CHAPTER 16
"GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!"
Finn felt Neve banging on his door. Christmas Day was finally upon them and Neve, just like every 8 year old in the world, was extremely excited to get the day started and receive her gifts. Or so he thought. In reality, she was bouncing around in anticipation of giving Finn her gift to him. When Finn didn't respond to Neve's shouts, he vaguely heard her barge into the room and start hitting the foot of his bed. Finn groaned into his pillow.
"Go away." Finn weakly mumbled into his pillow. Neve started shoving his arm.
"Come on! It's Christmas! Get your ass out of bed!" She shouted. Finn slowly opened his eyes and rolled out of bed. He gave Neve a hug before scrambling over to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. After that, still in their pajamas, Neve and Finn walked downstairs where they were quickly joined by Carole and Sarah. Carole and Sarah had an extremely close relationship because after Finn left for his education in Dubai, Sarah was her oldest sibling and her oldest daughter and even when he came back, he was practically an adult so didn't need her for much. But thankfully, Neve never felt excluded because she had just as special of a relationship, if not a more special one, with Finn.
"Morning." Finn said to Carole and Sarah, yawning as he entered the room. He gave his sister and his mom a hug. "Merry Christmas, guys."
"Merry Christmas, sweetie." His mom replied, kissing him on the cheek. They all sat in the living room - Sarah and Carole on the couch and Finn and Neve on the floor by the presents - and they began to hand out their gifts to each other. Finn had gotten each of them a couple of small gifts and one large gift for each member of his family. He didn't have much money so he went for meaningful gifts rather than expensive ones. He picked the first gift from under the tree and handed it over. It was his gift to Sarah. He handed it over to her.
"Here, Sarah. This one's for you. Merry Christmas." Finn said. She eagerly took the gift and opened it. She gasped. It was a gorgeous pendant with a gold S dangling from it. Sarah was getting into her solid teen years so she was starting to wear more jewelry.
"Thank you so much, Finn. I love it!" She exclaimed. She was starting high school soon and the pendant was discreet enough not to draw attention so she would be able to wear it to school. Finn smiled.
"No problem. You helped me out so much over the past few months with the Quinn thing, so I wanted to get you something kinda nice as like a thank you."
Finn's next gift to give out was his gift to his mom. This gift took a LOT of effort for him to make, and he had to recruit Mr. Schue to help him with it. In the past four months, he had written five songs himself for his mom and his family, and he decided, as a Christmas gift, to record the songs in a studio and burn them onto a CD. He wanted a particularly meaningful gift for his mom as he knew that he would hopefully be moving out soon and this gift would partly be a thank you for everything she had done for him in the past 18 years. When he gave Carole her gift, tears leaked out of her eyes. It was such a meaningful gift.
"Finn… wow. I don't know what to say. This is beautiful. Can I play a song?"
Finn nodded.
"By all means." Finn replied.
Carole put in the first song…
I remember when you were all mine
Watched you changing in front of my eyes
What can I say?
Now that I'm not the fire in the cold
Now that I'm not the hand that you hold
As you're walking away
Will you call me to tell me you're alright?
'Cause I worry about you the whole night
Don't repeat my mistakes
I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside
If you're home I just hope that you're sober
Is it time to let go now you're older?
Don't leave me this way
I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside
Everyone has to find their own way
And I'm sure things will work out okay
I wish that was the truth
All we know is the sun will rise
Thank your lucky stars that you're alive
It's a beautiful life
Will you call me to tell me you're alright?
'Cause I worry about you the whole night
Don't repeat my mistakes
I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside
If you're home I just hope that you're sober
Is it time to let go now you're older?
Don't leave me this way
I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside
If you make the same mistakes
I will love you either way
All I know is I can't live without you
There is nothing I can say
That will change you anyway
Darling, I could never live without you
I can't live, I can't live
Will you call me to tell me you're alright?
'Cause I worry about you the whole night
Don't make my mistakes
I won't sleep, I won't sleep
If you're home I just hope that you're sober
Is it time to let go now you're older?
Don't leave me this way
I won't sleep 'til you're safe inside
Will you call me to tell me you're alright?
'Cause I worry about you
To hear the actual song, click:
watch?v=kC9-OcV4-eA&ab_channel=JamesAVEVO
Or search… "Safe Inside James Arthur Acoustic"
At the end of the song, Carole gave Finn a big hug. The first song was breathtakingly gorgeous, and the rest were probably up to the same standard.
"Finn, thank you so much. This is, no doubt, the best gift you've ever gotten me. I love you, son."
"Love you too, mom." Finn replied. Sarah then stood up and passed Finn a small envelope.
"Finn, this is from mom and I. We went halfsies on your gift."
Finn smiled and took it, before shaking the envelope.
"Seems pretty light and small for a remote control monster truck." Finn commented, jokingly. His family laughed.
"Haha. Just open your damn gift, Finn." Sarah said. Finn chuckled and opened the envelope. A couple of slips of paper fell out. He picked them up and read them… It was a plane ticket to Austin, a hotel confirmation fee for a four day stay, and the icing on the cake being a ticket to the US Grand Prix from Friday's practice sessions to Sunday's race, an event that took place towards the end of January. Finn gasped when he saw the tickets. Even after he stopped being able to race, he always dreamed about one day attending a real life F1 race. He watched literally every week's race on TV and he couldn't imagine how much more awesome it would be in real life.
