Out for the Night (Browerton University #4)(15)

Coop was surprising himself, too, because he wasn't pulling away. Feeling Matty's wet skin against his own, their hard nipples flicking against each other, and his raging boner against Coop's thigh was making his adrenaline pump out record levels. It also gave Coop a raging boner to match.

Coop held Matty close. He couldn't believe this was the same Matty that was glued to his textbooks and library chair. Matty ran his fingers down Coop's arm, his fingers tracing his tattoos. He shivered under the touch. But the soup of Coop's mind quickly congealed into one thought.



       
         
       
        

This is a job.

The only reason Coop was in this pool with his lips on Matty was because he was paid by Kelvin. He had forgotten about the job. He wanted to pretend it didn't exist. But money had been exchanged. This couldn't be undone.

He was supposed to hang out with Matty to throw him off his game, not lead him on. I didn't mean to. It just … happened. Coop didn't expect that this nerd who nerds would totally win him over-and then some. There was so much more to him. Matty was full of challenges and insecurities and passion and daring and humor, and Coop wanted to discover more.

He wished he could give back every cent Kelvin had paid him. He hated that he needed it, but he couldn't let his family down. This night had gone too far, way too far. No matter what Coop's heart and dick were saying, he had to stick to the assignment. Nothing more.

Matty didn't say anything when Coop pulled away. Coop's touch, while light, was definitive.

"I like you, as a friend," Coop said.

"Oh."

"I think it's the excitement, you know? The late night. The sneaking in. The swimming in our underpants. It clouded … " But Coop lost the energy to keep peddling his story. "I think we should just be friends."

It was lies on top of more lies for Coop tonight. As much as Coop didn't want to admit it, that was the foundation of their relationship.

"We should probably go, before we do get caught," Coop said.

Matty left the pool and went behind a planter to get dressed. Coop wondered if he would've been this shy had they kept kissing. Coop remained for an extra second, as he was still coming down from this high.

This is a job. Don't lose focus.

Coop slumped out of the water and put his dry clothes on over his wet underpants. It was like sitting in soggy cereal, and it seemed to fit the mood just right. He knocked on the opposite side of the planter to check if Matty was decent.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah." Matty was a stone wall again.

Coop was on his way to the fence, but Matty wasn't following.

"What are you doing?" Coop asked.

"I'm going to go through the front door."

"That's risky."

"I'll just say I was visiting a friend." Matty shot him a glare. "You can hop over the fence and go down the alley if you want. I'm not stopping you."

And Coop wasn't stopping Matty, who didn't wait for an answer. He waltzed into the complex. Coop took a step to join him, but pivoted back to the fence and alley route. He told himself that it was best to give Matty space, not that he was a little scared of going through the front entrance himself. 



Coop woke up to an empty room. Was it the day or still morning? He tried to remember what happened last night, and it was actually pretty easy. Since he'd barely drunk, there was nothing fuzzy about his memory.

It was one of those spring days that announced in big letters they had turned a corner and summer would be here imminently. Hope was alive in spring. He breathed in the warm air and listened to a pair of birds chirping in a nearby sapling. He wondered if Matty was back at the library already.

Rafe returned wrapped in a towel and holding his basket of toiletries.

"You're still here," Coop said.

"Yes. I live here." Rafe plunked his basket on his desk and rummaged for an outfit in his closet. His clothes were more tangled than the wires behind a television set. "You slept in."

"I'm not allowed to sleep late?" Coop unplugged his phone from the charger.

"It's almost one."

That it was. 12:53. Last night had really taken a lot out of him. All the walking, and other things.

"Did you eat lunch yet?" Coop's stomach rumbled just imagining the dining hall. Rafe got dressed behind the desk, whose hutch gave much-needed privacy in a shared room.

"No. I was going to head down."

"I'll join you." Coop stepped off his bed, right into a pair of soggy underpants. They sat atop a pile of the rest of his clothes from last night. He flashed back to swimming in the pool, before he ruined the moment. Demolished the moment.

