Imperfect

The Invitation

I woke early the next morning, and with my mild hangover gently pounding in my head, I had completely forgotten about my exchange with Finley. I yawned and stretched all my limbs out. I placed my fingertips on my temples and rubbed gently. I didn't want to move, but I knew I had to. I picked up my phone and checked the time. It was half past eight. I remembered the night before and it all came flooding back. I groaned, thinking Finley probably would have thought I was really forward and an obsessed fan girl. To my surprise there was a notification. Another message. It must have been sent when I was asleep. I unlocked my phone and opened the Twitter app.

I'm glad I didn't ruin Donnie. Ask away, but I have one rule. You ask me a question I ask you a question. Those are my terms, I won't settle for less. I can't have you having all this dirt on me or you might try and blackmail me. I'll catch you tomorrow Claire x

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth and I was glad he didn't think I was weird. I stopped for a second and thought about how weird this was. I had never heard about this ever happening before, unless it was some celebrity being creepy. Maybe Fin was being creepy. I only knew what he chose to present in interviews after all. I rubbed my eyes and thought about the question I would ask him first. I tapped out a question and smirked. I couldn't wait to see his response to this one. With that I dragged myself out of bed. I headed downstairs to where my Dad was sat in the living room. I curled up in the big faux leather chair, and yawned.

"Morning Dad, did you sleep ok?"

" I slept really well thanks Claire, other than the dog wanting to go out at four this morning. Then he came back in and stole my spot on the bed so I didn't sleep very well after that." I chuckled. Max was always doing that. "What about you? Did you sleep ok? Can I get you a drink or anything?" He asked, he moved to get up but I shook my head. That was a mistake. The headache intensified a little as the room span. I forced my eyes to focus again.

"I slept like a log. I think I had a little too much wine last night. No I'm ok thanks Dad. I'll grab one in a minute." I paused for a second and added "That guy messaged me a couple more times last night." I tried to drop it into the conversation casually. Dad had always been protective of me. He looked at me stoically, as he always did.

"Oh yeah, what were you talking about? Remember, and it's just my advice, don't go diving in head first. I know you're a fan of the guy, but most celebrities aren't who they're cracked up to be. Just be careful." He said.

"Don't worry Dad. We were just chatting it was nothing major. I just thought it was cool that he took the time to message is all." I said.

"As long as you're sure. I just don't want you getting hurt again." He said. I could hear the worry creeping into his voice. I had a bad track record with picking guys. My last ex had nearly ruined my relationship with my family. We stopped talking and when we did talk it would just be arguing. I was too big headed to admit I had made a mistake and I had lost two years with my parents because of it. We were closer than ever now but I could understand their concern.

"Don't worry Dad, I doubt it will amount to anything. He's probably looking for a way out of the conversation anyway. I doubt he'll speak to me again." I said shrugging my shoulders. "Anyway I don't even know him. I only know the celebrity side of him. I doubt he's the same person behind closed doors." At that point I tried to convince myself that what I was saying was true. That Finley would never be interested and that he was a fraud. Little did I know how wrong I was.

Over the next month, Finley and I were chatting non stop. I was bearing in mind what my parents had said and I didn't want to give up my trust too easily. The problem was I felt like I knew him already. I had followed his work for the past three years so it was hard to hold back. We were talking about Exile Watch and all the theories we had about who they were going to bring in as new villains, and also about our families, and our jobs and how different they were. When we were on day four of chatting,
Finley asked me for my phone number so we could WhatsApp and possibly talk on the phone. By day eight we were past WhatsApp and he rang me during my lunch break at work, just after he had woken up. By the time the end of the month came he said he had some news for me so it had to be a video call. In the weeks we had been talking, we had discovered that we shared a lot of interests. To my surprise he was a genuine comic book geek like me. Not only that, we both hit the gym regularly, and he shared my love of science too. He had a masters degree in physics, which he had completed whilst filming Exile Watch.