A/N: I don't own Glee nor the characters within.
Rachel stared down at Finn. All of her attention focused on the ring in his hand she slowly, slowly, let out a breath of air, shifted her weight back, and dropped her head.
"Rache?" Finn asked, beginning to feel concerned, but was cut off when Rachel whipped her hand up, "Shht."
"Hey, Rache – "
"Shht!" Rachel again cut him off. Her shoulders shook, and when he tried to speak one more time, she snapped her head up and glared at him. "Can you not just shut up?" she pressed angrily, taking a step back and shaking her finger at him when he got to his feet.
Eyebrows furrowing, Finn looked like he was close to crying, staring at her with complete confusion on his face. "What did I do?"
"What did – What did you do?" Rachel snapped, her whole body bristling as she tensed to begin a ruthless tearing down – when she suddenly stopped. "Okay. Okay…" She let out a deep breath of air, body sagging, "No. I'm sorry." Almost whispering under her breath, she shook her head, tears crowding in her eyes. "I can't do this anymore." Looking up at Finn, she shook her head again and started backing away.
"Rachel?" Finn took a step forward, voice breaking, but Rachel sped up.
"No. No, Finn. I can't do this."
His face beginning to screw up, Finn yelled after her desperately, "Do what?"
Glancing behind her when she reached the auditorium door, Rachel swallowed. Pushing it open, the loud echo of it slamming shut behind her offered a complete and final tone to her whispered, "Pretending."
Staring down at the ring box in his hand, tears started slipping down Finn's cheeks. "Pretending?" he asked the air. "Pretending what?"