Sinful Remedies

25.

Finn finally drifted off to sleep hours later, only to be woken by another nightmare. Tears came streaming down his eyes and he hastily sat up.

Salem inhaled slowly, his arms reached for him and his eyes slowly fluttered open. "Another one?" He asked.

The sleepy confusion seemed to wear off as Salem jolted upright and drew back slightly. Finn didn't look at him, his head hung low and his hands covered his eyes.

"Finn?" His voice was barely louder than a whisper.

No response. Everything in him ached to scoop him up and hold him close. To take away all the fear and all the pain.

"I'm fine." Finn finally said.

He inhaled a shaky breath and by the time he moved his hands from his face, any sign of worry or sadness had been smoothed away.

He got up quickly. "I'm going to study more lines. I'll be in my office, don't bother me. There's stuff in the fridge if you get hungry."

Salem sat there, dazzled by confusion. "Ok.."

Salem had never seen the mall this empty before, but then again he'd never been this early. It was barely five minutes after they had opened and Salem decided early mall shopping would be better than drowning in awkwardness back at the penthouse.

He wandered through the mall in a mindless daze. Hours had passed and the mall had filled up, people roaming and talking. His heart stopped in his chest as he saw a tall figure with dark curls, though he realized it wasn't Finn, for a moment he thought he came to find him. His stomach twisted and nauseousness settled in.

Finn isn't the same as before. Finn isn't the same as before. Finn isn't the same as before. He repeated those words over and over in a poor attempt to burn them into his brain, and yet everything reminded him of how things were before.

His phone buzzed and he answered it quickly. Grateful for a distraction.

"Hey, it's Evan. Just checking in. How're things going?"

"So.. well." Salem didn't exactly know how to start.

"What happened are you ok?" Evan asked.

Salem could hear Roselies muffled voice through the phone. "Whats wrong? Ask him if he's ok."

"I'm sort of staying at Finn's place for now."

He could hear rosalie gasp. "How did that happen? Are you guys back together?" She blurted before Evan reclaimed the phone.

"Oh shit." He said. "How'd that happen?"

"I'd rather not get into it. But I'm doing ok. Where are you guys staying now?"

"Rose's sister's place, it's by that new club that opened up."

"Oh cool! I'm glad you guys found somewhere to stay."

He lost focus of the conversation as a group of teenagers started staring at him and taking pictures.

"Hey sorry, I got to go."

He hurried out of the mall, started driving without a destination in mind. It was still weird for him each time he got recognized in public, a part of it just still boggled his mind.

Time seemed to disappear right before his fingers and before the realization even hit he was parked outside his mother's house. He couldn't understand why he didn't just come here when everything went wrong.

He'd never been nervous knocking before, but the moments of build up before someone answered the door seemed like torture.

"Salem!" Leo ran into him, hugging him tight.