Hi! First of all, I am so sorry I have not updated "Catalyst" since last summer. There really is no excuse other than I graduated and have been teaching all this semester and simply haven't had the time to breathe let alone write a story, but it will be finished this summer if that is any consolation (probably not). I wrote this one-shot in the span of about two hours tonight so I do apologize if there are any tangents or random ramblings. It moves quickly, but as does my life.
Prom.
Finn Hudson sighed as he slumped into the armchair in the living room at the Hudson-Hummel home. At one point – when he was dating Rachel, the little voice in his head reminded him – he had actually been excited about prom. Now, though, with Quinn dragging him everywhere to campaign and all the rules – talk to everyone, smile, support all events and clubs, the list went on – Finn was sick of it all.
And prom was still a week away.
Finn's thoughts were momentarily interrupted as his stepbrother's boyfriend, Blaine, walked in and sank into the couch next to Finn.
"Hey Blaine, what's going on?" Finn turned toward the boy sitting with his legs folded on the couch. "I thought you were prom shopping with Kurt."
"We're done. Kurt's just upstairs – said something about modeling his outfit." Blaine explained, and in response a door upstairs opened and a voice wafted down the stairwell.
"Now introducing – Kurt Hummel!" Kurt announced as he glided down the stairs and spun around to showcase his tux. Finn raised his fist for a fist bump.
"You look great, man," he commented, and he watched as Blaine stood up to clap his boyfriend on the back before whispering something in his ear (Finn probably didn't want to know).
"So Finn," Kurt sat next to his boyfriend and leaned into him as he addressed his stepbrother, "have you bought Quinn's corsage yet?" Quinn's corsage was another source of frustration for Finn. As per the rules, it couldn't clash with Quinn's dress and even if he knew what clash meant it wouldn't matter anyway because Quinn wouldn't even let him see her dress before the big night.
"I can help you pick something out." Kurt volunteered, and Finn had no doubt that he would be a great asset to picking out the perfect corsage for what Finn was beginning to feel was going to be a not-so-perfect prom. However, Finn had already asked someone to help him pick out a corsage.
"Thanks man, but Rachel and I are going to pick one out tomorrow after school." Kurt immediately sat up and disengaged himself from Blaine, who also looked surprised.
"Let me get this straight. You asked your ex-girlfriend – who you presumably have no feelings for – to pick out a corsage with you for your current girlfriend, who has been nothing but horrible to said ex-girlfriend, and she said yes?" Kurt raised his eyebrow at his stepbrother.
"Um, yes?" Finn stumbled slightly over his words. Why had Rachel said yes? Why had he even asked her? He already knew the answer to that question, though. With Quinn forbidding him to sing with Rachel and giving him evil looks if he even so much as glanced her way, Finn was going out of his way to find some way – any way – that he and Rachel could still spend time together.
"Who is Rachel going to prom with?" Blaine spoke up then, and Finn realized that he didn't know.
"I don't know," he answered honestly.
But I wish it was me.
Finn met Rachel at his car the following afternoon after glee practice. He was still nervous about Quinn finding out, but he had told her he needed to leave right away after practice to meet his family for dinner. It wasn't entirely a lie: he was going to have dinner with his family. It just happened that he was having some much-needed Rachel Berry time before then.
He saw Rachel walking toward him, a smile on her face and her brown hair flying on the slight breeze. Finn's face broke into a smile before he reached out to take Rachel's backpack from her, opening the door and helping her into his truck (she was short, he told himself. That's why he needed to put his hands on her waist to hoist her into the truck. She was short and that was it).
"So. Where to?" Finn glanced at Rachel as he turned the ignition and went to move out of the parking lot.
"How about we start at the mall and go from there?" Rachel suggested, grabbing a notebook from her backpack and placing it on her lap. "I've outlined the stores that we should definitely stop at, and I know Quinn won't tell you the color of her dress so I have also put together quite a few color combinations for every possible dress scenario."
Finn laughed. That was his Rachel (his?) - always prepared. He reached out and placed a hand on her knee, squeezing gently. "Hey Rach?" He got her attention. "Thank you for doing this with me."
Rachel smiled at him. "What are friends for?" She responded quietly, and Finn gave her a tired grin.
Yeah – friends.
