•flawed with benefits•

"What?"

"I knew you'd be here, Violet," He says, swallowing as he takes her hands in his ever so gently. "I still choose you."

"Cal-" She begins, but he cuts her off.

Cal steps closer, so close she could feel the warmth radiating off him. "No, let me speak because I have a lot I want to say to you and I don't know if I'm ever going to have enough courage to try again." She doesn't say a word, but she squeezes his hands slightly to let him know she was listening like her entire life depended upon it. "Violet Griffin, I know that we said there was no feelings and no strings attached between us, but I like you a hell of a lot. You're one of my closest friends."

In his voice, she could hear him getting choked up and she didn't know whether it was genuine or whether it was the alcohol, but she didn't care because in her own eyes tears were welling and threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"Cal-"

"I'm not done. You're one of my closest friends and we've been through a lot together and you've given me some of the best sex I've ever had." Violet laughs, looking down at their hands and then back to his intimate eyes. "But that doesn't matter because I choose you. I will always choose you. You're the only girl I want to hold hands with, to embrace and to kiss because you're one of a kind and no one can even come close to comparing with you."

The moment was tender and raw. It was as if he had shown her his heart, alive and beating with love for her.

And now it was her turn.

She inhales, rubbing her thumbs over the backs of his hands. "I don't know where to start." She laughs shakily. "I should probably apologise first off because I kept a lot of feelings to myself. I'm selfish. I really whole-heartedly cared about you for a long, long time before now, but I was scared to admit that to you. And seeing you with Elora made me jealous, but then you chose me and I didn't know what to do so I pushed you away again. I regretted it."

"Why were you scared?" He asks, frowning down at her slightly.

Her berry red lips twist into a soft, sad smile. "Because I've been hurt before. Trust issues can cause you to make stupid mistakes. I should have said yes that night because, even as I told you I didn't want anything more, I knew that I wanted to be with you. I want to be able to call myself your girlfriend, Cal."

"Then, maybe I should ask the question," He replies, looking down at her with a beaming smile.

She laughs, beaming right back up at him. "Maybe you should."

"Violet Griffin, will you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?" His eyes glimmered as he spoke her full name and the question that finally could be asked now that they were both ready for this next step.

"Of course I will," She replies, but the words barely leave her mouth before Cal's lips are on hers and she's pushed against the wall. His arms rest on her hips, hers in his hair, as they kiss for the first time in their new state of being. They were greedy and rough, wild and ravage as they moved against one another, Violet having to smack his wandering hand away from up her dress. She forces her lips away from him, barely, and has to move back as he tries to pull her back in for another kiss. Their lips were swollen and his smudged with the oh-so familiar colour of berry red lipstick. She smiled with familiarity when she saw it, but says, "Maybe we should get out of here."

"I think we should because the things I want right now should only be done behind closed doors," He replies cheekily. With a laugh, Violet pressed a quick kiss on him and took his hand in hers, dragging him after her.

They were barely in the taxi when Cal reconnected their lips, not being able to wait the ride home. Violet couldn't bring herself to object to the long overdue intimacy between them.

She was in love with this boy, and he was in love with her.

-

736 words
Yes, this was the final chapter and honestly what a ride we've been on. I'm so in love with Violet's character because she grew up so much through this book.

Let me know what your favourite moment of this story was, I'm super interested to know <3

Stay tuned for the epilogue!

Thank you all for reading this story. Its been a lot of fun to write, but the end of this only means more stories coming soon. In the meantime, you can get more sidemen fanfictions on my profile. There's the story of Dallas and Simon in One Breath and continued in One More. There's the story of Marnie and Harry in Why We Broke Up and the new story of Julian and Josh in Dead Love Letters. I hope you can find something you'll enjoy <3

Thanks again!
Love, Lau <3