That Girl

"What happened?" Robert asked while setting his book aside.

"I skipped lunch," she told him. It wasn't technically true, though it kind of was, but she figured it was a better answer than, well, the truth.

"Why did you skip lunch?"

She shrugged. "Alex and I had things to discuss."

Robert raised an eyebrow. "Finley--"

"You're the one who wanted me to make friends" she told him. "I can't say that's what we are but. We're on the way."

He shook his head. "You keep going back and forth on this, Fin. You can't keep changing your mind. He won't put up with it."

"I actually think he would," she muttered thoughtfully. "But I understand your point and I'm going to try to stick with this decision. I just don't want to get too close in case… Well, you know."

"I know," Robert said with a nod. "What time should I pick you up on Monday?"

"Alex said he'd give me a ride home."

Robert rose an eyebrow but decided not to comment. After all, he did tell her to make friends. "Is he a safe driver?"

"I guess we'll both find out on Monday," she told him with a shrug.

Robert nodded. "Okay."

Finley turned to walk to her room when she was stopped.

"Oh, and Fin?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't get another detention. You're in the studio with me tomorrow all day helping the kids learn sparring techniques."

Finley sighed. "Dammit," she muttered.

Robert smiled. "Be ready to go at eight-thirty."

Finley pouted before walking into her room. Yeah, that was definitely a punishment…

+

"So what are you doing this weekend?" Jack asked as he fixed himself a bowl of cereal at his best friend's house.

Alex watched him as he took the last of the Fruity Pebbles. "That's my favorite cereal."

"No, it's not."

He paused. "It's one of my favorites."

Jack shrugged. "Gonna answer my question?"

"I don't know."

"So you're still pissed at me?" Jack asked while rolling his eyes.

"No, I meant I don't know what I'm doing," Alex told him. "I'm not mad at you anymore."

"Why not? You were pissed at me at lunch earlier…"

Alex shrugged. "My day got better."

"You got detention."

"Yeah, but I got detention because of Finley. And I have detention with Finley on Monday," Alex told him with a smile.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Do you really think you're making that much progress?"

He nodded. "Oh, I know I am, Jack. I can feel it."

"If this is what you want--"

"Hang on a second," Alex said when his phone chimed. He pulled the iPhone out of his pocket to see that he had a message through Facebook. He smiled when he saw it was from Finley, asking what he was doing the next day, Saturday afternoon.

"Why are you smiling?" Jack asked.

"It's Finley," he told him, distracted as he typed back a quick reply of nothing, why, do you wanna see me? ;)

Jack took a few more bites of his cereal, watching as Alex typed away on his phone. "So… Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?"

Can I stop by in the afternoon? Alex smiled at her response before typing back affirmatively. "Huh?" he asked, glancing up at Jack.

"Never mind. I can see you're preoccupied," Jack said, taking another bite of cereal.

"Sorry," Alex said quietly. "Finley asked if she could stop by tomorrow."

"So I guess that's a no to hanging out?"

Alex nodded slowly. "That means I have to clean my room. Shit."

"Who said she wants to see your room?" Jack asked.

Alex shrugged. "Maybe she'll want to hang out?"

"I don't know, man," Jack said with a shrug. "Wanna go see a movie?"

Alex paused for a moment, looking down at his phone to see a message from Finley. I'll be over near four thirty. Thank you. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

+

The next morning, Finley cursed her alarm when it went off bright and early at 8:15. The last thing she wanted to do was get out of bed and work at her father's karate studio but, well, punishment was punishment. She went to the bathroom and washed her face before tossing her hair into a ponytail and pinning back her bangs. She didn't bother with makeup, mainly because she didn't care, and she pulled on the uniform that her father gave her the night before.

She loved exercising and she loved Tae Kwon Do, she really did. But the uniform her father gave her made her skin crawl. It was the standard uniform for anyone studying the art, and it was incredibly uncomfortable. Even though it was late October, she slid her feet into a pair of flip flops before packing a change of clothes in her book bag. She tossed her phone and a brush in the bag before she walked out of the room, finding her father waiting in the living room.

"You look like hell, Fin," Robert noted with a smile.

Finley rolled her eyes. "Thanks. Now I feel really confident," she told him.

"What's in the bag?"

"Change of clothes for after," she told him.

"Going somewhere?"

She nodded.

Robert shrugged. "Where to?"

"I was going to see if Alex wanted to do something," she said quietly.

"Just…be careful, okay?"

Finley nodded. "I always am. You ready?"

"Let's go," Robert said, leading his daughter out to their car.

The ride was short, about ten minutes, and he unlocked the doors to the studio and turned the lights on. Classes were to start at ten so they had about fifteen minutes before people started showing up. Finley helped her father bring out the mats and all of the appropriate gear so they would be ready when everyone showed up. She helped her father fill the cooler with ice water before setting her bag in the office. As she walked back out onto the floor, she kicked her flip flops off.

"We'll stretch with the kids when they come in. Thanks for helping me today, Finley," her father told her.

Finley smiled. "You know I didn't have much a choice, right?"

Robert laughed as the first kids started to walk in. "I know."

She shook her head as the rest of the kids filed in. She did her regular stretches, something she was definitely used to, before starting the arduous task of helping kids ages eight through twelve work on their sparring. It could have been a lot worse, she recognized that, but it was still strenuous. During the forty five minutes her father allowed her to take a break for lunch, she decided to run a couple of blocks. When she made it back to the studio, she still had fifteen minutes so she did her stretches before taking a seat, eating an apple, and checking her phone.

Still coming over this afternoon?

Finley smiled at Alex's message before responding that yes, she would be over after she was done at the studio. Once she finished her apple, she joined her father back on the floor. The sparring didn't take as long and Finley wasn't exactly used to it. So when she was able to leave after they closed the studio at four, she was relieved and aching. She changed in the office into a pair of skinny jeans, a black cami, and her purple hoodie before sliding on her flip flops. She tossed her clothes into her bag, her phone into her pocket, and she walked to the bathroom to wash her face. After she was finished, she met her father by the door.

"Do you want a ride to Alex's house?" he asked.

Finley shook her head. "No, thank you. He doesn't live too far away."

"Don't freeze to death with your sensible fashion choices," her father chastised with a smile.

She smiled. "It's pretty sunny out so I should be okay. But I appreciate your concern."

"How late will you be out?"

"Not sure yet. I'll call you."

Robert nodded. "Be safe."

"Always," she told him before starting the walk to Alex's house. True to her word, he didn't live too far away. When she saw his house, she suddenly felt nervous and started wondering why she even asked if she could come over. But she pushed it aside because, well, she said she would be there and she sure as hell wasn't going to back out. She made it to the front door and knocked twice before taking a step back and waiting for Alex to answer.

"Hi," Alex greeted after he threw open the door.

Finley smiled. "Hi."

"Hey," he said awkwardly, running a hand through his disheveled hair that, okay, he didn't feel like trying to fix that morning.

Finley shifted from foot to foot, not knowing what to say next.

"So…wanna come in?"

"Please."