Chapter Two – These Four Walls are after Me and Moving in

Rachel had to get out of this house. Sam was still there, hung over and watching Avatar in her living room. Her house reeked of tequila and Santana had left her underwear in her bathroom after hooking up (quite loudly) with Noah halfway through the night. She needed out.

She packed her paper and an array of pens, along with her Mac book into a case and threw on a NYU hoodie. She normally wasn't one to dress down so much.

Sam looked at her as she walked past him to grab a couple waters out of the mini fridge, handing him one and beginning to down one for herself, "You okay?"

"I'm going out."

"In that?" Sam pointed to her spandex pants and UGG boots in disgust.

Rachel rolled her eyes, "You look worse than me." She frowned at his pale complexion. She felt his head, "Need anything before I go out?"

Sam shook his head and summoned her to give him a kiss. She giggled before leaning down to kiss him lightly. "You taste nice." Sam commented.

"It's this new berry gum." Rachel told him, throwing him a piece, "You taste like booze. If Santana comes by, her underwear are in the bathroom." Rachel noted as she walked out the door, looking down at her iphone.

She debated for about 15 seconds before calling Finn. Remembering his offer from the night before, 'Well my love life is a shit storm too, you can always use that while we're investigating this whole Pucktana thing'. It was cute how he had said 'Pucktana', like they were some celebrity couple. Kurt must have caught him to do that.

"Hey Rach." Finn answered the phone as if they had known each other for years.

"Hey Finn. The walls were closing in on me at home. I'm on my way to the nearest coffee shop. Wanna meet me and be my muse for a little bit?" Rachel asked with a grin.

"That sounds awesome, but I'm with Kurt. Can he come along?"

"Oh sure." Rachel tried not to seem disappointed. Why was she disappointed? "I actually wanted to talk to him about setting him up with a good friend of mine."

Finn scoffed, "Good luck with that. He's like the most stubborn person I've ever met. He won't date gay-gay guys. Just straight gay guys."

"I actually know exactly what you mean. I've met gays like that before." Rachel giggled, "It's just finding who you're attracted to, but this guy is super cute and he's very manly. Well as manly as a gay guy can be, or at least one that's not a bear." Rachel rambled and Finn started laughing.

"Okay, I don't know what anything you just said meant. I don't know that much about the gay community." Finn chuckled. "What coffee shop?"

"The Starbucks on 5th and Hudson?" Rachel asked as she walked slowly on the street, reading herself to change her coarse.

"Perfect. We're on Hudson." She heard him tell what she assumed was the cab driver to pull over, "See you in a few."

"Great." Rachel beamed and walked a little fast. "See you soon." She said before hanging up, not able to wipe the grin off her face.

Rachel sat down with her coffee and pulled out her paper and pens and tapped it softly. She felt Finn's hand on her shoulder and looked up to smile at him.

"Don't just sit there." Finn teased, putting his arms out for a hug and pulled her in quickly. Rachel giggled against his strong chest. He was huge, Rachel actually really liked it.

"Hey." Rachel said as she pulled back from him, looking at Kurt and giving him a quick hug as well, "Go get something to drink. I'll wait." Rachel said, crossing her legs and sitting back down Indian style.

Finn looked back at her, crossed legs and laughed. She was writing like a mad woman suddenly and she was miniature, child sized, yet she said all of these big words and had all of these big dreams, and her ass sure as hell wasn't child sized.

"What do you want?" Kurt interrupted him from his thoughts, "Besides a steaming cup of Rachel Berry." Kurt nudged him.

"Oh stop. She's with that Evans dude."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "You know his name."

Finn frowned, "Why does that matter?"

"You're deflecting."

"You're saying words I don't know." Finn groaned.

"What can I get you two?" The barista asked and Finn rolled his eyes, "One Grande Chai and a Mocha Latte."

Kurt laughed, "Am I that predictable?"

Finn nodded, "Very much so."

Rachel was writing? How was she writing? Why was she asking herself this? She just needed to keep writing. She put the pen cap in her mouth and kept jotting words down.

