Chapter 9
My eyes are attracted by his magnetic black suit and white tie. He's like a magnet right now, because my eyes can't look away—I can't even move back a little. Last night, he was wearing plain and simple clothing, but today, it looks like he just got out of a wedding or the prom. He smiles, showing off his perfect teeth. Even his hair is fixed up and everything; he looks perfect.
"H-Hi," I stutter and feel annoyed.
"Hi Ann," he smiles even more and touches my cheek. His hand feels so soft and I just love it.
"Come in," I say and he steps in, sauntering straight towards Creek.
"What's up, little Hammil?" he plops down in front of Creek and takes out an action figure from one of the pockets in his pants; a different kind of Batman action figure than the one Creek already has.
"You got this?" Creek quickly snatches the Batman from Finnick and smiles.
"Yeah, little buddy," Finnick says, "I got it just for you."
"Wow," Creek smiles at the action figure. "Thanks, Super-Finnick!"
I can see the smile on Finnick's face.
"You're welcome, little man," Finnick pats one of Creek's small shoulders before he gets back up and walks towards me. I freeze.
"You have a gift," I say. I can't stop looking at his fancy wear.
"I did," he smirks, "I just gave it to Hammil."
"No," I playfully hit his arm, "I mean, you have a gift. You know how to brighten up Cr-Hammil's day. It takes me a while to get him happy."
"I don't see how," he says and offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls slowly to the bed where we both sit. "Your appearance just makes me happy. And Hammil is extremely lucky for being able to see your beautiful self all day, every day."
That's when I feel a chill go down my spine. I can feel the blood circling all over my body. It suddenly feels cold, and I feel like if I bleed, my blood won't be red, but its ordinary color; blue.
I open my mouth a little, ready to speak, but I just don't know how to put everything in words anymore. Everything is blank in my world, but Finnick. It's like Creek's not even in the room—I know it's terrible to think like this, but it's somehow true. I feel like seeing Finnick calms me down. It's like he brightens up my world, besides Creek. I didn't think anyone else was able to make me feel better, but Finnick proved me wrong.
I sigh.
"Finnick," I stand up and shake my head. I don't know why but I feel like crying; I feel like letting everything out. The problem is I don't know why I'm feeling like this. Maybe I want to cry out of happiness—I hope that's it. I don't know. I'm just afraid to love again; I'm afraid to be loved, because one day, it might just disappear.
"Look," I blink the tears away, "If this is one of your tricks to get me to sleep with you, don't even try, especially not in front of my son."
Finnick gives me a bizarre look and quickly gets up.
"Ann?" I turn around and I feel him get right behind me. "You know, that if that was the only thing I wanted, I wouldn't come to you."
I swallow a ration of my own spit hard before I turn around to look at his beautiful eyes again. God, how can a man this handsome exist in this planet?
"You sure?" I ask him.
"I'm as positive as a sugar cube," he says and I raise an eyebrow. "You've never had sugar cubes?"
I shake my head.
"I got some in my car, you want me to go get some?" he asks, anxiously.
I don't want to say no. He looks excited, which is cute, and I don't want to disappoint him.
"Sure," I smile and he doesn't say anything else but quickly runs out and comes back in with a bag filled with the white cubes. There must be fifty in there.
"Here," he smiles as he takes one cube out of the bag and hands it over to me. I gently take it and wait for him to eat some before I do.
"Are these good?" I rotate the cube around with my thumb and index finger.
"I wouldn't have some if they weren't," says Finnick as he tosses two in his mouth. Good Lord.
I take one more look at it before I put it in my mouth slowly. It's hard at first but my saliva manages to dissolve it pretty quick. Surprisingly, it is delicious but they're too sweet.
"Want another?" Finnick throws one more in his mouth.
"No thanks," I shake my head and smile at him before he puts the bag on the furniture. I wonder why he dressed up so nice just for me. Well, I can kind of understand as I dressed up a little for him. But he overdid it—not that it's a bad thing; I just don't know why Finnick would do it for me. Does he really want to get my attention just as much as I want him to notice me?
We talk for an hour about random things. We talk about the stuff that we're into, the stuff that we normally do, and things like that. Creek has spent the time playing with his action figures near the bathroom. So I guess he hasn't been listening to us; I don't mind if he did though. We're not speaking about anything serious… until now.
"… I try to talk to people, but many of them avoid me and when I do get to talk to them, they walk off," he says, meaning that when he tries to get to know other people, they don't cooperate.
"But you're something different," he goes on, "I'm glad you didn't ignore and aren't avoiding me."
I'm glad as well. But I have no idea how we ended up with this topic.
"Well, a lot of people are like that here," I feel bad for lying to him. I haven't met anyone from here, except for him. "They feel unsafe, like they can't trust who they talk to. I guess they just found themselves here out of nowhere, and they know this is their home now. But they still feel afraid and scared that something might happen, or that something might follow them from their past."
I probably shouldn't have said that, but it was my exact answer. His eyes widen a little and he freezes. He doesn't speak for a while.
"Finnick?" I look at him and that's when he looks at me again.
"Sorry," he smiles a little, "Just got… caught off guard, ha-ha."
I laugh with him but I can't help it and ask, "For example, were you born here?"
He shakes his head.
"So what made you come over here?" I ask.
"Well," he says, "I used to live in Chicago, but that city was too cold and too noisy. I wanted to live somewhere nice, calm, and quiet. And when I got here, this place was perfect."
