Me & Timothy Cooper (9 page)

I moved to the side of the pool and placed my good foot on the step. His eyes grew huge. I hauled myself up one level. I then shuffled my weight to climb the next step and rose yet again.

I swear he was panting now. The evil little voice told me to keep going. I climbed another step and another and another, until sopping wet, water slithering over my curves I stood right at his feet.

He threw a hand to his chest. “I’ve died,” he said.

I wrinkled my brow. That wasn’t the reaction I wanted.

He slid to the end of the chair and gazed up at me from below. “
I’ve died because this can’t be Taylor
Lawton
standing in a swimsuit at the edge of my pool.”

I smiled. “But it is.”

He’d called me
Taylor, which must mean something. He soon proved that it did. He stood to his feet and taking hold of my face, kissed me. His hands stuck to my skin, my skin stuck to his chest, and we stood there, not caring about anything in the world but each other.

He pulled away, and it took me a minute for my head to clear. I then glanced back at the pool. “Seeing as I didn’t scare you off,” I said, “You
wanna
swim?”

I pulled him toward the pool
,
a goofy grin
all over
his face.

CHAPTER 11

“I don’t want to go home.” Taylor wedged herself tighter in Tim’s arms. He sighed. Sunday
already,
and their week together was finished. Her parents had called. They’d be home in an hour.

Waking up in the morning with her not
there would drive him cuckoo. B
ut all the promises of phone calls and texts and visits didn’t help. Not for him. Not for her.
She had to go home, and t
hey’
d simply have to get over it.

He kissed the top of her head. “I know.”

She encircled his waist with her arms
,
and a sob tore from her throat.

Oh gees. Crying
?

He attempted to comfort her, patting her back, but her tears only worsened. Putting her in the car for the drive to her house was like walking the plank. Yet one foot before the other, he nudged her that direction.
The car roared to life, and she glued herself to his side. Laying one arm over her shoulders, he backed out of the drive.
Neither one spoke a word as they drove, and once they arrived, neither one made any effort to climb out.

A car was in the driveway, a blue Ford Focus.

“We should get out,” he said.

But she sniffled and snuggled tighter. “No. I’m running away.” Her voice was petulant, bratty.

He chuckled. “Running away, huh? And how do I fit into this?”

“You’re coming with me.” She curved an arm over his chest.

“Where are we going?”

She toyed with his shirt.
“Somewhere tropical where I can wear a swimsuit all day.”

He laughed then. He wouldn’t mind that a bit,
nevermind
he’d get no sleep at night.

She tipped back her head. “Kiss me.”

He glanced toward the house. Surely, they were seen by now. “What if your parents are watching?”

She pursed her lips. “They are. But kiss me anyway. Then I’ll introduce you and it’ll be all right.”

He brushed his lips over hers and drew away. “How was that?”

“Cheap,” she said.

A hand shifted the curtain back into place, and he smiled. “We have viewers. I’m afraid that’s all you get.” He opened the door and pulled her out, then reached for her bag. She limped along behind him up the long concrete walkway to the front door.

He
took her key and unlocked the door
.
She
then preceded
him into a small foyer.
Her father
stood there
smiling.

“Taylor,” he said.

“Daddy
, this is Timothy Cooper.”

Her father crossed his arms. “Mr. Cooper, it’s good to meet you.”

“And you, sir,” Tim said.

Backing up in the entrance, her father gestured them inside. He turned his back briefly as they walked through the foyer and into the living room. A woman looking remarkably like Taylor stood before the couch.

“Mama, this is Timothy Cooper,” Taylor said.

The woman stepped forward and took his hand. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

“
It was no problem,” he said.

Her mother’s
gaze
traveled down to their clasped hands. “Tell me, Timothy,” she said, “what are your intentions with our daughter?”

He held back a smile. Maybe Taylor’s inquisitiveness came from her mother.
Or maybe he was on the hot seat.

“Mama,” Taylor
whined.

He squeezed her hand. “No, it’s all right. They should ask.” He set her bag on the floor.

“Ma’am … Sir,” he said, “I intend to date your daughter. She’s …” He glanced down at her, “So beautiful inside and out.
I’d like to do so with your permission.”

His nerves pulled ti
ght as they stood there
. Taylor’s hands became damp, and his grip slipped.

“I think that will be just fine,” her father said. “Any young man who will take care of her as you did
has to be good.” He crossed the room and stopped in front of Taylor. “Poppet, we’re sorry for leaving you alone like that. We …” He glanced back at his wife, “We won’t do it again.”

She extracted her hand from Tim’s and hugged her father. “
It’s
okay, Daddy. I know you didn’t mean any harm. Besides, if you hadn’t then Tim would never have spoken to me.”

Her father smiled. “Tim would have been a fool. Now,” he looked straight at Tim. “Tell me about this car of yours …”

***

I had my paper ready. I worked on it until well after midnight, my thoughts falling over each other to get out, then I put it inside my English book and went to sleep. The next morning, I dressed carefully. After all, I was dating Timothy Cooper. And fairly flew out of the house into his arms when he picked me up.

“It’s been hours and hours,” I gushed.

