Chapter 30~Heart-to-Heart

Yep, this was 100% a terrible fucking idea. Of course, he has to be in a towel because what else would he be wearing whenever I decide to stop by.

"Denver!? What the hell are you doing here, and why don't you have shoes on?" Finn asks, sounding surprised.

Shoes? I look down, and sure enough, my dumb ass forgot shoes, so here I am on Finn Hall's doorstep in cactus socks. "Uh, it's kind of a long story, sorry to uh..interrupt your shower. See you later," I say awkwardly, trying to get as far away from him as possible. I'm going to take my chances at my brothers' finding me at Austin's. I shouldn't be here.

"Denver, wait! I have time. Let me get changed, and we can talk about your long story because for you to wind up at my house, it must be one hell of a story," Finn says, grabbing my hand before I can fully walk away. He has one thing right, for me to be here, something has to be going on.

I am also now fully aware that Finn is just standing in his doorway in nothing but a towel. His lack of clothing is making me blush. I mean, he does have a nice body; there's still water dripping down his abs from the shower, I interrupted.

"Like what you see, baby," Finn asks, leaning on his door frame, smirking.

And just like that, his awful personality ruins it, the cocky bastard. I just roll my eyes and turn to walk away again. I don't get very far because his hand grabs mine again.

"Hey, I was kidding. Come in, and we can talk about this. You look like you need someone to talk to." He says, his smirk getting replaced with concern.

I know I shouldn't. I know that I should say no and walk back to my house. Maybe let Andrew yell at me so this can all be over, but I really don't want to listen to Andrew right now, and I need to talk to someone. So I let a towel-covered Finn Hall drag me into his house by the hand. Yeah, this was an awful idea.

"Do you want a drink, maybe a snack?" Finn asks, trying to be hospitable. He kind of ruined his chances of that when he shoved a Reece's cup down my throat, though.

"I'm okay," I say, and I again find myself wanting the floor to swallow me whole.

"Uh...okay, well, I'm going to go get changed. You can come with me if you want." Finn asks, sounding nervous.

"I'm okay," I say again.

"Uh, okay. You can take a seat on the couch then. My parents are on a business trip," He says, nodding his head to the massive couch by the entryway.

I don't say anything. I just watch him jog up the stairs. Okay, Denver, you have to get out of here. Immediately. I don't want to go back to the house. Maybe they have already noticed I am gone and checked Austin's, so now I can go to Austin without them knowing I'm there. I've spent so long thinking of an exit plan that just as quickly as he went up the stairs, Finn is coming back down. He's wearing black and white striped ball shorts, and he has a pink hoodie in his hands.

"You're still here?" Finn asks, sounding out of breath and surprised.

"Uh yeah...I can go," I say since Finn doesn't exactly sound thrilled about my company, and I need to get the hell out of here anyway.

"No! Uh, I mean no, it's fine. I uh, just figured you would try to leave, so I tried to be quick," He responds quickly at first, motioning to his hoodie he's holding when he's finished talking.

He rushed to ensure he would be able to catch me if I was able to make my grand escape? That might be the sweetest thing Finn Hall has ever done, a little creepy, but charming nonetheless.

"Oh, well uh... here I am," I say and immediately kick myself. This is why I don't have many friends; I can't talk to people for the life of me.

Finn just chuckles, "yes, here you are," he says, flashing a dimpled smile. "You wanna talk about why your pretty self showed up at my door?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really. I was just coming to check-in, see how you were doing. You seem to be doing fine, so I think my job here is done," I say, trying to leave for the third time, but Finn Hall never takes hints.

"Yeah, not so fast, we both know good and damn well you did not come here wondering about my wellbeing," He says, stopping me in my tracks. Yeah, he does have a point. I don't regularly stop by his house and ask about his day.

I still don't answer him; apparently, when visiting Finn Hall, I turn mute. "let's sit," He phrases it as a question, but his voice leaves little for discussion. Never being one not to follow orders, I follow him to the couch he tried to get me to sit on five minutes ago. I sit on the end closest to the door, hoping to make a break for it when he turns his head. He crushes my dreams when he sits on the coffee table directly in front of me. I guess he can see the look in my eyes when I look at the door.

"So, that long story you mentioned earlier?" Finn asks, setting his hoodie down on the table beside me.

"Finn, this was a mistake, okay. I shouldn't have come here. I just didn't know where else to go," I say, deciding to be honest with him. I shiver, suddenly noticing how cold it is in this house. Why the hell do these people have the air mid-winter, and how is Finn half-naked in here?

"What about Austin? Shouldn't you be at your protectors? Also, why aren't you at your house?" Finn tried to squeeze so many questions into one sentence, all while sneering at the word "protectors." He also must have noticed my shiver because he reaches his discarded hoodie to me. "I won't bite," he says when I just stare at his outstretched hand, not answering anything he asked.

Well, I mean damn, I might as well be warm if I'm going to be interrogated. I take the hoodie and pull it over my head, it falling to my knees once it's on. Finn smiles at me when I sit down for whatever reason. "I told you, it's a long story," I answer his questions.

