Sunshine On A Cloudy Day
A/N: I do not own Glee or the characters in this story.
Takes place in between Sectionals and Hell-O
Enjoy this little fan fic about Finn coming to Rachel's rescue. Your reviews are always welcome, no matter how annoyingly critical they are :P.
Rachel Berry wasn't having the best day ever. She had experienced an ambush of slushies during lunch. Why would they do that in the middle of lunch? Where everyone can see the humiliation. She had been slushied before but never as bad as the one today. She can remember all the gasps as grape, strawberry, and blueberry slushies enveloped her in a sticky cocoon. Then a moment of silence passes, then a wave of laughter explodes among the McKinley student body. She kept her eyes glued to the cafeteria floor, staring down at her wet white knee high socks and wet red flats. Come on Berry be strong, she told herself. Sadly as the laughter continued, her emotions took over and tears started pouring down. Before she runs out of the cafeteria, she spots quarterback Finn Hudson staring at her. Why wasn't he laughing like the others? He just stood there looking at her with a blank look on his face. Looking at him looking at her made her run for the bathroom.
Rachel ran as far away from the cafeteria as her little feet would let her. She sees the girls' restroom and barges in. No one inside, good. She takes in a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears but she couldn't. She bawled for what seemed like hours. She washed her face and tried to clean her hair. After she got all the slushy out of her face and hair, she heads to her locker to get her clothes. Ever since she became a slushy target, she always brings extra clothes every day. When she arrives at her locker, she sees a tall, lanky, and awkward looking boy standing in front of it. How long has he been there?
She takes a deep breath and walks to her locker, ignoring the boy. Before she touched the dial, he clears his throat and says, "Hey."
Rachel looks at him, gives him a shy smile and dials her combination. She sighs as she looks into her locker, still a little surprised to find Finn Hudson at her locker. She waits for him to say something.
Finn takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry about what happened in the cafeteria," he blurts out.
She looks at him then turns away. What is she supposed to say? She turns to him. "You're sorry that your jock friends ambushed me today?" she asked coldly.
Finn nodded. "I know it's stupid that they always slushy you like everyday, but how can they not?" he asks shyly.
Rachel glares at him. "Whats that supposed to mean? Just because I don't succumb to being popular? Well I'm sorry if being different is a crime!" she answers raising her voice. She grabs her clothes, shuts her locker door, and runs back to the girls' bathroom, crying even more.
Finn sighs as he watches Rachel run to the bathroom. He puts his hands in his pockets and silently walks to the cafeteria. Azimio and Karofsky are going to pay for this, he thinks to himself. As he sits next to Puck in the cafeteria, he couldn't get the image of Rachel crying out of his head. All he wanted to do was hold her and tell her that he's there for her. He has nothing to feel guilty about, he broke up with Quinn since he found out that the baby is Puck's. Speaking of Puck, why am I sitting next to him? Finn asked himself.
Rachel changed into clean clothes. She felt fresh but still broken. Will she always be a slushy target? When will it end? Never, Rachel thinks. Than Finn enters her mind. He looked really guilty and he didn't do anything. She remembers his hurt expression at her outburst. She didn't mean to yell at him, it just happened. Rachel had so many things on her mind that the one person who reached out to her had to suffer her wrath. She felt sorry for yelling at him.
Before Spanish started, Rachel walked to her seat next to Finn. He was busy not being busy, he was just lost in thought. His brow forwarded as he tried to organize his mind so he could pay attention in class. Rachel smiles a little at how cute he looks deep in thought. She clears her throat and taps him on the shoulder. Finn turns to see Rachel standing next to him.
"Rachel," he breathes.
"Hi Finn," she takes a deep breath, "I want to apologize for my sudden outburst at my locker. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you, out of all people, you were a concerned friend. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry, Finn." Rachel sits in her seat.
Finn clears his throat. "Do you want to go bowling again? Like tonight at six?" he asks.
Rachel looks at him confused and then a smile finds it's way to her mouth. She nods and answers, "I'd love that."
Finn smiles and turns to face the board when he hears Mr. Schue walk in. Rachel couldn't help but smile as she looked at Finn, taking in his beauty. This time she had no reason to feel guilty about her intentions for Finn. Quinn and him were over and possibly never reconciling, so Rachel was free of guilt.
