Writing Class

AN: I’m sorry to everyone for such a long delay. Finals were stressful, but they are finally over. In hindsight, after seeing some of my grades, the stress was unnecessary. Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing, I love the reviews. Everyone is so great. I know that I make a ton of references to movies and whatnot, but with no matter what I write, that stuff tends to creep in. Write what you know right? I’ll try to tone it down a bit, but I may forget. So if I ever get crazy again, please someone point it out. Again, thanks to everyone who’s reading this. I’m glad it’s enjoyed. Leave reviews. They remind me to update.


-After Dinner-

Dinner was delicious. Miranda ignored Finn’s loving taunts over how quickly she devoured her lasagna. To bug her, he had the waiter bring three bread baskets to the table because his “girlfriend was wasting away”. It hadn’t really annoyed her, since she got him to eat all that bread himself. She would have mocked him for tucking his napkin into his shirt, but it was just too cute. Plus, she’s done it before.

“So where are we going?” Miranda asks when she realizes that Finn didn’t turn towards her house. She glances over at his profile, eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer.

“No questions. Be good,” Finn says sternly with a mock frown. Miranda sighs heavily and leans back further into the seat. She occupies herself for a few minutes by rooting through a CD case she found under her seat. After coming across a few CDs that she wouldn’t mind having in her collection, she contemplates trying to hide them in her underwear, but she figures that he’d see. She doesn’t think she could be all that stealthy while sitting right next to him.

She gives up her bright idea and zips the case shut before sliding it back under her seat.

“See anything you like?” Finn asks casually.

“Yes…stupid boy,” she grinds out with a slight pout. “Can’t you just give me a little itty, bitty, witty hint?”

“Raaand,” Finn draws out.

“Oh come on. A hint. Charades. How many words?”

“I’m driving Rand. I can’t really get crazy and act out what we’ll be doing when we get where we’re going. Well, I could, but than we’d never get to do it. Because…well we’d be dead. Do you fancy a car accident Miranda?”

“…No,” Miranda answers without saying anything else. She doesn’t want to admit how much she enjoys doing this with him. She’s always wanted to have someone in her life that she can actually hold a conversation with. Argue with and they don’t get upset. She’s happy and upset all at the same time. The reality is a little bit scarier than the fantasy.

-Ten Minutes Later-

Miranda laughed when Finn pulled into the parking lot. Mostly it was the large neon sign that said Laser Tag. She’s played the game before, once, with a group of her friends. It was her friend’s sixteenth birthday and she kicked all their asses. She hasn’t played since.

When they walked in, it was obvious that Finn had been there before. The guy at the counter knew his name and didn’t make Finn pay. Miranda was slightly thrown. She had never met someone who played laser tag. She’s looking forward to whatever else he’s planning on surprising her with. While being thrown, she wasn’t shocked. She really doesn’t know anything about him. The fact that he doesn’t care that she knows he plays laser tag is unbelievable. It would seem like something most people who have an ‘uhhhhh’ reaction too. She knows that most of her girlfriends would have just that reaction. Miranda’s always been pretty open to everything. As long as something is fun, she’s all for it. It doesn’t matter what it was. If Finn ended up being a Dungeons and Dragons master, she would ask him to teach her to play. There’s got to be something to that game, enough people adore it.

“Finn, I can do this,” Miranda insists while trying to swat his hands away. The large amused smile on his face is making it hard to be stern with him. But she can clip the vest on by herself. She has no idea what it’s called. A vest thing that’s somewhat uncomfortable and unflattering.

“You do realize that I’m wearing a skirt right?” Miranda points out with an obvious tone.

“Yeah, so?” Finn casually asks while getting his vest and clipping it.

“I can’t fully kick your ass while wearing a skirt.”

“Sounds like an excuse. A backup excuse for when I beat you senseless.”

“It is no excuse Finn, it’s a fact. I can’t perform while wearing a skirt. I can’t leap from tall buildings.” Miranda takes a gun from the attendant and ignores Finn’s look of disbelief.

“Are you Spiderman?” he asks in a conspiratorially voice, pretending not wanting the attendee to hear.

“Shut up.”

Miranda casually walks by him and into the playing arena. Finn set it up so they’re the only two players in this arena. It’s pretty big and she entertains the though of hiding somewhere and tagging him when he happens to come across her. Maybe latch on to his leg and bring him down.

