Chapter Thirty-Four
Finn POV
I'm in shock, utter shock. We're sitting in the hotel room in Los Angeles and Kurt and Blaine just sang the songs that they wrote and neither of them were good. We're screwed. We're so screwed. Everyone just kind of assumed Rachel and I would do the slow song and between the two of them they would write a good fast song.
But, Kurt's song ended up being about sweaters for men and Blaine's was tragically slow. I mean, we're talking Phantom of the Opera slow. No one knows what to say.
"That was…" I start and I feel Rachel's hand squeeze mine tightly, shutting me up. She knows how bad I am at giving feedback.
Rachel begins to speak, "It was really.."
"It was a disaster, lady lips." Santana bursts out.
Brittany nods her head quickly, "Yeah, it was a fucking mess."
"BRITTANY!" Mr. Schue yells. "It was good, Blaine. It just wasn't what we are looking for."
"And it was really sad." Rachel agrees.
"And, like, really gay." Kurt adds, laughing a little.
"Yeah, dude. You're normally the straighter of the two gay guys. You kinda out-gayed your B.F. here and he sang about sweaters." Puck says bluntly.
"Kurt even lined dropped H&M" Quinn adds.
Kurt stands and grabbed Blaine's hand, "Speaking of, since we are such terrible writers, then we'll go to H&M to get our costumes and you guys can write our song."
Mr. Schue argues at first, but after he realizes how much we need costumes he finally allows them to do. If Coach Sylvester would have burned ours before shipping them we would have been fine. Instead, this morning we opened a box of ashes with a note for Coach saying 'See you at Graduation, losers.'
Puck stands, I was pretty sure it was to walk out but he says that he has a song to show us. We're all very apprehensive at first, remembering 'Big Ass Heart'. But the song is pretty freaking good.
"Well folks, with this and Rachel and Finn's song I think we have our Original Songs." Mr. Schue says. "And if we get to the top 10 and we're going to preform in the showcase, I want Quinn to sing 'Skyscraper'." Mr. Schue adds.
"Not alone." Quinn argues.
"You can sing with Rachel." Mr. Schue adds, "But, I think you can do it yourself too. I think it has the emotional touch that will have us win."
Quinn looks down and smiles, "It won't be hard to work up the emotions, after Puck's song." She says looking up at him, "It's directed towards me, isn't it?"
Puck shrugs and pretends to not care, "Not necessarily, it's just a song…" He is unconvincing but Quinn pretends to buy it. We have another pair of pretenders in the room this year at Nationals.
After Mr. Schue and Mrs. Pillsbury orders us some pizzas they head out to a movie and leave us to work on the routine. We don't, of course. Rachel and I sneak to the boys room while the rest of them hang out in the girls room. We call her Dads to check on Chris and they say he's doing great and they put us on speaker phone and we sing our song to him, we hear him coo and try to sing along. Rachel and I make out for like two hours before anyone comes to find us. I wanted to do more, but Rachel refused to do anything in a room that I share a bed with Puckerman. When I told her I was sharing a bed with Sam she got even more grossed out.
Quinn walked in with Mercedes, who have been inseparable all week, and inform us of their plan to sneak out to see the Hollywood sign.
We high-jack the handicapable bus that Mr. Schue left the keys for in our room and make our way to a place to see the sign and take pictures. Of course, not long after Puck and Mike decide that we need to get to the sign.
"I've seen that in a movie, it's a terrible idea." Rachel says in a scolding tone.
Puck rolls his eyes and whispers something in Rachel's ear which seems to make her mad and she agrees, "Fine. It's your funeral. If we get caught and taken to jail and we can't make it to Nationals. I will seriously kill you both." She says pointing her fingers between Mike and Puck.
"Not my Asian." Tina yells grabbing Mike's hand.
I see Quinn go to defend Puck, but stops herself. That song has really gotten under her skin.
We make our way down to the Hollywood sign and Quinn and Mercedes pull out wine-coolers out of their purses and Rachel pulls some out of hers too.
"You too, babe?"
"I've been carrying them around the whole trip, I didn't know where we were planning on drinking them." She says innocently and reaches up to kiss my lips and I let her melt into me.
"Okay, Finchel, let's get our drink on before you make another baby." Santana's voice breaks our connection.
We all sit behind the double OO's in 'wood' and talk about the year. We drink the wine-coolers and Puck passes around a flask of whiskey, and when that flask runs out, Santana passes around hers, full of tequila. After that empties, Artie pulls out his flask that is filled to the brim with vodka and I'm starting to fill sick and Rachel is staring to get silly. Luckily Blaine and Quinn aren't drinking so we'll find our way back just fine.
We laugh and talk about the year and Brittany tells everyone how she loves Santana more then everyone and the hurt on Artie's face is almost unbearable.
"You know, Artie" Rachel starts, "I ran into Suzie Pepper on Thursday, She told me that she missed you and she wished you'd call." She says with a smirk and Artie's face began to glow.
"Yeah, she got hot over last summer. I heard she's going to school in Cleveland." Puck added.
