The drive to the McCains house is usually a short one that only takes about ten minutes at most, yet today it felt like it took centuries before I finally saw the greenhouse. Another decade passes as Finn struggles to find a parking spot. The usually empty driveway is full with three vehicles taking up every inch of it. The street has five cars parked along one side of it and another three on the other side.

Finn, having no other choice, backs into the twin's driveway while arching a thick brown eyebrow at me."I thought you said the group would be small?" He mumbles quietly, taking in the amazing sight of all the cars.

I thought that too.

Jaylin's Friday get together's are typically small—five girls at most—what changed? I'm running through every possibility when Finn jerks the car to a complete stop. The bad news is that the unexpected force launches me forward and into the dashboard—hello bloody nose—the good news is that the answer to my question becomes obvious. Robert and Beatrice have this dinner thing with their employees at their store in Spokane tonight. They won't be back until tomorrow afternoon.

"La dracu."

Bad news number two is that Finn is once again speaking a different language. I'm far from being considered a genius, but I'm going to claim that he only does that when he's mad or feeling some type of emotion he would rather not feel.

Good going.

I didn't choose to purposefully bang my head, you know.

Same difference. The guy is mad and it's your fault.

Finn's cool fingers lightly lift my head off the dashboard, and I groan. Not because I'm not really hurt in any way, but because I'm unconsciously allowing my mind to believe Jax's words. It also doesn't help that blood is dripping from my nose and all over my lap, some even lands on Finn's car. I try to minimize the mess by covering my nose with my hand—disgusting I'm aware.

Bleeding. Embarrassed. Ruined.

Good luck getting him to ask you out for a second date.

Shocking as it might seem, Finn doesn't bat an eyelash at the blood leaking onto his clean black carpet. He just lets go of my face for a minute, grabs a couple of tissues from the glove department, and hands them to me. Tipping my head forward hurriedly, I force the paper over my nose.

How much worse can this day possibly get?

"It's not that bad," Finn whispers quietly, making me realize I said my thought out loud.

I title my head up and slightly to the side to meet Finn's beautiful eyes. Right now they shine a mythical light green filled with covered up sadness, with worry as the front. He tries hard to keep only those two emotions but between blinks he lets his guard down and a new one—anger mostly—flickers by.

"Yeah. You make it not that bad."

"You sure about that?" He leans back in his seat, and runs his pale hands down his face, quietly mumbling, "Because I'm pretty sure you're bleeding because of my stupid choice."

Once positive that my nose is satisfied, I pull the bloody tissue from the face and drop it into the garbage bag. Finn hands me a wipe and holds up a little mirror—his car doesn't have one of those sun protectors so no built-in mirror for him.

"It wasn't your fault. I get nose bleeds easily." He doesn't look convinced. It's like he's hell bent on making everything that goes wrong today his fault. "I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, Finn. That's on me."

"Ok."

I know he doesn't believe me. It's written in the quick, emotionless way he replies to my statement. It's in the slow movements he takes to open the car. On a good day, Finn typically does everything with a fast swiftness. It thrills him to know he got the most out of his day.

He opens my door for me while I clean my hands on another wipe. "Let's have a good night, okay?"

With our backpacks over his shoulders, Finn leads the way to the McCain's house.

"Define good."

"You in a better mood." I cringe the moment my words leave my mouth. I didn't mean for them to come out so harsh, or for them to act as a slap to Finn's face. Yet, they somehow did both.

Finn recovers fast, first forcing his jaw to relax and then painting a teasing smile onto his mouth. If I didn't know better, I'd believe that he was okay. "That isn't going to happen today. Next."

"Um...a party with all your friends."

"Including you?"

"No, I hate parties." After my last party experience, I'm not really aching to go to any parties anytime soon. I don't care if it's at my house, or even if it'll make me normal. Nothing is worth the chance of experiencing that night again.

"Then no."

"Okay...how about hanging out with me?"

"Depends." He mumbles, leaning down and placing a few light kisses to my ear. A tiny shiver leaves my body and I have to bite my lip hard to stop myself from melting into him.

"On?"

"Will you let me continue kissing you?" His voice is husky as he loosely secures an arm around my waist. I swallow hard and focus my attention on entering the four-digit code for the garage.

"M-maybe."

Dang, you stutter.

We step back as the garage creaks and groans it's greeting. I force my undivided attention onto it instead of Finn. Without looking at him, I know that a smirk more than likely lays on his lips and a smart remark on the edge of his tongue. "Don't even think about it."

