Imperfect

Outed

"Screw it." Finley said, after what felt like an eternity of silence. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. Before Malcolm or I knew what was happening, Finley was on Instagram live. "Hey guys." He said as people began piling in like an avalanche. Malcolm looked at me and I shot him a concerned look. Neither of us had any idea what he was doing. I carefully stood and made my way out of the room, being careful to stay off of the camera. I imagined once Finley was done there would be no secrecy any more and no chance of a peaceful life. I guess I had got what I wanted, but now I wasn't sure it was what I wanted. I knew Malcolm was going to have a few choice words for Finley too. I crept into our room and threw myself into the huge fluffy bean bag that I had bought the week before. Mr Boots followed and waited for me to settle before he jumped onto the faux fur and settled next to me. He snuggled up to me and began purring loudly.

"Dumb cat." I mumbled. I opened instagram and entered Finley's live. I read comments as they were coming. All of them were about me.

"So, I'm gonna start by saying happy Friday! I Hope you're all good. Now let's address these rumours shall we?" he smiled his usual charming smile. "I'm sure a lot of you were just on Claire's live and you're probably all very confused from hearing different stories but...." he trailed off and started walking through the house. I was trying to follow where he was going but the grey walls looked all backwards and I couldn't tell until I saw him in front of me. I hid my face behind my phone and he flipped the camera on his phone so it was facing me. "Yes. I do have a girlfriend." He said as he stopped in the doorway in front of me. "A very shy girlfriend. Oh and we also have a cat. Mr Boots" he strolled over to me and held the camera to Mr Boots' face. He meowed at the camera and began sniffing it. He quickly lost interest and began purring again.

"This is Mr Boots! His name is from Puss in Boots and the fact he has four of the cutest little white feet you ever did see." He said with a grin. He moved Mr. Boots onto my lap and I began stroking his head. Finley sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I buried my face in his chest and allowed my hair to fall over my face. "as I told you all. Very shy. So this is Claire. Yes we met at comic con and started dating maybe a month or so afterwards. We kept it a secret because I wanted to. I was trying to protect her from my world, but I think it's too late. We were going to come clean, we just expected it to be a little further down the line. Please show her nothing but love and respect, because this girl is incredible and she's very dear to me." He kissed my head. "say hi to everyone sweetie." He whispered softly in my ear. I felt his warm breath through my hair and felt slightly more relaxed. I was safe with Fin. I simply waved at the camera and continued hiding. I didn't want to know what everyone was saying. " I'll answer a few questions and then I'm gonna have to go guys because I have a meeting." He said. Finley carried on talking for a few more minutes and I just sat snuggled up to him, gently stroking Mr Boots who was in heaven and purring loudly in my lap. He ended the Instagram live and balanced his phone on his knee. He wrapped his arms around me and placed his head on top of mine. We sat in silence, the realisation that the world now knew who I was, started hitting us both. My phone was buzzing uncontrollably and all I was focussed on was not vomiting. I had a swirling pit in my stomach. I realised that from here on out, I couldn't hide anymore.

"What in the rocky mountains was that shit show?!?!" Malcolm asked appearing in the doorway. Finley released me and stared at Malcolm.

" I had no choice Malcolm. I don't want Claire getting loads of shit on social media for lying. It was my fault she did, and I needed to take responsibility." Finley said defensively.

"But you didn't even think to ask what else we could have done?!?!" Malcolm was furious and I could feel Finley tensing up next to me. He clenched and and released his jaw a few times before responding.