Were they even making eating a contest?
“So,” Frankie said. “What are we doing after planning and homework?”
All the things I’d like to do required the guys getting the hell out of here, so I settled for, “It’s your party. Whatever you want to do.”
The moment her eyes lit up, I knew I was screwed.
“Mini golf?”
Coop laughed, and then Jake did, and even Bubba cracked up.
Yeah. For that smile? “Sure,” I said. “Mini golf it is. But we’ve got ice cream cake, too.”
“Yes!” She clapped her hands and then flipped open her notebook. “Who’s going first?”
It took us all of fifteen minutes to nail down the schedule for the week—Frankie would still go over to Bubba’s on Tuesday for Calculus and whatever, but she said she would drive herself. Ouch, slapped by a simple comment, and Bubba knew it.
Wednesday she had work, but Thursday we had all day. “That’s Coop’s call,” she said. “It’s his birthday.”
So we all looked at him. When he left tonight, he was taking a sedan with him. The insurance was ready to go, and Jeremy had added him to the coverage. It could come out of my allowance until Coop could afford to pay for it. No one brought it up to Frankie. It was going to be Coop’s surprise.
My part in it was not for public consumption. We all had pride. The look on his face when I told him earlier to just say he managed to get it for his birthday had been worth it.
Maybe I could give it to him outright. That would really even the playing field.
“Nothing like being on the spot to go absolutely blank,” Coop admitted. “But we could drive up toward Arlington. Go to Six Flags for the day.”
We could. It was a hike. Lots of rides.
“Then back here later,” Coop said with a quick look at me, then the others. “I’d kind of like to just take Frankie out for dinner.”
“Damn, thrown over for a chick,” Jake drawled. “But since that chick is Frankie…” He laughed when she threw a chip at him.
“We’ll play it by ear, but yeah, your birthday,” I said. “Friday is the game, and Frankie’s with me…”
It was funny, we were doing homework planning in this mess, but we also made sure we could account for dating time. I’d bet even dollars that Jake would be at Frankie’s after work on Wednesday, especially if her mom was still out of town.
I’d get us a hotel for Friday if I had to. The more we kept her away from them, the better.
“Are we good on projects, since all we’re doing is date planning?”
“Damn,” Coop said, clutching his chest. “She’s caught on to our cunning plan.”
“It wasn’t much of a plan,” Bubba said drily.
“Or that cunning,” Frankie teased. “But I do want to talk college.”
You know what… “So do I, applications open on Friday.”
For everyone planning on early admission, the sooner we got them in, the better. That scholarship put Frankie over the moon, but I wanted to put Frankie in Harvard, thousands of miles from her mother and the bitches at school.
Not to mention, whichever asshole vandalized her car. College was a first step in that plan.
“Yeah, I’m ready to record that audition tomorrow,” Bubba said, focusing on Frankie. “If you’re still willing to help.”
Audition?
Frankie’s smile grew. “Of course, I’ll help.”