Lasting Summer - [Loving Summer 05] (6 page)

“So,” Professor Knapp’s voice carried
over to Cooper and I, “That is the end of our session today. Be sure to read
the first five chapters of your book by next class. We may have a guest
speaker, and I would like for you to get the most out of his lecture.”

The class dismissed, and I grabbed my
bag, placing my tablet which I’d taken notes, in it.

Cooper stood up, and held out his hand
to me. “May I?”

I smiled. Cooper was such a gentleman. I
took his hand and he pulled me up to face him. Like I thought, he was tall and
solid, like in solid muscles. He would definitely give Drew competition.

Speaking of Drew, as soon as I was up
and smiling at Cooper, Drew had bounded up the stairs to stand next to Cooper,
glaring at me and him.

Cooper gave me a look. “Do you need me
to walk you to your next class?”

I glanced over at Drew, whose glare had
turned into a look of despair. “Summer,” he said, “I need to talk to you.”

Cooper waited, crossing his arms like he
had all the time in the world.

I was about to place my hand on Cooper’s
elbow to tell him, “let’s go,” when Drew grabbed my wrist.

“Drew…” I said looking down at his hand.

Cooper uncrossed his arms and stood up
next to Drew, letting him know his presence.

Drew dropped his hand, and slumped down.
“I only wanted to talk, Summer. Alone, just us two.” He glared at Cooper.

I looked down, remembering everything
that happened between Drew and I last night, including how he made love to me.
I blushed. “Okay,” I said.

I turned to Cooper and said, “Thank
you.”

“No need for thanks,” Cooper said. “Call
me if you need me.” Then he took off.

Chapter
9

Drew

I
t still gets me
bad when I see other men sniffing around Summer. I know she’s beautiful inside
and out, has the prettiest face I’ve ever seen, and a body like a Victoria
Secret model so she will be attracting guys like bees to honey without even
trying, but she’s mine. She may not think so at the present, but she has and
will always be mine.

“Summer,” I said, after that too
good-looking hunk standing next to her left. I had so much I wanted to tell
her, but just seeing her angry at me, with her arms crossed, and instead of the
warm adoring smile she always gave me, there was a scowl on her face, my mind
went blank.

“Yes?” she asked.

My plan of getting her jealous, of
forcing her to react to me, to acknowledged me, to even notice me in the class
I saw we were taking together; back-fired on me. She was no longer buying my
bad boy one-night-stand act that the other girls ate up. In fact, when I
thought about it, she never did. She always saw through it. She always saw
through me.

I was seriously at my wit’s end.

I ran my hands over my face, looking
down. “What can I do to get you back into my life, Summer?”

She uncrossed her arms, bringing her
arms down. Her face was no longer filled with anger as something like compassion
took its place. “Drew,” she said softly. “I want to have you in my life. I
truly do, but you keep doing something like this every time I get close to
you.”

“Summer,” I said filled with remorse,
“this was stupid. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get all these girls throwing
themselves at me like this in front of you. I…”

“You can’t help that,” Summer said.

“I know so I’m glad you understand that
it’s not my fault…”

“But you could help the way you reacted
to them. You didn’t have to flirt back. You didn’t have to let that President
Sorority chick tongue-kissed you in front of everyone,” Summer said.

My face was hot with shame as she
recalled everything that just happened an hour ago. I was so stupid. How could
I have done all that when all I wanted was to get Summer back? Now she never
wants anything to do with me.

“Drew…it makes doubt what we’ve had,
what you said to me last night, that you love me…I don’t know if you mean it or
I’m a conquest for you, another warm body for you to fuck.”

God, I really screwed up.

“You’re not, Summer. None of those
girls…no one else means more to me than you. You have to believe me.”

“Why can’t I believe you anymore, Drew?”
she cried, the tears flowing down her cheeks freely.

My heart broke watching her cry, yet I
wasn’t sure if she wanted me to touch her. I wanted to wrap my arms around
her, to kiss away her tears. I wanted to take away all the pain I’ve caused
her.

“Summer, please don’t cry.”

“I can’t help it,” she whimpered. “I
cared so much for you, but now…I can’t even trust you. I feel as though I’ve
lost another person I loved so much…Aunt Sookie, Nat, and you.”

“Please Summer,” I wrapped my arms
around her, pulling her tight into my chest as I held her with my dear life.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done to hurt you. I don’t deserve
you, I know, but I can’t let you go. If I do, you might as well kill me.
Without you, I am just a fragment of myself. You make me whole, Summer. You
mean so much to me, you’ve got to believe me.”

