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Chapter 24: POV

Finn's POV

This year started with me, just minding my own business, trying to get by the days simply, avoiding people to avoid trouble. But then along the way, a certain blond guy decided to show up and simultaneously ruin my life and make it better at the same time. 

Oliver Hunt, the guy who was my definition of "too good to be true", the guy who has flirted with more people in two years than I've seen in my life, the guy who was everyone's dream, the guy who everyone was obsessed with- whether you may be a guy or a girl.

This is the same damn guy... that I was going on a prom with this day.

I still couldn't believe that it was us, that we were still together even towards the end, that we were gonna last.

I still remember how his promposal went.

The evening was all planned out, Heather, Jason and I were going to Oliver's house for dinner and then also take our prom photos there. My parents offered to come with us which I was a little hesitant about, because my parents are literally meeting Oliver's mom. I didn't think I was ready for it but Oliver seemed to have thought otherwise. 

"Finn. You're gonna be late if you spend your entire time on your hair."

I gave up on styling my hair with a sigh. "Ugh, I don't know how to do my hair, that's why." I said defeatedly before sagging on a chair.

"I'll do your hair, you can focus on texting Oliver."

My mom said before entering my room, her apron still tied to her waist. She started on doing my hair and I muttered a quiet 'thanks' before going back to texting Oliver.

'yo, idk if i'm gonna be on time, we're all, like, panicking rn'

Not even ten seconds have passed and he had already responded.

'haha, that's fine, come whenever you're ready, we're gonna wait.'

'bold of you to assume i'm gonna let that happen, i'm gonna be on time' I texted back just as my mom finished. I looked in the mirror and criticized my look before smiling at my mom.

"It looks so good. Thanks mom."

She patted my shoulder as a response before leaving me alone in my room. I looked at myself in the mirror with a deep breath, like I was in a movie. I tugged on my bow tie on my neck to at least make it a little loose. I don't know why I was so nervous. I've attended a really important gala, homecoming and have even attended a party, I should have been used to this by now but no, it's like I'm back to square one. I didn't want to embarrass Oliver out there since I'd be his date, I didn't want to look like a clueless idiot. 

I took a deep breath again and then again... Until I heard my dad call my name from the living room.

I made sure I had everything I needed before leaving my room. 

"Look at my boy, going to his first prom. I'm a little proud." My dad teased as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Just a little?" 

He rolled his eyes playfully and gave my back a pat. "I'll save the rest of my pride for when you get married."

"Oh my God."

"You two stop with that, let's go before we're late." My mom cut in before I could say anything else as she shooed my dad and I out the door.

The three of us hopped in the car and proceeded to Oliver's house.

Once we reached their house. I was the first one out the car door. My shoes were loud on the brick pathway as I looked on at the mansion, adjusting my bow tie nervously before the three of us started our walk towards the front door.

My dad cleared his throat before clicking the doorbell. A moment later, Jen- Oliver's mom- opened the door for us, her face lit up suddenly.

"Oh, Finn! Please, come in." She gave me a welcoming hug before stepping aside, letting us enter. "You must be Finn's parents. Welcome to our home, I'm Jen." She greeted before shaking my parent's hands.

"I'm Clara and this is my husband, Rick." My mom said with a warm smile.

"Finn, mind if I talk to your parents first? Heather, Jason and Oliver are in the living room."

I nodded before leaving the parents alone, I approached the living room and there they were, talking and laughing with each other. The moment they saw me, they cheered exaggeratedly.

"Heyyy, our future Prom King is here." Heather announced like I was some sort of royalty.

"Yo, you look good, Finn!" Jason nodded at me with his signature friendly smile.

I chuckled and tucked my hand into my pocket, hiding my blushing face. "Thanks." I said in embarrassment.

"This is my Prom King right here." Oliver said with a smirk as he approached me, his arms going around me once I was within his reach.

"Oh stop."

Oliver looked heavenly. He was wearing a dark blue velvet colored suit, his hair was styled perfectly and with his heeled shoes, he was even taller. He looked like the true gentlemen that he was.

"I look like trash next to you." I said to him sheepishly which made him frown.

He shook his head adorably. "Shut up, Finn. You seriously look beautiful and adorable no matter what you wear." 

I was about to respond when I heard a voice call from the kitchen. "Hey, kids, the dinner table's ready." 

The four of us broke our conversations and proceeded towards the kitchen to find a whole damn feast on the table. My parents, Jen and Austin were already seated.