I turn my head,
I can't shake the look you gave
And I'm as good as dead,
Cause all those eyes are all it takes
And all I want is…

Rachel can't finish the line because Finn plops on the couch next to her, "What you got there?"

Rachel shuts her notebook, "Don't you worry about it." Rachel grinned, "Did you tell Kurt our mission?"

Finn chuckled, "I filled him in last night."

Kurt raised his eyebrow looking almost judgmental, "I love a scandal as much as the next girl, but tell me… aren't they your friends?"

Rachel nodded, "Noah is one of my best and dearest friends, and I would assume yours too, is that accurate Finn?" Finn nodded in ascent before she continued to speak, "That is why we must get to the bottom of this. For Noah."

Finn agreed, "I think that it's better he knows what is going on before they are engaged, or like, married."

Rachel nodded, "Oh, that would be terrible. However, if we're wrong. No harm done." Rachel nods.

"Okay, what is your plan?" Kurt crossed his legs and sipped on his chai.

"We haven't gotten that far." Finn frowns.

Rachel pats his back, "It's okay. That is why we are here."

"I thought you needed a muse?" Finn noted.

"I do." Rachel nodded, "But do you want to tell me all you embarrassing relationship stories in front of your brother?"

Finn chuckled nervously, "Good point."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "First and foremost, who is this guy? The not straight gay guy that you're going to hook me up with."

Rachel clapped her hands in excitement before grabbing out her iphone and scrolling through her pictures. "Here he is." She showed him.

"We've worked together in the past, he's one of my closest friends." Rachel beams. "He's quite fashionable, but not flamboyant. His name is Blaine Anderson. He's a lawyer for a pretty reputable firm. He plays guitar on the side and has the voice of a dream. He's a great karaoke partner." Rachel told him, "So what do you think? Should I arrange a meeting?" Rachel winked.

Kurt didn't skip a beat, "Absolutely."

Rachel giggled and looked at her phone, shooting Blaine a text right then. "Gahhh." Finn groaned. "Thanks for taking over, Kurt."

Kurt laughed and rolled his eyes, "I'm sorry, dear brother. I have a date in the form of a knit knee length purple sweater at H&M anyway, I should get going. You can have your girl back." Finn and Rachel both blushed at the comment and in turn avoided eye contact. "Give me your phone and I'll program my number in there. We can maybe double date. You and Finn, me and Blaine?"

Finn shifted uncomfortably, "Ku-"

"Yeah, of course." Rachel chimed in, "It would be awkward to do a strict blind date. If we all four go out, that will be better." She said, taking her phone back, "Oh he texted me. When?"

"Thursday nights are Finn's nights off." Kurt told Rachel before patting her head and scampering out.

"Thursday it is." Rachel said, texting swiftly.

"What about Sam?" Finn asked softly, trying not to reach over to fix the hair Kurt just screwed up.

"Oh he hates going out." Rachel told him. "He's a drinker, but not a clubber. He sticks to sports bars and the house." Rachel told Finn, finally looking up at him.

Finn couldn't resist any longer and he reached over to brush down her newly matted hair and Rachel let out a soft giggle, "Oh Kurt. What a jerk." She said before reaching up to fix the other side of her hair. "So what should we focus on first? Puck and Santana or song writing?"

"Well you seemed to have been writing something. Let's start there." Finn asked said picking up the noted book and flipping it open, reading the words she had written before. "All I want is you."

"Excuse me." Rachel said, taken off guard a bit.

"You. That's what should go there." Finn pointed and Rachel laughed.

"You're right. It should be you." She scribbled it down.

Finn nods, reading it again, "It sounds like it's a forbidden love, right?"

Rachel looked over his shoulder at the paper, "Yeah, it's about liking someone you shouldn't. Or someone that can't love you back. Or shouldn't." Rachel tells Finn and he hands her the notebook.

Rachel knows what's next. She hums the lyrics as she writes the words down. Finn can't help but plaster a grin on his face as he watches her focus.

So I pull away
All I do is sit and wait
And I might as well
Write the words right on my face
That all I want is you
Oh, is you

"Dude." Finn almost yelled, "That's awesome. You're like, nailing this." Finn laughed.

"Well you're helping." Rachel told him, beaming up at him.