"Yeah, and I said I had time," he says, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"I'm not home because Andrew is acting too much like dad, and I'm not at Austin's because that's too obvious," I say when he just stares at me, waiting for a response.

"So you're telling me you and your brothers are fighting, so you ran away, and to avoid being caught, you came to my house because no one would look for you here?" He sums up my short story.

"I mean, if you want to put it that way. I didn't run away though," I say

"So you're brothers know where you are?" Finn asks

"No, didn't you listen to the part where Austin's is the obvious hiding spot," I say, annoyed at his stupid questions at this point.

"Oh no, I heard you. I'm just trying to point out that it sounds a lot like you ran away and are hiding at my house," Finn states with his stupid smirk on his face.

Oh god, oh no. He's right, I fucking ran away from home, and I'm hiding at his house. Oh god, they will call Austin, and once they all realize I'm not there, they are going to call the police. Andrew is going to kill me. If I thought I was in trouble before, I don't even want to think about what he's going to do when I'm nowhere in the house. Austin is going to worry so much. And oh my god, don't get me started on having to explain why the fuck I decided to go to Finn's. Oh, this is is bad, so so bad.

I must have looked like I was internally panicking because Finn grabbed both sides of my head, calling my name. "That's it, love, in and out," Finn says once my eyes focus on his. "You're okay. I'm right here." He says, rubbing his thumb on my cheek.

"He's going to kill me," I say once I've caught my breath.

"Who, Austin?" Finn asks, raising his voice.

"No, Austin would never. I mean Andrew, he's already pissed, and I just don't think running away is going to improve his mood," I say, immediately taking up for Austin.

"Andrew would never hurt you. He cares a lot about you. Anyone can tell you that." Finn says, taking his prior seat on the coffee table.

"Sometimes I don't think so, sometimes I think he only keeps me around because of mom and dad," I say, suddenly having a heart to heart with Finn Hall of all people.

"Why do you say that?" He asks, not shutting my idea down immediately, just wanting to know why I feel that way.

"I don't know, sometimes I just feel like a burden, you know. Like he should be at college having the time of his life, not having to settle for being a teacher with an online degree. Not that that is a bad thing, I just know that's not what he wanted. He didn't want a kid at twenty-two." I say, spilling my heart out, letting my tears fall freely. I feel a little weird about Finn seeing me cry. I'm usually crying to Austin. A part of me knows that Austin wouldn't be happy about this, and it just makes me feel guilty like I'm cheating in a way. Even though we aren't together like that, and he wouldn't ever see me like that.

"No, he didn't. None of you asked for your parents to die. It's not your fault. If Andrew didn't want to take custody, then he wouldn't have. He could have gone to college and partied every weekend or whatever he would have got up to, but he didn't. He chose to become a parent of three boys. Since I'm not a parent of three boys, I'm just going to assume, but I would guess that gets hard. especially when one needs protection and can't seem to catch a break, and another is the literal definition of a trouble maker. I'm sure Ryan helps him as much as he can, but he has practice most of the week. So most of the time, it's just Andrew. I don't know what he did or said, but I do know that he loves you and the other two endlessly. I would kill for my parents to care half as much as Andrew does." Finn says, and once he starts talking, it's like he can't stop.

That might be the smartest thing Finn Hall has ever said, though. He's right. Andrew is trying his best. I'm sure it's not easy having to raise your brothers. Andrew could have stuck us into a foster home somewhere and split us up, but he didn't. He chose us over following his dreams. He's nothing like our father, sure he has a temper that can sometimes get out of control, but he is affectionate and will always talk things out. Dad would never even hug us, and he avoided talking like the plague. Andrew isn't dad. He's Andrew. He's my big brother, who gave up everything for us. Suddenly, I feel the need to apologize to Andrew and give him the biggest hug. All thanks to Finn Hall, which is very odd to say.

"Yeah, you're right. Thank you, Finn, you actually really helped me," I say, giving him a small teary eyed smile.

"Anytime, Denver, whenever you need someone to talk to, you can always come here. It can be our little secret," He says, winking when he says "little secret."

I just roll my eyes, but this time I smile too. "I guess I should really go. They are probably worried about me." I say, standing up.

"Yeah, they'll probably get me for kidnapping," He jokes as he walks me to the door.

"I honestly wouldn't put it past them," I say, following behind him.

"Thank you again. I needed that," I say once we are at the door.

"You can always stop by for my amazing advice," He says, smiling, opening the door for me.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I smile.

"Bye, Denver, you should get home before it gets dark. You shouldn't walk by yourself at night," He says, eyeing the sun setting in front of us.

"Bye, Finn Hall," I say, walking out the door.

"Finn," He says

"What," I turn around to question him.

"Just call me Finn. Finn Hall sounds too formal, and after sobbing and having a panic attack in my living room, I think we are past the formalities," He smirks.

"Okay then, goodbye Finn," I say, correcting myself.

And with that, he smiles and shuts the door leaving me to walk home in my sock-clad feet.

A/N~An update as promised, until next time 💜