Page 21 of Finn's Solace

I totally had a crush on him.

Ames: If you say so. What's the plan? Are you guys dating?

Me: Yeah, though I haven't told anyone else yet.

Ames: I can see that XD

I assumed she was talking about the group chat, and I decided it would be best for my mental health if I didn't read what they were saying.

Greta chose that moment to leap off the shelf and onto my desk, almost landing on my laptop.

"Careful, Greta. One wrong key-press and I'll have to do it all again."

Greta gave a chirp I took as apology, but the near miss reminded me I still had work to do.

Me: I gotta get back to work. When are you back?

Ames: Thursday. Wanna meet up on Friday?

Our date was on Saturday, so Friday would be great. I told her as much, then turned my focus back toward work, and tried not to think about our impending first date or the gossip mill busily churning away in the group chat.

Nine

Finn

It was date time, and I was nervous as fuck. I'd debated over where I could take Levi. I'd wanted it to be somewhere he'd like, and the first thing that came to mind was the park. He would've liked a nice picnic, and he'd been excited by the idea of meeting Alden, the unicorn who lived there. I could've made that happen, but after talking with Amelia for a while yesterday, I'd changed my mind.

We could go to the park some other time. A second date, maybe, if this one went well.

My basilisk side seemed to be growing fond of Levi now that he was around a bit more, and he seemed to be impatiently pushing me to go to Levi faster since I was picking Levi up at his place for our date.

I'd picked a daytime activity followed by lunch, mostly because I didn't want to wait until the evening, and I arrived athis place with five minutes to spare. He was already sitting on the porch waiting for me, Greta perched on his knee.

He smiled when he saw me, and got to his feet, Greta trailing after him. I was sure she'd have fun too, and that might've played a tiny role in the activity I picked for us.

I'd taken far too long to get dressed in the dark green Henley and blue jeans I wore, but the way Levi's eyes roamed over me as he got into the car was well worth the effort.

He wore dark jeans that clung to his muscular legs, and another of his pun t-shirts—he'd clearly figured out I liked them—this one with a pickle in a jar of liquid with the words "I'm in a pickle" in a speech bubble above it. He'd donned a denim jacket over it to finish off his outfit, and he looked handsome.

"I hope that's not a comment on your date," I teased as I eyed the pickle again, and he glanced down at his t-shirt, then laughed.

"Not at all."

"Good," I said with a smile as I started the car, then glanced back at Greta, who'd settled herself on the middle seat.

"Is it okay I brought her?"

"Of course. She's your familiar. She goes where you go," I said with a shrug, and he hummed.

"I keep forgetting you live with a familiar and know what it's like."

I chuckled. "Yeah. Neya is never too far from Dad, even when he's at home."

"That's nice. Um, I should mention I met him. Your dad."

"What?" I snapped my head to look at him, then jerked it back forward before I crashed the car.

"Yeah, he said he was visiting someone at the packland. We only talked for a minute, but he welcomed me to the town and invited me over for dinner."

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