Finn's alarm went off at 8am the morning of prom – the earliest he had ever been up on a weekend. He heard Kurt jump out of bed and rush into the bathroom as he hit the snooze and determined to get at least another half hour of sleep. It wasn't to happen though, because twenty minutes later Kurt opened the blinds in his room and told him to get up. Groaning, he threw his pillow at his brother (it hit the doorframe as Kurt ducked out in time) and launched his body out of bed. Stumbling into the shower, he turned it on as hot as it could go and wondered if anyone would miss him at the prom if he just stayed in the shower all night.
When he got out he saw that his mom had laid his freshly pressed tux next to a box containing the corsage he and Rachel had picked out earlier that week. The thought that in ten hours he would be placing it on the wrong girl tried to permeate his thoughts and Finn fought against it, reminding himself that he had chosen Quinn, she was his date, and that was that.
Kurt and Finn were taking their parents out for breakfast that morning, a tradition Kurt had started that Finn was rarely up in time for. He pulled on shorts and a t-shirt, dragging his fingers through his damp hair before running downstairs before Kurt could come looking for him.
"Great, you're here! Lets go!" Kurt announced as he grabbed his car keys and herded the blended family out the door. Carole wrapped her arm around her son as they exited the house and grinned up at him.
"My little boy – all grown up and going to prom!" She gushed as Finn flushed slightly. "It's just prom, mom," was what came out of his mouth. His mother looked at him skeptically.
"It wasn't 'just prom' a few months ago... I seem to recall you already asking me how my prom with your father went because you wanted to make sure everything went okay when it was your turn."
"Yeah, well, a few months ago I was - " Finn trailed off before completing the thought. A few months ago I was dating Rachel, was how he completed the thought in his head.
"Nevermind. Lets eat!" He forced a smile onto his face and followed his family into the restaurant.
Finn arrived to pick Quinn up at six o'clock that evening. She made her grand entrance in what a dress that should have knocked Finn over, but instead he forced his eyes to remain on her.
"Wow, you look beautiful," he commented as she finished descending the staircase and he gave her the corsage (he wasn't quite sure what to do with it and he didn't trust himself to put it on her). He and Rachel had done a great job picking it out. It matched and Quinn seemed pleased as she took his arm and they stood for the obligatory pictures taken by her mother and Finn's mom and stepdad, who had met them there. Kurt and Blaine were waiting outside in the limo that was to take all four of them to prom.
With one last click of the camera, Quinn began leading Finn to the door. Carole gave her son a kiss on the cheek and a whispered "have fun!" into his ear as Quinn led him into the limo, across from Blaine and Kurt. Quinn didn't let up on his arm the entire ride and by the time they arrived at the school Finn's arm was sufficiently numb.
"Now is the time we really need to campaign if we want to be prom king and queen," Quinn instructed him as they gave their tickets to a parent volunteer at the door and entered the decorated gym. Finn looked at her incredulously.
"What about enjoying prom? I thought you said this was supposed to be the 'best time in a young woman's life.' How can you enjoy anything about it if you're worried about becoming prom queen the whole night?"
Quinn sighed. "We can enjoy prom – after we win!" She tugged his arm and led him into the throng of people on the dance floor. Finn glanced at her but a flash of pink caught his eye and he was drawn to the sight – Rachel stood at the entrance to the gym in a pink dress that made her look even more beautiful than usual. She was giggling and talking to Sam and Mercedes, who she had arrived with, and Finn began to walk toward them before Quinn noticed and gave him a questioning stare. When he looked up again, Rachel had just crossed into the gym, glancing behind her as if she was waiting for someone else as well. Then the next person stepped into the gym, and Finn's heart caught in his throat.
It was Jesse St. James.
What was he doing here? Finn knew that Jesse had been around that week, but he never would have dreamed that Rachel would ask him to prom – not after what he did to her!
His thoughts ran on autopilot as he let himself be dragged along with Quinn as she chatted up everyone in a desperate bid to drum up votes. He said all the right things – he thought so at least, but since Quinn wasn't shooting daggers at him he was pretty sure he was doing okay – but his thoughts kept returning to Rachel.
And Jesse.
Rachel and Jesse.
It just didn't make any sense. He had to find out what was going on.
"I need to use the bathroom." He interrupted Quinn as she was talking to a group of juniors she had never talked to before. She let go of his hand and he made his way toward the exit, spotting Rachel along the way as she was laughing with Mercedes at a table in the corner. He couldn't miss Jesse sitting next to her, his arm on the back of her chair.
"Hey!" Finn announced with a grin as he walked up to the table, addressing everyone though his eyes stayed only on one, whose eyes were sparkling brighter than he had ever seen them before.
"Finn!" Rachel exclaimed before jumping up and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "How's prom going?"