“Drew,” Summer said, wiping away her
tears. “I’m trying…”

“Please Summer, at least let’s be
friends. At least let me into your life as a friend. I won’t push you into
anything.”

“I don’t…”

“You let that guy sitting next to you be
a friend,” Drew said jealously. “You don’t even know him, yet he’s already
friendly with you, laughing about everything during class. I could hear you
from where I was sitting, and…Summer, if you think that guy just wants
friendship from you, you’d better think again.”

“Drew!” I scolded. “Cooper’s not looking
for a relationship right now. He’s trying to get over his last one…the love of
his life, so in a way, he’s perfect for a friend,” I said.

“Cooper?” Drew asked. “You call him by
his first name now?”

“What name should I call him by? His
last name?”

“No, it’s just…”

“What?”

“Okay, I’m jealous. I’m jealous of any
man or anyone getting close to you.”

“You can’t be, Drew,” I said. “I have to
have other people in my life…I no longer belong to you.”

Her words sliced through me like a
sword, and I felt myself almost stumbling back.

Summer was mine. How could she say she
wasn’t?

My entire body aches with an
unquenchable desire when I’m near her. Just the sight of her, the smell of her,
brings out all those alpha male tendencies. Like a caveman, I wanted to possess
her, take her, parade her around as my woman.

My finger traced the skin on her neck up
to her ear, and gently rubbed it. I felt her body shudder against mine. I love
touching her behind her ear. I love that little shudder she does when I’ve
found one of her erogenous zones.

Did she say she no longer belong to me?
Maybe with her mind, but her body tells me otherwise. Yes, she still belongs to
me.

She stopped crying and just let me hold
her, rubbing her behind her ear, letting her lean into me. Her body temperature
had risen, and I can see her face flush.

Oh, she was aroused. My male hunter’s
instinct tuned into that spicy but sweet scent I knew too well.

“I…” I began.

“Don’t talk,” Summer said, closing her
eyes and shushing me.

I did what she commanded and continued
touching and massaging her. Perhaps if this was all she wanted from our
relationship for now, I could live with that. I could happily supply her with a
constant source of Drew loving.

Maybe that’s all she wanted from me…my
body.

Again, I could live with that.

“Why can’t I stop wanting your touch,
Drew?” Summer asked.

“I could guess a million reasons why,
Summer,” I said, “but how about, it’s because you and I have incredible
chemistry. Try as much as we did to suppress it, it’s there.”

“Yes,” Summer sighed. “It’s there.”

“About this friendship thing, Summer,” I
began. “It includes benefits, you know, well, on my part at least. You can do
whatever you want with me. I’m fine with that.”

“You are, are you?” she asked.

“If you want to jump my bones, I’m more
than happy to oblige.”

“I thought you’d say that…”

“So until we resolve this trust thing
between us, until we figure out what I need to work on in order for you to take
me seriously as the man for you, I propose having an arrangement where we
satisfy each others’ sexual urges and needs when we have them, with no strings
attached. We’re not married, not engage, and not dating; but we have needs, and
we can’t deny how much our bodies crave each others’. What do you think?”

Summer was silent, which made me
worried. She was thinking this through, and when she thinks anything through
and let common sense take over, it’s usually a ‘no’.

I increased my rubbing behind her ears,
and bent down to lick the sensitive area.

“Remember how good it felt when you came
last night? Remember how long I can hold you up and devour your sexy sweet
pussy? How I love sucking on it?”

“Oh Drew,” Summer moaned. “You’re so
persistent.”

“Yes, I am, Summer,” I breathed into her
ear. “Especially when it comes to you.”

I stuck my tongue into her ear then and
traced her lobe. “Dammit, Drew,” Summer muttered. “You drive a hard bargain. I
can’t tear myself away from you.”

“Is that an ‘yes’?” I asked.

“Yes,” she moaned.

“Good,” I said. “It’s settled. We have
an arrangement, and whenever you need me, I’ll come running, and whenever I
need you…”

“We’ll see, Drew,” Summer said.
“Whenever you need me, find me.”

Chapter
10

Summer

D
rew and I parted
after our so-called arrangement, and I went back to the Pad, eager to begin my
work for the Sociology class.

I got through chapter three but was
having a hard time understanding the theory behind chapter four and five. I
wasn’t sure if it was too early to call Cooper, to ask him if he’d started
reading, but I really wanted to get all my reading done before I forgot.

It was the secret behind me getting
straight A’s and me maintaining my scholarship at USC. I was studious.

