A/N: Another story for you! My first AU story. :) All mistakes are mine.
Disclaimer: I don't own glee.
Sitting in the corner of a tiny little coffee shop, Rachel quietly sips on her cup of black coffee while flipping through the glossy pages of Vogue. Today really hasn't been her day at all. She'd messed up on her audition today. Just one line though - one stupid line. Ugh. She hates herself, and her stupid nerves. God, why is she so stupid? A small shriek escapes her lips when she realizes that she had accidentally torn a page out of the magazine. Really? She huffs and chucks the torn page in between the pages and stuffs the whole magazine into her purse. She grabs her cup and starts to leave. Maybe she should just give up all together. No one wants to work with her anyway.
"Hey, Miss?"
She turns around, unsure if that was for her.
"You forgot your cell phone." The mysterious man says, walking towards her.
"Oh. Thanks." She forces a smile as he hands her phone to her. She finally looks up at him and she feels herself stop breathing. He is the cutest guy she's ever seen - brown hair, cinnamon eyes, and don't even get her started on those dimples.
"Well, I-I've got to go." She manages to stutter out. "Thank you so much though." She looks back at him one more time before the leaves the coffee shop. He really is very cute.
She sees him again the next week, on the same day, Monday. She's lining up to get her coffee when she feels someone tap her shoulder.
"Fancy seeing you here?"
She giggles when she realizes it's him. He's not very hard to miss.
She extends her hand to him and says, "I'm Rachel by the way."
"Finn." He replies as they shake hands.
"Next." The cashier calls. But she's too busy looking up at him to hear it. He nudges her.
"Oh. Um. One tall cappuccino please."
"And one grande latte for me." He says.
Before she could do anything, he pays for their coffee and she finds herself sharing a table with him.
"So, Rachel," He says as he adds 3 packets of white sugar in his coffee. (Yes, Rachel counted) "What your story?"
"Huh?"
He chuckles. "I mean, last week you seemed quite upset."
"No, I just messed up my audition, that's all." She smiles.
"Audition?" His right eyebrow rises.
"Yeah, it was for Wicked. But," She sighs. "I don't even know why I bother, honestly. I've been to so many auditions and they all keep telling me that I should get a nose job." She scrunches hers in disgust.
"I think your nose is pretty." He replies.
She looks up to see a dopey grin on his face and she can't help but blush at his words. He notices and they both share a laugh.
The next Monday, she decides to try her luck again. She'd never tell her friends about it though. She thinks it's silly; to want to kiss a guy that she barely knows. Whoa, kiss? Did she really just think that? Slow down Rachel, slow down.
She enters the coffee shop, with little hope of seeing him again. She'd never been the girl that guys wanted, and besides, she'd only been in a relationship once – with Jesse St. James, and everyone knows how toxic that was. He was more interested with himself and never gave her the time of day. She orders a tall cappuccino, and sits in a quiet corner of the shop, and reads a book.
While thoroughly engrossed in her romance novel, she barely notices a tall, young man grab the seat opposite hers.
"Hey." He says.
She jumps in her seat and nearly spills the coffee all over her top.
"Whoa there. Be careful." He says, setting her coffee back on the table. "Luckily it didn't spill."
"I didn't see you come in." She confesses.
"It's okay." He shrugs. "No one has ever looked so peaceful and beautiful reading her book."
It quickly becomes a thing for them to "accidentally" bump into each other at the coffee shop every Monday at exactly 2.30 pm. She gets to know more about him – about his stepbrother Kurt, his parents, and she finds out his last name is Hudson. He's exactly 4 years older than her. She also finds out that he works as a music teacher in a high school. She finds herself sharing her life story with him as well. She finds it easy to open up to him. She doesn't understand why but she goes along with it anyway.
So, it wasn't particularly out of the blue when he shows up one Monday with a rose in his hand and he asks her out on the date.
"A date?" She muses.
"Yeah, well," He replies, shyly looking down at the ground and scratching the back of his neck "I just, well, I, really like you Rachel." He finally manages to stutter out.
She daintily accepts the rose from him. His breath hitches slightly when her fingers brush his. She looks up at him through her eyelashes and nods. "It's a date then."
She then rummages through her purse for a pen, uncaps it, and scribbles her number onto the palm of his hand.
