Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters.
"Holy shit" Finn breathed, tugging on Kurt's arm. "Dude, look."
Kurt turned his head, following Finn's eyes to the bar, his eyes widening when he saw her. "I can't believe it" he said in awe, "I've never seen her so well dressed."
Finn shoved his brother, attempting to stand from his seat as Kurt stopped him. "Finn, what are you doing?"
"Look at her, it looks like she's on a date! What the hell!" Finn cried. "Aren't we supposed to be fake dating? Does that mean nothing to her? She can't just run around with other guys behind my back."
"Finn..." Kurt scolded. "Have you told her how you felt about her yet?"
"Well not exactly...I was working my way up to it..."
"Then you have no right to intrude on her...whatever that is. You said it yourself, you're fake dating. Until you make a move she can do whatever she wants. It might be completely innocent anyway, you could be blowing this all out of proportion."
"I'm sorry, are we not looking at the same dress? I don't see anything innocent about that" he grumbled.
"Finn, stop." Kurt chided, finally seeing the face of Rachel's partner. "Well damn, that definitely explains things."
"What?" Finn asked, stretching his neck to see.
"That's Jesse St. James, her co-star. It's perfectly logical that they could hang out outside of the workplace."
Finn narrowed his eyes at the name of her partner. The same jerk that Rachel had complained about making her feel self-conscious the night before. Why would she be hanging out with him?
"What do you know about him? From the way Rachel usually talks, he's not the kind of guy she would just hang out with."
"Um, well, he's not the most popular member in the cast, he does have a bit of a reputation."
"As in?"
"He's known to be a bit of a womanizer...but Finn you know Rachel, she's a smart girl. They're probably just here as friends, talking over their roles."
Finn stood from his seat, having heard more than enough.
"Oh God" Kurt sighed, resting his forehead on his hands. "This isn't going to be good" he mumbled to Blaine.
"I feel like I should go get some popcorn" Blaine laughed, placing a gentle kiss on Kurt's forehead. "Calm down, you don't want to get worry lines"
Kurt immediately sat up, running his fingers over his face, afraid that said lines might have already started showing up.
"Oh!" Blaine cried, looking down at his phone. "I need to take this, I'll be right back okay?" he said, squeezing Kurt's hand before walking outside.
Finn approached the bar, coming up right beside his 'girlfriend' as he leaned against it. "Fancy seeing you here." Rachel turned, shocked registering on her face as she saw him for the first time. She choked a little on her screwdriver, recovering before she finally spoke.
"Finn, what are you doing here?" she asked, scanning the crowd until her eyes landed on Kurt. Of course.
"I could ask you the same thing sweetie" he said, placing an arm around her shoulder as he finally looked at Jesse.
"Jesse, this is my...Finn. Finn, meet Jesse." she mumbled.
"It's a pleasure, I'm sure." Jesse smirked, sticking out a hand to Finn.
Reluctantly, Finn released Rachel to shake the smaller man's hand, using as firm a grip as possible. He smiled as Jesse's smile faltered, watching as he tried to regain his hand back from Finn's death hold.
"I'll leave you two love birds to talk, I'm going to run to the restroom" he said, rubbing his hand as he turned away to walk to the back.
"What the hell Rachel?" Finn seethed as soon as Jesse was out of earshot. "What are you doing with him?"
"I'm having a drink with a friend Finn" she said coolly, bringing the screwdriver back to her lips as she avoided his gaze.
"A friend? Really Rachel? This must not be the same Jesse that you were complaining about, let's see I don't know...LAST NIGHT."
"I prematurely judged him. He's shown a much better side of himself very recently."
"Oh, that's convenient."
"Excuse me?"
"You flash him your boobs at rehearsal and all of a sudden he's a saint" Finn said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at her. "Real smart Rach."
Rachel's eyes widened at his words. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that. And it would be in the best interest of this friendship if you didn't go any further."
Finn bit the inside of his cheek as he stared at her. He couldn't believe she was being so naive and stubborn. "Rachel, I just don't want to see you get hurt. He's not a good guy, Kurt says-"
"Finn, I know what people say about Jesse, I've said some of the same things about him myself. But at least he's upfront about who he is, he doesn't pretend to be something he's not or hide it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn almost shouted in confusion, seeing Jesse finally making his way back toward them.
"Nothing Finn, absolutely nothing. I don't want to fight with you okay? You enjoy your night, and I'm going to do the same." She downed the rest of her drink before setting it down and pushing herself away from the bar and Finn. "Let's dance" she said, linking her elbow through Jesse's as they made their way to the floor, leaving Finn behind.
Rachel stood in the center of the small dance floor, swaying her body to the quick tempo of the music. Jesse was behind her, hands atop her hips as she danced. She tried not to look in Finn's direction, and so far had been successful, but she couldn't quite block him from her mind. She shouldn't have been surprised, of course he would be out with Kurt. She had been monopolizing him for quite some time, they needed a night out. It was unfortunate that they ended up in the same place as she and Jesse, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Maybe this would even be good for them.
She continued to move, letting her body take over her senses as she fought to clear her mind. This night was supposed to be about having fun, and that's what she was going to do. She raised her arms in the air as the next song started, closing her eyes as she felt Jesse's breath on her ear.
"Uh-oh. It looks like your boyfriend has replaced you."
Rachel opened her eyes, shocked at Jesse's words. She knew Finn, and he hated to dance. But then again, if anyone could get him on the floor it would be Kurt. She looked around finally finding him, but instead of Kurt, a pretty blonde was bending over in front of him, sliding herself back up his front seductively.
What. The. Hell.
