I guess the question played out on my face, because she clarified, “When you told him that you thought I was...” she lowered her voice and flushed a sweet shade of pink to continue, “so pretty.”
A faint recollection of a long ago conversation with Coop played out in my mind. The previous spring, during Junior year while we were “dating”, he and I were at his locker together. I’d noticed Becca sneaking looks at Cooper from across the hall, and mentioned it to him. What she didn’t know is that my words were something more along the lines of, “Wow. Becca Bradley is actually so pretty. It’s a shame that people don’t notice that more.” But I was hoping that Cooper had left that second part off.
I smiled at her and answered, “Well, you are!”
Her blush deepened as she smiled out, “Thank you.” I held the bowl of chips in her direction, but she waved it away. See what I mean about how girly she was? I mean, who the heck only eats one chip?
I crammed a few in my mouth and was chomping away as she added, “Coop said that was the first time he’d ever really noticed me, because of what you said. He said that he never had the nerve to ask me out until Heather and I showed up to Rymer’s grad party the other night.”
My first thought was that Coop was so tied up in my BS and that’s why he hadn’t asked her out until then. But then I realized she wasn’t trying to thank me for the compliment, but for the fact that she and Coop had finally gotten together, however indirectly, because of me. Wasn’t I the one who insisted Heather and she go to Rymer’s? Would they have ever shown up on their own to one of our parties otherwise? The honest answer was no. Only because, in the four years we’d gone to school together, that was the first appearance those two girls had ever made within our social stratosphere. I didn’t want to throw my arm out patting myself on the back or anything, because truth be told, I wasn’t the only one who deserved credit. When I connected the dots from Becca and Heather to me, there was still one degree of separation between us.
“You know,” I started, nodding my head in the direction of the table, “the person you should really be thanking is Trip. I wouldn’t have even met you girls if it weren’t for him.”
We both watched as Trip got to his feet, aimed an elbow at Cooper and yelled “Consume! Consume!” at the top of his lungs.
I shot a look at my new friend. “As you can see, clearly this is a man entirely capable of masterminding your fate.”
That made us both crack up. I grabbed my beer can and held it out to hers, she tapped her drink against mine and we both took a swig.
Chapter 29 AFTER DARK, MY SWEET
I spent the bulk of my night hanging with Becca and Heather, seeing as “our men” were preoccupied with their drinking games all night. After Quarters came Beer Pong, and then Coop broke out a deck of cards to play Asshole. I talked the girls into joining in, and after explaining the game rules, Heather proceeded to kick each and every one of our butts.
Lisa and Pick had been anti-social all night, spending most of their evening out on the porch arguing, which wasn’t normally their style. I wondered what was going on. By midnight, they were totally MIA anyway, and I figured they must have decided to turn in. I couldn’t very well blame them for sneaking off to bed so early. We were all still trying to catch up on our shuteye since the allnighter after graduation.
By the time Rymer slurringly suggested that we play Strip Poker, I decided it was time to turn in, too. We’d been drinking since dinnertime, and even at my nursing pace, I was definitely feeling a little buzzed. Whatever snacks we had in the house had long since been demolished, our dinner sandwiches a distant memory, leaving no absorption in my stomach for all that beer.
The guys were flat-out drunk, singing along to “Comfortably Numb” when I stood up to take my leave. I gave a stretching yawn, apologized for being the turd in the punch bowl and went upstairs. I brushed my teeth and started to head into my room, but my feet had other ideas, succumbing to the tractor beam of Trip’s room instead.
All the bedrooms had window fans, but they didn’t serve as much defense against the day’s blazing heat. The only areas that had air-conditioning were the kitchen and the living room, and after spending the past few hours downstairs, the warmth on the second floor was almost unbearable. I slipped under the sheets anyway, seeing as I was wearing only my bra and panties. Even though I was executing a pretty bold plan for Trip to find me undressed in his bed, I still wanted to maintain some semblance of mystery.
Whether the party broke up within minutes of my departure or Trip realized there might be a chance for an even better party upstairs, I have no idea. But I had just barely settled myself into his bed when I heard his footsteps coming up the stairwell.