Finn shook his head, humbly, "I am not. I'm just sitting here, Rach. You are just busting this song out."

Rachel's eyes met Finn's, "I don't know how to explain it, Finn. But, you are helping. Just you being here. You're literally my muse." Rachel told him with a grin. "Just being around you is helping me, so so much."

Finn pursed his lips in satisfaction, "That's awesome. I've never helped anyone so much as tie their shoes, so I'm happy I could help." This is pretty awesome actually, He thought to himself as they grinned at one another.

Rachel looked down at her paper, knowing that she should work on the chorus but deciding to leave it for another time, "You have to get Puck alone this weekend. Do a guys night. Like poker?"

Finn nodded, listening intentally, "And on that same night, I'll ask Santana to do something. We won't involve Sam so that way one of two things will happen, she'll come out with me giving me the chance to hack into her phone. Or she lies saying she's with Puck and then I can follow her and figure out where she's really going."

"This is tittering on the side of stalking." Finn noted, a little nervous.

Rachel nodded, "That's probably a good point. Well, do you have a better plan?"

"Kind of. But it might hurt me in the long run." Rachel didn't like the sound of that, "Maybe I should hit on her."

"Absolutely not."

"Well, it would prove it definitively." Finn reasoned.

Rachel shook her head, "I don't care. Nope. No. No way."

"Why not?"

Rachel drew a blank at this point, "Well, uh, okay, you see… I, well…"

"You're really convincing me here." Finn chuckled.

"Because if she says 'no' she might just run and tell Noah." Rachel nodded, a satisfied grin on her face.

Finn frowned, "So I guess you'd be against having Sam do it then, too."

Actually, not as much Rachel said to herself and then scolded herself for thinking such a thing.

"I guess not." She responded.

"Who could we get to do it?" Finn wondered aloud before it clicked. "Wait, didn't you say that gay guy was like, straight… sort of."

Rachel knew exactly what he was getting at and laughed a little, "You're mad. You know that? Insane."

Finn arched his eyebrow and gave Rachel a half grin, "Come on, it's worth a shot."

Rachel bit her lip and thought it through a little bit more, "Okay, we'll talk to them Thursday."

Finn put up his fist and Rachel looked at it for a moment, not knowing what to do, "bump your fist to mine." Finn explained, "It's like a high five…" Finn reasoned.

"Then why don't we just high five?" Rachel shrugged.

"Because no one does that anymore. Just fist bump me, ba-Rach." Finn coughed awkwardly, hoping he'd covered his slip of the tongue. Really, Finn? Calling her 'babe'?

Rachel giggled and ignored the slip up, touching her fist lightly to his, "Okay, we'll get it all worked out Thursday. I feel like a spy." Rachel beamed and Finn let out a quick laugh.

"You're way to girly to be a spy." Finn said, silencing his phone.

Rachel looked down at his phone and back to him, "Do you need to get that, it keeps going off."

"No, it's just that girl from your party."

"Who?"

"Uh, your cousin." Finn mumbled.

"Quinn?"

Finn chuckled, "Yeah, I couldn't remember her name, her number is under a C. I thought it started with a C."

Rachel laughed and spelled her name out for him, "Is she asking you out or something?"

"Yeah, well, no. She's like, hinting that I ask her out. Or whatever."

"How so?" Rachel asked curiously, noticing him texting back quickly.

"I don't know, like, 'I really like ice cream shops' and 'Sunday afternoons are perfect for the park'." Finn laughed.

"Why aren't you taking her for ice cream and to the park, then?" Rachel asked almost jealous, she pushed the feeling aside.

"Because I'm here with you." Finn answered simply and Rachel just nodded, trying to hide the wide grin that threatened to cross her face.


A/N: So what do we think? Is Santana really cheating? Is Blaine going to fool her? Does Sam have a drinking problem? And what's up with Rachel agreeing to a double date with Finn, Kurt and Blaine?

Also, I of course don't own anything. Glee, any brands I talk about, or any of the characters.

The name of this story and the title of this chapter if from the Parachute song, 'Under Control'. It is also the song Finn and Rachel are writing. Parachutes songs will be all over this fic. Be warned.