“Randa, are you planning on playing fair?” Finn’s question startles her, not having realized that he had walked up right behind her. She spins around, trying to put on an innocent face, “Of course Finn, why would I not play fair?”

Finn laughs loudly, saying, “Sure, just try not to bite too hard. I’m delicate.”

-Two Hours Later-

After playing so many games that Miranda lost count, they finally decided that enough was enough and that they could agree on a tie. She doesn’t think that she ever really won ‘fairly’. A few times she used that ‘how could you do that to a girl?’ look and even though he knew it was an act, he relented and she got some shots in. She pretended to hurt her ankle, hit her head, trip ‘accidentally’. She even reenacted a ‘Family Guy’ episode that always makes her laugh till she pees. The Wonka parody one where Peter falls and sits on the ground holding his leg, hissing in pain for minutes upon minutes. She got Finn with that out of sheer distraction. He recognized it and laughed so hard he slid down to the floor. Sometimes he shot her anyway, regardless of her acting hurt.

Now he’s driving and she’s trying not to smile. This has been one of the best times that she’s had with another person. She’s surprised that she hasn’t been able to find one bothersome thing about Finn. His taunting is nothing but entertaining now, it doesn’t seem hurtful. In hindsight, looking back, she doesn’t think it was ever meant to be hurtful.

“So it’s eleven, I could take you home. Or we go back to my place and you can get some reading in. I did promise you reading since I pulled you away from your relaxing evening. I’m not sure where you stand on the bath though…” Finn trails off suggestively.

“No bath Finn, sorry to disappoint you.”

“Maybe not for you, but I’ll have to soak my bite wounds,” Finn points out accusingly.

“Overreacting a little? I barely touched you!”

“You latched on like a rabid lemur, remind me never to anger you…or play laser tag with you again.”

Miranda can’t contain her laughter any longer and just gives up trying. The image of a rabid lemur attached to his leg is just too funny to ignore. Between laughs, she manages to get out that she’d be happy to go to his place and fulfill her reading quotient for the night. She has an idea that she won’t actually get any reading done. She just doesn’t want to go home, she’s having too much fun with Finn. She can see why that girl always wants to get back with him.

They make it to his place rather quickly because of the lack of traffic. Finn scolds her when she makes a move to open her door and forces her to sit still while he moves to open it for her. Her ‘no date’ theory is being tested.

“Thank you very much Finn,” she says sweetly while stepping out of his car.

“No problem, not too hard to open a door.”

“Well not just for the door. I had fun, thank you…for all the fun…that I had,” Miranda says awkwardly. She should have just said thank you and stopped. Just stopped. By his smile, she’s guessing that he didn’t mind her babbling.

“Anytime Miranda,” he says simply, leading her to his front door with his hand on her lower back. The action seems so simple and gigantic all at the same time. But the fact that it just seems so right is what Miranda notices the most.

She waits patiently while Finn digs his house keys from his pocket, “Do you need any help?”

Finn laughs, “Yeah, gimme your hand.”

Miranda knocks her shoulder into his in response and hurries him along. In seconds he has the door unlocked and she pushes by him to open the door. She holds the door open for him in a bell boy gesture, but he doesn’t leave the doorway. Instead he just stares straight ahead with a frown. Miranda turns towards the living room to see what he’s staring at and she freezes.

“Hey dad,” Finn says.

“I was wondering when you’d get home,” the man on the couch says.

“What are you doing here?”

“Your mother and I haven’t seen you in awhile, thought I’d drop by.”

Miranda glances from Finn to his dad and doesn’t know what she should do. She takes a step back, so Finn can shut the door, and doesn’t make any further movement. She takes in the way his dad is dressed, suit and a tie. She’s never met a real father wearing a suit and tie for no special reason. You’d have to drug her dad to get him to wear a suit, let alone a tie. He has broad shoulders, making Miranda think that he played football in school. It just makes him seem intimidating.

“I’ve been busy dad,” Finn says flatly. Miranda can’t help but notice how much Finn has stiffened up. He’s holding himself straight up, clearly different. His voice is flat and emotionless and Miranda can’t help but wonder why. It’s his father. She’s never seen anyone react this way to their father before.

“Oh…yes. And how is that little…thing of yours going?” his dad stands and moves to stand in front of Finn, clearly ignoring Miranda’s presence.

