Warning: This is a long chapter (over 4000 words)

Also... somewhat adult content ahead. 

Didn't proofread. Will do tonight. Want to write the next chapter first.

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The all-consuming anxiety I kept expecting to return never did.

With Flynn's arm snaking around my waist the moment we got out of his uncle's car (now his)—an inheritance he and I were more than happy to see—I felt safe with him constantly by my side. And always a few steps away was my sister, best friend, and new friends.

Which meant, despite all the lead up, the insecurity of my leg never hit me. In fact, if it hadn't been for the rubbing that began an hour into the formal event when Flynn pulled me from my chair to dance, I probably never would have remembered that I was in fact an amputee.

For a large part of that night, I didn't let that part of me define me.

I was just Callie.

A girl with a sister.

A girl with a boy who loves her.

A girl who had almost finished her twelve years of school, but first was celebrating with her peers.

When the music switched back to another slow song and Flynn pulled me in close, I couldn't help but lean into his ear and whisper, "When are you getting me out of here?"

Shifting back slightly so that his obsidian eyes could meet mine, his brows pinched together as he asked, "Are you not having fun?"

"I'm having heaps of fun," I said back. "But also... I would love just some alone time."

"I promised I'd take you straight home after—"

"Yeah. And you can come inside the house," I said, ensuring I added the emphasis that he didn't seem to get. "And we can hang out in my room where I can finally subject you to my favourite show."

Flynn made sure I saw his eye roll before spinning me around and pulling me back to him. "I feel like this is just a plan to escape formal and hide."

"No," I said forcefully. "I really am enjoying this. It's got me surprised."

"Then why do you want to—"

"I just want to be alone with you," I said softly before extending a hand up to cup his cheek.

His face softened and we paused in dancing. Then he leaned into my hold. "Another half an hour?" he then said.

With a sigh, I said, "Fine. If you insist."

"I do insist." Then he leaned down to my ear and whispered in a low, husky voice, "I insist on seeing you dressed this beautifully for a little while longer too."

As he pulled back chuckling in anticipation of my narrowing eyes, I spat back, "What? My normal self not good enough?"

He spun me around again, not responding to my question until he had caught me once more. "Your normal self is perfect, Callie. But this..." his eyes trailed over me. "This is something I don't know if you will ever give me the privilege of seeing again. And for a moment, I'd like to feel like my girlfriend is a literal princess."

"A princess?" I scoffed.

"You look like royalty," he said with a sure nod.

And I barked a laugh before leaning close. "What do you want?" Because surely there had to be—

"Absolutely nothing," he said earnestly. "Just you. For as long as you'll have me."

As he continued to look at me warmly and tenderly, swaying me in time to the music, I knew it was time to tell him.

My heart pounded in my chest.

My palms got a little sweaty.

And I could feel my jaw becoming a little jittery as I opened my mouth to say, "Flynn?"

"Mmm?" he said, pulling me into him so that I could rest my head on his shoulder. His arms felt so warm and safe around me.

"I love you," I said.

We stopped moving for a moment.

Enough for me to worry that it was the wrong thing to say right now.

Enough to worry I hadn't been loud enough.

Enough to worry that perhaps in the few hours that had passed since he had last said those three words to me, he had changed his—

"I know," he said. "I was just waiting for you to catch up." We began to move again, me still pressed up against his long, lean body, his arms still safe around me. But then he disturbed the peace once more to say, "I love you too, Callie. So damn much."

My plan to sneak off early so that we could ditch the formal, change into comfy clothes, and tuck ourselves into my bed while watching the Magic Mutations Series ended up being for nothing.

Pulled over onto the side of the road, I had the torch on my phone shining onto the engine as Flynn glanced over it.

"Tell you what Callie," he finally said after an insurmountable amount of time looking at it. "I really have no clue what I'm looking at." He grabbed the bonnet strut and put it back in place before closing the hood. Turning to face me, he then said, "It seems not all men are born just knowing about car engines."

I barked a laugh before shaking my head. "Duh. It's not like you're born with a microchip with knowledge on car parts just because you're born with a penis."

