Despite having a football scholarship to Ohio State University, Finn Hudson was still heavily involved in a Glee Club. This was partially because he felt as though he owed it to Mr. Schuester for having given him such a glowing recommendation to go with his university application, but also because Glee had given him a chance to express himself through song, since Finn never was good at articulating his feelings - or articulating in general. It also may have been part of an attempt to impress Rachel who, true to her word, had gone to New York to pursue her dreams of performing on Broadway along with Finn's stepbrother and his boyfriend, and had yet to contact Finn to let him know how things were going.
During Glee rehearsal one day, a rather heated debate began over whether or not the new stars of Wicked could compare to Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. In the middle of the debate, which Finn was barely paying attention to since he only vaguely knew the musical because of Kurt and Rachel's competition to sing Defying Gravity, he heard something that piqued his interest.
"Rachel Berry, the girl playing Elphaba, was one of the soloists at Nationals a couple years back. She has a great range and pitch, so I think she'll do pretty well. She even looks like she could be Idina Menzel's daughter; the resemblance is sort of freaky..."
"Dude, what if she is, like, her long-lost daughter that was put up for adoption or something?"
This absurd comment was what snapped Finn out of his musings about Rachel's new-found success, causing him to blurt out, "Hey guys, why don't we go see Wicked? Then we can see how good Rachel is – I mean, see if she does the part justice and stuff."
About two dozen pairs of eyes stared at Finn incredulously as everyone in the room turned to look at him, causing Finn to shift in his chair nervously. This quiet contemplation continued just long enough to make Finn feel uncomfortable before the self-appointed leader, who Finn believed was named Wes, finally spoke.
"Our junior member has a point – the only way to settle this debate is to see the musical, so that you can have an informed opinion. For those of us who are less versed in show-stopping Broadway numbers, this would be helpful and may work in our favor during our performances." He paused. "However, it would be fairly expensive and we would be missing a few days of classes. All those in favor?"
An overwhelming number of the Glee club members raised their hands, with some even going so far as to raise them both.
"All those opposed?"
There was a period of silence. Finn looked around the room, happily noting that no one was raising their hand.
"It's been decided," Wes began, abandoning all formality. "We're going to see Wicked! In New York, baby!"
As the room erupted into cheers, high-fives and hugs all around, Finn couldn't help but smile. He was going to see Rachel again; he just hoped she was as excited to see him as he was to see her.
It was an incredibly long bus ride, sparking the group to create a mash-up of Wheels on the Bus and 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. It sounded surprisingly good and lasted for nearly an hour before Wes got annoyed and started banging his textbook against the seat behind him, demanding that order be restored on the bus. Due to the threatening nature of that action, the bus fell silent, leaving Finn alone with his imaginings of how his reunion with Rachel would go.
Finn exited the theater after Wes and the rest of the group, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl he still loved. As he was passing a half-closed door, Finn heard her voice.
"Of course it was amazing, I was singing lead!"
Finn rolled his eyes affectionately; even after all the time spent with the New Directions, she still believed in her superior vocals, and rightfully so. He inched closer to the door, pressing his ear against it and attempting to peer through the crack.
"I didn't expect anything less from you, babe. You're one of the best vocalists I know; they'd have had to be crazy not to give you the lead." There was a pause before the male voice said, "It's the Vocal Adrenaline genes in you."
Finn thought that the voice was familiar, though he couldn't quite place it, causing him to lean against the door to get a better view of the room. However, Finn appeared to have forgotten that the door was already partially opened; as he leaned against it, he ended up falling through the door frame and landed with an undignified thud on the floor.
"What the – Finn? Is that really you?"
Slightly dazed from the fall, Finn raised his head slowly, staring into a pair of concerned brown eyes. Taking this as confirmation that he was, indeed, Finn, the petite brunette hugged him tightly and immediately began questioning him on his school's Glee club's practices and song choices before launching into the story of her success.
This story, however, was unsubtly interrupted by the sounds of one clearing his throat, causing Rachel and Finn to quickly jump apart.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your touching reunion but Rachel, darling, we've a dinner reservation for 8 so we really should get going."
Finn turned toward the male voice, stiffening visibly as he recognized the figure. "Jesse? Jesse St. James?" Finn turned to Rachel, a mixture of hurt and confusion clearly displayed on his face. "What is he doing here?"
"Well – you see – we -," Rachel began, looking at her knees, the wall, the window - anything but Finn. "We're together now. We have been since shortly after I moved here."
Finn opened his mouth, as if to say something, but nothing came out. He closed it, then opened it again, but was still unable to speak. Finally Finn seemed to regain control of his ability to speak, saying, "But, Rachel, I still love you. And, well, I thought you loved me too. I thought we could make this work, even with the distance."
Rachel shook her head sadly. "Before I left McKinley, I told you that we would make the best of the time that we had before graduation to be together and we did that. Then graduation came along; you went one way to pursue your dreams and I went in a completely different direction to pursue mine. I do still love you, but you're not of this world," she said simply, sweeping her arms out as if to encompass the room, the theater and New York itself. "Jesse is. He's been given callbacks for several productions and is often called in to assist with one of the local Glee clubs to help prepare them for Nationals. That's why I can't be with you, Finn; you just don't belong here."
Finn stared in shock as Jesse took Rachel's hand and the two of them exited the room, not once looking back.
Finn spent the rest of the day in quiet contemplation of what Rachel had said. His fellow Glee club members noticed immediately that something was wrong but were respectful enough to leave Finn alone with his thoughts, telling him that they would be there for him if he needed someone to talk to.
He was trying to think of a song to sing that would describe his feelings, but the only one that came to mind was "Jesse's Girl," which reminded him of the first time that Rachel had dated Jesse. Finn was so absorbed in this painful memory that he didn't notice the girl standing in the middle of the sidewalk until he had run into her, almost knocking her over.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you there! I was -" Finn started.
"I do hope that's not a comment on my height," the girl said with a laugh, raising her head so that she could look Finn in the eye and wink.
Finn's jaw dropped visibly; the girl in front of him was beautiful. Her soft green eyes were framed by long, dark lashes, her short brown hair that curled ever so slightly at the ends, and her smile was dazzlingly white and perfect.
The girl just winked again before pulling out her phone and exclaiming "Oh, wow, is it really that time already? I'm sorry, but I have to go; I'm late for work."
Instead of leaving, however, the girl scrounged around in her purse, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, wrote something down, and then handed it to Finn.
"Since it's your fault I'm late and all, here's my number. Call me when you decide you want to take me out for coffee to make up for this." The girl winked at Finn again, waved, and left.
Finn looked down at the piece of paper in his hands, memorizing the neat, loopy writing. He smiled. Rachel may be gone, but he'd find someone like her – starting with the girl he met in the street.