Back to the Place We Knew Before

It took Finn, the Irish waiter, a good fifty attempts before I finally agreed to go on a date. That was after Mikayla convinced me it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t entirely sure that she was right. Part of me was waiting for Zack to show up and beg me to take him back. Another part of me knew that no such thing would ever happen and that I should move on.

I was incredibly nervous considering I hadn’t gone on a first date in about three years. I was incredibly nervous despite the fact that I had agreed to go out with Finn so he would stop calling me. I couldn’t make myself stop hoping that this would turn into something more, something that would keep my mind off of Zack.

“Okay, you can handle this right? You’re not gonna throw up are you?” Natalie asked, looking up from her computer for probably the first time all day.

“I’m good.” I said with a nervous laugh.

“Dear God, woman. Get a hold of yourself. It’s just a date.” She smirked and went back to typing her paper.

I took a deep breath. She was right. It was just a date. With Finn. And his sexy accent.

Three clear knocks bounced off our door signaling that he was outside. I felt my stomach literally want to throw itself up. Maybe I was nervous or maybe I felt guilty about this. How would Zack feel about this? I shook that thought from my head when I remembered he was the one that broke up with me. He wanted this.

I pulled the door open with new confidence, which immediately crumbled when he smiled at me. How did I overlook how attractive this boy was? Finn’s medium brown hair reached his jawbone at its longest point. It was obvious that it was windy out by looking at his wind blow hair.

“Ready to go?” Finn asked, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his olive green hoodie. The color of his hoodie made the green of his eyes stand out which led me to stare at them.

I nodded my head and pulled the door shut behind me fast in order to keep Natalie from saying anything too embarrassing.

“So, I hope you’re a fan of live music because that’s all I could find for us to do. Considering we’re in New York City, it’s pretty sad. I know, make fun of me.”

I laughed, feeling all too comfortable with him already. “No, it’s great. I love music, my best friends are actually in a band and touring right now.”

“Well that makes me feel a little less of a shitty date.” He smirked at me.

“Eh, we’ll see.” I joked as I walked beside him down the busy street, neon lights illuminating the entire city.

“I’m slightly still in shock that you agreed to this.” Finn said with a smile.

“So am I.”

“So, what’s your story? Enlighten me.”

“I was born and raised in Maryland with my fraternal twin sister, Reagan. I moved here to study art and hopefully make something out of myself some day. You?” I stuffed my hands in my hoodie pockets to protect them from the bitter wind.

“I was born and raised in Ireland. I was completely disowned from my family because I chose not to be a doctor like everyone else in my family. I got a full scholarship to move here and study creative writing and journalism, which really isn’t approved of by my family. Hopefully, I’m going to write loads of novels and be so successful that it hurts.” He grinned cheesily.

Finn held open the door of a run down looking building. If I didn’t recognize the all too familiar sounds of guitars tuning and mics checking I would have assumed Finn was taking me to an abandoned building to murder me. The man at the door resembled a bulldog, Finn handed him a few bills. The bulldog crankily drew an ‘X’ on our hands and sent us on our way.

“So what kind of music is this?” I yelled so that he would hear me over all the chatter that filled the room. I didn’t hear what Finn said because a loud outbreak of guitars filled the room. The steady, loud drums followed by a scream gave me the hint that Finn was into music that was a lot more hardcore than the music I was into.

Finn kept sending me smiles between moving his head to the music and screaming the words with the rest of the crowd. I stood beside him, trying my hardest not to get a body thrown at me.

“So, what do you think?” Finn asked when the band stopped to introduce themselves and their next song.

“It’s a lot more…different from what I listen to but I think that I might like it.” I said honestly. It was different, it wasn’t the normal pop-punk I was used to hearing. Lately, different was good because different didn’t remind me of Zack.

Another song started up, this one softer and slower. People weren’t throwing their bodies around violently, at least not yet. I had a feeling it would happen soon. Finn held his cell phone out toward me, a freshly written text on the screen.

‘You’re cute. I like you a lot.’

I felt my face grow extremely warm, and I’m sure even in the dark that he could see my face burning red. I looked up at Finn just as a body crashed into me and sent me straight into Finn’s tall frame. His arms wrapped a round my middle, successfully stopping both of us from falling to the ground.

Finn laughed, his green eyes lighting up. I joined in on the laughter, loving the feel of different arms wrapped around me for the first time in years. I don’t know who initiated it but it happened right then and there, with loud angry music playing in the background. A kiss that wasn’t with Zack.

- - -

“Hello dearest sister!” I answered my phone a week later. Thrilled for two reasons, the first being she was finally calling me back. The second being I had just gotten in from another outing with Finn.

“You’re sounding rather chipper.”

“Yeah…” I smiled and layed back on my bed.

“So, what’s going on?”

“Well, I met this guy”

“Don’t you think it’s kind of…like too soon for you to be meeting guys?” She asked after a few seconds of dead silence.

“I thought that too but I was wrong. He’s…amazing. He’s cute, he’s funny, he’s sweet and caring. He wrote me a fucking haiku, Reagan! How can I not be moving on?”

“Just think about, Brae! You’ve been single for a few months! That’s not nearly enough time for you to be completely over Zack. Think about everything the two of you went through.”

“Yeah, just to have him break up with me on the beach while watching a motherfucking sunset! He’s a fucking heartless bastard and I’m over him. I’m happy with Finn, I thought you’d be happy for me but apparently not!” I snapped at my sister.

“No, I mean I am happy for you but”

“I’m tired. Goodnight.” I interrupted her bitterly and hung up with out waiting for her response.