I'm sorry that it took such a while for me to upload this chapter, but I'm sad to say that this is the second to last chapter! I really hope you guys have been enjoying this story because I have enjoyed writing it for you all. I will inform you that I have a lot on my schedule coming up soon, so I will try to get this fic done as soon as possible, but no promises. I hope you enjoy! (: Reviews are greatly appreciated!
It was all too much for Blaine to take in: Kurt continuously bugging him, and Rachel being engaged. Blaine wonders why he suddenly receives a text from her asking him to meet her in the auditorium on Monday when wasn't she the one to storm out of his bedroom the other evening? He was the one to initiate the fiasco. This drama is getting out of hand, and even though he is still completely unsure of how to deal with any of this, he was going to force himself to find a way, or else he might jump off a cliff any time now.
When Blaine arrived at school, he found Rachel pacing back and forth across the stage as she probably had arrived at school much earlier then she had initially told him to meet her. Once she noticed him, Rachel took a seat at the edge of the stage, and Blaine took a seat next to her as they both avoided eye contact, which was becoming a habit of theirs.
"You know, your singing has definitely improved, I can tell from your performance last week," Rachel stated and it took a moment for Blaine to recall what she meant. "But was the comment before the performance really necessary? We both know that everyone has had suspicions about us, and that performance of yours, let everyone know that their suspicions about us are most likely true. Finn is no longer apprehensive, he's furious and there's only so much I can do to hide all of this from him."
Blaine angrily interjected, "There opinion is there opinion so let them think what they want to think. You were the one to storm out and cause the unnecessary drama so don't act like it was me craving all of the attention."
"I didn't want nor did I need any attention! I was humiliated and confused and rather having a million eyes stare down, I stormed out!" Rachel was now on her feet and Blaine looked up at her as she continued to rant. "I have a best friend who I started to hide secrets from everyday, a boyfriend who proposed to me, and a guy I cheated with, whom is not just a guy, he's someone I've absentmindedly been in love with for years and it hurts me every time he and I get into arguments like these because I care for him too much to let him get hurt. With all of these problems, how the hell am I supposed to react? Like everything's ok? Because it's not and I'm about to lose almost every person I ever cared for so before you start putting all of the blame on me for reacting the way I did, think about all of the pressure I'm under."
All Blaine could clarify was, "I'm not putting all of the blame on you, but I still don't understand why you asked me to meet you here this morning. Finn proposed to you and suddenly you tell me you love me? None of it is making any sense."
"I said no," Rachel barely chocked out and Blaine didn't even have a reaction. "I said no to Finn's proposal." Right when Blaine was about to ask why, she continued.
"Finn doesn't know what he's doing and I was consumed in his impractical world until I finally realized how foolish he was to make this mistake. I mean a proposal? Really? What was I thinking? Do you even know anybody who got married in High School because I don't know anybody. When I declined his proposal, he said to me that he felt as if he was losing me and that's the reason as to why he decided to propose. And that's what stings the most. As much as I realized how childish his idea was, I didn't just decline him because of that. I said no, because he still doesn't know that I cheated on him and I couldn't move on with him, knowing I committed such a sin and what's even worse is that I thought about saying yes thinking I could completely forget about what happened with you and I, but I'm continuously reminded of it everyday."
Blaine was at a loss of words and after the few moments of silence, Rachel spoke. "I also told Kurt. I told him everything, from our childhood, to my mom passing, to your transfer, to our kiss, to Finns proposal. He was catching onto something and we weren't going to get away with any of it for too much longer and all of these secrets were tearing our friendship apart. I needed my old friend to confide in."
Finally Blaine was sure to have his time to rant when she finally had nothing else to say. "You realize that this doesn't solve anything now because we're always in this position every time we try to figure what this is. Whether you accepted that proposal or not, you're still in a relationship and I don't have any right to get in between that. Rachel we have to figure this out now or else we're just going to be running around in circles again. I can't be mad at you every other week, we can't keep going behind Finn's back, you need to decide what to do."
"I don't know what to do!" Rachel stammered on the verge of tears. "I can't make a decision knowing in the end someone will be hurt. And honestly, I feel as if I'm not even in love with Finn anymore. I feel like I've just been holding on tight for so long that I'm afraid to let go. Don't get me wrong, I loved him at one point, but everything changed when you came back, I was falling for you again and I kept failing to admit it, but now I'm not afraid to admit it."
As Rachel rose up and walked in an opposite direction from Blaine, he noticed tears streaming down her cheeks. Once he faced her, he said, "Rachel, please don't cry."
"No, it's ok. I'm happy," Rachel said as a small smile escaped her lips. "I know. I have to make a decision and keeping you confused like this isn't right. You deserve to have an answer."
"So what does this mean for us then," Blaine said, as his face was now inches from Rachel. He was so close that if he really wanted, he could meet his lips with hers.
"I'm breaking up with Finn, maybe not today, but I think after Sectionals. I think that I need to confide in Kurt first though," Rachel stated and before she could say anything Blaine picked her up and twirled her around as his lips met hers. He had never been so happy to finally realize that Rachel is his and his only. Blaine had to remind himself that Rachel still needed to tell Finn, but that shouldn't be a problem.
Friday night had reached and the cast was prepping for their first West Side Story performance, the show they've been busting their ass off for has finally reached, and Blaine could feel the tension rising backstage from the other cast members.
