InsaneJournal

Who: Finn Hudson and Hanna Marin
Where: Half Pint Cafe
When: Lunchtime, Saturday, July 26, 2014
What: First meetings
Status: Complete
Warnings: None


It was time for Finn’s lunch break, and he was more than happy to get away from Speedy’s for a while. He was hungry and tired and kind of broody lately. He was living with Sam now, since Rachel and Quinn had disappeared. He just couldn’t be alone in the house he’d stayed in with the two of them, so he’d moved in with his bro, thinking it would make him feel better. And for a while, it had. He was starting to adjust to both of them being gone -- and within only a couple weeks of each other -- and then Rachel came back.

She was different, though. Weird, somehow. Maybe it was just because she was actually coming from before he died back home, and he was so used to her being from later, when he was dead. Finn hadn’t actually seen this new (or was it old?) Rachel in person, but he’d talked to her a little on the net, and they’d at least established they weren’t getting back together. He was grateful for that, at least. After the shit with the last Rachel, he just didn’t want to deal with her again. He loved her, but he needed a break from her, and since this one was into Brody, he was getting it.

He decided to walk to the Half Pint Cafe for a coffee, just to get him through the rest of his shift. He was sure Blaine was there somewhere, but when he walked in, he was relieved not to see him. But the place was packed; after he’d ordered his coffee, he’d managed to snag a table someone was leaving just in time. Now he was looking at a newspaper that had been left behind, reading something about some local kid saving a cat from a tree.

Hanna was in desperate need of coffee. She had a headache, which given the amount of alcohol she’d been ingesting lately, was no surprise. It wasn’t this place that caused it, no, this had started in Rosewood. It had started with Alison’s return. No, not just her return, but how everyone fell back into step to follow her and pledge their loyalty. It made Hanna sick. Alison made Hanna sick. She was so fake and making them stick to this stupid story that everyone had to get right and memorize and whatever else ‘her majesty’ had asked them to do. Hanna didn’t want to deal with it, it all made her head hurt. The alcohol did too, but whatever, at least it made her feel good, something Alison never did or tried to do. No all that bitch did was make her feel fat and like less of a person in her royal presence. Then there was the whole mess with Travis and Caleb coming back, A rising from the so called dead and well, it was just all too much for Hanna. So in came alcohol to the rescue and it helped. Even if it was temporarily.

Ordering her usual caramel, soy latte with whipped cream, Hanna looked around and there was a table open that she was heading toward when a boy she hadn’t seen waiting sat down and started looking at the newspaper. Hanna groaned and then decided there were like, three other chairs. He was just gonna have to chair. So up she walked, or rather marched, and put her hand on one of the chairs. “The only reason you got this table before me is because your legs are like super long and you saw it first. Anyway, there’s three other chairs, my head is splitting and I’m sitting. I hope you can deal with that, if not? You can leave.” She shrugged, pulling her bag off her shoulder and sitting it at her feet as she slid into the chair across from him. Hanna gave him a little smirk before tipping her coffee to her lips. He was cute, in that dopey Travis sort of way, she didn’t figure he’d mind her sitting here.

Other than that cat story, there wasn’t really anything in the paper Finn was all that interested in. He wasn’t a big reader; he had really only picked it up since it was there and he wasn’t with anyone. But then suddenly, there was a girl talking to him and he looked up at him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She was saying something about sitting down, and he just shrugged back. He didn’t care if she sat. There wasn’t a lot of space right now, and he wasn’t some jerk that would make a girl stand just because he didn’t know her.

“Yeah, sit, it’s cool,” he said with a small smile. “I probably won’t be here super long anyway. I’m just on my lunch break.”

Hanna flashed him a smile, though it was much dimmer than her usual bright smiles. Hangovers do that to a girl. Especially a girl who was going through as many changes as Hanna seemed to be. “Thanks.” She said, taking a sip of her drink and looking at him curiously. “Lunch break from...work?” Obviously, Hanna, what else would he be on a lunch break from? She rolled her eyes at herself. “Sorry, I’m Hanna. I’m new here.”

“Yeah, from work,” Finn confirmed, taking a sip of his coffee. “I’m Finn.” Of course, she’d probably already put that together, since there was a big nametag sewn into the front of his uniform that said ‘FINN’. “I work over at Speedy’s. It’s a garage,” he clarified, seeing the confused expression she was wearing. She was new, so he didn’t mind explaining. “Did you just move here or something?” he asked. He wondered if she was one of the wormhole people, but that was too weird to just ask.

“Uh, no.” Hanna scoffed, chuckling to herself and shaking her head. “Like I would ever move here by choice. No thanks. It smells like a commune or wherever a lot of hippies live. It’s gross and as crazy as it sounds, I miss Rosewood.” She took a sip of her coffee, wishing she’d thought to stash a flask or something, she seriously needed a drink. “Now there’s something I never thought I’d say. I must be losing it for real.” She shook her head at herself. Hanna hated the crap with A, she hated Alison, but she missed her mom and she missed Caleb. She finally had him back and now she was here. Great, Ali would probably set her sights on him now or something. Just freaking great. Thanks weird, whatever the hell that thing was that welcomed her when she was dragged here like a bad dream. “What about you?”

“I’ve been here for like, half a year, I think,” Finn told her. “I got sucked here through…” He hesitated a little, lowering his voice. “A wormhole?” She’d probably think he was crazy now, but she had said she hadn’t come here by choice, so maybe she’d come through it too. He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly before he continued at a normal volume. “My girlfriend was here for a while, but she left. And… then came back, but she’s kinda different.” Okay, he was probably sharing too much here, so he decided to backtrack. “So, where’s Rosewood? I’ve never heard of it.”