I nod as he talks, because I do agree with him. This place is perfect and it is calmed, compared to California. And I'm not just saying that because of my home with Gloss and all, but because it's true. I don't think I've been this relaxed in years.
There's a small moment of silence as we both stare into each other's eyes. I get to see his sea-green eyes, his beautiful and gorgeous eyes. God, why can't my eyes be as pretty as his? I feel bad for him though, because he has to look into my hideous and repulsive eyes.
"Uh…" he starts to speak and fixes his tie a little. "I have to go."
"Oh," I say, looking down. I shouldn't do this but I just don't want him to leave. I know; I'm a self-centered brat—maybe Gloss's words do make sense. I just hope Finnick doesn't have the same opinion though.
"Hey, hey," Finnick says and touches my chin again, lifting my head up nicely, "I'll be back. Maybe tomorrow? We can even go out somewhere, the three of us."
I nod. "It sounds delighting."
He smiles as he touches my lips with his thumb; I somehow like it.
"Alright then," he gets up and walks toward the door. "I'll come by tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay," I agree and that's when Creek hurries on and runs toward Finnick, giving him a huge hug but his height only goes up to Finnick's stomach. Finnick bends down and pats Creek on the back as he says, "See you tomorrow, Hammil-Man."
I smile as I look at the moment—I wish I had a camera to snap a shot, so I can look at this repeatedly every day. But I only have my memories; my good and bad ones. If only I could just delete the bad ones.
"Well, goodnight guys," says Finnick before he steps out and shuts the door.
"Goodnight, Finnick," I mutter quietly after he closes the door. I did have a good time this evening—I didn't want it to stop, I didn't want him to leave, but I guess he had to. What am I thinking? He had to. However, another thought quickly storms into my mind… What if he just left forever? What is he just exited out of my life for good? I close my eyes to keep myself from thinking anything else like that. I just can't afford to think those kinds of things. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I'm paranoid that if I get too attracted to Finnick, he'll leave me hanging. I just don't know. I just don't.
"What's wrong, mommy?" Creek asks as he still holds the action figure that Finnick gave him.
"Nothing, sweetheart," I touch the top of his head and feel his soft dirty blond hair. "Mommy's just thinking."
"Don't think too much," he says, "Your brain will explode."
I think he may be right. If I overthink stuff, my mind will go wild; it will go crazy even though it already is. My head might explode from all these thoughts. I just have to find a way to relax my brain and just… relax. I seriously need to quit thinking about Gloss—he probably doesn't even care that I'm gone. Oh, what am I thinking? Of course he does! Get your head together! I close my eyes again. Stop overthinking. Stop overthinking.
There is a possibility that Finnick can help me through this. Perhaps or maybe, he's the key to my happiness and love. Maybe he can help me get through this, and he doesn't even have to do anything much. All he has to do is be here with me, because when I'm with him, everything just feels right. It actually feels like I never even dated and married Gloss. It feels like I never had a bad childhood. It feels like I never even ran away from my old life. It just feels like another beginning, a new beginning. It's like we're actually meant to be like this, and hopefully we are. I just have to be positively sure that maybe, just maybe…
If Finnick can be the one, despite the fact that we just met, maybe he is the one and I may be the one for him.
NOTES: If I'm updating late today, I'm so sorry. I've been swimming all day, and I just got home. So here's chapter 9... I really enjoyed writing this chapter because it's Finnick, Annie, and Creek! Or... in this case, Finnick, Ann, and Hammil... XD To get this clear, they are both falling for each other, which I think is cute. And Creek has no idea what's going on but we'll see if he finds out or not. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this and please leave a review:) thanks:)
Juliet's Shadow: The first scene in the last chapter was intense! Ah... let's hope and pray that Creek does not end up like that. I hope you loved this Finnick and Annie chapter; there will be way more of these chapters!
Catching Fireflies: I do not mind at all about your language! XD You can speak however you want; I don't mind:) I'm really excited and glad that you like this! I hope you also love the Finnick and Annie chemistry; of course, the Creek and Annie chemistry and bond will get much stronger as well:) Thank you so much for reading this and I hope this is getting better for you:)
Fighting The Inevitable: I knew people would get all freaked out about the start of the last chapter XD it was so intense! Like, what the crap, Creek?! What is wrong with this kid? XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter and there will be more exciting ones to come! Oh, and to answer your question, this story is just from Annie's POV but there will be quite a few more bonus chapters later in the story; they will be in other people's POV. We're going to have a bonus chapter from Finnick's POV really, really soon;) :D I hope you'll like it! And thank you so much!
MeaganOneDirection: Oh no! Creek, why is you so mean to Annie?! What is wrong with you? XD That chapter was really intense, and I hope it was a reliever when it turned out to be a dream. Creek does have to be innocent and sweet as Annie; he can't end up like mean o'Gloss. And I'm glad you like how Annie feels stronger with Finnick:) She deserves someone like him! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hope you love the upcoming ones!:) Thank you so much.
Raina4Ever: Ah! What a sigh of relief when it turned out to be a dream (nightmare)! XD Yeah, Creek really does need to grow up to be like his mom... maybe even like good o'Finnick!:D And I agree that it's sad how Annie feels like she has to change for Finnick. But in this case, it won't be true for long, because Finnick LOVES Annie, no matter how she looks:) I hope I can make their relationship strong and good further in the story, and I hope you'll love the upcoming chapters!:) Thank you so much for reading!:)