Christine sat across from Coop in their booth at the diner. The one their family used to sit in when he was a kid. On Saturdays the kids and their father would take their mother out for breakfast.
Meaning Jack took them all out, but it was supposed to be them showing their appreciation for her cooking for them all week. After their mother died, Jack didn't have the heart to keep up the tradition.
Christine was seven years older than Coop, when their mother died she was a fourteen-year-old girl. After they grieved, she started spending her Saturday mornings going shopping with her friends or working.
Coop would sleep over at his grandparents' house on some Friday nights, mostly nights Danielle's parents allowed her to stay over as well. At least until they turned twelve, their parents sat them down and told them that they could no longer have sleepovers.
It had taken Coop asking Christine to find out the reason why. The kids hadn't been able to look at each other upon finding out.
It had been quite a few years since the two of them had set foot in the diner. Before he'd left they made it a point to eat here on mothers day and their mothers birthday. As they waited for their food, they both took in the place, remembering happier times, neither one talking.
Coop suddenly smiled, a chuckle escaping his lips. "Do you remember that time after mom's first diagnosis, we came here for dinner?"
She thought solemnly for a moment, then her eyes lit up, mouth opening. "Oh! When that waitress dumped mountain dew in your lap? We felt so bad for you, but the look on your face, me and dad couldn't help but laugh.
"You looked like you were gonna cry. Mom didn't say anything, she just covered her mouth with her hands."
Coop nodded, both of them began chuckling "I felt better for a second because I figured at least one of you was mortified for me."
Christine nodded back. "When she snorted, dad and I lost it. She was trying to console you while she was crying from laughing. She had to run to the bathroom to grab tissues for her cause she used all the napkins drying you."
Coop blinked hard. "Dad put his arm around me, and he hugged me to his side, and he said, 'Thanks kiddo.' I said 'Why?'"
He had to stop from the rush of emotions. Christine finished the sentence for him. "Because you made your mom smile. And then you weren't upset anymore."
They both shared a moment thinking about the past. Finally Coop straightened up and looked at his sister. "I know I'm just your pest of a brother, but I'm glad you're my big sister."
Christine smiled, a few years ago she would have rolled her eyes. "I love you too runt!"
Coop raised his eyebrows "Runt? I'm surprised your feet could reach the pedals to drive us here."
Realistically she was only three inches shorter than him. But all that mattered when it came to sibling contests was the percentages. If he was five percent taller, he was a giant. If she was five percent smarter, she was a genius.
Christine took a sip of her orange juice while they waited for their food. "So how was it with grandma and grandpa last night?"
Coop shrugged. "Good, I brought them some souvenirs."
Christine perked up at that. "And what did you bring for me?"
"I brought you a kimono, it's a--"
She interrupted. "I know what it is dork. I, unlike you, know something about fashion."
Coop smiled a sickly-sweet smile. "And there's the sweet girl I know and love. It's in the back of Danielle's SUV, I didn't have the energy to unload it all last night."
A devilish grin passed across her face. "And what pray tell caused you to expend so much energy?" She pursed her lips, teasingly.
"Absolutely nothing, I was just jet-lagged."
Christine made a pouty face. "I figured that would be expecting too much. As if you'd make any progress on your first day back."
Coop leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper. "There is no progress to be made, if you've forgotten that was the whole reason I left."
She raised her hands. "Whatever you say, but I've watched enough dramas and read enough YA novels to know when two people are crazy about each other. I have no doubt that thing's will get hot and steamy before I put on my wedding dress."
Coop tilted his head, squinting one eye while he debated whether to tell his sister. In the end he couldn't resist the urge to mess with her. "I mean, she did see me naked last night."
He smirked, not making eye contact. Christine didn't say anything, causing him to frown. He turned to look at her, and the look on her face was terrifying. Her mouth was agape, and her cheeks were high, a twinkle in her eyes. Honestly he thought he might have broken her. She leaned over the table, looking back and forth between him and the rest of the diner.
Speaking in a livid but hushed tone "How in the hell did she see you naked between the airport and our house? I thought you guys only went…"
She stopped talking and gave him a look of disgust. "Our grandparents house? You did not show your junk to Danielle in our father's childhood home!"
