7x08

Finn was relieved to get home that night. Between school, dance rehearsal, planning a date, and going on said date, it had been a very long day. A good day. An exciting day. But a long day.

When he walked through the front door, it was to find his stepdad watching a baseball game on TV while working on something – probably paying bills – on his laptop. Mark waved as Finn walked through the living room and into the kitchen where his mom was currently beating a batch of brownie batter. He was fairly certain the brownies were for some party or bake sale happening at his little sisters' school the next day and that the twins were supposed to be helping her, but they were nowhere to be found.

His mom looked up as he entered the kitchen and smiled. "Hey bud," she greeted, turning off the beaters and leaning the mixer against the side of the bowl. "How did it go?" There was a hopeful, excited smile on her face as she turned to face him, and he was positive that she had spent the whole night tracking him on Find My Friends and wondering how his first real date was going.

"It was good. She's a lot of fun," Finn answered before giving her a quick summary of his date with Amy.

After somehow managing to get the two-person bike down the stairs of the lobby and earning very judgmental looks from Cleo and Kenzie in the process, Finn and Amy had ridden to the park near the studio to enjoy their picnic. Piper had packed their basket with her Aunt Kathy's chicken salad sandwiches, potato chips, and Nonna's famous shortbreads. They had spent the evening talking and laughing, and Finn kept thinking that there was a reason he hadn't been able to get Amy off his mind lately.

It was honestly astounding that they hadn't immediately hit it off when she'd first come back to The Next Step. Amy was energetic and bubbly. Her laugh was unbelievably contagious, and they had realized tonight just how many of their passions that they shared.

Finn liked Amy a lot. He liked spending time with her, and she was undeniably pretty. She was definitely someone that he could see himself falling for one day.

His mom seemed happy to hear this. As she poured the brownie batter into a pan, she told him, "That's great. And Piper? She was excited for you two?"

"Uh, yeah! She was great! She practically planned the whole date," Finn answered, scratching the back of his head and pointedly avoiding his mother's gaze.

He'd told her all about the date with Amy, but the one thing he couldn't tell her was that he'd also spent most of the date thinking about Piper. Something told him his mother wouldn't approve of that. She knew how much he had liked Piper in the past and had encouraged him to move on when it was clear that Piper didn't feel the same way.

"I want to meet her, you know – Amy. You'll have to bring her over at some point."

"Yup," he replied, not trusting himself to say anything else. With a nervous laugh, he grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter then said, "I've got to go study. Big test tomorrow. You know how it is."

His mom was observing him curiously, her brows suddenly furrowed. "Uh-huh..."

With a wave of the banana, Finn hurried out of the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time before either of his parents could question him further. He'd played that off well. Hadn't he?

Once in his room, he kicked the door shut behind him and leaned against it, letting out a deep breath. What a day, he thought to himself as he peeled the banana and took a bite of it. He sat on the edge of his bed and finished off the banana in a few bites before tossing the peel in the wastebasket and flopping backwards onto his bed. He needed to think, and he did that best on his own without the distractions of other people.

Ever since their afternoon in The Next Steep, Finn hadn't stopped thinking about Amy, and it was a big deal for him. She was the first girl he'd been even remotely interested in since Piper. It had excited him. Deciding to move on from Piper and accepting that she would never return his feelings was the hardest thing he'd had to do in a long time. But as much as it hurt to accept that they would never be more than friends, it had also been the most worthwhile thing he had ever done because their friendship had never been stronger. He wouldn't trade his friendship with Piper for anything, and realizing that he could potentially like someone else made moving on from her seem less impossible.

He'd made the decision to ask out Amy in a moment of spontaneous inspiration. After Piper decided to take some risks- something she never did- he had wanted to do the same. So he channeled his inner confidence and asked out Amy, and if he was being completely honest, he was surprised when she said yes. He hadn't considered what he would do if she agreed to go on a date with him because he'd never actually gotten that far before.

Piper had been his saving grace. She had planned an amazing, thoughtful date, and Finn had felt so grateful for her. He never would have thought of a bike-ride picnic, but it was the perfect first date idea.

Perhaps he hadn't been thinking when he asked Piper to ride the bike with him first. He'd just wanted to try it out before riding it with Amy so he wouldn't look like an idiot, and there was no better person to do that with than Piper. It hadn't mattered that she was the only person in Studio A at the time. It just felt right to ride the bike with her first. Plus, it wasn't like she could tell him no.

The one thing Finn hadn't been counting on in that moment was for Piper to let her hair down.