I punched in Cooper’s number, and waited
for him to answer.

The phone rang and rang, and I was about
to hang up when he picked up. “Hello?” his velvety voice said. He sounded like
he was in the middle of something.

“Hi Cooper, it’s me, Summer!” I said
brightly. “Sorry to disturb you, um, are you in the middle of something? I
could call back.”

“No, no, it’s alright,” Cooper said.
“What’s going on?”

“I’m embarrassed by this, but I started
reading the chapters for our next Sociology class and I got to Chapter 4 and
couldn’t understand the theory. I mean, it’s supposed to be easy, right? But I
just don’t…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Cooper said.
“I just finished reading the chapters, and it wasn’t as easy as everyone
thought it’d be. So, what do you not get about it?”

“The concentric circles,” I said.

“Ah,” Cooper said. “That was
complicated. Got some time to go through it?”

“Yes,” I said. “It’s the one thing
holding me up before I can finish my assignment for Sociology. You see, I’m a
bit of a nerd…I need to get my homework done first thing after class so it’s
still fresh in my mind, and if I wait, I forget.”

“Sounds like me, Summer,” Cooper said
wistfully.

I stopped. Again, Cooper reminded me of
someone familiar just now. Nat? Aunt Sookie?

“Did you see how that diagram showed the
impending eco-growth?” Cooper asked.

“I saw it, but I don’t get it.”

“I have to show it to you in person so
you can see how it works,” Cooper said. “Do you want to set a time to meet?”

“I’m at the beach all day today,” I
said.

“Must be hard,” Cooper joked. “I’m
actually heading out there to take some photos. Which beach are you at?”

“Malibu. I’m a few blocks from Errol
King’s Oyster House. Want to meet there?”

“Good, ate there a few times before. I
know where it is,” Cooper said. “I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Okay,” I said, hanging up. For some
reason, I was smiling to myself after the call. Something about Cooper seemed
so comforting and familiar, he gave me the kind of feeling I felt when Aunt
Sookie was alive.

I changed into white shorts, a black
tank top, and got ready to go to Errol King’s Oyster House, which was across
the street from the beach and a short distance away from the Pad, but I took my
SUV, an inheritance from Aunt Sookie just in case I needed to take off from the
restaurant.

Arriving at the restaurant, I walked in
and found Cooper already seated at a booth, his text book from class laid out
in front of him. He was dressed in a grey non-descript t-shirt and grey cargo
shorts, with a dark zip-up hoodie covering his hair. “Hello Cooper,” I said,
sliding into the bench across from him. “Thank you for meeting me on such short
notice.”

“Hey Summer,” Cooper said. “Nah, it’s no
problem. I was heading out to the beach anyways. I needed to get some footage
in for my project.”

The waitress came by and handed me a
menu. I looked over at Cooper, and he took a sip from his soda drink. “I
already ordered,” he said.

“Oh, then I’ll have the fried oysters
and clam chowder,” I told the waitress. “And a glass of water.”

The waitress nodded, gathered my menu,
and walked away.

“So Cooper,” I said, “what kind of
project are you working on at the beach?”

Cooper smiled a slow smile that was
endearing and charming. “A documentary,” he said.

“You’re a filmmaker?” I asked.

“I want to be. I’ve always enjoyed
acting, but I’d rather work behind the scenes.”

“What a small world,” I said. “I have an
acting school I inherited from my aunt…Aunt Sookie’s Acting Academy.”

“No way,” Cooper laughed. “I took some
classes there when I was really young.”

“You were probably there before Aunt
Sookie got the Donovans and me into it.”

“Probably,” Cooper said. “I just
remembered what an amazing woman your Aunt Sookie was. She got me into acting
and now filmmaking because I had so much fun in her classes.”

“Oh Cooper,” I said, feeling happy to
hear about Aunt Sookie’s positive influence on a child who had since grown up
into a fine young man. “You don’t know how much that meant to me.”

“It’s all true,” Cooper said.

“Even better,” I joked.

“Yes, definitely better.”

“So, what’s the documentary about?”

“A bunch of things. It’s hard to talk
about it,” Cooper said. “I feel like once I talk about it before it’s finished,
I would lose some of the story.”

“I see,” I said, not really seeing. He
was a true artist, like Astor.

The waitress came by with his dish, a
lobster ravioli dish, and mine, the fried oysters and clam chowder.

“Smells delicious,” I said when she
left. I pushed my dish towards him and said, “You can have some. I like sharing
with people when I’m eating.”

“I noticed,” Cooper said, taking one of
the fried oysters and biting into it. “It’s good,” he said.

