by J. D. Rivera
I had just finished my last class for the day and arrived home. I opened the door and went to the kitchen. Cooper was rummaging through the fridge for a snack. I hadn’t thought he even noticed me until I heard him ask, “Hey, Josh is having a party tonight. Do you want go?”
I placed my school bag on the counter and answered, “Sure, sounds good, but I promised Jen I’d help her study. You go on ahead, and we will be over later.”
He put the makings of a sandwich on the counter and pulled me in for a kiss. “How was your day, Babe? I missed you.”
I kissed him back, pulling him into a hug. He kissed the top of my head as I answered, “It was long, but my classes were pretty interesting. How was yours?”
He released me and began making his sandwich, “Good. I really like it there. The CEO had a talk with me today. He wants to create a position for me when I graduate. We even talked salary. It would be six figures.”
I stopped unloading my bag and stared at him for a second. This was amazing news. I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck and jumped up, wrapping my legs around him. He grabbed the back of my thighs.
I kissed him deeply, then gave him kisses all over his cheeks. “Cooper, this is amazing news! I am so very proud of you. I knew you would be awesome! Now you can tell your dad that you made the right decision by not going to medical school.”
“Thanks, Babe. It’s still such a shock, but it feels great, knowing I already have a job.”
I kissed him again and pulled back. “I’m so happy for you, and I love knowing your job is here, where I’ll be next year.”
At about nine o’clock, Jen and I finally finished studying and headed to Josh’s house. Josh was a friend of Cooper’s, whom he met his first year of college. We got along great, but I didn’t really consider him my friend; he was Cooper’s friend. He was a great guy, and I was glad that Cooper had him.
As we pulled up, I looked around; cars were everywhere. The house was an older, small brick home, close to campus.
We started walking up the sidewalk when I saw my brother Chris. “Hey, Chris. Is Cooper inside?” He grabbed my hand and kept walking in the direction he was walking––away from the house.
“What are you doing?” I asked him. “I’d like to go inside with Cooper.”
He stopped walking and turned around to face me. “You don’t want to go in there. I told him to leave.”
My stomach knotted a little, “What are you talking about? Why would you want Cooper to leave?” I was so confused.
“Jason showed up with some weed. I know you hate it when Cooper smokes pot, but tonight he’s acting funny. Maybe it would just be best if you left. No one wants to see y’all argue.”
Great. Just great. Instead of celebrating Cooper’s good news together, he was celebrating by getting high. “You’re right. I hate it, but I’ll keep my temper in check. We can talk about it tomorrow. Just let me go inside.”
Chris nodded and let go of me. We walked into the house; people were everywhere. As I searched the small house for Cooper, I realized I didn’t know anyone here. It was easy to search the small living room; no Cooper in sight. I made my way through all of the people to search the kitchen, but I still didn’t see him.
I turned around to search elsewhere and heard a familiar voice say, “Oh, look who it is: Cooper’s nag.”
My anger flared, but I managed to keep it under control. Jason knew I couldn’t stand him, and he was just trying to piss me off. It was working. I decided to not even turn around; I just kept walking.
“She’s not going to like what she finds in the bedroom,” I heard him say behind me. My stomach was in knots as I realized I had searched everywhere but the bedrooms and bathrooms. I could feel something like fear creeping into every fiber of my being. I needed to get a handle on it; I knew Cooper wouldn’t cheat on me. He loves me.
As I started to make my way down the hallway, I spotted Cooper coming my way. Since I didn’t know where any of the rooms in this house were located, I had no clue what room he just left.
He gave me a startled look as he said. “Oh, hey, Babe. I wasn’t expecting you this early.”
The sickening feeling was growing…especially when I looked behind him to see a very beautiful brunette walking up. They looked a little close—as though they just left the same room.
“What the hell? I can’t believe you would do this!” fell out of my mouth before I could get a handle on my temper. How dare he do this to me!
“What’s wrong? What did I do?” he asked.
I didn’t even answer. I stormed out of the house, walking as fast as I could. I didn’t try to find Jen or my brother. I just kept walking toward campus, cutting through alleys and lawns. I intentionally didn’t take the street because I didn’t want Cooper to find me. I needed to calm down before I faced him.
I made my way towards campus, knowing that I could walk around the different paths for a while. It wasn’t the safest thing to do, but it seemed better than alleys. I walked around for a few hours, just to think. I knew I jumped to conclusions, but with what Jason had said while I was walking away, I just reacted. I’m sure he just said that to get a rise out of me, but I couldn’t control myself.
I realized I only had a small jacket on, and the March night was freezing. I decided I needed to walk back to my apartment. I didn’t see Cooper’s car, so I assumed he had to still be at the party. That pissed me off a little bit. He couldn’t quit partying to come fix things with me? Why would he choose partying over us? I wished I could compete with the parties, but over the last few months, I felt as though I’ve become less important.
I began to place the key in the deadbolt when the door flew open. Cooper grabbed me and pulled me inside. “Don’t you dare walk out on me again. Do you understand that? I did nothing wrong, and you blew up on me and left for no reason.” He was in my face with the angriest look I had ever seen.
