Their Playground

Chapter 10

Kim froze. She had never told him about Thomas; how did he find out? Had Sarah told him? She had trusted her, but then again, Sarah was notoriously famous for talking too much.

"Did Sarah tell you?" she asked at last.

"No," Cole answered, his smile gone now. He seemed to be upset. "Well, not directly at least." He gestured towards her phone as way of explanation. Sarah's text was still on the screen visible for anyone to see.

"So you were reading my texts?" It wasn't really fair to turn the tables around onto him, Kim knew that. But she wanted to buy some time for her to decide how much she wanted to tell Thomas. And his reaction made it completely worth it.

He was absolutely flustered. The guilt was evident in his eyes, even though she wasn't really upset about it. She could practically see the heat rising up to his face. Cole was unable to form coherent sentences. "Ah, no, I mean - that is, it was on the table, I wasn't trying to read it or anything, I swear, I happened to glance down and see another guy's name," Cole stammered. "But Kim, don't I deserve to know? I realize that we only started hanging out a week or two ago, but I thought we had something. If there was another guy, you should have just told me before we started hanging out." Cole was rambling. Kim thought his reaction was endearing, but the hurt look on his face made her stomach churn.

Then she actually processed what he was saying. "Wait - hold up. You think Thomas and I are together?" She laughed out loud.

Cole's brow furrowed. "You're not? But what Sarah said . . . "

Kim reread the text message. She tried to hide her smile. "No, I see how you might have assumed that." She'd have to talk to Sarah later about phrasing her texts more carefully. "But we're not together, I promise. In fact, I haven't seen him in years."

"What?"

So Kim had to explain it to him. She ended up telling him everything that she had told Sarah. She did trust him, after all.

"I'm sorry," Cole said after she had finished. "I guess I really jumped to conclusions there." He laughed a little. "I'm not used to being in a relationship." He was being sincere, Kim could tell.

"Don't worry about it," she reassured him with a bright smile. As they stood up to leave, she added, "There is no other guy. Promise."

Her confident side argued with her cowardly side all the way out to the car. And then all the way home. Should she tell him how she felt?

"Well, here we are. It was a lot of fun, Kim. Sorry about, you know, that little misunderstanding."

"I had a lot of fun too. Thanks for recommending that movie." She smiled at him, a gesture which he returned.

"Goodnight, Kimmy," he said with a little wave.

Kim froze. She had heard that name in years, not since Thomas had left. "Please don't call me that," she said quietly.

"I just thought I'd try it out," Cole said with a half-smile. No doubt he'd gotten the idea when Kim told him how she and Thomas had first met. "You don't like the nickname?"

"No, I - it's not that. Too many memories attached, that's all."

"Ah, I see. Well, goodnight anyways, Kim." He turned and walked down the driveway to his car, looking a tiny bit dejected.

In the end, that's was the push that caused Kim's confident side to win out for the first time. "And Cole? We do have something," she told him softly.

Cole stopped with his hand poised to open the car door. He turned to face her, gazing into her eyes silently. Kim reddened. Maybe she shouldn't have said that. Her cowardly side should have stopped her.

She could never have predicted what happened next. Cole drew in a shaky breath. Then, so quickly she almost thought she imagined it, he strode back to her and kissed her cheek.

He took a step back, shocked that he had the courage to do that. "Goodnight, Kim," he said again.

Once he had left, Kim stood for a long time without moving, one hand touching the spot where he had kissed her. A slow smile spread across her face.

Again, I apologize for the cheesiness at the beginning. I do like the rest of this chapter though, and I hope you did as well!

Lucia<3