To Live and Let Go

(Chapter Six: Finley)

The first thing Finley realized the next morning was that she had a killer headache. Then as she became a little more coherent, she realized she wasn’t even in her own bed and there was someone lying next to her. Panicking a little, she tried to remember what exactly happened the night before and little bits and pieces were beginning to come back.

First she remembered Alex and Rian at the bar she worked at. Then on her break she was invited along with them and the rest of their friends out to do whatever they had planned that night. And after she had basically been given no choice but to say yes, she found out that there were no real plans. But it wasn’t that big of a deal, she had had a lot of fun, and by the size of her hangover and the fact that she was in a strange bed with someone lying next to her proved it.

But she really wanted to know exactly who it was next to her. She could only remember bits and pieces of the night. After her shift was up, she drove with Rian and Alex to another pub to grab food and more drinks and basically drank the night away. Or so she assumed. But again, the killer hangover kind of proved it.

Deciding the only way she was probably going to get more answers to help jog her fuzzy memory was to actually open her eyes and try to find out where she was. Taking a chance and praying not to be totally blinded, she peaked her eyes open and found that the room was dark. Well, that was a plus. Usually when this happened, the blinds were forgotten and she woke up to the bright sun shining through the windows, not that this happened often. But at least she wasn’t going to have to waste time to let her eyes adjust.

She nearly swore out loud when she saw who it was next to her. Mr. Rian Dawson. Her history teacher. He was lying on his back and she was on her side with her head on his chest and body pressed up against him. Rian had his arm wrapped around her waist and a small smile playing on his lips as he dreamed and she couldn’t help but smile too.

But then she realized what this could have meant. Did she sleep with him? What had exactly happened the night before that she ended up in his bed? How far had this gone and did anyone see? This little moment of heaven was turning into one of hell as all these thoughts filled her head and she began to panic again.

When she looked down, she realized with a sigh of relief that she was wearing a shirt she’d never seen before. She wasn’t wearing any pants but she knew she had her panties still on and that was evidence enough for her to know that they hadn’t had sex. Just kissed.

Wait, kissed? Did she just remember something?

Closing her eyes tight again, Finley tried to recover any memory she could from the night before. She remembered that they had kissed, but when or why wasn’t coming back to her. Forcing herself to focus, she squeezed her eyes tighter and tried to pull any memories to the surface.

Brown eyes looking at her, as if staring into her soul. Both of them suddenly moving closer together while heads tilting to the side. The first press of soft lips against hers. Oh God, that kiss had been magic. The first one had only lasted a moment and they barley pulled apart before Rian was pulling her body close to his again and pressing his lips to hers, firmer and with more confidence. The cheers of their drunken friends in the background as she kissed him back with just as much passion.

Finely reached up to touch her fingertips to her lips, smiling a little more at the memory, that had been one of the best kisses in her life. Forcing herself to focus again, she began to recall just exactly when that had happened. They had just been leaving the second pub they had gone too and Rian had had his arm wrapped around her shoulders as they walked. Neither of them were too drunk. Rian hadn’t been at all since he was the driver, and she had only had two beers, not really wanting to be too sick in the morning.

But now she was thankful for that. So she might have been exaggerating on how bad her hangover was still a slight twinge. But that was probably from lack of sleep since they hadn’t gotten back to Rian and Alex’s place until three and it was only seven in the morning. Alex on the other hand had been completely smashed. It took both Matt and Rian to get the singer to the car and even then they struggled. Jack and Zack weren’t much better and Matt had taken them back to his place once they had all left as did the others.

Finley couldn’t believe how bold she had been the night before. First she flirted with her teacher with another right next to him and then confidently slipping into his lap as if it was any other day. She was never like that. She was always the nerdy bookworm that stayed in at night when she wasn’t working with a cup of tea and reading until the wee hours of the morning. But this job had given her a new sense of confidence that was slowly making its way more into her life. She was slowly becoming more bold and daring, and she was really beginning to like it.

