“Uh y...yeah, besides that,” he stammered and I couldn’t help but snicker.
“Okay, fine, most embarrassing moment excluding getting kinky with you, probably the time I threw up all over Tim Dalton, the boy I had a massive crush on in the fifth grade. I was mortified and even though he was totally nice about it, it ruined any chance I had of becoming Mrs. Dalton,” I sighed dramatically.
“Well, all the better for me.” Cole winked and I had to look away.
A few minutes later, it was my turn to yell spit and I crowed in delight.
“I won! I won!” I exclaimed, doing a dance in my seat, pumping my fists into the air.
“Yeah, yeah. Beginner’s luck,” Cole pouted.
I stuck my tongue out at him and put my forefinger to my chin as I thought about my question.
“Hmm. . .there are so many things I want to know! How to choose?” Cole groaned.
“Jesus, just ask something already.”
I glared at him and finally thought of something.
“Why don’t you like Jordan?” I asked. It had always bugged me. It was obvious Cole didn’t have the relationship with Maysie’s boyfriend that he had with the other guys. When I asked Maysie about it, she never really had an answer for me.
“I don’t not like Jordan. Honestly. It’s sort of complicated,” Cole said.
“Uh, uh. That’s not going to cut it. You have to tell me the truth.” I wagged my finger in his face.
“It’s not that I don’t like him, I guess I’ve always been jealous of him,” Cole finally admitted.
I sat back, surprised. I hadn’t been expecting that.
“What? Why?”
“Because everyone likes him. He has this natural talent and he was this super big deal from the moment he started working at Barton’s. He had these hot girlfriends and my friends thought he was oh so cool. It drove me nuts. I was used to being the big cheese. And then this frat dude comes along and suddenly I’m not so important anymore.”
“You know that’s ridiculous, right?” I reasoned. Cole gave me a look. One that wasn’t entirely pleased with my less than sensitive response.
“Yes, I know it’s ridiculous. But sometimes how you feel isn’t exactly rational.”
I got that. Probably better than most.
“But I respect him. I really do. He’s a cool guy. And I honestly hate the way things are between us right now.”
I dropped the cards. “What happened, Cole? Why aren’t you talking to the other guys?” I asked.
Cole opened his mouth to answer me then shut it, giving me a shaky smile. “Uh-uh. You have to win to get me to answer. Now deal.”
I was disappointed but determined to win some more games. There was too much I wanted to know. Too much that of the mystery that I needed to solve.
I lost the next three games. And in doing so I had to admit the age in which I lost my virginity (sixteen), who the guy was, (Samuel Davis), and my favorite movie (Dirty Dancing, of course).
“I feel like I’m giving you everything and I’m not getting anything in return. It’s the story of our entire relationship I suppose,” I said, only semi-bitterly. I had consumed several Lemon Drops and was feeling a pleasant, hazy glow.
It was nice having Cole in my apartment. It was cool hanging out with him in a way that I had never done before. And it was really great having him ask me things about myself that he seemed to sincerely want to know.
But I wanted to go deeper. I wanted to know Cole.
“Okay, enough of the game,” Cole said, taking the cards from my hand and putting them in a pile on the coffee table.
“Hey, I was totally going to win the next hand,” I complained.
“We don’t need a card game to talk to each other. Let’s just have a conversation like normal people,” he suggested and I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, cause we’re so normal,” I scoffed.
“You keep rolling your eyes, they’re going to get stuck like that,” he joked, smoothing the frown lines between my eyebrows with his finger.
“You said I wasn’t giving you anything. Well, let’s talk. What do you want from me?” he asked.