ONE
ROXANNE
"Hey, there's an official envelope at my apartment for you. Is something wrong, Roxy?" Kiki asked her sister as she gazed at her intently, waiting on an answer.
"No, no. Nothing's wrong, I just ah.. I had a test done?"
"Okay, well, what kind of test?" Kiki asked.
Roxanne glanced around the room they were all rehearsing in for the Nurses Ball and as soon as she saw that their mother was busy and distracted, she leaned in and muttered quietly, "A DNA test. So I could find out who my father actually is. I've been thinking and honestly, it's time. I just gotta rip off that bandaid, ya know?"
Kiki smiled and hugged her sister. "You'll feel relieved just having an answer, trust me. I know I did."
Deep down, Roxanne knew that if the test came back and it revealed anything other than what she wanted it to reveal, she wasn't going to feel relieved at all. ,,And most likely, Roxanne found herself thinking, you'll just go on with your life and forget you ever took it." which is what she fully intended to do. It was the biggest reason she hadn't told anyone she was taking it in the first place, not even the man she tested her DNA against, Franco Baldwin.
"Yeah, we'll see." Roxanne sighed and stretched, yawning a little. Kiki gave a soft laugh and shook her head, nodding in their mother's direction. "I guess the sight of the guys performing a few minutes ago put her sex drive into overdrive and now she's letting cougar mommy out to play, huh?"
Roxanne glanced over, dismissive at first until she realized exactly who her mother happened to have cornered up currently.
Coop Barrett, one of the guys who worked at the station. A guy that she admittedly wouldn't kick out of bed and also, the same guy she'd let escort her home from the new nightclub just ten hours ago.
The one she always found herself flirting and exchanging banter with back and forth a lot lately too, come to think of it.
Normally, Roxanne would've used the whole thing as a sign to leave the guy alone and throw her defenses up whenever he came around again because of past experiences with her own mother and a boyfriend or two in her later teenage years, but not this time, apparently. Before she could stop herself, she was on her feet and heading over to the corner of the room the two stood in, clearing her throat from behind her mother.
"Mother. I see you're in cougar mode this afternoon."
Coop glanced from the leggy blonde to Ava and back at the leggy blonde. He bit his lip and chuckled quietly, trying to assess the situation and decide whether it'd be smarter for him to just disappear for a few minutes or stick around, maybe try to keep the damage to a minimum between mother and daughter.
Ava sighed, nodding to the leggy blonde as she told Coop, "Cooper, this is my oldest. Roxanne, this is Cooper."
The grin that came to the blonde's face had Coop wondering what she was up to. He already knew what Ava Jerome was up to, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out when Ava was sexually interested in a guy, she tended to lay it on real thick. It was something Coop found off-putting, but given that he could clearly see how stirred up the blonde was about it, and given their prior interactions whenever they met randomly around town as of late, Coop got the feeling that maybe he'd better make it a little more obvious which of the two women he was actually interested in.
The jealousy flared up before Roxanne could stop it. Maybe that's why she positioned herself right between her mother and Coop. Molding herself against him in the process as she glanced up at him with a teasing little wink as she mouthed to him that it'd be in his best interest to play along. "Actually, mother.. We've already met. Quite a few times." Roxanne muttered, lost in the depths of his eyes and not actually bothering to turn and face her mother as she spoke.
She watched the subtle bob of his throat when he swallowed hard as she walked her fingers up and down his bare chest, squishing herself even closer to him. Coop's arms slipped around her waist and he mouthed back, "Play along, huh?"
Roxanne nodded and responded, "It's for your own good. Trust me when I say this." as her stomach fluttered lazily. Somewhere in the back of her mind, it occurred to her that not only was she jealous, but this was kind of a subtle test for the guy she was practically draping herself across at the moment.
If he responded to her mom's advances like he was interested in Ava or he'd crawl into bed with her at some point, Roxanne would know and she could adjust future interactions with him accordingly. Go back to keeping him at arm's length again.
Ava's throat cleared. "Is there something you wanted, dear?"
Roxanne whirled around. She kept herself pressed against Coop, almost as if she were forming a shield in front of him. Ava bit her lip and gave Coop one of her flirtatious apologetic grins and Roxanne scoffed at her mother, speaking up. "I'm the one who should be asking you that considering you're over here, bothering the man who was sweet enough to take me home last night."
Coop's hand settled in the curve of her hip and Roxanne played into it, completely melting against his body. He muttered lazily against her ear, "You're the one who told me to play along, princess. I'm just doin' what I was told." because he must have felt the way she tensed up a little when he grabbed hold of her hip the way that he had. Roxanne could feel herself turning to putty because of the way his hand felt on her hip, but she did her best to keep a straight face, staring down her mother with an amused smirk.
"I didn't realize you two were… Together." Ava muttered, disappointment playing briefly in blue eyes as she gazed at her oldest. The rift between them would never be fixed at this rate and Ava fully accepted that it was all her fault for that.
She hated the fact that her own daughter had spent a good chunk of her life turned against her, practically from birth. She also hated the fact that no matter what she seemed to do, she just couldn't win with Roxanne.
"Mother, you should probably go."
