KISSIN' IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOUNG CRUISE!

But star's first girlfriend says he learned fast

And while the Top Gun star is notoriously tight-lipped, Laurie Hobbs is kissing and telling all about it!

“And although he was awkward, young Tom was a fast learner!” said Laurie. Her unforgettable first date with Tom was back in 1978 when Tom, then 15, was a sophomore at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Ky.

Laurie was a 15-year-old blond bookworm at nearby Sacred Heart Academy. She had her heart set on going to a school dance with handsome Tom Cruise Mapother — his full name before he shortened it at the behest of Hollywood casting agents.

“He wasn’t at all what you’d call cool. He struck me as being shy, sort of uneasy around girls,” Laurie said.

Tom had “a secret fear that girls wouldn’t like him because he was so small,” she added.