"Hey Auntie Clara, Uncle Rick, how are you two?" Heather greeted as she gave both of my parents a hug.

"We're fine, hun, how about you?" My mom asked and they launched into a conversation. 

"Hey, Aunt Jen. I heard you guys were renovating your garden and adding a gazebo? I was wondering if I could take photos there." Jason asked as he sat down beside Jen.

She laughed warmly and gave Jason's shoulder a pat. "Yes, Jason. You shouldn't be asking me for permissions by now. You basically live here already." The two of them launched into another conversation while I couldn't help but smile.

Everyone was alright, talking, joking and laughing with each other as they find new topics to talk about.

"All right, let's start eating, the food is gonna be cold."

. . .

After we were done with the delightful dinner, we took our prom photos in the front of their mansion and after that, we eventually proceeded towards the hotel where the prom was taking place.

We entered the ballroom and I let out an audible gasp once I saw the room. The high red curtains that hung from the ceiling really made the room look lavish. The lights were pointed in different directions which made the room brighter and beautiful in general. The whole room was cleared just for dancing and in front of the room was a stage where the crowns for the Prom winners sat. The glimmering chandelier in the middle of the room just finished it all off.

"Wow. The prom committee really brought this room to life." Heather gawked as she walked deeper into the room, the room was already crowded by students, a mixture of sparkly dresses, suits and such in sight.

I grabbed Oliver's arm so that I wouldn't lose them. He smiled at me before holding my hand that was on his arm.

I looked around the room and spotted a couple familiar people. Mia and Talia were dancing together, looking as toxic-free as they've been the whole school year. Chad was with his teammates, probably tormenting other people. And fortunately, no Bella's in sight.

"Hey, Finn. Wanna come with me? I'm just gonna pass by the group for a minute." Oliver asked me.

"Sure. As long as we'll leave the second things get awkward." I said.

He just smiled at me before the both of us approached the group.

"Oh hey, man, and you brought Finn too." Luke greeted Oliver with a bro-hug and bowing his head towards me like I was some sort of royalty.

"Of course I would, now, be nice to him." Oliver said as he started rubbing my knuckles with his thumb.

Some of the guys sheepishly waved to me. It was honestly cute.

"But I have some news to you all." Oliver said as he swung an arm over Chad's shoulder roughly. "This guy actually did something good in his life for once." He teased which made Chad push him playfully.

All of the guys stared at them which made me laugh, they looked like that eye + lips + eye emoji.

"Okay, don't keep us in suspense, dude. What'd he do?" One of the more familiar guys asked.

A proud smile appeared on Oliver's face as he pat Chad's back. "This guy? He saved Finn from getting trampled by Bella." 

The shock that passed around the group almost seemed animated. "Bella?"

"What did she do to Finn?" Luke asked.

"Finn, are you alright?" Another guy followed.

I grimaced with all of the guys giving their inputs about me. "Goodness, I'm... I'm fine." I reassured shyly.

"I'm glad Bella's gone now though. I've been saying she's toxic, man. Even from when she was with Oliver." Luke told.

"Literally. Remember when she kept hogging Oliver for a week straight, he missed almost all of the football practice?" A guy added.

The group expressed their agreement and it felt a little awkward. I mean, they were talking about how Bella's his ex and all of that while I was still there. After a while, they seemed to have realized that I was standing there.

"Oh, uh, sorry for bringing that up. We good, right?" Luke apologized to me.

I nodded with a reassuring smile. "Yeah, it's not that big of a deal."

"Okay. I think that's enough, Finn and I will be going now." Oliver said.

"Bye Finn. We'll definitely be voting for you for Prom King." One of them said and all I could do was smile gratefully before Oliver led me out of there. 

While we were walking, he raised an eyebrow at me. "See, they love you."

"I'm pretty sure they were joking, you're their bestie, they're gonna vote for you." I said.

"No they weren't and won't." He replied stubbornly. He sighed as we kept walking. "By the way, I know how they kept bringing up... y'know, she-who-shall-not-be-named. Are you alright?"

"Yeah! It's really not that big of a deal and besides, I love hearing stories of how horrible Bella was." I joked.

He shook his head with a laugh. "Never change, Finn. Never change." 

As we were walking, the music drastically and very much conveniently changed from an upbeat, pop song to a familiar, slow and romantic song.

Oliver shrugged. "Oh no, the song changed to a slow one. Whatever must we do now?" He asked jokingly, hint of amusement on his face.

