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‘Sounds like a challenge,’ I say, peering again at the terrible artwork. It somehow looks worse than yesterday.
He grins again. ‘If anyone can do it, you can.’
I laugh and take the plant to my room, depositing it on my chest of drawers and hurrying back to Finn before he gets any ideas about following me. ‘I’ll cherish it forever. But also, calling this a housewarming was just a ruse to get people to come. We’ve lived here for the better part of a year.’
‘In that case, give me the pot back.’
‘Absolutely not. I’m giving it to Josie to put in her exhibition.’
His laugh unfurls, and I do too, and then I can sense what’s coming next. He takes the smallest step towards me to ask, ‘Are we gonna talk about it?’
‘No,’ I say simply, and I can practically feel his eyes rolling at my refusal as I brush past him, inadvertently swirling his cologne around me as I do. I make myself an Aperol Spritz while one of Alina’s friends grabs a can from the fridge, and Finn waits for them to move out of earshot before speaking again.
‘I don’t understand.’
‘There’s nothing to understand.’ I take my glass and walk past him once more, but he catches me by the wrist so that I can’t help but face him, and the air thickens enough to make it difficult for me to talk. I keep my voice as level as I can. ‘It was just a kiss.’
He shakes his head with a short laugh and leans in, voice rough against my ear. ‘I was there, Ava. No it wasn’t.’
He lets go and I walk away, pretending the thunderous pounding of blood in my ears isn’t drowning out the conversation I join.
I glance over at the sofa, where Finn and Max are howling with laughter. Finn lifts his shirt to clean his glasses of tears and the second I see that innocuous strip of stomach I’m launched back in time to last night, to the feel of him under my hands. I avert my gaze and try to pay attention to the conversation, where Alina’s bashfully talking through some of the pieces of her art that we have on our walls.
As her friends move closer to one of the frames, Alina steps towards me, her tone suspicious. ‘Ava,’ she says slowly. ‘What exactly is going on between you and Finn?’
‘There’s tension, right?’ Josie asks, appearing out of nowhere—a magnet for gossip—and passing her girlfriend a drink.
‘Nothing is going on.’
Finn raises his drink to his mouth and looks my way, holding my gaze for a beat too long. I bring my own glass to my lips but find there’s only ice left. He smirks and turns back to Max.
‘Right,’ Alina says. ‘Because all you’re doing is looking at each other and I’m blushing.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Mate, are you good for a beer?’ Max asks Finn as he heads towards the kitchen for a refill, where Julien and Rory are talking with one of Josie’s work friends. My tipsy brain notices he’s still not putting his weight on his leg fully, just like the last time I saw him.
I push past everyone to sit on the newly vacated sofa.
‘Behave yourself,’ I say to Finn, no preamble.
He laughs and I hate what it does to my insides. ‘You’re the one acting weird tonight.’
I can’t even deny it. ‘Just be normal.’
‘As addressed. Iambeing normal.’
‘No, you’re looking at me like,’ I brandish my glass, ‘I don’t know, like you want to devour me.’
‘Funny,’ he murmurs, so low it’s more of a feeling than a sound. His tongue flicks across his lips and when his gaze moves over me, it turns my blood to syrup. ‘Because that’s exactly what I want to do.’
The entire bottom half of my body melts like wax to a flame, and I shift on the sofa in the hope that I might solidify back into the shape of a stable human. Max laughs in the kitchen with one of Josie’s friends and it draws me back into the room.
Finn raises his eyebrows and then leans back against the cushions, looking over my shoulder for a moment. ‘I think I’m in love with your brother.’
I bite back a smile. Finn doesn’t even know half of what makes Max so incredible. ‘Not the first time I’ve heard those words come out of a friend’s mouth, funnily enough.’
‘Is it fair that he’s tall, funnyandcool?’
