Page 2 of Hands off his Dudette

They'd hung out for so long she could hardly remember a time before Finn. All right, she could, and it had sucked. Friendships often changed in adulthood, when everyone was busy with work, family, responsibilities, but neither of them had allowed their relationship to wither.

Anna had grown up in a shitty home, with seven siblings; she'd all but raised her five younger siblings, while trying to maintain a decent GPA. Then, Finn had happened. They met when in summer camp when she'd been seven and he, nine, and they hit it off. Same day, he found her sorting her Magic: The Gathering deck, and they got talking about games. Next thing she knew, he was sitting with her at lunch time and joining her whenever she had time to role play.

After camp, he asked his parents to let her spend the rest of the summer with them. Eager to get rid of a mouth to feed, the Bullens were quick to give their consent. Since, she'd spent most of her free time at the Johnsons'. Even in high school, and despite the fact that Finn was a jock and she, a geek, they still hung out.

Veronica messed it all up. The stereotypical California girl, obsessed with Finn's brother, Trick, completely deluded, and offensive to anyone close to the Johnsons.

Anna had suffered greatly from her bullying. The girl started rumors about her, rumors that led to all of her friends abandoning her; stuff about her doing both brothers at once and other nastiness. Eventually, her super-religious parents heard of it and kicked her out. She'd been eighteen, in her last high school semester, and homeless.

Anna didn't know what might have happened to her, if it wasn't for Finn, Trick, and to an extent, their mother. Arabella Johnson barely tolerated most people; she had paid very little attention to Anna until the day Finn brought her on her doorstep with a couple of bags, containing all her worldly goods. The proud, elegant woman could have snarled and told her to get her out of her sight. Instead, she snarled, and said, "I suppose you can stay in the blue room."

The blue room was one of the many, many spare bedrooms in the Johnsons' villa. A smaller one, close to Finn's, and nicely decorated. Anna had stayed there whenever they'd had a sleepover after a D&D night.

She finished high school and then, sick of LA, Finn and Anna both flew out to the other coast for college.

They could have gone separate ways, lost touch, and for a while, it looked like they might; Finn was extremely busy in law school, and even more so after he passed the bar. New lawyers had long hours. Anna's schedule was almost as hectic. Trick started a toy company with his best friend Carter, and they hired her right out of college, in their creative department. At first, the team had been small and Anna was one of the key workers; a position as rewarding as it was taxing. In short, they were busy adults busting their asses to pay the bills. Well, she was. Finn didn't technically need to work to pay any bills.

In the month following the start of her employment at Harris Toys, she'd seen Finn three times; once at the cinema, once at a D&D game, and once for a quick game of Wii.

Finn came to see her at work one lunch time, and popped a key on her desk.

"What's that?"

"Spare key. I texted you the digital codes to get in our place. It's way too big for Trick and I, I hate not seeing you, and it's ridiculous that you're wasting half of your salary on renting a cupboard. You're moving in."

She'd said no, because Anna hated feeling like a charity case, but just like he had with the doughnut, Finn convinced her to try it. She kept paying her rent on her place and moved into the Johnson townhouse, a three story Upper East Side brownstone with seven bedrooms.

As it turned out, living there was a blast, so they'd made it a permanent thing.

It had been five years, and the arrangement still worked, mostly. Trick and his fiancée moved out, buying their own place nearby, so it was just Anna and Finn now. They hung out every evening, playing games or watching movies. Finn cooked when he wasn't too exhausted; Anna called takeout when he was. He refused to let her pay rent, but she hired the housekeeper, so it was almost the same thing: Mrs Brown worked for them twenty hours per week, and she wasn't cheap.

Really, the situation was almost perfect.

Except for one thing.

Anna had never brought any lover to this house; she couldn't imagine doing it. Finn certainly took his conquests home, but it was his place. She'd feel so very awkward bringing a guy home and introducing him to Finn. And Anna really started to want to. Not just screw someone; she could do that at a hotel easily enough; but date a guy, maybe do some overnight stuff, cook in the morning. Okay, call Uber Eats to deliver breakfast in the morning.

She knew, without a doubt, that Finn would hate that.

In the twenty-one years since they'd met, she'd dated exactly three times, and he'd always acted like an overbearing big brother who didn't believe the guys were good enough for her. She couldn't imagine that things would change. But she was twenty-eight now, dammit. She wanted to at least try to date.

"Are you seeing everyone tonight?" Finn asked, after finishing his doughnuts.

Anna nodded. She'd started hanging out with Lucy and some other friends every other Thursday.

"Yep. Why, you want to crash girls' night out?" It wouldn't be the first time.

Finn laughed. "I wish I could. Big case. Some idiot is suing Knight Security for a lot of cash. Their client died on KS's watch. Only, it was because of a plane crash; it's not like KS guarantees they'll prevent accidents like that from happening. It should be straightforward, but as there's billions involved, we're covering all the bases."

Anna knew what it meant. She winced. "Try to get some sleep."

"I will," he promised, before bending down, dropping a kiss on her cheek. "Don't wait up for me."

Such a familiar scene. It almost felt domestic. Only, it wasn't.

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