The Space In Between (28 page)

The air grew thick. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do
with the information presented to me. I looked around the room for someone to
tell me what to do.
Tell me what to do!
I felt faintish. Yup, I was
about to pass out, and my legs were almost about to give up on me. That was
until I turned to see Daddy’s hand on my shoulder. I felt his love and support
running through his fingers.

“Go, Andie.”

I couldn’t. What would I say? What would I do?

“
Notting Hill.”
I turned to see my best friend
smiling towards me. A Ladasha pep talk was definitely needed. She always knew.
“You don’t have to prove yourself to him. Do what the girl in
Notting Hill
did.”

Eric kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“You mean in the movie when she said, ‘I’m just a girl standing in front of a
boy, asking him to love me.’” It was Ladasha’s knees that almost gave out now.
She’d met the one person who understood her wackiness and saw her and loved her
for exactly who she was.

I turned towards my mom, who rolled her eyes. “Oh for
Christ’s sake Anders. Go!” She handed me my purse, tossed me a pair of shoes,
and pushed me out of the door before slamming it in my face. The door reopened
and my mom held out an umbrella and jacket. “Make sure to use these. It’s wet
out there and I don’t want you to get a cold. You know me, I worry.” She winked
as I leaned in and kissed her cheek.

And I took off running.

I SAT IN front of Kyle wondering
what he was thinking. I’d just presented him with my idea, and he hadn’t spoken
a word.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

I nodded.

“And you want me to actually call these people? Listen, like
I said before—screw them, they don’t deserve to hear your story.”

“Yeah, they do,” I said.

“All right.” He shook his head as he went to his computer
and started to type away. “I must say though, I’m surprised. You really pulled
your shit together, my friend.”

I watched as the rain danced against the window, and I bit
my thumb. I felt a bit drained after spending the past few months with my mom,
but she was doing much better and told me to get back to my life. So I did.
Back in the public eye. Back to my so-called-life.

I stood up and stretched a bit. “I’m going to go get some air,
maybe grab some lunch. You want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good. But Cooper, this stuff right here.” Ky
tapped the packets in front of him. “This is good stuff. If there was anything
that could paint you in a good light, this would be it, buddy.”

As I stepped outside of the building, I allowed the water to
slap against my face. My hands slid into my pockets, and as my foot stepped off
the sidewalk, I heard the tires of a taxi come to a screeching stop seconds
before it hit me. Annoyed, I slammed the hood of the yellow vehicle and yelled
at the stupid-ass driver. “Jesus Christ! Watch where you’re going!!”

The driver rolled down his window and apologized. I didn’t
care; I began to continue walking until I heard the driver holler at me. “Coop?
Cooper, is that you?”

Turning back to look at him, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Jesus!”

He laughed and waved me over to the taxi. “Yeah, well, they
call me Joe on the streets. Get in.” I sat in the back of the taxi, amazed I
had just run into the one man who’d pretty much saved my life in the mental
hospital.

“So how you been doin'? I didn't think I would see you again
after we left the clinic,” he said. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t seem as
shocked to see me.

“I've been all right. What about you? You still saving
lives?”

“Nah, they put me on these meds that make me actually think
I'm human. The man's always trying to hold us down. Or I should say woman—my
wife puts the pills in my oatmeal.”

“Yeah. Well, I'm sure you make a great human.”I smirked.

“Did you ever find that girl?” he asked. He was the one who
told me I would meet someone other than Iris, and he was far from wrong.

“I did.”

“Yeah? And how did that work out?”

My head dropped to the ground. He noticed my look through
the rearview mirror and changed the subject.

“Where do you need to go?” he asked as he rounded the
corner.

I bit my lip. “I don’t know. You got a minute maybe? We
could get some lunch.”

I RUSHED DOWN the streets of
Manhattan, getting splashed by puddles, dodging cars, and trying to deal with
an umbrella that didn’t want to cooperate with me. Becoming frustrated, I
tossed the umbrella to the side and became drenched in the rain.

The moment I made it to the Williams Management building I
paused and took a deep breath. It was now or never, and I was ready.

As I busted into Kyle’s office, my heart dropped.

“How can I help—” Kyle looked up at me with confused eyes.

“Is Cooper Davidson here?”

“He just left…Wait a minute. You’re the girl. Holy shit,” he
whispered.

“Language,” I murmured, taking after my mom.

“No! You’re the girl! You’re the one from the magazines! The
strip club!” My cheeks flushed as I was reminded of the magazines. It wasn’t
the highlight of my life, and I was trying to forget it.

“Yes,” I said with a soft voice. “Where did he go?” I asked,
changing the subject.

“Lunch. You want me to call him?”

Please.
I nodded and took a seat in the chair across
from him. As he dialed, I felt sick. I knew calling wouldn’t do any good
because I felt the vibration of Cooper’s cell phone under my butt.

When Kyle saw it, he gave me the saddest look. Before he
could apologize and comfort me for the tears falling from my eyes, I shook my
head. “It’s fine.” As I turned to walk away, wiping my face, I looked back at
Kyle one last time, “And would it kill you to take Jasmine out on a date!”

