Disclaimer: As sad as this is to say… I own absolutely nothing. I mean, how could I? I only have 15 dollars in my bank account.
"Well… that was certainly interesting," Stephanie muttered to Colin, referring to the scene a few moments ago.
Colin, who a few minutes ago had been dubbed 'the cook', nodded and flipped the burger patties sizzling on the barbecue. "I personally loved it," he grinned at her.
"Of course you would," Stephanie glared, "You're just sick like that."
"No," Colin argued, "I like drama when it doesn't involve yours truly."
Stephanie tore her eyes away from the barbecuing fiend and looked out into the backyard. She inwardly sighed as she noticed Finn sitting by himself on the stairs, a bottle of Absolut beside him and clutching a shot glass firmly. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to Colin.
"Go talk to him," she pushed him slightly.
"What? No!" Colin hissed, glancing at Finn briefly.
"Why not? Finn's bummed and if you don't stop him soon, we're going to have to drag his ass to the emergency room again. Do you want a repeat of Logan's birthday last year?"
"He's only half done, when he's three quarters done just holler. You know where I am."
"He's your friend!" Stephanie exclaimed incredulously.
"Yours too," Colin bit back.
"Why don't you want to talk to him?"
"What's there to talk about? He and Rory kissed, he realized what a big mistake that was and now he's contemplating about whether or not he should apologize or leave it as is. Let him contemplate Steph."
"Are you as clueless as I think you are or is it just an act?"
Colin shrugged, flipping another patty. "A little bit of both actually," he murmured.
"He obviously has feelings for Rory," Stephanie said, her eyes watching the Australian.
Colin turned around to face the blonde, grasping the tongs tightly in his right hand. He glanced at her as though she had grown a second head and threw his head back with laughter.
"Are you serious? Finn liking Rory? Finn! Our Finn?" he continued to laugh as pointed the scorching hot tongs in front of her, the laughter then vanished and he resumed flipping the burgers. "Absolutely impossible… Finn doesn't even remember her name half the time and only learned it the morning of this trip, remember?"
"I think that was just an act," she replied sceptically.
"Think all you want, but I know Finn and I can honestly say that I don't think he likes her. Maybe he just felt lonely," with another shrug Colin started to lay the buns on the grill to toast them.
"You know, you're pretty good at flipping burgers," Stephanie observed, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'd bet daddy Worthington would absolutely love to hear that about his only son, sole heir of the Worthington enterprise."
Stephanie smirked at Colin's tense shoulders.
"Okay, what do you want me to do?" he sighed dejectedly.
Stephanie tore the tongs from his firm grip and pushed Colin lightly to the direction of their friend. "Talk to him! He looks miserable… I'll handle the barbecue for now."
"But I'm not good at heart to heart's. It's more Logan's style… or maybe even Robert, possibly… well perhaps… people never cease to surprise, right?"
Stephanie didn't respond but signalled for him to go to Finn. Colin cursed inwardly and glared at her before making his way to where Finn sat. He took a seat beside Finn and grabbed his full shot glass. In one swift motion, Colin emptied the contents of the cup into his mouth and swallowed.
"Hey buddy!" Colin greeted cheerfully, patting Finn on the back.
Finn watched him wearily, taking back his shot glass. "What are you on, mate?"
"Nothing but love, man… nothing but love," he grinned.
Finn mumbled a string of incoherent words.
"What's bugging you?"
Finn shrugged in response before refilling his cup. Colin inhaled deeply, preparing himself for what he was about to do. Silently sending a prayer to anyone who would listen, Colin closed his eyes and blindly reached for the bottle of vodka. Grasping the bottle, he stood quickly and ran to where Stephanie stood.
"What did you do?" Stephanie asked, she had just witnessed the scene.
"I – I don't know," Colin clutched his stomach and was now hunched over, his sides hurting.
"You took Finn's alcohol…" Stephanie's eyes widened, "Do you remember the last time you did that?"
"No," Colin answered.
"That's because you've never done it! You and Logan concluded that it would be extremely dangerous if you tried to deprive him of the one and only thing he lives for," Stephanie replied calmly, "I don't mean to scare you but he's headed this way."
Colin cursed under his breath and turned around, preparing himself.
"My friend," Colin greeted, hiding the bottle behind him.
"Colin," Finn stated, his voice even and steady, "You took my drink mate. Now I'm sure it was a mistake so I'm willing to forgive you if you just hand it over."
"Um – no," Colin replied uncertainly.
"What? I think my hearing's a little blotchy because I swear I just heard you say no."
"You – heard right."
"Colin…" Finn trailed off, "Are you denying me of alcohol?"
Colin shifted from one foot to another, slowly but surely taking position behind Stephanie. "It's not that… but don't you think you've had enough for today?"
"Yeah Finn… there's no point in drowning your sorrows with a bottle of vodka," Stephanie added wearily.
"What ever do you mean Steph? I don't know what you're talking about," Finn denied, cautiously nearing where Colin stood.
