When she told him she wasn't taking her scholarship to Juilliard in the fall, they'd gotten into a fight. The only other time Finn had been that disappointed in her was their junior year of high school when she went behind his back and hooked up with Noah Puckerman out of revenge. But these days, Finn tried his hardest not to think about that. He was also trying to not think about the fact that next year, he'd be at Lima Community College while Rachel attended auditions for the Lima Community Theater. This wasn't how they were supposed to turn out. Maybe he was supposed to be a Lima Loser until the end of time, but Rachel was never destined to stay here. She was too big for Lima. She was worth too much for Lima. And the fact that she was sacrificing her dreams to be with him made him feel guilty. He didn't want to lose her, of course, but he also didn't want to see the girl he loved compromising herself for him. He had no plans for his future, and she was ready to go - she'd been ready since she could talk. As far as he was concerned, Rachel Berry could have skipped middle school and high school and shot straight up to Broadway fame. She'd always been too much for Mckinley High. He always knew she was more than all of them.. even the people he cared about. Sure, he loved all the other glee members but who were they kidding? The fights over Rachel getting solos as opposed to everyone else seemed so irreverent now. The solos mattered to her the most because for her, that was it. Unlike Quinn, she wasn't going to give up performing to become a real estate agent in Lima. Unlike Kurt, she wasn't going to go to design school to become the next Alexander McQueen. For Rachel Berry, that was it. She wanted it more than anything and Finn had always loved that about her.

But apparently he was wrong. The spark he'd once seen in her had faded since graduation. He would still find her curled up on the couch watch Funny Girl in her footie pajamas but Rachel Berry had changed. It was like he'd captured a song bird and stuck it in a cage; it wouldn't sing anymore, not if it wasn't in it's natural habitat.

Finn Hudson was sitting at his kitchen table, feverishly erasing a page full of math problems when he heard the front door open and close. He picked his pencil back up and tried to focus. He sketched an obtuse triangle out and then added in the appropriate angles. And then he stopped. Because he had no idea what came next.

"Finn," he heard a voice approaching and within seconds, he could feel a set of warm hands on his shoulders. "How's the math coming?"

He didn't answer at first. He was sitting here, struggling with simple geometry. He was struggling with simple geometry and he was a high school graduate.

"I want you to go to New York," he firmly said, staring straight ahead of him. He felt Rachel's hands let up on his shoulders and he could hear her feet shuffle back as she took a step away from the chair he was sitting in. Silence. "I want you to go to New York," Finn repeated.

"Finn, stop it..." Rachel quietly said. She was so tired of fighting with him about this. It was like they couldn't go a week without arguing. It kind of defeated the purpose of her staying in Lima with him.

"No," he firmly said. "I want you to go to New York."

Rachel cleared her throat and walked into his kitchen. She padded over towards the refrigerator and opened up the door. She gathered supplies for a grilled cheese and then dropped them onto the counter top. "Have you had lunch yet?" she casually asked him, unwinding the bread bag.

"Rach-"

"I'm not going to fight with you about this anymore, Finn," she said and then sighed, exasperated. She leaned against the kitchen counter and covered her face with her tiny hands. He knew she didn't like to talk about it. But she had to. He hated doing math, but, here he was...

"We wouldn't have to fight if you would listen to me and just go. This isn't you, Rachel. You're so much better than this. A year ago, I never would have expected you to still be here after we graduated. That was never part of your plan. What happened to being a star? What happened to the applause? What happened to Broadway?"

The tiny brunette reached up to finger the gold star around her neck but all she felt was her skin. She pinched the fleshy part of her neck and then frowned. She'd stopped wearing her signature gold star necklace when she realized her dreams were too big for her. "I'm scared, okay?" she said. "I'm scared, is that what you want to hear, Finn?" Rachel asked, her voice cracking. "I don't want to go. I can't go. It's so expensive. And what if I fail? What if-what if they hate me? What if they chew me up and spit me out and I have to come back here and hang my head in shame? Santana would never let that go," Rachel said, rolling her eyes at the thought. "And then there's you, Finn," she began.

"I'm breaking up with you," he quietly said.

Rachel just stared at him. "Finn, stop it.." she insisted.

Silence.

"If that's what I need to do to light a fire in you, then I'm breaking up with you."

"You're breaking up with me because you think it's going to hurt me enough for me to leave?"

Well, not exactly. But it was something like that. It had made sense in his head, at least. He just couldn't contribute to her long list of excuses anymore. "Ye-" His voice cracked. He wasn't trying to hurt her. He was trying to better her, why didn't she get that? It was like that saying.. when you love something, let it go or whatever. Set it free? Something like that.

"Fuck you, Finn," she quietly said.

Finn's eyebrows raised. "I'm just trying-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Rachel stomped out of his kitchen, solidifying her exit with the sound of his front door slamming. The effect was something she could never get in her usual choir room storm outs. Maybe some things really hadn't changed since high school.