"Well, the boys always made it out to seem like that's the case."

With a roll of my eyes, I enveloped him in my arms before saying, "Yeah, well, you're not like the boys, are you?"

"Indeed not. Hence why I managed to win you over."

"Oh, this cheesiness really needs to stop."

"Never," he rumbled, lips coming down to mine.

But I pulled away at the last second. "Should we not call someone?"

With a huffed sigh, he reluctantly let me go and fished in his own pocket. "This is going to cost me an arm and a—"

"I'll cover it."

"Callie..."

"No. My parents have money. Mum gets disability support every fortnight for me. And now that you help me and have to use this thing to drive me around, you—"

"I didn't have to drive you to formal. We could have gone with—"

"As if I'm ruining Lexi and Sara's fancy date time. Besides, mum and dad rented a stretched Hummer for them. They owe my driver commission."

Flynn shook his head, but nothing could seem to wipe the smile from his face as he dialled the roadside assistance number and told them the situation and our location.

"They said it could be two hours," he then sighed after ending the call.

"Two?" I exclaimed. "Why?"

"Seems it's the season for car breakdowns. They have had a few calls tonight..."

With a groan, I said, "Well... what do we do?"

"We could call your parents to pick you up?"

"And who will drive your car home?"

"Me."

"Wait... so my parents pick me up and I leave you here?"

He nodded, eyes turning gloomy as though he didn't like the idea himself.

"Hell no. This is our evening. If you're staying, I'm staying."

"But I don't want to keep you on the side of the—"

Before he could continue to protest, I opened the back door of his car and sat down. "Seems you've got a perfectly good seat here for me," I said back. "Actually... I think there's space for the both of us."

He paused for a moment, eyes looking me up and down as if assessing whether he should call my parents. But then he ended up closing the distance, sliding into the backseat with me and closing the door. "Your dad would kill me if he knew I was alone with you in the backseat of my car for two hours."

"Dad doesn't have to know."

"But—"

"Formal goes for another two hours. He really won't find out. But I will text my sister to let her know so that she can cover us if the story ever comes up." Our parents were invited to formal, alongside the other parents, but Lexi and I insisted we'd prefer they didn't come. Dad protested, but mum understood. Besides, they were coming to the school for our graduation ceremony on the last day. Formal was for us. Graduation was for them.

"How do you want to pass the time?" I asked after a few back and forth texts with Lexi... an exchange that mortifyingly ended in a sly smirk emoji and then an eggplant.

"However you want to pass the time," he said back.

With a roll of my eyes for his very expected answer, my hands reached up to his tie, unwrapping it from his neck before I hooked my hand around him, bringing his mouth onto mine.

Flynn's hands had been almost everywhere on me during our makeout session in the back of his car. But, at the same time, they hadn't ventured anywhere near the places I wanted. So after almost half an hour passed of him kissing me, me kissing him, lips on necks, collarbones, cheeks, everywhere PG... I decided to take matters into my own hands. Well... his hands.

Reaching down to his hand that was currently gripping my waist as he planted kisses down my throat, I nudged it a little further around me and downwards, until he was cupping my butt.

Flynn responded with a slight squeeze and groan, before his mouth went right back to mine, tongue lunging into my mouth, making me momentarily forget my mission.

But after that hint didn't seem like enough, I grabbed his other hand that was behind my neck, and slowly nudged it around the front of me, over my shoulder, over my collar bone, until he was resting atop my—

His mouth and hand yanked away. "Callie," he breathed.

"Shut up," I hissed, hand fisting in his hair and tugging his mouth back to mine.

He forgot his protests for a moment, getting lost in the dance of tongues, hands finding their way back to my sides.

But again, I was unhappy. So I started again with the one, putting it on my butt—that he was fine with again.

Yet as I moved the other to my breast... his arm became unmoveable, locked in its position behind my neck.

He continued to kiss me though, almost unphased by my attempts to accelerate the intensity of what was going on here.

But after my tenth attempt to budge his hand, he—seemingly reluctantly—pulled away.

"What are you doing, Callie?" he asked.

