“Sometimes,” he admitted. “Sometimes.”
We swung through and picked up coffee on our way in. I spotted Ian’s bike after Archie parked. It wasn’t far from Jake’s SUV. Still, it made me sad that he’d parked it a couple of slotsawayfrom the yellow vehicle.
Or maybe Jake had. Jake had been irked with him, too. I made a face.
“Don’t worry about Bubba,” Archie suggested. “He’ll come around. Just let him get it out of his system—whatever it is.”
“I told you,” Coop started, but Archie glared at him, and Coop raised his hands.
“Told him what?” I glanced between them as we began to walk. When neither was forthcoming, I repeated it. “Told him what, Coop?”
“Arch is right, let Bubba figure it out, Frankie.”
“That is not what you were saying earlier.” I stared at him, and Coop lifted his shoulders.
“But it is what we should do. It’s Bubba, the guy stops and goes out of his way to buy Girl Scout cookies, even if he never eats them.”
Yes, that was one bizarre eccentricity. Ian had never liked their cookies. I, on the other hand, had never met a Thin Mint or a Samoa I did not love.
Fuck. Now I wanted Girl Scout cookies, and it was forever until February.
“Jake said to give him time, so I’m giving him time. But I’m worried about him.” We were almost to the doors, so I pivoted to face them as we all came to an abrupt halt. “So, if you guys are keeping some other secret…or something you don’t want to tell me about him, I’d really like to hear it now and not in some note stuffed in my locker or a post online.”
I hadn’t been on Instagram in days, and I’d shut off the notifications on my other social media outlets. There were probably messages waiting. Fine. Let them wait.
I’d had enough of having their past rubbed in my face. I knew it happened.
“Let’s just say I don’t want another bite of the bad decision bagel.”
“Bad decision bagel?” Archie lifted his eyebrows.
“Our last summer,” Coop surmised, and I nodded.
“For what it’s worth, Frankie, I don’t know any secrets about Bubba that have anything to do with this. I think it’s all him. Now, that said, I haven’t seen or spoken to him since Saturday morning.”
Coop pursed his lips then scuffed a shoe.
“But apparently Coop has?” Archie’s tone held more of a question than a recrimination as he eyed him.
“Just give him some time, Frankie,” Coop said. “Okay? We should head in, they should be out of practice and getting changed.”
That was it.
When I didn’t move right away, he sighed. “I would do anything for you. But they’re my friends, too. If Archie or Jake tell me something and trust me with it, I’m going to keep my mouth shut the same way I do with stuff you tell me.”
“Except for the parts you decide everyone else needs to know.”
“When it comes to you being safe or any of them? Yes.”
Uh huh.
“Okay.”
Turning, I grabbed the door before one of them could and held it open. Archie had his own bag and the rest of the coffees, and Coop gave me a look as I just stared at him.
“Thank you,” he said with a wink, but I didn’t feel like smiling much. I lagged a little as we walked, turning over the whole situation in my head. The not knowing was making me nuts. I half wanted to start a fight with Coop over the fact he was keeping a secret.
But that would be the bitchy thing to do. Then again…not talking about how I felt and swallowing my aggravation got us into this mess. The harsh reality of dating all of them hit me as we walked into the cafeteria. I couldn’t talk to them about them.