My stomach was doing flips, but I wasn’t sure if it was in a good way, or bad. I concentrated on him. The way his head was still tilted slightly to the side, and his deep blue eyes staring at me with so much intensity. This is Cole! I scolded myself. He would never hurt me, or go further than I wanted.
I smiled and gripped the back of t-shirt, giving him permission to kiss me again. He didn’t need any more encouragement. His lips pressed against mine, and I didn’t feel scared anymore. Cole’s tongue stayed firmly in his own mouth, realising that I needed to take things a little slower.
I ran my hands up his back until I got to his hair, my fingers knotted in the light brown mess. Cole moaned in response, making my heart leap. He pulled away and smiled. Wow, that was my first proper kiss!
“You okay?” he whispered, in a quiet, husky voice.
His lips were a little red and slightly swollen, but mine probably looked the same. I didn’t care. I nodded in response to his question and tried to not to show just how overly happy I was feeling; I would probably just look desperate!
“Do you wanna watch something? We can find one of those crappy chick flicks if you want?” he asked as he bit his lip and nodded his head towards the TV.
We both knew he didn’t want to watch anything, but I think he was trying not to push me. I shook my head and smiled, which made him very happy.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door and I jumped up, pressing my back against the wall. Cole laughed at me and shouted for whoever it was to come in. Mia opened the door and walked in with a huge grin on her face. Could she tell?
“Hi,” she chirped, smirking in amusement. “So, what are you guys up to?”
From the look on her face, I could tell that knew exactly what we’d been up to. I pressed my lips together, hoping that if they were swollen they didn’t look it any more.
“Watching a film,” Cole replied, flicking through the movie channels. He was such a bad liar; he couldn’t keep a straight face.
“Mmm hmm,” she sang. “Of course you were.”
Her voice was playful, but my face still burst into flames. Mia made herself comfortable, sat on Cole’s bed, and started a conversation. I loved Mia like a sister, but I really wanted to be alone with Cole again. By the time she left, it was time for me to go home. I was not happy about that.
“I’d better walk you back, I guess,” Cole grumbled.
I reluctantly stood up and smiled at him. I didn’t really like being there and could quite happily stay at Cole’s forever.
We both started walking back to my house slowly. Cole wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Home just in time, Miss Farrell,” he said in his mock posh accent and bowed his head. I nudged his shoulder. What would happen now? Would he kiss me again?
The atmosphere became awkward as he stared into my eyes. Was he going to kiss me or not? He took the key, put it in the lock and kissing me on the forehead before he opened the door. I took the key back as he dangled it in front of me and smiled at him appreciatively.
“You’re welcome, Oaks. See you tomorrow.” He winked at me, jumping back before I hit him for shortening my name again. Shaking my head, I closed the front door, giving him a wave out of the window next to it as he started walking back home.
“Well, well, well. What time do you call this, young lady?” Jasper said dramatically, and frowned. I looked up at the clock and then back to Jasper, raising my eyebrows. I was actually five minutes early. “You and me are gonna have a little chat about you staying out all night with strange men!”
He must have been dropped on his head as a baby.
I walked past him.
“Wait,” he called after me, just as I got to the stairs. “Is everything okay?”
I turned to him and nodded, frowning, wondering where he was going.
“You did use protection, didn’t you?”
Gasping, I spun away from him and walked upstairs without even acknowledging his stupid comment. Why would he even say that? I could still hear him laughing as I shut my bedroom door. It wasn’t funny at all.
The second I got into bed my phone beeped with Cole’s usual nightly text, and as always, I typed a reply, and saved it.
Chapter Six
Oakley
That night, I barely slept at all. I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. I really liked him. Too much, probably.
I hoped that he felt the same. His actions suggested that he did, but I was so out of my depth with things like that. If he could be friends with me for nearly eleven years without us saying a word then it wouldn’t matter if we were actually together, would it? Sighing in frustration, I turned on my side and squeezed my eyes shut. Second-guessing myself every two seconds was just driving me crazy.
I woke up to my phone alarm bleeping loudly. Quickly turning it off, I forced myself to get out of bed and not hit the snooze button for five more minutes. I was still tired from barely sleeping and felt like crap.