"Trying to... turn the heat up a bit," I said a little shyly.

"We don't have to—"

"I know we don't have to. But... Damn it, Flynn. I want you to touch me."

He pressed his lips together as I watched his midnight eyes search me in the darkness. Everything was only lit up by the streetlight nearby, making it hard to see much.

"I trust you," I went on, when I thought I saw doubt crossing his face. "I trust you, I love you and... I want you to be the first person who touches me in those places. And maybe you didn't get to be in the end. Maybe some arsehat took that from me. But I want the last person to be you and the person who continues to do it to be you because I consent to it and I want you to explore me like that... If you want." I tagged on the final part as my own worries started to creep in. Because did Flynn even—

"If I want?" he repeated, eyebrow cocking up and corner of his lips tugging into an amused smirk. "Seriously?"

"Well... maybe that's part of your hesitancy..."

"Gosh no, Callie," he said in a husky voice. "My hesitancy has everything to do with not wanting to scare you away. I assure you, there's a lot of restraint in kissing you."

Hands reaching up to cup his face, I said, "Well, consider this me asking you to stop holding back."

"Cal—"

"No. I want you to. If at any point I don't like it anymore, I will tell you. But Flynn... I don't want you to keep touching me like we are in some PG movie. It doesn't help with my confidence or make me feel like... well... that you're attracted to me in all ways."

He tried and failed to stifle his smile. But eventually he snorted before saying, "But honking your breast will make you feel that?"

I tried to remain serious as I shook my head, but even I was smirking at the ridiculousness of what I was asking. "Not a honk... more like gentle strokes. I'm not a car... and you don't know what you're doing with cars anyway so—"

He silenced me with a gentle peck on my lips. Then both of his hands moved up as he lowered himself down on top of me. One hand wormed its way behind my shoulder, the other caressed my cheek. "I can... turn up the heat if you really want, Callie... but if at any point you feel uncomfortable, let me know and I will stop, okay?"

I nodded, snagging my bottom lip between my teeth as my eyes searched his face, wondering when the talking would stop and the smooching would resume.

And that was all it seemed to take.

Mouth coming back down onto mine, at first he was slow and gentle with me, resuming where we had left off.

Then, on his own accord, his hand on my shoulder traced the curves of my body until it snaked behind me, caressing my behind with soft squeezes that made my body melt up into him.

And then, ever so slowly, his other free hand traced its way down my neck.

Down my collar bone.

But rather than going where I thought, suddenly they veered off, down my shoulder and to my back.

I was about to push him back to complain about the tease, but next I knew, I felt my zipper being tugged at.

Though his smooth maneuver didn't go as planned.

Because, when one lays on a zipper, unzipping is, well...

We pulled apart as his brows furrowed and I started to laugh.

Lifting up slightly, both of his hands ended up fiddling with the back of my dress to get the zipper off...

To the point eventually I had to move to a seated position and even turn my back to him.

Though eventually the zipper glided down.

And I turned back to face him.

And slowly he brushed my dress down my torso, revealing just my bra.

He took my face in his hands again, kissing me as he lowered me back down onto the seat.

Then his hand traced back down my neck.

Back down my collar bone.

And finally... his fingers dipped under my bra, stirring an aching desire in me that had my hips pressing up into him.

"Flynn," I moaned against his mouth.

"Mmm," he moaned back, other hand bypassing my butt as he headed to my thigh.

We went on like that, casually touching each other, exploring more.

But as he busied himself, kissing over my now-braless top, I whispered to him, "I started a new kiss list."

He paused, mouth coming off me as he glanced upwards. "What do you mean?" he asked, voice worried.

"Only you are on it," I quickly added.

That seemed to ease whatever dread had started on him, but his brows pulled together. Nonetheless, rather than asking, he moved upwards and pressed his lips to my mouth once more—after what seemed like an eternity of him kissing me elsewhere.

"Kiss list complete," he whispered with a slight smile.

Rolling my eyes, I said, "No... it's a... different type of kiss."

His brows pulled together in confusion.

"Well... remember when Ashton gave me that hickey and you got mad because you didn't... take all my first types of kisses?"