Coop wiped his foot off on his bedspread. Rafe came around the desk wearing blue shorts and a white Browerton T-shirt, along with blue-and-white striped microsocks. He sat on his bed and put on his shoes.

"This is perfect, actually," Rafe said. "Us having lunch together."

"Why?"

"Because I met this guy at that party last night, that party where you ditched me by the way but I'm not mad just pointing out a fact. Anyway, we're going to have lunch in the dining hall, and I got a little drunk last night and can't remember if I find him cute or not. I need to see if it's the beer goggles."

Coop brushed his clothes from last night under the bed. He would deal with them later. "Why do you need me?"

"Well, if it was the beer goggles, at least I'll have you to talk with. If it's really bad, I may need you to fake an allergy attack so I can bring you to the infirmary."

Coop gave him a thumbs up. "That's what friends are for."



It was the beer goggles.

Not that the guy was supremely ugly. But his personality was practically non-existent. He said all of seven words at lunch so far, and they were almost done eating.

"So did you guys dance with any mannequins last night?" Coop asked Rafe and Mr. No Personality. He dug into his fried rice, as he realized he hadn't eaten in almost a day.

Rafe waited for his soulmate-of-the-week to answer.

Mr. No Personality gave a barely recognizable head shake-he could've been shaking a fly from his hair-and returned to eating his roast beef sandwich.

"Maybe next time." Coop wondered how thick the lenses were on Rafe's beer goggles.

"So what about you?" Rafe asked Coop. "Where did you abscond to last night?"

"Matty and I went to some other places."

"Hold the cordless phone. You and Matty? You mean, he didn't scurry back to the library as soon as he left?"

Coop shook his head no-a definite no. He gave Rafe a modified version of last night's events. They went to an open mic night, but Coop was never asked to perform. Coop showed him the pool, but they didn't sneak in, they didn't go swimming, and they definitely didn't kiss.



       
         
       
        

"Sounds like a fun night," Rafe said.

"I think Matty appreciated the adventure."

Rafe examined Coop like a piece of art. "You're smiling."

"And your point?"

"You were talking about Matty and smiling."

"I had a fun time as well."

"Like a date fun time?"

"It was an adventure. You never know where the night will take you." Coop was going to nod to Mr. No Personality, but he was gone. He had left the table unannounced and unnoticed. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Rafe said, trying to laugh it off. "It was not meant to be. Unlike you and Matty."

Coop rolled his eyes. He should've known mentioning a guy to Rafe would immediately set his friend off on the matchmaking warpath. Coop didn't tell Rafe that Matty came out to him-that wasn't his secret to tell-but the way Rafe was talking about him, he had his suspicions. Didn't straight bros hang out for hours at a time and go swimming together?

"We are just friends." Although Coop wasn't even sure that was true anymore.



Coop and Rafe went to the riverfront with towels and homework after lunch. Kids packed onto every inch of lawn, but they found a space in between a blanket of girls reading books and a blanket of guys listening to music and blatantly checking out said girls.

Coop and Rafe pretended to do homework for a few minutes. Five minutes of homework and an hour of talking and looking up videos and random stuff on their phones seemed like a healthy balance. Coop's phone timer buzzed at the five-minute mark.

Rafe threw his books behind them. "So what happened with you and Matty?" he asked like a star prosecutor.

"Why are you so curious?"

"Well, A of all, I'm pretty sure he's gay. I caught him mooning over you while you poured drinks. And B of all, two people don't go galavanting through Duncannon, Pennsylvania until three in the morning as friends."

"Nothing happened," Coop said through gritted teeth. He wasn't going to turn that kiss into gossip.

"Did you want something to happen?"

"No."

"Coop, I am your friend. It is okay to tell each other things."

"I tell you things."

Rafe shot him a look.

"Okay." Coop's insides crinkled like foil.

Rafe dropped his attitude and had his friend face on.

"He's a job."