Free Autumn by Sierra Dean

or chose to ignore it, because he sat next to her, kicking his long legs out in front of him and leaning against the bench behind them. He looked like the freaking Marlboro Man. Someone needed to take his picture and put it in the dictionary beside All-American .
    His perfection made Lou all too aware of her own flaws. Suddenly her tangled hair and ripped jeans were taunting her, and she felt self-conscious in a way she didn’t when she was around Cooper. Archer, for his part, seemed blithely unaware of his effect on her and had tilted his face up to the sun, basking in the warmth like a cat.
    “Tell me about yourself, Lou. There’s no need to be a stranger. Your grandma told my mom you weren’t meeting any new people in your first week.”
    Lou bristled. Granny Elle was so dead set on keeping Lou away from Cooper she’d started trying to find her friends? It might have been a nice gesture, except Lou was certain it wasn’t meant as a simple kindness. Archer was talking to her because her own grandmother was trying to force friendships on her. What the heck was up with that?
    “I’ve made friends,” Lou protested. “I’ve been spending time with Marnie Jackson.”
    Archer nodded, still not opening his eyes. “I don’t think you’re here waiting for Marnie, though.”
    “I wasn’t waiting for you either, but you seem to have invited yourself to stay.” Lou was inwardly appalled at her own rudeness, but she wanted to get rid of Archer before Cooper came back. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed of being seen with her lab partner, but she had a feeling Cooper spooked easily. He’d been hesitant to agree to hang out with her in the first place, and if he saw Archer lounging around, he might reconsider their plans.
    Archer cracked his eyelids and looked at her. Rather than being offended by her response, he appeared downright amused. “You’re sparky,” he told her. “I like that.”
    Lou had never in her life been referred to as sparky .
    “I am waiting for someone,” she reminded him.
    “I know. I’m being a gentleman. It’s not nice to make a lady wait alone.” He covered his brow with one hand and met her gaze, grinning boldly. “Be honest now, Lou. Do you really mind the company?”
    She squirmed uncomfortably under his attention. “I guess not.”
    “Good.”
    Cooper stopped next to the bottom of the bleacher and cleared his throat. Archer turned his focus from Lou to the new arrival, and his expression changed instantly. Instead of being calm and relaxed, his jaw tensed and a stormy look clouded his eyes.
    “Reynolds.”
    “Wyatt.”
    “Don’t tell me you’re who this lovely young lady is waiting for.”
    Lou tried to express her apologies to Cooper with only a glance, but he was too busy staring at Archer to see her.
    “I thought I was.”
    “He is,” Lou announced. “You are.” She got to her feet and put some distance between herself and Archer, moving closer to Cooper as if to prove her point.
    “You think that’s a good idea, Reynolds? Lou here is new.”
    Cooper’s face mirrored Archer’s, jaw tight, expression serious. “I think Lou is capable of making her own decisions.”
    “Lou is also standing right here ,” she said.
    Neither of them looked at her, they were too busy glowering at each other. The tension between the two of them was so tangible, Lou thought she might be able to reach out and touch it.
    “All right.” After a loaded silence, Archer hopped up. “Lou, it was a pleasure to meet you. Hope to see you at church tomorrow. You let me know if there’s anything at all you need, okay?” He tipped an imaginary cap at her and strode off the field without so much as a backwards glance.
    “Maybe I should just take you home,” Cooper said once Archer was out of sight. “This was a bad idea.”
    But with Archer gone, Lou only had eyes for Cooper. He wore a long-sleeved gray Henley over a pair of dark jeans, favoring Chuck Taylors to cowboy boots. His brown