Hearing the neighboring door swing open, Finn looked up and locked eyes with the stranger. He looked… familiar? In an uncomfortable, heart-wrenching sort of way. He held eye contact for a moment in confusion, trying to place him. God, he knew him somehow, where was he from? Maybe it was the nerves keeping him from thinking clearly- the intimidating air that his neighbor had definitely didn't help either.
Glancing over at the door he'd just come out of, Finn realized that this was the guitar neighbor. The receipt with the messy note scribbled on it was still lodged in the card slot of the door, looking slightly damp from the rain. It was somewhat amusing to imagine such a rough looking man playing such sweet music, now that he thought about it. He shrugged it off, really trying not to have to stand in this awkward silence for any longer than he had to. Fuck, it'd been a weird amount of time completely silent now. Finn redirected his gaze back at the stranger. Should he say something? Probably. He gave a timid wave, mentally kicking himself afterword. Was it really so hard to greet someone? "Er- hey. You, uhm- you play guitar, don't you?" He chewed his lip anxiously, eyes flitting between the man in front of him and the ground.
Waylen stared for a long moment. Finn. The kid's name was Finn, wasn't it? At the question, he blinked. Did this guy not even remember him? After all the arguments they got into in highschool? And when had he gotten so damn tall? Finn had to be a little over six feet tall, six inches more than Waylen himself was. "Yeah." He finally said slowly. Was this guy doing the same thing he used to? Those sugar sweet, fake compliments? God. How had they ended up in the same shitty motel? Of all places to run into somebody from high school.
Finn found a bit of solace in the same confused look in this stranger’s eyes. Did he recognize him too? Did they know each other, then? With the ice now broken, Finn let himself really look at him. God, he looked so familiar. He could swear that it was right on the tip of his tongue.
“I, uh. I hope it’s not weird but I heard you playing last night. You’re really good,” he said with a nervous chuckle. He kept a close, careful eye on the man’s expression, praying that he wasn’t making him uncomfortable. He probably was. This whole idea was absolutely horrible, but he was here now and it would be even more awkward to try and back out now. He gestured to the receipt stuck into the stranger’s door. “I- I left you a note, didn’t think I’d actually, uh. Bump into you like this.”
"Yeah, the walls aren't that thick." He said. He glanced at the note, picking it up and scanning over it before putting it in his pocket. Did this guy really not fucking remember anything? "'s Waylen, by the way. You might remember me." They'd gotten into plenty of fights when they were younger, after all, and it still rankled under his skin. Finn was so fake, in all of their encounters in the past, and he couldn't not remember that, it would have been impossible.
Waylen. Finn's eyes widened. That was why he was so goddamn familiar, then. "…Markham?" As if Waylen wasn't a unique enough name to make it clear who was standing in front of him. It took him only a moment to recall the man's surname, all of Finn's memories of him coming back in a rush. He'd nearly blocked it all out, figuring that they'd never meet again. But here they were, across the country and somehow still just as stuck together as they used to be. His mouth was suddenly dry, and he was sure that the shock- and, admittedly, a slight spark of fear and dread- were clear in his eyes. How was he supposed to act in this situation? Should he be polite? Were they going to fall right back into their old patterns? Frankly, he didn't think he could handle that right now. "Sorry, I- I can't-" Please, not now. He squeezed his eyes shut for a split second, willing himself to keep it together. He was already pulling apart at the seams, he really didn't need this on top of it all. "Didn't recognize you," he managed after a moment, hoping the flood of emotion building up wasn't too obvious.
(oooh I have an idea: what if they'd briefly dated at one point and had a really bad breakup and so that is just kinda added fuel to the fire in terms of dislike??)
"Yeah, Waylen Markham. Didn't think you did." Goddamnit, he didn't remember Finn being so tall. Normally Waylen had a thing for guys taller than him (or gals, he wasn't picky) but with Finn, it just annoyed him. Pissed him off. Finn pissed him off. Lots of things pissed him off but especially Finn. He raked a hand through his hair, letting out a quick, short breath. What the hell was he supposed to say now? "Been a while." His voice wasn't… friendly, but he wasn't quite outright hostile, yet.
