oh I’m listenin’. Tell me all about it. Was she good? Did she use the feathers? Jasmine uses the feathers.”
“No. Listen, Kyle. I mean really listen.” I slammed my hands on his keyboard, which made him whine like a puppy dog in pain. He fell back in his chair and tossed his hands up in defeat.