He apparently lived in a little guest apartment atop the detached garage of a rambling beach house with peeling sea foam green paint, and I loved it immediately. It didn’t bother me that he seemed to live with his parents, because half the guys my age did, too. That’s what happened when an entire generation grew up into a world that didn’t know what to do with it. Park behind me, on the grass, Cooper messaged me after I pulled up behind him. He drove a black Volkswagen Beetle, which, like, somehow worked for him for some reason? I was beginning to suspect he could make anything work. He was certainly doing a number on my heart, sweat glands, and central nervous system already. Or was I just dehydrated? I took out my syringe and grabbed a fresh can of Instamilk from among all the mess on my passenger’s side floorboard. Give me five, I responded. Girl stuff. Then I parked under a magnolia tree and tried to hide myself in the shadows as I transferred the milk into the syringe.
