Beeeeeep. Beeeeeeep. Finn woke up from a terrible sound and suddenly sat in the bed as straight as a pole. He needed a few seconds before he realized where he was.
Finn heard moans from the beds next to him, meaning his roomies must have woken up, too. He started looking for his IPod which was in his case under the bed to see what time it was. When he'd found it he looked at the clock on the screen which said it was 4.30am. Finn just had slept for about four hours. He yawned loudly before getting up. This loud alarm woke everyone up although they didn't even have a clue what the schedule for this day was.
This changed a few minutes later when Officer Barlow himself came into their house. He put their weekly schedule on the wall and left without even saying a word to them. Finn and the others walked up to the wall to take a gander at the table. Since waking up no one had said a word yet, because they were all still sleepy and nervous. Finn had to rub his eyes because he had grit in them and then looked at the paper.
The schedule started with the reception where they got their uniform and all the other stuff. Afterwards it mostly consists of physical training, training exercises and drill sergeant time. Finn wasn't surprised at all, because that was what he had expected, but when he thought about the drill sergeant time he felt uncomfortable. He was already scared of the drill instructor.
Finn prepared himself mentally for the day. He encouraged himself by thinking "You can do this Finn Hudson, you can do this" over and over again.
At 7pm Finn's first day was finally over. He had never been that exhausted and sweaty as far back as he can remember. The weird thing was that it felt good. He was proud of himself, because he was, unlike he'd expected, able to keep up with the others and was even better in some parts of the workout.
Finn entered his house with heavy steps and then quickly grabbed the stuff he needed for taking a shower. He had the plan to go to Spring Creek later that night that's why he hurried up. He didn't want to go to bed too late again since they had to wake up at 4.30am every day from now on. Finn wanted to ask Sam to join him on his little trip to Spring Creek.
When he left the house he realized that he couldn't remember where the bathrooms were since last night when Officer Barlow showed them to the soldiers Finn was too tired to listen.
Confused and disoriented Finn walked through the rows of houses. Every house looked the same. The house numbers were the only thing he was able to orientate on.
"Finn! Finn wait!" Finn turned around and saw Sam running after him. He stopped and waited for the other boy.
"Dude, are you deaf? I called you like three times", Sam said to him out of breath when he reached him.
"Sorry, I must've been wrapped up in my thoughts", Finn replied.
They continued their walk to the shower. Many guys went to take a shower as well at the moment and they just had to follow them to find the right way.
Finn also asked Sam if he wanted to go to Spring Creek with him, but he declined, because he wanted to go to bed early. Finn decided to go alone though. Somehow he was attracted to this town since the previous night.
When Finn and Sam entered the bathroom he was shocked, because the showers weren't separated. There were about fifty showers in the bathroom and they were all dangerously close to each other. It was a communal shower. Finn froze in the doorway, desperately trying to come up with something to do now. There weren't any other bathrooms. The bathroom next to this one just included toilets. Sam was already fully undressed and made his way to a free shower.
Finn didn't look like Sam or any of the other guys who just revealed an admirable six pack and he didn't want them to see his body. He had serious body issues.
"Get out of the way", someone shouted and pushed Finn at the same time into the bathroom.
Finn slipped and almost fell. He saw two guys passing by him and shaking their heads.
"Sorry", he called after them.
There was no way around, Finn had to shower now. He walked to the other end of the bathroom, still wearing his clothes and undressed himself. He quickly turned the shower on and took it facing the wall. Everyone must've been thinking he was weird, but it didn't matter to him. Usually Finn always took long showers and he'd even sing during it, but now he showered as fast as he was able to.
After the horrible shower experience, Finn got ready and put on some normal clothes. Then he left the boot camp. When he walked out he got reminded again that the gateways would close at midnight.
After he passed the boot camp's borders, he was once again fascinated by the scenery. Now in the twilight everything looked more beautiful than it had the previous night.
It was easy for him to find Spring Creek since it was the only town far and wide. He already saw it in the distance and started to make his way towards it now.
During his little trip Finn recalled his first day while he was breathing the fresh air. Sometimes he had to stop and admire the scenery for a little bit before he continued his walk.
Finn reached Spring Creek soon. The walk didn't seem as long as it had seemed last night, but that was probably, because he was tired as hell that night. Now he was more curious about the town than noticing the tiredness growing in him.
When he entered the town he decided to just follow a random backstreet leading away from the main road. A lot of the streets were just alleyways and the pavement was made of cobblestone. They were in a bad condition as well and it looked as if they hadn't been mended for twenty years.
