Grey

Twenty-Six

"This house is sick, by the way."

"Yeah," I exhaled, glancing around at the vast space. While it wasn't necessarily my taste, objectively speaking it was cool. "My dad built it like five years ago."

"Not gonna lie, when I heard all the commotion yesterday I was hoping it was him getting home," he smiled, picking at the stubble on his chin blindly. "He's kind of a legend."

"I think even I would have preferred it to have been him showing up," I laughed lightly, picturing Finn fan-girling over my flesh and blood. "You'd like him, he's easy to get along with. I feel like I'd have to physically pull you away, you'd talk music for days otherwise."

Finn smirked, not disagreeing. "Your parents are divorced, yeah?"

"Yeah, they have been since I was like..." I clicked my tongue, thinking as I passed Finn his coffee. He thanked me with a peck, blowing on the hot liquid. "13 or 14."

"What's your mum's name?"

"Celeste," I retrieved my own coffee, mirroring Finn's movements. "You'd like her too, she's a bad ass."

"See where you get it from then," he complimented as I smiled. "More importantly, would they like me?"

I rolled my eyes because it was a stupid question, sipping my espresso before speaking. "Who wouldn't like you?"

"My neighbor, Boris."

"What are your parent's names?" I asked curiously, feeling a pang of heartbreak remembering his mom.

"Dad is Arthur, also my middle name."

"Finnegan Arthur Hastings," I smiled, saying it slowly. "That's a nice name. So regal sounding."

He smiled bashfully. "Built for the king I am. Uh, mum was Lily. Lillian. And my step-mum is Julie."

"I like Lillian," I hummed, Finn nodding in quiet agreement. "Also a nice name."

"I'd like to call my daughter Lily," he admitted as my heart warmed, surprised by my own reaction. I'd not thought too much about children but it was nice to hear Finn talk about them as if they were a sure thing in his mind. "I'll name my son whatever the hell the opposite of Arthur is."

"You really don't like your dad."

"Got daddy issues, what can I say?" He smirked as I laughed, though I knew he was making light of a far more serious situation. "What's your middle name? Going off what I know, Steff, Celeste, Calypso, Aurora... it's gotta be like, Gemini."

"Hey," I scolded as he cackled at his own comment. "It's actually Marie."

"Wildly anti-climactic, I'm going to pretend it's Gemini."

-

"This is shit, isn't it?"

I couldn't help but mirror Finn's sad smile. His hands were on the open door frame of my Jeep, boxing me in as I stood with my hands on his hips. We'd been trying to say bye for a solid 20 minutes, neither of us making any move to actually make it happen.

The day had gone by far faster than it should have. We'd slowly made our way back down to LA, filling time spent in traffic with stupid games and our favorite - guess the song. When we'd finally gotten back to his house, we both were a bit insatiable - needing to make the most of the little bit of time we still had left together. We had planned on getting a bit further on the painting of his music room, but naturally didn't leave his bed.

His ride to the airport was going to arrive any minute but we continued to put off the inevitable as I laced my fingers around his neck, playing with the curls like I always did. His eyes danced between mine, a lazy smile playing on his lips.