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?"

"People will think you've gone soft." She was testing him, he could see it in those all-seeing eyes of hers. Whatever he said or did in response to that would make her decision. Was what people thought of him more important than assuring her she was different?

Getting up from the booth, he grabbed her hand and tugged her suddenly to her feet. "Cooper, I don't−"

"Hey," Coop said, tapping on the shoulder of the first person who walked past them. The guy, Peter or something, stopped and turned to the two of them eyeing Coop with some surprise. "This is Candy," he said, as if that was explanation enough, pulling her closer to his side. "My girlfriend."

***

This was not what she'd had in mind. Her mouth fell open and she stared up at Cooper whose eyes shone with humor. Phil Jenson stood in front of them looking just as surprised as she felt. Everyone knew Cooper didn't date, much less the quiet bookworm who rarely spoke. "Cooper," she said edgily. "Stop, I want to go home."

Cooper completely ignored her, turning to the group of girls in the booth behind them. "Have you met my girlfriend?"

Flushing with embarrassment, Candice tried to tug her hand out of his grasp and back away. "This isn't necessary."

He didn't let go. Before she could make it even half a step, Cooper had pulled her back, placed a hand on the back of her neck, and then he was kissing her. Surprised, she moved her free hand up to his chest, braced to push him away, but of course, Cooper would've expected that because his arm wrapped itself tightly around her waist. He was good at this. She started to forget her original intentions and began to kiss him back.

If this is how it felt every time a girl kissed him, Candice had to admit that she could see the appeal despite all the reasons why they should stay away. Maybe she was wrong about him, maybe he genuinely did mean well. Maybe if she gave him a chance, it wouldn't end as horribly as she'd predicted it would. When he finally pulled away, they stared at each other for a minute, and he smirked down at her. "Are you satisfied?"

As if suddenly coming out of a daze, Candice blinked and then looked away from him at all of the eyes glued on the spectacle that was them. Her eyes narrowed and slid back to his, she didn't appreciate being made a spectacle. If he was trying to prove that he was taking her seriously, this wasn't the way to do it. "This isn't a romantic comedy. Embarrassing declarations aren't viable proof that you've had a sudden change of heart." When he didn't make any move to loosen his grip, Candice's hand slid up and pinched the inside of his arm. Caught off guard, he let go with a curse. Feeling the embarrassment mixed with self-righteous anger, she found herself grabbing the remainder of her milkshake without even really thinking about it and pouring the contents over his head. She heard the whispers and felt the eyes and she backed quickly away, turned, and walked towards the door, head up, back straight...trying hard to look as if she hadn't a care in the world. If she walked more quickly in an attempt to put distance between the two of them, she told herself it was hardly noticeable.

***

Coop stood, staring after her as her milkshake dripped down his face and back. She was the singularly most infuriatingly obstinate female he had ever had the misfortune to come into contact with. Were they all like this? It was clear now that he'd had it right the first time when he'd decided dating wasn't for him.

He followed her out, completely disregarding the whispers and looks. Reasonable as she was, she was still walking to his car. Evidently, no amount of anger, irritation, or arguing could cause Candy to forgo reliable transportation.

Then, as if by magic, Spence pulled into a parking spot and started to get out. Coop saw Candy take in the newcomer, then her eyes slid to meet his and he saw the flash in her eyes the second she realized just how to solve her problem.

"Candy," he growled out in warning, starting towards her with a dark scowl.

Her lips turned up into a slow, smug smile, and then she turned towards Spence, who was raising his hand in greeting.

"Spence," she said with an apologetic tone. "Would you mind taking me home?"

Spence turned his head and took in Coop's black expression, but the murder in his best friend's eyes didn't seem to bother him because he moved back towards his car and replied, "Yeah, of course."

***

"You can't be serious!"

Unmoved by his daughter's teary eyes, Charles held out an expectant hand. "You're failing half of your classes, I have the school board breathing down my neck because of the strings I've had to pull for you numerous times, you had an illegal substance hidden away in your locker, you've been suspended from school, and you just failed a drug test. I couldn't be more serious."

Sera's focus swung from him towards her mother beside him, seeking sympathy. "Mom, I'm being set up! Don't let him do this to me! How am I supposed to get to school?"

Her mom, his wife, watched her with much less sympathy. She'd been telling him for years that he spoiled their daughter too much. "Do you expect me to believe that someone changed your grades and switched out your drug test results? If it were up to me, it wouldn't just be the car you lost. Hand it over."

"But this isn't my fault."

"Seraphina," Charles snapped out, running an agitated hand over his scalp. "Your actions have put my position at the school in serious jeopardy. Your mother and I both agree that it's high time you see consequences for your actions. You've lost the car for the rest of the year; I want to see your grades up by the second semester and you'll be subjected to weekly drug tests for the next two months. If you want to keep pushing your luck, I'll take your cell phone too."

The tears were coming down in full force now and he felt himself wishing he'd reigned her in years sooner. With any luck, they could turn it around, but at the moment, it wasn't looking good. She slapped the keys angrily into his palm and glared. "I hope you're happy. You're ruining my life and you don't even care."

