Page 32 of Spark
“Well, I’m not responsible for casting this show,” Cooper says with another mischievous smirk.
“And like I said, I don’t normally comment on the meaning of my lyrics.
” He leans forward. “But as a general matter, and not in relation to anything in particular, I don’t believe in coincidences.
” He winks at that, and the crowd explodes with laughter.
“ Motherfucker ,” I whisper to Laila sitting next to me.
“What was that, Ruby?” Sunshine asks sweetly. “I didn’t catch that.”
I force a smile. “I said, ‘How lovely.’ That’s a lovely way to go through life—believing that everything you do, even the hurtful things, are part of some master plan.’”
Another loud reaction rips through the large room, during which I catch Reed’s approving eye at the back of the room.
Just this fast, it’s now obvious from Cooper’s body language that he’s not going to stick to the script, exactly like Reed said.
Well, guess what? That warning shot let him know I’m ready for him.
A reporter shouts, “Ruby, do you believe in coincidences?”
Seems like a softball. “Sometimes. Sometimes not.”
“Was it a coincidence you kissed Kendrick passionately in a video while Cooper’s song played in the background? Or did you two put that song on specifically—maybe to send Cooper a message?”
I take a deep breath. I’m not ready to go for the jugular yet, since it’s still possible Cooper will toe the line.
“That video was recorded at Kendrick’s birthday party without our knowledge, and the song just so happened to be on.
People on the internet assigned meaning to the whole thing, but it was just the song that happened to be playing. ”
“Well, yeah, we didn’t put the song on,” Kendrick interjects.
“But speaking for myself, I saw someone recording a video and figured he’d post it or send it to Cooper.
So, I admit I particularly enjoyed kissing Ruby in that moment, because I knew Cooper would probably see the video and feel like I was flipping him the bird, which I totally was. ”
As the room explodes, I stare at Kendrick, my mouth parted with surprise.
We talked about our game plan, both between ourselves and with Eli, and clearly decided we wouldn’t say a word to confirm I’m Ruby Tuesday, even though it’s obvious I am.
Also, we said we’d let our kiss speak for itself and not expressly confirm our relationship status. So, what’s he doing?
“Why on earth would you want to flip off Cooper?” Sunshine asks Kendrick with a bat of her eyelashes.
I glare at Kendrick, warning him not to go off-script again, but he’s not meeting my eyes .
“Because Cooper named the girl in his shitty song ‘Ruby Tuesday’ as clickbait.”
“Clickbait?” Sunshine gasps out, like she’s aghast at the idea. “Whatever do you mean?”
Kendrick shrugs. “Ruby’s in a high-profile band. So, Cooper obviously did whatever he had to do to market his new song.” He finally looks at me. “The truth be damned.”
I sigh with relief. That wasn’t what we planned for him to say, but it was even better.
“I was also pissed at Cooper for dragging me into the conversation about the meaning of his lyrics,” Kendrick continues. “My relationship with Ruby, whatever it might be, is nobody’s business. So, Cooper inviting the world to speculate about us wasn’t cool of him. Clickbait, once again.”
The room is atwitter.
“Sounds like there’s some bad blood between you and Cooper,” Sunshine observes with glee.
“Cooper’s not my friend,” Kendrick says evenly. “I’ll leave it at that.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Cooper mutters.
“Good,” Kendrick says. “Because I don’t like being friends with whiny little clout-chasing bitches.”
As the room explodes, once again, I rub my forehead. So much for us focusing on our shared love of music. And so much for us not confirming we’re the muses for the song.
“Oooh, things are getting a bit heated between these boys,” Sunshine purrs. “My goodness, tempers are flaring, aren’t they?” She smiles sweetly at Cooper. “Why do you think you two aren’t friends, my dear?”
“It’s hard to be friends with a guy who pretends to be best friends with your girlfriend so he can steal her at his first opportunity.”
In response to Cooper’s comment, Kendrick does something that wakes up every hair follicle on my body: he slides his big palm onto my thigh and leaves it there for everyone, including Cooper, to see. In context, the gesture feels like he’s saying, “Mine, mine, mine.”
“Nobody stole me,” I choke out, placing my hand on Kendrick’s forearm as he continues holding onto my thigh.
“I’m a person, not a pack of gum at 7-Eleven.
But you know what? Let’s be real here. With both of these men sitting here, we can all plainly see one is a man, and the other is a toddler, so I don’t think anyone would blame me if I did what Cooper claims. I didn’t, by the way.
My hand to God. But would you blame me if I did? ”
As the crowd loses it, I search for Reed’s dark gaze at the back of the room again, and when I find it, he flashes me a wink that says, “Nailed it.”
There’s some more back-and-forth, during which Cooper seems shell-shocked, and Kendrick seems super-charged. But finally, Sunshine starts wrapping things up by extolling the exciting things to come this season.
“Excuse me,” I say, when Sunshine seems like she’s wrapping things up.
“Sorry, but I don’t want this press conference to end without me thanking Kendrick for having my back here and everywhere else.
” I smile at Kendrick. “Thank you, babe. I didn’t have this kind of unwavering support in my prior, extremely brief, relationship, so it means the world to me. ”
With that, I lean in to kiss Kendrick’s cheek, but he turns his head and tenderly kisses my lips.
It’s a brief smooch—one delivered with a gentle touch of his lips to mine, followed by the smallest hint of his warm tongue.
But it rocks my world and makes me want to kiss him again and again.
Only more passionately, like at his birthday party.
And, for the first time ever, in private.