She asks Santana if she could borrow one of her dresses for the date, I mean, that's what roommates are for, right? Santana excitedly pulls out, Rachel thinks, about 15 dresses, as she contemplates on which would suit Rachel the best. She then picks a short, excruciatingly tight, black dress for her to wear and some killer high heels. Rachel didn't even have a say in it. And she felt a little like a Barbie doll as Santana applied make-up for her.
"Damn, Berry. Thanks to me, you look smokin' hot."
Rachel looks at her questioningly and stands up to go look at herself in the mirror. Her jaw drops.
"So, what'cha think?" Santana singsongs.
Rachel turns to look at her roommate, who is sitting on the dresser with her legs crossed, raising her an eyebrow at her.
"It's perfect! Oh my god. I've never looked this sexy before."
Santana laughs. "You're lucky you have Auntie 'Tana over here."
He rings the doorbell to her apartment. He's pretty sure he's got the right address. He double-checked. His palms are all sweaty and he feels his heart palpitating. The front door opens and he's surprised to see a different girl on the other side of it.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have gotten the wrong address." He turns to leave
"You're Finn right?" She asks.
He looks back at her, confused.
She smirks. "Don't worry, my girl's in the bathroom. Why don't you come on in?"
He awkwardly steps into the apartment and puts his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do.
"Hey, Santana?" He hears from the distance, "Who was that at the door-oh."
"Wow, Rachel. You-you look amazing."
She blushes under his hot gaze. She bites her bottom lip before saying, "You do too."
"Permission to escort a lovely lady to dinner?" He smiles, bowing slightly and holding his hand out.
"It'll be my pleasure." She giggles and curtseys back.
"Oh you two are disgusting. Get out of here."
After dinner, they take a stroll in Central Park. Midway through their walk, he slides his hands around her waist and pulls her close to him.
"Hmm. That's nice." She says.
They stay quiet for a while before she suddenly says, "I've realized something." She double taps her nose for emphasis.
"What?" He replies.
"It's Monday."
"Yeah?"
"We always meet on Mondays."
"I guess Monday's kind of our day, huh?" He smiles as he brings his lips to her left temple.
"No. Don't kiss me there."
"Then where?"
"Here." She whispers as she tiptoes to reach his lips.
Words can't even begin to describe the intensity he feels when her lips touched his. It feels different – not in a bad way, but in a good way. He doesn't know why he's drawn to her. Maybe it's her silky olive skin or maybe it's the way she tilts her head back when she's laughing hysterically. He just wants to be with her, and that's all he knows.
She creeps back into her apartment when it's past midnight. She has an early class tomorrow, she should have probably thought about that earlier. But no matter, she's had a great night and she doesn't regret it at all.
All curled up in bed, she decides to text him.
I had a wonderful time tonight. Thank you. :)
Barely a few seconds later, her phone lights up.
Me 2. U were beautiful. I mean it. I hope we can do this again.
Her cheeks start to redden.
You didn't look too bad yourself. And yes, I'd love to.
Next Monday, 6:00 at the coffee shop.
Where we met?
Where we met.
Okay.
Okay.
She falls asleep that night with a huge smile on her face and her phone next to her heart.
Next Monday comes around quickly. Rachel's schedule is packed. Between school and auditioning for almost every Broadway musical possible, Rachel has little time for her love life. But she figures she'll make an exception this time.
Before she can enter the coffee shop, she feels a man, with an incredible large frame, whip her around, tilt her face up with his finger and kiss her soft on her lips. Normally, she would have kicked him in the groin by now, but for some reason, she knew that it was him.
"What was that for?" She giggles.
"No, nothing."
"So, I've got a surprise for you." He continues not long after. "But you have to put on this blindfold."
"What? Absolutely not."
"Please? I spent a really long time planning it."
She laughs at the pout beginning to form on his face and finds herself agreeing. That pout will be the death of her.
After an extremely long, and exhausting walk, (well, long for Rachel because she had no idea where she was going) they finally reach a little park. She knows it's a park because she can feel prickly things poking at her ankles.
"Here we are." He says and reaches behind to untie the blindfold.
"A picnic?" She smiles.
"Yeah. I thought it'd be nice once the stars come out and all." He shrugs.
"I love it."
She doesn't question their relationship or label it. It just is what it is. She finds that she's okay with it for now. And of course she's more than okay because right now, his hand is around her waist and her head is resting on his shoulder. She thinks she could get used to this.
"Dude, you got it bad for her." Puck slurs after a few drinks.
"Whatever man."
They're sitting at a bar - god knows where – because Puck practically dragged him all the way here.
"She's just – she's really nice." Finn says.
