“Do you remember this?” he called.
I did. When Coop made that gesture as a kid, he had automatically transformed into CAPTAIN STICKMAN! Captain Stickman was a friend to all humans and animals. His special power was, well, that he had a stick. But! The stick could be used as a sword, a walking stick, a flag to claim territory, or a wand that could turn anything into anything.
“CAPTAIN STICKMAN!” I yelled, laughing. “But you’re missing your stick!”
I reached over the rock and searched for a piece of driftwood in the water. All I could find was a beer can. I tossed it at Coop; it fell egregiously short.
Coop got on his belly and fished it out. “CAPTAIN STICKMAN!” he yelled, his voice echoing off the falls.
I joined in with a fake announcer voice, as I had done when we were kids. “A FRIEND TO ALL HUMANS AND ANIMALS!”
“A FRIEND TO ALL HUMANS AND ANIMALS, INCLUDING SAMMIE MCCOY!” he yelled.
I smiled at him. He smashed the beer can between his hands.
“IS THIS INDEED CORRECT?” he asked, pointing at me with the smashed can. “I AM SORRY FOR BEING AN ASSHOLE. ARE WE FRIENDS AGAIN?”
“Yes,” I said. “Of course.” I didn’t really know what that meant, especially now. Minus shooting the shit at the Potholes, I didn’t really know what Coop and I would do together. Still, he looked more like my friend than ever, out of breath, and hair all over his face, excited for no reason.
“YOU MUST YELL IT TO MAKE IT SO,” he said.
I cupped my hands around my mouth. “CAPTAIN STICKMAN IS A FRIEND TO ALL HUMANS AND ANIMALS, INCLUDING SAMMIE MCCOY.”
Captain Stickman once again raised his fist to the sky, and then leapt back to my rock, turning back into Coop.
We got into the Blazer. We talked about the time Captain Stickman had gotten too ambitious about his ability to land on his feet after jumping from a tree, and broke his leg. Then, because crutches were an ideal sticklike tool, Captain Stickman again overstepped his abilities and broke the other leg. We were cracking up by the time we pulled into my driveway.
“Hang on,” Coop said when I unbuckled. He kept his eyes on my house as he said, “There was a time for me, too.”
“For what?” I asked.
“That I thought we weren’t friends anymore. I mean, it was kind of my fault. But. Do you know what I’m talking about?” He looked at me, clutching the steering wheel.
I thought back. “That time I corrected you in Spanish in front of everyone?”
“No, before that.”
I thought of middle school. “When I didn’t believe you that you were allergic to bees?”
Coop laughed a little. “Nope.”
“Tell me.”
“When…” he started, and cleared his throat. “The summer after eighth grade, when I called you. And I asked you to go to Molly’s to eat dinner with me. On, like, a Friday night. And I told you I would pay for it with my allowance. And you said… Are you remembering this?”
“Oh!” I remembered. Kind of. I remember he was acting weird on the phone, and a couple of weeks after that he avoided me, but then the whole thing kind of blew over. “I thought you were just scheming something, like a prank or something. And I thought you were mad because I didn’t want to come.”
“I wasn’t mad, Sammie.” Coop looked back at my house. “But my feelings were hurt.” He cleared his throat again. “My widdle feewings. Eighth-grade feelings,” he added. “Ha-ha.”
“Oh!” I said again, and got out, leaning on the open door. I thought I knew what Coop was saying, but I wasn’t sure, so I said, “Well, damn, Coop. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, laughing it off. “It’s fine. I was just remembering that. Trip down memory lane.”
Mom had opened our front door, waiting.
“See you soon?” I asked, because we were both uncomfortable.
“See you soon,” he answered.
OOOOOOHHHHHH
Oh. Coop had been asking me on a date! Oh my god, that’s adorable. If only you could have seen what Coop was like then. The kid wore a different color sweat suit every day of the week. Like, he was that guy. The guy who wears sweat suits. As we all were. I mean, but Coop grew out of it ha ha ha and I did not. But anyway, I had no idea. I’ll tease him for it later.
Or maybe I won’t tease him. I don’t like the idea of making him embarrassed. I don’t like seeing him, you know, hurt.
But between you and me, that is so funny. I didn’t know he could have ever had those kinds of feelings for me. Probably because I was the only person with a vagina that talked to him on a regular basis. As National Geographic tells us, those kinds of feelings develop when you put two heterosexual people who aren’t related to each other in the same room, and Coop and I were in the same room a lot.
Then he went into the same room with a lot of other vaginas and got over it.