The arms around her waist tightened a little, bringing Finley back to the man sleeping next to her. Smiling slightly at the fact that Rian had been such a gentleman from what she could remember from the night before made her little crush on her teacher grow a little more. It was ridiculous how bad this was getting. She thought about him all the time and felt like a school girl. Well, she kind of was but seriously? She had never acted like this before.

She’d never fallen for a guy so fast and so hard before. But how couldn’t she? Rian was really amazing. Good looks and a really sweet personality, not to mention his music taste. All the guys she’d ever been with through her music tastes were too guyish and thought she was weird for it. But for once, she found a guy that actually had similar taste and didn’t think she was totally weird for not listening to the catchy pop songs all the other girls listened to, or liking a band just because the guys were hot. She actually liked music for the sound and the lyrics, listening closely to each note and drum beat, loving it and finding something to relate to in the lyrics.

That was why she wanted to pursue music. Become a well known producer and mix awesome records and have an awesome life. But she didn’t honestly know if that was possible. First of all, the music industry was really tricky. Usually you had to know someone in order to get a good job and she knew no one. And they also usually like if you went to school for what you went into, and in no way did Finley have enough to even think about college. There were too many other bills and things to pay. It was just no possibility. But it was still a dream.

But that was something to wallow over at a later date. Right now she was cuddled up against a really hot guy who she happened to be falling for. She shouldn’t be thinking about stupid things like jobs and the future she constantly worried about. At that moment, all she wanted to do was live a little and actually act like all the other girls her age, loving life and having no cares. And that’s exactly what she was going to do. She really didn’t have to do anything important that weekend and planned to use that to her advantage.

Rian began to stir next to her and she tilted her head up and watched as he slowly began to wake up. His lids fluttered open and he looked to the right to the clock for a moment before turning and looking down to her. He must not have had trouble remembering what had happened the night before because as soon as he saw her he smiled.

“Hmm, morning,” he mumbled, moving his arm from around her to rub his eyes and give a slight stretch.

She smiled when his arm returned to its previous position. “Morning,”

“So, last night huh?”

She burst out laughing at the fact this was turning out much like a movie, cliché and slightly strange. Rolling on top of him, she bit her lip and smiled to nod. “Yeah, some night huh?”

“I kind of liked it,”

Her smile widened, “me too.”

Neither of them said anything else and Finley bit her lip slightly before saying screw it, pushing all her worried thoughts away and leaned down and pressed her lips to his. He instantly kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her impossibly closer. As the kiss got more heated, Finley gasped into Rian’s mouth as she suddenly realized she was being flipped over so that he was now on top of her. He took advantage of her open mouth and gently ran his tongue over her bottom lip asking for entrance. She willingly allowed it as she placed her hands on the back of his neck as he held himself above her so he didn’t crush her.

She barley registered the door to the bedroom opening until there was a sudden gasp and someone clearing their throat loudly. They both broke apart slightly flushed from their make out and also blushing a little from being seen. Turning towards the door, Finley sighed as she saw Alex standing there with a slight smirk.

“Having fun are we?”

“Fuck off Lex,” Rian muttered as he crawled off Finley, giving her an apologetic look as he ran a hand over his face. “What do you want? And why the hell are you even up this early? You were trashed last night. You usually sleep until late.”

Alex rolled his eyes, “yeah well I usually don’t have Jack in my bed either whenever this happens. How the hell did he get into my room anyway?”

“There was no more room for him anywhere else and since you two usually have a bromance going on, we thought he belonged in your room with you.” Finley replied.

“I hate you both,”

He suddenly turned on his heel and walked back out to the hall and out of sight. Rian sighed as he lay back down and reached out and pulled her to him again. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and took a deep breath. They both knew that Alex was probably going to spread the news that he had caught them making out and come and annoy him. So Finley was the first to pull herself up and out of bed, smiling to Rian and reaching out to pull him up too.

She blushed slightly when she saw that he was only in a pair of boxers and tried to not make in obvious that she was watching him as he grabbed a pair of shorts and shirt, pulling them on. He pulled her close again and kissed her once more before they both headed to the door to go downstairs to see if anyone else was up.