He and his wife stood where they were as their daughter turned and stormed off, slamming the door to her bedroom with enough force to shake the walls. "She's gotten her way for too long," he admitted dejectedly. "This isn't going to be easy."

"No," his wife agreed, appearing much less concerned, "but it's a lesson you both need to learn."

***

Four hours after she'd left Cooper standing outside of Bananza, Candice had worked herself up into a nice little cushion of anger. First, her sister had stolen her phone and reached out to him; then she'd been made the main attraction in the middle of an ice cream shop in Cooper's misguided attempt to prove...what? That he was serious? That he'd do anything if it meant he could get his way? That he enjoyed being talked about? Well, she wasn't interested in his poorly thought-out shenanigans.

Changing into her pajamas, she moved to the bathroom to take her contacts out, brush her hair and teeth, and then came back to her room, firmly shutting the door before switching off the light and crawling into bed. The whole mess with Cooper needed to stop. That's what it all came down to. They had nothing in common and it would just blow up in their faces in the end. She would tell him first thing in the morning. Friends or nothing.

It would be a shame if he didn't want to be friends. She had grown attached to him and Spence. Spence was like a living comic relief, and when he'd taken her home that evening, he hadn't tried to push for information, though she imagined he'd been curious. Cooper was...well she couldn't think of a good way to describe him, but she knew it was nice to have him around. He made her feel like a different person. One who wasn't quiet and agreeable. She didn't want to lose that.

Candice didn't know how long she lay there before she started drifting off to sleep. Through the haze of sleepiness, she heard tapping in the distance. Sitting up drowsily, she looked around her room, trying to discern the culprit. The tap came again and she turned her head towards the noise, biting back a shriek when she saw the face just outside her window.

***

He'd been knocking on her bedroom window for a good ten minutes. He'd seen her sit up in bed and look around, he'd seen the surprise and fear in her eyes when she saw him in the window. She hadn't screamed, thank god, but it had been close. The moment she registered who it was, her fear turned to an irritated scowl, she climbed out of bed and moved to the window, lifting the pane, no doubt to berate him. He didn't give her the chance. The moment she'd opened the window, he was climbing inside, completely ignoring her protests.

"Cooper, this is highly inappropriate. Do you have any idea how late it is?" There was censure in her voice, as he stepped into the room, but he didn't care.

He'd spent the last several hours going over everything in his head and he'd concluded that if he didn't somehow convince Candy that dating him was a good idea, he'd go slowly mad. So here he was, eleven o'clock at night, sneaking into a girl's room, not for the first time in his life, but this time was certainly more significant than any of the others. "We need to talk."

When he turned around, she stood there with her arms crossed, lips pursed disapprovingly, and a glare on her face. "We spoke earlier," she replied evenly. "Under much more appropriate circumstances. You shouldn't be here."

"I've been in your room before."

"Not in the middle of the night. Not after sneaking in my window. You need to go, Cooper. This isn't right." She didn't look at all inclined to budge.

"You're driving me crazy," he said in exasperation. "One minute you're giving in and admitting it might not be such a bad idea, and the next you're looking at me like that refusing to bend. Can't you just cut me some slack here? I'm not exactly experienced in the dating field."

"We're not dating."

"Have you seen me with another girl since I started talking to you?"

"As hard as it may be for you to believe, your comings and goings aren't on my list of priorities for the day. If you've spoken to other girls, not only do I not know about it; it isn't my business. Because we're not dating."

"Candy."

"Cooper," she replied flatly, with a raised brow. They stood, glaring at each other for another minute, and then in the most insulting slap to his ego he'd ever been dealt, Candy turned her back to him and headed back to her bed, apparently completely unintimidated and unconcerned about the boy standing in her room in the middle of the night. "Close the window when you leave, please."

He watched, dumbfounded, as she climbed back into her bed, pulled the covers back up to her chin and completely ignored his presence. He'd never been dismissed in his life, much less while he was standing alone in a room with a girl. Seeing red, he was at the side of her bed before he'd realized he'd even moved, yanking the comforter off her in one swift, angry motion. "Candice, I swear to god, I've never wanted to strangle a girl as much as you make me want to strangle you," he growled as he stood over her.

She rolled over to meet his eyes with a mutinous set of her jaw. "If you're not satisfied with just being friends, then I'm sorry. That's all I'm willing to be with you. We don't suit."

"And how the hell would you know whether we suit or not when you can't get that stick out of your ass long enough to give it a shot?"

Oh, he'd hit a nerve. He saw it by the flash of murder in her eyes and she slowly sat back up. "Because probability is what I'm good at, and the probability of this not blowing up in either of our faces, is slim to none."

"You're afraid."

"Don't be ridiculous," she sniffed with a roll of her eyes. "I'm not afraid of you."

"Then prove it."

"Cooper," she said, and he could hear the tone of warning in her voice.

"Prove it," he insisted. "Kiss me right now and tell me you don't want to try."

She rolled her eyes at that. "Don't start that again."

He felt a sense of satisfaction mixed with disappointment and took a step back, away from her bed. "Exactly. You're afraid, I—"

In a move completely out of character for the little bookworm he seemed to be falling for, Candy's hand wrapped firmly around his wrist and suddenly he was falling forward, onto her bed, on top of her and her lips were pressed firmly to his. It was about time.