“I know,” I bit into one piece and felt
the juices run down my mouth. I stuck out my tongue as far as it would go and
slowly licked the juices from my chin and the corners of my mouth. When I was
done licking my lips, I noticed Cooper had stopped eating.

He was staring at me with such a wistful
expression…sad and soulful. There was something there, too, his aquamarine eyes
were gazing intently on my swollen lips with hunger.

It made my stomach flutter with the
intensity he was staring.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

Cooper shook his head. “No, nothing. I
was just thinking about how much you remind me of my ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay,” Cooper said. “That’s one
reason why I’m making this documentary. It’s a way for me to find closure. For
her sake and mine…we both need to move on.”

I could see how heart-wrenching it was
for Cooper to talk to me about her, and that made me want to reach out to him.
“Hey, if you want to talk about it, I could listen.”

“That’s very sweet of you,” Cooper said.
“I don’t really want to, but maybe you can help me through this by working on
the documentary with me? It’s actually for a film class project I’m doing,
too.”

“I’d love to,” I said.

“Thank you, Summer,” Cooper said. “This
means the world to me.”

“Anything to help,” I said.

“Now eat up, Summer,” Cooper said. “It
takes a lot of energy to think through some of the concepts introduced in
Chapter 4 of the text.”

I took another piece of fried oyster,
and felt the juices run down the sides of my mouth again. I must look like such
a messy eater.

Before I could lick it off or wipe it
away, Cooper’s fingers beat me to it, wiping the juice from my mouth with his
finger, then licking his finger clean.

Oh. My. God. That was so unexpected. Yet
so sexy.

“I’ve acquired a sudden craving for
oysters,” Cooper said, his voice low and sensual. “You don’t mind me having
another piece?”

“Not at all,” I said. “Have it all.” I
shoved the dish closer to him.

He picked up one piece, bit into it,
swallowed, and stuck out his tongue to lick the opening of the oyster with long
savoring strokes, while his eyes watched me.

The way he was looking at me made me
think he was thinking of licking me that way.

“Oh, Cooper,” I said, feeling my body
grow warmer. “I…”

“Delicious,” Cooper said, popping the
entire oyster into his mouth and chewing.

“Yes,” I said. There was some truth with
oysters being an aphrodisiac because how would that explain that sudden white
hot chemistry between Cooper and me.

“Do you need some fresh air?” Cooper asked.

“It is getting hotter in here,” I said.

We quickly finished the rest of our meal
and gathered our things. Without the waitress coming back with our check, we
headed to the cashier. I pulled out my wallet, but Cooper placed a hand on me,
indicating he would pay.

He pulled out his wallet, and opened it,
revealing a thick bunch of cash bills.

Without much thought, he handed the
cashier a hundred dollar bill and told her to keep the change.

Then he took my hand in his and walked
me out of the restaurant. Once outside, he didn’t let my hand go immediately,
but kept holding it. “Sorry, I needed some fresh air,” he said.

“I know.”

“So now we walk to the beach from here,
and we can talk about those chapters.”

He took his backpack from his car, and
held out his hand to me, which I took before leading us to an isolated area on
the beach.

From his bag, he pulled out a blanket,
laid it on the sandy beach, and sat down, bringing me down onto the blanket
next to him.

“Now that we’re nice and cozy,” Cooper
said, “Here’s the Sociology book, and the diagram of the Eco-center Push.” He
explained the diagram in the most clear and easy-to-understand style until I
understood it well enough for me to explain it to him.

When we were done going over the
textbook, I asked him. “What were you planning on doing at the beach today
before I called you?”

Cooper pulled out an expensive
professional camera, jumped to his feet, and started taking pictures of
everything at the beach. He even took a picture of me.

I lunged at him, trying to grab the
camera, while he kept dodging me. Then he began running down the beach with me
in hot pursuit.

He was fast, but I was faster. When I
finally caught up to him, he was grinning widely. “I knew you were fast,” he
said. “But I’m fast, and if you are able to keep pace with me and even outrun
me, you are pretty darn fast!”

“And quick like a stealth,” I said,
reaching behind him and around him to try to get his camera. I tickled him
under the ribs to get him to drop the camera into my hands. Then using his own
camera, I took snap after snap of him.

By the time we headed back to our cars,
we were sweaty but happy.

“Bye, Summer,” Cooper said, hugging me
as he walked me to my car. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye,” I almost kissed his cheek, but
pull back. What was I thinking? I’ve just met the guy yet I felt as though I’ve
known him for a long time.