InsaneJournal

Who: Finn Hudson & Hanna Marin
Where: Piazza Italia and the Pearl District
When: Sunday night, September 21, 2014
What: First date!
Status: Complete
Warnings: None


Finn was seriously nervous. It had been kind of a long time since he’d gone on a first date, so that in itself was a big deal. But the fact that it was Hanna, who he’d really liked pretty much since she’d gotten here, made it an even bigger deal. It had taken him forever to actually ask her out (which she’d pointed when he finally did), so now that he had, he wanted it to be nice. He’d actually gone online and to the Zagat guide and looked into nice and decently priced Italian restaurants, eventually settling on Piazza Italia and calling to make a reservation for seven-thirty. It should give him enough time to be on time at her house and figure out how to get there. He’d even begged Santana to borrow her car (it wasn’t like she needed it since she had all that super speed now) so they wouldn’t have to take the Trimet.

It wasn’t going to be awkward, he kept telling himself that. He knew Hanna pretty well after this long, and they’d even already done some stuff that should probably technically be saved for when they were dating, but it was mostly just making out and stuff sometimes. This was the first thing they’d actually done that was like, real. But they’d hung out enough that this should be easy. He just wished his stomach understood that and would stop tying itself into knots.

He pulled up in front of the house Hanna shared with her friends, a familiar location, and walked up to the door, straightening up and clearing his throat before lifting his hand to knock. He was dressed up but not too dressed up, because the restaurant wasn’t exactly formal. He had on a purple dress shirt, untucked, the top couple buttons open and a pair of dark jeans that he’d tried to iron. They looked okay but not what he’d been hoping for; he was really just happy that he hadn’t set them on fire with the iron.

Hanna had been looking forward to this, she’d even made Aria go shopping with her and help her pick out a new outfit (as if she even needed help). Thanks to her discount at Nordstrom’s she put together a to-die-for outfit, complete with shoes, purse and even jewelry. Hanna Marin knew how to shop and she also knew how to shoplift. She reserved the latter for moments when she really needed to, especially after that whole Wilden debacle and then her mom having to actually sleep with that sleazoid to get her out of it. Ugh. Bad memories were not welcome in her happy day, so she was so not going to think about that. Not now, not ever.

She’d been hanging out with Finn pretty much since she’d arrived and they’d been unofficially coupley already. Alcohol makes for a slutty Hanna, after all. Not that she’d actually gone that far with him, but still, they’d definitely done stuff. Lots of stuff, even. But now he’d finally asked her out on a date and not just a drinking and hanging out whatever they were doing thing. To say she was excited was an understatement and on top of it, she was a little nervous too, so she might have had a little bit to drink to calm her nerves. It was totally no big deal, no matter what Spencer said. She wasn’t some drunk or anything, God!

She’d been ready on time, actually and she couldn’t deny she looked pretty amazing, then again, she was Hanna Marin, she always looked good! Even with her black streaked hair that she still had going on, she liked it, what could she say? Hearing the knock at the door, she was half tempted to make one of the girls get it, but then she pictured Spencer’s interrogation and God, probably breathalyzer even and ran to the door herself, quickly pulling it open and stepping outside. “Hey!” She said, flashing him a bright smile. “You ready?” Yeah, she so didn’t want Spencer questioning them and the sooner they got out of there, the better.

“Hey,” he returned the greeting with a smile, feeling his nerves start to settle when he saw her. “You look really beautiful.” And she really did. She was clearly excited and that helped him start to feel the excitement too, which was exactly what he needed. “So, uh, Santana let me borrow her car. But she threatened to eat me if I wrecked it in any way. I… think she was joking, but I’m just gonna have to be extra careful.” He opened the passenger side door for her, waiting until she was seated before closing it and rounding the driver’s side, starting the car and heading off toward the restaurant.

“So I found this nice restaurant and then I just figured we could walk around down there. It’s a really nice district. The Pearl District, it’s called. Is that okay?”

“Thanks!” Hanna said, looking down at her outfit and giving a little twirl, obviously proud of herself, as she followed him to his car. Or, well, Santana’s car it seemed. Okay, she was totally scary threatening him like that about her car. Hanna just frowned and nodded, keeping her opinion on the creepy vampire to herself. The last thing she needed was having some vampire, no matter how fashionable she was, coming after her. No thanks.