Finn thought how bad that must be for the wheels of the cars and if a car would even fit through the alleyways. He looked around to see if there even were any cars, but he wasn't surprised at all when he didn't see any. There weren't any highways leading out of Spring Creek. The only way for the inhabitants to come to other places was to take the train.
Lima was actually a metropolis in contrary to Spring Creek. Finn thought about how life would be for the people who were living here. They had their little town away from everything, surrounded by a beautiful nature. This life sounded interesting to him and probably the inhabitants didn't even know what they're missing out on and what's all out there.
Meanwhile Finn passed through a few streets. He hadn't seen anything interesting yet, just a few small shops, an old lady with a basket, who was carrying vegetables, a young woman with her little son and the market place from a far distance.
Right now he turned left from a short street into an alleyway. He heard something and stopped to listen. It was a purling creek and when he looked closely he saw it in the distance. He finally found the place this town was named for.
In the moment he decided to continue following the alleyway and go to the creek, he heard another noise. He couldn't identify what it was and listened more carefully. What was it? Singing? The sound became louder and clearer. Yeah, it was definitely singing, a female voice.
He walked back to the beginning of the alleyway and hid behind the corner while he was scanning the it, excitedly waiting for the person the voice belonged to to appear in his field of vision.
The singing became louder and was echoing from the walls. Her voice was so wonderful gave Finn the shivers.
When you're alone and life is making you lonely
You can always go - downtown.
When you've got worries all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help I know downtown.
He could finally see the girl who was singing those lines with the voice of an angel. She was skipping through the alleyway and was singing loud as if it was the most normal thing in this world.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The girl was just a few steps away from him. She was really short and had long dark brown hair. She wore a yellow dress with little flowers on it, knee highs, ballerina shoes and had a small bag over her tiny shoulder. From the moment Finn saw her he thought she was really beautiful.
The lights are much brighter there
you can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
so go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure downtown
Everything's waiting for you.
The mysterious girl had almost reached the end of the alleyway, but Finn was sure she hadn't seen him yet. She looked as if she was in her own little world while she was singing.
Finn had a fifty-fifty chance that she wouldn't turn right which meant she would see him. He leaned close against the wall and held his breath for a few seconds until she reached the end of the alleyway and turned...
-Left.
Finn exhaled. He really didn't want to creep the pretty girl out by standing behind the corner, admiring her singing and checking her out.
She was a couple of feet away from him, but Finn still had to be quite, because if she turned around for any reason she would definitely notice him now.
The girl went further and further away from him. He had to make a decision now. Should he follow her?
Finn didn't even know what he was doing there and why he was doing it, but he started to walk. He heard his own heartbeat while he was following the girl with quick steps.
The girl was still skipping through the streets but was now whistling a melody. Her long hair was blowing a little bit in the evening breeze.
While Finn was still following her he desperately thought of an excuse to tell her if she caught him. He had always been a terrible liar. Unfortunately there weren't any other people around and he really didn't know what he'd say to her then. He could probably ask her for the way to.. Yeah, to where? He had no idea. Probably to the market place? But it was impossible to miss it since this town was so small.
If she would turn around right at this moment and say something to him, Finn knew that he would just stand there with this getting-caught look on his face he always wore when his mother would catch him in the kitchen at night eating chocolate when he was a child. Then phase two of his getting-caught behavior would begin. He would stutter and start to sweat while searching for terrible excuses.
But Finn had luck this time and didn't get caught. He realized this when the girl entered a pub. This was his chance to get into contact with her.
Finn waited around three minutes in front of it before he entered the pub as well. He scanned the room.
There was an old man sitting at the bar, two women at a table who were talking and laughing together and two waitresses behind the bar. Finn felt his own heart beating a little bit faster when he noticed one of them was her.
So this girl worked here. Finn wasn't sure where he should sit, but he instantly had to make a decision. He walked in direction of the bar so he'd be near her, but then changed his way to a table, because he was too nervous.
Finn's chosen table was in the middle of the room from where had the whole bar in his view. The girl had to be in a side room right now, because he couldn't see her anymore.
Finn put his head in hands and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He had to make clear what he was even doing here. Why was he sitting here and what did he want from this girl? Finn had no answer to the questions he asked himself. All he knew was that he felt so attracted to her. He never had this feeling before.
"Good evening, sir. Here's the menu."
Finn looked up and almost choked. It was her who was standing right in front of him. Finn just stared and almost forgot to reply.
"Uh oh.. thank you." Finn finally answered.
The girl turned around and walked back to the bar. Finn couldn't help but check her out.
