The Space In Between(19)

Chapter Ten

IT’S AS IF I was slowly breaking through with Andrea. Each night we met, the closer we grew. Each night we met, the softer her eyes became. Each night we met, our bodies stayed intertwined for longer periods before she or I ventured home. We never spoke about the past, and we never spoke of the future. Hell, that was good enough for me. It turned out you could learn the most about a person by lying next to them each night, listening to their breaths, watching what made them grow nervous or happy or angry.
I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t slowly falling for Andrea, but I couldn’t let her know. Because I was pretty damn certain she would run the other way. I would be slow with my actions, slow with my approaches, and give her the time she needed to find Order. To find me.
Yet today Kyle found the need to drop a huge damn bomb on me when I showed up to his office. I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. Iris had lost her mind if she thought she could blackmail me into meeting with her. “I’m not doing it,” I promised. I wasn’t going to play her nasty games as she tried to get me back.
“She’s been talking to the press about your dad,” he said, staring directly at me. He wasn’t focused on one hundred other things like always, which meant it was serious.
“He wasn’t my dad.”
“Cooper, you know what I mean. Listen, Iris has clearly lost her f*cking mind and is talking about selling the stories. And I mean all of the stories.”
“She’s bullshitting. She wouldn’t do that.” She had to be. She wasn’t evil; she was just a pregnant, cheating whore.
“Do you really want to take that chance?” Kyle pounded his fists against one another, his brows lowered. “Hold off on the divorce papers. Talk to her. Find out what it is she is after exactly. She wants a few pictures of you two together, happy in front of the paparazzi.”
“That’s crazy.”
“That’s Iris. Just do it, Coop. And one day this will all blow over.” I wanted to believe him, but the stress filling his eyes told me he didn’t even believe it. He’d been saying that for weeks now. And nothing had blown over. If anything, it was getting more complicated.





“ALL PACKED?” MOM asked, strolling over to me. I was heading off to Wisconsin to spend my third summer at my cousins and I was finishing off an important project to take with me.
“What’s this?” she questioned, picking up the book I crafted.
“Nothin’,” I said, trying to grab it back from her. “Mom, come on, stop.”
Her eyes started to tear up as I gagged at her overreaction to the book. “Who is she?”
“A friend.” I wanted her to be more though, and I was hoping the book would help her notice me more. It was filled with pictures I had taken of Andrea and me over the past two summers. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever known and I was prepared to ask her to be mine once my plane touched down in Wisconsin that evening.
My eyes shifted to my mom and I noticed a fresh batch of bruises on her wrists. “Mom, what happened?”
She smiled and shook her head, ignoring my question. “She’ll love it, honey.”
My heart broke whenever I saw my Mom hurt. My voice cracked as I tossed a marker across the floor. “I don’t see why you stay with him…He’s an *!”
“Cooper Michael! Watch your tongue!”She scolded me. She wrapped her hands around my face and kissed the top of my head. “You may want to add a little more ribbon.”
On the plane ride, I sat next to the window, murmuring to myself, trying to create the perfect words to ask Andrea to be mine. The old man sitting next to me smiled and nudged my shoulder.
“Let me hear it, son,” he said, and his wife looked over to me and grinned, nodding in agreement.
I was wary at first, but could use someone’s help. I cleared my throat and sat up straight. “Andrea. I know we have only known each other for two summers. But if you think about it, we have only experienced about ten summers in our lifetime, so two summers together is actually a lot. And, I think you’re pretty. Like pretty, pretty. So I mean, if you would like to date me, I would like to date you. And if we held hands, I promise I would never let go.”
The old lady looked over to me and placed her hands on top of mine and grinned. “Perfect.”
Perfect. I was ready, I would call her my girlfriend and I would kiss her cheek if she wanted me to. My heart was in my throat as I headed over to Andrea’s house with Michelle. Michelle was yapping away as always, but I couldn’t pay attention. I held the book close to my chest, excited for what Andrea would say.
It didn’t matter. None of it mattered because by the time I reached her house, I saw another boy making her laugh. Hugging her. Holding her hand. I looked to my cousin and asked who he was.
“Derrick Stevens. He moved here in December.”
December. He’d claimed her during the winter all because I was stupid and waited until the summertime..


Chapter Eleven

LADASHA WALKED INTO the apartment to find me laid out on the couch and jumped on my legs with her jacket still on. She smelled the air and looked alarmed. “It doesn’t smell like Derrick today.” It didn’t. I didn’t spray his cologne into the air—I forgot. I guess I was too busy thinking about…
…Coop…
There was something about that guy that made me feel as if someday, I could be happy again. Then I would look to my engagement ring and hate myself a little bit more.