Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple (Jess)

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Fin was finally going to have Jess over at his place and he was incredibly unsure if she would like it. His place was incredibly boring. Just a one bedroom with black and brown furniture and no sort of decoration. He had never really been sentimental over objects and things like that. It was... incredibly boring. 

He had tried to prepare by putting some coasters on his glass coffee table by the couch but... it looked stupid, so he put them away. In all reality, it looked like no one even lived there. He rubbed his temples in annoyance. Why was he like this?

Since that first afternoon when he made her soup, they had seen each other three other times. He brought supplies to her place that weekend to make pie. Then they went out for Chinese in muggle London, that was their first 'official' date... sort of. He didn't really have the courage to flat out say that word but... he paid and stuff, so.

Now, for this date, he had actually asked her out. It was more of one sentence like 'doyouwanttocomeovertomorrowpleasei'llmakedessert', or some other stupid sentence. Then, somehow, she accepted and here he was, waiting for her to show up at his door. 

@jessavette

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Jess was nervous and it was ridiculous. After hanging out with Fin three times she really shouldn't be nervous about it, but she was. She couldn't really help it. He was so nice and funny and she just loved spending time with him. Even though she was starting to think that she was jinxed. It seemed like every time she did something with him, bad things started happening. First, with the dead rat in her bed. Second, there was a cockroach in her slice of the pie that they made together. Then, the last time after their fabulous dinner, she fell into a mud puddle. On a sunny day! What was up with that? Hopefully nothing would happen this time. 

She stepped up to his door, biting her lip and then knocking. She hoped the butterflies in her stomach would settle down, but she knew from her other times with him that it wouldn't. She liked him. A lot. She couldn't get rid of the nerves that came along with that. She just hoped that he'd keep on wanting to do stuff with her.

@finley 

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He heard the knock and sped to the door, opening it a tiny bit out of breath. Partly from running to get the door, and partly because, well, she was on the other side of it. "Hi," he greeted, his lips breaking into a smile. "Come in," he took a step backs o she could enter his apartment. Her first time being there. The more he looked at her in his apartment the more he realized how lame his apartment was. She was the sun, his apartment was dirt.

He shut the door behind her and cleared his throat, "you look beautiful," wooah there, tiger. Take a chill pill, he mentally chided himself. "Nice," he choked out, hitting his chest to release a cough, "you look nice. Please, sit anywhere. Or don't. Do you want a tour? It's small," geez, louise, O'Niell give the girl a chance to say a word or two.

@jessavette

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He opened the door, smiling at her and Jess couldn't help but smile back, despite her nerves. They'd come a long way from their first interaction, where she had to try so hard to get him to smile. "Hey Fin," she answered, nodding as he opened the door more so she could walk in. Her eyes took in the dark surroundings with interest. It was definitely cleaner than her place, but that wasn't a bad thing. In all honesty, it just seemed like it was his. Clean with not a lot of decoration, but that wasn't a bad thing. It fit him and she liked that. 

Her smile widened a little when he called her beautiful, and then he corrected himself, saying she looked nice instead. That was ... a little strange, but Jess wasn't going to hold it against him. He seemed nervous, which she totally understood. He told her to sit down, or not and asked if she wanted a tour. Jess turned around to look at him, shrugging a little. "If you want to give a tour, I'm fine with that. Or with whatever you want to do." She didn't really know what his plan for the night was, so Jess was definitely willing to follow his lead, whatever it was. "I like your place," she added as she looked around a little more. 

@finley

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She said she was fine with a tour, saying they could do whatever he wanted to do, which defeated his purpose of letting her decide. She said she liked his place and he nodded, "thanks. There's the kitchen. This is the living room," he waved toward his door and the door opened, just revealing a made bed in black blankets and pillows, a dark brown dresser, and white curtains on the windows. "That's the bedroom. You have to go through there to get to the bathroom," he explained. He turned toward her again, "that's about it. So," he raised an eyebrow, "what treat do you want? I was thinking we could make dessert and watch a movie. If you like movies. I'm assuming you do," yes, he had a t.v.

He got it last night...

@jessavette

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His tour was ... cute. It was different than she thought it would be, since she was expecting him to walk her around and show her. Instead, he just showed her where everything was, pointing and letting his bedroom door open. She just found it adorable, honestly. She nodded as he explained that she'd need to go through his room if she needed the bathroom. Then he faced her and asked what she wanted them to make. Jess bit her lip for a second as she thought. "Umm ... do you by chance know how to make cheesecake?" she asked hopefully. Then she smiled at him, "I definitely do like movies," she told him with a shrug. "What kind of movie were you thinking?" 

@finley

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Jess suggested cheesecake and he grinned, "easy," he answered. He reached over, gently taking her hand and then pulling her toward the kitchen, not that he really had to pull. She said she liked movies, asking what kind of movie he was thinking. "Honestly, I haven't watched much... but maybe something we've both seen? I have... Hook, Jumanji..." she released her hand as he started to get out the cheesecake supplies. "I guess I like Robin Williams. Funny guy," he commented.

Soon, the cheesecake was being made. He showed her how to do parts of it, but mostly did it on his own. He liked having her right there in the kitchen with him, though, and bumped into her more than once (maybe not on accident). He liked being here with her. He liked her place, too, but it was nice to be home. Nice to not be at a Chinese restaurant.

And nice to be seeing each other so often that maybe, just maybe, he could kiss her.

He felt like his brain was exploding at the thought.

Soon, they had their cheesecake on individual plates and were moving toward the couch to start the movie. "Sit anywhere you want," he said, taking a corner.