Her voice was so sweet. Why was she calling him "sir" though?
Finn looked through the room again to see if there was a TV, because football was on tonight, but he quickly met disappointment.
When Finn heard the noise of an opening door and saw five guys entering the pub. Finn knew them from the camp.
Two of the guys greeted him before all five passed him, sat down at the bar and immediately ordered something to drink.
The beautiful girl suddenly appeared from the side room and helped the other waitress to get their drinks ready.
After the guys got their order, Finn watched her walking in his direction. Fuck, he didn't even think about what he'd order.
"Sir, have you decided on what you want?", she asked when she reached his table.
"Yes. I'll go with a near beer." Finn decided alcohol wouldn't be a good idea at all.
He gave the girl a half smile. She smiled back at him before she took the menu with her and made her way back to the bar.
The gesture released a warm feeling in Finn. Her smile was just for him. His nervousness sank a little bit.
Why didn't the girl wear a name tag or something? Finn really wanted to know her name. He had to chuckle a little bit when he thought about the fact that she called him "sir" again. She was so cute.
Three minutes later he got a little bit disappointed when the other waitress brought him his beer.
The next twenty minutes Finn was drinking his beer and secretly watching the girl. More guests had entered the pub and Finn watched the girl walking from the bar to the kitchen to the tables and the side room back and forth. One time Finn had the chance to glance inside the side room to see what she was doing in there and he saw tons of papers in there which she sorted.
When Finn noticed that it was already after 11pm and he became sad, the girl hadn't been within his sight for the past few minutes and he had to leave soon to make it back to the camp on time. Finn hated himself for being so shy. He didn't find out anything about the girl with the wonderful voice except that she worked in a pub and had a pretty smile.
Finn decided to go back to the pub the next day, it wouldn't be that awkward since there weren't a lot more pubs in little Spring Creek.
Finn went to the bar to pay before he said a "See you tomorrow" to the other soldiers. They were drinking alcohol and Finn thought about how stupid they were. It was their first day at the boot camp and they were already getting drunk in a bar. In addition to that they really had to leave soon or they wouldn't be back at the camp by midnight.
Finn had to shiver when he opened the door, because of the cold air. He made his first steps down the street when he heard a shouting. He stopped to listen.
"YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY GOOD FOR NOTHING!", a man with a deep voice shouted.
"I'm so sorry. I thought you wanted the earnings papers sorted from the highest to the lowest." Finn was in shock when he realized it was the girl's voice. Her voice was low and she sounded as if she was almost in tears.
Finn walked towards the noises and stopped in front of the wall of a patio which belonged to the pub.
"WHO EVEN DOES THAT RACHEL? YOU HAVE TO SORT THEM BY THE DATE!"
Her name was Rachel. Rachel. It was such a beautiful name. Finn thought if he knew any Rachel's, but he came to the conclusion the only Rachel he knew was the one from Friends.
"Sorry I'm sorry..", Rachel apologized.
Suddenly Finn heard a loud noise and assumed it must've been her boss kicking against something.
While Rachel started crying, Finn's heart broke a little. He wished that he'd comfort her. Finn walked closer to the wall, but he didn't see the rock on the ground, stumbled over it and fell with his whole against the wall.
The impact was really loud and the wall started to shake.
"WHO THE HELL IS THERE?", the boss of the pub shouted and Finn just started to run.
Finn was back in the camp ten minutes before midnight. All the other soldiers in his room were already sleeping and he was so tired as well. He quickly undressed himself and got into his bed.
The whole way back to the camp Finn reproached himself and he still hated himself so much right now for just running away, but he had been so in shock when he was there pushed against the wall that the first thing coming to his mind was to run. Why did he always have to be so clumsy? If his little accident didn't happen he'd probably been able to help Rachel.
Soon Finn's eyelids drooped and he fell asleep. This night Finn dreamed of Rachel for the first time.
He was at the creek with Rachel . She sang a beautiful song while tears were streaming down her face. Finn tried to reach her but she was on the other side of the creek. He jumped into the water and wanted to swim to her but no matter how hard he tried he was stuck on the same spot. Her crying became sadder and sadder and Finn tried harder and harder until he woke up bathed in sweat the next morning.
Poor Rachel. Do you think she noticed that someone was following her and does she also think about Finn?
Sorry that it took me so long to write the second chapter. I hope you like it, please review and tell me what you think! The song is Downtown by Petula Clark. Special thanks to my friend bowtiesarecoolerthanties for beta reading the chapter! The next chapter is going to be from Rachel's view. xo