Summer Days to An End

Chapter XVII.

A week had passed since that evening on the beach, and after much convincing, Lo agreed to join them at the next meetup. However, it was clear that this detail of their plan was not the top priority of them all. For a desperate and shameful Finn, there was only one goal in mind: not losing Selah.

Standing at her front door, he rang the doorbell a second time, before turning around and sitting on the doorstep as he waited for an answer.

Hearing a sound of shuffling footsteps from within the house, his head perked up immediately as the door opened behind him, only for him to be met by a laughing Selah.

"Look at yourself. You look like a dog who's lost his way home, and now you're here on my front doorstep," she joked, and with one short glance at his face, her laughter quickly subsided. Closing the door behind her, she took a seat next to him on the step before continuing to speak.

"Hey, I'm sorry. Judging by that look on your face, I think I can tell why you're here." She explained, lifting her hand to his chin as she turned his head to face her.

"Please tell me you didn't mean any of those things. Even if it's a lie, please, tell me you didn't mean any of them," answered Finn, trying to hold back his tears as best as he could, though it was no use.

Within a few moments, he let his head fall onto her lap as he began to sob, and despite being taken aback by this gesture, Selah soon understood that he needed this time to be consoled. In all her four years of knowing Finn, this was the first time she had ever seen him cry, let alone rest his head on her lap. Still, as unprecedented as this moment was, she was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Finn, you know I would never do something like that because I would never lie to you. I care about you, and I love you from the bottom of my heart, but you and I both know that there is someone who needs your love more than I do, and she's waiting for you," she confessed, laying her hand on his back as she ran her fingers up and down his shirt.

At this action, Finn sat up once again, and Selah moved her hand back to her side as her cheeks grew warm, sitting in disbelief with herself at the level of intimacy they had just shared.

"If that's true, then why am I like this? If we both love each other, why are we still fighting over Lo? What does she have to do with us?" Finn went on, his glassy eyes staring into hers as Selah found it gradually harder to keep her gaze with him.

"Finn, my love for you is exactly why I want you to be with her, and the same thing goes for her too. You two know, trust, and care about each other in a way that no one will ever understand, so much so that the two of you can hardly see it for yourselves. You two were made for each other, and you'll never feel satisfied with your lives if you deny what you two have," answered Selah.

"Does she even still love me? She's probably willed herself to forget about me by now, after all, she knows nothing about what happened between us on the beach." Finn stated, before wiping away the remaining droplets of tears that hung on his eyelashes.

"I'm already certain that I don't have to answer that question for you, and that leaves me with one thing left to say," began Selah, turning her body to face him directly as she firmly took his hands into hers.

"Phineas Bartlett, you are going to promise me that you are going to love that girl with every ounce, inch, and fiber of your being. You are going to make her the happiest girl in this world, and by doing that, you're going to make me the happiest as well. Is that understood?"

At that moment, Finn paused as he looked intently at Selah, and it took little time for him to see that his next words would mean everything to her, as well as to Lo. This thought in mind, he made sure not to waste this chance.