The Darings

Head bent as she walked, Finn dug her hand around her large purse as she entered the common room and down the hall towards her door. Her lips were pursed as she looked, but her actions were interrupted by someone calling her name, causing her to look up, red pony tail swinging.

Tera was waving her hand over to her. Finn arched a brow in more annoyance than curiosity but walked to where the girl was standing, surrounded by the other group of girls. Tera’s brown hair was swept into an elegant braid, and she looked more put together than usual.

“Did you hear about the party tonight, love?” Finn gave a single nod. Tera hesitated to wait for her response, but Finn kept staring at her, waiting for her to continue. So she did, sputtering slightly as she said, “Well I know it’s sports themed and I was just wondering what you were going as?”

“A football player,” she answered. She spotted her keys in her purse and dug them out, jingling them slightly. Tera nodded, and Finn realized that Tera was asking her what she should be. The last thing that Finn wanted to do was sit and give suggestions, but she sighed anyways. “If you’re looking to be eye-catching, go as a volleyball player. They were impossible tiny shorts.”

Tera grinned and nodded her head. “Thanks, Finn. Are you going with us or…”

Finn was already walking away at this point. “No.”

It wasn’t that Finn was a bitch, or thought that they weren’t worth talking to that made her not want to talk to them. It was the fact that she had zero interest in talking about everyone else in the school and listening to things that did not really have any substance to them.

In her small room, she sat down, snatching one of her books and cracking it open. Books were a lot easier to deal with than people. Books had substance, and meaning and points. They spoke of relevant things, and they were not so judgmental that you wanted to pull your hair out. They were just stories.

Countless time passed by as Finn curled on her bed, burying her nose into a complete work’s of the Grimm Brother’s. The fairy tales were some of Finn’s favorite. Sometimes late at night, her brother’s would pretend that they were nice human beings and ready some of the stories to her. Those were her favorite nights.

A knock on her door made her look up. She blinked away the words and realized she had been reading for over an hour. Finn stood up and crossed the space between her bed and her door, opening it to reveal Niall standing there. He was throwing a grin at some girls passing by. Rolling her eyes, she snapped in front of his face.

“Heyoo,” he said, walking past her without being invited in. She stood there for a minute shaking her head and closing the door behind her. “I brought a jersey for tonight for you.”

Finn turned around. Niall was holding one of his jersey’s up for her, a crisp clean one. It would be extremely large on her, but it didn’t matter. He flipped it and she saw that a very large ‘Horan’ was written across the back.

Technically, Finn did not need his jersey. She could borrow her brother’s or wear the one’s that she had. But Niall had insisted she just borrow one of his, and Finn was feeling extremely inclined to wear one of his.

“And what am I dressing Ash with?”

Niall’s grin spread. “Did you really think I wouldn’t tell Harry to give him one of his?”

“Good job, Horan.”

“You know, we should make our own jerseys, like a dare team.”

“A dare team.”

He frowned. “Well it sounds like fucking shit when you say it like that. How do you do that?”

Finn sat down on her bed and crossed her legs. Niall threw himself next to her. Finn was always silently fascinated how easily Niall fit anywhere. The boy was able to shift into anyone and get along with everyone. He was always so at ease and was never afraid of making himself at home.

“How do I do what?”

“Take something and make it sound stupid.”

“On the contrary, darling, you do it all the time.”

“Ahh, shove off.” Niall picked up her thick book of fairy tales. His blue eyes scanned the pages, looking through it. He was in a white shirt with the sleeves rolled, a hat pushed backwards and cargos. But the way he was laying on her bed made him look like a model. Football players. “Read me your favorite one.”

He handed Finn the book and she gave him a confused look. “What?”

“Who sounds stupid now? Read me your favorite one.”

“Niall-"

“Finn. I’ve dared you to strip down to virtually nothing. I think reading your favorite fairy tale won’t be that bad.”

She gave hi ma stubborn face before smile and shaking her head, flicking the pages and going to her favorite story. She bit her lip, knowing it was really cheesy and cliché, but she cleared her throat anyways. “A rich mans wife fell ill…”

It didn’t take long for Finn to read Niall the Brother’s Grimm version of Cinderella. Her voice was very clear and confident, not missing a single beat. She knew the story by heart, and she was simply reading the words to ensure that she did not lose herself in speaking them.

Niall listened to her, watching her as she read. She was acutely aware of his gaze on her. She thought it would make it harder to finish the small tale, but it made it easier. And when she was done, snapping it shut and looking at him, she smiled.

“Cinderella’s sisters were a bunch of bitches.”

