Page 25 of Falling Like Leaves (Bramble Falls #1)

The last time I was in Cooper’s room, I was kissing him.

But I try not to think about that as we lie on our stomachs next to each other on his bed.

“?‘I’m orange and roundish and can be found in a patch,’?” Cooper says.

I stare at him.

“What?” he says.

“That’s way too easy! I’ll add it to the family-friendly list, but we’re supposed to be starting with the challenging ones so we can get them out of the way before we get too tired to think.

” I type his riddle into the document. “Try something less obvious, like ‘I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?’?”

“Doesn’t everyone get shorter when they get older?”

I frown. “It’s a candle, not a person.”

“Ah, yeah, okay. Maybe we can put a hint with it, like something about being in a jack-o’-lantern.”

I make a note. “I’ll consider it, but then it’ll probably have to go on the easy list.”

“All right, let’s see. ‘I’m the color of shit, and I fall from trees. What am I?’?” Cooper says, grinning at me.

“A stick?” I guess. “A twig? A branch? An acorn?”

“A brown leaf, Ellis,” he says.

“Wow. You actually really suck at this,” I tell him with a laugh.

“It’s a perfectly good riddle. Not my fault you couldn’t solve it.

” He rests his forehead on his arms and talks into his comforter when he says, “Okay, how about ‘I have two legs but can’t walk. I have a mouth but can’t talk.

The sun doesn’t bother me, but I wear a hat. I scare birds, but I’m not a cat.’?”

I slap his shoulder. “That’s a good one!”

He looks up and flashes his dimple at me. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I force myself to look at the computer and type his scarecrow riddle. “What about ‘What asks but never answers?’?”

He draws his eyebrows together. “I have no idea.”

“An owl.”

“That better be going on the challenging list,” he says. “Are you actually expecting people to find an owl?”

“They don’t have to find a living owl. They can get creative. I know for a fact there’s a taxidermy owl in the hardware store and a painting of one in the arts-and-crafts store.”

“Oh, you’re right.” He grins. “Okay, cool. We definitely have to people-watch on Saturday. Everyone’s frustration will be entertaining.”

“You’re heartless,” I joke. But really, my stomach is doing somersaults because we’re making plans to hang out on Saturday.

An hour and a half later, my eyelids are heavy, but there’s still so much to do.

“I’m going to go grab some snacks to keep us awake,” Cooper says.

“Yeah, okay,” I say. “That’s probably a good idea.”

He slides off the bed and leaves the room, and I lay my head on the blanket and rest my eyes.

Just for a second. Just until he gets back.

An unfamiliar alarm stirs me from my heavy sleep. I groan as I pat the area around me, looking for the source of the wretched sound so I can throw it against the wall.

But my hand lands on something soft. A shirt. A back. A person. My eyes shoot open.

Outside, pale morning sunlight tints the sky a muted orangish-pink, and I’m still in Cooper’s bed.

My mom is going to kill me. Like, actually murder me.

Where the hell is my phone?

“What are you doing?” Cooper rasps.

“I need my phone. I can’t believe I slept here,” I say. “I have to text my mom.”

“Relax, Mitchell,” Cooper says, setting his hand on my arm.

I pause to look at him. His eyes are bleary, and he has pillow creases etched into his cheek.

And still he steals my breath. “I texted Naomi last night to tell her you’d fallen asleep while working on the scavenger hunt.

She said she’d tell your mom. Everything’s good. ”

I shake my head as he turns off his alarm. “There’s no way my mom was okay with me sleeping at a boy’s house.”

“I’m not just any boy, you know,” he says with a sleepy crooked grin.

It’s true—Cooper is beloved and trusted by everyone in this little town. Plus, Aunt Naomi is friends with his parents, who—

“Oh my god, where are your parents?”

“Probably downstairs,” he says.

My face heats. “I’m going to have to climb out your window.”

Cooper laughs. “They know you stayed.” I groan, and he gestures at the doorway. “It’s okay. I left the door open. That’s the rule.”

“Oh? Do you have a lot of girls spend the night?” I ask, as if I want to know if the answer is yes.

Cooper blushes. “Well, no. You’re the only one.”

I hold back a smile, caused partly by his cute bashfulness and partly by the fact that it makes me strangely happy that I’m the only girl who’s slept in his bed overnight.

“Okay, well, I’d still rather not face them,” I tell him as I reach for my laptop, which is open but asleep. “I have to get going. Maybe I can finish this if I skip first period. I’ll probably miss a pop quiz, and if I’m not there, Jake will definitely fail, but—”

The laptop wakes as I pick it up, preparing to close it and pack it into my bag.

What. The. Hell.

There are twenty more riddles and clues written in the doc. Both lists are complete.

My head whips to Cooper, who’s sitting there watching me. “You stayed up and finished this?” I ask him.

“It didn’t take that long,” he says.

A lie. We weren’t even close to finished. It took us two hours to come up with the ten we had.

“I can’t believe you did this.”

He sits up with his back to me and lifts his arms over his head, stretching and yawning. “It isn’t a big deal.”

But it’s a big deal to me. And even though I shouldn’t, I throw my arms around him, wrapping him in a hug from behind. His body stiffens. “Thank you,” I say. He slowly lowers his arms and pats my hands, which are splayed across his stomach.

“No problem,” he says. “Let’s go make bacon.”

“On a school day?” I ask, letting go of him. “There isn’t time for bacon.”

