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Chapter 14: The Not-Awaited Task

Finn's POV

Two months ever since the infamous date passed. Oliver and Heather continued to get to know each other and date more while I had to watch it all unfold.

I started becoming more distant from them and just solely focusing on my school works and while at that, I started getting recognized more. 

The scene at the restaurant did go on the school's news but Bella's expectations weren't exactly satisfied. While I the video got the attention like she thought it would and more, it wasn't exactly negative, nobody made fun of me like she thought they would. Instead, people liked me more due to me paying the waiter a thousand bucks. I guess Oliver really fulfilled what he promised, thanks to him, my name's not in the mud.

It's just weird walking around the school with people saying 'hi' to me, especially if you're like me who has trust issues and have lost faith in humanity a long time ago. I overthink it, like they had some an ulterior motive with their simple greetings.

And now, December has arrived. And my teachers kept giving me buttloads of home works because the Holiday break was coming.

I was doing my chemistry assignment on my bed, it was one in the morning, and everything was peaceful when suddenly, I heard something crash somewhere in the house. It made me jump a little, making me drop my textbook. I hopped off of my bed and approached the kitchen where I heard the crash and just before I successfully made it there. I heard my mom and my dad whispering, a broken vase on the floor.

I decided to press myself against the wall and that's when I had clear understanding of what was happening.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You're gonna wake up Finn!" I heard my dad's voice say which sent chills down my spine. I've never heard her swear at my mom and I thought I wasn't ever.

"Rick. Why are you being so unreasonable?! I'm simply just asking for more amount for-"

"I'm not gonna give you my hard-earned money just to send it to that asshole! Can't you see? He's literally just using you!" 

My heart dropped. Even when I was just little, I've always been hearing my mom and dad talk about a certain person which my dad was obviously not fond of. And that's the times when my dad would always disagree with my mom but I didn't know anything else about it.

"He fucking loved me, Rick! How could you say that about him?!" 

"Beating you up isn't a sign he loved you." 

And then I heard a sharp sound reverberate. 

"I'm done with you." I heard my mom say. 

I hid behind a corner so my mom wouldn't see me when she walked past. Once the coast was clear, I took a peek into the kitchen just to see my dad pouring himself a glass of whiskey, still rubbing his cheek from where I assumed my mom slapped him.

I slowly trudged back into my room with a heavy heart. I've never seen my parents fight like that, resorting to swearing at each other and even hurting each other emotionally and physically. Sure, they had a few arguments here and there. They even sometimes argue about really absurd stuff like there was one occasion where they argued of who could spit the farthest. They loved each other, I was so sure of that. I knew that something was up when I'd hear my dad complain about some missing money. And how my mom would sometimes tell me to go to my room in very weird times of the day for no reason.

I was so lost, I didn't know what to feel. I debated on texting Heather or Oliver but I decided against it as I thought that they were already sleeping. So instead, I just closed my textbook, turned my lamp off and went to bed, my heart still in my stomach.

. . .

I was in my class right before lunch and my teacher was explaining something. 

"By the way, class. Since I've already finished all our lectures this semester. I am gonna give you your project now. Now take note that you will have to work with a partner that I will be choosing so that you can get through the project faster. I will now announce the pairs." She said before starting with the names.

I looked around in my class, the only people I could recognize were Kian, this guy who keeps saying hi to me every single time he sees me and he's certainly a very... social guy. Mia, one of the nasty cheerleader who is Bella's one of two minions. Bella which is a skank bitch who absolutely have no life and makes her popularity her whole personality. And finally, Oliver, who I've been studiously avoiding. 

I sighed and turned my focus back to the teacher. 

"Finn Vasco?" She called out, looking over the class for silly old me.

"Here." I raised my hand.

She double-checked her paper before looking up again. "You're partnered with Oliver Hunt."

Of course, what's a Finn Vasco without immaculate luck like that?

I visibly grimaced which I don't think Oliver would've appreciated if he saw. I looked at Oliver just to see him smirking at me. I hurriedly turned back around and pretended to be interested at my pen.

Bella raised her hand up. "Uh, Mrs. Polly. I think I'd rather be partnered with Oliver-"

"It's Mrs. Patterson and no, Ms. Lee-Evans, you cannot, he already has a partner and you have your own."

Bella pouted like a child and huffed just like a kid when her mother didn't buy her a lollipop.

Great. I'm gonna be stuck with Oliver for a week straight for that damned project. After two months of avoiding him, I'm forced with him. I knew the teacher, and I knew that she didn't like switching partners, so asking to switch is basically a lost cause. The bell rang all of a sudden which signalized the end of the period. I picked up my stuff gingerly before hurrying out of the door. 

Once I was sat in the cafeteria, I sagged and buried my face in my arms. 

It hasn't even been a full minute when a familiar voice spoke. "Am I really that bad?"

I looked up to see Oliver there, a smirk on his face and his hands in his pocket. 

"What?" I asked in confusion.

Oliver chuckled before sitting down beside me. "I saw your reaction in class when we were paired, you know."

"Uh... Just a bad day." I lied, avoiding his eye contact so instead, I just buried my head into my arms again.

I heard him sigh which made me feel a little bad since I must've been annoying him. After a few minutes, I heard someone plop down on the seat in front of me. 

