My nostrils flared again as I heaved a sigh. But it was impossible to stay mad at him, especially when he grinned back at me like that, flashing his pearly whites, with stars sparkling in his midnight eyes.

"So, let me get this right... If your sister completes the list first, you must confess your feelings to Noah. But if you complete it first then she will leave you alone forever?"

"Or if I get rejected."

He deadpanned at me. "You won't be."

"You don't know who is on it."

"At least one person will kiss you. I'm certain of it. And I do recall Fraser Fowler gushing about your sister kissing him tonight so I'm assuming—"

"Ugh. Don't remind me. I wish I could kick him off the list."

"Who even put him on—"

"They are all my pick so I only have myself to blame."

"Your sister didn't—"

"Nope. She didn't like any guys back then."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, why would you want to be left alone by your sister?"

"Because... she wants to bond again but I just don't know if I can forgive her for abandoning me like she did."

"Oh... You know... I don't fully understand what happened between you two. But life is too short to hold grudges forever."

It wasn't the first time I had heard this phrase, nonetheless, I did all I could: I shrugged. I had made my decision and I had to stick to it.

"But I'll still help you. Even if I don't agree with what you will win."

"How will you help me?"

"Well... who is on the list?"

Heaving a sigh, I pulled my phone out and opened the picture I had taken of it, showing it to Flynn. Because he knew the worst of it so... why hold back anymore?

His eyes skimmed my screen, lips pressing together. "I know all of them," he then said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. I can easily get you in their proximity. Just... some might be a little complicated."

"Why?"

"Well... Ray, for example, is terrified of girls."

I grimaced. "Is he gay?" I thought I had narrowed it down enough, but perhaps he wasn't out—

Flynn shook his head. "Not that I know of. More that... he spends too much time on his computer playing video games and living in his fantasy world that he kind of chokes when an actual girl talks to him."

"That's why he ran from me that one time in IT..." I whispered, the realisation kicking in.

"What?" Flynn asked, brows coming together.

"I asked to borrow a pen. Then he squealed—yes, squealed—and ran to the other side of the classroom. I thought it was because he was scared of my leg."

Flynn shook his head in disbelief. "You've had a terrible run of luck, Callie. One jerk turning you down and a bunch of miscommunications..."

"Yeah... I'll believe they all were miscommunications if they all kiss me."

"Well..." Flynn pulled my phone from my hand again, eyes skimming through the list once more. "Fraser and Ashton are here. But Ashton will kind of have to warm up to you first. Fraser, as I'm sure you heard, will easily make out with a pole if someone dared him to and he was drunk enough. I'm sure he'd even kiss our mate Herbert."

"I miss Herbie," I whispered, remembering the green foe-turned-friend frog.

Flynn grinned again and then reached for my prosthetic, bringing it closer to me. "Well, put this on and I'll go introduce you to Fraser so you can get the first one off the list."

But as Flynn started to scoot out of the cubby, I reached over, grabbing his wrist to stop him. "I can't," I choked out.

"Why?" His brows pulled together.

"I... I'm not ready."

He pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side. "Your sister could have ticked off a third of that list tonight and you want to waste—"

"She can only do one a month... Considering I, um..." I glanced down at the prosthetic in my hand. "I figured if I have a handicap for this then she needs one. So I have plenty of time to work through it."

"Okay... but Fraser would be super easy to check off right now."

"I... ah..."

"What's wrong?" Flynn scooted back into the cubby, crossing his legs as he waited patiently for me to get the rest out.

And so, just like all the other embarrassing stuff I had told Flynn tonight, I blurted out my millionth confession. "I haven't kissed anyone before."

"You haven't—" The smile dropped from his face as his eyebrows furrowed. But the expression only lasted a moment before the laughter returned. "Well let's get it out of the way."

He went to move again, but I gripped at his arm. "I just..." I said. "What if it's bad?"

"I assure you... Fraser's kiss will likely be bad considering he is drunk. Did you want your first to be—"

"It's not me I'm worried about. I mean, yeah a part of me has hoped my first kiss would be magical but considering I've lived this long thinking my disability was my problem... well... I don't have high hopes anymore for that. It's more that... what if I'm that bad because I haven't done it before that he tells everyone and no one else wants to kiss me?"

When I allowed my eyes to flicker to Flynn's face at the end of my spiel, he was deadpanning at me.

"What?" I breathed.

"I hope Fraser at least remembers tonight. Based on how drunk he was when I left that party almost an hour ago now, I'm more concerned that he has passed out somewhere and we will have to change who we go for."

I bit my lip in response, not sure what to say.

In my silence, his obsidian gaze glanced around my face, studying me as he mulled over my concern. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before eventually he said, "Do you... do you want me to show you what to do?"