Full Title: The Stars Will Lead Me To You (They Always Have)

I can't sleep.

It's 4:03 a.m. and I can't sleep. My eyes are wide open, staring at my Barbara Streisand poster for the past hour.

It's 4:03 a.m., I can't sleep - I need my beauty sleep - and I'm marrying Finn tomorrow.

I inhale deeply and exhale as I rustle back and forth in my bed.

I want to marry Finn, right?

I furrow my eyebrows as I pondered that question.

Well, of course I do. He's who I've wanted for the past three years. He's sweet, caring - he's always been there. He's safe. Comfortable.

I push my blankets down to my feet and get up to grab my wedding dress. It's white, basic but elegant. Pure. I hold it against myself to see how I'd look with it on me in the mirror, turning my body left and right to view at all angles.

This is - this is what I want. I take one more deep breathe to calm my jitters, but it seems to have the opposite effect, making my heart beat more erratic, like it's panicking.

I look at myself straight in the mirror.

My life will begin after I marry Finn. I nod once to reassure myself that this isn't a mistake, and I head back to bed.

I love him, and that's enough of a reason to want to marry someone. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, with one bold, fleeting thought:

Then why does it feel like I'm settling?

XXXXX

"Rachel, we need to go now or else we're going to lose our slot."

"Just - let's just wait for Quinn, Finn. She'll be here. I don't want to start the wedding without her." He glares at me with a mixture of disbelief and irritation. Right now, I don't care how he feels. I'm the bride, damn it. He doesn't get to be Bridezilla; I do. I turn around to check on my phone in my purse.

"ON MY WAY," it reads.

"She'll be here," I mumble to myself.

"She's not coming, Rachel," she snipes resolutely as she looks as her nails. No one asked for your opinion, Santana.

"Baby, be nice," Brittany chastises. She whispers something else in Santana's ear that I can't hear, and Santana responds in a realizing tone, "Oh yeah!"

"Yeah," Tina adds, "she was pretty against the wedding." Shut it, Tina.

"I was against the wedding but I came anyway to support her," Kurt remarks as he's fixing his hair in the mirror. "If Quinn cares about her like we all know she does, she'll come. Have faith in Quinn, geez."

"Hey," the pastor greets with a knock on the door. We all turn our heads at the sound. He looks unqualified to be a pastor. Is that even possible? He has a bushy beard and wavy hair that makes him look like Jesus, and the resemblance doesn't end there. He's wearing open-toed shoes, a toga, and a lip piercing.

"So like, you guys seriously need to be heading to the chapel and down the aisle or you won't be going at all today, bros," he says in a stoned voice. Oh dear god, he's high. "Shaka brah, dudes," he says as he stumbles out of the room. He's barely able to walk in a straight line and we expect him to conduct my ceremony that may or may not be the most important day of my life? I clench my hands at the thought.

"Rach, we can't wait for Quinn forever. Let's go," Finn pleads like this is his only chance, for what I'm not sure.

I glance at my phone again. No new messages. Quinn's not going to be here on time. Why isn't she here?

I resign myself to fate. "O-okay," I manage to stutter out as he grins as though he's won. He holds out his arm for me to take and I loop my arm around his. It doesn't make me feel any more secure, and it doesn't alleviate this awful churning in my stomach.

Something's wrong, I think as we depart out of the room.