Chapter 9

*HONK HONK* "Okay! Gimme a minute!" I grumble, pretending as Cooper could actually hear me from his car when I'm still inside the house. I'm running around my room, quickly spritzing myself with perfume and grabbing my belongings while Cooper honks his horn. He only arrived two minutes ago, and he won't stop honking at me. “Honey, your friend is here!" my mom screams from the kitchen like I'm not already aware of his presence. I clamber down the stairs and say a quick goodbye to my mom and head for the door. "Wait! Thea, am I ever going to meet your friend?" I sigh as I give a quick hug to my mom. "Eventually. I have to go, though. He's ten minutes late to pick me up," I say frantically as I yell 'love you' to my mom and Evie and head out the front door. I run out to Cooper's car and pull on the door handle, but the passenger door remains locked. I pull again, but Cooper still doesn't unlock the door. "Cooper," I say as I knock on the window to gain his attention. He rolls down the window and his eyes travel up and down me. Cooper opens up the driver's side door and comes around the car while mumbling incoherently. What the heck is he doing? We're late! "Cooper, we need to go! I don't want to keep them waiting!" I say, and when Cooper finally gets close enough so I can hear him, he is chanting 'no' over and over again. I scrunch my eyebrows and throw up my hands. "No, what?" He turns to face me and throws his hands up, gesturing to my outfit. "No to this outfit! Are you kidding me? Jeans and a t-shirt? No freaking way you're showing up to dinner in that. Go change.” I look down at my outfit, slightly offended at Cooper's obvious disapproval. I know it's not anything fancy, but I thought we were just going out to dinner. Cooper could read my sad expression and immediately his eyes softened. "Thea, I didn't mean to offend you. It's just... you really want to wear that to double date?" At his words, I feel my head back and my heart begins beating erratically. There's no way... This wasn't a date... I bite my lip hard as my mind runs wild with possibilities of how the night will go. They all consist of me embarrassing myself. "Thea, calm down! You have nothing to worry about. It's a double date so that you won't be so nervous. I'll be there the whole time. If you feel uncomfortable or want to leave at any time, we'll come up with an excuse and leave... okay?" His words calm me down slightly. Don't get me wrong, my heart is still beating erratically, but deep down I know that Cooper really does care. "Now, let's go inside and pick out a sexy outfit that will have Grayson basically cumming in his pants when he sees you.” "COOPER!" I say as I blush profusely and hit him in the shoulder with my purse. "OW! You still haven't gotten over your anger issues, have you?" he smirks and holds his shoulder, pretending to be injured. I roll my eyes and walk through the front door that my mom still hasn't locked. "Honey, is everything okay?" my mom asks, then freezes in place when she sees Cooper next to me. She wasn't expecting me to be friends with one hot guy, but a second? She must definitely be confused about where I'm finding my guy friends. "Oh, is this Cooper?" my mom smiles at me, then directs her gaze to him. Cooper nods. "Hi Ms. Brooks! Listen, I would love to stay and chat but we need to fix this outfit now, and we're already late. Got to go!" he says while already heading up the stairs. I follow Cooper, not allowing him to be in my room without me. Who knows what kinds of trouble he can cause. "No boys behind closed doors!" my mom screams. "I'm gay, Ms. Brooks!" Cooper screams back at her. I cover my face with my hands. I can't believe he just said that- to my mom! I can hear my mom chuckling from downstairs, so I know she found Cooper amusing. Thank god. When we reach the top of the stairs, I direct Cooper down the hall and into my room and he immediately opens my closet door and begins frantically searching my clothes. "No, no, may- no," he says, more to himself than to me. Finally, he comes across a chestnut brown lace dress that has been sitting in my closet for years. I had honestly forgotten about it until he took it out. "Here, wear this," he said as he threw the dress at me. I barely caught it before it fell to the ground. “Cooper, I can't wear this! The last time I wore this was in tenth grade. Before I hit puberty. I can't-" "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock," Cooper kept reciting over and over again, which stressed me out enough to go into the bathroom and quickly change. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I did look good, but it wasn't something I would usually wear. Maybe I should just change back into the jeans and tell Cooper I won't- I'm brought out of my thoughts as Cooper bangs on the bathroom door. "Come on out, Thea. I know you're dressed." I slowly open the door and step out, looking down at the floor while fiddling with my fingers. Cooper's eyebrows raise and a huge grin spreads across his face. "I knew there was a hot bod underneath all those layers you wear! Here, put these shoes on and we're ready to go." I choose to ignore Cooper's comment about my body and quickly put the beige strappy shoes on. I take a quick look in the mirror again, then I'm pulled down the stairs and past my mom who also has a shocked look on her face at my getup. She gives me the creepy mom smile once more, then tells me to have fun and not hurry home. Evie gives me a quick hug and tells me I look pretty, then she hides behind my mom when she sees Cooper. I'll give the two a proper introduction another day. The drive to the restaurant only takes 5 minutes, and before I know it Cooper parks his car. That's when the nerves kick in. I open the car door and nervously shuffle to the front door of the restaurant. Cooper gives me a smile before saying, "Don't be nervous, Thea. Grayson's gonna shit himself when he sees you." I don't believe Cooper for a second, but his words give me the small push I need to take a deep breath and walk into the restaurant behind him. He walks past the hostess and towards the back of the restaurant, and I follow him because he seems like he knows where he's going. Sure enough, he leads us to Grayson and Axel who stop talking as they hear our footsteps. Grayson looks so handsome with his hair styled to perfection. He's wearing a dark blue long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up matched with black slacks. A black and silver Rolex rests on his wrist, which makes me slightly nervous because I knew he had the fancy car, but the watch tells me that he has even more money than I originally thought. Will he treat me differently when he realizes that I don't have money? When Grayson stands up to greet me, I temporarily stop breathing because of the look he's giving me. His eyes travel up and down my body, and I feel as though I'm being studied very intensely. Normally an action like this would bother me and make me feel more than uncomfortable, but with Grayson, it's kind of... hot. "Jesus Christ," he mumbles before clearing his throat. "Thea, you look absolutely gorgeous." I give him a shy smile and tuck my hair behind my ear as I duck my head slightly. Grayson lifts my head up with his fingers, which I find him doing quite a lot in recent days. "You as well. I mean, not gorgeous. You look very, um, handsome" I finish, hoping that I can go die in a hole with how awkward I am. Grayson lightly chuckles, then slides down in the booth while motioning for me to sit next to him. I give a wide-eyed look to Cooper, who gives me a reassuring smile. I scoot down next to Grayson, adjusting myself multiple times until I'm comfortably seated all the while Grayson looks at me in amusement. I don't know what I'm doing that he finds funny.