The VIRGIN STRIPPER

37

****Lisa Michaels****

"Here." Cole said closing the door behind him as he sat beside me in the car.

We'd stopped at a coffee shop since I'd not taken breakfast at my place.

"Thanks," I said before taking a small sip of the steaming hot beverage now securely gripped in both my hands. "Are you going home too?" I asked as he drove to the airport.

After last night, he drove me home, wished me goodnight and promised to drive me to the airport in the morning.

And here we were.

"No. I have a game tomorrow." Cole replied as he eyed the road ahead, "I wish you could be there."

"I promised Ella and her mom that I would join them for Thanksgiving but, I'll be back on Tuesday." That was a day earlier than we were supposed to be back but seeing to how much I was looking forward to spend the whole weekend at my aunt's, —not!, I decided to come back to Boston early.

Plus it would help that my boyfriend was super hot and wanted to spend as much time with me as possible.

Without any warning, Cole took my hand into his and kissed the back of it before placing it on my lap.

Shifting so that I could look at him better, I smiled.

If there was one thing I knew about Cole was that he never got touchy. Yes one or two times during our past relationship he'd hug me out of nowhere, mostly because I looked deflated and on the verge of tears or he'd do it as a form of reassurance when he saw it in me that I was probably too scared than I was letting on.

But that was about it, well except for that night he tried to get me to sleep with him and last night.

"What?" Came his voice a while after he noticed my stare.

"I don't know, something about you seems a little bit different." I said, careful not to tease him too much, I knew he didn't like it much when I played with his displays of affection, it made him feel insecure.

"Something?!" He asked with a hint of amusement in his voice and I smiled even more, "I literally just told everyone at the frat house that we were dating." He had a proud smile on his face as we came to a red light. "I hope you don't mind!" He quietly added as if panicked by the realization that he didn't ask me beforehand.

"I'm a little offended," I declared with a pout and the hand that held mine tightened before he turned to look at me fully. Seeing the question and fear in his eyes, I smiled and he gave me a confused expression,"Jeez, I was just kidding, look, I'm happy you told them we were dating but it would be nice to hear you call me babe or something that's not my surname for once." I told him.

Last I checked, pet names and nicknames were not his strong suit, even with the reputation he had with girls he hardly ever called them by any other name except their own.— including me.

Yes there were times when he would come to my place, kiss me goodnight just for the fun of it and call me sweetheart but he would be shit drunk and straight out of a party then.

"Babe," he mused the word out loud as if considering it before he realized the light had turned green and he stepped on the gas,"what else?" He asked me quietly and my eyes narrowed  in confusion.

"What else what?" My voice came out uncertain.

It was like I was getting to know him all over again but this time with much more interest than the first time.

I realized that before now, all the things I'd learned about him were involuntary observations that had created familiarity with him and his behavior.