Author's Note. ; One-Shot taking place in Season 2 Episode 2. I don't own Stay – Jesse Thomas or The Only Exception – Glee, and I definitely don't own Glee, so can we get to it now? And yes, I am a newcomer of the Glee Fanfiction. (Previously have been on SWAC fanfics.)
So Out of Touch
"Rachel," Finn speaks, his eyes pleading. "You can't ask me to choose between you and football." He speaks as if it's an impossible decision.
"Well," She says, drawing out a breath. "I am." She walks out of the locker room, and takes one last glance at him before leaving the room.
Once the door shuts, he looks up with a frustrated sigh on his face, and punches the locker closest to him. "Ah," He hisses at his hand hurting. He walks out the door, with his helmet in his hand, and to the football field.
As he's playing and practicing, and trying to prove to Coach Beiste that he really did belong there, he can't help but wonder if he would miss this as much as Rachel.
Finn knows he's not playing football for the reputation it had given him. Maybe so at first, but now he doesn't care as much. After all, he is in Glee club, and dating Rachel, right? Let's not forget the red shower curtain moment… Well, anyways. He wasn't playing football for the reputation; he had just grown to… actually like it.
Once the practice is over, Finn heads to the showers, and remembers that this was really where it all started. Not when he stayed in Glee club even with the option to leave, but actually when he was singing in this shower, leading him to a club he almost wanted to call family.
Once he's done, he dries himself and walks over to the sub-choir room, where Glee was being held. On his way, he stops at his locker, where Quinn surprises him, by saying they should date again. He's shocked that she would propose that, even quoting 'with the nastiness behind us'. Who said it was fully behind them? But still, he knows she'll always be his first girlfriend, but that can't help how uncomfortable he feels when he pulls his books out of his locker.
First of all, he can almost see it's an act. If she really still loved him, and had always loved him… she wouldn't have cheated. Just like it helped him realize he never fully loved her, since he kissed Rachel (several times) while he was with Quinn.
"Look, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have feelings for you. Probably always will," (It was Rachel who taught him honesty is pretty good at its points.) He shuts his locker, and looks back at her. "But I'm not going to get back together with you." He sees her look at the ground for a split second, and knows that in time she'll see that she didn't love him, just the title, the idea. But all of that has changed. She was off the Cheerios for a while now, she knew what it was like to be left out in the cold. He almost wants to point out that he knows she's changed since she gave birth to Beth, even if she's acting like Head Drama Queen again. He knows that she loved that baby (which wasn't his), and that maybe she even liked Puck. He's proud of her for that, but it's still Rachel. It will always be Rachel, more. "There's someone else, and you know who that is. I'm asking you to respect that. I'm sorry." And with that he walks away from her.
Finn reaches the choir room, and sits in a far right corner, not sure if he should leave a chair open beside him for Rachel. Finn thought his proposition had been enough for her. Was it his fault? Was she looking for more than him showing the whole school that she was his girl?
Rachel walks in the latest, and sits in the front. Guess he didn't have to save a seat for her after all. The minute Mr. Shuester walks in, she raises her hand, interrupting him.
"I have a song I've prepared for the class." She says, something in her voice softer than her usual bossy self. (Not that Finn didn't love that. It was even hot at some points.)
"Sorry, Rachel. No Britney." Finn notices her mouth begins to protest, but Mr. Shue continues. "Look, I'm really happy that her music has inspired so many of you, even if that inspiration was brought on by a dangerous narcotic. I think we've all come to appreciate her music and celebrity so much more this week, but honestly, she's just not us."
"I am devastated," Kurt speaks, shaking his head dramatically. "I can't believe we only got to do one Britney number."
Ignoring him, Rachel speaks. "I was actually going to something from our assignment last week. Adult Contemporary. But this is just a little bit more, young adult." She says with a little laugh that falters.
Finn notices, and swallows his throat to try and keep back from rushing over to her side for comfort.
"Oh," Mr. Shuester says, calmly and understanding. "Okay, Rachel. Let's hear it."
"I'd like to dedicate this song to my boyfriend, Finn." Finn's tips of his mouth rise after hearing that. They're not broken up, which is a relief to him. Even if she promised last week she never would break up with him, it was still nice to hear. "I was wrong, I shouldn't try to control you."
