- Saturday, October 28th -

I watch as Finnley locks the car before he walks up to me. We intertwine our hands with a small smile from the both of us before we head on into the store.

"So, what do you want to eat?" I ask him while I grab a basket to put the groceries in.

"I want to cook as a thank you to your parents for letting me stay." Finnley takes over the basket.

"Finny, you're my boyfriend. You can stay anytime you want." I smirk and he smiles at me happily.

"I still need to get used to that, to be honest. It feels like a dream."

"Did last night feel like a dream too?" I murmur, putting my arms around his waist from behind, leaning my head on his shoulder while he's scanning the vegetables in front of us.

"That felt like a pain in the ass." He chuckles and it's causing me to laugh out loud, before I place a gentle kiss on his cheek. "A pleasant pain, though." He whispers, turning his head to kiss me on my lips. "Now, go get me some chicken. Enough for four persons."

"Ai ai sir." I laugh before I let him go to do what he told me to do. I'm nearly skipping. I'm that happy to just be here with him, even though we're in the town he hates so much.

I search for the chicken, grabbing enough like he asked me too, going back to find him. He's not at the vegetable department anymore, but I see him in an isle a little further down the store. He's just standing there, staring away from me and I wonder what he's thinking about now. I always used to love to watch him daydream.

But when I walk closer I can see shock an fear on his face and I'm instantly alarmed over the fact something is wrong.

"What's wrong?" I follow his gaze, freezing myself when I see what he's looking at; Emma is in the store. When did she get out?

"Finny, let's go..." I already started pulling him away from her, but then she just has to turn around and look right at us. Her face flushes and her eyes widen.

Don't even dare to say any...

"O my god. Finn... Cris..." She already started moving in our direction and Finnley pulls himself from my hold, pushing the basket in my hands, turning towards with an anger-written face.

Oh dear.

"Oh my god!?" Finnley exclaims in disbelieve. "That's all you have to say!?"

"Finny, let's go..."

"No... Finn, I'm really sorry..."

He laughs out loud, to which she stops talking, looking ashamed and uncertain. "You're sorry? Really? Do you have any fucking idea what I went through because you're just a pathetic little whiny bitch?"

"I know... but I had no idea... I really am sorry..."

"You had no idea, yet you let them do whatever they wanted for four months," I snap, grabbing Finnley's wrist in the meantime. "Stay away from us, okay? Don't ever talk to him or me again." I pull him away although he protests a little. I refuse to let him go and have a fight with Emma right now.

Why didn't they warn any of us she's out again? The least they could've done was tell Finnley.

"Cris, I'm fine." Finnley sounds amused. "I'm really fine, let go." He pulls me to a stop, smirking at me. "I love when you get all bossy, but I still need some ingredients." He gestures towards the basket. "Can we please get the ingredients, go home and pretend that we're just normal teenaged boys with normal teenage lives?"

I sigh deeply, before nodding. "What else do you need?"

"Pineapple, but not the fresh, I hate cutting those. Just a can will do."

"Okay, you go grab us some snacks for tonight, I'll grab the pineapple."

"Thanks, darling," he drawls with a cute smile on his face.

I peck a gentle kiss on his lips, fighting the urge to turn it into a public make-out session, before I walk over to the right isle, searching the pineapple he requested.

"You're together now?" Emma sounds pretty much unamused, displeased even. Maybe she even sounds a bit hostile.

"Are you stalking me? Didn't I tell you to not talk to me, or him, ever again?"

"I really want to apologize. I don't know what got into me." She murmurs, taking me in from head to toe. "You look good, though."

"Couldn't say the same." I mumble, grabbing a can of pineapples like Finnley requested. And I didn't lie there.

Emma does look... like shit. Her hair is a mess, pulled into a sloppy bun on the back of her head. She's wearing a large coat – zipped open – over an oversized sweater and a legging, with booties that aren't tied properly. How could she walk around like this without feeling ashamed? She simply looks a bit like a hobo.

But then I take a better look at the sweater and I can feel aggression rising inside me.

"Is that one of Finn's old sweaters?" I ask her in disbelieve. "You're really wearing one of his sweaters?" How dare she.

She looks down to the sweater, her hands grabbing the sleeves that practically cover her entire small hands, snuggling it closer to her by hugging herself. "I really do love him, you know. I made a huge mistake but I thought Jeff would only give him a firm warning about using me like that."

"Then he went missing and you didn't consider going to the cops even once."

"I did!" She exclaims shocked. "Do you think they didn't threaten me?"

"You paid them, to hurt Finn." Something inside me snapped. I'm full of disbelief and shock that she's trying to talk her way out of this. "Emma, just..." I shake my head. "You're dead to me, okay?"

She opens and closes her mouth, seemingly a bit shocked. But how ignorant of her to think I would ever be willing to listen to her fake apologies and her excuses for what she did. I turn around – not without sending her one last look full of disgust – and walk away, meeting up with Finnley at the registers.

At first, I think Finnley knows what took me so long for simply getting a can of pineapples. I even wonder what he's going to say about it.

"Couldn't find it?"

"They changed the isles..." I mutter, without lying. They did relocate a lot of stuff.

He seems to know however, it isn't the reason I took a while longer than he expected. But if he knows already, he isn't letting me know. "You know, they do that every so often so you'll have to look for the stuff you always buy. It's a way to get you to see other shit and to let you buy more or different brands." He simply tells me, putting the can of pineapples on the belt along with the rest of the stuff. "Did you know brands pay up to a million dollars to be placed at the end of an isle? Depending on how many days their product is showcased in those spots?"

