Operation Prom Date (Tactics in Flirting, #1)(30)

Unable to help myself, I took a tiny whiff of the hoodie before placing it in my locker. Just because Cooper had really amazing smelling cologne, and it was okay to think friends smelled sexy.

I grabbed my books for my first class and turned down the hall. I spotted Cooper in the crowd and waved.

He nodded back at me, a grin spreading across his face, and anticipation tingled through my veins.

I started toward him, planning on greeting him by calling him Space Case. But then Mick stepped up to me, and I nearly tripped over my feet. I opened my mouth to speak before realizing I didn’t know what to say, and panic rose up.

My teeth popped as I snapped my mouth closed, embarrassingly loud, and my body heated, giving my deodorant a run for its money.

“You never texted me back, you naughty vixen,” Mick said.

Oh, how embarrassing. He’s not even talking to me. I spun around to see who the lucky girl was, but no one else was around. Which just left me as the recipient of his words, but the thought of me as a naughty vixen was laughable.

My focus got lost in his perfect features, the sharp line of his jaw and that sexy indention in his chin, and the cheekbones that should be illegal on males so that women could have something to hold over guys like him.

“Kate?”

I ran a hand through my hair. “It was just so late when I got home, and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

He nudged me with his elbow, the smirk that frequented my dreams twisting his mouth. “You can wake me up anytime.”

Since the open mouth, gasping-for-air fish face couldn’t possibly be sexy, I pressed my lips together and forced them into a smile. I can do this. Carefree, light…

“I’ll make a note.” Wait. Note making was serious. “Or I won’t.”

His eyebrows drew together and nervousness bound my lungs, and talking whilst unable to breathe wasn’t as easy as it sounded, and it didn’t sound all that easy in the first place.

I reached up and twisted a strand of my hair around my finger. “What I’m saying is, I’ll take you up on that sometime.”

“Good. So how much longer are you going to leave me hanging about this weekend?”

Crap. He must’ve said something in the text about this weekend. As soon as I’d walked in the door last night, Mom had wanted all the details, and I’d had to sort through which ones I wanted to give her, and by the time I looked at my phone, it’d died. I was running late this morning, so I hadn’t even checked it yet. Which was so unlike me, to the point I wondered if a parasite had been in the lake water and infected my brain.

It certainly wasn’t because I’d completely spaced Mick’s text and gotten caught up in thinking about my friend Cooper and how much fun we had together.

If I dug out my phone now, he might see his code name that I hadn’t had time to change. “I’m sorry, but I just realized I have to get notes for this test I’m probably about to fail.” Which is something a serious girl would worry about. “Not that I’d normally care, but my mom is riding me about my grades, and you know how it is.”

Please know how it is, even though I don’t even know how it is.

“For sure. Coach was always riding my ass about grades—but now that season’s over and I’ve got scholarships lined up, I’m pretty much coasting.” He made a motion with his hand, like it was surfing an air-wave.

“Okay, well. I’ll catch up with you later? Like lunch?” Realizing he probably had standing appointments with all the cool kids at lunch, I backtracked. “Or not lunch, because I’m sure you have plans, but—”

He put his hand on my arm and my heart stopped, I swear it did. “I’ll catch you at lunch.”

With one last smirk, he backed away and melted into the crowd.

As soon as I was sure the target had left the area, I ducked into a corner and pulled out my phone. My fingers hit too many keys at once, and I ended up having to put my password in three times.

Future Prom Date: I’m having a group of people over on Friday night. How about you be one of them?”

I squealed loud enough to garner a few stares, then I quickly put my phone away. Guess I owe Cooper an apology, or thanks, or maybe even dinner.

I couldn’t believe that ballsy text had worked. Clearly I didn’t know what guys were looking for in girls, so thank goodness I had help. I scanned the halls for Cooper so I could tell him his plan actually worked, but most everyone was rushing around, headed to class, and I realized I better, too. Didn’t want to get my first tardy.

Making it through morning classes had never been so hard. Before lunch I popped a breath mint, slicked on some of my strawberry shimmery lip-gloss, and searched for Mick among the crowd in the cafeteria, feigning ignorance to where he usually sat.

“Kate!” Mick patted the seat next to him, and I had a crap-ton of eyes on me. The sets belonging to the female portion of the crowd were less than friendly.

My heart traveled up into my throat and I carefully put one foot in front of the other, terrified I’d trip and ruin a moment I’d dreamed about for longer than I cared to admit.

As soon as I sat down, Mick put his hand high on my thigh, like we’d been dating for months instead of seconds.

Not that we were, you know, technically dating.

But did he really think he could just put his hand so high on my thigh? Offense bubbled up, because I wasn’t that kind of girl, but then I remembered the endgame of this whole operation meant pretending I might be.