Rekindled

Dinner with a Stranger

Finn's POV

I woke up in a regular morning haze. Nothing seemed different about today. I'm still in my bed, in my room, and I'm still tired. I stretch out my arms, and I realize that I can't move my left arm. I look over, and Phoebe is right next to me sleeping. Holy shit! I immediately fling my right hand over my mouth. I hope I didn't wake her up. I thought last night was a dream. Apparently, it was very much real. Every single part of last night was real, but you won't hear me complaining.

I look down at myself, and the only thing on me is a pair of underwear. At least I'm not naked and neither is Phoebe. I'm sorry Jake, I went where I was never supposed to go. I went to tier 15, but I'm 18 now. What is he going to do to me? Not like he hasn't done it either. I carefully slide my arm from under Phoebe. I hope I don't wake her. I could stay here in bed, but I've never been one to waste a perfectly good morning. It's' only 7 o'clock. I have enough time to start breakfast. From what I know about Phoebe, which I know a fair amount, is that she is a little late of a riser. She doesn't seep in forever, but she never wakes up at the same time as me.

*Ah yes, another time skip. I guess I really like these now. One sentence could do the same thing, but I don't feel like it. You get this dialogue from the writer.*

I look over, and Phoebe is starting to stir awake. I walk over to her and lightly kiss her cheek. I'll just wait for her to wake up. I see her eyes flutter open. She looks so cute in the morning. She looks cute all the time, but you get the point.

"Good morning gorgeous. I hope you slept well. I made some breakfast for you. I couldn't decide whether you wanted a classic fire kingdom breakfast or a human one, but I made both!"

"You're so sweet Finn. What would I do without you? Human food is like junk food to me. I can eat it and enjoy it, but it is pretty bad for my overall health. I have it sparingly and this morning will be no different. I'll take some of those coals please."

Phoebe and I dined in silence. It wasn't awkward or anything, but something definitely wasn't right. I asked her If anything was up, but she responded "fine." Nothing was fine, but she looked like she didn't want to pried. I left her to eat. There wasn't really anything I could do either. I heard my phone buzzing loudly, so I excused myself from the table. I walked out on the porch to take it.

"Hello? Who dis?"

"Really Finn? You don't recognize your own brother's number? Whatever, now's not the time. I have something important to tell you?"

"Then tell me if it's so important."

"Ugh, I swear Finn, you drive me bananas."

"Yeah, I know I do. It's what brothers are supposed to do. Now tell me what's so important. It better be because you disturbed a pretty great morning with Phoebe."

"Woah wait Phoebe is over at your place? Did you go to tier 15? I swear if you did. I told you to stay away from there Finn! You know what? That is another issue. We don't have time for this. I was calling you to tell you that you have a dinner planned for tonight."

"I do? I don't remember agreeing to one or setting one up. Well, either way I have dinner tonight. Where is it, and who is it with?"

"It's at 8:30 in the fire kingdom. It's with some guy called Chris Ryan. He says he's a big fan or something. He wanted to talk to you, and whatever other dinner stuff happens. It's at the burning coal. Don't be late Finn. I know we don't know him, but he might be very important."

"Well, I've never heard of him, but I'll oblige. I'll do it for a fan."

"This conversation about you and Phoebe is not gone, Finn. You aren't escaping that!"

"Yeah okay Jake. I'll talk to you another time."

I hung up. He's so overprotective. It's sweet but overbearing. I just want to live my life. I've lived with Jake for most of my life. It's finally time I spread my wings and flew away. Oh well, I can't control Jake. I can't stop him. Well, I might as well enjoy spending what time I have with Phoebe. She is my girlfriend... again, and I love her. It only makes sense to start spending time together. We have gone through quite a bit to be together. I want to enjoy this.

*I don't want to write out the rest of the day. Listen, don't be mad at me, I get lazy. We're skipping to dinner. I have to move this story along somehow. Skip to 8 o'clock in the fire kingdom.*

I said goodbye to Phoebe. She has to continue her duties as the ruling body of the fire kingdom. I mean she can't skip all of her duties for me. She has to be responsible. I hope that one day, I'll make that job a little easier for her. It'll probably be easier if two people were working together. For now, that's in the future. I got to go meet this mystery fan.

I drove down to the restaurant. It was a decent place. Nothing too fancy, and it seemed casual. I just want to get this over with. I mean he's a fan, and I don't like to disappoint a fan, but dinner seems excessive. I hope this isn't some trend that continues. I want to spend my evenings with Phoebe; not with fans. I did tell Phoebe to come meet me in the morning. I told her to meet me at my place in the morning, and we could go get breakfast together.

There was already a table that was reserved for us. That was nice, but now I have to sit at a table for two alone. I'm a little early, so that's my fault. I want this over with. I sit and wait. I'm here for what seems like forever. Finally, I see a guy come and walk over. He pulls out a chair and sits down. He introduces himself. He seems like a nice guy. We chatted over whatever dinner was. Nothing was really memorable. He did say he was going to pay for everything. He said it was the least he could do for the "hero of Ooo." It's nice of him, but I don't really want to be the hero of Ooo. I want a semi-normal life, but I doubt I'll ever get one.

Dinner seemed to pass by slowly. It was just endless blabber between the two of us. He asked about my love life. It was a strange request, and I asked him the same question. He told me he was single. He said that he dated someone a few years back, but she dumped him hard. She told him that he will never live up to her ex. I thought that was pretty harsh. He continued to press about my love life. I finally decided that I should just shut him up. I told him I was dating Phoebe. He visibly stiffened, but I didn't really pay that close attention. I just continued on. He ordered two drinks for us.

I didn't really pay attention, but I think he put something in the drinks. After those drinks, the world seemed like such a haze. Everything seemed blurry. I don't remember much of the night. I remember I told him where I lived. I couldn't be trusted to drive home. Something was obviously wrong with me. I remember there was a girl with him after we left. I don't remember what he told her, but she was visibly happy to be along with the two of us.

The last moments of the night were almost too hard to remember. Everything was blurry and fuzzy. He led me up to my floor with the mysterious girl in tow. I think the last thing he told me was, "This is what you get. You stole her from me!" I don't remember why he said that, but he shoved me into my room. I landed hard on the floor. He told the mysterious girl that "I was all hers." I was too weak and tired to fight back. She pressed herself on me. I wanted to push her away. I wanted to tell her that I was with Phoebe already. I tried so hard to tell her. There was something wrong with my voice, but nothing came out. I don't remember anything else from last night.

Unfortunately, everything came back when I woke up with the mysterious girl next to me, and Phoebe staring right at me from across the room. The look of hurt, betrayal, and anger mixed on her face broke my heart.