Ava turned and walked away, leaving Roxanne and Coop standing there, the heavy tension seeping back in and sucking all the air out of the space between them. Roxanne took a few seconds to make sure her mother was really gone for the time being and to work on controlling herself and when she'd gotten herself under control again, she turned to face Coop.
She stepped away a little and Coop shook his head. He stepped close all over again, boldly. Smirking at her all the while.
"What's that look for, huh? I was doing this to save your ass, sir."
COOP
Coop chuckled at the statement she made. He mulled it over. He wasn't an expert, but she wasn't exactly the hardest woman on the planet to read, either. And he trusted his gut well enough to go with what it was telling him just now during the whole confrontation.
She was jealous.
The fact that she was jealous led him to further realize that all the back and forth flirting and banter between them was her way of hinting as subtly as possible that she was into him instead of just coming out and admitting it.
He chuckled to himself again. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he gazed down at her. "Saving my ass, hm? See, I don't think that was your only reason for comin' over here just now. But that's okay, princess. I get it."
Roxanne rolled her eyes and gave a dry laugh. "Oh, make no mistake. That little show just now? It only happened because my mother is the actual worst mistake a man can make. There is no other reason, despite what you've convinced yourself."
Coop closed the distance between their bodies. Someone put Take Me To Church on to start a rehearsal and Coop chuckled, holding her gaze. Practically daring her to break eye contact. "I haven't convinced myself of anything, princess. Maybe you need to realize you're not as good at hiding things as you think."
His hand skimmed her side, settling on her hip all over again. Squeezing a little and he watched as her pupils grew and when she melted against him just the slightest, he smirked and backed away a little. The pout that formed on full and deep red lips before she could censor it was all the confirmation he needed.
"Yeah, that's what I thought, princess." Coop teased gently, biting his lip as his eyes settled on her mouth and all he could think about was crashing his own mouth against it. Roxanne stepped a little closer, a hand settling on her hips. "You're impossible." she shook her head, laughing softly as she said it. "You don't have an ego at all, do you sir?"
"What's with the sir, princess? I got a name. Use that."
"I'd rather not."
"Because if you use my name, that'll make it a little too personal for ya, huh?" Coop mused, watching the flicker of warmth in her eyes as she stammered for a second or two but finally admitted in a whisper, "Kind of. I did my good deed, I'm going now." as she turned and walked away.
Coop's eyes glued to her body as she went and he let out a low whistle, fanning himself as he shook his head. He chuckled all over again when she managed to collide with Harrison Chase.
But he tensed up just slightly when Harrison started to talk to her.
From beside him, Logan taunted with a laugh, "What'd I tell ya? I told ya he's been eyeing her too, buddy. Believe me now?"
"Oh, that's just not gonna happen, kid. Nope." Coop muttered to himself as he made his way over, clearing his throat from behind Roxanne and addressing Harrison directly. "I thought we talked about this earlier, kid?"
Harrison glared at him and Coop folded his arms over his chest, smirking right back at him. Roxanne was caught in between them and she grumbled to herself, clearing her throat. "We were having a conversation. Is that breaking a law now or something?" she taunted, a bit of a troublemaker gleam in her eyes as she glanced back at Coop, waiting on an answer.
Coop shrugged. "Go ahead then. By all means."
Harrison smirked and turned his attention back to Roxanne. "My dance partner bailed on me today."
Roxanne muttered under her breath. Coop picked up on bits of it, apparently, she was already regretting her little habit of playing with fire. She spoke up and asked Harrison calmly, "And?"
"Well, I was wondering if maybe you'd practice with me. It's just for today, sweetness."
"First of all, it's Roxanne." Roxanne corrected gently. She smirked to herself and mulled it over before answering. "Actually, I will. I don't mind at all. What are you doing?"
Harrison grinned and smirked a second time at Coop. Coop clenched his fists as Harrison offered Roxanne his arm and Roxanne looped hers through. As Harrison led her out to the dance floor, Coop fumed to himself and Logan doubled over in laughter beside him.
"She did all of that just to spite ya, buddy. What are you gonna do now, hm?"
"Oh, don't worry. I have a plan." Coop shrugged as he said it and Logan snorted in disbelief as he shook his head and motioned towards the front of the room, where Harrison and the blonde Coop was so caught up in lately were dancing a pretty hands on salsa.
Coop fixed his eyes on the two of them and muttered to himself with a goofy grin, "I'm figuring her out, okay?"
"If I were you, I'd find another plan, buddy. Looks like this one is gonna blow right up in your face."
"Logan?"
"Yeah?"
"You're giving me a fuckin headache, shut up." Coop muttered as he leaned against the wall, watching her like a hawk.
He'd let his own pride and ego get the best of him just now. He just needed to regroup. Approach her in a different way.
Their eyes met when Harrison dipped her to the floor and started to pull her back up and when she winked at him and flashed him a teasing little smirk, Coop swore under his breath and chuckled to himself. "You're a little minx." he muttered, shaking his head at her and laughing.
This is my first time putting Coop into the series IIRC. If it's not, this is a rewrite for him at last. I always wanted to know more about his character when he was on the show briefly. I always thought he got a raw deal also, so I'm fixing that. I wanted a bit of a faster pace and amplified sexual tension here because that's always fun, am I right? I hope you're all enjoying these so far.
