Authors: Suzanne D. Williams

Tags: #Young Adult, #Romance

Me & Timothy Cooper (10 page)

BOOK: Me & Timothy Cooper

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I gazed into his blue eyes, uncertain what came next.

“I love you.”

CHAPTER 12

I love Timothy Cooper, and Timothy Cooper loves me. He said so in front of the entire class. The bell rang minutes later, and he and I left together, his arm around my shoulder, my head
leaning back
on his chest.

I was stopped three times in the
hallway by
people telling me how
beautiful my report was, and
Mrs.Walker
said I’d gotten an A.
It wasn’t until we’d gotten to Tim’s car that I started wondering what he’d written about me.

You know me. I had to ask.
“So what did
you
write?”

He smiled. “You want to read it?”

I did, but he’d turned the paper in, so I figured I wouldn’t get to.

“Yes,” I said instead.

He reached over the seat and fetched his book; from inside he pulled a paper. “
Here.
”

I stared at it and stared at him. “Didn’t you turn it in?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes, but I made a copy.”

I unfolded the sheet and leaned back.
The vinyl was warm from the afternoon sun.

“Read it out loud,” he said.

I looked long and hard at his cramped handwriting before I began. “Taylor
Lawton
spent a lot of time looking at me and not speaking to me, and I don’t know why I ignored her for so long. Maybe it’s because I’m male.”

I laughed at him. He waved me on.

“She seems to blame a lot of things on males, and mostly she’s right. I did want to see down her shirt when she tried to get her phone.”

I started giggling, my hand over my mouth. He tapped the page.

“
She was right about that,” I continued. “
I also checked up on her because I’m male. I wanted to know where she lived and what she did after school.
I thought she was pretty.
When she sprained her ankle, I picked her up and
carried
her into my house because I am male. I was taking advantage of the situation for my personal pleasure.
I
then furthered my male intentions
by tricking her into swimming in the pool.”

I stopped short. “You tricked m
e
? I tricked you.”

He laughed. “It’s all in your perspective. In any case, you won that one. Didn’t you?”

I grinned. I did. He turned into a complete sap that day.

“Keep reading,” he said.

“What would I change about Taylor
Lawton
.
Nothing.
I love her quirks as much as
her perfections. To look at her, she
is
faultless
. To kiss her
is
sublime. To argue with her, complete frustration, yet I like her that way.”

“What would I keep about Taylor
Lawton
?
W
hat would I write about? The way her hair looks in the morning when she wanders into the kitchen. The way she laughs when I’m being
not funny at all. Her humility –
that
sh
e has no idea how great she is
or why anyone else would think so. Her gentle heart, that she held my hand as I told her about the worst day of my life.”

My throat closed up again, and tears pushed at my eyelids.

“Taylor
Lawton
is the best thing that ever happened to me, and someday I will make her my wife.”

I gasped. “You … you wrote that?
To … to the teacher?”

He smiled. “Yes.”

“Timothy Cooper!” I said, and I climbed into his lap, facing backwards, my back on the steering wheel.

He was laughing at me, but I didn’t care.

“You’re the best, the best, the best, the best.” And I kissed him right there, windows open, students milling about.

Me and Timothy Cooper making out in the school parking lot.

EPILOGUE

Two years, six months later

“So are you ready to find out?” Brianna smiled down at Tim and
me
from her position by the ultrasound machine.

Tim gripped my hand tighter. “I’m ready,” he said.

“Me too,” I chimed.

She lifted my shirt and pulled down my stretchy pants to reveal the mound that was now my belly. The gel was cold and squishy as she swirled it around.

“I can’t believe they let you have time off,” she said to Tim.

His eyes sparkled. “Are you kidding? They shoved me out the door.”

“
H
e’s been given a position here,” I chirped. I was especially happy about that. The thought of days and days without seeing him made my heart ache.
Boot camp had been hard enough.

“That’s super,” Brianna said. “What’ll you
be
doing?”

“Paperwork,” he laughed.

She moved the sensor around over my skin and settled on one particular location. The steady swish-swish-swish echoed through the monitors.

“Is that …?” I asked.

