The Perfect Candy

Chapter 17: Ice Cream & Satisfaction

When Cooper and Candice walked into Bananza, she didn't miss the jealous looks or the blatant winks the girls shot in their direction. She shifted uncomfortably, but if he noticed, he didn't seem to care. She liked him; she could admit that. Everyone seemed to think he liked her too, so why was she fighting against his presence so much?

Suzy Edwards, a small freshman girl who was fighting her way into the cheerleading clique this year, sauntered towards them. She saw the way the other girl tried to let her hips sway as she walked, and noted the alarmingly transparent tight pink crop top and the calculating gleam in her eyes. Eyes that seemed to be locked on Cooper. "Hey Coop, where've you been hiding? I miss you."

Cooper didn't even acknowledge her, taking a surprised Candice's hand and pulling her towards the front of the shop. She felt herself start to smile softly, quietly pleased that he'd disregarded the other girl. Once they'd reached the counter, he looked back at her expectantly. "What do you want?"

"Small raspberry milkshake, please," she answered with a smile at the boy behind the counter. Cooper pulled out his wallet and handed over a ten; for a moment, Candice considered insisting that she could pay but decided to let it go. As soon as they'd gotten their respective orders, she followed him to a booth in a far corner and they sat across from each other in awkward silence. Was this what dating was like? Was that what this was? She shifted uncomfortably and stared down at her glass. If that's what this was, she didn't think she liked it.

***

She was uncomfortable. Coop watched as Candy's gaze darted back and forth around the shop. She was watching the other girls, he could almost see her mind working through what she saw, analyzing and filing the information away to re-evaluate later. When had that become endearing? Finally, apparently tired of the silence, her eyes found him and watched him expectedly. "You wanted to talk?"

He'd said that, hadn't he? And what did he want to talk about, exactly? What did he want from her? All he knew was that when she wasn't around, he noticed. And he didn't like it. "I want you to stop avoiding me."

Surprise flickered across her face, her lips twitched upwards, and she raised a brow. "We're eating ice cream together."

Agitated, he pushed a hand through his hair and did a quick scan around the shop. There were a lot of eyes on them. "Candy, I..." he trailed off, unsure of where he wanted to go with that. He never thought that when he was ready to date someone, it would require so much damned convincing. Suddenly thinking of another tactic, he turned to her with a smug smirk and leaned back in the booth. "You know, this is our second date, some people would say that makes this pretty serious."

As he expected, her nostrils flared and she narrowed those eyes at him. "This isn't a date."

"I paid, didn't I?"

That mouth of hers thinned, a very telling sign of her disapproval. "You're incorrigible."

He felt inexplicably more confident now, and on a whim, stood from his seat across from her to come around and slide into the booth right beside her, sliding an arm around her shoulders and pulling her towards him. She stiffened for just a moment, but then her shoulders seemed to relax and she allowed herself to be pulled closer. "You admitted it yourself; you like me."

"It's not smart."

"Does everything have to be smart?"

With a sigh, she leaned forward and took a drink of her milkshake. "Maybe not."

"So let's give it a shot."

She twisted to look at him, "Why?"

"Why not?"