I Won't Give Up (9 page)

“You look stunning.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. He whispered in my ear. “Thanks for doing this. He’s been insisting for a while and I swear I’ve kept him at bay for as long as I could. It will be painless I promise.”
I’d met him briefly a few times when I’d pick Cooper up and he seemed
really
nice.

“Let me put these in water quick then I’m ready to go.” I ran to kitchen and grabbed a vase putting the flowers in quickly. I’d arrange them later when we got home.

“I’m ready.” I said walking back up to Cooper.
We walked up to his dad’s car. H
e opened the passenger door and pushed the button so the seat would slide forward for me to climb into the back. I was expecting him to climb into the passengers seat since he was so tall but he climbed in next to me and shut the door.

“Nice to see
you
again
Mr. Kinley.” I said.

“Kurt please and you as well Fiona
.
Cooper talks about you all the time and I mean all he time
.”
I smirked at Cooper who turned bright red.

“All good I hope.”

“Of course.” He smirked in the rearview mirror. Cooper reached over and took my hand in his. I
glanced over at him,
this time he was beaming. He looked
adorable. We arrived at La Dolce Vita Bistro; which automatically put me in an even better mood, I loved Italian food. The valet came and opened the passenger door
.
Cooper climbed out then offered me his hand helping me out. We walked hand in hand into the restaurant, it seemed so natural
, I was going to let myself enjoy tonight and I’
d deal with the repercussions
of my heart later.
He needed me tonight.

We were seated in a quiet table at the back of the café. I
knew
where Cooper got his good looks from; his dad had the same dark hair and green eyes
, he looked on the younger side probably around the same age as my parents
. I wondered what his mom looked like.
I made a mental note to ask him to show me a picture some time.

Our fingers were still interlaced. He was rubbing my thumb reassuringly. I wasn’t really nervous but it felt nice, safe.

We ate our dinner and made conversation. I already knew he was a dentist but I learned about how he met Cooper’s mom and how
he was relentless in his pursuit to get her to dat
e him. Just like Cooper. He
said it was the best thing he’d ever did. His eyes got a little watery and it broke my heart. I couldn’t imagine losing the love of my life, that’s why I didn’t want one. Turns out she was a waitress near where he was attending med school, she had just graduated high school and he would go there every day and request one of her tables. He asked her out every day until she finally said yes. The rest was history. He proposed six months later, they were married exactly four weeks later and Cooper arrived ten months after that! I guess she’d had complications when delivering Cooper not allowing her to have any more children. They moved here for a fresh start, which I’d already known. Cooper was so sweet all night and I really liked his dad.

“Excuse me I’m going to run to the little boys room.” Kurt said.

“Your dad is really sweet.”

“Like father like son.” He grinned. Before I even realized what I was doing I leaned in and brushed my lips against his.
I quickly pulled away but h
e lifted our interlaced fingers and brushed my cheek
kissing me just once more. It was such a romantic gesture.

“Stay with me tonight. We won’t do anything I promise I
just need
to hold you tonight.”
I could feel his desperation, part of me was just as desperate.
Something just pulled us together, it was inescapable.

“I don’t have any clothes, plus shouldn’t you ask your dad first?”

“He didn’t mind the last time you stayed.
And you can wear one of my t-shirts again.
” He winked and I remembered running past him in just Cooper’s t-shirt. The thought made me blush. I nodded.

“Just as friends though.” I said sternly. He grinned like the Cheshire cat. When Kurt got back to the table he told him our plan, which he was totally fine with. I texted my mom and Luke letting them know I was staying out. We got in the car and headed back to his house.

“Um, do you kids need to make any um…stops before we get back to the house?”

“For what?” Cooper asked confused.

“Um…um… do you need any umbrellas?” He said blushing
, clearly embarrassed about something
.

“
Dad w
hat the hell are you talking about?” Cooper laughed.

“Condoms.
Do you need condoms?” Kurt stammered
. I slouched down mortified. Cooper burst out laughing.
Awkward!
His laughter was contagious and I giggled too.

“No dad we don’t do that but thanks for the offer.”
I secretly wondered what it would be like if we did. The thought made me flush.
I bet it would be amazing. I missed that connection, I’d only ever been with Jack but the feeling of being one with the person you loved was like nothing in the world.

When we arrived at Cooper’s his dad
who was
clearly still embarrassed walked ahead of us into the house. I followed Cooper up to his room.
I took my jacket off and
he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it onto the bed. I picked it up and walked back over to him.
I ogled his chest, especially his abs and that V by his hips, I wondered how sexy it would look while he was thrusting… I forced myself to look away before I threw myself at him like some horny rabbit.

“Can you
untie me?” I asked. He untied my dress
deftly. “Turn around.” I ordered giggling
.
I let the dress fall to the ground and put on his button up. “I’m decent.”

“I’d say you’re very indecent, you’re killing me here.” He teased. He was down to his boxers.
Yum.
I pulled his hand and led him into the bathroom where we brushed our teeth side by side. He’d kept my toothbrush from the first night I’d stayed. He came up behind me a nestled his nose in my hair.

