The Owner's Daughter

“Hey, now here’s trouble!” Exclaimed Cooper. Emma smiled because, this was Coop’s usual greeting. Coop was standing behind the counter of the store that Emma’s father owned. The shop had opened several years ago, and Coop has been in her live ever since. Coop was 19, stood five-foot-nine, had short army cut brown hair and playful green eyes.

“Hey Coop. Is my Dad around?” Emma asked, already seeing his eccentric side pushing the workman out of the way. He put on a half quizzical, half joking face, eyebrows raised and mouth pointed down. “Now why would I know where Keith is, Trouble?” he smiled at Emma. She looked at his lips, a smile playing in the corners.

“Please Coop. We were going to go to lunch, and I’m hungry.” She put her hand on her stomach, which let out a loud rumble causing her to laugh.

“Well Emm, one of the guys from the Ford car lot already beat you too it. Dave stole your dad ten minutes ago.” He paused, “But he said that if you showed up before he got back for me to close shop and take you somewhere nice. Seeing as you’re here, and he’s not, I’m in charge!” another pause. “Wait for a minute while I change out of my shop clothes and we’ll beat some pavement.”

Emma smiled seeing as no one ever called her Emm anymore. She smiled at him brightly before nodding. Coop smiled back before walking into the back of the shop and into the office. There was a tinted glass window looking into the office. Emma wondered around the shop before she stole a glance in. Coop stood there with his shirt off and he was rummaging around a bag looking for a clean one. He straightened up and Emma gasped when she was how toned he was.
.

Coop came out of the office after 5 minutes. He had changed out of his plain gray shirt with all of its oil stains into an black shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Emma was standing with her back to him, rocking on the balls of her feet with the beat of the music coming over the speakers. He stood there for a moment, just watching her. Emma was 16, slightly shorter than him, at about five-seven. She had short curly blond hair, that he noted could be frizzy at times, soft peach skin, plump lips and astonishingly blue eyes.

He shook himself out of his own thoughts, before walking up behind her. Coop took one of her hands and spun her around so she was facing him. Emma giggled madly as he spun her again and again. She slowly came to a stop, where they were standing almost toe to toe.

“Where do you want to go Emm?” asked Cooper in a whisper. He lifted one callused hand and brushed a strand of blond hair out of Emma’s eyes. His hand lingered for a moment, thumb brushing her cheek. A smile played at her lips, then Cooper realized how close they were standing, and dutifully took a step backwards.

Emma’s smile faltered when Coop stepped away. “Well Coop, I’m up for anything other than burgers.” Emma said

“I think I know just the place.” Said Coop.
.

Emma sat in the passenger seat of Coop’s truck, an 2005 Dodge Dakota. She didn’t know where they where headed, only that it was a new place in town. Coop hadn’t said anything during the ride up here, but she could see his stealing glances at her every now and then.

When Coop parked the truck, he finally said, “Well, Emm’s, we are here. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it, but I know it’s supposed to be nice.” Emma got out of the truck and squealed in delight. The Raindrop Café had opened just a couple of weeks ago, and it was still getting crazy good reviews.

Emma jumped out of the truck and raced around to Coop’s side. He had just straightened up when raced around the truck when she wrapped him in a bone crushing hug. “I can’t believe that you brought me here!” She almost screamed into his ear. Coop smiled and couldn’t help but notice that she smelled like pinecones.

“I’ve heard that it’s nice, and I thought that you might like it.” He smiled. Coop was starting to see what all the other boys saw in her. She may not be the most attractive woman around, but she was engaging. That made her advantageous to him.

“Thank you for taking me, even if we haven’t been inside yet.” Emma whispered into his ear. Emma released her grip on Coop and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. She dropped her arms, took a step back and nodded toward the door. “Are you coming or not?”

Coop looked at her for another moment before, “Yea, I’m coming Emm.” He was still in shock from the kiss. He knew that Emma must not have meant anything by it, but it made his mouth tingle. Coop followed Emma into the restaurant, noticing that Emma had a very graceful stride. She had long steps and kept her head held high.

He shook his head. Coop needed to keep his mind off of her in ways that were inappropriate. She was 16 and he was 19, there was no way that it would work and if you added in the fact that she was his bosses daughter and the man would rip him limb from limb if he touched his girl. Still Coop couldn’t help but feel his heart miss a beat when she laughed, or how his mind became mush when she smiled at him.

“Two please,” said Emma to the hostess. Coop shook himself mentally for not paying attention to where he was. He seemed to have gotten from the parking lot and into the restaurant in no time. Emma is going to be the death of me, Coop thought.

.
The interior of the restaurant was pleasing. Walls were covered in a dark green and the tiles were a light tan. All the tables were sitting under green and tan umbrellas and there were small lights that glowed from the bottom of each. Every few minutes plates of tantalizing food came steaming out of the kitchen.