His smile fades, and he wants to rush to her (again) to protest and say how wrong he was, and that he would quit football for her, but instead he decides to hear her out. "I've just, I've never been this happy before. And I realized, that I was trying to hold onto how you were making me feel so much that I was strangling you in my hands like a little bird. I get now that in order for this relationship to work, that I have to open up my hands and let you fly free."
He marvels at her. (He's known along she was good with words.) This was different, it wasn't planned, and her voice was so soft in her speech, he almost wants to cry. She's never been that happy before? It's because of him? He inhales, ready for her song.
He hears Brittany say something, but he's not really focused on that, or how Mercedes shushes her. He's more focused on the beautiful talented girlfriend in the front of the room.
He notices her song choice after the first couple lines, and isn't really too into Paramore, but because she's singing it, he doesn't mind at all.
'You are the only exception!' She belts out, with a tear down her face, making him want to cry too. He's never loved anyone this much, and as she opens her eyes with a large smile on her face, he smiles too. 'And I'm on my way to believing. I'm on my way to believing.'
Everyone claps and cheers and stands up to surround her, but he gets there first. She opens her mouth to speak, but he places both of his hands on her cheeks and kisses her with his eyebrows fixed, as if it's the last kiss they'll have. But it's not. He knows it's not.
Finn pulls away, and Rachel gives him that gorgeous smile of hers with those big brown eyes he loves to stare into.
He walks her to her locker, and they head off to their separate (but final) classes of the day. Once he's done, Finn's at his locker, chatting with Santana and Brittany about how in practice Coach Beiste was yelling at whoever dumped the water bin in her office. They laughed, and he looked up for a split second, and saw Rachel standing alone. He smiled, and shut his locker, not giving Santana or Brittany a second glance as he walked right through them, and over to his girlfriend. He held out his hand, and she gladly took it, flashing that grin of hers toward him.
"Do you want to go to the auditorium?" She asks, once the school clears out more as they walk through the hallways.
"Uh, yeah. Sure." He says, smiling at her. They make their way over through the doors, and on stage he sees a red blanket on the ground, with some food on it. He can't help but laugh at the irony of it.
"Well, I have one more song. If that's okay..?" Rachel asks. He nods, still having that gleam in his eyes ever since she sang to him.
She plays the stereo with the track. He hears a acoustic guitar and piano, but not much else. She looks a little scared in her eyes, to sing. Although he's never known her for having fears to sing in front of people.
"I'm so out of touch these days.
I act out in the wrong ways.
My mouth moves faster than my brain."
Her eyes are even more tear-filled than they were in Glee club. And he knows exactly why. Rachel's reflecting on her actions of keeping away Sunshine, of how she suggested he 'break up with her. It's was only a matter of time.' Of how she was going to make him choose between football and her. He looks at her with sadness, but still with love. Finn's always going to look at her with love.
"I've done you wrong; I've made mistakes.
You've seen the darkest side of me.
But please don't think of me that way."
He lets her continue, not sure of whether to protest everything she's singing or tell her that it was all a lie. She has made mistakes, and done him wrong. But so has he. He broke up with her because of his reputation, slept with Santana out of jealousy.
"Would it be too much to ask, to remember the girl who made you laugh?"
"Okay, stop." He cuts her off, looking at her with pleading in his eyes. By now, she's crying into his shirt, and his arms are around her. "You think you're the only one who's made mistakes?" He says, not needing to tell her them though, since they took care of all the Santana/Jesse drama over the summer. "Listen, Rachel. It's okay about how you're acting lately. I already told you I would never break up with you."
She looks up at him, and sees that his eyes are honest. "I'm sorry." She whispers. "I was pushing you away, because being with you felt too good. Like we wouldn't last long or something would happen. I shouldn't have been the one to cause that though."
"You didn't." He says casually. "We're still together, aren't we? And we will be for a while. I thought we made that clear last week. But just in case…" He lets a breath out. "I love you, Rachel. And I'll never break up with you."
"I love you, too." She says, a smile on her face.
"Now…can we please put this behind us, and eat your picnic? I know your vegan and all, but I'm still hungry." Finn says smiling guiltily.
She laughs, and wipes away the tears from her eyes as she nods. "Yeah, okay." She pulls out a drink, and winks at him. "Virgin Cosmo?"
Finn laughs. "What else?"
Fin.
Don't like how it ended, but oh well.