"Rachel," Mr. Schue calls.
She snaps out of her trance and answers, "Here."
Mr. Schue and the rest of the class laugh. Rachel looks around in confusion and asks, "What?" She looks at Finn.
Finn turns to her and whispers, "You have to conjugate the verb 'to play'."
Rachel nods and conjugates the verb "to play" when Mr. Schue is satisfied with her answer, she whispers a thank you to Finn. Finn chuckles a little and pats her thigh.
It was 5:30pm and Rachel Berry was having the most eventful day ever. Her worst day turned into a fond memory. The one person who brought light into the dark tunnel she was in had asked her out. Finn Hudson would be at her door any minute now. When he touched her, Rachel felt better. In that moment when his fingers touched her skin, Rachel felt at ease, like she wasn't slushied today.
Rachel looked at herself in her bathroom mirror, deciding wether to wear a red headband or not. She chose no headband.
"Rachel, Finn's here," Hiram Berry called from downstairs.
Rachel squealed. She cleared her throat and tried to compose a calm expression. She was excited all right, butterflies fluttered around her stomach.
"Coming," she yells back. She takes a few deep breaths, heads out of her bathroom, grabs her purse, and heads down the stairs.
As she sees Finn at the foot of her stairs, her body freezes. He looks wonderful under that lighting. She takes a deep breath and walks towards him.
"Be home at 11, Rachel," Leroy Berry commands looking at Finn. "And have fun," he smiles.
Rachel smiles and kisses both of her dads goodbye. Finn waves goodbye and they run to the car. Finn, too, is excited for the date. He opens her door, closes it when she's inside, and goes over to his side. He let's out a soft sigh as he enters his Corolla. They exchange shy glances as they drive to the bowling alley where they once kissed.
As the car pulls into the parking lot, Rachel touches Finn's arm. He looks at her worried then when he sees her expression he grins.
"What's wrong?" he asks taking the key out of the ignition.
"I haven't bowled since our last date," she answers shyly.
He let's out a soft chuckle and gently pats her arm. "Its ok," he replies.
Rachel smiles.
Once the bowling shoes were on, Finn forced Rachel to go first. She was alittle apprehensive to bowl first because she had asked Finn to put up the gutter guards and only little kids used them. Finn laughed and reassured her that he doesn't care about the gutter guards.
Rachel took a deep breath as she gripped the pink bowling ball. She walks to the lane, takes the ball back, and throws it forward with her right arm. She watches carefully as the ball rolls towards the pins and she knocks down 7 pins. She turns around to face Finn and she saw that he was shocked.
"You haven't bowled in awhile huh?" he asks sarcastically.
She chuckles. "Yes I haven't," she answers. She picks up the ball again and rolls a spare.
Finn walks up to her and laughs. "Are you hustling me, Rachel Berry?" he asks teasingly.
Rachel turns around, a huge smile on her face. "No, I'm just good," she answers playfully while punching him in the stomach softly.
Finn takes his turn and does worse than Rachel. As Finn stared at the lane after his second try, Rachel pushed him aside so she can bowl. "Step aside and let me demonstrate how a real bowler bowls," she says.
Finn chuckles and grabs her from behind and spinning her around as Rachel laughs playfully. Oh how Finn loves her laugh. He sets her down and she continues to bowl.
As they sit down after their bowling game to eat pizza, Rachel couldn't stop smiling.
She takes a bite out of her pizza, sets it down, and clears her throat. "Finn," she calls.
He sets down his slice as he looks at her. "Whats up, Rach?" he asks showing a little concerned.
She grins and takes his oily hand into her oily hand. "Thank you for taking me out tonight. I appreciate this date greatly," she says.
Finn nods smiling and strokes her hand gently. "You're welcome. I know you had like the worst day today and I wanted to make you smile," he replies.
Rachel smiles and let's go of his hand. Disappointment playing on his face. "Well thank you, again. And today wasn't the worse because you were there for me when those Neanderthals enveloped me in slushies. You made my day, Finn."
Finn grins his lopsided grin. Rachel melts. She wouldn't call today the worst day ever, she would call this the day she found a true friend. Sure Finn used her once before, but he made it up to her by making her worst day into her best day. Finn Hudson is Rachel Berry's sunshine.