Baited

Chapter 23. Rejection

Trying to deepen the kiss, it soon became obvious that he wasn't kissing me back. His lips were as soft as I had remembered but without him reciprocating, the kiss lacked the spark which once set my body aflame. I pulled back to catch his eyes with mine.

Silence fell between the two of us as Cooper just looked at me. I tried to analyze his gaze but couldn't read him like I usually could.

"It's me?" The realization overwhelmed me as the words left my lips. I'm why he's leaving.

"Why did you kiss me?" Cooper finally spoke.

"Is it not what you want?" I responded with a question. My inquiry was sincere and I felt a ping in my chest by the look on his face. Urgently, I continued. "If you don't want to tell our parents yet, you don't have to. And we can go back to what we were doing before they found out about the porn. I liked it, Cooper. I won't deny that. I still don't know what that means but-but" I felt myself begin to break down again but tried my best not to.

"Spencer, stop." Cooper attempted.

"Maybe you can help me figure it out." I talked over him trying to ignore his request for me to stop. "P-pa-please, Coop. Just st-st-stay!" The sobs returned, my body gave way and I fell to my knees in front of him. I held onto his legs as I cried and cried. "I'll do a-any.. Any th-thing. Don-d-don't le-leave me."

Slowly, he bent down to my level. My head low, tears falling freely, he lifted my chin up with his fingers. His eyes were even more glossy than before and had a pink tone to them.

"I don't want you like this, Spence. You need to figure out whatever's going on here." He reached out and touched my chest, where people assume the heart would be... but that's irrelevant at the moment. "Figure out what you want."

I grabbed his hand and held it in place. "I know I want you to stay." I whispered.

"I can't Spence. I can't be me under my parents roof and I want to be free to express myself. Ya, know?"

"Away from me." I threw his hand away from my chest and stood up.

He stood up and reached out to graze my arm. "Come on, Bro. It's only like a fifteen minute drive. I'll be around and you can come visit. It'll be my own little bachelor pad. Think of all the parties-"

"Fuck you!" The words slipped out of my mouth as I began to imagine him in his own apartment, away from the life we knew. I began getting angry again and Cooper took note of it.

He took a step back. "Don't do this. Don't be like this." He stated flatly.

"What about our plans? You and I? Working with my dad, taking over the business." My lip began to quiver again but I refused to break down. No. I was angry!

Cooper looked away from me with a guilt ridden face. "I-I." He paused. "Things change, Spence. I-I don't really know what's gonna happen tomorrow let alone a few years from now."

I shook my head no. "So that's it." I spat. "You-you." I took a deep breath in, feeling the tears coming on yet again but for a moment I was able to hold them at bay. "You're just going to walk away from everything we've-"

"I'm not walking away!" He yelled.

"Bullshit!" I yelled back.

Seeing this was not going well, we both took a moment to calm down.

"Cooper." I tried reasoning. "I am so. So. So. So. So, sorry for everything I said and how I acted these last few weeks. Sorry for not taking responsibility for my part in things. Sorry that-"

"Spence." He cut me off. "You've already apologized. You're my best friend. You don-"

"Then why are you leaving?" I may have raised my voice again.