Teach Me (3 page)

             
“I’ll just put these in some water,” Trudy said, breaking my Allison trance. I noticed she was blushing at my stare and took a few steps toward me. I closed the distance between us and extended the sunflower to her.

             
“This made me think of you,” I said quietly. Ali reached for it, and our fingers brushed again. It felt differently than it had earlier that day. It was more powerful, like it was backed with electricity. Our gazes met, and I knew we both felt it.

             
“It is beautiful,” she said. “Thank you.” I smiled at how something so simple could make her happy.

             
“Of course,” I answered. Trudy came back into the room, and I took an unwilling step back. She had a sprig of what looked like lavender in her hand. She made her way to Ali and said something quietly to her, which made her blush. Ali shifted, and Trudy began to weave the lavender into Allison’s dark hair. When she was done and Ali wasn’t looking, she winked at me.

             
“Let me put that gorgeous sunflower into a big vase for you, Ali,” Trudy said and took it from her. “Now get going, you two. The night is young, and so are you.” And with that, we were on our date.

             
The night air was warm as the sun hung lazily in the sky. I wanted to hold Ali’s hand as we walked to the truck but decided I didn’t want to push it. I opened the door for her and helped her into the cab. Once I was inside, I turned to look at her. The setting sun made her look radiant. She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and then turned to face me. She looked down at her skirt,
then
touched her thin top.

             
“What is it?” she asked, alarmed. I reached out and took her hand, not caring if it seemed forward.

             
“You are stunning,” I told her. We just stared at each other, and I felt gravity pulling me closer to her.

             
“You don’t look too shabby yourself,” she said back with a smile. I had to laugh at her assessment. I like a girl with a quick wit.

             
“I was going to wear board shorts and style my hair with surfboard wax. But then I thought, nah, I’d fancy it up for you.” Ali started laughing, and I was lost in the sound of it. I cranked the engine and pulled away from the curb, not releasing her hand, letting them rest on the seat between us.

             
“So,” she said after a few minutes of comfortable silence, “where are we going?”

             
“I hope you like Italian.” I smiled. I was taking her to this little place that few people knew about. They served the best meatballs and garlic bread.

             
“Who doesn’t?” she answered with a grin.

             
I liked her. “I think we are going to get along just fine.” And I was right.

             
Dinner was great. No, “great” doesn’t seem to describe it. We just clicked. We ate, talked, and laughed for almost three hours. We discussed our likes and dislikes, our goals and dreams, family and futures. We had so much in common that it was unreal, almost serendipitous. The more we talked, the more I felt connected with her. Ali loved books and English as much as I did, and she wanted to be a professor or a writer. She wasn’t only incredibly beautiful—she was incredibly smart as well. I reached across the
table and took her hand in mine. As I did this, she moved closer to me in the round booth. Once again, I wanted to take her delicate face in my hands and press my lips to hers. I leaned toward her.

             
“Hey, Coop,” an irritatingly familiar voice said from behind me. Allison looked past me, and I turned to see Sean. He looked back and forth between us. “So are you going to introduce me?” I wanted to say,
“No, I’m not going to introduce you. I’m going to kill you.”

             
I cleared my throat.
“Hey, Sean.”
I turned to face Ali, her cheeks adorably pink, and squeezed her fingers. “Allison, this is Sean—Sean, this is—”

             
“Book Girl,” he cut me off, smiling. Ali’s eyes grew, and then she nodded and smiled, looking at Sean.

             
“Hello, Sean,” she started. “You are the guy who was at the restaurant last night, hiding in the shadows, right?” She pointed her finger at him and tipped her head to the side. Our jaws dropped open, and then Sean and I laughed. “Well, I’ll let you boys chat, and I’ll just . . . you know.” Then she scooted out of the booth.

             
Sean turned to face me. “I think I’m in love,” he said dreamily as he dropped into the booth, and I mock punched his arm.

             
“What are you doing here?” I was annoyed. He knew about this date. He shrugged and picked up a breadstick and took a bite.

             
“I’m not letting you get out of the bonfire, my friend.” He chewed with his mouth open. “You need to be there. Bring Book Girl . . . Ali,” he said, shrugging.

             
“Come on, Sean, this is our first date,” I pleaded, willing him to understand.

             
“Dude, I said to bring her.” He looked at me, frustrated for not getting what I was saying. “She is so hot, man. If you don’t ask her, maybe I—” I didn’t let him finish. I smacked the back of his head.

             
“Ask me what?” Ali asked as she slid in easily next to me.

             
“There is this bonfire tonight,” I said quietly, turning to face her and block Sean’s view. I hadn’t realized how close she was and became immediately distracted by her petal-soft lips.

             
“
It’s
tradition,” Sean interrupted, but it didn’t make us break eye contact.

             
Ali blinked and smiled, glancing quickly down toward my lips, then back up to meet my eyes. “Do you want to go to the bonfire?”

             
“I . . .” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t focus on anything. Ali smiled and winked.

             
“I guess we will see you later, Sean,” she said past me. “It was nice meeting you.” She turned back to me. I don’t know how long we sat there, but at some point, Sean left.

             
“I don’t think I have ever seen anyone silence Sean—ever,” I told her, impressed. She bit her lip and looked down.

“So your friends call you Coop, huh?” she asked with a smile.

Three

Allison

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to go to this bonfire,” Cooper told me when we got back into his truck. At this point, I would have gone anywhere with him.

