Lovesick

♣ Finn Hughes ♣

"Oh my goodness! I am so unbelievably sorry!"

Finn sat quietly in the wooden chair as he watched his father make his way around the red washed room. He kept his eyes focused on his hands, as he held his knees to his chest. He hated coming to the basement with his father. He hated the chemically smell. He hated how the darkness seemed to want to swallow him whole. His father shuffled around the space while carrying some type of chemical solution. 

Finn's chair was stashed in the corner of the room furthest from the door. The little light in the room came from two lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling on wires. Finn's corner was the darkest. Finn hated the dark, almost more than he hated the color red. Red was the color the basement was coated in. Red in her bed was the reason his mom never left her room. Red was the reason he had to be down in the basement. Red, red, red.

Finn heard a plopping noise from the other side of the room. His father was hunched over the table with a vat of some kind of acid. Finn used his left hand to hold his nose closed at the rotten stench. Finn had long ago learned that being quiet was best in the basement. If he was quiet, his dad forgot about him. If he was quiet, he didn't have to help.

Finn slowly lifted his head at the sound of his father's shuffling stopping. His father had a bum leg due to a 'work accident'. His grey eyes started at the scowling man in front of him. The scowl was directed towards the table in front of him.

"It's not right. I need another one. Another girl. Another subject."

Finn shut his eyes and buried his head in his knees again. He hated the red room. He hated his father.

☽☽☽♡☾☾☾

[Y/N] looked up to see a ginger haired boy reaching down to help her stand back up. His face was flushed pink, and he looked mortified. He didn't let go of her hand and looked her over, as if inspecting for injuries.

"Are you hurt? I'm so sorry. My father always tells me to slow down because I'm gonna hurt someone if I'm always in such a hurry." 

[Y/N] stared at the cute boy who was clearly very flustered at the thought of accidently hurting someone. 

"And now I'm rambling. Sorry." He finished, sliding his eyes to the floor and his warm hand out of hers. His periwinkle irises were laser focused on his shoes.

"It's really alright. I'm not hurt." [Y/N] tried to ease his nerves. "You don't have to apologize. I should've been watching where I was going better."

The boy still didn't say anything. He shuffled away from her a little, holding his arms. [Y/N] frowned a little. She wondered what had made him act like this. It could be just shyness, but often this kind of reaction happens through trauma.

"My name is [Y/N]. I'm new to Sequoia. What about you? What's your name?" She stuck out her right hand for him to shake. He looked at it, but only held himself tighter in response. 

"Name's Finn. I have to go. Sorry." He turned on his heels and quickly walked away from the confused girl. 

She shook the strange interaction off. She pulled out the printed version of the map she had and started off to the café. That's when she realized that Finn had left the way he came. He must've been so flustered that he forgot where he was going. She resolved to get to know him better.

She finally entered the café to see RJ waving at her. She quickly walked to RJ and swung into the seat next to her. 

"Hey, lovey. I already got a huge spread of food for the both of us. I got burgers, fries, tacos, tater tots, and my special, a mix of root beer, Dr. Pepper, and coke." RJ gestured to the array of food on trays. Next to RJ sat a tall dark haired boy. He was quietly munching on a burrito. [Y/N] had never seen him before.

"Oh yeah, that's Eric. He's a math student. We met because I was kind of failing geometry." RJ shrugged.

"Almost is a gigantic understatement." Eric muttered quietly.

"Oh hush." RJ lightly smacked the back of his head. "Anyway, Eric, this is [Y/N], my new roommate I told you about."

"Nice to meet you." [Y/N] waved at the boy rubbing the back of his head. He nodded back at her. [Y/N] picked out some food from the table in front of her and started eating.

"Okay so, I forgot to tell you this last night, but this week is Match Week. So basically, every single junior goes in for a consultation with the counselors on Monday and Tuesday, then they find each student a possible romantic partner based on their wants, needs, and compatible futures. It's one of the more stupid things that the Sequoia rich people started."

"Woah, woah, woah, what? So you're telling me that adults are basically shipping minors together, and it's just okay? We're just supposed to accept that?" [Y/N] asked, horrified.

"Apparently. The good thing is that no one really cares if you get together with your Match. You only have to go on like 3 dates, and then you're free to be with whoever." RJ scarfed down a handful of fries between words. [Y/N] stared at her in complete disbelief. 

[Y/N]'s brain shut out the rest of the world, as she walked out of the café. She just kept walking. She dissociated from everything, as her legs carried her out of the school and into the forest behind it. It was already getting dark outside, but she didn't care. She heard a noise behind her and started running.

"Wait!"