"text Carson"

His deep laughter continued deliriously. "Why? Who is he--"

"No one!" I yelled, switching the towel to my left arm since my right arm was wearing out. I stopped for a little bit, giving both arms a break since I had a weak upper body. I relied more on my legs. See, if someone were to kidnap me, I wouldn't stay to fight, I'd be running for my life.

"Ow!" He held both his arms above his head and crouched down. It would be really bizarre for someone to see this. Cooper was a full grown man and he was getting beat down by a small girl like me. I'm not usually a violent person, only to Cooper.

Some may think it's disrespectful to hurt or talk back to a man older than you buy six years but he acted like he was six years younger than me. So none of the parents really said anything, already used to our childish arguments.

"Who is he though?" Cooper asked, almost breathless from laughing. I can't believe this was my twenty-four-year-old cousin. Again, he's getting married! How would he act when with children?

"A guy from school," I answered briefly.

There's no way in hell I'm going to tell him who Carson was and I technically wasn't lying so I can still keep my conscience clean. Carson is a boy from school, I just didn't mention that he was popular.

"Who you text every day?" He looked up at me with a raised brow. He leaned back against the wall next to the door and crossed his legs.

"I do not!" I defended. "He texts me!"

"Same difference." He shrugged.

"No, it's not," I denied.

"Yes, yes it is."

"Coopernicus! Why were you snooping through my phone?" I shrieked. "That's personal!"

Who in the right mind would do such an evil thing? I raised the towel up again and began hitting him on his bare back. His guffaws were muffled when I started whacking him square in the face.

"Ow! Hey! Oi! Ow, stop!"

"Stop snooping through people's phones. It's not nice!" I shouted.

"Who's Carson?" He asked, not giving up. He's too stubborn and it's so annoying.

"A guy from school!"

"But you never talk to anyone," Coopernicus argued.

"I don't!"

"You've been talking to this guy," he accused.

"Yes, because he's approached me."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He rolled his eyes before looking at me.

"What?" I sighed, breathing hard, tired from all the hitting.

"I just remembered," Coopernicus said, his voice becoming serious. "You need a date for the wedding."

"No. I'm fine on my own," I defended. Why is it always compulsory to have a date to a wedding? I'm seventeen, not a married woman. And what is the point of having a date? Aren't you supposed to be there for the couple getting married?

"Honestly, I'm being serious. Do it for me. Find a nice guy," Cooper insisted and he sounded sincere. It's not that often that you hear him like that. He's always joking around and had a heart made of humour.

I sighed, giving in. "Fine."

"And I'm kidding. I know who he is. He followed my Instagram and Snapchat."

I hit him again.

"Ow." He pouted, rubbing his forehead.

I leaned against the wall, sliding down next to him. "So you know who he is?"

"Yeah. Some popular kid." He nodded. "No offence. I'm trying to look out for you. But why is he talking to you?"

I shrugged and looked at him. "That's what I've been thinking. He's been flirting with me and texting me."

"I'm sorry for saying this, but it's likely he's been dared to do it or something. A prank maybe?" Cooper smiled apologetically. He was just telling the truth and I knew that. I knew I wasn't the girl to be with a boy like Carson.

"That's what I thought, but he's been doing for four weeks now," I noted, folding the towel in half and then quarters.

"Strange," he added. "Maybe it's an extreme dare."

"Yeah, that's why I've tried to be careful. I've tried to reveal the least information I could," I explained, folding the towel into the smallest square.

"Good. Keep up with that. Don't avoid him or he'll try harder. When he sees he can't get anything from you, then he'll leave you alone," Cooper suggested.

"I'll do that, but he wants to introduce me to his friends," I buried my face in my palms. "Life is so confusing. I just want to know his intentions. He's unpredictable. It was so random. It's the middle of the first semester and he starts throwing pickup lines at me."

"Definitely a dare. Just play along and be boring. Don't give him a reaction. Act normal," Cooper suggested, taking the towel from my hands and opening it back up to wipe his wet hair.

