"So are you going to be like one of those guys who doesn't tell me where we're going until we get there? Because just so you know, I hate surprises." I stated as calmly as I could as I strapped myself into the passenger side of Flynn's car. His big body shook because mine in silent laughter as he clicked his own seat belt in, leaning forward to turn the keys in the ignition.
"I'm not surprised you hate surprises." He chuckled as the car came to life, the vibrating helping me relax into my seat a bit more.
I had to stop freaking out over this. Pretend it was like any other time I'd spent time with Flynn.
Well, that was all good in theory, wasn't it?
But when he leant over, like he was doing right this second, my theory was shot to shit.
"You look beautiful." He whispered, stealing my breath and quickening my heart beat. Flynn had said that once before, but the effect of those words just got greater each time he spoke them. Like the last time was just me dreaming him saying the words and when I heard them, I was shocked to find out I was actually awake, not in a slumbering state.
"You do too." I murmured, then blushed slightly once I'd realised what I'd say. His mouth was starting to form a smirk, so I hastily tried to cover my tracks. "I mean, you look....good tonight. Yeah."
"You called me beautiful."
I rolled my eyes, trying to make the blush disappear from my cheeks. So that wasn't the smoothest move Micheals, pull it together.
"Don't let it go to your head or anything, I call all of my dates beautiful." I muttered, looking out the window.
The car revved a little harder out of my driveway, and I bit my lip to stop the laugh from coming out of my mouth.
"You never told me where we were going." I commented casually once we'd been travelling in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Flynn glanced over at me and sent me an easy smile, little shivers of warmth hitting me because, well, have you seen the guy smile?
Whoever invented the word 'melting' didn't know the full context of it.
"Well..." he replied, one hand on the steering wheel, the other on the gear stick, close to my own hands. I itched to touch him, those big, strong hands touching mine. Touching me. "Marley told me this interesting story about how you used to have an insane obsession over cotton candy, and theres this mini carnival just out of town tonight, so I was thinking we could go there." Flynn glanced over at me again, one eyebrow raised, as if waiting for my opinion.
"Sounds great." I sent him an excited grin, which turned into a frown when I remembered the first part of his sentence. "Wait, what cotton candy story?"
Flynn laughed, like, proper chortled, and I knew I was about to feel totally embarrassed. "Oh god, just tell me."
"Apparently you used to love roller coasters."
I groaned. I knew where this was heading.
"This is the one about when I ate so much cotton candy that I puked all over the cute boy in the cart in front of me, isn't it?"
Flynn nodded, his laughter filling the car. I couldn't even find it in me to be embarrassed because come on, I had been eleven and now I think about it, the boy hadn't been that cute. So I joined in with his laughter.
"I remember, it was the vacation we took to Santa Monica, and mum and dad had taken Marley and I to the carnival on the boardwalk, and Marley had bet me his hot dog I couldn't eat his, mine and mums cotton candy. So I ate it all, obviously, and then we were getting on the roller coaster and I was so excited, and the boy in front of me starting talking to me and I thought he was really, really cute. I had felt fine right up until the point where the roller coaster stopped, and I just upchucked all over the poor guy. There was so much of it, and it was so pink." I was stilling laughing once I'd finished my story. Flynn had kept laughing with me, his eyes crinkling at the corners a little, a hidden dimple showing up on the right cheek.
My laughter died when I thought about that trip. The last one we took as a happy, fulfilled family.
When mum and dad didn't disagree on everything, when they still looked at each other like they just belonged with each other.
"What are you thinking?" Flynn asked me quietly when he noticed I'd gotten quiet. I shrugged, sighing a little as a more somber mood washed over my memory of the vacation.
"Just about how that was the last family holiday we had where we were actually happy."
I felt Flynn's eyes on the side of my face, and suddenly, my hand was engulfed in something big, strong, and warm.
Looking down, it was Flynn's hand, the one that had been clutching the gear stick. I looked up and grinned at him, my pulse fluttering slightly as I ran my thumb over his knuckles and settled our hands on my lap.
And we sat like that for the rest of the trip to the carnival.
* * * *
I'd never laughed so much in my entire life.
Not even when Sophie got a Barbie hair brush stuck up her nose and we had to go to the hospital to get it removed. Not even when Marley got chased by the neighbours cat and fell into the biggest mud puddle trying to jump the fence back into our property.
Not even when I watched Get Him To The Greek. And I loved that movie.
"Flynn, you're not going to win it, just give up!" I half yelled, half laughed as I watched the man I was slowly becoming far too attached to try to win the giant alligator stuffed toy from the Shoot-The-Duckies game. He had the perfect stance to shoot a gun, which I guess came from being a cop, but the little red gun in his hands made him look far too intense as he rolled his shoulders in preparation for his fourth round.
