MIA Chapter 10

It had been exactly two hours and three minutes since the kiss happened. Rachel knew, she was keeping track. When she wasn't thinking about the grueling minutes that she and Finn were spending apart, the scene was on repeat in her mind.

She was kissing Finn Hudson, right now. So she reached her hand up to his face and added electricity to the already passionate kiss. After a glorious minute or two, they broke apart, transmitting their emotions through their eyes as they stared at each other. Did it feel like fireworks? No, not even close. There were no words to rationally begin to explain how truly incredible it was. Finally, the coveted half smile arose from Finn's face. He rubbed his hand against Rachel's cheek and said, "That."

Directly after that moment, Rachel took a whole four seconds to re-compose herself. She quickly checked to make sure her heart was in its default position and took some much-needed oxygen into her feeble body. Finn noted that Rachel did not look well…at all. He tensed up and quickly said,

"Rachel, oh my goodness, I shouldn't have done that. I totally forgot about our past, and Jesse and you probably aren't ready for me, I mean if you ever are ready, because you don't have to be, it's your call of course, I mean, I like you…like a lot, and I just…." Rachel, who leaned up and kissed his moving mouth, silenced Finn's apologetic babbling. It was pure irony that Finn was the one who wouldn't stop talking. Finn felt Rachel's lips form a smile against his, and as the smile grew, his worries vanished.

"Don't be sorry for that. Don't ever be sorry for doing that." Rachel said as they parted.

Finn smiled slightly, "You just seemed so…spooked."

"This is going to sound extremely cliché." She said, face growing red.

"At least it didn't take you a good nineteen years to finally grasp what cliché meant," Finn interrupted.

"True," she shyly smiled and continued, "Well, that kiss, it took my breath away. And I almost mean that literally."

A wave of pride crashed over Finn and a cocky little grin popped on his face. "I guess I'm just that good." He jokingly said, hoping to make her cute embarrassment disappear.

Rachel moved closer and playfully hit his chest. Rolling her eyes she said, "Oh, please."

Finn wrapped his arms around her waist, and she immediately positioned hers on his shoulders. They stood like that, in his driveway (still), peacefully and silently for a few moments.

"I missed you." He stated. Rachel stopped fiddling with the hair on the back of his head and put one hand on his chin. She guided it to her face and placed a quick kiss on his lips. "I missed you, too."

Moreover, here she was, sitting in her dressing room, two hours and six minutes after that glorious moment. Normally she loved her time at work, but her current eagerness to leave had nothing to do with Days of our Lives. All she wanted to do was get home and see her boyfriend. Boyfriend. Was that what Finn was?

Of course he's my boyfriend; we kissed like twenty times in the driveway. She thought to herself. No, that doesn't mean anything. Another part of her reasoned. Well he admitted he liked me, a lot, so that's practically dating, right? Well, I probably wouldn't call him my boyfriend in front of someone, so what does that mean?

This internal struggle continued for a while, and Rachel was driving herself absolutely insane. All of a sudden her phone danced and hit her arm. She stopped the vibration with the click of a button and read the incoming text message.

From: Finn Hudson

Just wondering if my girlfriend would care to join me for dinner tonight

Okay, well that answers that.

Rachel read over the thirteen-word message thirteen more times. She silently, but audibly, squealed every time her eyes arrived at the words 'my girlfriend'. She was so engulfed in the beautiful words that she almost forgot to type a reply. She stared at the blank slate, trying to formulate her excitement into words, without sounding too crazy.

From: Rachel Berry

It would be my pleasure ;) What does my boyfriend have in store for us?

Rachel grasped her phone as if it was her lifeline, waiting, desperately for a response. Was her message to cryptic, too happy, mysterious, too vague? The vibration of her phone was like a defibrillator, putting pace back into her heart.

From: Finn Hudson

It's for me to know and you to find out . Just come home, and don't worry, I'll take care of everything.

The text was so simple and so sweet; Rachel wondered how Finn did it. Here she was, attempting to formulate the perfect response while he could easily make her heart melt. It kind of made her realize what was special about Finn. Being with him was so effortless. He didn't care if she said or did the perfect thing, he just liked being around her. They don't make them like that anymore. Rachel thought to herself as she exited the confines of her dressing room.

Rachel popped through the door after a very long day. She habitually set her keys on the table next to the door, but felt her things hit an unusual smooth surface. She picked the piece of paper that rested there and scanned the note.

Rach,

Hope you had a great day at work! Get changed into something comfortable and meet me at the beach. Take your time, I will be waiting for you there.

Finn

Rachel ignored the 'take your time' part and zoomed up the stairs. She felt like a teenager, haphazardly flinging items of clothing, searching for that perfect outfit. Then she remembered her internal discussion. Finn doesn't like me because I'm perfect, Finn likes me because I'm me. Nodding her head, she waltzed out of her room in a simple white sundress.

Stepping onto the cool California sand, Rachel looked around for any traces of Finn. It didn't take long for her to spot her six foot four inch boyfriend jumping up and down to her left. She smiled at his adorable gesture and quickly walked over to him.

She let her bag cradle into the sand as Finn swept her off the ground. He held her tight in his arms as they rested their heads together. Finn licked his lips slowly as he stared into her eyes. Rachel felt her breath hitch in her throat in response to the deep eye contact. Luckily, Finn acted quickly and launched his lips towards hers. The kiss started out slow, but gained fire with every second. Finn went to step back a bit, but stumbled and fell down into the sand, taking Rachel with him. She landed perfectly in his lap and the two laughed at Finn's ever-present clumsiness. The laughter continued as the kiss resumed. After a few more magnificent moments, Rachel leaned back and pursed her swollen lips.

"I think we like to kiss too much," she laughed.

Finn rocked her back and forth in his lap and laughed along. Kissing her forehead he smiled, "Fine with me."

A/N: I go from two chapters in two day to one chapter in like two weeks. Ridiculous. My sincere apologies for the lack-of-update, I hope this chapter kind of made up for it. As always, reviews make my day, so be sure to leave one!