“Creep.” I teased. “Let’s go to bed. I’m exhausted.”  

We climbed into bed and I laid my head on his chest and put my leg over his listening to his heart. He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me closer.

“Hey can I see a picture of your mom?” I asked shyly hoping I wasn’t going to upset him.

“Sure.” He reached over to the bedside table and pulled out a small black leather photo album and handed it to me. I looked through each picture. She was beautiful, stunningly so. I looked through the pictures of them at the beach, Disney, pumpkin picking, school dances her smile looked like it could light up a room. I didn’t realize that I’d started crying until Cooper ran his fingertips over my cheek.

“I’m so sorry Cooper.” I said getting my emotions under check. I handed him back the album. I laid back down on him wrapping one arm around his chest needing to hold him. I leaned up and chastely kissed him on the lips.

“Don’t be sad Fiona. Just you being here makes me feel better
,
so thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep. When we woke up the next morning he was already showered and dressed.
He brought me breakfast in bed. A cup of coffee, some fruit salad and toast with butter and jelly.

“Um don’t get super pissed but my dad left for work already so we’re going to have to take my bike to your house.”

“Okay.” I said shrugging my shoulders I didn’t want to tell him after he begged me to go for a quick ride that I actually enjoyed it. I went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of his boxer’s rolling them up like shorts before putting my boots back on and following him down the stairs into the garage. He handed me a helmet
, he said it was an extra but I think he bought it just so I would ride with him from time to time, we got on
the bike
and headed
to my house. When we pulled into my driveway he shut the bike off.

“Thanks for last night.” He said sincerely.

“
You don’t need to keep thanking me Cooper
.”

“I’ll wait here. We can race to school.” He laughed and I jabbed him lightly in the ribs.

“You can come in.” He climbed off the bike and followed me inside. We went into my room. “I’m gonna shower quick.” I showered and dried my hair before walking into my room in my towel telling him to turn around. I threw on a pair of black skinny jeans and a tight grey shirt with silver angel wings on the back and a pair of knee high black leather boots.
I grabbed a sweater and grabbed the small gift box I’d picked up a few days ago. I walked over to him wrapping my hands over his eyes.
“Turn around.” I whispered. When he turned I removed my hands and placed the box in his hand.

“What’s this?”

“Just open it.” I watched him carefully peel back the paper. I’d found a mini version of his bike and added a note thanking him for taking me out.

“This is so cool.” He said looking it over. “It looks just like mine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Ready to go?” He nodded and took my hand following me to the kitchen where I grabbed my keys. He handed me
my
helmet and I put it in the trunk.

“Start at the end of the driveway?” I teased. He nodded and laughed. We lined up and took off heading towards school. It was close but he was able to go around cars easier so he won and I knew I wasn’t going to live it down. Casey was looking at me curiously when she saw us. I just smiled. The morning flew by. Cooper
came up to me at lunch.

“Hey C
rash.” He said smiling
his sexy smile
.

“Cooper.”
I smiled slightly back.
When we were alone there wasn’t much awkwardness but here it just felt different, like everyone was staring.

“Where are we doing dinner tonight?” Shit, it was Wednesday and they had turned into our “un-date-date nights” where he pretended it was a date and I spent the entire time trying to convince him otherwise.

“Chucks?” I was in the mood for barbeque.

“Sure. You’ll pick me up at the regular time?”
I always drove since
I had the car.
H
e
liked to take his bike
said I was the only one he would ever take on the back, it made me feel special but still I felt safer surrounded by metal.

“Yep. See you at six.” The
rest of the day flew by quickly.
I went home and did my homework
and cleaned up my room a little,
I still had a while before I ha
d to leave and pick Cooper up.
I
laid
d
o
wn on my bed and began to think. I wanted to know if I could do a relationship with him.
I had an idea that would maybe help
me figure out where this un-relationship was headed, it
would change everything
.

He was sitting on the steps of his front porch when I pulled up.

“You wanna drive tonight?” I asked
tossing him the keys
.

“Really?”
His whole face lit up.
He’d been salivating to drive for a while now.

“Yeah
,
I was
actually thinking maybe we could
h
ead somewhere
out of town
tonight
and ditch tomorrow
?”

“What did you have in mind?”
He raised an eyebrow.

“Honestly I have no idea, I guess wherever the road takes us.
Go pack.
” Both of broke out laughing.

“Alright let me just grab a bag quick.” He was back in
less than
five minutes with a small duffel in t
ow. He tossed
it in the back
and climbed into
the driver’s side. We drove
about three hours away before we ended up somewhere near Levittville, which was some rinky-dink town in the middle of nowhere.
It
had a little drive-in theater so we decided that would be our first stop, we pulled in and there was only one other car there besides us. We
, well he,
watched some horror movie that I
didn’t really see
too much because I was too busy overthinking
my plan
.
Could I go through with it?

“Where to now?”
He asked
enthusiastically
when the movie ended
.

I liked how he always let me take things at my pace or did what I wanted to do even if it was something that clearly he didn’t
want to
. H
e would do it and make it special.