He
laughed as he always did
and
kissed my head. “I know. G
et in.”

We drove to school talking about inconsequential things, and he walked me to class, though now he didn’t have to. He showed up again after first period and every class after that.

Lisa
Maiton
said I was lucky because she’d never seen a guy so devoted. I liked that he was devoted.

When Mrs. Walker’s class finally rolled around, I was
already
looking ahead to the afternoon. Mom and Dad said it was okay if I went to Tim’s house until Dad got off work. It saved Mom the gas picking me up from school, and it gave us time together.

Tim said we might plan out
our upcoming
Spring Break.

So my head was completely in the clouds when Mrs. Walker made her announcement.

“Class, I have decided we might read a few of the reports out loud.”

My throat clogged. Read? Out loud? Oh no. I glanced at Tim, who simply smiled.

“I have picked names at random. These are the students who will participate.” She picked up a piece of paper. “Mark S
mith
.” A groan erupted from the second seat, first row. “Barbara Davidson.” Barbara actually cheered, which was like her.
“And Taylor
Lawton
.”

No. No. No. No. I could not. I would not read my paper out loud to this class. I’d worked hard at it; I was proud of what I’d written, but it was … was … personal. Only Mrs. Walker was supposed to read it.

My eyes burned, but I refused to cry. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t.
I also wouldn’t look at Tim again. That’d only make me nervous.

Mark S
mith
went first. His paper was on Susan Fenton, and it actually was
kinda
funny. Susan Fenton even laughed, which was good because he mostly poked fun at her. Barbara’s paper, on the
other hand, was more boring than
spit. She’d been given Jose
Jimendez
, and she’d written it so clinical. Half the class was asleep by the time she was done.

Then Mrs. Walker looked at me, and I knew my time was up. I dragged myself from the desk and down the aisle. I accidently bumped Lisa
Maiton
on the
way and stopped to apologize. When I looked at her, h
er face told it all. She was thinking what everyone else in the class was thinking.

This i
s
gonna
be good.

They thought it would be all mushy and gushy about how wonderful Tim was. And I did feel that way.
About how I’d fallen in love with him.
And I had. I could just hear their remarks in my head.

But they were way wrong.

The paper shook in my fingers as I stood there. I scanned across the classroom, all eyes on my face, and ended up looking right where I needed to.
At Tim.
His blue eyes pierced into my heart, and I knew this was right.

I cleared my throat. I didn’t really need the paper to read. My thoughts were memorized by now, as much a part of me as my next breath, so it was gazing at Tim that I began.

“When asked to write about Timothy Cooper, I couldn’t believe my luck. Timothy Cooper is, after all, a very popular person, and I figured this would be easy. But you know, t
hey say nothing is as it seems.”

“What would I put into a novel about Timothy Cooper? I think everyone in the class knows the answer to that.”

There were snickers across the room.

“So perhaps the better question is what would I change? Not what you think. You see, Timothy Cooper’s dad is never home. For three years now he’s been in Afghanistan. They only talk to him
on
Skype or
by phone. He’s given only a couple days at home on
holidays now and then. The first thing I would change is I’d bring his father home.”

Tim’s face straightened. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Nobody needs to live without their father. Mine took off on me before I was born, but I was blessed to have another man step in to fill his place. And I love my dad, despite all his faults and flaws. But Timothy’s dad is doing a service for all of us. He’s out there risking his life so that Tim and I can
be together, so that Lisa
Mait
on
can throw paper at Mrs. Walker’s
butt
.”

There were smiles all around at that.

“So that Felix Henderson can play video games from dawn to dusk.”
Felix gave me
a thumbs
up.

“So that Tim can drive a nice car, live in a nice house, and swim in a nice pool. And that is far more valuable than anything else. But that’s not all I would change.”

The room was extremely quiet, the only noise the purr of the air conditioner units
situated right
outside.

“I would bring his little brother back.
You see, while Tim’s dad was away, fighting for all of us, hi
s brother died. Just like that and
he didn’t get to see him again, to hold him, to tell him how much he loved him. He was only able to attend his funeral and go back to work. That left Tim and his mom here to deal with their grief, and even after all these years, the pain is still fresh.”

Tears slipped down Tim’s cheeks unchecked. I kept going.

“I slept in his room, Justin Cooper. I lay in his bed. I handled his things. I felt like I was intruding, being where I should not. Except then I realized I was given the best thing, the very thing Justin would have wanted his brother to have.
Love.”

“They loved him,” I continued, “and that will never end. Ten years from now, twenty years from now, they’ll still love a ten-year-old boy who was a part of their lives. He’ll never really be gone because he lives on in his family. And now, he lives on in me
. B
ecause
more than anything else I know,
just like Justin,
I love Timothy Cooper.”

The class sat silent, the girls dabbing at their eyes. I turned about and handed Mrs. Walker my paper. She was crying too. She took it with a nod, her hand trembling. And I returned to my seat. Then Tim stretched his hand across the aisle and took mine. He lifted it to his lips and kissed it.

“Taylor
Lawton
,” he said.

The class swiveled their heads.