She nodded. “That’s your baby.” She
then
sli
d the sensor left and
angled it, her brows drawn up. I guess s
he was concentrating.

“Can you see what it is?”
My own heartbeat sped up;
I wanted to know so badly.

“Well, what do you want it to be?” she asked.

I turned my face sideways toward Tim, and he laid his
head
down on my shoulder. Nose-to-nose
, heads inverted,
we stared at each other. I loved this man more than the whole world and only cared the baby was his. He smiled at me.

“You are both so cute,” Brianna said. “Have you picked out a name?”

“Justin,” we both said at once.

Brianna chuckled.
No one was
surprised by that.
“And if it’s a girl?”

“It’s not.” Tim kissed my nose as he said it. “A man knows these things.”

“So it’s because you’re male?” I replied.

“Yep.”

“Well, could be you’re
right,” Brianna said.

I gave a squeal.
“A boy?
Really?”

She nodded. “It’s a boy, but that’s not all.”

My face stilled and my
pulse pounded
in my ears.
“
Wh
-
what do you mean?”

Tim lifted his head. “Yeah,
Bri
, what do you mean?”

“Parrots.
If you two get any more alike, you’ll be
be
come twins.”

The word shot through my being and into my toes.
“
T
wins?
You’re kidding, right?”

She shook her head. “They do train me to use these things, you know. You’re having a boy
and
a girl.”

I shot up on the table, gel sliding down onto my clothes.
“But … but we’re not prepared, and that means
twice as much stuff
. And I haven’t gotten a name picked
out,
and …”

Tim laid a hand over my mouth. He was way calmer than I was. “I have one,” he said. He lifted his hand and
smoothed my hair from my face. He pressed
me back flat on the table.

“
You …
you do?”

“
Mmmhmm
.”

“What would that be Mr. Cooper?”

“It’s Private Cooper,” he said. “And Mrs. Cooper, it’s the best name ever.”

Brianna began to clean up the mess she’d made on my belly.

“What
then
?”

I hadn’t any idea what he was thinking. We’d gotten married exactly two years after we first spoke, just like he said we would.
Half our old classmates attended. Lisa
Maiton
was my maid of honor. She and I became fast friends our senior year. And Eric was the best man.

I’d become pregnant within one month.
Me
and Timothy Cooper were having a baby. Now, here we were expecting twins. Our parents would flip.

He kissed my lips softly. “Southern.”

A smile spread wide on my face. “It’s perfect,” I breathed.

“I know,” he said. “I thought of it.”

And we all started to laugh.

FROM THE AUTHOR

I wrote this story as an exercise in short story writing. I had a general idea of a first person-third person meshed point of vie
w, something I have used before, and the perception to make it a YA (young adult) story involving teenagers.

Other than those two things, I did not plan one thing about this tale. It simply flowed out of me over the period of a week. I saw halfway through exactly what was happening and where it was going. So when I arrived at the scene where Taylor is forced to read her paper, I knew what she would say and how Tim would react.

I have said when an author is writing a scene, write what makes you uncomfortable. If you feel emotions, then the reader will as well. Well, I cried at that scene, bawled like a baby and then told my best author friend I did so. Some stories move you more than
others,
they touch a place in your heart that leaves you forever changed.

I am proud of all my work, each book or tale I have written. But this story goes down as one of my absolute best. I hope you agree with me.

God bless,

Suzanne D. Williams

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

Suzanne D. Williams is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and dachshund owner who loves photography and writing. She writes a monthly column for Steves-Digicams.com on the subject of digital photography. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors.

To contact Suzanne and read her latest work visit:
http://suzanne-williams-photography.blogspot.com

or
on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor

Also by Suzanne D. Williams:

Nonfiction:

Fearless
-
Suzanne's testimony of freedom from fear

http://www.amazon.com/Fearless-ebook/dp/B004T4LO5S/

Life, God, and Photography, Volume 1

http://www.amazon.com/Life-God-and-Photography-ebook/dp/B005UCWDMG

Short Stories:

It All Began With
A
Salad
(The Amanda Series
#1
)

http://www.amazon.com/Began-Salad-Amanda-Series-ebook/dp/B006FX7126

Playing With Fire
(The Amanda Series #2)