She laughed at his bluntness. “Yeah, that’s how the stories usually go.”

“I like the way you read. Makes me feel like I could sleep. But no a bored sleep, more like a calm sleep.”

“Hate to break your heart Horan,” she teased as she stood, stretching her limbs. “But I’m not you’re mum.”

Niall sat on her bed as Finn went through the process of doing her hair and makeup, only pausing to walk across the hall and drag Ash across the hall. Ash was in the middle of watching a show, but Finn just smiled at her, sitting her in a chair and going to town on doing her makeup and hair.

Finn was good at doing those kinds of things. People always asked her to do their hair and makeup. But something about pulling Ash’s blonde hair out of her face, beginning on makeup. Niall put on music, going to Finn’s fridge and grabbed a beer.

Singing along to the music, Finn worked on Ash. Ash had a beautiful face with beautiful freckles, so she didn’t over do it. She put on light liner and mascara, proceeding to fishtail braid Ash’s hair. She looked pretty, Finn thought. Prettier than people gave her credit for.

When there was a knock on the door, Niall let Harry in. Harry was dressed like a football player as well; it looked like they were going as there very own team. He had an extra shirt with him, one Niall had given him for his birthday with his name on the back, tossing it to Ash.

Ash looked surprised. “This is for me?”

“Yeah, you can borrow it. It’ll look good being worn for once.

Ash’s cheeks flushed with color and Finn glanced at Harry, who gave her a kind smile back. Finn turned around to hide the small smile playing her lips as she pointed to the boys and motioned for them to spin around. Both of them rolled their eyes but faced backwards.

With the boys backs to them, Finn and Ashton changed quickly into football trousers, socks, cleats and the jerseys. They were dressing fully, not wanting to look ridiculous like most other girls were going to. Giving her a once over, Finn gave Ash a real smile, one that showed teeth and happiness.

“You look good, Ash.”

The blonde smiled. “Thanks. You too.”

After taking a few shots of the dark whiskey that was stuff in one of Finn’s cupboards, the foursome walked into the hall, cheery voices as they made their way to another part of campus where a particular fraternity was holding a sports themed party.

Upon walking in the room, Finn found that there were many of the same sports: American football players and cheerleaders, football players, rugby and some golf players. But Finn and Ash had things that others didn’t in her opinion. They had two of the hottest jersey’s on.

Weaving through the crowd of people, Finn grabbed herself a fruity drink, sipping it through a straw and leaning on the back of a couch. Tera and two other girls clink their cups with Finn’s. Finn simply nodded in a greeting as they went full swing about people at the party.

Over her cup, Finn kept her eyes glued to Ash, who was quietly walking with Harry. He introduced her to a few people and she smiled politely, but never said more than a few words. She didn’t have to, really. The other people did all the talking for her, which made Finn shake her head slightly.

After a few minutes of not really listening to what anyone else was saying, Finn watched as the boy who’s dorm room they were in stopped to talk to Ash and Harry. Harry was talking to him and clapping him on the back, and the boy turned and said something to Ash. Harry frowned then, dropping his hand.

Pushing herself off the couch, Finn made a beeline for them. She had seen Harry frown before, and it was usually with good reason. It seemed like Niall was in tune with her, because he abandoned one of his teammates to join Finn just as she parked herself next to Ash.

“So who are you, exactly? I think I would have noticed someone with a nice ass like yours before? Hey, Finn, why have you never introduced me to your lovely friend?”

Finn glanced at Ash, who did not look comfortable under the gaze of a drunk boy named Jackson who was talking to her like she was a piece of meat. Finn gave him a razor thin smile. “I love introducing my friends to people, but only the people I deem necessary of meeting.”

He drunkenly faked insult, clutching his chest. She glared. “I’m such a good mate to you, Finn.” He looked to Ash then, looking her up and down. He was practically undressing the girl with his eyes. “The least you could have done was return the favor.”

“If by favor you mean-"

“I think someone is stealing your trophy,” Finn snapped over Harry’s annoyed voice, eyeing Jackson. “You can come back to this conversation once you regain it.”

Jackson turned and saw that a group of drunk boys was indeed stealing his trophy. He bolted, hollering at them. Ash looked at Finn and thanked her with kind eyes, but Finn was looking at Harry over Ash’s shoulder. “I think it’s time for a dare,” Harry said, looking at Finn and Niall. “Finn, I dare you to help me hang every article of underwear that bloke owns all over the school fountain. Niall and Ash, I dare you to be the distraction.”

Finn grinned. “Taken.”

Ash looked at Harry with reverence. “Taken.”

Niall finished his beer. “Taken.