Finn had seen her with her hair down before of course, and he didn't actually care how she chose to wear it every day. Piper would look good if she chose to shave it all off as far as he was concerned. But there was something about the way she'd let her hair out of its bun and it had cascaded down like something out of a movie that had mesmerized him.

Piper wasn't just pretty. She was stunningly beautiful in a way that had completely taken his breath away.

And it was in that moment that he'd felt it deep in his gut – he wasn't over her. He never had been. And right now, he wasn't sure if he ever would be.

His date with Amy had been fun, and he'd had a good time with her, but he'd spent the whole time thinking about how perfect the date was except for the fact that it wasn't with Piper.

Piper, who stood up to Miss Angela for what was right, got unfairly ridiculed for it, and almost gave up dance because of it but persevered instead.

Piper, who let her nerves get the best of her too often and took his breath away every time she danced because she was far more incredible than she ever gave herself credit for.

Piper, who had spent her entire afternoon running around the city to borrow her cousin Marty's two-person bike and talk her family members into providing food on short notice so he and Amy could have the perfect date.

Sometimes it seemed like she was too good to be real. She'd been handed some of the sourest lemons in life and was so reluctant to take any risks as a result. And yet, in spite of it all, she still had the kindest heart.

He loved her heart.

And he wouldn't say he was in love with her because he wasn't even sure what love really felt like, but he did know that he cared about Piper Gardiner more than he cared about himself. He knew that she needed to relax and realize that taking risks wouldn't always end in failure or humiliation. He knew that as soon as she had gotten off that bike and Amy had gotten on that something had felt just a little off. And he knew that he had spent his entire first date with a girl that he thought he liked thinking about Piper like an afterthought he couldn't get rid of.

He let out a deep breath, rubbing his face in frustration. He probably should have thought things through a little more before asking out Amy.

In an attempt to shake that guilt-inducing thought from his mind, Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket only to be met with a picture he and Piper had taken on the bus ride home from Regionals. They were both making silly faces at the camera, and he smiled at it in spite of himself. Piper had set the photo as his background as a joke, but he had never bothered to change it back because, frankly, he liked having it as the first thing he saw every time he looked at his phone.

He stared at the photo for a moment longer before finally unlocking his phone and opening his text messages.

Pipes: Of course! Hope you two had so much fun!

He had thought Piper might ask how the date went, but part of him was relieved that she hadn't. It would be awkward to tell her how he'd had a great time with Amy while hiding the fact that she had been the one on his mind all night. In an attempt to keep talking to her, however, he told her:

😉

P: Hahaha, family secret. Sorry 💁🏻‍♀️

😆

P: Family secrets are where I draw the line 😊

P: Yes! Like a new person. Very enlightening day

😄

P: I've got homework. I'll talk to you tomorrow

P: 😊

Finn stared at her messages, blinking as he wondered for a moment if she was mad at him. It was unlike Piper to abruptly end a conversation like that, but she was probably just busy like she said. He hoped that was it at any rate.

Sighing, he set his phone aside while wondering if he should text Amy too. He felt guilty just thinking about Amy. Was he leading her on? That had never been his intention. He had just been excited about moving on from Piper, and Amy was someone who he genuinely thought he could do that with. He did like her. He really did.

She just wasn't Piper.

But then again, he shouldn't expect her to be. Piper was Piper, and Amy was Amy, and they were both incredible people with the kindest hearts. They were similar in a lot of ways, but they were also different. Amy was confident and bubbly, and it was so easy to make her laugh as Finn had learned tonight. She was spontaneous and easygoing and loved fun adventures whereas Piper was calculated and high-strung and always needed to know exactly where they were going and what they were doing so she could plan in advance.

But of course, their biggest difference was the fact that Amy evidently felt something for him that Piper didn't.

Finn didn't blame Piper for not returning his feelings. He had chosen a long time ago to respect it and be content to simply be her friend. It didn't matter now whether or not he had feelings for her because he knew nothing on her end was ever going to change. And that was okay.

But he couldn't stay caught up on her forever. He really had to move on, and he was going to do it with Amy.

Amy, who had owned up to her mistakes and was proving her loyalty to the team again.

Amy, who had dropped chicken salad all over her dress tonight and laughed it off.

Amy, who had just texted him to tell him she'd had a great time tonight.

He may have spent the whole night wondering about Piper, but maybe that meant that their date could have been even better than it already was if he hadn't been so caught up on his best friend.

This was a step in the right direction. It had to be. So he decided to text Amy back and told her: