Drowning

House Party Pt. 2

With a few pretzel sticks in hand, Finley headed back into the living room. She stayed close to the wall, trying to stay out of the way as she looked for him. It didn't take long for her to find him, he was still sitting on the couch where he had been before, the same look on his face. Mitch had left and he was just staring across the room, Finley felt a smile trying to creep onto her face as she thought about what she was about to do. Before she lost her nerve she went and sat on the edge of the couch, right beside Hawk.

"Do you want to buy some death sticks?" She extended her hand with the pretzel sticks towards him, keeping a serious expression on her face despite the ridiculous accent she was mimicking.

He turned his head to look at her, his eyes briefly darting down to look at the pretzels. His head dipped down as he looked into his cup, attempting to hide the smile that was threatening to creep onto his face. Finley saw his actions and bit back her own grin, but she did, keeping up her facade from her favorite scene in the prequels.

"You don't want to sell me death sticks." He replied, still not looking at her.

"I don't want to sell you death sticks." Finley retracted the pretzels closer to her, her eyes giving away how much fun she was having.

Hawk didn't reply right away. He lifted his head, looking across the room for a moment, before he turned and looked at Finley. The small smile that came onto her face was unconscious as she looked at the boy in front of her.

"Actually, I'll take a death stick." Finley grinned as she extended her hand and he took one from her before looking at her with a cocked head. "I thought you didn't do parties?"

Finley shrugged, finding herself relaxing into the couch a little more as she realized he was going to talk to her. "I needed to talk to some people. Which, from what I've been told, is kind of the whole point of parties."

"The point of parties is to have fun." Hawk looked at her with a joking 'what is wrong with you?' face. "Hang out with friends and just let loose."

"Right." Finley nodded, her head dipping down in embarrassment.

Hawk looked at her, recognizing the way her shoulders pinched inwards and how she kept her head down to try and hide her emotion. He lifted the red solo cup to take a drink, but right before he did so, he spoke.

"I like your shirt. It's perfect for you."

Finley's head shot up to look at him. Hawk kept his gaze straight for a moment longer before he finally looked over to the girl beside him. Despite how much he had changed, she was still sitting right there beside him, staring at him with wide eyes as if he was more important than anything else.

"Finley-"

"Seriously?!" Both of their heads lifted to look up at the boy who was standing on the other side of the coffee table in front of them.

"Demetri, hey." Finley pushed herself towards the edge of the couch, preparing herself to stand up and talk to him.

Demetri shook his head at her, his face a mix of annoyance and disgust. "Miguel said you wanted to talk to me, but apparently not that badly considering you're sitting over here with him."

Hawk stood up so that he could glare at his old friend on a more equal playing field. "What the heck is your problem?"

Finley glanced between the two, still perched on the edge of the couch. Demetri glanced briefly at Hawk before returning his gaze to Finley.

"Miguel told me what you said about him and Tory. That's messed up Finley."

Finley frowned. Was he seriously coming over here just to tell her off?