Guys, thanks for all the reviews and sorry for the delay, I had to work on my Spanish and had no time to continue with this story.

But better late than never, right? =)

I haven't got a beta reader yet, but I will for the next chapter.

P.S. A BIT OF JESSE IN THIS CHAPTER! I have to warn that I like Jesse and I'm not gonna portray him as a cruel and selfish jerk.

Chapter IV.

The picnic seemed to have been the turning point in Finn-Rachel's friendship. They began spending all their free time after school together, except for the days when either of them had some other business to do. No uneasiness was left between them and they were very sincere with each other talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Rachel learnt how Finn felt about his popularity at school, his loss at what future to choose and about Quinn. Her suspicions that everything was not so perfect between the couple were backed up and she couldn't but feel a bit happy because of that, although as a friend she should sympathize with him. And Finn in his turn understood that in spite of all the self-confidence and the I-don't-care-what-you-think attitude, inside Rachel was a very fragile and lonely girl and he made it his aim to be her best friend, support and comfort her whenever she needed him.

At school they acted like complete strangers and didn't even text each other except for the times when Finn warned Rachel about "slushie alert". But after school the two were inseparable – they went cycling to the suburbs of the town, swam in the river when the weather was good, went to the movies and did lots of other insignificant things that friends do. But most of all they liked the picnics in the park, they always went to the same chestnut where their first picnic took place, it became "their place". There Rachel gave Finn singing lessons, and Finn taught Rachel how to play football, well, not to play, but to catch and throw the ball and told her about the strategy of the game. In his mind Finn was often replaying the look on Rachel's face when he told her that he had never seen "Funny girl". Upon hearing it she grabbed him by the hand and in few minutes they were sitting on the couch in her living-room with popcorn and watching the movie. Finn didn't really like it, but of course he wouldn't tell her, and when he felt bored during the movie he looked at Rachel and couldn't but smile at her – she was totally captured by the film, although he was sure she had seen it a million times, she was silently repeating every word the actors said and only her lips gave her away and when Barbra Streisand was singing Rachel was singing along with her. "She's (Rachel, not Barbra) one in a million" – Finn thought for the 1000th time.

One night Finn invited Rachel to go to the park and watch the stars and she gladly accepted the invitation.

- Do you know that if you make a wish upon a shooting star it will surely come true? – Finn asked while they were lying on his beach towel and looking at the sky.

- Really? I never knew it. Then I won't go home until I see such a star.

For several hours they waited and waited and waited for a star to fall and both felt sleepy when they saw one.

- Finally! I almost regretted telling you about the stars. We could have waited here the whole night. What wish did you make?

- Erm...I'm not sure whether it will come true if I tell you...

- Oh, come on! Tell me! – He made the puppy dog look that always worked perfectly when Rachel didn't want to tell him something.

- Finn, NO! Not that look! All right...I wished to sing a duet with Barbra Streisand in a musical on Broadway. – But that was not true. This was the first time that Rachel lied to Finn. In reality she wished that Finn would fall in love with her. She liked him since they met although he was so distant back then, but now they were very close and spent so much time together that she didn't notice how she fell in love with him. She couldn't understand when and how it happened but she knew it for sure and now Rachel Berry was head over heels in love with Finn. She fell asleep every night thinking of him and woke up every morning dreaming of the time after school when they would be together, even only as friends. It hurt to see him with Quinn every day and she had to bite her tongue several times because she was about to tell him "I love you", but Rachel was a great actress and never let her feelings for him be revealed. – And what did you wish for?

- Oh, I just wished that my Mom would find a man that she deserves. I don't want her to be hurt once again, she has suffered enough in her life and she cannot survive another heartbreak.

It was 5 a.m. when they left the park, and while Finn was driving Rachel home she was looking out of the window and kept silent. Finn thought that she was just tired like him but when he parked by her house and looked at her he saw that she was sound asleep. He couldn't help noticing how peaceful and beautiful she was like that and couldn't bring himself to wake her up, so he just lifted her up and headed for the entrance but as he was about to open the door it opened by itself and Finn met one of Rachel's dads face to face.

- Hi...urm...I'm Finn, Rachel's friend. She fell asleep in my car and I...

- Nice to meet you Finn, I'm Rachel's father, Leroy Berry. It's ok, her room is upstairs, the second door on the left. - With that he let Finn in and went for his daily jog.

