A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the response. Rachel'll be paired with Finn? I'm not sure. I have to ask Rachel. She is a drama queen and way too stubborn. And Finn's not good with words. You can see it in this chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters. I only own the other characters other than Glee's.

Three steps forward, two steps back. Three steps forward again, two steps back again. Step forward, step back, step forward, step back. Going back and forth over and over, the more time passed, the easier things went.

And here we were.

New York.

For Nationals.

The first time in a long time, Rachel couldn't feel happier more. Sure she had to spend more time with Finn alone in order to rehearse their duet and honestly she got tense and awkward at first except for the time she tried persuading Finn not to announce Santana's orientation in front of other people. But she could managed herself to be civil with him.

As for Santana's disclosure of Finn and Quinn situation, Rachel tried to stay away from it (because she didn't want to know the detail of which they had sexual intercourse).

Thank God, she'd been never interested in gossips. That was why she always was the last person to know that Quinn had gotten knocked up or that Finn had lost his virginity to Santana. Well, that was her opinion. Kurt said that that was because she hardly had friends. Fair enough. She admitted that he had a valid point.

"So, when will you get here?" Rachel switched a hand to the other in order to put her cell phone firmly to her ear. Having Warblers lost Regionals, Kurt decided to come to support Rachel and New Direction.

"I booked an early flight tomorrow morning, but I don't think we can meet up before the competition starts. Why don't we spend some time together Sunday morning? We can have a breakfast in Central Park and look around at Broadway."

"Very much intriguing. Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Good night, Kurt."

"Good night, Rachel."

This was it. Everyone was fly high. Rachel was waiting at the backstage for the curtain rising. Finn was at the opposite side of the backstage. She shuddered a little with excitement. She felt Finn's gaze at her. She turned to him as the cue was motioned. They small smiled at each other. The music started.

Face to face and heart to hear

We're so close yet far apart

I close my eyes, I look away

That's just because I'm not okay

But I hold on, I stay strong

Wondering if we still belong

Rachel and Finn stepped closer and closer. She rehearsed the song with him for a week and a half or so and tried to convey her emotion through the lyrics. At first, she was confused, to be honest, who the song Finn wrote was about. About him and Quinn? Just a fictional story and about nobody? Or…?

Will we ever say the words we're feeling?

Reach down underneath and tear down all the walls

Will we ever have our happy ending?

Or will we forever only be pretending?

In their rehearsal, Rachel guarded her heart from Finn and decided to consider the song a fictional story. But deep down, she knew that the song was for them. And now, on the stage in front of a bunch of people, her suppressed acknowledgement was about to explode.

Keeping secrets safe

Every move we make

Seems like no one's letting go

And it's such a shame

Cause if you feel the same

How am I supposed to know?

What was he supposed to say? Why did he have to write this song? He didn't say anything in their rehearsal. Was he trying to get back together with her? After Quinn broke up with him? Was she returning to being a rebound girl? Sudden realization reopened her old wounds. Her heart began to smart.

Will we ever say the words we're feeling?

Reach down underneath and tear down all the walls

Will we ever have our happy ending?

Or will we forever only be pretending?

Pretending, pretending, pretending (*)

Finn gazed at her intently. His face was leaning down toward hers. The music ended. His eyes locked on her lips. His lips were getting closer to hers. Oh no, what am I going to do? Rachel was about to close her eyes and almost gave in. No, Rachel. Not this time. She snapped out of her thoughts as the next song started. She turned her head to the teammates who already came onto the stage, missing that Finn's face fell.

Everything was in a blur after she offstaged. She felt Quinn's glare shooting at the back of her head. A weird, awkward tension enveloped Finn and her. The other members were still excited. All she could do was keeping her distance from him and Quinn and just waiting for the announcement of results.

The crowd at the end of the lobby shouted loudly. "What's that?" Someone of the team asked. "The result has announced." Other member approached to the team to inform. Every member, included Rachel, ran down to the end of the lobby.

Mr. Schue put himself forward as a vanguard. The team stared at his back waiting with half expectation, half fear. His head hung down a little before he turned around. Sad smile appeared on his face. They lost. They even weren't placed in top 10.

Twelve.

That was their number.

Rachel heard an angry voice in Spanish from behind. She didn't understand completely, but it was obvious that Santana was blaming their lost on Mr. Schue and Finn, saying the OOS was totally a flop.

Rachel felt guilty. If she didn't persuade her teacher to do that for Regionals, Mr. Schue never thought that they should sing original songs for Nationals. She sighed.

"Santana, calm down. All you guys should be proud. The top teams had been known as a favorite for a long time. You guys came all the way here only for a year. And twelfth in the United States? Which is a really great result. Result is not everything. Besides, we still have next year."

Everyone, even Santana, just nodded at Mr. Schue's pep talk.

"Alright. Have fun until tomorrow afternoon." Mr. Schue clapped his hand. "Just make sure you don't go off the rails tonight. Okay?"