Fourth round.
I'd fast learned that Flynn didn't just give up. No, he'd probably spend all night at this one stand until they closed or he ran out of coins.
"I can't, then he wins." Flynn muttered as he narrowed his eyes at the stationary ducks. By 'him', I knew he meant the guy running the stand, leaning up against the table with a smug look on his face. You could just see him counting all the money he was getting out of Flynn in his head.
"The games rigged, you can tell." I said to him, standing just behind him as the guy hit the button to makes the ducks move against the back wall. I watched as the cute little yellow painted pieces of thin wood started to move at a frenzied pace, back and forth, up and down, round and round.
To just anyone, this game seemed too hard.
To Flynn, who held a gun every day, it would be childs play.
Or so he had told me as we approached this stand four turns ago.
"Shit!" He growled, slamming the gun down on the table as the ducks slowly came to a stop, only one remaining upright. I bit my lip again, trying to force the laughter down, but I didn't succeed when Flynn turned and shot me a glare.
"Are you laughing at me?"
"No."
Flynn's eyes were still narrowed, but his mouth was flirting with the idea of a smile as he stalked closer to me. "You are."
"Well, that little boy has been waiting for a turn for ages." I pointed at the little sandy blonde haired kid with big green eyes and pudgy little hands, one clutched in what looked like his older sisters hand who had been standing behind us for the past fifteen minutes.
Flynn grunted, turning back to me. "I almost won it."
I laughed, patting his cheek. "Almost."
He scrunched his nose at me playfully and grabbed my hand, tugging me towards some of the other games. We passed them, surprisingly, and I found myself listening to Flynn ask the lady inside the ticket booth for two tickets to the ferris wheel. I started to get a little giddy with excitement.
The ferris wheel rocked. Sometimes literally, especially when Sophie was in your carriage and you stopped at the top.
We got in line behind what looked like a group of teenagers, and we didn't have to wait long before I was secured in a small carriage with Flynn pressed up beside me, heading upwards into the starry night. I looked down as the ferris wheel spun and we got higher and higher, the view becoming a beautiful display of carnival lights, the dark natural scenery around it, and the towns lights of houses and streets and buildings a little way away. I sighed and looked up, to the stars.
"Having fun?" Flynn's voice was closer than I had first anticipated, and when I looked over to him, I wasn't surprised to find him right there, his beautifully structured face too much to take in so up close. I nodded slowly, moving even closer to him.
Why had I ever tried to avoid this man again?
The past few hours had made me feel more alive than I had been in months, if not years. We had spent more than Flynn was willing to admit on the carnival stall games, he had dared me to a cotton candy eating contest (I won, of course), and we'd even been into one of those really corny photo booths and Flynn had pulled faces that had me doubling over and clutching my stomach with laughter when I'd seen what the pictures had come out like. There were tears, streams of them, because someone who was so attractive and yet had such unattractive facial expressions seemed like the funniest thing to me.
And now we were stopping at the top of the ferris wheel, the view around us beautiful, the man beside me even more alluring.
And I didn't feel like that girl who worked all day and stressed over her family. And Flynn didn't feel like a cop.
We felt like two teenagers out on that first date that took things somewhere. That didn't end with an awkward "I'll call you," at the girls doorstep. I was a girl, and he was a boy, and we were having the best time, riding ferris wheels and eating tons of sugar and trying to win stuffed toy alligators.
And I felt like I was finding first love. And that was frightening.
"I am," I mumbled back to his earlier queston, getting a little lost in his blue eyes. There was no other way to put it other then the fact that they were just too enticing.
"Good, that's good." He laughed lightly into the kind of chilly night, and way up high, the moment felt intimate. Like I could forget the people in the carriage just below us. Like I could forget everyone below us for a little while and just be wrapped up in Flynn.
I should have been scared at how I was feeling; how hard it had hit me. The sudden emotion that had been hidden away in the back of my mind, not ready to come out until it was sure, really sure.
Now it was so adament, it rocked through me at full force, to the point where I got slightly light headed.
Was I in love with him?
Surely not. No way. I liked him to the point of pain, sure, but not love.
Never love. I'd seen where that path led.
"I was a little nervous you wouldn't like my date idea." Flynn chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "But I knew you would tell me straight if you didn't, so I had back up, just in case."
"What was the back up?" I asked, really curious. He had really thought about this, and it made my insides do a funny little dance because that meant he actually cared a lot about how this night went.
He winced a little. "A drive in movie, some old horror."
I laughed. "Too cliche for your taste, Flynn?"
"No, I thought it would be too cliche for yours." He grinned lopsidedly, his arm against mine warm and welcoming as he shuffled a little closer, warming my whole left side.