"Wow… um… you guys. I don't even know what to say. I feel like I genuinely might cry. This is incredible!" Finn exclaimed, hugging his sister and his mom extremely tightly.
"It was nothing. You're the best brother in the world, and you've been through so much over the past year. You deserve the opportunity to blow off some steam." Sarah said.
Finn smiled widely.
"Thank you so much." Finn replied. Neve clapped her hands together.
"OK, my gift now!" She exclaimed. Finn laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, I've got one for you." Finn replied. "Just give me a second. It's kind of… outside."
Neve raised an eyebrow.
"Ooh… I'm excited for this!" She exclaimed. Finn laughed and walked out of the house and into the back garden. He came back into the living room moments later, holding an adorable Golden Retriever puppy in his hands. Neve gasped in delight as Finn placed the puppy on the ground and it bounded towards her. The dog jumped on her and started lathering the young girl with licks and kisses. Neve giggled as she played with the dog, over the moon, but Carole was less than pleased. She glared at her son.
"Finn! Thank you so much! I love him so much!" Neve exclaimed, giving her brother a hug. Finn smiled and hugged her before noticing the scowl on their mother's face.
"No problem. But now that I think about it, I should have probably asked for mom's permission. Mom? What's your take?" Finn asked. Carole looked like a deer in headlights. On one hand, she knew how much work a dog was but on the other hand, it warmed her heart to see her daughter so happy and affectionate towards the dog that she had met mere seconds ago.
"I… I don't know." Carole said, unsure.
"Come on, mom!" Finn exclaimed. "You know that I'm moving out in a couple of months. Y'all need this!"
"Yeah, mom! We need this!" Neve exclaimed, cuddling the puppy to her chest.
Carole sighed and eventually nodded.
"Ok, fine. Neve, you can keep the dog." She replied. Neve jumped into the air and hugged her mother, before hugging Finn.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She exclaimed. She then picked up the final gift from under the tree - her gift to Finn. Her gift had been the result of months of stress but she was ecstatic with the final product. It was another envelope. Finn took the envelope and grinned at his youngest sibling.
"Hey, what did you get me?" Finn asked. Neve took a deep breath.
"Well, hear me out, okay?" Neve said. "I spent the past month on various platforms of social media, trying to get into contact with dad."
"You what?" Finn asked disbelievingly, traces of anger evident in his voice. He had never forgiven his father for cheating and walking out on his family. He had always provided Neve anything that their father might have and frankly, it was a bit insulting and angering to hear that she called him.
"Just hear me out!" She repeated. "So after a month of scouring Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, pretty much every platform under the sun, I found him and started talking. I told him everything you've been through in the past year and he was shocked, to say the least."
Finn laughed.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." Finn remarked. "In the past year I've gotten a career-ending injury, pulled from school abroad, told that my ex was pregnant when it was someone else's baby, took said ex to court and sued, went completely off the rails, and now trying to clean up my life. That's quite a bit for a year."
Neve nodded.
"Exactly, so when I told him everything, he asked if we could meet up because he wanted to give me something to give to you."
"Hold up! He lives in Ohio?" Finn asked, confused. Neve shook her head.
"Nah, Thailand. But he flew in specifically for that reason."
Finn raised an eyebrow.
"Wow, how considerate." He commented, sarcastically. Neve shrugged.
"Yeah, it was actually. So we met up for a cup of coffee a couple of weeks ago and he gave me this to give to you. He said that he can't take back everything that happened to you, but he could help change your future."
Neve handed Finn the envelope. He opened it to reveal a bunch of documents that he didn't recognise at all. He looked up at Neve, questioningly.
"Um… what are these?" Finn asked. Neve took a deep breath.
"These are hospital forms for surgery." She replied. Finn raised an eyebrow.
"Wow, you really know how to pick a gift!" Finn joked. Neve rolled her eyes.
"Haha. No, these forms are for surgery for your back. They are going to readjust your back and after a month or so of rehab, you'll be able to see that checkered flag once again."
Finn's jaw dropped. He shook his head.
"Look, no offence Neve but I don't think that's possible. Surgery for my back is at least 150 thousand dollars, plus whatever rehab costs."
Neve nodded.
"Yes, and… Dad paid for all of that in full, and he also left a pretty large check to pay for rehab."
Finn felt tears coming to his eyes.
"Neve, are you serious? Because if this is a joke, it's NOT funny!"
Neve laughed.
"No, it's not a joke. It took a fair bit of work to be able to track down dad, but I feel like he came through."
Finn couldn't believe it! There was a small chance that he could actually make it as a racing driver after all!
"Neve, I don't know what to say. I feel like thank you just isn't enough. This is absolutely incredible." Finn murmured, tears running down his face. He grabbed his sister and gave her a huge hug.
"It's no problem. You're my best friend in the whole world, and you're an amazing brother. You deserve it."
"She's right. You do, Finn." Carole added. Her and Sarah were watching the whole exchange from the couch. "And just know… you are always welcome to live here, even after you graduate. You can stay here for as long as it takes you to find success, whether it be on the race track or in another field of life."
"You better believe it's going to be on the race track!" Finn exclaimed. "And thanks, mom. It means a lot."
The rest of the day was spent in a typical Christmas fashion: eating gingerbread men, playing outside in the snow, singing Christmas songs, and eating Carole's magnificent Christmas dinner. Finn was still in disbelief when his head hit the pillow that night. Less than half a year from then, he could be back on the track!