“Fine,” he muttered, and I heard his room door close. I turned and both our parents were standing watching open-mouthed.
I moved back towards the closet when they finally walked towards the door. “Bailey?” my mom’s voice sounded low and worried and I heard the door open and close. I turned to see her standing there. “You’d tell me if something was going on, wouldn’t you?” I nodded at her and ushered her through the door. As I closed the door, I shook my head at how hard it was to lie, but if they suspected something was going on, they’d never leave us alone again.
As soon as their footsteps receded, I went to the bed and saw that the condom wrapper was just under the nightstand. I grabbed it and stuffed it into the packet. Coop’s cell had been shoved under my pillows, so I scooped it out, turning it off. I grabbed his clothes, shoving his workout top into my pillowcase and his shorts and briefs I wrapped up and set them with his cell on my bed.
I had to think about what I was putting on, so I focused on dressing in something that made me look young, choosing a top with my favorite Disney character, Alice in wonderland, on it, and a pair of loose jeans. As soon as I was dressed, I shoved his shorts and cell up into the crawl space that he’d shown me. When I made my way nervously downstairs, he was standing by the stove, cooking. My mom was reading the newspaper, and Shawn was on his laptop.
As I made my way over, I schooled my expression into showing nothing but boredom. I grabbed a coffee cup and made myself a coffee, ignoring the eyes that watched my every move. Coop must have sensed it too because he ignored me so completely that I almost felt frozen out by him. As we sat at the island, his dad spoke.
“The conference has been rescheduled for next weekend. Can we go?” he asked my mom, his eyes dancing between Coop and me as we sat staring in opposite directions. My mom spoke and I glanced at her. “I don’t see why not.”
Her eyes roamed between me and Coop and I shrugged going back to my coffee. I needed more and stood at the same time Coop did. I moved around the table with my cup as he set about gathering the plates. I was so focused on avoiding him that I walked smack bang into him.
“Jeez, Cooper, sorry.” His face turned to me and there was cold hard hatred etched onto every line.
“For fuck’s sake, can’t you just watch where you’re going?”
My mom gasped and Shawn stood.
“Cooper, there was no need for that, Bailey apologized.” He shrugged and pushed by me. I set my cup down on the counter and turned to head upstairs. A second after I left the kitchen my mom caught up with me.
“Bailey, is it always like that with you and him?” I thought about the night he’d cornered me as I answered her.
“No,” I whispered, my voice shaking, “sometimes it’s worse.”
She nodded and glanced towards the kitchen. “Are you afraid of him?” she asked, and I almost laughed.
“No, Mom, he’s alright. Sure, he can be a dick, but what teenage guy isn’t at his age? I just stay out of his way, and we’re good.” She put her hand on my arm.
“Bailey, I just worry. He’s volatile and I want you to tell me straight away if anything happens, okay.”
I nodded at my mom placating her as I climbed the stairs. I went into my room and made my bed, before picking up my Kindle and sitting on the window seat. I’d grabbed my cell and put some music on; Ed Sheeran blared through the earphones, making me smile as his melodic voice relaxed me and I focused on the words on my Kindle.
I nodded off in the window seat, waking hours later to the sounds of yelling and arguing. The voices were getting closer to me and I wanted to hide. I didn’t want to deal with whatever was unfolding outside my room. Coop and Shawn were arguing about something. I couldn’t make out what, but my stomach dropped like a stone when I heard the word recording being thrown around.
The footsteps got louder, and I shoved my earphones back in, staring at the window as the door to my room flew open. Rough hands pulled at me and Coop shouted something. I pulled my earphones from my ear, pausing the music I’d just restarted. Shawn was standing over me, his face beyond livid as he stared down at me. He slapped me hard across the face, the sound reverberating around the room, and Coop flew at his dad, pinning him to the wall.
“That isn’t me and her. She is a child. I wouldn’t sleep with a child,” he screamed in his dad’s face. “Jan sent it because she had a crazy idea that I was with her.” He nodded in my direction as my hand held on to my cheek.
“This is serious, you are related!” Shawn bit out and I shrank back away from them. My eyes were wide in terror.
“Coop isn’t my boyfriend. I have a boyfriend at my grandparents’ house. His name’s Jay. I can call him if you want,” I spoke desperately. Coop’s shoulders tensed and I regretted not telling him about Jay. I knew this was gonna cause a huge fight between us, but at that moment I didn’t care. I needed to get us out of our current predicament.
I snatched my cell up and dialed Jay. He knew me well enough to hear the panic in my voice as I spoke to him for a few seconds, and he backed up everything I’d said. He knew that there would have to be a good reason for me to pull the boyfriend card. Shawn handed the cell back to me and looked at both of us sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, kids. I should have trusted you both when you said nothing was going on.” My shoulders relaxed, but Coop’s still stayed tense. He wouldn’t look at me, and he spun on his heel leaving the room before his dad. The rest of the week we didn’t see each other at all because we had to pretend to hate each other, but I missed him.
Every time we got it together something messed it up, and I was getting so tired of fighting for us. Friday night came and Cate was over with Blair. Blair was so big but was in bed by seven p.m. and Cate followed at eight. She didn’t know what had happened, but she knew enough to not ask about us. As Cate closed the door, Coop stood up and I leaned over touching his hand.
He snatched his hand away and pushed up from the sofa.
“Coop,” I whispered, “where are you going?” His face tightened, and he sneered as he glanced in my direction, “Out, what’s it to you?” My face blanched and I could see the pain behind his expression.
“Please, can we just talk?” He shook his head and walked from the room.
I sat there for a moment and then thought, I need a friend; I texted Jay and asked if he was busy. I also texted Coop saying, I know you’re hurting, but so am I. Don’t take this out on me, please.
He didn’t reply but Jay did and within twenty minutes I was in the car making the half-hour drive to see my friend. As soon as I saw him, I flew into his arms, and he held me as I sobbed. I told him what had happened, and he nodded at me, smiling. “Come on, my girl, let’s get you a coffee and a cookie.” My face fell when he mentioned the cookie as I remembered the cookie Coop had presented me, and he amended, “Fine, let’s get a muffin.”
We sat for a few hours and had some great laughs, but I needed to get home. I kept checking my cell but there was no text from Coop and my heart sank like a stone as I climbed into my car and headed for home. I walked into the house and it was quiet, so I climbed to my room and found Coop sitting in the middle of my floor.