Writing Class

-Four Days and Two Classes Later-

After Finn told her that he didn’t have a girlfriend, Miranda felt like she completely made a fool of herself for jumping to such conclusions. But, what was she supposed to think when she heard that message? It didn’t exactly sound sisterly. She still has uncertainties, but for the time being has just decided to trust what he told her. He said he’s single, she’ll believe that until it’s proven otherwise. She’ll take the ‘innocent until proven guilty’ route. She still would like to know who that girl was and why she left that message, but she isn’t Finn’s girlfriend, she doesn’t have any reasons to ask those questions. Granted he kissed her, but there are plenty of reasons why people kiss other people. Miranda decided that she didn’t want to jump to anymore conclusions. She doesn’t even know if she wants something more with Finn. And she has no idea what he wants from her. He’s been acting just as he always did, so she’s trying to act just as she always did. It’s getting to be a little difficult this time around though. Her mind just won’t shut up and it seems to always have something to think when he comes around. His ego would suffocate himself if he ever found out what goes through her mind.

Classes this past week were awkward for Miranda, even despite the acting normal routine. She found herself constantly editing what she said to Finn. She doesn’t know what to do with him and she knows that he’s noticed. A part of her thinks that he’s enjoying her inner conflict. Just waiting till he’s had enough before he puts her out of her misery.

She resolves to have a Finn-free weekend and no longer think of him. A voice in the back of her mind is laughing but she chooses to ignore it. So far it’s started out decently. Except for the brief relapse right after she woke up when she though of him. But no more. She’s determined.

Her plan for the rest of the day is to get some reading in, take a long bath, and than watch a movie. She’s thinking Princess Bride. Hell, maybe she can make it a themed day and read the book too.

The nerve-rackingly loud ring of her cell phone pulls her away from her bookshelf, and she hurries to grab it before it cuts to voice mail.

“Hello?” she answers, slightly out of breath.

~“Working out with Barbie again? You really should burn that tape.”~

“Finn…hi,” Miranda can slowly feel her Finn-free weekend hit the fan.

~“I have a feeling that if I say ‘hello’, we’ll end up shooting greetings back and forth and who has the physical strength? I have a question to ask you.”~

“What’s that?” Miranda asks almost hesitantly. She won’t be buying him another deck of cards because he’s now lost a Jack. She’s mentally cursing herself for not looking at the caller ID before flipping the phone open. She admits that she still would have answered, she can’t lie to herself that badly, but she would have at least been a little prepared.

~“What do you have planned for tonight? It’s short notice, I know, but what can I say? I love the uncertainty.”~

Miranda takes a few seconds before answering, wondering if she should lie and say that she had some pressing matters to attend to. Maybe her grandmother just died. No, better not say that. What if she just ended up condemning her grandmother to die? She could use her Aunt, she has a feeling that the woman hates her. She probably can’t use death at all, Finn would take it upon himself to be a one-man show.

“Umm…I was going to read, take a bath, and watch a movie,” Miranda goes with the honest answer. Maybe he’ll pick up on the fact that she’s planned this all out and would probably like to actually do it.

~“Perfect. You can get some reading in, we can even go see a movie. The bath will of course be up to you, we’ll see how the night goes.”~

Before Miranda can really argue, Finn goes on about show times. What movie they should see, and what she feels like eating. She gives up and just goes along with it. He pries her address out of her after arguing over transportation, Miranda just wanting to meet somewhere and Finn wanting to pick her up. Miranda is starting to wonder if this is supposed to be a date. By the time they get off the phone, Miranda has a little under an hour to take a shower and figure out what to wear.

-45 Minutes Later-

Miranda is hating Finn every second. She has never had this much trouble in figuring out what to wear. She’s gone through five different possible outfits and is growing even more frustrated and disgusted with herself. If only she could have met him somewhere, that would have taken all of the pressure away. But he wasn’t having it. She doesn’t know if this is supposed to be a date or if it’s just hanging out. She doesn’t know if he’s taking her to a nice restaurant or a drive-thru.

