The Perfect Candy

Chapter 22: Be My Date

"So what time are you headed to Faith's tomorrow?"

They were sitting in his car in the exact same spot that they had met up the night before. She shot him a surprised look, and then shrugged. "Usually around noon. Faith likes to sleep in. Why?"

He shrugged, "I can take you over. Spence and I are going to go play basketball with Jay and Matt tomorrow."

"You are?"

"Jay mentioned it this morning."

A slow smile spread across her face, one that grew so wide, her cheeks immediately began to ache. "You guys are friends now?"

He shot her an annoyed scowl, "I wouldn't go that far. I like basketball and they were already planning to play. It's not a big deal."

But it was. The four of them weren't exactly walking around in the same circles. He was making an effort; he cared. She felt like her heart had been replaced by a dozen butterflies, she was overwhelmed. "Will you go to homecoming with me?"

He shot her a surprised look, "What?"

"Homecoming," she repeated. "I've never gone before and it's in two weeks. Will you go with me?"

His scowl returned and he leaned towards her, "Are you stupid? The guy's supposed to be the one that asks."

She only smiled brighter, "So will you ask me then?"

She watched him shift uncomfortably in his seat and wanted to kiss him. "I don't have to ask you, we're dating. Who else are you going to go with?"

Refusing to be annoyed by his response, she leaned across the center console and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm really happy that I said yes, Cooper. I'll see you tomorrow." She pulled away and was closing the car door before he seemed to have been able to recover from her words.

***

"What, are you two glued together at the hip or something? Why's he here?" Faith opened the door to her house and gave the two an annoyed look.

"Your brother invited him to play basketball. Don't be rude," Candy replied, grabbing Coop's hand and pulling him into the house with her.

"Hey," Coop nodded to the other girl, completely unconcerned with her glare.

"Jay's with the other manwhore in his room."

"You should cut Matt a break," Candy admonished, shooting Faith a disapproving frown. "He's not a bad person."

Faith rolled her eyes and started walking back towards Cyn and Hope in the living room. "Whatever."

Candy turned towards Coop with a smile. "Thanks for the ride here. Have fun." With that, she pushed up on her toes and kissed him quickly on the lips, much to both his surprise and pleasure. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that he'd done to have caused her to change her mind about PDA, but he sure as hell needed to make sure he kept it up.

Making his way up the stairs, he knocked once on Jay's bedroom door and then stepped inside. "Hey."

Jay looked up from the textbook he had sprawled out on his bed. "What's up?"

Coop moved to lean casually against the wall with a shrug. "Spence has to watch his sister, and I had nothing better to do, so..."

Shutting the textbook with a thump, Jay stood from his bed and nodded. "Yeah, Matt's going to meet us there around one thirty. You any good?"

"Baseball's more my speed, but I do okay."

"Yeah?" Jay asked with slightly more interest. "Who's your team?"