The Shippers(65)

“She just gave us the criteria,” I said, trying to sound helpful. “Moves, musicality, and romantic essence.”

Finn put his arms around my waist—a little stiffly, if I’m honest—as he thought about it.

And then Ashley fired up the music—the Ed Sheeran classic “Thinking Out Loud.” And it was time to do this. I reached my arms up around Finn’s neck as we started to sway back and forth.

“How is this a contest?” Finn kept complaining. “There’s nothing to do.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.

But I’ll tell you something. It’s a good thing this contest was rigged—because as much as I knew I should look up into Finn’s face and gaze at him, just oozing romantic essence, instead, my gaze just kept wandering over to settle on Cooper and Bridesmaid Two.

God, she was just attached to him like Velcro.

Were they gazing into each other’s eyes?

As Finn and I rocked stiffly back and forth with plenty of air between our bodies, I felt overtaken by an appalling idea. Could Cooper have actually become interested in Bridesmaid Two?

Impossible.

But then, as I watched her tug his shoulders down a little closer to her mouth so she could whisper something in his ear, and as I watched the way his forearms were draped over her hips, it seemed … less impossible.

And I felt myself wanting to march right over and cut in. And then spend the rest of the dance trying to talk Cooper out of falling for Bridesmaid Two in exactly the same way he’d just tried to talk me out of falling for Finn.

I wouldn’t do it, of course. I’d stick to the plan. Like always.

I was just recommitting, in fact, to sticking to the plan when I felt something buzz under my forearm. And it turned out to be Finn’s cell phone—in his breast pocket.

“Sorry,” he said, fully stopping moving to reach in and pull it out.

I watched him read the screen.

“Do you need to check that right now?” I asked.

“It’s for work,” Finn said, continuing to check it.

“Could it wait five minutes?” I asked.

But Finn wasn’t listening. “I’m sorry,” he said next. “I have to take this.”

And then, with that, he walked off the stage with his phone and left me standing there.

Alone.

For a second, I stood frozen, like What just happened?

Then I turned to make eye contact with Ashley, like Did you see that?

But all she could do was stare back at me, baffled, with the same question.

Finn just left the dance floor?

He couldn’t do that, could he?

I mean, let’s just set aside for a minute the nonzero amount of humiliation you get from being abandoned in the middle of a slow dance …

The real problem was: Finn walking out meant that we couldn’t win.

Right? I mean, no matter how rigged a rigged contest might be, there was no winning a couples’ dance contest if there was no couple.

Which meant that someone else would be getting my kiss tonight.

And it also meant, I realized with horror, that the actual best slow dancers would win. And there could be no doubt about who the real winners would be.

Cooper and Bridesmaid Two.

As all those realizations came avalanching down into my head, I felt a funny panic. I actually didn’t know what to do. I found myself just standing there, alone, surrounded by swaying, happy, romance-tipsy couples.

The obvious next step was to follow Finn’s lead: pull out my own phone like I also had some critical business and stride off the stage, too.

But—like in a nightmare—I couldn’t seem to move. And then I understood with certainty that if something didn’t change somehow, I would—guaranteed—start to cry any minute.

I could feel the tears crawling up my throat.

What was Cooper’s formula for faking a faint again? Stop, drop, and roll?

I willed my legs to crumple beneath me.

But I couldn’t even make that happen.

And then, just as my eyes started to sting, someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close.

Cooper.

“I’ve got you,” he said into my ear. “Just reach up and hold on.”

So I did. And then I leaned my forehead against his chest. My throat had been feeling so thick, but somehow, at the rescue, it cleared. I took a deep breath and said, “What about Bridesmaid Two?”

I couldn’t stomach anyone getting left middance at this point. Even her.

“She’s fine,” Cooper said. “Pete cut in.”

“Pete’s not allowed near the bridesmaids.”

“Emergency protocol.”

I didn’t have to feel bad for Bridesmaid Two, did I? She’d had Cooper to herself all night, after all. She could let someone else have a turn, right?

Cooper grasped one of my hands in his—and crooked the other around my waist. Then he clamped me tighter to him and spun us around a little.

I pulled back to smile up at him. “I was about to start bawling.”

“I could tell.”

“But you rescued me. Again. You keep doing that.”

“It’s always an honor.”

“Thank you, though,” I said. “Seriously.”

“You’re okay, JoJo,” Cooper said.