“You didn’t do anything wrong? I’ve asked you to quit smoking pot and you won’t. What room were you coming out of, Cooper? Because you sure seemed shocked to see me.” My temper was flaring back up, but I was keeping a good hold on it.
“What in the hell are you implying? That I was cheating on you?” He grabbed the lamp on the end table beside the couch and chucked it across the room. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
He was starting to scare me. He had never been violent in any way before. I needed to try to calm him down. “Cooper, please calm down. Can’t we just talk about this misunderstanding?”
He walked over to me, backing me up against the wall. He took his hand and punched the wall as hard as he could, right above my head, putting a hole in the wall. “Damn it. How can I calm down when you just accused me of cheating?” he said slowly in an icy, angry voice.
My body was trembling and I didn’t know what to say to calm him down. I’ve never been scared of Cooper before.
Suddenly, my brother, Chris, pushed the front door open. He was on Cooper’s back in an instant, pulling him off of me. “Don’t you dare touch my sister,” he said as he pushed Cooper to the ground and pinned him there.
Cooper protested, “I wasn’t going to touch Em. I would never hurt her.”
I didn’t really know what to think at that moment. The rational part of me believed him. He was very angry, destroying other things, but he didn’t do anything to me besides back me into a wall. The other part of me was scared as hell because this wasn’t the Cooper I knew. He was acting way out of character for him, even for being high.
Chris looked up at me. “Are you okay, Em?”
I nodded my head. “I’m fine. He didn’t touch me; just yelled at me. I’ve never seen him like this before. I’m not really sure what to do or think righ
t now.”
Chris looked back down at Cooper, who was still pinned. “His good buddy, Jason, gave him some pot that was laced. Everyone who smoked that shit tonight went crazy. I knew he left mad, so I had to come check on you.”
Of course, Jason the loser, gave him laced pot. I hated giving Cooper ultimatums, but I had to after tonight. I figured I would sleep at Chris’s apartment tonight to let Cooper sleep it off. In the morning, I would let him know that it was pot or me.
I looked down at Cooper. “I love you, Cooper. We both need to calm down tonight. I’m going to go sleep at Chris’s. I’ll see you in the morning.”
His eyes still looked a little on the crazy side, but I could see he wasn’t as out of it as he had been earlier. He looked at me. “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”
The morning couldn’t come quick enough. I slept on Chris’s couch, which might have taken the title of ‘World’s Most Uncomfortable Couch’. Chris was still asleep, so I called a cab to come pick me up to take me home.
I arrived home a short time later and unlocked the door. As I pushed the door open, I saw Cooper rushing towards me. He picked me up, hugging me tightly and put his head in the crook of my neck. “Em, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I would never hurt you – please believe me. I would never hurt you.”
I felt some wetness sliding down my neck. I knew he was crying, which made me start crying, too.
“I know what happened. Jason gave you pot that was laced. Whatever it was made you angry. I pissed you off by leaving the party angry. You got home before me, and when I walked in, you threw a lamp at me and punched the wall above my head.” I removed myself from his embrace to look into his eyes. “Cooper, I hate to do this, but I have to put my foot down. It’s me or the parties. No more partying, no more drugs, no more Jason. I’ll give you one more chance, but if you mess up––I’m done.”
“I’ll give up anything for you. I promise, I will not set foot into another party or smoke any more pot. I won’t have anything to do with Jason again. The only reason I talk to him now is to score some weed. I don’t even like the guy. I promise, I’ll do anything you ask. Please just give me another chance.”
It had been about a month since Cooper had smoked any pot and our relationship was in a good place. I didn’t even think about the violent side of Cooper that I had witnessed a month before. I knew that wasn’t really him; that was a person messed up on pot and whatever it was laced with.
I had just woken up and made my way to the living room. I was sitting on the couch, watching Saturday morning cartoons. I was a kid at heart, which was why my favorite movie was the The Lorax. I was pretty positive I’d watched it over a hundred times, if I was being honest.
“Hey Babe, you want some breakfast?” Cooper asked from behind me in the kitchen.
“No. My stomach is feeling a little queasy, I think I’m coming down with something.”
“Okay, well I’m going to make me some eggs then.”
“Okay.” I replied without looking backwards.
I could hear Cooper rummaging through the refrigerator pulling food out, then pulling out the frying pan from the cabinet. I was feeling okay, just a little queasy, until the smell hit me. I immediately jumped up from the couch, running for the bathroom located in our bedroom.
Cooper ran after me. “Em, are you okay?”
I made it to the toilet in time to barely pull the lid up before last night’s dinner came up. As I was violently vomiting into the toilet, a cold, wet washcloth was placed on my neck.
“Can I get you anything else, Em? Cooper asked.
“I’m fi… Oh my” was all I could get out before I started vomiting once again. The vomiting lasted for about fifteen minutes before I felt safe enough to leave the bathroom.
Cooper helped me up and stood beside me while I brushed my teeth, then helped me crawl in bed.
“I’m going to go to the store and pick you up some ginger ale, crackers, and soup. Do you want anything else?”
“Maybe some Tylenol if we don’t have any in the cabinet. My head is pounding now.”
