Page 37 of Hands off his Dudette

Chapter 17

Finn didn't remember the last time he'd been so exhausted. Probably the last time his mother had visited. After entirely taking over what should have been a pleasant date with Anna—their very first date—she also took over tree decorating, stating that they'd done it all wrong. Apparently, it was important to stick to a color scheme. Arabella banished all blue balls, gold garland, and pink snowflakes, only keeping the red and gold ones. Damn her, but it did look much better that way. Finn muttered all the way.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll retire for the evening."

"Please do," Finn supplied eagerly.

He collapsed on the blue sofa.Anna soon appeared, two glasses of brandy in hand. She handed him one.

"To her credit, Arabella hasn't complained about the sofa," she noted.

"Yet. I'm gonna see if it's possible to get the keys early. I won't survive three weeks with her in the house."

"You did survive eighteen years in her house," Anna reminded him.

Finn shrugged. "It wasn't the same, with Dad around. He…tempered her. She said something rude, and he'd just call her out on it."

"Like you do. And Lucy, too. I consider it a superpower. I just can't stand up to her. She's just so…"

"High-handed. Annoying. And yes, I call her out. The difference is, she used to actually listen to Dad—me, she ignores."

He flipped the TV on, and started the next episode of Game of Thrones, frustrated. The evening had definitely not gone according to plan; he'd meant to try to show Anna that dating him would be fun—his mother had tagged along, started to share embarrassing stories, and now they were just doing the usual, watching stupid shows they'd seen dozens of times.

"Thanks for getting the tree by the way. It looks lovely."

Finn glanced at it. It did. The oversized lounge almost felt homey for once.

"And we have extra decorations for the rest of the house!"

"Why didn't we ever do this, if you're so excited about Christmas stuff," he pondered out loud.

Anna smiled. "I guess I didn't actually think it'd be fun. At home, Hanukkah was huge—a lot of food, and presents for everyone; always stuff that I hadn't asked for and didn't need. I didn't see the point. But I'm not a little girl, it's not my parents' rules anymore. We've done presents every year—and I always love them. Just doing it on our terms is cool."

"On my mother's terms, you mean."

Anna laughed. "Whatever. She had a point. It looks a lot better now. And if you really feel like it, we can add all the colorful ones when we move it to the new place."

Finn hesitated. "I'll get a new tree. We might as well leave this one for Mom, if she's staying in town."

For a time, they watched the rest of the show in silence. "I didn't know Peter made you behave for letting me stay, you know."

He'd wondered when she'd bring it up.

He shrugged.

"You know Dad. He wasn't one to miss an opportunity. And it worked. Honestly, I was dealing with typical younger brother syndrome at the time—all their attention was on Trick, the smart one, and I was frustrated. I didn't calm down because they made me—I calmed down because I got some attention elsewhere. You've always been a great friend."

"So were you."

Finn glanced at her, and smiled, before grabbing her legs, and extending them over his lap. She was wearing pretty red polished flat shoes and thick tights with her green dress. He removed the shoes, and pressed his thumb on her foot, hard.

Anna yelled, a scream ending in a moan that made him laugh. "Careful now. Do that again and Mom and Arnold will entirely mistake what I'm doing to you," he said softly, pressing down from her big toes to her heel.

"Holy fuck! It hurts so fucking good."

He abandoned the right foot, and attacked the left. "You're very tense," Finn noted.

She wasn't the only one. His somnolent dick, that shouldn't have gotten involved right now, twitched in his pants, her voice tricking it into believing it was time to play. Down, boy.

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