A Favor for a Friend.

A/N: So sometimes I get these ideas and the words just come to me. This is just how I think Finn got that date on Friday. 

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A favor for a friend. That’s what Finn told Rae. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Actually, it wasn’t a lie at all. Steel was dating this bird named Olivia Goodwin for about three months, went on a couple of dates, made out in the backseat of his car in front of his mum’s house, got drunk and had sex on almost every surface you can thnk of. At least that’s what he told Finn. Steel was always voluneering information that Finn had no interest in whatsoever. That’s just the kind of guy Steel is. He’ll tell you about what he had for dinner three weeks ago, and then tell you about how he wanked in the bathroom after he was done. You got used to it. Finn learned how to tune him out a long time ago.

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They were in the chippy waiting for everyone else to show up for nosh before they headed down the pub. The amount of bullocks that came out of Steel’s mouth made Finn’s head hurt. His mum and dad went bang in for it the night before, his cat took a piss on his floor, the normal conversations that Finn tended to ignore. So, he went into his usual routine of nodding while playing the chords to an old Roses song in his head. Steel never suspected Finn wasn’t paying attention, considering he never replied to anything Steel said.

Which… is why it threw Finn off when Steel said he needed a favor.

“Soz,” Finn shook his head to clear his mind. “what was that, mate?”

“A favor?” Steel said without blinking. “Can I ask for one?”

“Er, yeah. Sure, yeah.”

“You know that girl Olivia? The one I been goin’ out with?” Steel tapped his fingers against the grey tabletop. Finn raised his eyebrows, nodding.“Right, well… I need you to, like, seduce her or whatever.”

“Wait,” Finn’s face scrunched up in confusion. Steel, as Finn had put it on several occasions to his face, was quite the messed up individual. But this was- well. Something completely different. He didn’t care if their sex life was suffering, or if it was just some weird way of Steel trying to test Finn to see if he’d take the bait, but this was fucked up for even Steel to say. “What the fuck are you on about, man?”

“It’s not working between us. She’s- she’s twenty-four, mate. I’m only eighteen. Lately she’s been talking about kids and marriage and fucking- what’s gonna happen in the future! I don’t even know what’s gonna happen in two hours!”

“Alright, alright,” Finn hissed. Steel voice had risen during his rant, causing the other patrons at the chippy to look over in curiosity. Sighing, Finn gave Steel a squinted look through his lashes. “You serously couldn’t have thought about that before you went out with her? You knew she was twenty-four, you daft clown! You even said that a girl like her would want to settle down eventually. Did you not think about that part? Like, what were gonna happen when eventually came ‘round?”

“I don’t think about much when I’ve got me dick in her!” Steel grumbled. Finn closed his eyes and breathed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “For fuck’s sake, she even told me about how she’s always wanted to wear her mum’s wedding dress on 'the big day’.”

“I’m not doin’ it, man,” Finn shook his head and shrugged. “Fuck that. You’re not having me seduce this girl just 'cause you want your cock to experience more. I’m not breaking you two up.”

Finn huffed and folded his arms. Fuck Steel. He wasn’t going to do it. He was just starting to come to terms with the fact that he had Rae back in his life. She was his friend again. They were friends again. Finn was not about to mess that up by doing this “favor” for Steel. That would just push Rae away. He wouldn’t be able to handle that a third time. Fuck Steel and his stupid ideas. Finn didn’t want any part of it.

“You owe me, lad.”

What?

“I owe you fuck all is what I owe you.” Finn scoffed, deciding that this conversation was over by pulling out his rolling papers. Reaching into his back pocket, he took out his container of tobacco and flipped the lid open.

“So, you’ve forgot about Stacey, then?” Steel asked. The innocence in his voice dug at Finn’s flesh. His hackles raised at the sound. “Sometimes I wonder if you’d still be with her if I hadn’t-”

“Hadn’t what?” Finn said. His voice dripped with disdain and Steel’s smile sort of made Finn want to punch him. “You know what she’s like, I wasn’t about to let her get away with what she did. You’re the one who made the decision to wipe the fake tears from her face. That was all you.”

“If I hadn’t’ve done that, you’d probably still be together. She’d have manipulated you again, just so she could say that Finn Nelson went crawling back to her, begging for forgiveness. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have realized that there were bigger and better things than that pretty face of yours.”

“Fuck off,” Finn rolled his eyes. This conversation was getting away from him and he had no idea how to control it. “Just because you fucked a girl while she was down doesn’t make you a hero or a fucking savior. It makes you a predator.”

“All I’m saying is, I did you that favor.” Steel lifted his shoulders and leaned back in his seat. Finn felt himself grimace. “Do me this one, yeah?”

“I’m not breaking you up,” Finn pushed. “I won’t fucking do it.”

“Well, you won’t have to.”

“What?”

“I broke up with her two weeks ago.”

Finn clenched his jaw in frustration. The daft cunt went and broke up with this girl, and here he was, trying to pimp her out to a boy who had no intention of going through with whatever it was he had planned. There was no way. It wasn’t going to happen.

“It’ll be one date,” Steel pleaded. “Just, make her forget about me, yeah? I don’t care what you do, I just want her to move on. She keeps calling my house and my mum thinks I got her pregnant because why else would she keep calling, right?”

“Mate, seriously-” Finn hung his head, all out of reason. “I just don’t want to-”

“Shit!” Steel slid down in his seat until one of his knees pressed between Finn’s. He turned his head and Finn glared at him until he realized what Steel was doing. Outside of the chippy, Olivia wandered past the glass windows as if in a daze, eyes glazed over, hair in a tight ponytail sitting prettily at the top of her head. The collar of her coat was flipped up against the wind. Finn’s heart heaved greatly. There was a sadness there, and without even thinking about it, Finn shot his knee forward, causing Steel to yelp and sit up.

“That wasn’t fucking necessary,” he managed through the pain. “Fucking bastard.”

“Alright,” Finn said as he watched Olivia pass. “I’ll do the favor. But it’s not because I owe you, right? It’s because that girl deserves better than you.”

“You’re a good mate,” Steel said into the crook of his elbow. He went from sitting upright, to cradling his head with one arm on the table. Finn didn’t believe he meant it, which was okay. He didn’t really care about that. This could be his chance. He could help Oivia get over Steel, and maybe, with enough time and effort on his part, he could get over Rae. “I’ll set it up, yeah?”

“You’re a messed up idividual,” Finn shook his head as Steel smiled, and went back to rolling his ciggarette. By the time he finished, the bell over the door rang and when he looked up, Finn was greeted by a rosy-cheeked Rae. Her hair was a mess and her bottom lip was bleeding a little. When she approached the table, she said, “Aye up,” and Steel scooted one seat over.

“What happened to your lip, Raemundo?” Steel raise a brow. “You’ve got blood- just there.”

“Oh,” Rae laughed lightly, pulling her lip into her mouth. “I bumped into this woman a bit up the road. She wasn’t paying attention to where she was going- I guess I wasn’t either, but when her shoulder hit mine, it surprised the bloddy hell out of me. Probably happened then.”

Finn cocked his head to the side. The cut wasn’t that bad, but he couldn’t help it when he opened his mouth and said, “You alright, girl?”

Rae gave him a shy grin that felt like a start. “Alright.”