(ooh, extra spicy lovers to enemies, i like your style. lsadjfsakfalskjf and what if every now and then there's that split second where they're just like 'damn you're annoying but wow you're still as pretty as i remember')
Finn nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah." …Should he keep talking? What about? "Uh- What are you doing out here?" He wasn't really sure how he kept so cool in this situation, though the good ten inches of height he had on Waylen sure helped with the intimidation factor, he supposed. It was hard to be truly afraid of someone when you had to tilt your head down to look at them. …Unless that someone was a bug, he supposed. Bugs were probably the only scary tiny things. Though as much comfort as the height advantage brought him, Waylen had definitely gotten more intimidating as well. The slight bit of scruff, the tattoos- he would be relatively scary looking to someone else, Finn thought.
(skdbhshsgsggss yesssss)
"Gig fell through." He scratched at his chin for a moment, fingers scraping against the stubble that had collected along his jawline. "You?" It seemed he was using the minimum amount of words he possibly could, and likely only because he wasn't sure how else to speak. Finn was between him and the stairs down to the ground, so he was sort of trapped. Unless he wanted to jump. Which currently, he was only semi tempted to do. That would probably change the longer this conversation went on.
Finn froze. How was he supposed to explain everything that had happened? Especially when he was pretty sure that Waylen would just find it amusing? “Long story,” he finally grumbled passive aggressively. He scratched the back of his neck mindlessly, trying his hardest not to show any weakness. Not to be dramatic, but he would rather eat glass than have the man in front of him pick up on anything going on right now.
Waylen made a show of looking around. "I got time." He replied, raising his eyebrows at Finn. He wasn't going to let the other just get away with such a bullshit statement. Especially not when he knew it was bullshit. Of all the stupid ass things Waylen had done in high school, dating Finn had to be one of them. Sure, he'd been young, full of hormones, and dumber than a rock, but he still should never, ever have associated with him.
Finn chuckled softly. "I- I mean, it's a whole thing. I don't know if it's a good idea." As much as he wanted to talk about it with someone, Waylen wasn't that someone. He knew exactly what he'd do with that information, after all. It'd take a miracle for him to open up about that whole shitshow. Waylen probably knew the girl, too, now that he thought about it- her and Finn had gotten together towards the end of high school. They'd at least known of each other by then.
He snorted faintly. "Lots of things aren't, but since when did it ever stop…anyone?" He physically stopped himself from saying "you". That was perhaps just a little too cruel, and Waylen had been raised too upperclass to resort to such crude insults, no matter the persona he put on. At heart he was still that child raised in high-class. Servants and penthouses and spring vacations spent in europe, even if now he barely made enough money to afford the daily expenses of living. Even if now, europe was a pipe dream he might never see again.
Finn wished he hadn’t been able to catch the hesitation there. He didn’t dwell on it, dismissing it as a mistake on Waylen’s part even though part of him knew that wasn’t the case. He sucked in a deep breath, contemplating. He knew that it was a horrible idea to tell him, but… he really didn’t have the energy to put up a fight here. “…Did you ever know Amelia Sullivan? I- I think she was in Algebra with us back in Junior year.”
He thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, name's familiar." He replied, raising an eyebrow a little bit. He had a good enough memory that he could put a vague face to the name, even if he couldn't picture her exactly. He sighed faintly, running his hands through his hair and tugging on one of his piercings for a moment.
Finn followed the motion, getting distracted for a split moment before snapping back and continuing his quick summary. “We, uh. We were engaged. She came out here for a business thing, didn’t think anything of it. Our anniversary is- was coming up though, so I thought I’d surprise her. There was, um. There was someone else.” He cleared his throat, trying not to get choked up about it again. “I only had enough money for the trip out, so here I am.”
He nodded faintly. "Tough luck." He didn't seem to have much sympathy for Finn, though perhaps that was to be expected. He never seemed to have much. "Not too long of a story, either, for all the fussing about it that you did." He laughed a little, but it wasn't exactly the nicest laugh. Not a cruel one, but not kind either.
Finn was silent for a moment. He wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he’d expected, so it was dumb of him to be disappointed. He shouldn’t have said anything to begin with. He bit his tongue, nodding his head. “Yeah, guess so.” His words had a slightly sharper ring to them. This whole conversation was a bad idea. He just wanted to go walk around town, he shouldn’t have even looked at Waylen. He could tell that he was starting to spiral, but he didn’t acknowledge it. He needed to get a damn hold of himself.