She finally decided upon wearing her favorite black and white knee-length skirt. It’s a pattern that goes so nicely with rich middle-age housewives. She pairs it with a plain black top. And not to seem too dressed up, she decided to skip fancy shoes and just wear an old pair of red low Converse. She doesn’t want to look like she tried as hard as she did.

Finn arrives right on time and Miranda finds herself at a loss for words. She doesn’t think she’s ever seen him quite so attractive before, but she has a feeling that she could say that every time she sees him. She opens the door to Finn a very well-dressed Finn, wearing black pants and an un-tucked paisley dress shirt. The cuffs are unbuttoned, hanging loosely from his wrists, making him very at-home in the shirt. She almost laughs outright when she scans down to his dingy lime-green Converse shoes, thinking that he probably wore them for the same reason she did.

“Do you dress in accordance with what would go with your hair?” Miranda asks lightheartedly.

“I feel no shame in taking advantage of my assets,” Finn responds cheekily and leads her to his car.

“You didn’t get all dressed up for me did you Randa?” Finn asks, staring at her skirt while holding the car door open for her.

“Bite me Finn,” she answers, annoyed and pleased that they’re getting back on normal ground.

“Gladly, any location preference?”

-One Movie Later-

“I’m going to have that song stuck in my head for weeks,” Miranda laughs while taking a sip from her water.

“Brilliant song, and the movie didn’t offend me,” Finn smiles, grabbing a roll from the bread basket.

“How could it offend you? They didn’t muss the book up, well the ending had an alteration, but nothing you can’t forgive. Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, what’s not to love? Especially Freeman. I’d see anything with his name tacked on.”

The only movie that they both hadn’t seen and wanted to see, was \'The Hitchhiker\'s Guide to the Galaxy\'. Having both read the books, they were eager to see this movie. The second it started and the dolphins started to sing, they both knew that they would love this movie and everything it had to offer.

“Our boy did do great, my breast is swollen with pride,” Finn says with a straight face, “Now we just need to see more of Crook and life is good.”

“We need to see them all more often and life will be better.”

“Yes, but especially Crook,” Finn points at Miranda with the knife he’s buttering his bread roll with.

“Well we saw him in \'Pirates of the Caribbean\', as well as \'Finding Neverland\'. I think he and Depp may love each other now. He’s supposed to be in the next two Pirates movies too. Which I am very pleased about.”

“You forgot \'Brothers Grimm\',” Finn replies smugly, knowing that Miranda had forgotten about that lovely little tidbit. She throws an obvious fake smile his way and grabs the role from his hand, taking a huge bite in response to his look of shock.

“Watch it,” Finn warns.

“Or what? You’ll lick my spoon? Besides, I didn’t forget Grimm, I’m worried about Grimm. I left it out because of that worry. Heath Ledger? Come on. That’s almost as bad as Josh Hartnett playing Yeamon in \'Rum Diary\'. But it’s Terry Gilliam, I’ll have faith.”

“I’m not worried. With Grimm, you have Gilliam who’ll save it. With Rum, you’ve got Depp and Del Toro, and with Hunter S. no longer with us, we need this movie. We need to see Depp as Hunter again. But I do agree, Yeamon is a hefty guy for lover-boy Hartnett,” Finn says while reaching over to grab Miranda’s spoon. While looking her in the eye, he slowly licks over the curve of the spoon.

Just as Miranda begins to respond to his taunt, the waiter shows up with their food. Finn brought her to an Italian restaurant that could be either fancy or casual. On the outside it looked too fancy for Miranda’s ‘no date’ hope, but once they were seated, she realized that half of the people there were just dressed in their normal clothes. The prices weren’t too steep, so she relaxed.

She breathes in her lasagna, grinning, and sinks her fork into the object of her adoration. She hears Finn laugh softly and looks up to see him, not so secretly, hiding his mouth behind his hand.

“What?”

“You look like the Cheshire cat.”

AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I love them. I\'ll try to update quicker but school is coming to a close and getting hectic. As usual, tell me what you all think.