Meant to Be ::Finn x Sadie::

First Encounters

Today was a special day for the ST cast, they would finally be meeting their newest cast members, Sadie and Dacre. It had been Millie's idea to throw them a surprise welcome party. Her, Noah, Gaten, and Caleb had been busy all day, decorating one of the empty room's in the studio. They had covered the ceiling with balloons and hung streamers all over the wall.

Finn was nervous. He took longer than most to become comfortable with others. It had taken him almost a year to open up to these guys, and now two more people would be joining them. It made his stomach ache. He sat off to the side on his phone, while the others bustled around him. Millie could sense his nerves and went to sit next to him. 

"Listen, Finn. I know how you feel about new people. But you don't need to worry, Dacre is older than us and will likely hang out with Joe, Natalia, and Charlie, and as for Sadie, she's a girl!! I'll keep her preoccupied, you just need to be your usual quirky self. Okay?"

Finn looked up and smiled. This was why Millie was his best friend. 

"Okay, yeah you're right. What do you need me to do?" he asked, hands in pocket. 

"Well, we're almost done the decorating, the food should be here soon, but I forgot to get cups and napkins. Do you mind grabbing some from the studio storage room?" Millie said.

On his way to the storage room, Finn's thoughts began consuming him again. What if they think I'm weird? What if I say dumb stuff around them? He reached to the top shelf to pull a stack of cups, missing his foot rest by a few inches, and suddenly the entire contents of the top shelf were on top of him. He smirked. He hadn't thought anyone had heard, but then a head popped into the doorway with a timid, "You okay?"

It was her. Sadie. He could tell by her bright red hair and blue eyes. He tried to get up, only to bury himself further in the cups. "Well..." he laughed. She just smiled and walked in, quickly removing the supplies off of Finn and placing them back on the shelf. She held out her hand and it took Finn a few seconds to figure out she was helping him up. He lifted his hand up and she pulled until they were standing face to face. 

"Hey I'm..." she began.

"Sadie, yeah I know. And I'm Finn." Finn felt his face burning. 

He couldn't explain it, but whatever nervousness he had felt before meeting Sadie, had now multiplied after seeing her. The fact that she had seen him being so clumsy definitely did not help. He figured he should at least explain, 

"I, um, we were having a, uh, party for you...to, you know, welcome you. And I had to grab some stuff, but..." and he looked around for the cursed foot stool that had caused him this embarrassment. Sadie giggled, making Finn blush more.

"That's okay. I was actually lost, trying to find you guys and I heard a noise. Glad I found you!" 

"I'm glad you found me too." Finn said quietly. "Here, I'll take you to the rest of the crew."

The walk back felt longer than when Finn had been walking to the storage room. He clenched and unclenched his fists. God, had his hands been this sweaty when Sadie had helped him up?

"So...I really liked your acting in IT. I'm not usually a fan of horror, but that was amazing!"

Is she just trying to be nice? Does she really mean it?

"Oh...thanks! Yeah it was a lot of fun to film. So...um, are you, I mean, excited to join Stranger Things?" he mumbled back.

"Well, to be honest," her voice dropped, "I'm very nervous. You guys had such an incredible first season. The whole world knows you guys. I'm the newcomer both on the show and in this cast. What if I'm not as good as you guys?"

Finn stopped walking and faced her.

"Hey, listen. You were chosen for a reason. You're incredibly talented and beau--" he stopped, "Look, my point is, we were all nervous at first, but I'm sure, you'll be great. Now come on."

Sadie smiled. Is he just trying to be nice? Does he really mean it?

When Finn and Sadie walked in, the others jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!!"

Sadie's face lit up and she grinned. After introductions, Millie suggested they play "Truth or Dare." Finn hated this game, but he couldn't find himself saying no, after seeing how excited the others were, including Sadie.

It was Gaten's turn first and Millie asked, "Truth or Dare, Dusty??" 

"Truth?" The group thought for a bit, before Caleb shouted, "Ohh, ohh, is it true that you're single?"

Gaten laughed, "Yes, but it's because I'm committed to taking care of Dart." He winked. 

The game went on and finally it was Sadie's turn, she picked truth. So Millie asked her, "Sadie, is it true that before you found out you'd be on Stranger Things, you had a fan account for Finn?"

Sadie turned deep red, and Finn was shocked. The group held their breath.

"Well," said Sadie, "Not Finn, but Mike Wheeler. I...uh, really like his character. How he's so kind and caring, and how much he thinks of El..." she rambled on. 

"Okayyy Finnie, best for last. Truth or Dare?"

Finn felt more confident for some reason, and for the first time since he had ever played this dumb game, Finn chose dare.

"Ohhhhhhhh" shouted Noah, "We gotta make Finn's first dare worth it."

They all got to thinking. "Oh, oh, oh, Finn we all know what a great singer you are, we want you to sing for Sadie," said Gaten. 

"Are you kidding me? I suck at singing! I play the guitar guys...." he said.

"Ohh, come on Finn, don't be a bad sport" said Millie.

"Oh let's make it even better. Finn, you have to sing an Ed Sheeran song," said Noah.

Finn gave them all the coldest stare he could muster up, but smiled. Leave it to his friends to complete his embarrassment to the fullest extent on the first day Sadie was there. He turned towards her. "Sadie, I advise you to plug your ears," laughed Caleb. Sadie just smiled. 

Finn began, becoming self-conscious of his croaky voice, but something kept him going.

"I found a love for me

Darling just dive right in

And follow my lead

Well I found a girl beautiful and sweet 

I never knew you were the someone waiting for me

'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love..."

Then he became aware of the other's clapping and swaying and stopped, laughing as he turned to sit. Sadie stood up, pretending to give a standing ovation, "Encore! Encore!"

Later that night, as the boys settled in to their hotel room, Finn went into the shower. He could hear Caleb, Gaten and Noah talking right outside. 

"Guys, she's so beautiful!" Noah said.

"Seriously! And she seems so nice..." Caleb continued.

"Caleb, you're so lucky, Max and Lucas have a lot of scenes together," Gaten added.

Finn felt a pinch in his stomach, but before he could process that. Someone knocked on their hotel door, one of the boys got up to open it, and a familiar voice asked, "Is Finn there?"

It was Sadie, oh my God, it was Sadie. Finn turned the water off, stumbling to grab a towel as he hopped out of the shower, 

"Hey, yeah I'm here, what's up?"

The boys all tried to suppress their laughter as Sadie grinned widely, 

"Hey, Finn. Can you put on a shirt, grab a pen and meet me in the lobby in the next 5?"

With that she turned and walked away.