"It's Zahara," Addi offered, saying her friend's name in more of a French accent and as sexy-sounding as she could. She'd told Zee she could do that! "Oh please, you know I don't really feel bad for him," she pointed out, clearly amused that Coop might have thought she was serious about that.
She smiled widely when he pointed that out. "Duh, of course there is! What do you think the main draw is, silly?" she moved her hand to poke him in the chest and then laughed as he dipped her again. She had to roll her eyes, though, when he talked about monogamy. "Oh please, as if there's any one person out there who could handle my crazy ways," she pointed out with another laugh.
It was all so familiar and wonderful, and her heart ached a bit for it to be like this again. Well, whatever Gen chose, Addi decided then and there that Coop was her honorary big brother for life, and with that in mind, she stopped dancing and leaned up to kiss his cheek again. "I love you, you know. And I'm so glad you're around again!" And she just had to hug him again, not able to help herself.
Cooper laughed, perking his brows at her. “What, are you sleeping with the letter too?” He smirked, “Excuse me, Zahara.” And when he said her name, he tried to mimic the way that Addi had done, it was terrible but it was just the annoying older brother type of thing Coop loved to do. He fully expected for her to retaliate. “Oh good, I’d have to ask if you’d bumped your head recently.”
It was at least the second, maybe third time, that the women in this family had done that to him. Stopped him so that they could hug him. He didn’t mind, he slipped his arms around her waist and squeezed her in a tight hug. Not tight enough to hurt, just enough to make her groan because he could. “I love you too, hopefully I’ll be staying around.” Coop figured that even if things didn’t pan out the way he wanted with Gen, that at least Hyperion and this Zahara were going to be together for a bit. So long as everyone stayed friends, he would at least get to stay around a little longer.
Addi rolled her eyes, though she was smirking still. "No, but I totally would if I thought she was interested and that Hype would be willing to share," she answered cheekily. Because, really, Zee was gorgeous and fun, but she was also definitely okay with just being her friend. "And don't do that again, Benjamin," she retorted to his attempt to mimic the way she'd said Zee's name.
"Hopefully?" Addi repeated skeptically. "Come on, you're not really going to give up, are you? And besides, even if Gen lives the rest of her life in denial -not that I think she will- I've decided you're stuck with me. It's done. I'll forever be your honorary annoying little sister." And the way she smiled showed just how proud she was to take on that role with him.
Cooper chuckled and just shook his head, “You never know, though I don’t see Hype wanting to share with you.” Cooper didn’t know if there was some rule about your best mate’s, ex-girlfriend’s, little sister. He was certain there was one out there somewhere, there was a rule for just about everything. He also really didn’t want to keep up with that line of thought, he didn’t want to see Hype with Addi. They were both a bit too much like family in his book. “I promise to not do that again, Adelaide.” And then he laid his own accent on thick then, giving her a cheeky smirk afterwards.
“Hey, I’ve got the confidence to win her back. Hopefully this meathead won’t somehow charm her while I’m playing the long game.” That was the only flaw in the plan as he saw it, Oliver Wood was an unknown element that he didn’t know how to factor in. He just had to hope that Addi was correct, that Wood wasn’t anything he needed to worry about.
At her admission to always being his honorary little sister, he chuckled and spun her around. “Does that meant all those text messages I’ve been wanting to send for months can finally be sent?” He had to ask, he wasn’t going to start harassing her without her permission. “I should also trade you for Gen, I’ve got to head back soon. I’ve got to try to get her to warm up to the idea of a goodnight kiss. I was thinking I'd ask to take her for a walk, maybe walk me to the apparation point?”