Coop leaned over the table as well. "It wasn't my fault, I was taking a shower after my flight. There weren't any towels in the bathroom, so I was gonna run out and check the hallway closet. She was leaving a towel out for me and well, I kind of..." He motioned running into something.
Christine started taking in shallow quick breaths. Saying a little too loud. "Did you run dick first into your crush?" At that moment the server arrived with their food, both of them awkwardly smiled and said thanks.
After they left Coop made a lowering motion with his hands. "For your information she fell backwards before I made contact."
Christine fanned herself, closing her eyes and giggling without making any noise. She collected herself then both started on their food. "So, you've one-hundred percent given up on being with her?"
Coop stopped moving his fork. "Why would I ask a girl to go out with me after she ripped my heart out?"
Christine made a questioning gesture. "But her being harsh, wasn't that all because of her parents' divorce?"
Coop really didn't want to talk about this, but his sister was the type who nagged until she got what she wanted. "Harsh doesn't begin to cover it. Regardless of what was happening at home, if a girl hears a boy tell her he likes her and that makes her day worse, then at best she's conflicted and at worst she's offended." Coop went back to eating.
Christine held up her hands. "People with conflicted feelings eventually sort them out."
Coop looked at her for a long second. "Yes, and if they didn't immediately run to the other person to tell them, it's a fair bet which way those feelings went."
Christine decided to drop it, though in her mind she thought. 'Hard to run to someone when they're in another country ya dork.'
* * *
Coop and Christine were wrapping up their meal, mostly waiting for the check to arrive. Coop was going over some of the nightlife attractions in Tokyo. As he spoke, something in his periphery caught his attention.
He turned to look and saw a group of men walking into the diner, a man a few inches shorter than him led them inside. He looked slightly familiar, long black hair and olive skin, a permanent sneer etched across his features. But Coop couldn't place where he might have met him.
The waitress told them to take a seat in the back as she dropped the check off for Coop and Christine. Coop could tell they were a boisterous group, so he figured she wanted to put them where they wouldn't disturb the other customers.
Coop thanked her and took out cash, his only way to pay until he went to the bank and got a card for the account his father had deposited his allowance and pay from the company. She thanked him for the tip and walked off to tend to the group in the back. Coop turned to Christine to ask if she was ready, when he caught a look of apprehension on her face.
She beat him to the punch. "Ready squirt?"
He nodded, he slid out of the booth, then headed to the front. As he held the door for his sister, he saw her glancing back at the group of men.
Coop could see from looking at the way the men carried themselves they were probably not the types to run around in the same circles as Christine. So, her concern was because one of those men had done something to make her nervous.
Or it was because of him, had he met the leader before? Once Christine and he were in the car he broached the subject. "Feel better now?"
She turned from putting on her seatbelt to look at him. "Hmm, what's up?"
"I said are you okay now that we're not in the restaurant with those guys?"
She got serious very quickly. "I didn't wanna say anything, but one of those guys is the older brother of that kid you used to get into fights with, Tony something?"
Recognition came to his eyes. "Anthony Farina, the guy in there is his big brother?"
Christine nodded. "He showed up like a year ago, apparently, he got out of prison and started running around with his little brother. One of my friends, her little sister dated a guy in his gang, or crew or whatever. I was worried if you two ran into each other it might go bad."
Coop nodded. "I get that, but you know I wouldn't randomly get into a brawl, especially if I had you with me."
Christine smiled, Coop added. "If anything like that happens again, clue me in. The best way for me to avoid any run-ins with him or his brother is if I can see them coming."
Christine gave her brother an appreciative glance. "Oh shit, did your brain grow along with your caveman body?"
Coop smiled, making an exaggerated motion of slapping his knee. He looked back at the diner, curious whether Anthony's brother was as protective of his brother as Christine was of him.
* * *
Coop walked up to Danielle's house, feeling a wave of nervousness come over him. The last time he'd come here was the last night of his old life. He knocked his signature knock, then stepped back and looked around absentmindedly.
He wasn't sure she was home. Her SUV was here, but she could have gone to town with her mother. After a minute or so he heard the tell-tale sound of her coming down the stairs. He turned to the door and waited as she opened it.
