to say stevie had been wrong when she’d announced her very thin sweater over an equally thin dress was an appropriate outfit for new york’s winter, was an understatement. once she actually stepped out the door, she had never been more grateful for fin’s vehicle. and still, there was some kind of fuzzy light keeping her warm — this was sort of a first for stevie: she had never asked anyone out on a date, so she was beyond grateful fin didn’t turn her down. hell, she was the happiest she’d been in a while, all smiles and laughter.
and despite her unpreparedness in terms of weather, she had come well prepared in terms of snacks and drinks. they got to sit on the back of fin’s suv with a neat view of the oncoming sunset over the east river. as she sat relatively close to fin, only the assortment of snacks and two wine glasses between them, stevie felt her heart race. despite the vagueness of her relationship with fin up until now, she’d known for a while that this was the path she wanted it to head into — and now that it was, she couldn’t seem to stop her heart from going a thousand miles an hour. to be honest, she wondered how fin felt about the whole thing, but she was feeling surprisingly shy to ask him. as she saw him pull her bottle of martinelli’s sparkling apple juice, a mixture of confusion and concern in his face, stevie giggled, her cheeks flushing a light shade of red. “i’ll take that, thank you.” she said, in a sing-song tone as she grabbed the green bottle from fin. “this,” she dug into her supply tote and pulled out a bottle of actual wine, and handed it to him. “this one’s for you. i wouldn’t do you like that, don’t worry.” she added with a quick wink, as she arranged her hair back into place on her shoulders. “i hope you like the princess bride — if not, i might have to end this date early and catch a taxi home.” she half-intentionally emphasized the word ‘date’. | @fincasey