Finn could have found Rachel's room even without Leroy's instructions because there was a sign plate on the door with Rachel's name and two gold stars on it. He smiled remembering her theory about the stars, entered the room, put Rachel on her bed, took off her shoes, covered her with the blanket and then took a look around. It was the first time that Finn saw her room and he liked it – there were photos and posters from Broadway musicals all over the walls, an exercycle, a big bed (too big for such a tiny girl like Rachel), a desk, a TV and a DVD, and on the bedside table there were photos similar to those in the living room except for some pictures that immediately caught Finn's eye – there were 3 photos of Rachel with a guy with curly hair and big blue eyes. On one photo they stood hugging and looking into each other's eyes, on the second one they were sitting on the shore of some lake, and that guy's arms were locked on Rachel's belly and on the third the guy was pressing a kiss to Rachel's cheek, very close to her lips. But what struck him most was that on each of these photos Rachel had the happiest smile on her face, he knew that smile that he loved so much and could recognize it even in the dark. Finn just stood there staring at these photos and feeling something he had never felt – jealousy. "Who's that guy? Is he her boyfriend? But she never told me she had a boyfriend. Did they break up? Then why does she keep these photos on her bedside table? Maybe they are just friends? But then why are they hugging and kissing?"- Questions with no answers went rushing through Finn's mind and he couldn't wake Rachel up now to ask her about this dude. He sighed – he understood that this night he wouldn't fall asleep, he'd be thinking about Rachel and this stranger. He could no longer stare at the photos, so he went up to her desk and wrote a note on a post-it piece of paper: "You fell asleep in my car and I brought you here. Met your dad Leroy, he's nice. Your room is awesome but I imagined it to be different. See you tomorrow in the park at "our place" at 6 p.m. P.S. You are my star. =) Finn." He stuck the paper to the clock on the bedside table and left, trying not to look at THE photos.

The next day at the hour agreed Rachel and Finn met in the park. Finn was about to ask her about the photos right away, but checked himself, because she would get suspicious, so he decided to wait for the right moment and it soon came.

- Now that you've seen my room you know how obsessed about Broadway I am...

- Yep, but I knew it. Hey! – She punched him in the shoulder. – I like the way you pursue your dream and I'm 100% sure that you'll be on Broadway one day.

- Thank you. It's just because I've had nothing to worry about except myself since childhood, I mean I had everything a child could only hanker, my Dads fulfilled all my wishes and I have wanted to be on Broadway since then and they had nothing against it and always encouraged me. It's the thing that I want most of all in my life and I am used to getting what I want. And you had a tough childhood, and now you have to take care of your Mom and all that stuff at school so it's no wonder you are lost now but...

- Rach, I don't wanna talk about it now, let's change the topic, please?

- Sorry...I always talk too much.

- It's ok. Um...Rachel, who's the guy on the photos on your bedside table? Is he your friend? You never told me about him...

Rachel looked at him wondering whether she heard some jealous notes in his voice or it was her imagination, but Finn put on a most casual look and she couldn't tell if she was right.

- Well...it's Jesse. Jesse . He's a friend, yeah, sort of. We met this summer when my Dads and I went to New York on vacation, we were sitting by him and his family on a musical and he turned out to be a Broadway-obsessed person like me. We...started dating, I guess. We never really talked about what is happening between us, we were just together almost all the summer...When my Dads' vacation was over, Jesse talked them into letting me go with his family and stay with them for the rest of the summer. But he lives in Florida...too far away...the summer with him was...the best summer ever. But nothing so good can last forever, right? When the time for me to leave came, we agreed on being friends and... – Rachel stopped talking and from the look in her eyes Finn could tell that now she was far far away from here, she was in Florida. She was deep in her thoughts, recalling everything that happened to her that summer – their movie nights, swimming in the lake at night, her hands ruffling his soft hair, his sweet kisses, their duets... However, they never made love, because although Rachel was madly in love with him, she knew that they would probably never meet again after this summer and she didn't want to make the mistake that had ruined the lives of so many girls. But she hadn't forgotten him; there was still a place in her heart for him.

- Do you miss him? – Finn's voice brought her back to reality.

- What? – She missed his question.

- Do you miss that Jesse?

- I do. Very much. I haven't heard from him since I left... – fortunately, Rachel was too concentrated on her own thoughts and didn't see Finn clenching his jaw and the look that expressed hurt and jealousy.

Finn tried to distract her from the thoughts about Jesse and asked her to sing something to him and it worked. Then they were lying on the grass watching the clouds and having fun guessing what this or that cloud looked like. As Finn's imagination was not as good as Rachel's she talked mostly and he soon lost the interest in the clouds and in everything except for...her.

- Oh, that one looks like a horse – here's the tail and the head and the crest. Wow, and the cloud over there lo... – she checked herself upon feeling Finn's stare.

- What? – She looked at him and got lost in his eyes. She had never seen such a look before, she didn't dare say that it showed love but surely something very close to it and this something literally took her breath away. Then all of a sudden Finn closed the distance between them and placed a tender kiss on her lips. He pulled away just for 2 inches and Rachel was afraid he would leave now but that didn't happen and in a few seconds she felt his hand curl around her waist and the other one caressing her cheek while her hands instinctively went up to wrap them around his neck and he kissed her again. The second kiss was deeper – Finn sucked at her lower lip for a while and then begged for entrance with his tongue. When Rachel's lips willingly parted and his tongue brushed against the inside of her cheek and her tongue she felt the notorious butterflies in the pit of her stomach and kissed Finn back tenderly yet passionately. But suddenly he pulled away, now he was a meter away from her with a guilty and horrified expression on his face. Rachel, with her lips swollen and her heart skipping a beat was trying to catch her breath and was about to ask Finn about the reason for his behaviour when he said:

- "I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this. We cannot be friends anymore. I like spending time with you too much, I like you not as a friend and it's not right. It feels...I feel... I lose control when I'm with you and... Sorry..."

Saying this he walked, no, ran away, leaving Rachel with tears that immediately started trickling down her cheeks.

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