@jessavette

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Apparently cheesecake wasn't a challenge, but Jess was alright with that, especially when he pulled her into the kitchen with him. He started asking about movies, naming a few that he had. "I haven't ever seen Jumanji, but I do like Robin Williams," she said, her tone making it a suggestion. If he wanted. 

She watched as he started making the cheesecake, still in awe of his cooking skills, even though she'd seen him cooking a few times. It was just nice having him so nearby, even when he was busy and she was just standing around. He didn't seem to mind her being useless in the kitchen though, which was a relief. 

Fin had the cheesecake ready way faster than Jess anticipated and it was dished up and they were moving to the couch. He sat in a corner of the loveseat and she took the other one. She thought about sitting right beside him, but didn't want to take the chance of making things awkward between them for any reason. She smiled over at him as she took a bite of the cheesecake and her eyes widened. "This is amazing," she complimented, her smile widening as she looked at him.

@finley

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She said she hadn't seen Jumanji, but they decided to watch it anyway. Jess took the other corner of the loveseat couch, though that didn't put her very far away since the couch was small. He took a few bites of his own cheesecake before setting the fork down to get the remote to get the movie ready. She said it was amazing and he looked over at her, then laughed at the look on her face. "You look like you died and went to heaven. Relax," he suggested, joking.

He pressed play on the movie and looked toward the screen, eating his cheesecake as it started. It was a good movie but... he wasn't focusing on it at all. His eyes kept wandering over to Jess. Maybe it was to watch her reactions to the movie or the cheesecake... or maybe it was because she looked so cute. As always. Or maybe it was because a part of him felt guilty about having her there, because of Elaine...

@jessavette

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He laughed at her reaction to the cheesecake, which wasn't really all that surprising. She was in awe, after all. A part of her wondered how she was here with him. Why was he so interested in spending time with her? Was he just trying to be nice after helping her that day when she dropped all that stuff, or was he starting to have feelings for her like she was for him. She made a face at him, "I am relaxed," she insisted. "This is just pure delightfulness. I'm enjoying every second." 

He started the movie and Jess forced herself to turn and watch the screen as she ate the cheesecake. It wasn't long before her dessert was all gone and she sat it down on the small table in front of the couch, glancing at Fin as she did so. He wouldn't mind that, right? When she scooted back into her seat on the couch, she was further away from the corner and closer to him, but she didn't really notice that. She was focused on the movie. "This isn't a scary movie, right?" Jess asked, glancing over at Fin. She'd heard of the movie before but didn't really know much about it.

@finley

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She said that she was relaxed, just that the cheesecake was good. Well, more than good. He chuckled. Then, when she was done with her piece she set the plate on the table. When she returned to look at him he just nodded and then leaned forward to so the same.

Then she leaned back onto the couch and she was a little closer. He felt like his stomach was in knots and considered getting more cheesecake to calm it. She glanced at him as she spoke and he looked over at her. "Nah, not really. I mean there are some intense parts but it's a kids movie," he explained. Allan, the main kid in the movie was just about to get sucked into the game....

@jessavette

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How was he so composed? As he chuckled at her comment about being relaxed, Jess realized she really wasn’t. Every time she did things with him, she got more nervous and more interested, as well as more impressed by him. His attitude and humor were endearing to her, and she didn’t even know why. Was she just losing it?

At her question he looked at her and explained that it got a little intense, but it was a kid’s movie. That was good. She didn’t want to make it obvious how jumpy she got in movies. Real life she was fine but with movies? Not so much.

Jess gasped when the boy in the movie was sucked into the game and scooted closer to Fin, grabbing his arm without really realizing she was doing it. He was gone! The little boy was gone. It took her a few seconds to internalize that, and then she realized she was holding onto something. She looked down and saw Fin’s arm. Jess released it, looking up and giving him an embarrassed sort of smile as her cheeks heated up. ”Sorry, I got caught up in the movie ... didn’t mean to grab onto you like that.” Her heart was pounding furiously as she looked up at him. She tried to laugh it off, but her laugh came out breathy and soft.

@finley

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Suddenly her hand was taking his arm and he felt his heart quicken. He looked over at her as she let go, apologizing. "It's fine," he said. "I mean you can... It's fine," his voice softened. He almost said she could come closer, or hold onto his arm all she wanted, or take his hand even. He didn't say any of that, though, but cleared his throat, turning toward the screen. He definitely wasn't even paying attention to the movie anymore. He was incredibly aware of how close she was and how warmth radiated from her. His side that wasn't near her felt freezing all of the sudden.

He slowly turned to look at her again, but didn't say anything else.

@jessavette

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He said it was fine, but Jess still felt a little awkward about the whole thing. They were watching a movie and she grabbed him! Granted, she didn’t really do it on purpose, but there was no way for him to know that.

He seemed to feel uncomfortable as he coughed and turned forward to watch the movie and Jess followed suit, turning her eyes back to the screen, but she was really just paying attention to him. She was closer to him than she realized, but Jess didn’t want to move away.

Then she noticed that he was looking at her. How long had he been doing that? She looked over at him, giving a small smile even though she didn’t have anything to say. Did he want her to scoot away or ... ”What are you thinking?” she blurted accidentally. She’d only meant to think the words

@finley

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She turned and asked him what he was thinking and he realized he had been caught staring. "Um... About you, I guess," he answered honestly and softly. He felt his body lean towards her a little, his eyes searching hers. "Why do you hang out with me anyway, Jess? Is it just because you want a friend or..." was he really asking her this!? It would be nice to know before he kissed her, though, if she even wanted that. He hadn't ever seriously kissed anyone. Sure, Desirae would plant one on him here and there but they were best friends and that was Des.

What would Des think about this now?

@jessavette