"Yeah?" he said hesitantly, still seeming to not know where I was going.

"Well... there's still one other type of kiss I haven't yet... experienced," I said, clearing my throat at the end as my confidence slowly subsided.

"What type of kiss, Callie?" Flynn asked, mouth turning upwards as he began to notice my awkwardness. As he stared at me, challengingly, coyly, his free arm moved down to the crack between the seats, grabbing his shirt—oh yeah, I forgot to mention I had removed Flynn's shirt and belt in our makeout session—and draping it over my exposed chest.

"It's... well..."

"Mhmm?" he asked, eyes clouded with curiosity and confusion.

"You could say it's on the lips..."

"Yeah?"

"But... not these lips," I said, pressing mine together.

"Not..." But then it clicked. Brows shooting up, eyes going wide, he quickly turned his head, muttering an embarrassed, "Callie..."

"Well... I'm just letting you know. I have such a list. And only you are on it and I still have a first kiss type left for you to take." I gave him a slight nod, starting to regret ever bringing it up as the air in his car grew suddenly hot.

"I... um..."

"It doesn't have to be for a long time," I quickly said.

"I've never... done that," he then said.

Turning my head around in surprise, I said, "But you've had sex before."

"Yeah... sex... but... Never ventured into the... uh... oral realm."

"Why not?"

He chuckled an awkward laugh, still avoiding eye contact. "I don't know... It always happened at a party? A one and done thing... Mostly about me distracting myself from life rather than actually caring about the person I was with?"

"Oh..." I said, wondering how I felt about the fact there was a first of Flynn's I could still take... while also wondering how I felt about the fact that his previous sexual encounters weren't exactly the most pleasant for the girl. "So if you and I ever—"

"I'd make sure you were very well looked after and enjoying yourself, Callie," he quickly said. "It would be very different to what I've done before. Not a quick one and done thing..."

"Like... making love?" I laughed, hating the putrid term.

But no humour was in his eyes, only adoration, as he said, "Basically... with a touch of fucking to it."

I scoffed. "Good. Nothing too vanilla."

"No... can't have that. Need some chocolate chips in there."

I was struggling to stifle my smile at this very bizarre analogy we were creating. Nonetheless, I ended up asking, "Well... it will be both of our firsts then... if you were to tick off that kiss list for me."

"It would be," he said softly, hand caressing my face again, eyes searching me all over as though he were taking me in.

"When... um... when do you think we can tick it off?"

He bit his bottom lip. "I think it's best I... investigate how to do it first."

Eyes narrowing, I said, "Investigate how?"

"Oh... you know... read some things... watch some things."

Shaking my head, I said, "Porn is not—"

"It tells some things!"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure."

But then an awkward silence fell around the car.

Neither of us looking at each other.

Him still gently laying on top of me, hand absentmindedly twirling a curl around his finger.

"So..." I then said. "You wouldn't want to... tick it off now then?"

"Now?" he exclaimed, turning to look back at me before glancing around at the night outside the car. "Here?" he whispered as though someone could hear.

"I mean... We will still be waiting another hour and... I've got this poofy dress that can hide things quickly... I'm pretty... pretty in the mood for it after everything."

Flynn cleared his throat a little, lust stirring in his eyes. "It will be shit," he then got out, voice croaky. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"Wow... imagine that. It must suck going into something not knowing—"

"Shut up," he laughed, burying his head into my neck.

Hand coming to the back of his head, this time I played with his locks. "I don't know what I like either, if it helps. You can just... try things out. I'll tell you if it feels good or not... We can experiment together. Practice is a better way to learn than through theory anyway."

"Yeah, but theory helps," he muttered. "Makes sure there are fewer mistakes."

For a fleeting moment, I thought that Miss Fischer would be so proud of us after all the times she used these statements to emphasise why we had to do theory before pracs in biology. But then, when I remembered the context here... I realised she would most likely be disturbed and not proud. So I quickly shook that thought.

"Well... we know some theory. Kissing... licking... maybe some sucking..."