"There's no more!" Colin announced after drinking the remaining vodka, "I just wanted to get you another bottle."
Finn eyed him suspiciously; he swayed a bit but managed to stay on his feet. "Well, I'm waiting," the alcohol was slowly taking its effect as his sentence slurred.
"There's no more," Stephanie answered for Colin, "We have a few coolers but that's it," she lied.
"Nonsense! There's more back in the tent… lemme go and –"
"There's no more… I drank it all," Colin ran in front of Finn, preventing him from making his way over to the blue tent.
"You mean – you drank all my alcohol?" Finn exclaimed, his hands being thrown in the air for emphasis. "Why – you little – little…"
"What's going on here?"
All three looked up at the voice and Finn frowned even more. Logan stood in the doorway holding Rory's hand. Both looked slightly dishevelled and Rory's face was pink. Finn scowled at this and pushed past Colin, he staggered down the steps and back into the tent.
"What's up with him?" Rory asked, making her way to Stephanie and Colin, Logan trailing behind her.
"He's had a little too much to drink," Stephanie sighed.
"Well that's certainly a surprise," Logan remarked sarcastically.
"And he went in there to get more. He's not drinking to have a good time like he usually does Huntzberger," Stephanie told him, enraged that no one seemed to care about Finn's well being.
"It's what Finn does. When he's happy, he drinks. When he's pissed, he drinks. When he's drunk, he drinks. That's Finn."
Stephanie glared at the blonde before attacking him with the tongs. Rory watched the pair before letting her eyes wander to the tent. Biting her lip, she tore her eyes away from where Finn was and focused all her attention to Stephanie and Logan.
"Shouldn't someone go and see if he's okay?" Rory suggested.
"Not it," Colin called, "I already tried and if it weren't for you two, I'd probably be six feet under."
Rory looked at the other two expectantly but noticed that neither paid any attention to her question. Logan was busily attempting to fend Stephanie away with a twig he had found on the floor.
Sighing helplessly, she decided to volunteer. "I'll do it," she replied, making her way down the steps, "He won't kill me."
Hesitantly, Rory opened the flap and crawled in. She stopped at the entrance and found Finn sprawled across the tent, with several pillows underneath him. She caught sight of the empty bottles wearily and crawled near the half-conscious Aussie. Rory sat cross-legged near his sprawled body and watched his steady breathing, not quite sure what to say.
"Finn?" she muttered, reluctantly taking the beer away from his grasp.
"What the – Colin! Leave me alone or I'll kill ya," Finn muttered, his eyes remained shut.
"It's Rory."
Finn lifted a hand and then dropped it just as quickly. He struggled to open one eye, "What – go away," he murmured, grabbing a pillow from underneath his body and placing it on top of his face.
"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Rory attempted.
Rory watched Finn writhe on the floor, moaning gently.
"My bloody head," he moaned, pressing the pillow on his face forcefully to drown out his groans.
Sighing, Rory plucked a pillow from underneath him and placed it on her crossed legs. "Lay your head here," she whispered softly, helping the drunken man manoeuvre himself so he could lay his throbbing head on her lap.
Groaning once more, Finn buried his head on the pillow in her lap, mumbling a string of inaudible words. Rory doubted that the words were even in English.
"That's what you get for drinking too much Morgan," She whispered, laughing slightly, "Hopefully, you'll learn next time."
After a long pause, Finn removed his face from the pillow and moved slightly so that his face now met the ceiling. Following what looked like a struggle, Finn opened his eyes to meet her face.
"I never learn from my mistakes," he whispered.
"Not even one?" she whispered back in response.
Finn shook his head but later groaned from the pounding, "Not even one," he mumbled, his eyes drowsily shutting.
Rory closed her eyes also, shrill yelling could be heard outside. Stephanie's constant apologies and screams, Colin's outraged cries of fire, fire, fire and Logan's cackling laughter. Something was happening outside but Rory didn't bother moving… she was too comfortable.
Finn's deep mumbling brought her back to reality, she curiously looked down at her lap, her mind attempting to piece together what Finn was saying.
Her eyebrows furrowed, she had finally pieced together his jumbled words but she felt even more confused.
"I shouldn't have met you..."
And suddenly, just like that… Finn drifted off to a peaceful sleep leaving Rory by herself to contemplate his stinging words.
--
AN: Hello my lovelies! It's a hot and muggy Sunday afternoon and I was positively bored out of my mind so I decided to update. I know it wasn't much of a chapter… I just basically focused on Finn and his attempt to solve his problem but I felt that this chapter was a must. And yeah, poor Finn-y, I know it seems like he always gets the nasty apple but fear not, all will be good… promise.
I have no time to type out individual thank you's (a barbecue's going on downstairs and my friends are wondering where I am… I've been gone for about an hour… mwahaha or two). So… thank you guys for the kind words and encouragement… you all make me so, so, so happy.
P.S. This will be a PDLD eventually… like you guys didn't guess already. Clever ducklings! ;)