Title: Sun-KissedRating: PGFandom: GleeWords: 1568Characters: Rachel, Finn, Quinn, Santana, Brittany, OC, mentions of Puck, Kurt, Mike, and Matt.Summary: Rachel finds herself as Finn's date to the jocks' end-of-the-year pool party.
Brittany and Santana throw an end of the summer pool party, but in typical Cheerio fashion, she doesn't invite any of the Glee kids that don't play sports. So much for their heartfelt confessions at the end of the year, the ones about not hating the rest of the Gleeks and signing "Friends Forever" in every yearbook in site. Apparently matching their red bikini tops to their Cheerios skirts is more important.
When Rachel walks in under a spaghetti-strapped purple cover-up, they somehow manage to be out of the pool in two seconds. Santana narrows her eyes, "What is she doing here?" Brittany waves and smiles, Santana grabs her hand and shoots her a look.
"I'm…um…I just-" God, why didn't she just walk from down the block instead of having him drop her before she parked.
"She's here with me," Finn strolls in and puts an arm around her, smiling goofily. Rachel feels herself grin in spite of herself. 'I'm here with him!' Her mind squeals happily.
"We never said you could bring a date," Santana hisses, putting a hand on her hip. "There are no dates allowed."
Brittany's famous look of confusion crawls across her face, "Wait, but you said it was okay that Puck brought Quinn-"
"That was different," She grumbles, thickening her glare. "Quinn will be on the Cheerios again just a soon as she looses the baby weight."
Rachel swallows, "It's okay," She tries her best to give them her usual peppy smile. "I'll just go get pizza while Finn's here. See you at Glee-" She turns to leave and Finn catches her hand.
"She's my girlfriend and if she leaves, I leave," He tells them pointedly.
"God," Santana scoffs. "Fine, but just don't talk to anyone unless they talk to you first. I don't want to deal with cleaning slushie out of my pool." And she's off, pulling Brittany alongside her to where Mike, Matt, and a few lacrosse players are standing near the food table.
"Finn, I'm really okay. I don't really care about being here," In fact, she's dreading him seeing her in her pink-and-purple spotted takini with all of these toned, tanned, perfectly-sculpted stomachs surrounding her. It's a good thing she lacks a gag reflex, because otherwise she'd probably already be in the bathroom throwing up the nachos her dads made her as a pre-first date snack.
"Rach, look, I know they're not always nice, but these are my friends, and they can be your friends too." He squeezes her hand and she feels a smile tugging at her lips. "You've just got to believe in yourself here the way you believe in yourself on-stage."
She can feel her heart beating a mile per minute in her chest, "Really?"
He nods, smiling, "Yeah, absolutely. Except," He adds as an afterthought, "Santana was probably right about not talking to anyone first." She feels her face fall a little, "Just, you know, until you get to know them a little better.
"DUDE!" Some redheaded kid Rachel thinks she's seen on the bench at Finn's basketball games before comes up and puts a hand on his shoulder. "This your new girlfriend, man? What happened to Santana?"
"We were never really dating," Finn mumbles as he watches Rachel bite her lip. "I only went out with her like twice, and once Brittany was there."
"DUDE!" Carrot top repeats, holding his hand out for Finn to slap. "Both of them? You gotta tell Harris this," He motions for Finn to follow him inside to where a few people are dancing.
"You okay?" He asks Rachel, "I'll just be gone for a minute. You could, you know, swim and stuff."
"Absolutely," Rachel nods, trying to give it her usual gusto. "I'm sure I'll find something to do to entertain myself."
"Okay," Finn grins, walking away clumsily, elbowing a girl and almost causing her to spill her drink. "I'll be right back," He turns back for a second before getting lost in the sea of people.
"Swimming," Rachel fingers the hem of her skirt, watching two cheerleaders on top of muscled-male shoulders. Their thighs gleam in the sun and she lets it fall again. "I just ate, I shouldn't swim." She looks around at all the sun-kissed jocks floating around her, trying to find Kurt or Mike or even Santana to talk to, but she doesn't see anyone she knows. Just a sea of people who have been in her classes since kindergarten but have never daned to lower themselves enough to talk to her. There's one girl, small and oriental-looking who seems just as lost as she does nearby, but Santana's words ring in her head. 'Just don't talk to anyone unless they talk to you first,' And she shuts her mouth before any words can leave her lips.
