Baited

Chapter 17. You

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." He held his hands up as though surrendering. "I know this sucks, Man. Like big time... but you don't have to snap at me. I was just trying to-"

"Trying to what?" I stood up from the bed, anger coursing through my veins. "To make a joke about ruining our lives?" I pointed an accusing finger at Cooper.

His defenses went up as did he; meeting my stance. "I let you, trying to blame this all on me slide, Spence! Cooper's voice began to raise. "But this is NOT all on me. It took the both of us to make that video. And if I recall, it was YOU..." He pointed his finger back at me. "You who agreed to it after they told us the girl couldn't make it."

I felt a headache coming on as my blood began to boil. Raising my voice to meet his, "It was your idea to make the porn. Your stupid idea from the very start and you're clearly mistaken if you think I was the one to agree to a gay scene." I spat back.

Cooper threw his hands in the air and swirled his body in a circular motion before falling back onto my bed. His back collided with the mattress and held his hands over his face. "I-I" He began but stopped himself. He then sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed in a seated position.

Taking a deep breath in and slowly letting it out, he looked up at me with sad eyes. "I don't want to fight with you, Spencer." He said. "Today is our last day to enjoy the summer and then we start work before community college. Why don't we call Jess and-"

"You think I want to see anyone today? You think I'd be up for that?" I cut him off, astounded that he would suggest such a thing.

Cooper did his best to remain calm. He stood up once more and approached me. "I just thought" he began, his arms stretched out to me as he stepped forward. "It might be better if we got out of the house. Maybe take our mind off of all this." As he finished his sentence I felt his arms begin to embrace my body.

I brushed his arms away and stepped back, keeping some distance between us. I all but coiled away at his touch and the hurt in his eyes did not go unnoticed. I saw it but pushed the pain I felt knowing my actions hurt him, deep down inside.. Something I assumed I would be doing a lot of in the near future.

"Pl-please, don't touch me." I muttered, almost hoping he didn't hear me but he did.

"Spencer." He whispered and reached for me once more. Again, I stepped back a bit further. "Don't push me away. Ple-" He begged.

"Just stop!" I all but screamed. He was so taken aback by my sudden outburst that he took a step back, furthering the distance between the two of us.

"S-stop?" He asked and I could see tears threatening to escape his eyes. "Stop what, Space?" His voice was timid and afraid. Afraid of what I might respond with.

I stayed quiet for a moment to collect my thoughts. "This has to stop." I began pacing the room, passing Cooper again and again as I did. He just stood there looking lost. "We can't-" My mind was going into overload, thinking of all the ways we could possibly fix this but most of all, how we could prevent doing any more damage to our families. "Things must go back to how they were. Yes. They must. We're not gay. This will all blow over if we just-"

"Spencer. Please don't." Cooper cut me off, pain in his voice. "Last night was-"

"A mistake!" I finished his sentence. "It all was. What the fuck were we thinking? We could have ruined our families. Did you see the look on their faces? We're practically brothers." I continued pacing the room, vomiting out every thought that came to mind. "Incestuous and gay. That's what they're thinking. We need to fix this. We'll get girlfriends and-"