Page 7 of The Moment Promised

No, I’m not losing my mind, really, there are voices.

Everything is black when I open my eyes, there’s fabric suffocating my face. I shove it off me, my hair is a mess around my face.

“Happy birthd—Ah!”Finn’s mom, Jill, shrieks at my sudden presence, arms flailing.

I blink a few times, then slowly turn my head to Finn’s dad, Burt, who squints at the floor, defeated.

My eyes travel down to where Burt’s frustration lies, at the remains of a cake splattered all over Finn’s bedroom floor.

“Mom. Dad… What the hell?”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know Ad was here, and when she popped up from the covers, well…” Jill gestures to the mess.

My cheeks warm, I sink a little further into the bed.

“I guess it was a good thing I forgot to buy the birthday candles,” Burt jokes with his wife, who doesn’t seem to find the humor in it.

Finn’s parents walking in on us having a sleepover wouldn’t normally feel awkward, but since we are now older, it feels like we were caught doing something more than sleeping…

And the more I think of how wrong they could interpret this, the more my face burns.

I can only imagine my appearance right now, in Finn’s T-shirt with wild hair like we?—

That would never, in a million years,everhappen. I’ve never even thought about it…but now that I have, I wonder what it would be like—no. That would ruin everything between us.

“I would’ve told you guys she was spending the night if I had known. I found her stranded at Pete’s with no key to her house.”

“She could handle her own, right Addy?” Burt holds a fist out to me, I awkwardly pull my hand out from beneath the covers to meet his, appearing even more guilty.

Jill glances between Finn and I, slowly backing into the doorway. “Um, well honey, we better go get started on that paperwork we have…” She tosses a thumb over her shoulder.

“We don’t have any paperw—” Burt starts.

Jill widens her eyes at him, and then focuses her gaze on us. He clears his throat. “Oh, right…thatpaperwork.” He not so subtly winks at his wife, walking toward the doorway. “Happy twentieth birthday, son.”

They disappear down the hall, but he shoots out one last comment. “I hadlotsof fun in my twenties.”

A slapping sound, of what I can only imagine was Jill’s rear end, makes her shriek, “Burt!”

“My mom wantsusto happen so bad she’s making scenarios up in her head.” Finn laughs as if the idea ofusis an absurd suggestion.

And I don’t know why, but something caves in my chest. Do I want there to be anus?

I clear my throat and change the subject, unwilling to dive too deeply into these new feelings about Finn. “I know you probably envisioned intoxicating yourself to the point of slumber with your head in the toilet for your birthday, but since you’re home, you’ll have to spend the evening eating dinner with me.” I flatten the mess of hair around my face.

He doesn’t say anything, just pulls the covers off his half naked body. Pulling on a black T-shirt over his head, he walks toward his bathroom.

“Sounds good, love.”

It feels like I swallowed a bunch of moths. They throw themselves at the wall of my stomach hearing Finn’s nickname for me.

Finn talks through the bathroom door, “You should come with me.”

“Where?”

“To FSU. Just think about it, Ad. You can take some prerequisite classes toward your associate degree, or something.”

“I can’t leave, Finn.”

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