She tries to tell how much time has passed since Finn left by what songs have played on the radio. "Good Girls Go Bad" is about three minutes of people grinding against each other. The "Down" song everyone echoes is a little more than that. By the end of the next three-and-a-half of Ke$ha's TiK ToK she's starting to freak out.
As Miley's Can't Be Tamed starts thumping, and she's trying to keep from panicking by mentally pointing out everything that's ridiculous in the music video, she feels a tap on her shoulder. "Finn!" She turns around and throws her arms around the figure behind her, only to find that it's entirely too short to be her boyfriend. She pulls back and looks into a familiar pair of pretty green eyes. "Oops," She pulls back clasping her hands. "I'm a little nervous, this is my first party."
She shakes out her blond hair over her white sundress and smiles, "I couldn't tell."
Rachel blushes. How could she have just done that? She feels the awkwardness spreading, widening, "Um, where's Noah?"
Quinn points a finger behind her to where Puck is leaning against the fence, watching with a sour look on his face as Mike and Matt are showing off their dance moves to the cheerleaders approval, "He's not in a very good mood today." She doesn't add to it, and Rachel wonders he's upset over the baby or something else.
"Finn left to go talk to some guy called Harris about fifteen minutes ago and he hasn't come back," She glances at the sliding door again, willing for him to come fumbling out of them.
"They're playing foosball in the basement," Quinn says flippantly, staring vacantly across the yard. "Brit's dad has a game room down there and every time we used to come here Finn used to disappear down there." A slight smile darts across her face, "God, the first time he had my keys and I'd looked everywhere for him before he finally came upstairs. Of course, then it was an hour past curfew and Daddy nearly turned him into the police over it." She shakes her head, "God, that feels like forever ago." Rachel stares at her for a moment, and starts to feel guilt boiling in her stomach, even though she knows the end of their relationship had nothing to do with her.
"I'm sorry," Rachel says abruptly. "I know you really loved him, and I know you really hate me, I just-"
Quinn smiles at her, "I know." She shoots a glance at Puck, who seems about five seconds from giving Kurt an atomic wedgie. "You don't really choose who you have feelings for."
Rachel nods. 'Oh my god! I'm having a heart-to-heart with Quinn Fabray! Quick, say something.' "So are you two-"
She glares at her, "It's personal."
"Sorry, sorry," Okay, so they aren't best friends or anything yet. "I'll just um…" She stares at the swimming pool. "I just really don't want to have to swim with these girls. They're like models and I'm…have you ever seen Hairspray?" Quinn gives her a look. "Never mind then. They're just really, really perfect."
"I know, I just had a baby and suddenly I'm supposed to be one of them again." She lowers her voice, eyes darkening. "I have stretch marks where no-one should."
Rachel nods, "That's perfectly normal though. What's my excuse?" Quinn burst out in laughter. "What?" She keeps laughing and Rachel feels like she might cry. "That's just mean, I'm not that mortifying."
Quinn shakes her head, "You said it was normal." Her smile is almost bitter, "Nothing about having a kid at 16 is normal." She glances and sees Puck motioning to her, "I'll see you at Glee or whatever." And with that, her perfect blond hair flounces over her shoulder and she walks off towards the gate.
The shy-looking Asian girl approaches Rachel in awe, "You're friends with Quinn Fabray?" She asks, as if Rachel were any of the rest of these perfect girls.
Rachel hesitates, watching her walk away, "You could say that."
"Oh my god, that's so cool!" The girl practically squeals. "I'm Angela Chang," She blushes. "I'm on the JV Field Hockey team."
Rachel smiles, "You're Mike's little sister!"
"You know Mike?" She squeaks, "That's so cool! Are you a cheerleader?"
Rachel shakes her head proudly, "I'm in Glee club."