"She's really nice?" Puck mocks. "That's all?"
"I don't know man. She's different. She's crazy, but not Quinn crazy. I kind of like her crazy." He says as he swallows another gulp of his beer.
"Whoa, whoa. When did you get so sentimental?" Puck smirks. "But for whatever it's worth, I'm happy for you." He pats Finn on the shoulder.
"Thanks."
"So, when do I get to meet her? Think she might be interested in the Puckerone?"
"Hey. Don't you have a girlfriend?" Finn snorts and smacks his friend across the chest.
"Fiancée."
"What?"
"I proposed, dude!"
"Oh my god! That's amazing!"
"Time to settle down man, time to settle down."
Hey, I've got to go for some stupid thing tomorrow. Could you come with me?
What stupid thing?
Oh, It's nothing, really. It's a family thing.
Finn blinks at her last message a few times. She wants him to meet her family? He didn't read that wrongly did he? Though it does make him smile.
U want me to meet yr family? Y, I'm honored.
She giggles.
Don't be so full of yourself, Hudson. It's just a family thing.
Ok, ok. What time do u want me 2 pick u up?
Seven is nice.
7 it is. See u. (:
See you. :)
Finn arrives at 7pm on the dot, wearing a full tuxedo. He didn't expect her to burst out laughing at him the moment she'd opened the door.
"Finn, baby. You're overdressed."
"I'm what?"
"It's just a dinner at my parents'"
"Oh. You could have told me."
"I could have." She muses, but a grin quickly grows on her face. "You're cute."
"Great, I have to change."
"It's alright. You just have to…" Her fingers travel up to remove his jacket and bowtie for him. "There. Oh wait." She moves on to untuck his shirt and pop open a few of his buttons. She throws his discarded bowtie and jacket on her sofa. "There you go."
She can feel his hot breath on her forehead and she looks up at those kind, cinnamon eyes peering down at her.
"Thanks."
She smiles and slowly shakes her head.
"Ready to go?" He says as he reaches out for her hand.
"Ready!" She beams and they make their way over to his car.
"So, My dads' names are Leroy and Hiram. I call Leroy 'Dad' and Hiram 'Papa'. My cousin Noah is getting married so that's why we're having a family dinner."
"Ah I see." Finn replies, looking over his shoulder every few seconds and smiling at this chirpy girl he's got sitting by his side.
Yeah, he decides that he likes her crazy.
They're having the party in the Berrys' yard. By the time they arrived, the whole yard was nearly fully filled with people.
"Noah!" Rachel waves.
"Hey! My little cuz! How you doin'?"
"Puck? Noah Puckerman?" Finn's mouth hangs open.
"Finn? So you're the guy Rachel's seeing and she' the girl you-" Puck points accusingly at both of them and then laughs hysterically.
"You know him?" Rachel raises an eyebrow at him.
"We're best friends." Finn shrugs. "I didn't know he was your cousin!"
"Well, we are totally different." Rachel agrees. "Noah, will you stop laughing? I don't find this amusing at all."
"Okay, okay." Puck tries to catch his breath. "Oh my god." He says, wiping a tear from his eye. "What a small world."
He bursts out laughing again a minute later, and Rachel, frustrated, pulls Finn away to meet the other members of her family.
"Dad, Papa!"
"Hi sweetheart! We've missed you." Leroy says. "And who's this gentleman over here?"
"Dad, this is – this is my boy – boyfriend Finn." The moment the words left her mouth, she instantly regretted it. She touches her cheeks, yup, they're warm.
"Hi Finn, pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you too, sirs. Rachel's a lovely woman. I'm so lucky to have her." He smiles.
Rachel's dads' look up at him approvingly and then squander off to mingle with the other guests.
"So, did you just call me your boyfriend over there?" He smirks.
"Um, no I didn't."
"Yes you did."
"I want you to be only if you want to be." She bites the bottom of her lip.
"I want to." He leans down and captures her lips in one scorching kiss.
"Oh Finn." She whispers. "It's Monday."
When she gets home that night, she remembers that Finn's jacket and bowtie are on her sofa. Oh well, he wouldn't miss it, she thinks. She picks his jacket up and runs her fingers through the fine fabric. When she brings it up to her nose, she thinks that it does wonderfully smell like Finn. She giggles when the events of the day replay in her mind. She loves this man. Oh she does very much.
She hears his car door open and her eyes shoot open.
She rushes to open her window and yells, "Finn, wait!"
