im afraid so |✓| finn wolfhard

¹¹ { sanctuary. }

the holidays were over and it was time to pile to the dirty van once more.

finn drove the two of them out to the others as violet tidied up the back. a veil of silence fell over the two, but none had felt uncomfortable with it. they had grown so close within the past couple of days after christmas.

they still had new years to come, and unfortunately, their schedule didn't allow them to stay home for it.

finn thought that maybe when they spend new years eve in a hotel, maybe that was his chance to kiss her. he was big on the cliches. wait for the ball to drop with the countdown, and then he'd do it.

the two would share a kiss that night, but it wouldn't go down in that direction. in fact, his anger would get in the way and he wouldn't try to kiss her at all.

malcolm was the last to brush his dirty feet across the vans carpet. a smile stretched so wide that his glasses cocked to one side. his grin stayed much until he met violets eyes. it dropped suddenly, making it obvious to not only violet, but finn who was watching from the rear view mirror. he had done it on purpose.

ayla huffs under her breath from the passenger seat, mumbling malcolm's name as if to scold him in her head.

he never failed to make violet feel unwelcome.

"whose sexy guitar is that?" jack reaches over to grab the new electric guitar that propped up on the inside of the closed window.

violet smiled,
"its my christmas present from finn."

"you bought her a new guitar?" malcolm's eyes widen under the reflection of his glasses.

"yes, i did." he smiles proudly from the drivers seat, turning back to glance at them for only a second before focusing back to the street.

"but, she doesn't know shit about music."

"really?" finn turns up the volume of the cassette that spun through its tracks. he shouts over the words,
"you hear this? she picked this out."

the volume is turned down again, finn pops out the tape, only wanting it to play when he was focused.

"so what? her present to you was a five dollar piece of plastic garbage and you got her a thousand dollar guitar?" malcolm argues.

everyone sits in awkward silence, violet staring down to her hands as she grows uncomfortable.

"why so you care so much, man?" finn grows agitated, gripping at the steering wheel. he just couldn't wrap his mind around why malcolm hated her so much.

"because" malcolm goes to argue back, only to sigh to try and let it go.
"just, because."

it was the last word spoken, for they all hoped to let it go.

~#~

safely, they had made it to the hotel. settling in for going on three days now, just outside of their next destination;
portland, oregon.

a rather decent hotel that was set to a tourist side of a winter mountain. they stay on a top floor, oxygen feeling thin and hard to breathe in.

it wasnt a long drive for the band; however it was important to their managers to be there days in advanced.

and it was that night, december 31, that the band showed little hope to make it through for the first time.

it started average, exploring what there was to explore in the small village, coming home and relaxing.

ayla had prepared snacks that were foil wrapped in the small refrigerator. saving them for later that night. they'd celebrate new years like they always did this time of year.