I rolled my eyes but nonetheless, my hands settled on his shoulder while his settled on my waist.

"See. You don't have to deny you love it, Finn. You love all of our dances, all our intimacy."

"Right. You're corny, you know that right?"

He chuckled. "Yes, and you love it."

"Eh, it's cute." I admitted to which he continued laughing while I fought a smile.

His laugh faded into the song as he looked around the room.

"Hey, Finn. I kind of want you to myself right now. There's a balcony in one of these halls. How about we escape for a while?"

"Sure. How are we gonna do that, though?"

He looked around once again before subtly swaying me over to the edge of the room where we could easily slip out the door easily.

He smirked at me before opening one of the door out into an empty hall.

The two of us turned left and a right and lo and behold, a balcony was present there. As we stood there, I realized that we were high up the building and the drop from the balcony would be lethal. Fortunately, it would take immense effort to climb the stone rail and it was pretty wide, so there's less chances of me falling to my death.

"Uh..." I sounded out as I shivered looking down.

"Stay close to me, I'll keep you safe." He teased me as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Shut up." I said in annoyance but regardless, I also wrapped my arms around his neck.

He laughed whole heartedly as he started swaying the both of us side to side. The way the moonlight was brighter than usual tonight, it shined down at us like a spotlight.

I sighed in contentment as I looked out the glimmering city below us.

"What are you thinking about?" Oliver asked as he pulled away- to my discontent, to look at me in the eye.

"It's cheesy... but I'm just really happy. There's finally no Bella, no guilt, no unwanted opinions going against us. I can hug you and kiss you as much as I want without worrying about what other people would say. It feels nice."

He gave me one of his rare genuine smiles. "I get you. Ever since we were free from those shackles, I've been able to sleep peacefully at night... Knowing you're mine, and I'm yours."

I looked down as my face once again felt heated under his stare. Once I'd been able to contain myself, I looked at him again.

His smile faded. "I know I've said it before and I'll continue saying it. I'm so grateful that you're in my life. A single day doesn't go by without me thanking the stars that we're together... that you chose me. Think of all the guys that'll hit on you, of all the other people that'll make you smile, who can give you more than I can, who can love you just as much as I do... but you still chose me. You make my life so much better and I'm glad I get to have that privilege of living the same time as you, that's something I'll forever brag about. I'll brag about you to all the people that I'll meet to the point they would be so annoyed of me... but I don't care, because I'm proud of you, and I love you. I didn't think it was even remotely possible but it physically hurts me how much I love you."

I felt heat in the back of my eyes as his soft gaze stayed on me. I didn't know what to say because as he dropped word after word, I became more speechless, I felt like crying, because of his words. His words added pounds and pounds more love into my heart and it felt like it was about to explode. 

I frowned before tackling him with the tightest embrace I've ever given. His arms immediately went around me, caressing my head in order to calm me down. Despite the cold air that was blowing in the air and constantly hitting my skin, the heat of his body was enough to battle that, all I felt was warmth, inside and out.

I pulled away after a while, giving him a small smile. "By the way, I forgot to say that I love you too."

He just shook his head. "I know you do... I mean I hope you do." He raised a brow, silently asking for a clarification. And I gave him just that.

"I do."

"That's all I need to know." He said.

I laid my head on his shoulder to avoid eye contact, instead, I looked out the glimmering city below us. I realized that I had not even said what I've been wanting to say. He was out here, saying all those long speeches when I've barely said a word in and so I sighed, carefully choosing the words that I was about to let him hear. 

"You know, I never got to thank you, Oliver. Thank you for also choosing me. You're this guy that is so damn perfect, everyone's head over heels for you. You could've had anyone in your life, there are literally hundreds of people crushing on you, wishing that they could be with you, wishing that they were the one beside you instead of me... but you still chose me. And I fear that I'll never pass the expectation that you may have in a partner or everyone's expectation, I mean just imagine. You're literally fucking perfect, and everyone would think you're with some beautiful model or some famous person... when in reality, you're with me but for you, I'll try, I'll try to be worthy of your decision."

He cupped my cheek and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "You need to stop saying those things, Finn. You're perfect just the way you are and if people can't see that, so what? You don't need to prove anything. I chose you because I love you."

He simply smiled before leaning just close enough for his lips to brush against mine. I didn't let him tease me, I grabbed his neck, pulling him close for his lips to crash against mine.