She was panting from rushing downstairs, hair in a ponytail, dressed in a t-shirt and cotton pants of some kind. Her normal weekend lounging attire, and she looked adorable in it.
She spoke in a bubbly voice. "Yes, may I help you?"
Coop looked her over. "Hello Ma'am, I'm with homes for the homeless. We're going around trying to find families to take in people off the street, but I can plainly see this nice family has already adopted you, sorry for the bother."
He turned around and walked a few steps, turning around and bending over at the waist, waving at her as he walked away, saying in a faraway voice. "Bye!"
She squinted her eyes into slits. She said in a voice devoid almost entirely of mirth, but chock full of malevolence. "I will kick the ever-loving shit out of you."
He immediately sprang and in one leap was standing back in front of her, acting as if nothing had happened, he said. "I've come to grab my stuff, please and thank you."
She stared at him a second longer. Reaching inside the door she grabbed her car keys off a hook. He smiled sweetly as she stepped out, as she passed him, she used the knuckle on her pointer finger to jab him in the side. He doubled over, laughing. Then he fell into step beside her.
She shot him an annoyed look. "You know I'm not good at getting started on the weekend. How was breakfast with your sister?"
Coop nodded. "Good, we reminisced about my mom, which almost never happens in my family. I had biscuits and gravy, she had French toast." He looked at her as he said the next part. "I saw Anthony's brother and his friends."
Her eyes got big, she stopped and swung, grabbing his shirt. "You are to steer clear of those guys. I heard Anthony went to juvie a month or so after you moved. Apparently, he got caught breaking into cars or something. I haven't run into him, but I heard he's been dealing drugs. Who knows what else they're into. His brother apparently got back and took him from a bully to a full-fledged criminal. So don't go picking any more fights with him, got it?"
Coop shrugged and started to move towards her vehicle. "Last time he deserved it."
He regretted it the moment it left his mouth. He stopped walking, waiting to see if she noticed.
"What do you mean last time?"
He grimaced a bit at his own stupidity. "Before I left I may or may not have run into him and a few of his friends, after running into them I may have assaulted two of them."
She was big mad. "Cooper!"
He turned and looked at her imploringly. "Look, that guy knows how to push my buttons, and he picked the wrong time to push them." She looked at him questioningly, He said plainly. "It was the day before I left for Japan."
She would never forget that day, it was a lesson seared into her memory. 'Act like a brat and this is what happens.'
She deflated from her ridiculing posture. "Oh."
Coop nodded. "Yeah, so I imagine he'd like nothing more than to string me up and beat me with a large stick. I don't expect he'll be spending much time around our campus though."
Danielle started back towards her SUV. "Promise me if you cross paths with them you'll walk away."
"As long as I'm not completely surrounded, absolutely. Running away is the world's first martial art after all. Caveman comes across a saber-tooth tiger, loses control of his bowels, then runs back to everyone else and has them make spears so they can go kill the thing."
She slapped his arm. "Gross."
She unlocked the back hatch of her vehicle, pressing the button on the underside for the automatic lift to open it. "So are you excited for school Monday?"
Coop's eyes lit up, he opened one of his bags, digging inside "You know I actually am, even though our coursework is kind of pointless now this close to graduation."
Danielle looked at him rustling around in his bag and shook her head. "Did you toss everything in all at once and zip it up?"
Coop took one hand and pointed it at her while still engrossed in looking, making a snapping motion with it in mimicry of her, she slapped at his hand. "Here it is." He pulled out a small box and held it out to her. "There you go."
She looked at his outstretched hand and the box it was holding like a bomb. Taking it and removing the ribbon wrapped around it. "What is it?"
Coop spoke in a nonchalant tone. "I picked up souvenirs for everyone before I left, this one's yours."
She opened the box, revealing the Jade hairpin. Running her hand over it she questioned him. "I thought souvenirs were things like key chains and coffee mugs. This looks like a present."
Coop, feeling self-conscious and like he was being put on the spot muttered. "If you don't want it, I can just—."
He reached out to take the box from her, she moved it close to her chest and playfully slapped his hand. "Of course I want it, it's beautiful."
