“Finn?”
I can have the crisis later, Finn told himself, and then followed the voice into the living room. Imogen almost always texted first, so if she’d shown up unannounced, chances werehercrisis was going to take precedence. Given what he’d overheard from Sawyer this morning, he wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted to talk about that.
He found her sitting on the couch, hands clasped between her knees. A fourteen-year-old shouldn’t be able to look so serious. A fourteen-year-old shouldn’t be able tofeelserious enough to look like that.
“Hey, Imogen.” He took the seat on the ottoman across from her so they could talk face-to-face without sitting awkwardly. “What’s up?”
Imogen pursed her lips, lowered her brow. She said, “You’re crying.”
Unthinking, Finn raised his hand to his face. His skin didn’t feel wet. But now that he was paying attention, it had that tightness to it—the dried-salt feeling. He was sure his eyes were red. “I’m not.”
“You are. Or youwere.” To his surprise, instead of doing something about it—Imogen was a hug first, ask questions later kind of girl—she took out her phone and started texting. “This is bad.”
After a moment he remembered how to use his mouth. “What are youdoing?”
“Texting Sawyer.”
Oh my God. That was why she was here? Because Sawyer caught Finn at Robbie’s this morning and—Sawyer was supposed to be havinghis own crisis, when did he have time to butt into Finn’s? “Why?”
Stupid question, but one he felt like he had to ask.
“Damage control.” Imogen huffed and tossed her phone on the couch beside her. “This isn’t—” She pulled at her hair, then reached for Finn’s hands. She projected misery. “Finn. I’m so sorry. We didn’t think this would happen.”
He managed another deep breath. “Stop. Rewind. What is it you think is happening and why do you think it’s your fault?”
Not that he was really looking forward to hearing the answer, but if he got clarification up front, he wouldn’t accidentally reveal more information than he needed to.
“You and Robbie.” Yep. Confirmation didn’t make it any more fun. “When Sawyer and I decided to sign him up for the show, we just thought—we thought if you saw each other enough, you’d get along. You’ve been so lonely, and Robbie is basically hopeless at meeting people, so we thought we could just give you a little nudge. You weren’t supposed to end updance partners.”
So great to know that two fourteen-year-olds thought Finn’s love life was so pathetic they tried to steer Robbie into his pathindirectly, because, what, if they saw too much of each other at first, they’d move too fast and fuck things up?
Fuck, was it worse that they thought that in the first place or that they turned out to be right?
“Imogen. Robbie and I are adults who can make our own decisions. Decisions that are none of your business.”
“You’re mybrother, Finn, and you’re hurting because ofme, so it is my fucking business!” Her face was bright red with emotion. But after the outburst, she took a deep breath and dialed down the volume. “Will you please tell me why you’re upset? Did Robbie do something? Sawyer said he said you were—” Her face puckered. “—friends with benefits. With like, a little puke emoji. But your face says feelings.”
“Yeah, well,” Finn grumbled, “my face should shut up.”
Imogen caught a giggle behind her lips. After a second, it escaped as an inelegant mouth-fart noise. “Oh my God. Sorry, just—”
Finn had to laugh too, even if he didn’t feel the levity. “No, it’s fine.”
Unfortunately, the reprieve didn’t last. “So,” she said. “Feelings.”
Fuck. He sighed and rubbed his face again. “It’s not Robbie’s fault. He’s got a lot going on with Sawyer right now, you know? He was pretty clear that he doesn’t have time for a relationship. I knew that was going to be a problem for me and I kept sleeping with him anyway. So don’t go, like, blaming him.” All Robbie and Sawyer needed right now was to be upset at each other over Finn.
Imogen ducked her head to text again. Finn realized with a sinking sensation in his stomach that she was probably repeating this conversation to Sawyer more or less verbatim. “Imogen, hey—look, the two of you can’t tell Robbie this, all right? This isn’t his problem, and it’s not your place to make it his problem.”
The look she gave him could’ve peeled paint. “If the two of you are going to be this stupid, it’severyone’sproblem.”
God, this was mortifying. “I’m serious, Imogen. It’s—I’m touched that you care, okay? Really. But you cannot tell Robbie about this. It will ruin our friendship, and I’d like to keep that. Don’t put me on the news.”
She huffed. “Whatever, I guess.”
But Finn could read her texts upside-down.Why are adults so bad at communicating?she’d asked Sawyer.
Sawyer said,idk I think it’s bc of their hormones.
