[[From episode 4: Don't Ever Tell Anybody Anything]]
Finn clicked the phone back in its holder and sat motionless on the bed for what seemed like an eternity.
How are you supposed to react to the death of a loved one?
Hearing it via telephone somehow made it worse. Made him seem far away. He should have been there, by his grandmother's side. He should have been there to say a proper goodbye, to tell her that he loves her, because she's been a big part of his life. Instead, he was here, at a party; it wasn't even a good party. He'd been having a shit time since he had arrived.
He thought he'd worked things out with Rae. He'd apologised, she appeared to accept his pathetic apology (for some reason. Fuck, he was a prick), and they'd even hugged for the first time. Everything seemed just fine. And this newly sprung friendship had helped with the idea of losing his grandmother. Maybe he wouldn't be as alone as he thought. Lose one thing, gain another. That kind of thing.
But then things quickly went downhill and he couldn't work out why Rae was avoiding him. She didn't accept any of his hugs, she didn't talk to him, and she even pretended not to hear him speaking when they were sat together. She was blatantly ignoring him. Had he done something wrong?
Rae didn't want to be his friend, and she had told him so herself.
And now, he had lost his grandmother.
This was one fucking shit night.
Finn sat on the bed, his head in his hands, as he desperately fought to keep the tears back that were threatening to spill and release every emotion he had pent up inside himself for so long. The door was closed, but the faint trails of music seeped through any slight opening they could find and surrounded him. He felt trapped and alone.
"Finn."
His head snapped up at the familiar voice, though the tone was much softer than it had been with him all night. Rae was standing there, watching him, looking as though she came to find him for a reason. But at that point, Finn couldn't help himself. He tried to hold her gaze but looked away, unable to win the fight with his emotions this time, and that's when it must have clicked for Rae, because she rushed over, murmuring his name and muttering heartfelt apologies (for his loss, or for the way she'd treated him?). Then he was in her arms, pulled close to her, and his arms found her waist and he was clinging onto her because there was nothing else he could do and he needed this, whatever this was.
Rae told him that it was alright. Everything would be alright.
When they were lying together, after he'd had time to think, he knew that everything would be alright. Rae didn't pressure him into speaking about his grandmother, and that was good, because he had no words. But lying by her side and knowing that they were friends offered a temporary relief for him. He didn't want to think about anything else, and as he closed his eyes, he didn't think at all.