She smiled, looking at it like it was the most precious thing she now owned. Coop shuffled his feet a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's not a big deal, I just picked it up from some gift shop at the airport."
He hadn't, he'd seen it in a store months before he left and purchased it with her in mind. Although he told himself he might not give it to her when he bought it. He felt as long as she didn't know it's real worth there wasn't any harm. He went about putting stuff back in the bag.
"Why'd you pick this?"
Focusing on his task, he was so absorbed in not paying her any attention that he forgot to lie.
"I thought it went with your eyes." His hands slowed, he saw out the corner of his eyes she was standing still and looking at it. "So, it's probably gonna take two trips, I'll grab these and come back."
He picked up the two closest and hefted them. Turning he made his way up around the front. Danielle turned to look after him as he went. She idly wondered if he was fibbing about it being just an airport trinket. It didn't really matter though. He could have gotten it from a gas station and it would still look just as pretty to her.
She considered putting it in her hair now before she remembered she was still in her before noon on Saturdays attire. She wasn't so much bad at Saturday mornings as she was lousy on Friday nights.
Staying up late watching a movie, reading, dancing around in her underwear listening to music. She always paid the price on Saturday mornings though.
Every other Sunday she volunteered to assist the sisters in teaching the children of the local Catholic church her and Cooper's families were members of. Cooper, while not lapsed didn't have his heart in the church after his mother died.
Stella Bogdan was a catholic who questioned the way things were, which can rub some people the wrong way. But she never wavered in her faith, even at the end. Coop never stopped attending services after she died, he'd volunteer to do school with her and take some of the rowdier kids aside.
He'd play with them while telling them stories from the bible in a way they could understand. For him, church on Sundays was a way to honor his mother's memory. The weeks she wasn't volunteering he would sit with her and her parents for mass.
Though now that she thought of it, she didn't know if Coop still planned on attending now that he was back. She didn't see why not, last time they'd talked about it he was attending mass in Tokyo.
His father hadn't stepped foot in a place of worship since the day his wife died. He had been in the church chapel praying with Christine while Coop lay in her hospital bed with her. When Jack had heard the nurses rushing past outside, he'd known where they were headed.
Coop came jogging back from dropping off the first few bags. She stuck the box containing her hairpin in her pocket, smiling as he ran up, he immediately went to grab the other two bags.
"Thank you for the gift, I mean, for the souvenir."
He smiled back, awkwardly. "Sure, no problem."
She leaned forward, putting herself in his personal bubble. "I sure wouldn't mind if someone came to help me with the kids tomorrow."
Coop looked at her, pretending to be annoyed. "Well then maybe you should ask someone."
He smiled and backed up with his hands raised when she moved like she was going for his sides. He was incredibly ticklish there and she knew it. It was to the point he would beg for mercy when she did it.
He spoke quickly, his tone getting more irate as he moved away from her. "I'm just kidding, it would be my pleasure you unholy succubus, no!" He was nervously laughing, anticipating how she might attack.
She got a mischievous look in her eyes. "How do you expect me to resist when you get those big doe eyes?" She started flexing her fingers like the pincers on a lobster's claw, stepping forward and lowering herself.
Coop pointed a finger at her, giving her a death glare. "Don't do it!"
She sprung and immediately latched onto him. He squirmed and wiggled for all he was worth, but she would not stop. He was near the point of tears when he decided to counter-attack.
She was ticklish under her arms and under her chin. She was able to defend her chin by tucking it into her neck, but her armpits were ripe for the picking.
He pounced, determined not to let her win. The problem that Coop failed to anticipate, having been driven near hysterical by Danielle's onslaught, was that Danielle had matured in the almost three years he'd been gone.
When he began tickling her, she bucked from side to side. Which caused her breasts to rub against his wrists and hands. The fact that she was not wearing a bra did not help.
He noticed quickly, mortified at the mishap. He stopped, looking at Danielle to try and gauge her reaction but she was unfazed. She was still cackling like crazy as she pinched him and wiggled her little eels that passed for fingers along his skin.
In a last ditch attempt to stop her barrage he grasped her wrists, pulling her arms out to the side. It forced her forward, close enough to feel his breath on her face.