Emma was sitting on a bench with one foot curled under her and the other hanging to the floor. Cooper noted that her brown and white DC shoes made her feet look bigger than they must be. His gaze trailed up her loose fitting, dark blue denim clad legs. She wore all her clothes loose fitting because she found herself ugly. Not many people would agree with her, she just didn’t know it. A blood red camisole was covered in a chocolate brown top. The sleeves were rolled up and Coop saw her well sculpted forearms. She must play a sport he thought to himself.

Emma didn’t say anything about Coop staring at her. She followed his gaze up her body, self-consciously fidgeting sometimes. She noticed that his long arms were tanned and very muscled, and that his black shirt clung to his chest, showing off more muscles. His soft emerald green eyes were captivating in their own way. His hair was short, but she’d seen pictures of him with long hair and it didn’t look good on him. She liked his high cheek bones and oddly succulent lips. Not that it would’ve mattered. She was only 16 and, in her opinion, very plain.

“Glendower, party of 2” a hostess said just as Emma was going to comment on Cooper’s staring. She blushed slightly for no apparent reason and followed the waitress and Coop to a table in a loud corner of the bistro.

“My name is Cathy, I’m not your waitress, she will be with you shortly. In the meantime is there anything I can start you on to drink? Maybe an appetizer?” the small brunette asked, holding a pen and a pad expectantly. Emma quickly flipped the menu over and looked at the drink selection.

“I think I’ll do a strawberry lemonade.” Said Emma, after carefully weighting the choices.

“I’ll have a Dr. Pepper. Thanks.” Coop said. He looked at Emma out of the corner of his eye and smiled. She smiled back, laughing a little.

“Anything to start you off with? The hot wings are my favorite.” The brunette offered. She is really good at her job Cooper thought.

“We may as well. I think that 6 will be just fine.” Coop said after looking up said hot wings in the appetizer section. She nodded her head and wrote down the order. With a smile, she walked away.

Emma looked through her menu without much interest. She kept looking up because Coop kept looking at her out of the corner of his eye. They were sitting across from each other, and in the crowded place it was hard to make conversation. Coop looked up at Emma and tried to ask a question, but she only heard small parts of each word and couldn’t make out the whole sentence. After trying to pantomime the sentence and several failed attempts to shout the question, Coop got up and walked around the table and sat down next to Emma. She was sitting on a bench that could’ve sat two. It matched the two chairs, one of which he was just sitting in. He leaned in close to her ear and asked, “Have you decided what you are going to eat?” His breath tickled her earlobe and she felt goose bumps run up and down her arms and spine.

“Not yet, there are too many choices. Have you?” she asked, leaning in equally close to his ear. He had a very manly smell to him, not cologne, something deeper, stronger. She instantly loved it. Coop shook his head. he didn’t comment that he liked the feeling of her cheek resting on his shoulder while she talked into his ear, or that she was sitting so close that their knees were touching.

When he was about to move back to his chair a waitress walked up. She was tall, slim and bleach blond. She was everything that Emma hated, too fake. Emma could see dark roots starting to grow around her part, he tan was quite fake, and her boobs didn’t look real either. How can anyone like me compete with that. I don’t think I’ll ever go fake-baking, it just makes me look too orange, Emma thought to herself. “Hi ya’ll I’m Brittany, and I’m gonna be your waitress today.” She said perkily. Great, fake accent and I’ll bet you one hundred bucks that she was a cheerleader in high school.

“I think I’ll have a double-cheese burger with beer-battered fries.” Said Coop. He looked at me, waiting for me to order.

“Um… I think I’ll have a Malibu Chicken with pepper jack cheese and I’ll do beer fries too.” Emma said after a minutes hesitation.

“Is that all? Did ya’ll already order your drinks?” she asked right as she saw the cups on the table. “I guess so! Just holler if you need me.”

“Fake bitch.” Emma mumbled under her breath. Coop cracked up laughing at her. “What!?” she said, just little irritated. Coop shook his head, trying not to spit out the soda he had just taken a sip of. She looked at him with hurt eyes then looked away. He didn’t know what he had done to make her look at him that way, but he wanted to know. He reached up and touched her shoulder. She shrugged him off. He scooted closer.

“What’s wrong?” he whispered in her ear. He tucked her hair behind her ear and, “I didn’t mean to piss you off in anyway. I just thought it was funny the way you put my thoughts to words without my saying anything.” He trailed a finger around her neck, giving her another bought of goose bumps. Emma turned around to look at Coop. He had his arm around the back of the bench, and she was sitting very close to him. their noses almost brushed.

“I thought that you were making fun of me, I didn’t think that you would feel the same way as me.” Said Emma. Coop brought his free hand up and cupped her cheek. He kept staring into her eyes, waiting for her to continue. Instead of saying anything, she leaned closer, lips almost brushing his. She waited. Coop took one last look into her cobalt blue eyes before closing his own and pressing his lips against hers.