I immediately gave him the opening he wanted and his tongue entered my mouth, making me close my eyes in pleasure.

Everything was him at that moment, every breathe that I took, everything I touched, it was all him. His hand that were supporting my back and the other in my hair felt like they rightfully belonged there, his emotions radiated every time his skin would touch mine. It felt like time stopped, and it probably did.

We parted slowly and I loved how his taste was still in my mouth and how my eyes were still closed. I slowly opened them to see him looking back at me like I was a piece of cookie.

"Did you steal one of my gums? I can literally taste it off of you." He asked out of the blue, a cheeky grin on his face.

"I think you're imagining things, Oliver. I'd never steal anything from you." I played pretend.

He suddenly fished something from my pocket, presenting the packet of his said gum.

"Uhuh." He raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"I- You- you can't do that." I pouted like a little kid.

He simply laughed before pulling me into him. We enjoyed the beautiful and clear view of the sky above us for some more.

. . .

A few hours of celebration and dancing have passed and it was finally time to announce the Prom King and Queen. Jason, Heather, Oliver and I got up to the front of the crowd.

Mrs. Ponds took her position at the stage, rolling her eyes as she opened the envelope. "Okay, ladies and gents. Let's get this over with. I think you all know who the winners are already. The Prom King and Queen are..."

Everyone held their breath, even me. 

"Oliver Hunt and Talia Greenman." Mrs. Ponds announced which caused the room to explode with obnoxious, loud cheers, claps and whistles, to the point that I had to cover my ears. Before Oliver left my side, he gave the corner of my mouth a peck and then proceeded towards the stage.

Their little crowns were placed on their heads. 

Talia rushed over to the mic. "Uh, thanks for voting me." She said hurriedly before scurrying away.

Oliver coolly approached the mic as the shouts of the girls in the crowd overpowered the rest.

Oliver cleared this throat, his eyes wandered around the room before landing on me from the hundreds of people watching him.

"I want to dedicate this speech to my favorite person in the entire world. Gosh, I love this person so much that it physically hurts me. That cute guy right there? That's Finn Vasco and he's mine."

There were either gasps, disappointed grunts, cheers or clapping... while I was blushing already from his little speech that he let others hear.

"Yeah. And he's the true Prom King tonight, not me. I just wanna say, Finn, thank you for existing. That's all. Thank you everyone, and have a good night." He said with a smile which made everyone cheer again.

He climbed down the stage and went straight for me just as the lights turned dim, the music changing from a pop, cheerful song to a very familiar song that seem to have been slowed down and applied reverb to.

'It's like you got superpowers

Turn my minutes into hours'

"Sir Frederick Augustine, may I have this dance?" He said in a joking manner, his hands outstretched towards me.

"S-Sure." I stuttered out and the moment I took his hand, he pulled me into him, swaying me slowly.

He smiled at me, his dimples appearing ever so slightly while all I could show him back was my red face lasting the entire first verse.

'I wanna love me

The way that you love me'

He started humming along and my heart was oddly filled with warmth and it even physically hurt my chest.

He pressed his cheek to me and whispered softly. "This is my favorite song... and it's because of you."

"I... I don't know what to say." I admitted to him sheepishly.

I felt his deep chuckle reverberate through our touching chest. 

"You don't need to say anything, Finn. You being here with me is more than enough."

I looked up at him, his smoldering gaze on me, and all I could say was...

"Thank you, Oliver, for making me feel so special. I've... I've never felt this way, and... I don't ever want to stop feeling it. Thank you for treating me the way you treat me, for... loving me. I'm the luckiest guy in the entire fucking world." I whispered under my breath but still loud enough for him to hear me. 

He simply smiled at me as he caressed my hair. The blue lights from the mirror ball would constantly hit a certain part of his shoulder which I memorized very quickly. It felt like we were dancing for eternity, and I'm glad it did. 

Being in prom, dancing with the guy I liked and knowing that he liked me too. It felt like those cliché rom-com ending scenes. It felt like a dream. It felt... too good to be true. 

And, at least, just for one night, everything was alright.

A night that will forever be in my memories.

***

By the way. I decided to leave out Oliver's promposal because I felt that it was too cringey to put in there. (There are a lot of Ariana Grande puns, okay) And I feel like I've been very obnoxious with the Ariana Grande obsession, that's why I just didn't include it. So if you guys want to see that, just let me know. I will warn you though, you will lose three braincells reading it :]

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