             
“Your friend said it was tradition.” I shrugged. “And traditions shouldn’t be broken.” I felt nervous, but conflicted. It was peaceful being with Cooper. He turned toward me as we approached the stoplight and studied my face for a moment.

             
“We won’t stay long, I promise,” he told me quietly, looking like he was lost in a different thought. I smiled at him. The air had gone cold with the setting sun, and I rubbed my arms to warm myself. Cooper parked and turned to look for something behind the seat. A minute later, he held out a sweatshirt for me.

             
“Thank you,” I said, taking it from him. I was thankful that in the darkness, he couldn’t see the blush of my cheeks.

“Hey,” Cooper said, reaching across the seat and taking my hand in his. “Don’t be nervous,” he said as he squeezed my fingers. “I won’t leave your side.” I smiled faintly at his reassurance. He turned to face me, his expression a cross between serious and nervous.

“Are you okay?” I asked, covering his hand with my free hand. He nodded slowly but didn’t speak for what seemed like a full minute. My heart and head went into overdrive, trying to process what he could possibly be thinking.

“You are making me nervous,” I finally blurted out.

             
“That is not my intention,” he said. “I was just thinking how surreal all this is.” He shifted and was now literally sitting on the edge of his seat. “I mean, when I first saw you on the beach, my initial thought was how cute you were.” I had to look down as he said this. “And then the more I saw you, the more I had to know you. It was little things like how you would sit in the shade at the beach or the way you’d hold your bottle of water and try to balance your book.” His voice dropped. “Then when you finally spoke to me, I knew I would just need more, and then tonight . . .” I looked back up to him as his voice trailed off.

“Tonight was surreal,” I offered. Cooper let out a short laugh.

             
“To say the least.”
His free hand moved to my face, and my vision blurred. Coop’s thumb traced my cheek, and my breath caught in my throat. “I don’t know about you, but I have never been this comfortable with another person, let alone on a first date.” His hand was warm on my skin, and I tried to regulate my heart rate so I could speak.

             
“I know what you mean,” I said slowly. Not that I’d had a lot of dating experience, but I knew that I had never had this much fun with anyone
before or felt this comfortable. It did feel incredibly natural. I wanted to tell him this, but instead, all that came out of my mouth was, “Natural.”

“Exactly,” he agreed, moving closer. I could almost feel his lips on mine. I had never wanted anything more.

Suddenly, the truck started shaking, and we both jumped back.
Earthquake
,
was my first thought. I didn’t understand that the shaking was linked with the loud shouts outside the cab. A couple of guys were rocking the truck back and forth and calling Cooper’s name. They hadn’t realized someone else was inside the truck with him until my back pressed against the passenger side window.

Cooper sighed. “Sorry about them,” he said, sounding frustrated and a little embarrassed. “We don’t have to do this,” he added, almost hopefully. He nodded toward the beach, and I looked over his shoulder. I was surprised to see forty to fifty people around a huge fire.

I swallowed and smiled as best I could. “Come on, Sean said it was tradition.” Cooper smiled, and my heart melted.
I can do this.

We sat quietly in the cab of the truck for just another minute before we got out. Cooper took my hand back in his and pressed his lips very quickly to it. This replaced the intimate moment we lost to the rowdy boys.

             
“You ready for this?” he asked. I didn’t answer. Instead, I just smiled and opened the door of the truck. I silently told myself,
Be
brave and act
confident.
Cooper came around the truck and slipped his hand back into mine.

This was one serious bonfire. The blaze of flames jumped ten feet into the sky throughout the night. Sean seemed stunned when he saw us arrive. He took it upon himself to lead me around and introduce me to as many people as he could. Even though people kept coming up to Cooper, he stayed close to me throughout the introductions. At one point, Sean looped his arm around me.

“Sean,” Coop
said,
his voice sharp. Sean put his hands up in a surrender position and smiled crookedly. I reached until I found Cooper’s hand and held it tightly in mine; our fingers laced together. The rest of the night, I was more than content to stay close to Cooper. Occasionally, he would slip his arm around my waist. It was like a fairy tale.

I ended up having fun, and toward the end of the night, most people just called me Coop’s girl or Lady Coop. At first I tried to remind them of my name, but eventually, I gave up. I was wearing his SDSU
hoodie
, which made me look like his girlfriend, so I just went with it. Honestly, it gave me a secret high at the thought.

             
It was about eleven, and the party was still in full swing. One good thing about my aunt Trudy was that she tried to keep up with technology, unlike my dad. I sent her a text telling her where I was and what I was doing, and she replied telling me to have fun and to remember to lock the
door when I got home. It was as easy as that. Trudy understood what it meant to be young, and she trusted Cooper Ryan.

             
I pulled Cooper’s sweatshirt tighter around my body, trying to block out some of the ocean breeze. He noticed what I was doing and put his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close to his body. Wow. Just wow.

             
“I have a blanket in the truck. Stay right here, and I’ll go grab it.” He made a quick dash toward his truck. I stood alone and watched the party. Most of the people were way past drunk. Cooper and I had discovered that neither one of us cared for dinking because it made you do stupid things, and some of these people were proving our point. I turned around and started to slowly walk toward the water, away from the noisy drunk people. I hadn’t walked too far before the voices seemed to fade.

             
What an interesting night
, I thought. I never imagined I could feel so good with someone, especially so quickly. I knew Cooper was trying to get a job teaching and could end up anywhere, but I didn’t want to think about that. I just wanted to focus on the
now
—to live in the moment. I heard soft footsteps from behind me.