Christmas Eve (well it was after midnight)

"David, he took my car. My car!"

"Shh. It's okay. I told you I would give you a ride." He grabs a bottle of beer from the cluster between us and pushes it towards me. "Here, drink some more."

After a few more rounds of cards, and a visit from some very nice police officers, the party winded down and the boys and I headed off to Waffle House. While walking to David's truck, he pulled ahead of me and opened my door. Swoon. While walking into the diner, I fell behind and David reached both his hands behind him and wiggled his fingers. I hopped forward and grabbed his hand.

I had fun with the boys. I usually do. While I had never been out with this group before, I am an official invitee to Boys' Night Out in two different cities. Hanging with the boys is just something I do well. And I don't even like sports that much.

While walking back to the car, David again ran ahead of me to open my door. Sigh. Good manners will get you so far with me. My only fault is I can't tell the difference between him being a gentleman, or being sincere. We dropped another boy off and David's hand immediately found mine. We asked tentative questions of each other: he travels into the city frequently for work. We've met each other several times before, but neither of us really remember. We went to the same elementary school.

"When did you graduate from high school?"

"You just want to find out how old I am," I joked.

"No seriously, I want to see if you knew some people that went there."

"It was a big school, so probably not. Anyway, I graduated in '99."

"I'm 19."

I howled with laughter and half-shrieked. I quickly did some math in my head to figure out if that was a possibility. It wasn't.

"Look at how quickly you snatched your hand away!" He laughed.

I returned it into his. Swoon.

At Conor's he put the truck in park and stopped the engine. He followed me inside while I fumbled in the dark and swore while I tripped over the various Christmas presents left discarded on the floor, reminding me of the discomfort of this evening's earlier activities. I finally found a light switch.

"You've never been here before?"

"Nope, they just moved in together." I wanted my car keys to go home; I didn't want to stay in this house after Caroline's bitch fit. I found them three rooms into the house, alone on a coffee table. "Aha!"

I killed the lights and we left. I paused in front of my car door. David kicked the dirt in front of him and shrugged his shoulders, "When will you be back at school?"

"When you call me."

He leaned in and kissed me. They were butterfly kisses: very soft, light, and quick. He would pull back and land again. It was welcomed after the Kissing Bandit's aggression. I tried to put both of my arms around his neck, but my arms were restrained due to my Penny Lane coat. He kept pulling away and landing until I pushed him further and the breathing got heavier and my fingers intertwined with his belt loops while he kissed down my neck. I groaned.

We began to make out pretty heavily and his hands wandered. Up my skirt was okay, but when he went under my shirt, I was afraid he'd feel the "insulation" I've acquired since Thanksgiving (which will be immediately shed now that it's the new year).

A car pulled up and stopped in front of the driveway. I wondered what kind of pervert would stop and watch two people making out in one ex boyfriend's driveway, but it was so late (or early) that it was the morning paper being delivered. It was our cue to part ways.

"You seem like a nice girl."

"Sometimes."

David made a satisfactory noise. He took my number and promised to call. And I made my hour drive back to the city by sunrise.