Rachel was livid, she turned to the table Finn had been sitting at looking for Kurt's reaction. There, sitting in the seat Finn had occupied was a small, dark haired man. He was chatting away freely with Kurt, both of them completely oblivious to what was going on on the dance floor. She turned her attention back to Finn, still standing in place behind the blonde as she ground her hips back into him. Rachel narrowed her eyes as she watched. His hands weren't gripping her hips like he had done hers, he was just standing there as the woman moved, hands midway in the air like he wasn't sure what to do with them.
Rachel shrugged, placing her hands over Jesse's on her hips as she turned her head from the pair. She ground herself against Jesse, not at all competing with the extremely well dancing blonde. She felt Jesse's grip tighten on her and slip a little lower, but she ignored it. They continued to dance until the song changed again, a slightly slower, more sultry song as Jesse spun her around to face him.
He linked her arms around his neck, his hands still resting on her hips as he leaned over to her ear. "Are you having fun Rachel?" She chanced a glance towards Finn and his blonde tramp before nodding her head at Jesse with a tight smile. As soon as she did, she felt his hand start to roam lower, and then lower until he was cupping her behind. "We could have even more fun" he suggested, his breath tickling the shell of her ear, making her shiver. Mistaking the shiver for one of pleasure, Jesse pulled her flush against him, bringing his mouth to her neck.
"Jesse, no stop" she said, pushing on his shoulders. His grip was too tight, he didn't budge as she stretched her neck, trying to get out of his grasp. "Seriously Jesse" she tried again, releasing a shaky laugh to lighten things up. "I don't think I want to dance anymore."
Suddenly Jesse was ripped from her. She blinked in confusion, looking up to see Finn holding onto Jesse by his collar. "She said to stop" he spat menacingly.
"I don't think that's any of your business" Jesse scoffed, jerking himself free of Finn's grasp.
"I would think so, considering that's my girlfriend you had your filthy hands all over."
"Well you weren't taking care of her, somebody needed to."
Before she even really registered what was happening, Finn's fist snapped forward connecting with Jesse's face in a loud smack. Jesse stumbled backward into an approaching body guard, cradling his cheek in his hand as he stared at Finn with watery eyes. The broad bouncer grabbed both Finn and Jesse by the elbows, yanking the two men out of the bar as Rachel stared on in horror.
Taking a deep breath, Rachel finally realized that most of the occupants were staring at her as she collected herself. Even the blonde who was now rolling her body against a blonde man with an abnormally large mouth. Avoiding the stares, she took off towards the exit door, finding Finn sitting alone on the bench outside.
"Your ride left" he muttered, staring down at his shoes.
"I think that would have been an awkward ride home anyway" she sighed, coming to sit next to him on the bench. "Thank you...for that. It was very chivalrous of you, but you didn't have to do that. This is all my fault, you should be in there enjoying your night with Kurt." Finn looked up at her finally, about to speak when the doors came bursting open again to reveal none other than Kurt himself, along with the dark haired man holding hands.
"What was that Finn!" Kurt screeched, shooting towards him as the other man tugged on his elbow to keep him still.
"St. Dickwad was trying to force himself on Rachel. I wasn't just going to stand there."
"No! Oh my goodness, are you alright?" he cried, walking towards Rachel and taking her hands in his.
Rachel stared at the small man, glancing between him and the new addition to their group as he continued to study her.
"Is she okay? Maybe you should get her home." Kurt assessed, a little uneasy at the way she was staring at him.
"Who is this?" she finally asked, nodding towards the man.
"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Blaine" he announced, stepping back to link hands with the man again.
Rachel's eyebrows shot into her forehead at his words. How could he have another boyfriend? She turned to Finn, not detecting any anger or jealousy in his eyes when it finally dawned on her. Kurt must have a cover up too, to keep Finn safe. This was all just getting to be too much, she was going to go crazy from all the lies, and manipulation. She rubbed her temples, trying to soothe her racing mind. "Right. Of course it is."
"Rachel...what's wrong with you?"
"Oh nothing Finn, everything's just fine. It's so nice to meet you, I'm Rachel" she said with exaggerated cheerfulness as she extended a hand towards Blaine. "I'm surprised we haven't been introduced yet. I'm sure we'd get along swimmingly, we have so much in common. Here's an idea, why don't we schedule a double date soon? I'm sure that would be just cozy. Would you boys like that?"
Finn exchanged worried looks with Kurt as he took a step towards the small, fragile woman. "Sure Rach, whatever you want. Let's just get you home okay?"
"No" she said, putting a hand up towards Finn for him to keep his distance. "I really like you Finn, but this is too much for me, I'm going crazy. This" she said, waving her hands between the four of them, "is making me crazy."
"I don't understand Rachel, just talk to me."
"Oh that's rich coming from you!" she cried, finally releasing all of the anger and confusion that had been building inside of her. "You want me to open up to you? Be honest with you? Like the way that you're honest with me, or with anyone else for that matter? I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into" she said turning to Blaine. "Then again, maybe you get off on this stuff too. I did at first, until I realized I had gotten in too deep. I wasn't supposed to fall..." Rachel sighed as she locked eyes with Finn, resisting the urge to cry. "But not anymore, I'm sorry I just can't do this. Good luck" she muttered, storming away towards the curb to hail herself a cab.
"Rachel, what the hell are you talking about? Good luck with what?"
"With finding a new beard Finn!" she cried, turning to him throwing her hands up in the air. She was done with pretending.
"A what?"
"That's right, don't play dumb Finn. I figured it out a long time ago."
"Wait a second" Finn breathed, his face scrunching up in confusion. He replayed her words in his mind and rethought the last two weeks, all of the mixed signals, the weird behavior, and it finally hit him. "Rachel...you think I'm gay?"
Thanks for the read, Hope you enjoyed!
There's a big Winter storm coming in, so I wanted to get this chapter out before it hits, but hopefully I'll be able to update soon!
In the meantime, feel free to check out my other stores!
