I gave him a mystified look, then mouthedWhat do you want to do?
Coop:Go to the game with you and Arch.
I typed in:Then tell her sorry I have plans, thanks for asking.
Was it that hard?
The biting at his lip was so non-zen it irked me. What was this thing with Laura that it had him so upset? The idea irritated me, but it was swiftly followed by the thought that it was none of my damn business.
Sighing, I hid my phone under my book and went back to work.
After class, Coop hooked his arm through mine and followed me out to my car. “Look,” I told him. “If you don’t want to see her, then break up with her.”
“But we’re not actually dating.” Coop argued.
“Coop?” I shoved my stuff in the backseat and Archie appeared right behind us in his orange Ferrari. “Have you spent the last week with Laura at lunch and after school?”
“Kind of.”
I stared at him. “What doeskind ofmean?”
“I mean—she asked me to have lunch cause she wanted to talk on Tuesday, and she was kind of upset that I hadn’t called the last few weeks. She’s nice and…so after school I figured I’d make it up to her for being an ass. Then we ended up making out. It was an accident.”
“What’d you do?” Archie called. “Trip and fall on her mouth?”
I bit my tongue because that was some funny shit.
Coop glared at him. “No, I just—she’s nice.”
“So, date her.” Archie spread his arms. “See if we care.”
Yeah. No.“Then figure out what you want before you break that girl’s heart,” I warned Coop. “If she is nice then she doesn’t deserve to be jerked around. If you just want to score, and she’s a relationship girl, then walk away. Because that’s really not fair to her.”
“What she said,” Archie pointed to me. “We gotta go, Frankie. I want to make sure you get to the tire place before I go grab lunch.”
Coop glanced at the school then at us, and I raised my brows at Archie. Coop clearly wanted to tag along.
“Fine. Get in the damn car,” Archie said. “Let’s just go, but he buys his own tacos.”
“I can do that.” Coop hurried around to my passenger door, and I stared up at the sky.
Why did I like these idiots again?
Chapter Eight
Game Night
As promised, Archie followed Coop and me back to my apartment. He slotted his car into the parking space next to mine. “The tire looks good,” he said as I climbed out. I glanced at the rear tire on the driver’s side. It did look fine. “You sure they just patched it?”
“Said it was a nail,” I told him. I, for one, had been relieved. The guys there had gotten the nail out, patched it, and refilled the tire. Twenty-five bucks and four tacos later, I was out of there. “Don’t forget I owe you money,” I reminded Archie.
He snorted as he trailed after us toward the courtyard. He’d brought the tacos, but with Coop’s intercept, I hadn’t given Archie the cash, and the snot hadn’t reminded me.
Instead of diverting toward his apartment, Coop followed us. Archie cut a look at him and then me. “Did we invite him to dinner?”
“Be nice,” I said as I unlocked the door.
“The answer is no,” Coop told him. “She didn’t invite me and neither did you.”