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So he’s here.
Finn isn’t really the “big pool party” type-- he’s popular, sure (for reasons he doesn’t understand himself), but he’s more the “hang out with six friends and a bad movie” sort of guy. He’s out of his element here, in this situation, with all sixty kids in his grade hanging out at someone’s (Pava’s) unreasonably large house. With a pool.
But Rey’s here too, which makes pretty much everything worth it; even if she’s been sort of hanging out alone by the cooler instead of socializing. Finn shuffles his feet and tries to psyche himself up to go over and talk to her-- sure, he knows her, sure, they’re friends, but what if she doesn’t see him that way? What if she doesn’t want to be Something Other Than Friends? What if this permanently ruins their friendship? What if, what if, what if--
And the whole problem is momentarily solved by Poe challenging Rey to an arm-wrestling contest. Finn squints and realizes it’s because Rey is wearing a tank top with the text THESE GUNS KILL FASCISTS and helpful arrows on it.
Either way, Poe is dead, so Finn decides to sit down on his comfortable little outdoor couch and be alone a little while longer.
He hasn’t been in the pool yet. He doesn’t really plan to be in it ever; being trans means having to choose between (sometimes revealing) women’s swimsuits and (always revealing) men’s trunks. Poe suggested ordering a swim shirt, but Finn is still looking for a summer job to be able to afford that.
So he’s out here. Chilling, for the most part. Being quiet.
“You gonna do it?”
Rose arrives, removing her earplugs and setting them down on the table in front of Finn. There’s no real reason for having tables and couches outside, Finn thinks, but he supposes when you have an exorbitant amount of money you have to spend it somewhere. He’s heard rumors that some of that money went towards some kind of freakishly terrifying wax statue of Luke Skywalker, but he’s never personally seen it.
“I’m... thinking about it,” he says, which is partially true. He’s spent most of today alternating between thinking about it and thinking about anything but it. “It” being asking Rey out on an officially-dating date instead of their usual this-is-totally-platonic-right dates.
“Sure you are,” Rose says, lying down on the opposite couch. She’s wet, which means she’s probably ruining it, but Finn doesn’t really care enough about rich people to tell her off.
“So why aren’t you over there with the rest of the crowd?” he asks, switching into anything-other-than-Rey-thoughts mode. A largeish crowd of people has gathered around where Rey and Poe appear to be trying to kill each other. Finn can’t really see from this angle.
“Too loud,” Rose says, scratching her stomach.
“Mm.” Finn toys with the threading on the couch. It’s a very weird sort of material.
A loud cheer goes up from the group behind them, followed by a loud outburst of “tilting the table is cheating!” and “I didn’t do it on purpose; blame yourself for not being strong enough to move it!”
Finn guesses that Rey’s won, and Poe is complaining-- the usual outcome.
“Do it,” Rose says, shifting her sunglasses down from her forehead to her eyes.
“Absolutely not,” Finn protests. He can’t-- his stomach is turning and his legs are noodles and he can’t remember anything he was going to say. He hasn’t rehearsed properly. He hasn’t prepared. How can he--
“Hey Rey I hear Finn’s got something to say to you!” Rose yells. “You’re welcome.”
Finn glares at her (though she’s probably not able to tell through the shades) and gets up. Okay. No way out. He’s going to do it, and nothing’s going to stop him. Time to go. Time to talk. Time to-- oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.
“Funny,” Rey says, “I had something to tell him, too. Finn--”
“It’s really important,” Finn says, because if he’s going to do it then he has to just do it.
“Yeah, same here,” Rey says, leading him gently behind the house. There’s a weird-looking bush out there, sculpted into some kind of modern art shape that’s easy to hide behind. “I--”
“It’s really important,” Finn says, and Rey touches his shoulder.
“Dude. Let me get the words out. I’ve been waiting a while for this,” she says, grinning.
Oh, God, she’s going to break up with him. Platonically, which is always worse.
“Do you want to go out on a date?”
His mind blanks.
“I-- like, a friend date?”
“A date-date,” she says. “Like, a you’re-my-boyfriend-now date.”
“Boyfriend date,” he repeats.
“Yes,” she says. He notices that, despite her usual cool demeanor, her cheeks are more than a little flushed.
“I,” he says. “Well,” he says. “I mean, definitely, yeah, I’d really like to go out with you-- I really like you, I’m glad you asked, thank you.” He smiles, feeling a lot better. Thank God that’s over.
He’s still feeling a little dizzy with relief that he didn’t have to go through his speech when Rey looks behind his back.
“What’s that you’re holding?” she asks.
“Uh,” Finn says, in a voice too loud for his body.
“Are those index cards?” she asks.
“Um,” Finn says, quieter but still very uncomfortable.
“Does that one have the definition of dating written on it?” she asks.
“No,” he lies, frantically shuffling the cards. Rey spins him around and steals them, quickly shuffling through.
“‘I really care about you,’” she reads. “‘You’re my best friend, and I don’t want that to change. I just want us to maybe date as well-- unless that makes you uncomfortable, in which case we can just’... Finn, this is really sweet.”
“It is?” Finn says, blinking at her. “I mean, it is. I tried.”
“You must have spent a long time on this,” she says. Her eyes are unnaturally soft. She thumbs through the cards, smiling and occasionally letting out a small laugh at the contents. “You really did your research on this.”
“Well, I wanted it to be perfect,” he says in a small voice.
“It was,” she says. “Is. Finn, really, these are... can I keep these?”
“I mean, I’m not really attached to them,” Finn says, surprised. "I... I worked hard, but not... you like them that much?"
“Yeah, this is really...” Rey flips through the cards again and turns one around so Finn can see it. “I mean, this? This is really nice. I can’t believe you wrote all this.”
Finn reads the card-- it’s the last one.
...really good. I’ve always liked you, even before we officially met. You’re an incredible part of my life, and I don’t want to lose that when we go to college. I really care about you, and I want to be there for you all the time, as your friend and your boyfriend. I love you.
“I love you, too,” she says, and hugs him.