"Hey guys. What's up?" Heather's sweet voice greeted and it was enough for me to lift my head to look at her.

"How are you, Heather?" Oliver asked, leaning on the table with his chin on his palm.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes as I started scrolling through my phone, doing absolutely anything I can just to avoid their conversation and their plans to try and talk to me. As I was just tucking my phone back into my pocket, Jason sat down beside Heather. 

"Hey, Heather, Finn." He greeted with a charming smile. 

"Jason, where've you been these past few weeks?" Heather asked.

"Well, I've been so busy with photography. I've been spending all my possible free time studying about it or doing it. So apologies for that." He explained, smiling sheepishly.

I picked at my food mindlessly, my thoughts once again clashing with each other.

I was thinking about how much I could avoid interacting with blondie while we did our project. I know Oliver would just suggest that we did it over at his house since they're crazy rich and they probably have all the space that we'd need. That would be perfect for what I want since I can just avoid him there because of their big house and plus, and I can't believe I was saying this, but I'd be able to see his adorable brother. 

"Hey Finn!" A voice pulled me out of my trance. 

I jerked up to see the three of them looking at me.

"What?" I asked in confusion once again.

"Are you okay? You haven't said a word nor ate your food ever since you sat down." Heather pointed out as she gestured on my still untouched food.

"I'm just thinking." I said with a roll of my eyes before focusing back on picking on my food. 

After a few minutes, Oliver tapped me on my shoulder. I looked at him, annoyed.

"Let's talk." He said too simply like it wasn't at all sketchy before he lead me towards the empty hallways. 

My heart was suddenly in my stomach. What kind of talk was he referring to? Because last I remember, last time we actually 'talked' was months ago, at the parking lot of that restaurant he and Heather had a date in. I didn't know what to expect, what if he's mad? What if he wanted to cut me off?

"So, let's just go straight to my house after school to start on the project, is that fine?"

Oh.

Because of that, I kind of got annoyed again. I nodded dryly and walked past him but before I could make it past two steps, he grabbed me by my shoulder.

"Why are you being like that lately? First you're avoiding me and now it looks like you wanna die when I go near you." He said in an irritated tone like he was tired of me. He probably was, I would be too.

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I brushed his hands off of my shoulder.

"You know what I'm talking about. You're avoiding me." 

I raised an eyebrow, silently challenging him. "What if I was? What are you gonna do about it?"

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes in the process. "I don't know what I did for you to be mad at me. But let's set it aside if you want to pass Mrs. Patterson's class." 

I rolled my eyes before walking away and into my next class, not even bothering to return to the cafeteria. 

. . .

Naturally, It took Oliver eight thousand years with football practice again. Just a little over thirty minutes, Oliver came out of the field with his backpack. He was dressed in one of the sweatshirt that we bought a few months ago.

"Hey, sorry for that wait." He said, unlocking his car for me to silently hop into. 

He got in and started the engine. It's been a while since I last got in his car and surprisingly, I still didn't forget that it smelled like his cologne.

As we were speeding down the road, Oliver turned on the radio. 'Tattooed Heart' by Ariana Grande started playing which was, indubitably one of my favorite songs.

"Oh hey, isn't that Ariana Grande?" Oliver said as an attempt to small talk.

I looked at him, fighting the urge to smile as I saw his own smirk. I shook my head and looked out the window again.

"Oh come on, Finn. I know you love Ariana Grande." 

I grumbled a little which made him laugh a little. I'm glad that my idolization of Ariana Grande is amusing to him, that definitely increased my points as a person.

After an awfully awkward drive, we finally reached his house. We entered together and was met with a delicious smell wafting all over the house followed by small footsteps approaching us.

We reached his living room where Austin was watching TV. He ran up to Oliver and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Hey little man." Oliver greeted before picking him up. "Finn is here too." He pointed at me and Austin's eyes lit up at the sight of me.

"Mr. Finn!" He called to me in an enthusiastic tone. He started reaching for me with his arms which caught me off guard.

"He wants you to carry him." Oliver let me know like I was some clueless person. Which I am, there's no doubt.

"Uh... Are you sure? I might drop him..." I said hesitantly.

"Psh, you won't." He said before gently passing Austin to me who wrapped his arms around my neck.

I pat his back awkwardly, bouncing him on my hip frequently. I never actually knew how kids work so he might very well throw up on me right now and completely stain my favorite shirt. I set him down just as sounds of footsteps approached us again and I looked to see a middle aged woman with an apron and a spatula in hand. She gave Oliver a hug and gave me a warm smile.

"Is he a new friend, Oliver?" 

Oliver looked at me and a smiled spread across his lips. "No, Mom, that's... that's Finn." 

And then his mom's face lit up. 

"Oh my Goodness. Come here child." She said before wrapping me in a warm, motherly hug. 

My eyes were wide as it met with Oliver's just to see his face morph into a genuine smile. 

"Oliver's told me a lot about you. Come! I'll prepare you some biscuits and tea."

I smiled politely. "Oh, uh, Oliver and I are actually doing a project-"

"We can set that aside for now, Finn. I promise you, you wouldn't want to miss my mom's biscuits." Oliver said.

I looked back and forth between them before nodding.

As long as I get embarrassing baby Oliver story, then I'm down for it.

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