The Space In Between(56)

When we got back to Michelle’s family’s mansion, the house was already being set up for the party. Red and green decorations were draped throughout the house. The caterers were preparing the food, and the party planners were rushing around like madmen, finishing up the last details. I only had about fifteen minutes to get ready before our main dance, and I was a hot mess.
Walking into the living room, I saw Ms. Jacobson, Mrs. Rivers, and Eric comforting my mother, who was in hysterics. Daddy was sitting on the couch and looked shell-shocked.
“Mom, what’s the matter?” When she looked up at me, I knew what she had learned. My eyes shot over to Eric. “You told her.”
“No,” he assured me. “You just did.”
My mom was holding magazines in her hands and threw them at my feet. I bent down and saw the other magazines. My heart was breaking all over again. “I sure hope you know who this Cooper Davidson really is!”
She ran off crying, and Daddy and Eric raced after her. The two gossip queens followed after them, but I was pretty sure it was only to collect more details to share at their book club.





I STOOD SMOOTHING out my Victorian dress in the mirror when I heard his southern voice behind me. “We should talk,” he said.
“I’m busy.”
“I can explain.”
Turning towards him, I locked into his green eyes. I was stern with my next words, because the answer to them would determine every action I made after. “Did you know? About the pictures? About the magazines?”
Silence.
My heart sank.
He knew.
I turned away from him, unable to look at the person who I had given so much of myself to over the past weeks. I gave him everything.
“Andie…” he whispered. I could hear him coming closer and I sharply turned around.
“Don’t call me that! What the hell do you want, Cooper? You want me to act like we are now some couple falling deeply in love?” I shouted. I couldn’t believe he even had the nerve to walk into my room right now. My hands formed fists, with my nails digging deep into my flesh.
He lowered his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
I rolled my eyes, tossing my hands up in frustration. “Let’s stop acting like we are normal. Like this is normal. The first night we met, we f*cked. The first few weeks all we did was have sex with each other.”
Shaking his head, he stepped closer. I stepped back. “You’re going backwards.”
“I’m telling you the facts.” I bent down to start putting on my shoes and cringed when I heard him use my nickname again.
“Andie, please.”
“DO NOT CALL ME THAT!” I screamed. Every ounce of me was boiling. I could feel my insides twisting, my stomach feeling sick.
He looked at me as if I were a stranger, and let’s face it, I pretty much was. His voice lowered in tone. “You need to get a clue. Figure something out because you are acting crazy.”
I couldn’t believe him. He was really trying to push me to the edge. My mother was sitting in the other room crying her eyes out because of him, thinking I was a whore of a child. Daddy was probably having a mini-heart attack thinking about his baby girl and what she’d done in New York City. And then he had the nerve to call me crazy? “You think I'm crazy?” I picked up my shoe and threw it at him as hard as I could. I cringed, watching him dodge it. So of course I threw my other shoe, harder. “You think I'm a lunatic? You were the one in the f*cking mental hospital, not me!” I turned away from him before I saw his reaction. I knew it probably stung him, because after it came out of my mouth, it stung me.
“Who told you?”
Walking over to my desk, I tossed the magazines my mom gave me onto the floor in front of Cooper. As he bent down and picked them up, he shook his head back and forth.
The title on one read, "Iris Davidson speaks out: Cooper abandoned his family and takes trip to loony bin."
Another title read, "Cooper Davidson addicted to prostitution, three different women tell their sides of the story."
And another: “Cooper Davidson violent anger rages on as Iris shares her side.”
He tossed the magazines on the bed and turned towards me. A firm look took over his eyes—a look I had never witnessed before on him. “Yeah. I'm sure you learned a lot about me from those tabloids. I bet you feel like you know who I am now.”
“No. I don't. I don't know anything about you. Let’s face it though. You don't know anything about yourself either. You don't talk about Iris because it makes it real. Reality check, Cooper—it's real. And the kid you abandoned is real too. I can’t believe I believed you when you said it wasn’t your kid. Deal with your f*cking issues.”
“You want me to deal with my issues? God forbid something reminds you of your dead fiancé!”
I was beyond pissed now. How dare he bring Derrick into this. “Fuck you!” I screamed.
“You already did!”
I couldn’t believe he’d said that. And from the look in his eyes, he could hardly believe it either. “I hate you,” I whispered as I shoved him hard in his shoulder. I shoved him again, and again…“I hate you! I HATE YOU!” I felt his hands wrap around my wrists as I kept pushing him. “Let me go,let me go!” I screamed, fighting the tears that were begging to fall. I wouldn’t let them. I couldn’t let them.
His eyes moved to his hands around my wrists and he instantly dropped them and turned away from me, running his hands over his face. “God dammit, Iris! Will you listen for one f*cking second?!”