“Writing. And it’s going fine,” Finn scratches his fingernails along the back of his neck and squeezes tightly before he drops his hand back down to his side. “Where’s mom?”

“Oh at home I’d assume. She misses you, constantly talks about you. You really should go see her son. It would be doing me a favor,” his gaze slides over to Miranda and she drops her eyes immediately. She doesn’t know why, but this man makes her feel like a four-year-old who just got caught peeking at her Christmas presents early.

Finn doesn’t answer, just nods his head a few times and sighs. Miranda is beginning to feel like she should leave. Give them their privacy. That’s just a copout. She doesn’t want to be in that room anymore. She’s very uncomfortable and she can’t shake the feeling that she’s intruding. Finn hasn’t made any move to even acknowledge her continued presence and his father obviously doesn’t have any intentions of asking who she is. She needs to get out of there.

“I’m gonna go,” she says quietly, avoiding looking at Finn’s dad. Before she can take a step, Finn stops her with his hand.

“No, stay.”

“Finn, I should go. You should talk with your dad, you guys probably want your privacy.”

“If I wanted you to go I would have said so. Stay,” Finn says somewhat harshly and Miranda’s slightly shocked at his forcefulness.

“Are you going to introduce me to your friend Finley?” his dad asks, his smile not reaching his eyes.

“Dad, this is my friend Miranda. Miranda, meet my dad, Robert.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miranda, how do you know my son?” Robert’s hand shoots out and Miranda slowly shakes it.

“Writing class,” Miranda says quickly.

“Aaah, so you’re one too, makes sense,” he states. He looks Miranda up and down, finishes with his appraisal and turns back to his son, “I had lunch with Jack Serin yesterday, he tells me that you and his daughter aren’t getting along, you know your mother isn’t going to like that.”

“Yeah, well dad. I got tired of Molly sleeping with everyone but me. Mom will get over it,” Finn harshly responds, glancing at Miranda from the corner of his eye.

“Finley, her father is the chief of medicine. Be nice to the girl,” Robert reprimands harshly.

“Sure thing dad, is that all?” Finn opens the front door and looks expectantly at his dad.

“Yes, you’re right, I should be getting home. Come home tomorrow, see your mom, we‘ll have a talk. You need to start thinking realistically, the internship is still open. And for god’s sakes Finley, clean this place up. I don’t pay for this just for you to trash it,” Robert glances at Miranda and says a quick ‘nice to meet you’ before walking out the door.

Finn swings the door shut without saying goodbye and walks into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

“So that was your father,” Miranda says awkwardly, not really having moved from her spot.

“Yep, good ole Doctor Bobby,” Finn says, downing the bottle of water.

“I’m sorry,” Miranda says softly, wanting to help but not knowing how.

Finn looks at her for a moment before answering, “I’m sorry about the way he treated you. My family’s fucked up. I usually don’t introduce them to anyone if I can help it. Especially not my dad. In case it wasn’t obvious, we don’t get along.

Miranda relaxes slightly at Finn’s response. She feels a little more comfortable now that he’s talking normally. His normal voice is back and his back isn’t as stiff.

“It’s fine. I don’t mind,” Miranda smiles widely and moves to take the empty bottle out of Finn’s hands. She throws it away and turns back to Finn.

“Thanks for lying,” Finn says brightly. They stand in silence for a few seconds before Miranda breaks the stillness by wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. At first Finn’s body stiffens, but he snaps back to normal in seconds and returns Miranda’s hug fully. He buries his face in her shoulder, gripping her back with his fingers. Miranda feels so comfortable and warm, standing in his kitchen with his arms around her. She makes a mental note that hugs from Finn are wonderful.

“You mind if I give you a rain check on the reading? I just wanna sleep,” Finn says into her neck, his voice muffled and his warm breath puffing against her skin.

“I don’t mind.” She’s not sure if he’s planning on taking her home or not. He tried to get her to sleep over once before, not in a sexual sense, she doesn’t think anyway. She’s not sure yet if she’d protest to staying over. Not in a sexual sense, just sleep.

Finn pulls away and brushes his lips across her forehead before leaning his forehead on hers, “Come on, I‘ll drop you home.”

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AN: Hope the length is agreeable. Thanks again to everyone for reading. Review and please say what you think!