He gulped. Parts of his anatomy were dangerously aware of her proximity to him. "If you don't knock it off, I'll lick your face."
He could swear she batted her eyelashes and inched just close enough for the fabric of their shirts to brush across each other.
She enunciated the last bit of every word as it passed her lips. "I don't believe you."
Alarm bells went off in his brain. He knew she was teasing him but the way she had said that just now seemed almost, what, sultry? If he didn't know better, he would say she was flirting with him.
They were locked in a stalemate, he was restraining her wrists, but his threat carried no weight, or did it? 'What if I did just like a kid would and slobbered all up one side of her face?'
Most likely she would get mad, not talk to him, and possibly hit him with several items in quick succession. 'But she's daring me to do it, so why not?'
Then a memory flashed through his mind. A memory of a crying girl and words that felt as if they bit into his heart, that's why not.
His face went tense and his hands went slack, letting go of her wrists and backing up, he smiled weakly. "You'd probably give me cooties anyways."
He forced a laugh, trying to hide his discomfort. Danielle looked at him confused, unaware what had caused his mood to darken. "You okay?"
Coop coughed, making a show of covering his mouth. "Yeah, I just got a little bug, I wouldn't want you to get sick."
She nodded, still looking at him quizzically. "Right, thanks for that."
He stepped around her and grabbed his other bags. "Gramps is coming to pick me up here in a bit so I can hang out with him and grams. You're free to tag along if you want. Otherwise, I'll come over around seven o'clock?" He was already backing away, not even waiting for her to answer.
She nodded, disappointed but trying not to show it. "Sounds good, I'm supposed to go shopping with my mom here in a bit, then we're having dinner with my sister and brother."
She had wanted to ask him if he cared to grab dinner with them later. 'It's only his second day back, there's no need to rush.'
She watched as he made his way back to his front door. 'But we were so close, I felt it.'
There's a famous saying 'Rome wasn't built in a day.' It meant that great things take time. Would it be simpler if she just told him she loved him, admitting she had all along. Then why couldn't she do it.
'Because I want a do-over.'
Not just for her but for him, she had ruined everything by reacting the way she did. If she could have another chance to give him an answer, make him see through her actions that she was over her misgivings, maybe it would begin to make up for how she'd treated him that day.
That was easier said than done when said day in question wasn't even a possible topic of discussion, it was a black hole that swallowed up any conversation. Any time they got even close to it while speaking it derailed everything.
She locked up her car and went back inside, sure she was being a coward. Coop must have agonized over asking her the first time. It had probably taken him weeks if not months of questioning what she would say in response.
And she had gone far beyond even his worst dreams. How could she expect him to try again. I mean there was no guarantee he still harbored any romantic feelings for her. She brushed aside the thought, the tension between them in just the last day wasn't of people being pulled apart, it was attraction drawing them together.
'But he's fighting it!'
So now he was the one unsure. Did that mean she should speak her mind, give him the opportunity to turn her down like she had him? It was kind of poignant, since he had put his heart out there the first time, she could do it now.
She shook her head, it felt like an insult to do that, as if she was invalidating his confession with one of her own. But she couldn't stand things being like this forever, there had to be a breaking point. She racked her brain trying to think of a solution. How long before she decided to bite the bullet and tell him?
The party out at the ranch, that was it, that's when she'd do it. If she couldn't show Coop by graduation, get him to admit his feelings again, then she would admit it for him, come what may. Back in her room she went to her closet and opened it, inside hanging up was his hoodie. She had put it up in case he happened to come up here. 'It doesn't even smell like him anymore.'
She realized her thought and wondered when she'd turned into a lovesick girl. She had always known Coop and she had something special, even back then.
But she saw how other teens were, the games they played and how they fought and how easily they moved between partners. She had hoped they could stay friends for a little longer.
Then he was gone, and she would have given anything to take back what she said, even if he had no choice whether to stay or go. She would have gladly called him her boyfriend, even from six thousand miles away.
It was a case of you don't know what you got until it's gone, the grass is always greener.
Whichever euphemism you wanted to use it all boiled down to the same thing. She messed up, big time, and the thought that the damage might be irreparable kept her up some nights.