Hanna wrinkled up her nose when he said ‘wormhole’, more like wormhell. “How do you think I got here? I sure as hell didn’t fly or drive.” She shrugged, arching a brow at the mention of a girlfriend. At least some people got to have their boyfriend or girlfriend here. Some people that weren’t her. Yes, so she was bitter, what of it? “What do you mean, different? Like, one of the other freakshows around here or like, I don’t know, different hair or something?” Hanna asked. She was curious, she couldn’t help it. Plus, she was trying to make a friend. A friend that wasn’t involved in the whole stupid A thing. The further she could distance herself from that, the better. She’d been drifting away from her friends lately anyway, so why not here too? “My boyfriend, or well, ex-boyfriend, but kinda again or something, he’s definitely not here. But whatever, I don’t care. And Rosewood is in Pennsylvania, I can’t believe you haven’t heard of it, it’s like the freaking death capital of the world or something. Crazy things happen there. But anyway, you said you’d been here half a year. So that’s like….” Hanna thought for a minute, she was obviously easily confused. “Six months? Holy crap, you’ve been here that long? So, that see through freak wasn’t lying when she said we were stuck here? We really can’t go home? Ugh.” She leaned back dramatically in her chair. “Well that’s just freaking great!”

“Well, we can leave,” Finn offered, “but it’s only for twenty-four hours at a time, and I guess you get brought back to the hospital after that time’s up. I mean, I haven’t tried it, but that’s what people say.” He shrugged again. After learning he was dead at home, he hadn’t really gone out of his way to try to leave and get home. This was a totally different world, so he probably wouldn’t find exactly what he was used to even if he tried anyway. “Me and you might be from different worlds, and that’s why I’ve never heard of Rosewood. Or… is it like, a really small town? ‘Cause I don’t hear much about super small towns, usually. It’s always big cities, like New York and Los Angeles and like, Orlando.” He paused after that, struggling to find a good way to describe how Rachel was different. “And she’s different like… Well, first, she’s from like a long time ago. Well, a long time ago compared to most of my friends here. She’s actually closer to my time than she used to be. That’s a thing that happens, by the way. People can come from your past or your future. I think I saw someone on the network say they were from the 1970’s.”

Hanna was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open as Finn explained everything, it was so confusing it was making her head hurt. People from different times, and ew, the 1970’s? That was like her mom’s age! Maybe that meant her mom could still show up, though. So maybe that wasn’t so bad. But how freaking weird was this place? “Do you even know how insane that sounds?” Hanna asked him with a small laugh, lightly teasing. “It’s so confusing it makes my head hurt and need alcohol at the same time.” She rolled her eyes, drinking from her cup again. “Yeah, I guess it’s small. I mean, compared to like, New York and LA and stuff.” Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “I guess it doesn’t matter now because it seems like we’re all from here now, huh?” She gave him a little smile, he seemed really nice. Even if he had some freakshow girlfriend from the 70’s or something.

“Yeah, well, coming through the wormhole is only part one of all the insane stuff that goes on here. I think it gets worse and worse every month,” Finn commented. There definitely seemed to be a lot more drama, like invasions and evil wishes and stuff. If he didn’t know that he would be dead if he went back home, he’d have tried a long time ago. “But me and Rachel are broken up which actually makes things easier. I don’t know if it’s her being from the past or what, but she just seems weird. Like, something’s not totally right with her.” He had never been able to put his finger on what it was, but she just didn’t seem normal somehow. “So, it’s better, I guess.”

“Well that’s great. I can’t wait!” Hanna said, sarcastically, with a dramatic roll of her eyes. On second thought, maybe Alison was better than this place. Her brow arched and she pulled her cup away from her mouth at the mention of this ex-girlfriend who apparently not only was from the past, but was also possibly like, mentally challenged or something. God, where was this guy from? Mars?! She wouldn’t doubt it, given the things she’d read on the network thing. “Not right with her? Have you checked this place out? There’s something not right with all of it! I read that network thing and there’s like total freakshows here. Vampires? I mean, come on, seriously? They’re real??” She scoffed. “So, Finn with the weird girlfriend from the past.” Hanna flashed a smile, resting her elbow on the table, looking at the taller boy. “Tell me, how easy is it to score booze around here?”

Finn didn’t comment on the vampire thing. It was weird, but he’d started to get used to it since Santana was one now. But when he’d first gotten here? Yeah, definitely weird. He frowned a second, surprised by that question she asked. He hadn’t been drinking a whole lot since he got here, but when he wanted something, he’d never had trouble, really. Technically, since it was somehow 2014 now, he was coming up on 21 anyway, and the tall thing probably helped him out. “Uh, I guess you could go to the Bar Fly. They’ve never carded me,” he offered.

The Bar Fly. Hanna would have to remember that, for sure. Maybe she would have the same luck and not get carded. Or, she could just flirt her way into being allowed to buy some booze. She seriously needed some. Well, some more. She’d shoplifted a bottle from a grocery store when she first got here, but somehow, she drank it all. It was totally weird too, because she didn’t remember drinking that much. “Maybe I’ll check it out.” She shrugged. “You can come with if you’re not working.” She flashed him a grin. There was totally nothing wrong with making a friend, right? It wasn’t like she was cheating!

“Yeah? Uh, sure, that would be cool,” Finn agreed with a smile. He liked Hanna so far. She seemed like a pretty cool girl, and he could definitely use a few more friends around here. “Maybe tonight? I can meet you there.”

“Totally tonight.” Hanna’s smile grew wider and she nodded firmly. “This will be awesome, you’ll see. It’s time you had fun and stopped worrying about your weird, creepy girlfriend or ex-girlfriend or whatever!” She was excited, she’d made a new friend and they were going out drinking tonight. Okay, maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all.