Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Charlie looked at Jody in disbelief. "What?"

"I love you."

"No. No you don't. You love Cooper. I can tell."

"How can you tell?"

"Your body language. Your eyes. Your voice. Your everything."

"My everything is lying. I love you. That's what I realized this morning when I got all freaked out."

Charlie looked at her. She had hurt him too many times for this. He had taken her back all the other times, but he couldn't this time. He couldn't take it any more. "Ok."

Jody looked at him confused. "Ok? And?"

"And, I have to get back to my girlfriend." Charlie said. He went back inside and shut the door.

Jody stood there for a minute before going back to her apartment. Cooper was already there and she ran up to him. She kissed him and wouldn't let him pull away. After a few minutes or so, she finally pulled back.

"I love you." She tried to convince herself it was true.

Cooper smiled. "I love you too."

Jody looked into his eyes and knew it was true. He loved her. She smiled and kissed him again. He got up and ran into their room. He returned a minute later, holding a long, thin jewelry box. He opened it and pulled out a gold necklace. It had small purple and blue diamond charms all around it.

"Oh my God, Cooper! How, what, how can you afford this? We can barely afford to live here!"

Cooper smiled. "It's okay, really, trust me." He unlatched it and put it around Jody's neck. She looked beautiful.

Jody put her hand up to touch it. It was warm where Cooper had been holding it. She hugged him and he kissed her softly.

"I love you." Cooper said.

"I love you too."

A few days later Cooper was showing Jody some new steps for the ballet during rehearsal. Charlie was watching carefully, taking in the steps.

Suddenly Cooper said he had a very important announcement. He ran over to his bag and pulled out a small ring box. He walked back over to Jody. He got down on one knee and flipped open the box. A silver ring was resting inside in a little slot. It had a little heart engraved into it. Jody gasped.

"Jodianne Renee Sawyer, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

Jody saw Charlie storm out of the room out of the corner of her eye. She looked at the beautiful ring and then at Cooper. He was looking at her with his big, blue, happy eyes. She had never seen him so happy before. She smiled at him.

"Yes! Of course I will marry you!" Jody said.

Cooper slipped the ring onto her finger and hugged her. Everyone began cheering and Cooper picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he spun her around, happily. Jody laughed and when he put her down, she kissed him.

Later that night Cooper and Jody were sitting on their small couch, wrapped in each other's limbs.

"I love you, Jodianne Renee Sawyer." Cooper said as he ran his hands down her back and kissed her soft hair.

"I love you, Cooper Andrew Neilson." Jody said quietly as she kissed his forehead.

There was a knock on the door and Jody laughed as she untangled herself. She opened the door. When she saw who it was she stepped out into the hallway and and shut the door.

"Charlie, was are you doing here?"

"I, uh, what did you say?"

"I said, what are you doing here?"

"No, I mean to Cooper."

"Oh! I said yes." Jody squeaked as she held out her hand our proudly.

Charlie touched her hand tenderly before letting it drop back to her side. "But I thought you said that-"

"I know. I did. But you, Lara, I guess I just changed my mind or something. Look, Charlie, just forget I said anything ok?"

"But Jody-"

"Charlie, no. Just forget I ever said anything to you. And please, don't tell Cooper, ok?" Jody said. She went back inside and shut the door.

She sat down on the couch and wrapped herself in Cooper.

"Who was that?" He asked.

"A sales-man." Jody said cooly as placed her hand on his chest.

"Oh."

Jody kissed him and *scene fades out-hehe*

***** 8 months later**

Jody warmed up behind Charlie. He hadn't told Cooper anything and Jody was grateful. He hadn't said much of anything lately, actually. He had dumped Lara a while back and had gone through 7 or 8 girlfriends since. Jody was watching him slowly turn into what Cooper had been after Kathleen. This hurt her more than she could imagine, but she couldn't stop it.

After they ran through the new ballet, twice, Cooper said that the rehearsal would end early that day. Everyone left except Jody. Cooper was taking her out for an anniversary lunch. They had decided to be together at least a year before the wedding.

He took her out to a fancy Chinese restaurant that Jody loved. She never went there because it was expensive, so Cooper surprised her. After lunch- which lasted 2 hours- was over they went home.

Cooper decided that since they were going to get married in 3 months that Jody and his parents should meet soon. Jody agreed and Cooper called his parents.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mom!"

"Donald?"

"Uh, no, Mom. It's your other son, Cooper."

"Oh hi Honey! How are you?"

"Ok. How are you."

"Good, good, fine. So, are you still with Leslie?"

"Um, no Mom. Actually, that's why I'm calling. I wanted you to meet Jody." Cooper said. He couldn't believe that he hadn't told her about the wedding earlier. He had wanted to arrange all the wedding details with Jody, and no one else. He knew if he had told his mom, she would have taken over.

"Jody?"

"Uh, yes mom. She's my, um, girlfriend."

"Ok, Honey. When can we meet?"

"Any time. When's good for you?"

"Is this weekend ok?"

"Well, I'm busy Sunday night, but other than that, it's fine."

"Ok, Cooper. Can we come Friday night?"

"Well, that's usually my night with Jody, but ok."

"Ok, I'll see you in two days, ok?"

"Ok Mom, bye."

"Bye, love you."

"Bye." Cooper said and hung up. He turned to Jody.

"You didn't tell her we were engaged!"

"Yeah, I know. See, I wanna do this with you. I wanna make all the plans and stuff with you. If she knew now, she'd go insane and do it all herself."

Jody kissed him. "How sweet! So, when are they coming?"

"Friday."

"Night?"

"Yep."

"Ok." Jody said, and she kissed him again.

***** Friday Night- 7 PM *****

Cooper sat on the couch nervously. His mom had always been objective of his girlfriends. The only one she had liked before was Kathleen. Jody noticed and kissed him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

The doorbell rang and Cooper jumped up. He opened the door and his parents were standing there.

"Hi Mom, Dad." He said as he hugged them.