Page 83 of I Knew You Were Trouble

“That’s just proper uniform wear.”

“Next time I see yours untucked, I’m calling you out.”

“That’ll be the day.”

I shake my head and press a kiss to her lips, missing their warmth already. She opens up for me, letting me run my tongue across her bottom lip. Her fingers curl into my t-shirt, and I slide my hands up her back.

“I change my mind,” I say on an exhale when we break apart. “You should definitely come with me to my dad’s.”

She laughs and wiggles her nose. “Aww, did I turn off the thinking part of your brain?”

“Yes. Do it again.”

She does, but not for nearly as long. “Come on. You better get going. We’ve got the rest of our lives to kiss.”

“Hell yeah.”

She laughs, knowing that my brain still isn’t all the way there. Our hands meet, and I pick up her penis and help her out to her car.

“You sure you don’t want it in the trunk?” I ask when she opens the passenger door. Can’t imagine she wants to sit next to it.

A victorious smile hits her lips, and she places it in the passenger seat. “They aren’t nearly as scary as I thought.”

“Such a rebel.”

She sticks her tongue out at me, then she buckles her painting in. Ah… there’s the other side to her. She’s the perfect mix of rebel and careful, and I love every bit of it.

Candace

Pete looks at me like he’s got some secret I’m not privy to, and he won’t let me in on it. I hip bump my door shut and give him a goodbye hug. He’s got a lot to face tonight, and as much as I want to be right by his side through it all, I know it’ll be better with just his family.

“I love you,” I tell him. “A lot.”

He rocks me in his arms. “I love you a lot.”

We kiss one more time. And then again. And okay, one more, and then I finally let him head toward Gertrude. I slide into the driver’s seat and watch as he pulls from the school’s parking lot. My lips tingle and my heart sings happy tunes, and I relax into a sweet euphoric state.

I had no idea being this happy was even possible, and holy wow, is it not only possible, but it’s so much better than anything I’ve ever imagined. It’s like when I first picked up a paint brush, but times ten.

I grin at my canvas next to me, straightening my shoulders. I did it. Heck yeah, I did it. And now when I see a penis in a much more romantic setting, I might not be so surprised by what it looks like and I can completely focus on just being with Pete.

I mean… Well, yeah, let’s face it. It’ll most definitely be Pete.

A small, giddy laugh drops from my lips, and I pull my phone out, scrolling through my downloaded files to my list of fears. Of course I have a digital copy. Or three.

I click the edit button and tap on the very top fear.

Sex. Fear level: violet.

I long press on it, waiting for it to ask me if I want to change the font, size, color… I click the highlight button. My finger taps the red so quickly I don’t really think about it.

Red is low. The lowest. And I never thought I’d see the word sex highlighted in such a color, but here we are. It’s not so scary anymore, and not just because I’m a grown up now who has seen male genitals. It’s completely because everything feels so safe with Pete, and I can’t imagine sharing this with him would be anything but exciting and fun.

It’s still nerve-wracking and I don’t think I’m ready yet, so it’ll stay on the list, but he might be happy to see the drop in fear level.

I laugh to myself again as I picture his face, all slack-jawed and adorable. He’ll tease me mercilessly, I’m sure. And I’ll punch him, and he’ll tickle me, and we’ll start kissing and never want to stop. Until we do because we’ll probably be making out in a totally inappropriate place again.

Even that doesn’t sound so bad, though.

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