"I love drive in movies!" I protested, but I understood where he was coming from. Anything too story book I wouldn't have liked, so the mini carnival was the best choice. "But I like carnivals more. And apparently so do you, little kid."
He shot me a playful glare. "I'm competitive."
"You would have pulled out your real gun to take down that one last yellow duckie just to win that alligator, I bet you."
"Like I said, I'm competitive."
We laughed a little, something I discovered I really, really liked doing with Flynn around, and my giggles died down before his did at I stared at the side profile of him up in the sky.
"Why'd you ask me out on a date, Flynn?" I whispered as we floated just below the stars. He frowned, turning his big body to look at me fully.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, why me?"
I looked as if he didn't understand the question. I sighed, biting my lip a little nervously before I started to talk. "I mean, it's not like I'm anything special. And that's just me stating how I feel. I'm not. There's prettier, funnier, smarter girls out there. Why me?"
He was silent for a longer amount of time, and I was starting to regret saying anything at all. "You know what? Never mind-"
"You know, the first night I met you, I thought you were a basket case. Punching that girl for your friend, trying to size me up in the investigation room, sarcastic right up until you left the station with your dad." Flynn paused, and I frowned as he tried to find the right words. So far his choice wasn't giving me too much to work with right now.
I mean, basket case? Come on.
"But then I got to see glimpses of you, and just you. Not the sarcastic, defensive, fiery you, but the girl who looks out for her brother because no one else will, the girl who could have gone away and done so much more with her life but instead she stuck around when others would have ran. The one who is so strong and tries not to try because she knows that the world is cruel but she keeps going anyway. The girl who is so beautiful and doesn't even have to try to be. I saw you, Harlow."
My throat had become dry as I stared at Flynn with slightly wide eyes. That was probably the most incredible sentence I'd ever heard, and possibly ever will.
Was I in love with him?
The answer was becoming a little bit clearer now.
"Do you like what you see, then?" I whispered, because if I'd raised my voice above that I knew it would have cracked. Flynn leaned forward, invading my space, my mind, everything.
And he uttered, "I love what I see."
And then his lips were on mine and I was engulfed in another hot, burning moment with Flynn, Officer Morgan, the man who saw me, the real me.
Who saw the flaws because hell, we all know theres too many to count, and stayed anyway. Who knew the struggles and the things I went through with my family, this town, and instead of flipping me off like everyone else but a select handful did, he opted to help.
To become part of what was my life.
To understand, and to not care anyway. Even if he burned brighter and was going places, and I was a dull star in comparison, stuck in my galaxy as he soared through infinity.
So was I in love?
Yeah.
Fuck. Yeah.
* * * *
When Flynn had asked with his lips pressed to my ear if we wanted to go back to his place once we were back on the ground, I hadn't hesitating in nodding and grabbing his hand to pull him towards the car park.
The carnival had been wicked fun, but all I wanted right now was Flynn all to myself.
Once we reached his car, I went to grab the handle as Flynn pressed down the automatic unlock button on his key, but he grabbed my waist, spun me, and pinned me to the side of his car, a devious smirk covering the lower half of his face.
"You sure you want to go back to my place?" He asked quietly into the still night, the carnivals sounds more muffled now we were outside the chained gates. He made the sentence sound as though if I agreed, there was no going back.
Maybe I didn't want to go back.
I bit my lip, trying to stop the smile that was breaking out all over my face. "Yeah, I'm sure." My arms reached up and wound their way around Flynn's neck, like it was the most natural thing to do, and I tugged on the hair at his nape gently. "Definately sure."
The last thing I saw was that damn grin as he lowered his mouth onto mine, his lips starting a fire that had been simmering ever since we got off the ferris wheel.
Flynn's teeth tugged at my bottom lip, asking for entrance, and I grinned as I gave it to him, sighing as his tongue met mine with an almost lazy pace. His lower body pinned mine to the car, his upper pressed against mine, and his big hands were placed either side of my neck, controlling yet comforting.
He pulled away when air started to become vital, and laughed huskily as I tried to regain my breath again. I opened my eyes to see him grinning at me with a little bit of arrogance and a little bit of Flynn humour.
"Shut it," I muttered, slapping his shoulder as a fiery blush lit up on my cheeks.
"I like this effect I have on you." I murmured into my ear, making my blush increase before he pushed away from the car and walked around to the drivers side. I looked back at the carnival for a quick second, and starting laughing instantly at what I saw.
"Hey, Flynn." I pointed my finger over at the exit gates. "Look who won the alligator."
The little boy who had waited so patiently in line behind Flynn was beaming as he carried the stuffed toy that was bigger than him under the crook of his arm as he giggled and laughed with his family on their way to their car.
Flynn just stared for a minute, then shook his head. "Rigged. Had to be."
Once we were settled in his car and pulling out of the car park, I realised just how perfect my night had been.