"I wasn't thinking about 'it'." He claims, waving his hands in surrender as we enter the garage.

Unlocking the door that separates us from the party inside, I turn back to Finn with an arched eyebrow and a face that says 'I don't believe you'. "Sure." I hold the door back and step out of the way to allow him inside.

Unexpectedly, the house isn't exploding with loud rap music. Instead, Ed Sheeran quietly sings Kiss Me in the background. A few teens gather around the counter talking among themselves while others sit on the couch watching tv. Some even lean against the walls in pairs.

As soon as we exit the little hallway and land in the kitchen, Felix shouts, "SMALLS!" Jumping over the couch and landing a foot in front of me. He then picks me up and carries me to the kitchen counter, setting me on top of it. "Look who I found, Alex."

"Small fry!" Alex pushes his shaggy bangs out of his blue eyes and smiles up at me. "You sure do grow up fast." He remarks before he and Felix burst out laughing. A few other guys join in though I'm almost positive none of them really get it. Luckily for them, both Felix and Alex have no problem thoroughly explain it, even going as far back as describing their nicknames for me.

"That guy is Sandlot was tiny and they called him Smalls." Felix gestures to my body, drawing three pairs of eyes towards me. "She's tiny too, so it makes perfect sense to call her Smalls."

I quickly grow uncomfortable standing on the counter with most everyone's eyes on me—would it be too much to ask them to look somewhere else?—so I stare at Finn for help. He's leaning against a wall a few yards from me with a small group surrounding him. Everyone in the group, both guys and girls, seem to be talking to him.

After a minute of silently asking for help, I decided to text him.

Please get me down.
_Delivered at 3:05, read at 3:06 pm.

He looks up at me, then at the group caging him in before turning to Alex and saying, "Put her down."

"Nah. She looks adorable as a table decoration."

Finn examines me for a moment as if really thinking this over. A little annoyed and so uncomfortable, I throw a grape from the fruit bowl at him to make the choice easier.

He douches the tiny ball, and walks over to me while saying, "In my defense, you are a cute decoration."

I ignore his comment and wrap my arms in a death grip around his shoulders. He grabs onto my waist and sets back down onto the ground in a swift manner.

"Thanks," I whisper to him, smile quickly at the twins and head upstairs with a few hot gazes on my back.

I open my door, close it behind myself, and slide down it. Taking in a few deep breaths, I bring my knees up to my chest, and tightly circling my arms around them as I hold myself together.

You're ok. You're ok. Breath. In. Out. In. Out. You're ok.

I'm in the middle of inhaling when a knock sounds outside my door. Exhaling, I pick myself off the floor and ask who it is.

"Finn."

I open the door for him and turn to take off my ballet flats. Setting them down in their rightful spot next to my black wedges, I turn back to my guest—he sits on my bed looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face—with a smile I try to make look genuine.

"You're not ok." The statement is said loud enough for me to hear, but it doesn't sound like it's for me.

I shrug my shoulders and run a hand through my curls. My fingers end up getting stuck, I guess I should've brushed better this morning.

"Want to talk about it?" He whispers softly, looking up at me.

I stare at him, taking everything I could possibly lose into consideration before nodding. Some things are worth taking a risk for. Finn isn't a 'thing' but I'm willing to risk a few things for him.

I walk through the couple feet separating us and sit down on the bed next to him. My back touches the cool back wall. For a second I consider reversing my words and telling Finn that I'm ok. He wouldn't know any better, plus it would save both of us some grief.

It would also leave that wall you stuck between you two up.

"I...I like you." I somehow manage to say while still making eye contact.

"I like you too." Finn doesn't hesitate to say the words back. In fact, he looks sure. Too sure.

"You don't know me-"

Confusion clouds his face as he searches my eyes, probably wondering what the hell is going on in my head."Yes, I do-"

I look away from him and into my lap, whispering, "So I'll tell you a little part of my story." I swallow, a lump forming in my throat. "When I'm done you can leave if you want."

Finn pulls me into his lap and wraps his arms me in a tight hold. It feels like time slows down from the moment he angles his head to the side slightly and the second our lips brush against each other. "I'm not going anywhere."
________

Hey readers, thank you so much for reading. Please vote, comment and share if you liked this chapter.

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all the Veterans who've served this amazing (even if Trump is ruling it) country.

Q.O.T.C: Do you have any Veterans in your family?

Love you all, Liv

DP: Nov.11.17
WC: 1,856