Summary: Seven years ago, Finn Hudson let Rachel Berry slip away, but never really moved on. Seven years ago, Rachel Berry didn't try to hang on Finn Hudson, but never really let go. Now living different lives with completely different paths is it possible to recapture the one that got away?
A/N: It has been a LONG time since I've written ANYTHING. Therefore I don't have a beta and this is my first shot at a Glee fic. Something about being Glee-less until Sept has left a void inside of me that needs to be filled. I'm terrible at summaries so bear with me, I've got a rough outline of ideas for this story and I'm just gonna roll with it. The title comes from the title of a Matt Nathanson album that acted as 'soundtrack' that inspired this. I could recommend that everyone listen to the album songs from it will be popping up and playing a part in later chapter I believe.
Disclaimer: As awesome as it would be if I owned Glee, I don't. I just choose to imagine the possibilities with the characters.
Prologue Part One: His Spot
If you take a left and go down River road, in the opposite direction of town, you'll find a spot nestled between banks of trees where the ground flattens out and you can sit on the levee and just watch the river flow with the lights of the city in the background. If you get to that spot at the right time you can catch the sun reflecting over the water as it sets. It's the kind of spot most people seek out if they want a quiet retreat. Finn Hudson, however, discovered this spot purely by accident. During his first drive off campus, instead of taking a right to go into town, Finn misread the directions and took a left. After driving well long enough to realize he wasn't going anywhere near town, he finally pulled over to call his roommate, a local kid familiar with the city. But as he reached for his phone he took a glance out of the car window and noticed the clearing of grass between the trees, it seemed like a path calling his name, and who was he to ignore something calling his name.
The first time he sat on the levee's edge and watched the water, he felt a smile creep across his face, and hummed a familiar tune to himself, "Bye, bye Miss American Pie, drove the Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry," and before he knew he was singing at the top of his lungs, "And good old boys were drink whiskey and rye, singing this'll be the day that die." When he finished the song, Finn Hudson knew that for the remainder of his days in college, maybe even the remainder of his life, that clearing. That levee. That river. That spot. Would be his spot.
Pulling his truck to the side of the road and putting it in park, Finn let out a held breath as he moved to get out of the vehicle. It wasn't an uncommon scene, a late night trip to the levee was actually something he did at least once a week, but somehow something in him was always worried that the next time he tried to go to his spot, it would be gone. It had been almost seven years, since he accidentally stumbled across that spot and he sure as hell wasn't the same naïve kid from Lima, Ohio he was the day he found that. Okay well maybe he was still a bit naïve, he always told himself, but he knew he wasn't the same person. Walking through the unkempt grass and out to the levee's edge, he looked out at the lights reflecting into the water, the very first time he noticed this a sense of calm washed over him, and the same feeling still over takes even if just for a second when he sees those lights. Tonight shouldn't be any different than any other night spent on the levee for him. This was his peaceful place; where he came to relax, distress, unwind. Sometimes he would bring his guitar, a talent he acquired during his freshman year when he realized that drums were not only too small for a dorm room, but that any college neighbors he had likely would not be very tolerate of any practicing he did. It was there on the levee with his guitar, that he realized he actually had the ability to write a decent song. Well his first few attempts were pretty awful but somewhere around his attempt to write song six they started getting progressively better. Sometimes he would leave the guitar and go out there just to sing, at the top of his lungs as loud as he could, where no one would tell him to shut up, where he could relive high school and solos and glee through song.
But most nights he went out here, he went out there just to think. He's made many of his major life decisions on that levee. Even spent a night or two sleeping out there because he thought so much it made him tired, and well who was going to bother him all the way out there. And if someone did find him they would probably just think he was some kind of crazy homeless person or a drunk college kid sleeping it off and he didn't really care if people thought either of those things about him, so he didn't really see any harm in sleeping out there. But that hadn't happened that often. Sometimes when he didn't have anything to think about he would just go sit and let his mind be blank and the sense of peace and calm wash over him. He liked the way that felt. Like for a moment the Earth stopped moving and he could be in any moment of time he wanted to be in. It was those times when he'd watch the water and let his mind fill up with memories. So tonight shouldn't have been any different than any of his other trips to levee. Except tonight his mind only wanted to think about one thing. He couldn't explain it, and he hated the lump forming in his throat because he knew what it meant. Dangling his long legs off the edge, Finn ran his hands down his face and blew out another breath. Tonight was different because tonight all he could think about was her.