Chapter Seven #5
He left the Saint Ghost tickets for Allison and Flora with Gina, because he had a meeting. He couldn’t really focus though—wondering what this night could possibly bring other than trouble.
Meanwhile, Flora and Allison appeared an hour later to collect their tickets, more excited than high schoolers before prom. Flora brought Gina a cupcake as a thank you, because she knew Gina had probably done the dirty work in getting the tickets.
Gina was shocked at the gesture. She liked Flora and her red velvet cupcake deliveries much better than any other girl that had frequented their office. This sentiment stayed the same when Holly Carlisle showed up looking for Finn.
“Is Finn Woodhouse in?” Holly asked, sunglasses still on. Indoors. Under fluorescent lighting.
“He just stepped out. Who are you?”
“I’m Holly Carlisle.”
She said this as if that should have been enough.
“Right. Feel free to have a seat in the lobby and he will be back in a few minutes,” Gina replied, reaching for her phone.
Holly went to open Finn’s office door.
Gina didn’t remember telling her to do that three seconds ago. She held the door closed from the button on her desk.
Holly paused for half a second, turned, and waited for the door to open, tapping her foot.
“Excuse me…” she sang, acting as if she had a reason to be offended.
“I’m sorry, Miss Carlisle,” Gina answered. “I’m not supposed to allow anyone into the office without his consent because of the business documents inside. He didn’t mention anything about you to me, so the office stays locked until he tells me otherwise.”
“I’ll be around more often. It makes sense for me to have access,” Holly said, smiling at Gina. “We’re moving ahead, Finn and I, you see. I hope to one day be someone he relies on forever.”
Gina had several thoughts pass through her head, none of which she said out loud. Mostly because it would have been grounds to fire her. Sometimes she thought it might be worth it.
“Well, Miss Carlisle, since you are not Mrs. Woodhouse yet, I cannot proceed. Especially since I have just met you. Imagine if I let every person who showed up here, claiming to know him, into the office. I wouldn’t be a very good executive assistant, now, would I?”
Sound logic.
Holly cleared her throat, stepped to the couch, and proceeded to wait, though not without several glances at Gina.
Gina had seen a lot of girls show up at Finn’s office. The upturned nose, silver spoon, clicking heel type. The ones following the scent of the Tom Ford cologne, or, rather, the scent of money. However, Holly felt a little bit… different than the usual.
Finn would put up with them for a while and then eventually they’d stop showing up, or he’d hide in his office until Gina shooed them out.
Most of them were sent by his mother or ones he happened to meet at a party or event.
Gina got the feeling though that no one would be able to shoo Holly anywhere she didn’t want to go.
Finn appeared a few minutes later and could tell that something had made Gina mad because her face was pinched and she was muttering to herself.
She handed him the tickets and said in a low voice, “Watch it with that one.”
Finn blinked in surprise but didn’t say anything. Gina usually kept opinions to herself about the girls who showed up. Holly must have really done something.
Saint Ghost was already singing when Finn and Holly finally strolled in after a very long and expensive dinner. Holly had ordered some caviar disaster that made Finn want to throw up. Even thinking about fish eggs gave him the gag reflex.
Despite the mess of people, it didn’t take him long to locate Flora—she was in a leather jacket, flare jeans, and moto boots at the very front. Finn watched as Flora and Allison jumped around and screamed the lyrics to every song.
A smile twitched at his mouth. He bit his lip.
Flora turned around and saw him watching from the box seat, shaking his head at her. She merely laughed and waved at him. He saw a text from her come through moments later:
Watching the peasants from your high tower?
He replied: More like petrified of being trampled in a pit.
Live a little, Finn. I dare you.
Allison saw and waved at him. She was gesturing to him to come down. Finn was tempted. Allison and Flora were admittedly fun to be around. Plus, Holly sat there like she’d been dragged to a live beheading.
“I kind of like this band,” Finn said over the noise. “I don’t want to sit here all night. I’m going to go into the pit. You can stay though, if you aren’t comfortable. I understand.”
Holly stood abruptly. “No, I’m fine. This is fun!”
Her face didn’t match what she was saying.
Finn managed to skirt his way through the pit to the front. Even though no one knew who he was, his looks got him through places where most people would have been stopped.
As he finally got to the barrier, Finn couldn’t help but watch Flora. She was jumping up and down, singing to every song, having the time of her life. Holly, however, was struggling. She kept moving people away from her, which wasn’t helping make many friends.