"I'm so nervous." Blaine can tell that Rachel has goose bumps covering both of her arms and he didn't quite know how to calm her down when he wasn't too relaxed himself.
"Rachel, you're going to be amazing. There's no reason to worry, especially for someone as driven as you because you out of all of us are the most prepared. Now we're going to get out there and kick some ass." After Blaine's quick pep talk, Rachel placed a small kiss on his forehead, as Kurt seemed to barge in at the perfect timing.
"Rachel?" Kurt asked as he slowly noticed what he had interrupted. Blaine quickly backed away from Rachel; indeed sure that Kurt was quite confused as to why they were being to some extent intimate.
"Kurt." Those were the only words that had escaped Rachel's lips.
"I didn't mean to interrupt, but we're taking places," Kurt noted awkwardly, (Artie had offered him to be apart of the tech crew since he still had a desire to be apart of the cast), but Blaine noticed that Kurt was giving Rachel that look saying, "We need to talk."
"We'll be out in a second," Blaine said for Rachel who couldn't form any words at the moment. Once Kurt left, Rachel was dead silent unsure of what to do and probably thinking of what Finn's going to say when he finds out or if Kurt will even tell him to begin with.
"Listen Rachel." Blaine took a few steps toward her. "I'm taking from what just happened you didn't tell Kurt, but right now you need to stay focused. Forget about what's going to happen after the show, just think about how hard you've worked for this performance and how in the end, you'll have a full house applauding for you. I know that having sectionals the day after this is probably in your case stressful and overwhelming, but we need to get through this, Alright?"
"Alright." Instead of a kiss, Blaine thought it would be more appropriate to comfort Rachel with a slight and simple hug. Everyone took there places and Blaine is surely hoping that his pep talks helped, and that Kurt's not going to let what happened in the dressing room escape. Rachel already has enough to deal with and she doesn't need to have the Glee Club attacking her.
The performance turned out to be a success and even though Blaine may not have pulled off his lines as well as Rachel, they both still received a standing ovation from just about every member in the audience. Almost everyone headed to the cast party after, but none of the Glee kids did because they have to be prepared to wake up bright and early for a long rehearsal tomorrow before their Sectionals performance.
Sadly, everyone was still exhausted from the previous day and no one was looking forward for this early rehearsal. "You guys are sleep walking on me," Mr. Shue said. "I know that a majority of you were in the performance last night, but please stay with me because we still have some touching up to do on our choreography and Sectionals is today. Here, I'll give you guys a 10 minute break and then we'll get back on track."
Excitement grew in the auditorium and the majority went over to the seats to take a nap, meanwhile Finn had come up to Blaine and said in a serious tone, "I need to talk to you." Blaine didn't bother to ask why, but simply followed him out of the auditorium assuming he didn't want others overhearing them.
For a short period, Finn hadn't spoke. "You needed to talk to me?" Blaine asked questioningly breaking the ice since Finn thought it would be ok to stand there awkwardly.
"I swear, I'm going to ask you this one last time," Finn stated and Blaine was still quite befuddled. "I know that there is something going on between you and Rachel, and she's not telling me anything but I can sense it. She's not acting the same."
"How many times do I need to tell you! There's nothing going on between us!" Blaine said as he became furious and out of nowhere Finn slapped Blaine straight across the face. As he began to clutch onto his cheekbone Finn loudly stated, "I saw you both talking in the auditorium Monday morning. I saw you kiss her and I heard her say that she was going to break up with me. Was that the only time when you two kissed or has she been cheating on me with you for the past few months?"
"It's really not as bad as it sounds, just let me explain," Blaine muttered.
"Oh, really? So maybe she only cheated on me a few times or maybe she's not even a virgin anymore, but it's really not as bad as it sounds so I shouldn't worry," Finn halted in a mocking tone.
"Look, we can either handle this the easy way or the hard way. It's your choice," Blaine slowly stated trying to gain some sort of confidence in himself, but knew there was no way that he can ease Finn's worrying.
"We wouldn't have to handle this either way if you hadn't been sneaking around behind my back with my girlfriend," Finn said and before Blaine knew it he shoved him and this time Blaine wasn't going to let him push him around like he was some dumb toy.
Blaine pushed him back and before both of them knew it, they were strangling each other across the floor, and Rachel along with Mr. Shue followed by the rest of the Glee Club seemed to reach them at the perfect time.
"Hey! Break it up!" Mr. Shue yelled as he centered himself in between both of the boys. The second he stepped away, Finn was already back at Blaine's throat and the heat was intensifying.
"What do you not understand about break it up?" Mr. Shue stated angrily.
"Well, how else am I supposed to react to the news about my girlfriend cheating on me?" Finn shouted. "And don't say you that it's not true because I saw you Monday in the auditorium." Finn directed the last part of the conversation towards Rachel. The minute those words had escaped Finn's lips, everyone was staring at Rachel and Blaine.
A small, "I'm sorry," escaped Rachel's lips and Finn responded harshly with, "I'm not. Since I've been through this before, it's not the first time I've felt this way so I guess I'm thanking you, for proving that I'm not meant to be loved."
"Stop it," Rachel walked up to him and took his hand avoiding eye contact with everyone who was watching them, but Finn let go.
"No, I'm done. It's over. You get your happy ending and I get left alone. Let's just leave it at that," and before anyone could say anything, Rachel ran off completely embarrassed and Blaine was once again, running after her.