And there was more to come, you could see it in Flynn's eyes.
I wasn't even nervous, come to think of it. I thought that if I ever got the opportunity to go all the way with Flynn, I'd be a nervous wreck, because the man was a walking sex magnet. He would have had his fair share of beautiful, experienced woman over the years, I bet.
But then he reached over and grabbed my hand, his eyes, his gorgeous blue-like-the-almost-night-sky eyes met mine and I was instantly at ease.
That's when I realised my night had been just like the movies.
All of those corny rom-coms and chick flicks I'd had to sit through over the years because Sophie was a closet romantic and dad actually enjoyed them too, I'd grown a certain sort of disgust for.
All the gushy stares, the ogly moments, the over the top lines and acting and drama, that's not how my night had been.
I meant the warm feeling those movies, no matter how corny, gave you.
Because when you witness something like love, you feel happy. Warm that someone got their happy ending. Content because two people who seem so different always seem to find their way together.
And I'm not saying Flynn and I were meant to be because I had one amazing night with him. No, I wasn't that deranged or deluded.
I just had that feeling you get that when the credits are rolling up the screen and the two main characters are kissing the socks off one another, and you sigh and smile and wish for it to stay for a while because you're just happy that they're happy, even if the plot and the people and the dialogue are as fake as J-Woww's boobs.
So when Flynn stopped his car half an hour later in front of a really nice looking apartment complex, I got out of the car and smiled so largely I briefly wondered if my mouth had gotten bigger.
"This place is nice." I commented casually as we strolled toward the front doors to the complex once Flynn had locked up his car. He grinned beside me and nodded, pulling open the door for me.
I stepped inside to a swanky looking first floor. "Really nice."
"Wait until you see the views from the rooftop. They're the best."
"What floor are you?" I wondered aloud, watching him press the up button on the elevator.
"Third. There's only four in this complex, but you still get an amazing view of the town." We stepped inside the elevator together, and the air sizzled.
Neither of us had mentioned where this was going to go. But we were thinking it, or, at least, I was.
But as soon as the elevator doors closed, Flynn reached for me, and I just knew he was thinking the same thing as me.
"You don't have to be home tonight, right?" Flynn asked quietly, his hands landing on my hips. I shook my head as I sent him a playful glare.
"I'm twenty, not sixteen. Curfew doesn't apply anymore."
He rolled his eyes. "That wasn't a jibe at your age, I know you're quite old enough."
I turned away and pressed the number three button, because his hot stare was starting to mess with my head a little. His hands just followed the rotation of my hips though, and when I stepped back from the buttons, he was right there, his body touching the back of me.
His breath was hot on my neck and I tried to force down the shiver that bubbled up, but I couldn't.
"You smell good." His words tickled the hairs at the nape of my neck, and I tried not to show how much he was affecting me right at this moment.
But with his hands attached to my hips, his body flush against mine and his lips pressing soft kisses along the back of my neck, I knew I didn't stand a chance.
"Flynn," I half whispered, half sighed. His hands tightened on my hips, the warmth from them seeping through my clothes and a tightness coiling in my belly as his lips began more delicious torture against my sensitive skin. "The elevators about to open."
"Thankfully." He groaned, just as the doors opened into a bright, cosy lit hallway.
We stepped out, and excitement pulsed in my veins, as well as other things.
Things involving Flynn.
And a bed.
And the fact that it was actually happening.
But the minute we moved forward in the direction of Flynn's door, I noticed someone standing outside it.
That someone was a she. With a stunning head of red hair, and flawless skin.
Flynn's steps faltered as he noticed her too, and that's when the woman turned, and all I could think was oh, you have got to be kidding me.
It was the stunning woman who had been with her sister at the diner the day before.
And she was smiling at Flynn like she had known him for years.
"Hey, Flynn." She said, her voice warm and soft and lilting. "Long time no see."
That's when it clicked. The look on Flynn's face, the expression on hers, and the way she'd spoken to him, like she'd been way closer to Flynn then I ever would be, it all made sense.
Flynn's ex-girlfriend, the one he briefly mentioned at our house all those sundays ago for roast night, was standing outside his apartment like she had every right to be there.
And hell, maybe she did. Wasn't that a passion killer?
This was an interesting cliffhanger the director of my life had thrown in.
And I wasn't sure if I wanted to be the main character in the sequel.
* * * *
Okaay, the date scene is up! So I know that the carnival date sort of thing has been used a lot in many, many other books, but I wanted to have some fun with this chapter and hey, if it's not what you were expecting, then hopefully this didn't disappoint anyway.
What do you think of Flynn's ex turning up? Indy's older sister, awkward. I told you those two would be two to watch ;)
Comment, vote, fan, let me know what you think! :)
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