Missing Moments

The First Time Finn Asks Piper Out

Between episodes 6x05 and 6x06

"Great job today, everyone. It's looking good," Michelle told her A-troupers with a smile as rehearsal came to an end.

As the dancers began to disperse, Piper exchanged a brief goodbye with Amy and Henry before heading for the locker room to get her stuff. She had so much to do tonight for school that she didn't have time to stand around and talk with her friends, as much as she might have liked to. Her Renaissance Era history paper that was due tomorrow morning wasn't going to write itself. She would be lucky if she had any time at all tonight to get work in on her aerial after her homework was all said and done.

The first thing she did when she got to the locker room was check her phone for messages. Her sister Julia, whose internship at an advertising company was conveniently just a ten-minute drive from the studio, had texted her to let her know that she was outside, and Piper let out a relieved sigh. She never knew from day to day if Jules would be on time to pick her up from rehearsal or not, and with the pile of homework waiting for her at home, Piper was itching to get home and get to work. The sooner she could get it all done, the sooner she could keep working on her aerial.

"Hey Piper."

Piper glanced up as she slid her phone into the pocket of her dance bag to see Finn striding over to his locker. "Hi," she said shortly to him as she pulled her shoes out of her locker and sat on the bench behind her to pull them on. Finn seemed to be everywhere she went the last couple of days, and that would be fine if he didn't keep prying into her business. It was getting on her nerves.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?" he asked, leaning against his locker door as he turned to face her.

"I don't know," she told him even though that was a lie. That Renaissance essay was the only thing in her foreseeable future.

She stood back up and stuffed her dance shoes in her dance bag as he spoke again. "Do you want to go check out this new arcade with me? It's supposed to be really cool."

Unconsciously, Piper's shoulders tensed, and she looked over at him, gripping the strap of her dance bag tight as she pulled it out of her locker and slung it over her shoulder. "Like a date?" she asked, eyebrows shooting up. The ever-present knot that had made its home in her stomach since the incident with Miss Angela twisted just at the thought.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug and an easy grin. "Just you, me, and some good ol' Skeeball. Well, if they have it. This one back in Vancouver doesn't, which should be a crime. Skeeball's a classic staple of any arcade. Am I right, or am I right?"

"No."

Finn frowned, caught off guard. "You don't think so?"

Piper shook her head, turning away from him sharply and shutting the door to her locker. "No, I mean, I have homework. I can't."

She glanced at him, afraid this might somehow offend him, but he just shrugged again and turned to his own locker. "Okay." She waited for him to go on, to try to offer up another night to go that she would inevitably turn down because there was no way she was going to an arcade with some guy that she hardly knew, but he simply pulled his own dance bag out of his locker and shut it, giving her another smile. "Good luck with your homework. See you tomorrow."

With a wave, he strolled out of the locker room, completely unperturbed by her rejection and leaving Piper slack-jawed as she tried to process what had just happened.

Why had Finn taken such an interest in her? Between trying to butt into her business in Shakes and Ladders yesterday, watching her dance in Studio One when all she had wanted was to be alone, and now this, he was really testing his luck. Seriously, what was with this guy?