Cole asking for her drinks to be put on his tab spoke a little more to it being a date than a beer with friends, but then again, maybe he was just an old-fashioned kind of guy. Either way, it didn't bother her as long as he didn't try anything stupid because he thought buying her a drink entitled him to it. And if he did, well, she'd deal with that if it came. She'd be really unhappy about it, but she'd deal with it.

"No, that's fine," she replied. "You mentioned the whole ... zot ... thing when we first met, but I didn't really believe it till you sparked at that clothes rack. Gotta suck sometimes."