She slid into the car and buckled her seatbelt, Finn sliding in behind the wheel and telling her where they were going. “It’s totally okay!” She grinned, nodding. “It’ll be fun. I heard it was really nice down there.”

“That’s what I heard too,” Finn turned to smile at her. He was glad she seemed okay with his plan so far. It wasn’t like it was some grand date with fireworks included or anything, but he was trying his best to impress her with what little money and resources he had. It didn’t take him long to pull up to the restaurant and again, he was coming around to help her out of the passenger seat.

The restaurant was definitely a happy environment. They were greeted loudly, cheerfully, kind of like they were familiar (“So good to see you again!”). They got a pretty nice seat too, far enough away from the bathrooms that Finn didn’t have to hear anything going on. The waiter came and Finn put in his order for a salame panini, handing the menu over and waiting for Hanna to order.

Hanna glanced around the place, it was really, really nice. She was impressed Finn decided to bring her here. While she wasn’t the type who needed a boy to do this kind of thing all the time, she wasn’t going to deny she didn’t like it. Caleb hadn’t really had money to do stuff like this, but when he had it, he did indulge her, she couldn’t deny that. But she couldn’t think about Caleb tonight, or any night, not anymore. She was here, they weren’t together and technically they hadn’t been in a long time. Not since he’d chosen stupid Ravenswood and Miranda over her. She wasn’t ever forgiving him for that. Finn wouldn’t choose someone over her, that was for sure. His ex-girlfriend was here and he hadn’t even so much as looked at her over Hanna. Now that was a real boyfriend. Or whatever they were.

“This stuff’s super expensive.” Hanna whispered, giving Finn wide eyes. “Are you sure?” When he nodded, Hanna grinned and ordered Spaghetti al Pomodoro before handing the menu back to their waiter. She reached for her water, taking a sip, wishing it was something stronger and setting the glass back on the table. “This is really nice, Finn. Thanks for bringing me here. Just for the record, we can stick to cheaper after this.” She teased, flashing that wide smile at him again. He tended to make her smile like that a lot, it seemed. She hadn’t smiled like that in a long time. It felt nice.

Finn liked it when Hanna smiled. She had a pretty smile; really, she was just pretty. Everything about her had just captivated Finn from the moment she got there. Rachel was gone, and maybe at first it had been about someone new to hang out with, but it had gotten to be more than that pretty quickly. He felt like he and Hanna were on the same level, that they got each other in a way Finn felt like Rachel never really had. And they definitely had fun together, there was no doubting that. A lot of it involved drinking, but Finn had been cutting back on that lately, and he hoped he could start to encourage Hanna to do the same. She really had a pretty good life here. It didn’t seem like that cyber-stalker A she’d told him about had followed her here, at least.

“It’s not that expensive,” he assured her. “And even if it was way more expensive, that’s okay. I wanted to take you on a nice first date. Since I took like, a long time to even ask you out.” He smiled a little sheepishly, running his hand through his hair. “But we’re here now, right? I’m really glad you like the place,” he grinned.

“You did, but that’s okay. You asked now and that’s what matters.” Hanna said, honestly with a shrug. “Besides, I don’t know if I would’ve been ready before now. Not that I’m like, trying to be rude, but I told you about the whole Caleb thing.” She rolled her eyes, like it was no big deal, even though it probably would always hurt. She hoped it wouldn’t, but who knew at this point. “Anyway, none of that, all that matters is here and now.” Another grin lit up her face and she reached for her water. “I’d totally toast you but, it’s water.” Wrinkling her nose up, she laughed.

Finn nodded solemnly. He knew that the Caleb thing still hurt Hanna, and he never minded listening to her talk about him. He’d talked about Rachel an awful lot when they first met so he totally got it. He laughed when she picked up her water glass and picked up his too. “It’s cool, let’s toast!” He clinked his glass against hers without further ado and said, “To a hopefully awesome first date.”

Hanna laughed, she always had so much fun with Finn. They always laughed and had a great time, even without the alcohol. Tonight was no exception it seemed. She lifted her glass of water and returned the clink, a big smile plastered across her face. “To what’s already an awesome first date and will only get better!”