In the boys' hotel room, from the opposite side, Puck glanced at Finn, who was quiet during the dinner and still kept his mouth shut. He stood up from the couch before made his way toward Finn.

"Dude, it's depressing." Puck sat next to Finn. Finn glared at him. Puck sighed. "You don't have to listen to Santana, you know that, right?"

Finn looked up at his best friend. "I don't care about what she said."

Puck frowned. "Then, why are you still moping?" He observed Finn's face. He saw him open his mouth but closed it after a moment. Okay, he got it. "Rachel." Puck blurted out.

Finn blew a breath, dropping his shoulders. "I don't know, man. I don't know what to do."

"Have you talked to her? Didn't you guys spend enough time, do you?" Puck asked.

"I tried to talk to her in one of our rehearsals, but the jackass interrupted and destroyed the moment." Finn ran his fingers through his hair.

"Screw the jackass. Just try to talk to her again. Or ask her out." Puck grabbed Finn's cell phone which was on the coffee table and shoved it into Finn's hand. Puck added after seeing his hesitation. "Dude, man up."

Finn sent Rachel a text to ask her to meet up with him tomorrow morning. She, however, texted back saying she already had a plan with Kurt. Finn didn't bother to hide his disappointment.

Then an idea came up to his mind.

Kurt.

A brother of Finn.

Rachel frowned. It might have been easier for both of them to meet at his hotel or her hotel, stroll to Central Park, and stop by a deli on their way to the park. Why did he want to come to the park separately? She shook her head and walked over to the spot where Kurt asked her to wait.

Rachel sat on a bench, looking over the view. Kurt and she had just received the acceptance letter for the summer school program of NYADA a few days back. They could come here a million times from now on. In this summer. And after graduation.

They would go to NYADA (she hoped), make a lot of new friends (she hoped), eat at fancy (vegan) restaurants, enjoy the night life in Manhattan (she could see her dads scowl), and they would be a star on Broadway one day.

Rachel smiled at her reverie, failing to notice someone's shadow cast down on her.

"Rachel."

Startled, she snapped up and looked at a man screening the sunlight from her. "Finn. What are you doing here?"

"May I?" Finn pointed at the space on the bench where Rachel was sitting.

"Um, yeah." Rachel fidgeted. "Kurt's coming in a minute." She added, recalling when the last time was that Finn and she met outside of school (and glee events).

Finn cleared his throat. "I asked Kurt to give me some time along with you." He glanced at her. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Rachel cursed Kurt in her mind.

"Us."

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut, with her head down. Oh no, don't. Not here, not right now. She wasn't ready for this kind of conversation with him yet.

Finn shifted his eyes from Rachel to the view in front of them. "I wrote about us, Rachel. The song we sang." Rachel said nothing. "I almost kissed you. I wanted to kiss you up there." He was about to take her hand.

Rachel flinched away from him. "No, Finn. Please don't. I-I can't…" She said in a low voice, still with her head down, biting her lower lip, trying to prevent from crying.

Finn's heart almost dropped as she flinched. "Why?"

"Because," Rachel paused, "you went back to Quinn."

"We're over." Finn protested.

"Because she broke up with you." Rachel whispered.

"Yeah, it's true that she broke up with me." Finn frowned, confused, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "But it doesn't matter who broke up with whom. I think we were over a long time ago."

Rachel snapped up at Finn. "Then why did you go back to Quinn in the first place?"

Finn didn't know what to say, running his fingers through his hair with frustration. This was not a conversation that he was supposed to have with Rachel.

"I know why." Rachel looked away from him. "You forgave her. You fought for her or both of you, Finn. But you didn't forgive me or fight for me either because I was not good enough for you. Because I was just a rebound girl for you!" Rachel raised her voice. She couldn't sit with him here anymore, standing up and about to walk away.

Finn widened his eyes and sprung on his feet from the bench. He grabbed her wrist. "It's not true!"

Rachel turned his head toward Finn. "Then why didn't you fight for me or us when I was begging your forgiveness last year, when I sang my song at Regionals?" Tears threatened to run down on her cheeks.

"I was hurt!"

I know you were hurt because I was the one who hurt you. But doesn't he think I was hurt too? Won't he ever forgive me? How many times do I have to apologize? Rachel bit her tongue. "Your last three words have just proved everything what I said was true." She sniffled.

"No, Rachel…" Finn was flustered. This was definitely not what he hoped to end up. How did he manage this conversation to get back on track?

Rachel shook her head. "Maybe we'll forever go round in circles and get nowhere." She got him loose his grip on her wrist. "And I'm sorry that I hurt you."

With that, Rachel rushed out of the place.

Step forward, step back, step forward, step back.

Today she was a hundred thousand steps back.

A/N: Sorry, Superman of Kisses never happened in my story. :(

*: 'Pretending' written by Adam Anders and Shelly Peiken, performed by Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) and Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith) on Glee 2X22 "New York"; the lyrics used in this chapter is the TV aired version, not full (recording) version.

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