He kissed the top of my head and told me, “Okay. I’ll be right back. I’m going to close the bedroom door and open the windows in the living room to get the egg smell out. Call my cell if you need anything.”
“Thank you, honey.” I said as I rolled over and fell asleep.
I woke up around two in the afternoon feeling as if nothing had happened. In fact, I felt a little hungry.
I threw the sheet off of me and sat up. I still felt fine so I got up and walked toward the door. I was a little scared to open it because I was scared the egg smell would make me sick again. I opened the door and sniffed. I couldn’t smell any lingering egg odor, and I was grateful.
I walked into the living room and found Cooper sitting on the couch with his laptop out studying. He turned around. “Hey Em. How are you feeling?” He asked.
“I’m feeling great actually. I’m starving. I think I’m going to make some mac ‘n cheese. Want some?” I asked as I passed through the living room into the kitchen.
He set his laptop and books on the coffee table, got up, and walked into the kitchen to stand behind me. Placing his hands around my waist, he kissed the back of my head. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. I was worried about you. Mac ‘n cheese sounds great. I was so wrapped up in studying and listening for you, I didn’t realize it was already two o’clock.”
I turned around and wrapped my hands around his neck. “Thanks for getting me some supplies.” I said nodding to the plastic bags on the counter, full of stuff Cooper had bought for me that morning.
“Not a problem.” He said before kissing my forehead.
I pushed out of his embrace to get the ingredients out of the pantry. “Do you want sausage in the macaroni? ‘Cause that sounds really good to me.”
He nodded his head. “That does sound good. I think we have some defrosted in the fridge.”
I turned, then opened the fridge. After looking all over the shelves, I finally spotted the sausage tube in the corner. “Yep. Lunch should be ready in a few minutes.”
Twenty minutes later, I went to the couch, carrying two bowls of macaroni and cheese with sausage. I handed one to Cooper, which he took out of my hands while closing his laptop.
He placed all of his stuff on the table. “Thanks babe. I feel like I should have made this since you were the one sick this morning.”
As I got comfortable on the couch, I said, “Don’t worry about it. I really feel fine, like I never even got sick this morning. Besides, you needed to study.”
We spent the rest of the day lounging around the apartment, studying and watching television, but I never got sick again. It was a relief to know I probably didn’t have a virus and had just eaten something bad.
The next morning I was feeling okay, but I noticed my stomach didn’t exactly feel right. Chris had called earlier wanting us to meet him for breakfast. I didn’t really want to go, but I agreed anyway.
As I climbed into Cooper’s SUV, I broke out into a huge sweat. It was all over my face and my hair was damp.
I looked over at Cooper and he did a double take at me. “Are you alright, Emily? You don’t look so good. Not to be mean or anything, but you’re sweating like you just ran a marathon or something.”
“I know. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Oh gosh, do I stink? You better tell me if I stink.”
He leaned over and sniffed me. “Um. I can’t smell anything. Do you want to run back inside to freshen up?”
“Let me at least run up and wash my face. I feel gross.”
He handed me the keys. “I’ll just wait here for you.”
I ran up the stairs to the door. I unlocked the door, pushed it open, and made my way to the bathroom. I was suddenly feeling really tired, almost as though I hadn’t gotten any sleep the previous night. I looked in the bathroom mirror to see I looked really pale and sick. I must’ve been coming down with so
me sort of virus.
I splashed some water on my face, then used my face wash. It made me feel much better. I quickly dried off and walked down stairs to the car. Cooper was sitting in his vehicle looking at his phone. Probably Facebook. I opened up my door and hopped in.
“Hey. You look better. Do you feel better?” He said as he threw his phone into a cup holder near the gear shift.
“Yep. I feel a lot better. I think I must be coming down with something. I don’t normally break out into a sweat.”
“Maybe this will be all of it. Maybe you’re actually getting over it.” He said with a shrug.
Cooper hooked up his iPhone to the stereo and we listened to a variety of artists as we drove over to the restaurant.
The place is a little hole-in-the-wall that was only open until noon but served the best breakfast in town. We were seated and I slid into the booth with Cooper following behind me.
“Hi there. My name is Lucenda, and I’ll be your server. What can I get you all to drink?” the short older lady asked as she placed rolled-up silverware in front of us.
“I’ll just have a water, please,” I said as Cooper and Chris both ordered Dr. Pepper.
As we were waiting for our drinks, we talked about our different finals that would be coming up in a month. I couldn’t believe that Chris and Cooper would both be college graduates in a month. It seemed like yesterday that they were graduating high school and leaving me behind in our hometown.
Our server brought our drinks, placing them in front of each one of us. I immediately took a drink because I was feeling really thirsty. Before she even had a chance to ask what we wanted to eat, I had finished my water.
“Hey sis, why don’t you slow down a bit? Wait for the food.” Chris said while laughing.
“Sorry. I’ve been thirsty all morning.”
“She hasn’t been feeling well. I think she has some sort of stomach virus,” Cooper told him.
“That’s okay, honey,” the server said. “I’ll bring you another one. What can I get you all to eat?”
