WONDERLAND

Chapter 9

I never thought I will ever do what I'm about to do.

In my defense...Well, I have none. Just that I couldn't sleep. And I was sad. And nervous about tomorrow. We are commiting a crime, after all. We could get caught and killed. Just the thought of that makes me shiver from the goosepumps.

My knuckels touch quietly Finley's door. I don't want to wake Reginald and him seeing me sneak into Finley's room will only make everything worse. He already wants us to get married anyway.

That's literally what he said during dinner. "When you two get married-" He had started, but Finley stopped him, like usually. I'm still not over the tension between them and I know something is wrong, but Finley doesn't want to talk about it.

"Finley?" I whisper from behind the door, hoping through some miracle he will hear me. I slightly knock again.

"Yeah?" I hear a faint noise from his room and I take that as a welcome to come in. All I see is a dark figure when I enter the room and then he turns on his light by the bed, giving the room a dim yellowish tone. I guess that light is for reading.

I've never actually seen his room. There's a desk, a closet, a nightstand and a bed, where Finley is sitting up, rubbing one of his eyes, adjusting to the light. His hair is messier than ever, and his shoulders and chest are exposed, naked, catching the light. I watch the curve of his muscles of his forearms and my cheeks flush.

"What happened? Everything alright?" Finley asks, his voice deeper than usual, a hint of concern in it.

I stand in the middle of his room. "Um, yeah, I just wanted to...talk, I guess?" I admit, embarrased. I'm even standing awkwardly.

"Oh."

My face gets even more red hearing that. I knew this was a bad idea. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking! I'll just go back to my room-"

"Sit down."

I do as he says. I don't know if he meant his bed, but that's where I climb, resting my back against the wall. I'm horizontally, he is vertically. We don't touch. He puts his pillow against the wall and then leans back, probably sitting more comfortably than me. I also have to make sure my nightdress (that I bought yesterday) doesn't ride up. I did throw a sweater over it, but my legs are still mostly exposed.

"What do you want to talk about?" Finley asks, his bare chest rising calmly.

I play with the sleeves of my sweater. "I guess I'm just nervous about tomorrow..."

"Harriet," he almost sighs, "it'll be alright. It's not like we're killing someone. It's for a good cause."

"But we're still breaking into a government building and robbing it. It's a crime. I'm not a criminal."

"I know you're not. You're a nice girl."

I shoot my eyes at him. He is looking at me, his hands resting in his lap.

"But you want to go home, right? So do I. Even though I don't even know if I have a home anymore there." Finley's eyes change - a wave of sadness and hoplessness in them. I understand him. I would give everything just go home and hug my mom again and tell her she doesn't have to worry anymore.

"I kinda hate my brother," I try to make the situation a little bit lighter.

"Why?"

"Henry has just been a dick recently. We don't really get along anymore."

"But you do miss him, don't you?"

I nod, trying not to let a tear slip from my eyes.

"Hasn't your dad told you how you got here? I mean, you said that you don't know yourself." I kinda change the subject.

Finley shakes his head, the dark hair flopping side to side a little. "He doesn't know either. He said I was just at his house one morning, sleeping on the couch and he understood that I wasn't from here, so he told me everything."

"My dad died when I wasn't even born yet. A work accident." I don't even know why I'm telling Finley all of this, but it feels good. Talking to someone, who listens. I know he does. And I'm thankful for that.

Finley isn't a bad person. His actions are just sometimes questionable.

"Mine left my mom when he found out she was pregnant with me." When he says that, there's absolutely no emotion in his face. And I get why. He isn't mad at his real dad. He just doesn't care about him at all.

"I'm sorry," I manage to say.

"Have you ever gotten your heart broken?"

This question catches me off guard.

"I don't know," I answer. It's the truth.

"What do you mean?" Finley raises one of his eyebrows.

"Well... You want me to tell you the whole story?" I laugh a little.

"I got all night, baby."

He smirks.

I know he didn't really mean the word "baby", but my heart rate goes way higher when he says that.

"Okay, here's the story of how I slept with my brother's best friend."