He looked shocked. “What? Jasmine?” He looked down, and when
his eyes reappeared, he had a slick smile on his lips. “Do you think she would
be interested in me? I mean. Other than when we did…well…ya know.” He raised
his eyebrows and stuttered like a little boy who had his first crush.

A small grin slipped from my mouth as I told him to call
her.

AFTER RETURNING HOME, wet and
depressed, I let my family comfort me. “Did you try to call him?” Daddy asked.
I nodded and told them that he left his phone at the building.

“Well maybe…” Mom tried to give a bit of hope, but I wasn’t
interested. Maybe it was a sign we weren’t meant to be. Maybe it was too late
for the both of us.

Maybe it was time to move on.

I begged for everyone to stop talking about it and let it
go. They finally agreed.

We all got ready to head to the art gallery, and again
Ladasha told me how excited she was for it all. When we got there, I was
shocked to see the crowd around the building, including the paparazzi flashing
away outside. Ladasha told me it was a big deal, but I didn’t think the
paparazzi would be involved—and I was really hoping I would never see those
people again.

As we stepped inside to see a ton of fancy people in fancy
clothing, a loud cry escaped my lips as I looked around and saw large photos of
myself throughout the room. There were photos of me dancing down in South
Carolina on the tennis court. Pictures of me holding Freckles. Pictures of me
crying.

Some were in black and white, others with faded colors.

I was overwhelmed when I felt a tap on my shoulder and
turned to see Cooper standing before me. No words came to mind so I stood there
like an idiot.

“Has anyone showed you around?” he asked. I shook my head.
“May I?” He took my hand and walked me around. Feeling him touch me awakened my
soul; his touch alone gave my heart the jumpstart that I had been looking for.
His hair was longer, and he’d let his beard grow in a bit—he looked perfect. My
eyes started to fill with water as I kept looking to him.
My gosh, so
perfect.
He told me he was most attracted to the model in his photos
because she was flawed. She had emotion in everything she did. She danced when
she walked and sang when she talked.

He brought me over to the photo from South Carolina. He
leaned in closer to me, his lips touching the rim of my ear. His hot, sweet
breaths hit me as he spoke, “This is actually my favorite. See, during the
weekend of this shoot, unlike ever before, the dancer showed up. Not just
physically, but emotionally she was there. She was invested in this project.
She laughed, she welcomed me into her mind. She allowed me to see her. Of
course after that she tightened up a bit more and tried to run away, but that’s
another photo.” He snickered.

I turned to him and realized how much I had missed his
smile. His dimples. His laugh.

I found the strength to speak. “I'm so sorry. I just. I am
still messed up from Derrick and I really am trying my best to put myself back
together. I know I said some terrible things to you, and I started
thinking…What if something happened to you? What if you cheated on me? What if
you died? How could I handle that? But that was just me being…”

“Shut up.”

I was a bit taken back by him telling me to shut up, but I
had to make him understand where I was coming from. “I know you're probably
still upset…”

“I said shut up.” His southern accent was thick, and I knew
it was time for me to close my mouth. “I'm crazy about you, Andie. I’ve been
crazy about you since I was nine-years-old. I’ll be crazy about you when I’m
ninety. I'm crazy about everything I know about you. I'm crazy about everything
I plan to know.”

“Coop...” I whispered.

He shook his head at me and held up one of his index
fingers. “Over here is Chaos.” He held up his other index finger far apart from
the other. “And over here is Order. I'm not asking you to leap from one to the
other for me. I'm just asking that we meet somewhere around the space in
between the two. We never have to get married. We never have to say I do or
slow dance to a stupid first dance song. But I want you to know that
I do
.”
He took my hands into his and pulled me close to him as he continued.

“I do promise to give you all of me each and every day. I
can't promise you it won't be hard, and I can't promise you bad things won't
happen, but I do promise it will be worth it. I will give you all of me, the
good, the bad, and the broken parts because I know you make me better. You make
me whole again.”

I smiled as he wiped the falling tears from my eyes and I
bit my bottom lip. “I'm scared.”

He nodded in understanding. “Yeah. Me too.”

“But I would rather be scared with you than terrified by
myself.”

“We'll go slow. Maybe a coffee date.”

I smiled at his offer and added to it. “Maybe breakfast.”

“Maybe a soda pop or two,” he chimed in. As my face dropped
and I rolled my eyes, he quickly retracted his statement. “That was a joke. A
bad one, bad moment, bad timing. All right, erase it from your mind.” He ran
his hand across my cheek. “You're so beautiful.”

I laughed. “I'm not going to sleep with you, so you can stop
trying so hard.”

He grew serious in his demeanor. “I'm not looking for sex.”

“Yeah? And what are you looking for?”

He smiled and winked at me.

I looked near the art gallery window and noticed all of the
paparazzi cameras flashing away at the two of us. I said, “I really want to
kiss you, but it appears we have an audience.”

He smirked, placed his hand on my lower back, and pulled me
closer to him. I could feel his breath against my skin as he whispered, “Let’s
give them their damn picture and they’ll leave us alone.”

“Promise?”

“Nope.” He smiled as he pulled me into a deep, passionate
kiss. Everyone disappeared the instant his lips met mine. It was just me and
him in the moment, and no one, not even the paparazzi, could take that away
from us.