He stands, and I pack up my stuff. “There’s always time for bacon.

You can email that list to Naomi while I cook.

Then I’ll drive you by your house so you can change.

” When I don’t budge, he sighs. “Ellis, I set the alarm early enough that we would have time to eat. But if you don’t get moving, we won’t have time. ”

I don’t ask any more questions. Instead I do what he says because I’m honestly astounded right now. He finished my project and considered breakfast.

Downstairs, Cooper’s parents are sitting together at the kitchen table eating cereal and toast. I can’t even remember the last time my parents sat together for a meal. Or, really, for anything—other than to tell me they were taking time apart.

“Ellis! So good to see you again,” Cooper’s mom says.

My cheeks flush. “You too, Mrs. Barnett.”

“Coop said you were working on the Harvest Hunt?”

“I was.” I glance at Cooper who’s setting a frying pan on the stovetop. “But Cooper finished it for me.”

“I hardly did anything,” he says.

“Come sit,” his mom says. “And please, call me Amanda.”

I sit next to her and take my computer back out of my bag. “Okay.” I open it and try to relax, but my leg won’t stop bouncing. I hate making bad impressions on people, and sleeping in Cooper’s room does not look good. “Sorry about accidentally spending the night.”

Cooper’s dad waves me off with a small laugh. “It’s okay. I can’t tell you how many nights Amanda has fallen asleep in the middle of working on things for the Falling Leaves Festival.”

I look at her. “Really?”

“Oh yeah. It’s an exhausting time of year. There’s always so much to do. We really do appreciate you taking on the scavenger hunt, though.”

“No problem.” I attach the document and send it to Aunt Naomi. Then I put my computer away.

While the bacon sizzles behind me, Cooper’s parents tell me all about next week’s Autumn Spice Sprint—which sounds way too athletic for me—and the Boots and Blankets Bonfire that night. And I tell them all about Cooper’s awful attempts at fall riddles, some of which have them cracking up.

“So, what are your college plans? It’s just about application time,” Cooper’s dad says.

“I’m going to Columbia,” I tell him with confidence. “I’ve already started filling out the application.”

“Oh!” Amanda exclaims. “So you and Coop—”

“Time to go, Mitchell,” Cooper says, swooping in behind me and practically tossing a plate at me. “Bacon for the car.”

“Okay.” I toss my backpack over my shoulder as I stand, then I grab my plate. “It was nice talking to you guys. Sorry again for crashing here.”

“We hope to see you again soon, Ellis,” Amanda says. “Tell Naomi I said hi.”

Cooper and I hop into his truck and scarf down our bacon on the short drive to Aunt Naomi’s.

He waits in the car while I change my clothes and brush my teeth.

My reflection makes me flinch, but I don’t have time to put on makeup.

I wipe the mascara from under my eyes and throw my hair into a messy bun.

I groan. I cannot go to school like this.

I grab my makeup bag—maybe I can put some on in the truck—and run back downstairs, where Mom is sitting in the living room.

“Hi, Mom. Bye, Mom,” I say as I open the front door.

“Wait a second!” she says.

The moment I’ve been dreading. “Yeah?”

“I heard you slept at Cooper’s last night.”

“I accidentally fell asleep working on the scavenger-hunt stuff.”

“Uh-huh…” She stands. “Well, we’ve never really talked about it because I’ve never needed to, since you were so hung up on school rather than boys, but… you know to use a condom, right? Do you need me to show you how—”

“Oh god, Mom!” I scream. “Please stop talking right now.”

She worries her lip.

“It wasn’t like that,” I say. “You don’t have to worry. And if anything ever comes even close to that, then yes, believe me, being friends with Fern has meant learning everything I need to know. Don’t worry.”

She nods. “Okay. Good. Please don’t let it happen again.”

“Okay. Bye.” I make a run for it before things get any more awkward.

“You good?” Cooper asks when I get in the car.

“Uh, other than the fact that my mom wanted to demonstrate how to use a condom, yes.”

Cooper’s face turns a brighter shade of red than I’ve ever seen. “I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that.”

“Perfect. Let’s go.”

Cooper’s sleeping in calculus.

I try to be inconspicuous when I snap a photo and send it to him with a message that simply says, slacker .

His phone must startle him because his eyes shoot open. He pulls it out of his pocket and holds it under his desk to check the message. His dimple makes an appearance as he reads it and types something.

My phone lights up on my desk.

Summer Cooper: well if someone hadn’t kept me up all night

I glance back at him, his ears pink.

Summer Cooper: shit I didn’t mean it like that. obviously.

Summer Cooper: I’m too tired for this conversation. Please ignore me.

I snort.

Half the class—and Ms. Hanby—turns to look at me.

“Would you like to share what’s so funny about derivatives, Ms. Mitchell?” our teacher says.

A thin coat of sweat dampens my face instantaneously. I’ve never gotten in trouble in class. Ever.

“Nothing,” I say. “I was just… sneezing and coughing at the same time. Body malfunction.”

Someone laughs behind me. Cooper.

I press my lips together so I don’t laugh again.

“Well, perhaps you should see the nurse if it happens again,” Ms. Hanby says, glancing from Cooper back to me.

I nod. “Will do.”

Ms. Hanby goes back to walking us through the problem on the board, and I scratch the side of my face with my middle finger.

I grin to myself as Cooper’s muffled laughter fills my whole chest and nestles itself between my ribs.