I can't help but smile because of him and his endless pool of information about pretty much anything. "Oh, Finny." I chuckle, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "I love you, you know?"

His face flushes a bit, but he's smiling nonetheless. "Useless Finn-fact, right?"

"So useless, yet so endearing."

He chuckles and takes my hand in his. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Not confronting me about whatever she was saying to you just then."

I just smile and shrug. "Anything to keep you happy."

* * * * *

"Oh Finn, this tastes so good!" My mom was already happy he offered to cook dinner so she would have some time to herself. Finnley explained to me that cooking dinner is a way for him to distract himself from too much thinking about his grandmother, or the fact Jeff still hasn't been arrested, or Emma getting out of jail after serving an 18 months sentence – getting out on parole for good behaviour as of recently. It has been on local news and the people around town aren't that pleased she's out and around here. My parents told us that lot of people who go to church have shared their concerns over the fact an ex-convict is living nearby their children.

I get their worries, I really do. I myself am not that pleased about her being out here again. Most certainly after I noticed the fact she was wearing one of Finnley's old sweaters – one she had been wearing in the time he was missing too. It gives me an unsettling feeling, like she's his stalker of some sort. I know I will have to talk to Finnley about this sooner or later, because I want him to be aware of her still lingering feelings towards him and the fact she sounded rather hostile when she asked me if we're together.

Don't get me wrong, I want Finnley to spend as much time with his grandmother as possible. But it would settle my nerves a bit for us to go back home, away from this town, the judgemental people in it and mostly; away from Emma.

"Thank you, Mrs. Evans." Finnley smiles, although it's not that much of a bright smile like he showed me yesterday, after we woke up from our nap, regaining some energy after getting to know each other in a very intimate way. That smile he showed just then, told me he felt like he could concur the world. The one he's flashing right now, is only a half-hearted smile.

"Please, call me Eva." She shortly casts her glaze towards me. "We're practically family now, right?" She smiles widely and her last words made Finnley smile wider and less forced. "I told Kody months ago I thought you two would eventually get together. And I couldn't be happier for Cris to come home with you."

Finnley looks amused towards me, smirking a bit.

We told my parents about our newfound relationship this morning, right after we woke up. Finnley was exhausted and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. It's a bit cramped, the two of us together in a single bed in my old room. Mom and dad had set out a mattress on the floor for him, but yeah, not happening.

"So, about you two." My dad looks back and forth between us. "Maybe we should let Finn stay in the guest bedroom..."

"Dad!" I look at him with wide eyes."

"Hey, you might be a boy and I know for a fact you can't get pregnant, but you're still my little girl... eh, boy." He chuckles over his own joke; my mom rolls her eyes in annoyance because apparently, we're back to making jokes about me acting like a girl. Finnley frowns, but he seems to feel at least a bit amused. "As I was saying, I know you're old and wise enough to have sex, I just don't want to wake up in the middle of the night..."

"DAD!"

"Kody..." My mom groans, leaning her head on her hand, covering half of her face.

Finnley started chuckling now, looking at me amused. "With all due respect, Mr. Evans, do you really think he's still a virgin?"

"Call me Kody." Dad shakes his head. "And much to my displeasing, I do know he isn't a virgin. I'm long happy he never got a girl knocked up. I just appreciate my calm sleep. I kinda got used to the house being ours again." He puts his arm around my mom, hugging her to his side. "No one coming home in the middle of the night, not handling his alcohol very well, waking up half the neighbourhood on his way to his room."

That got Finnley to laugh out loud and I feel my face flush. Ugh, why is my dad always trying to embarrass me in front of my friends, or in this case; my boyfriend. "He really can't handle his alcohol very well, can he?" Finnley agrees with him, still hiccupping a bit over my dad's last statement.

"Hey, Mister Lund?" I cock a brown in his direction. "Do I need to remind you that only two nights ago, you were shamelessly flirting with me in a drunk mood, telling me how pretty I was. How you started telling stories about "Oli-dollie" and god being an imaginary friend?"

That last part got both my parents to end up in a fit of laughter, Finnley just shrugs. "I'm not annoying when I'm drunk."

"Oliver called you a pain in the ass. Do I need to repeat what you responded to that?"

Now his face flushed and his eyes widened. "No, you do not have to repeat that..."

"I don't even want to know, because I pretty much already think I know what sort of answer he gave." My dad chuckles though, looking in Finn's direction. "So, Oliver is your ex?"

"We eeh..." He shrugs again. "Something like that."

I send my dad a warning look, to tell him not to keep this subject up, since I already noticed Finn isn't comfortable with talking about his "relationship" with Oliver, which I understand.

"So, how long will you two stay here?"

"We both have exams on Tuesday, so I guess we leave on Monday." Finnley seems relieved my mom changed subjects.

"But maybe we'll join for dinner once or twice before visiting Finn's grandmother."

"You both are welcome every day, just notify me so I can get enough food and drinks for you."

We both nod, settling back in a silence, finishing dinner without much talking after that. But I don't mind; because I'm just really happy Finnley seems to feel right at home with us, like he always did. But this time around he's my boyfriend. And sitting here with him and my parents I just know I'm the luckiest guy on earth and I will do everything within my power to make Finnley feel the same.