“You alright?” he shouted.
“I’m not enjoying this,” she said coolly. “Too much sweat and too many people… I’ll go back. You enjoy yourself.”
“Okay. I get it. It’s very loud. I’ll help—”
Before he could get her back to their seats, she turned and started physically shoving people out of the way. Looks like she didn’t need help.
Allison saw that Holly was gone and grabbed Finn before he could do anything.
Flora was now right in front of him, but she was paying him zero attention.
Mostly because she was having too much fun and because there were about four other guys just hovering around her, waiting for her to glance at any of them.
Flora didn’t notice any of it somehow—she was staring at the stage totally starstruck by Wilder Fairfax.
Finn admitted that Wilder had some serious stage presence.
No wonder there were so many screaming girls.
Finn found himself smiling suddenly, almost as if he couldn’t control it. He hadn’t been to a concert in forever… and this was fun.
Eventually, Flora noticed she was being hovered around like a dead carcass. One of the guys was now getting a little in her face, saying something to her. She was shaking her head at him, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
She glanced at Finn—that same deer-in-the-headlights look he’d become so familiar with. But for the first time ever, it wasn’t because of him. No, she was looking to him for help.
Finn put his arm around her instantly.
Flora grabbed his hand, hanging off him like it was their natural state. Finn eyed the four poor hapless men and smiled at them.
“Sorry, lads! This one’s with me!”
Frustrated, they melted into the crowd, realizing their efforts were fruitless.
“We can’t go anywhere!” Allison shouted to Finn. “She’s too popular these days. I’m worried some creep is gonna get her.”
Flora went back to enjoying the concert in seconds and dropped his hand, but she turned back moments later and said, “Hey! Don’t leave, okay?”
Finn nodded.
Back to the concert. Though, in a break between two songs when everyone was cheering, he found her facing him again, smiling—that Flora smile that was both innocent and mischievous.
“Thanks for doing this. For telling us about this and getting us tickets.”
“No problem.”
“Maybe you aren’t so bad after all,” she added, joking. “But don’t let it get to your head.”
“Well, with compliments like that, how could I not?” he joked.
Flora laughed and smiled at him again, a bit longer this time. She stopped short though. Finn saw her force the smile into submission and then he laughed at her, which only made her smile again, but wider.
“Stop it, Finn!”
“Stop what? I’m not doing anything!”
As the night progressed, Finn, Flora, and Allison—unexpectedly—had fun. A lot of fun.
Holly did not.
She spent the entire concert in the booth, surreptitiously texting people and making everyone around her feel like an inconvenience.
The concert finally came to an end.
“One last surprise,” Finn announced, as they walked back to his booth.
“What sort, Finn?” Flora asked, eyes wide.
Finn reached in his jacket and handed them the passes that read: SAINT GHOST BACKSTAGE.
Flora and Allison squealed.
Holly briefly eyed the two of them, then turned back to Finn with a quick smile. “Fun.”
As they walked down the hall, Finn could hear Allison and Flora trying to keep it together. They were holding onto each other tightly, as if to keep from flying away. Holly was next to him, not saying a word and following along as if she was taking kids to the park.
When Finn stepped into the backstage area, Wilder immediately stood. Finn hadn’t expected it. He had expected some strange rockstar personality.
“Finn Woodhouse, nice to meet you,” he said quickly. “I’m Wilder Fairfax.”
“Nice to meet you. You’re pretty freaking talented.”
Wilder glanced down at his shoes briefly. “Thanks, man.” He looked back up. “Sorry about the mess back here. We’ve got a lot going on.”
Finn scanned the backstage area which looked like a bomb had gone off.
Two girls were lounging in the corner, dressed like a really bad thrift store exploded, scrolling their phones, purposely ignoring the guests.
The drummer was drinking… a lot. The bassist and pianist were more regulated but were sort of arguing over a series of cables that were on the floor.
“Antonio, red is mine,” the pianist said. “Look it’s got my initials on it!”
“Who initials their cords, Fred?!” Antonio asked.
“I do. Because you keep taking them!”
People were running around with amps, guitars, cables, XLR cords, drinks, food. Finn was glad he didn’t live this life. Wilder seemed cut out for it, though.
“No problem,” Finn said, forcing a smile. “I assume this is life on the road.”
“It’s pretty calm, actually,” Wilder surmised, glancing around behind him. “Since this was last minute there was less time for shenanigans.”