Make Believe

Fifteen.

We woke up to a banging on the door, the three of us jolting awake. Breathing heavily, Finn stood up and dragged his feet to the door. He opened the door and rubbed his eyes, coughing a little.

Suddenly, Lia and Mark barged in and sat on the sofa next to us. "Hey, Lola!"

I smiled and yawned. "Hi guys."

Ross seemed to wake up properly then, and he sat up and ran his hand through his hair. "Lia! I... Last night... I'm sorry I just left. I had to look after Lola."

"It's okay, babe." Lia shrugged. Ross blushed deeply at this as Lia turned to me. "You were totally wasted. It was awesome."

I looked up at Finn, who was leaning against the door trying to fight the sleep from his system. "I guess. I regret it, though. I was stupid."

"I don't think you should regret it." Mark winked at me and moved closer. "We got pretty close."

I nodded and winced slightly, moving away. "I don't really remember much..."

"Yeah, we were real close." He reached up and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. I gulped.

"Were we?" I smiled weakly.

"You don't remember it do you? We'll have to do something again another time." I felt his breath on my cheek. It was like no one else was in the room.

"Leave her alone..." Finn frowned.

"Fuck off. Can Lola not have a little fun?" Mark took hold of my hand and turned to me. "Don't worry about him."

"Leave her alone!" I could tell Finn was about to lose it.

Out of nowhere, I felt Finn's presence suddenly in our way. I knew he was going to hit Mark. Thinking quickly, I leapt up and shoved him, stopping him from what he was doing.

I could feel his anger. He was like a red hot stick of dynamite, and I was desperately trying to wrangle him. "Finn!" I breathed. "Finn, stop!"

Mark burst out laughing and leant back in the chair. "You wouldn't dare, would you, Thin?"

Finn growled and went for him again. I squeaked, and as I tried to stop him his shoulder barged against me, knocking me down onto the ground.

I lay there on the carpet, slightly shocked. Instead of the fight I expected to see, I just watched the silence. Finn stopped and looked immediately heartbroken. "Scribble..."

Ross stood up and ran into his room, leaving Finn, Lia and I in a deep silence.

"For fuck's sake. Even your brother is embarrassed of you." Mark rolled his eyes and extended his hand to help me up. "You really should treat her better, Finn."

I took Mark's hand and let him help me up. "Thanks." I felt uncomfortable.

Instead of sitting back in my place on the sofa as I expected to do, Mark stood up next to me and kept hold of my hand.

"Come on. Let's take Lia and go sit in your room." He grinned at me. "We don't need to hang out with people like that."

I glanced at Finn quickly, but after a tug on my hand I just followed my 'friends' into my bedroom.

We all sat on my bed and it was like nothing had happened. Lia smiled at me. "So. Who were you at the rave with?"

"Some girl I met, Kris. And her friends." I shrugged. "I thought she was cool, but it turns out that she was just another party girl."

Lia giggled. "Like me."

"She was worse than you." I rolled my eyes and leaned back on the bed, lying down.

I heard the front door slam, and Ross appeared in the doorway. "Finn." He shrugged, giving Mark a subtle dirty look. "He's gone outside for a breather."

I nodded. "Is he okay?"

Ross shook his head. I sighed.

Lia giggled. "Ross, do you want to sit with us?" Ross blushed and sat next to Lia, staring at her like he'd never seen a girl before.

I hated how she was leading him on and pretending that he had a chance with her, and I hated how Mark was trying to flirt with me. I hated that Finn was upset.

But I couldn't do anything to stop it. Those people were my friends.