He heaved an embarrassed groan into me, burying his head impossibly further into my neck. I could feel his skin starting to flush against mine.

"You really don't want to?" I asked, confidence waning.

Pulling back, he finally met my eyes, brows pulled together as he searched my face. "Want to make you feel good? Of course I do. Want to put my mouth over every inch of your body? Oh, you bet." His voice growled a little at the end. "But going in not knowing it it's going to be—"

"It's okay if it's awkward, Flynn. I fully expect it. You told me to expect it when you took my first kiss."

"But one of us knew what we were doing—"

"I know. But I can also tell you what feels good. Besides... I know some things about what feels good down there."

His eyebrows shot up again. "You mean... I can..." He lifted a hand and wiggled his fingers.

Biting my lip, I gave him a hesitant nod.

"I don't know what I'm doing there either though," he mumbled, shyly glancing away.

"You don't?"

"I've been a terrible sex partner..." he admitted.

"Indeed," I muttered, not liking that my mind was dying to ask more about the previous girls he has been with, but reminding myself it's in the past. So it doesn't matter. "I know what I'm doing down there though in that regard so..."

His eyes still shined with reluctancy. So I realised it was time to pull out the big guns.

"I'm using my I-Owe-You," I said, voice full of confidence.

"No," he gasped, evidently having forgotten about it.

"Yup."

"Callie!" he whined, falling back into my neck again.

"This is how I want to use it. Now... if you don't hurry up, I won't get my full satisfaction before the roadside assist people show up and—"

He heaved a groan and pulled away from me, moving to the end of the car.

After shooting me an unhappy glare, his hands began trailing up my leg.

"I swear you've been more excited to watch a romance movie than this," I muttered.

"Oh, I'm excited to kiss you down there Callie and to... feel you..." he said, clearing his voice again. "But... I like things to be perfect." His fingers hooked around my sleeve as he began slipping my prosthetic off... something he had done for me a few times now.

"It is perfect," I then whispered in a softer voice.

"I haven't even start—"

"I'm with you. That's all I need," I said.

And with that, all tension in his shoulders disappeared as my foot popped off.

Then suddenly he was leaning back over me, lowering himself on top of me as he pressed his mouth one more time to mine.

And as our tongues caressed each other's, his hands slid up my dress, fingers hooking around my underwear and gliding it down as his face moved away from mine.

Then, next I knew, his head disappeared under my dress.

"Okay," he said as I curled into his chest.

My dress was fixed back into his place. His shirt, untucked, was loosely buttoned up as we waited for the roadside people to show up... any minute now.

"Okay?" I pressed.

"On a scale of one to ten?"

"At the beginning... a two. But after you did that thing with the up and down motion? And then when you used your fingers at the same time?" I let out a deep moan, remembering it, still feeling dazed from release. "My question is, will you do that every day?"

He barked a laugh and pulled me closer to him. "Every day might make my mouth a bit sore."

I opened my mouth to retort, but he cut me off before I could.

"Though if that's what you want, Callie... I'll happily make you moan like that any time."

I let out a slight giggle, trying to cuddle even closer to him. No proximity was close enough... and eventually I knew the only way I would feel close enough to him was if we went the full way.

But that was for later.

"How was it for you?" I asked shyly.

"I mean, you can pull my hair anytime you want, baby," he said huskily back.

My heart went wild as the term of endearment slipping from my mouth and I buried my face into his chest. "Flynn!" I complained. "I mean... what I did to you."

"Oh... I mean, surely you know I enjoyed it based on the outcome."

"Yeah but..."

He moved me back away from him, hand gently cupping my face. "It was perfect, Callie. And I love you."

Mouth immediately pulling into a smile, I whispered back, "I love you too."

I know some of you may feel awkward about the content I bring into every story of mine. But I feel it's important to depict the healthy conversations that should happen around sexual encounters even if the acts themself are removed from my stories. I feel like most stories I read growing up dodged these topics because it's too 'scandalous', but, while my male protagonist in this book is most certainly not reflective of real boys, I wanted these encounters to be.

Anyhoo...

Will upload another chapter soon. Got to write it first though.