Waylen glanced past Finn at the stairs, quiet for a long moment. "You'll survive it. Not like you were married or anything, now were you?" He supposed it would be embarrassing if Finn had been married to this girl, but then, Finn would have mentioned that if he had been, probably.
Finn clenched his jaw. "No, we weren't." His mind was buzzing. He couldn't believe he'd ever dated this scumbag. Finn's engagement ring was still sat on the nightstand in his room. Did Waylen seriously have no understanding of how human emotions worked? It was baffling. "I should be going," he stated bluntly.
"Yes, of course." Waylen replied. Truth be told, he did have a little sympathy, but not much. And he wasn't going to show it, either. He didn't care if Finn thought he was an asshole, it wasn't as if he wanted to be friends or anything again.
"Yeah. See you 'round, I guess." Finn locked his door and gave Waylen one last once-over before turning on his heel and heading off. That sure was a lovely start to his day. He bit his tongue harshly as a bad attempt to distract himself. It was still raining, at least. He could still go wander around… But he had to do so with the knowledge that he'd have to come back to him.
Waylen eventually made his way down as well, heading towards McDonald's to get some breakfast. He was hungry, after all. Doubly so, after that encounter with Finn. God damnit, why did they have to somehow end up in the same cheap, shitty motel? God,this was so fucking awful. He had even played to comfort him! To comfort Finn!
Putting up his umbrella, Finn kicked his feet along the sidewalk. Even the rain wasn't making him feel any better at this point. His only source of comfort he'd found here had turned out to be Waylen. Of all goddamn people. What cosmic power had he pissed off to get this shit situation? His eyes were getting watery again, and he let them. They would be unrecognizable in the rain anyway.
Waylen ordered his food, still wrapped up in his own head. What had he done to deserve it being Finn thst was here? Finn, of all the god-damned people. Finn. He shook his head a little, taking his food and sitting down in a booth to eat, a cup of coffee steaming as he unwrapped a breakfast burrito.
Finn wandered around downtown for at least an hour, scanning shop windows for any help wanted signs. Nothing. With no luck so far, he turned onto a less popular road in hopes that a smaller shop would need staff. Still, nothing. With no energy to ask around and a definite reluctance to go down even less popular alleys, worried he’d get jumped or something. He headed up, attempting to find a park he passed on his way here to sit and take a rest before walking back to the motel.
Waylen ate and sipped his coffee, frowning faintly as his thoughts began to wander away from seeing Finn next-door to him, back to his fallen through gig and towards finding his next one. He needed another gig, needed to bring in more money and eventually head back to his apartment.
Finally reaching the park within an astounding fifteen minutes, Finn collapsed onto the first bench he found - luckily under a small outcropping and safe from the rain. With nothing better to do, he pulled out his phone. He figured he'd scroll through social media until he felt rested enough to head back to the motel and pray he didn't run into Waylen again. The daytrip was a whopping failure, but he could try again some other time. He had plenty of cash to get him through the next couple of weeks, so if he just kept looking he was sure that everything would be fine.
Waylen ran his hands through his hair, getting his phone. The problem was, one gig usually led to another, and by getting a gig cancelled, no more would come from it. So he put up new posts on the different social medias that he used for his music, frowning a little bit. The social medias he used for music were different than the ones he used for personal stuff, since he wanted to keep the two a bit separated for now. So he added posts, using clips he'd had taken of some other gigs, and sent out emails to a few people.
Finn sighed, scrolling past a Subway ad and feeling his stomach growl in response. He'd been meaning to stop by somewhere and grab a bite to eat, but he'd completely forgotten in his haste to get away from the motel. There had to be at least a quick fast food place nearby, right? Ugh, but it was so early… Maybe he could find a Dunkin' Donuts or something around, that'd be nice. A good bagel and a coffee to turn his day around. He nodded to himself, typing the search into Google only to be thoroughly disappointed when it came up that the nearest one was a few miles away- he couldn't walk that. Changing tactics, he searched for the nearest fast food place. It was early, the breakfast menus had to still be up.
He frowned a little, foot tapping against the floor as he pulled out a beaten and battered notebook and a pencil, flipping to a page already covered in various notes and chords markings, scraps of music notation and lines of lyrics and a chorus. He got to work on the song, humming very quietly under his breath as he tried to work out the details of this one, how best to compose it.