"That's the thing. You know how bad I am when talking to people. I either say nothing or stutter random things." I bit my lip, fiddling with my fingers.

"Well, if that's you being normal. Then do that, just don't change. If you're nervous then stay nervous all the way through."

I nodded.

"Want to do something fun?" Cooper asked, draping the towel on his shoulders.

"Without Taylor?" I questioned, clearly confused. For the past few days, the three of us were almost inseparable, except for the heated makeout sessions which I tended to stay clear of.

"She's in the shower. It's fine."

"Okay. If you say so. What are we going to do?" I looked up at him, waiting for a reply.

He smirked. "Text Carson."

I stared at him incredulously. "You're kidding."

His grin widened and obviously, he was in no mood for jokes.

"No!" I argued. "That's just weird. And what happened to 'be normal'? I never text him first," I quoted, using my two fingers.

"Yeah..." He dragged out, "Let's be normal after we text him."

"No!" I whined. "Don't." But it was too late because he already grabbed the phone from my hands.

He swiftly typed in the code and opened Snapchat.

"How'd you know my passcode?"

"You're the only one who sets their birthday as the passcode." He rolled his eyes.

"I should probably change that then," I said.

"No, then it wouldn't be fun stealing your phone anymore," Cooper said casually as if stating the weather today.

I scoffed. "What a great cousin."

"Oh, I know I am." He winked. "Carson. Carson. Where are-- found him."

I bit my lip and my hands moistened. Stupid nerves.

"What should I type?" Cooper asked, turning his head to me.

"I don't know, you're the one who suggested we do this. Just say something that I would say." I lifted my hands up in exasperation. My cousin is so stupid. He should've thought of what to say before he clicked onto the app because now Carson can see that it says 'Iris is typing...'. But he changed my name, didn't he? I turned red as I thought of it.

"But you say nothing!" he exclaimed. Yes, I usually say nothing and that's a great idea.

"Exactly." I nodded.

"I'll just say 'Hi'. How's that?"

"Fine," I said, knowing if I didn't agree, he'd say worse things. Besides, I usually say 'Hi' don't I? And Coopernicus is wrong, I barely text him at all. It was more of a greeting and goodbye.

Cooper nudged me. "Hey. He's on."

"So?"

"So...we get to have a friendly conversation with him," Cooper answered, smirking deviously.

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He said hey."

"What are you going to say back?" I queried, leaning over so I could get a better view of my phone screen.

"What do you normally say?"

I smiled timidly. "Nothing?"

"Okay, we'll say nothing and see what he says."

I looked at the screen,

Carson: so how is ur week goinng?

Me: good.

Carson: ur staying with ur cousins?

Me: yep. he's super nice.

"Cooper!" I slapped him and he chuckled.

"What? I might as well make myself look good."

Carson: cool

Me: he says hi

Carson: he knows me?

Me: Yeah. He saw your Instagram and Snapchat.

"How'd you know to use perfect grammar?" I question Cooper. As far as I know, most teenagers used slang and abbreviations, but I always type full words.

"I read your whole conversation remember? I had to sound, or type like you so I needed inspiration," he explained and I hit up, before going back to the screen.

Carson: Oh, right. Cool Cooper right?

Me: Yep.

Carson: he seems cool.

Me: yeah he is a great cousin. very funny and sweet.

"Cooper! Stop trying to boost your ego!" I glared at him and he laughed.

Carson: thats good. i gtg, going to gym with mates. cya.

Me: bye.

Cooper shut of the phone and handed it back to me, "That was fun."

I scowled. "No it wasn't. Now he thinks I adore you."

"You do though, don't you." He faked a sweet smile and blinked multiple times.

"No, I don't."

"I couldn't pick up any suspicious behaviour from him but he could just be great at acting. And it's over text so you'll never know. He might have all his friends reading off his shoulder."

"Like you were doing?" I arched a brow at him. What we did was quite mean and I could feel the guilt spreading throughout my whole body. I'll just act normal as Cooper told me to.

"No..." he denied.

"Whatever. Go take a shower. You stink."

a/n: vote and comment x