Playing Perfect

22. Amour

22. Amour

Love

"My parents are going to kill me," Alice groaned, leaning against the windshield of the car.

"They can't. It's your birthday." Finn chuckled beside her. He still wore his suit, dark and tight around his body, though his blazer was now draped over Alice's shivering arms. While the air had been hot and sticky throughout the day, now that midnight was approaching, a chilling breeze had taken over and Alice's dress did not seem to agree with it.

They sat on the hood of the car, leaning against each other in a tangled mess of limbs and tousled hair. Alice melted further into his side, frowning.

"Won't stop them from trying," she muttered.

Her eyes were trained on the sight in front of them. Finn had taken her to their secret spot—where the world felt quiet, and all pressures and responsibilities vanished. Where it was just Alice and Finn—not Alice Travers and Finley Cauley, the two socialites set to inherit their parents' businesses, but instead Alice and Finn, the childhood friends who had been in love since Year Eight.

Maybe longer.

The city was quiet today. There weren't nearly as many cars and people bustling about. Most people were home with their families, celebrating Christmas.

She wondered if her mother had brought out the Christmas cake and crackers since she'd left. If she'd already made a toast with bubbling glasses of champagne and carols playing in the background. It was the same routine every year. She'd probably realised by now that Alice was gone.

Her birthday was coming to an end, and she imagined spending it with her family like she usually did, her stiff Travers smile plastered on her face as she mingled with total strangers. She scoffed at the thought.

She was much happier here, beside Finn, watching the world continue as if they didn't exist. As if there were no consequences for her rebelling against her parents' rules—as if she wouldn't be subjected to a lengthy lecture in the morning.

That didn't matter, though. Not here, at the top of the hill.

Here, the future didn't exist.

There was only the now.

Alice sighed, tugging Finn's blazer tighter around her arms and turned to him.

He was watching her, his brow furrowed in his usual glum stare. His hair had been ruffled from his fight with Theo, and the bruise on his cheekbone was coming along nicely.

"What?" Alice asked, noticing the careful way he watched her.

"What happened between you and Emily?"

She blinked, smirking at him. Of course, he knew she'd gone to speak to Emily. He was always very observant.

"It's none of your—"

"Are we really going to do this again?" Finn interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her. She laughed, shaking her head.

"Just teasing." She paused, gauging his slightly annoyed reaction. Someone was being impatient tonight. She sent him a nonchalant shrug. "We spoke in my room."

"Spoke?" he arched a brow at her, surprised.

"Well," she paused, thinking. "I suppose shouted would be a better word."

"Oh, Alice Travers shouting?" Finn said smugly, his annoyed grimace morphing into a haughty smirk. "How unladylike."

"Shut up, Cauley."