"Great!" Finn lied, relishing the feel of his ex-girlfriend in his arms before she seemed to realize that she was holding on a bit too long and stepped out of his embrace, returning to her seat.
"Mercedes, St. James." Finn acknowledged Mercedes with a one-armed hug and Jesse with a kurt nod.
"Does Quinn know you're here?" Rachel questioned, looking slightly worried.
"Well, I told her I had to use the bathroom but then I saw you three sitting over here on my way back so I decided to come say hello!" Finn said with a fake cheerfulness.
"Looks like they're about to announce prom queen and king," Jesse said with a pointed look at Finn. "Perhaps you should get back to your girlfriend." Luckily, the sentiment seemed to be lost on Rachel. Finn's eyes narrowed slightly before he stood up.
"Good luck, Finn," Mercedes said, and Rachel reached out and squeezed his hand, obviously sensing his discomfort.
"Alright, well, I'll see you later," Finn began the walk back to Quinn, when he felt a hand clap down on his shoulder.
"I see right through you, Hudson," Jesse's words were spoken quietly but Finn heard them clearly.
"You can't handle that Rachel finally saw through you and realized that I'm the better man for her," he continued, as Finn tried to get rid of him as he made his way through the crowd.
"Get lost, St. James. I'm not in the mood for it."
"Oh, so you wouldn't care if I took Rachel home after this then? She's a hot little thing, isn't she? Feisty. I bet she would be great in - "
That was it.
"I told you to GET LOST!" Finn said through clenched teeth.
"And I told you that after prom I was going to - " He never managed to finish his sentence because suddenly he had thrown a punch, Jesse was on the ground with blood pouring from his nose, and Principal Figgins was pulling them apart.
"That's it – OUT! BOTH OF YOU!" The principal hollered. "I will not stand for this at William McKinley! Your parents will be called! Wait in my office – now!"
The last thing Finn saw as he exited the gym was Rachel's face, white with shock as Mercedes, Sam and Kurt surrounded her.
Out of school suspension. Two days.
Finn sat on the school steps twenty minutes later as he waited for his mom to pick him up. Jesse had already left, a tissue shoved up his nose to stop the blood from getting all over his convertible. Finn hoped it did.
Finn was not a violent person, and he did regret punching Jesse like that. But Jesse had deliberately baited him. What made him think he could talk about Rachel that way? The door opened and soft heels clacked on the pavement before another body sat next to him.
"Rachel?" Finn turned to look at her in surprise as she faced forward. It was then that he saw her face – a darkening mark on her right cheek.
"Rachel! What happened?" On impulse he reached out to touch her face gently. She pushed his hand away.
"Nothing. Nothing important." She said quietly, before turning to face him.
"What happened with you?" Rachel asked, her eyes turned on his. Finn explained everything – minus what Jesse had said because she didn't need to hear that – and Rachel sighed.
"I thought we had talked and you had agreed to respect whoever I chose to date." Rachel's voice was sad and it hit Finn – he had hurt her, too. How could he expect her to wait for him when, for all intents and purposes, he had moved on?
Except – he hadn't.
"Rach, I don't know," he began, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before continuing. "I guess I've been struggling with these feelings for a long time and this week was so hard because I knew - I knew – that I was taking the wrong girl to prom. Then I saw you tonight with him and... everything just exploded. I don't know. I just knew that I couldn't handle seeing you with anybody that wasn't... me." He finished, letting the words hang in the air for a bit.
"Finn, you broke up with me," Rachel began. "Do you have any idea how much that hurt? Especially when you went back to Quinn – the girl who had cheated on you – the same thing you accused me of. I wasn't always in the right either, but it hurt, Finn. Was I supposed to just wait for you? What was I supposed to think?" Tears gathered in her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks. Finn wanted nothing more than to gather her to him and tell her that everything was going to be okay – that they would be okay.
"Can we try to work this out, Rachel? I care about you. A lot. You asked me a long time ago what I saw when I kissed you and I didn't have an answer. When we kiss, Rach, I see my future. With you. It's corny, I know, but you make me believe that I can be great. And I want to be great. For you, and for myself. Rach – I love you. I never stopped."
The tears came then and Finn crushed her to his chest, rocking her until the tears subsided.
"I care about you, Finn. Lets try again. No secrecy, no lies – just us." Rachel looked at him and he wiped her cheeks as he stood up and pulled her with him.
"Just us," he repeated. "I like the sound of that." As his mom pulled into the parking lot he extended a hand to her, which she took.
"Lets go home."