Running down the stairs, she leaps into his arms and says, "I forgot to tell you something."
"Hmm?"
"I think I love you."
"You think you love me?"
"Okay, fine! I love you. Is that what you want to hear?"
He laughs and wraps his arms around her waist. "I love you too." He replies and kisses her nose.
"I love you, I really do."
He thinks that since he has met her parents, that she should meet his. It's only fair right? But right now, he's sitting on her bed waiting for her to choose a dress to wear to dinner.
"How about this one?" She asks, holding up a white dress with red hearts all over it.
"It's nice."
"Just, nice? Okay. I'm not wearing this one."
Finn groans. "Baby, we're going to be late."
"Well, excuse me for wanting to dress presentably for your parents, Finn. They're important to you, so therefore, they're important to me."
"Hey, hey." He says, reaching over to grab her waist.
"This dress is gorgeous, so were the other ten you tried on. I don't care what you wear, okay? You looked beautiful in all of them." He kisses her forehead.
"Looked?"
"Look. Present tense."
She blushes. "I guess I could put this one on."
He fist pumps the air. It's been two years and he sure knows his girl.
"Rachel! Nice to meet you! Finn has told me so much about you. In fact, he wouldn't stop talking about you." Carole exclaims, shaking her hand.
"Mum." Finn groans.
"I'm sorry, it's just that Finn hasn't had a girlfriend in years."
"Mum!"
"I'm sorry honey. Come on inside!"
Rachel laughs at Carole's comment and raises an eyebrow at Finn. "I love your family already."
She's ecstatic to find out that Finn's stepbrother, Kurt is into Broadway, like her. They wouldn't stop gushing over their favourite musical, Wicked, throughout the whole dinner.
"Finn, I like your girlfriend." Carole remarks. "She fits in so well."
"Doesn't she?" He smiles with his mouth full of vegetables.
"Finn." Rachel chastises and whacks him with the tablecloth. "Don't talk with your mouth full."
She pretends not to see the small nod Carole gives her.
"Hmm. I wonder what it'll be like when you two get married and have babies." Kurt says.
Finn nearly chokes and his fork comes clanging onto his dinner plate.
"Um. That's not going to happen for a very, very long time, Kurt."
Ouch. Rachel stares down at her plate, poking at the mash potatoes. Her appetite's gone. She thinks.
Finn notices and asks, "What's wrong baby?"
She shakes her head shyly, indicating that she doesn't want to talk about it - at least not now. Not in front of his parents.
It is a long and silent ride back home. He keeps looking over to her, but she's got her head staring out the window. He places his hand over hers, but the only response he got was her retreating from his touch.
When they finally reach her apartment building and pulls over, he tries again, "What's wrong baby?"
"You don't want to marry me?"
"What?"
"Just now, you said so."
He scans his memory, oh.
"Baby, that's not what I meant."
"Then what?" She nearly screams. She can feel the tears forming but try as she might, she can't blink them away.
"It's just, I'm not ready."
"You're not ready." She scoffs and crosses her arms.
"Baby, we've got so much time ahead of us."
"I think you should go." She says as she unbuckles her seatbelt.
"Baby."
She slams the car door in his face.
When he gets home, he tries to call her every five minutes, but she doesn't pick up. He resigns to sending her a text instead.
Baby, Ily, pls call me back.
He falls asleep staring at his phone.
He wakes up to the sound of sniffling and someone tugging at his shirt.
"What? Rach? Baby?"
"I'm sorry, Finn." She sobs. "I was being stupid."
"No you're not stupid." He says, getting up to stroke her hair as she climbs into his lap. "I shouldn't have said that."
"No, you really shouldn't have." She laughs into his neck. "I'm so, so sorry. I love you."
"I love you too. And I do want to marry you baby, I do. You're the one. I know it. Wait. Rach, how did you get in?"
A smile breaks out on her face and she kisses his neck. "I'm crazy, baby - crazy for you. And you like my crazy."
His mouth opens to say something.
"Don't worry, Finn. Noah told me." She laughs. "Anyway, you left your key in the door."
"I what?"
"That was very dangerous, Finn." She shakes her head. "Someone could have come in and - and."
"Attack me with kisses?"
She lightly punches him in the shoulder.
Maybe it's fate – or whatever, but they get married four years later on a Monday.
"I guess Monday is really our day, huh."
"I guess it is, Mrs Hudson."
"Say it again."
"Mrs Hudson." He smiles.
A/N: Reviews are love! :)