"Yeah, she is pretty hot." Artie agreed with a half smile.
For the next hour we spoke of the last three years, telling stories, laughing, crying and laughing so hard we were crying.
"…and my ballad for Finn was 'I honestly love you', and he was like 'sounds really cool, man.'" Kurt says impersonating me in a deep voice, barely being able to breathe from the laughter that was filling his lungs "He didn't have a clue that I was into him."
Everyone burst into a fit of laughter, "No, I knew." I disagree, still laughing "But, I just didn't want to tell you I knew."
"What about Rachel's ballad with Mr. Schue." Puck says pointing at her and laughing hysterically. Rachel buries her head in my chest.
"Shut up!" She yells.
I lean down to whisper in her ear, "Your butt looked really cute that day and that pulls her face out of my shirt."
She hits me playfully and kisses my cheek.
"Tina used to have a stutter." Mercedes bursts out and we all start into another fit of laughter. It's not even that funny, it's all just ironic.
"A lesbian took my virginity." I say lifting my hand as if to be called on and the laughter continues.
"Me too, dude." Puck says to me and we fist bump.
"Oh, hold up." Santana yells, "I did not."
Brittany is hiding behind her hands, "No, you didn't. It was me." She says in a guilty voice and suddenly we're all laughing so hard that I can't even see through the tears welling up in my eyes.
Finally Mr. Schuester calls Quinn and we have to make our way back. We all pass for sober and he's not even that mad because he knows it's our last competition.
Mr. Schue even pretends not to notice Rachel and I saying goodnight for over an hour. We're not used to sleeping separately. Sam has to push me off him all night long because I keep cuddling with him in my sleep. I hope he doesn't mention that to anyone.
The next morning, we wake up and get dressed in our gear that Kurt and Blaine got us. "You guys did good." Santana says spinning around in her pink and black dress and putting in her headband that has a pink flower on it.
"Yeah, adorable." Quinn agrees with a smile.
Puck rolls his eyes, "Yeah, I guess. Except I'm wearing hot pink." He says pointing to his hot pink tie and suspenders over his black shirt.
"Shut up, Puck. You look hot." Santana snaps.
"Yeah, Noah, you look great." Rachel agrees.
I glare at her and grab her hand, "Hey now." He say possessively.
"You look pretty fine yourself."
Kurt whistles, "I didn't do this to start a freaking orgy. But, I'm glad you like them." He says spinning around and popping his foot. He is the biggest geek.
The day is a blur of other teams and I really think we have a shot.
Finally Rachel and I are standing behind the curtain looking at eachother, I begin to walk her way and she follows my lead and meet me in the middle. Our lips touch immediately and the whole world disappears. All the nerves and butterflies are gone and it's just her and me. I take my head back, "Break a leg." She whispers against my lips.
I give her my lope-sided grin, "I love you." I say proudly before kissing her nose and then her forehead and heading back to our spot. I look over I grin and listen to the music play and open the curtain.
We sing the first verse in unison, "After all that is said and done, I've found that you're still the one, The one that I run to when I need somebody there, And the person I go to who really truly cares. I'm so glad that you didn't stop believing"
"in me" I hear Santana's voice sing behind us.
Artie, Tina, Mercedes and Kurt sing the chorus "They tried to take everything we were, They tried to take everything we are, Go on and give us your best shot, You haven't seen all we got, We won't be leaving. We haven't stopped believing"
Quinn, Puck, Santana and Brittany sing the next verse "I find it amazing how you can everything I am, And you somehow don't give a damn, Like I'm everything you've ever wanted, Like I'm the only think you need. I'm so glad you didn't stop believing"
Rachel's eyes lock onto mine as she sings, "in me"
Blaine and Kurt start the chorus together, "They tried to take everything we were, They tried to take everything we are, Go on and give us your best shot, You haven't seen all we got"
Mercedes and Sam sing the next line, dancing around each other, "We won't be leaving, We haven't stopped believing"
The music to the bridge starts and Rachel and I join hands and spin as we sing the bridge, "I know it's hard to comprehend, But we've found a way to stop pretending, I think we finally got it right, Without all of the fight"
Puck's foot is pounding to the beat and he and Quinn start the next chorus together, "They tried to take everything we were, They tried to take everything we are"
Brittany and Santana pick up where they left off, "Go on and give us your best shot, You haven't seen all we got"
We all join in for the last line, "We won't be leaving, We haven't stopped believing"
and of course, Mercedes belts out the last note. She raises her hands up and with her hands, the crowd follows. The crowd is on their feet and cheering like crazy. Rachel and I look at each other and I grab her hand for a moment before we move to our next position. We get to our spot and she's next to me our backs turned to the audiance and the room goes silent and I hear Rachel whisper, "we should make out."
When I look over she is giggling and winks at me.
The music plays and Puck has his guitar around him as he walks past us, we turn around in waves as the music quickens,
"Hey Hey Hey Hey!" We all sing together.
Puck starts to sing his song and Mike and Brittany and dancing on the side, "Here with you, isn't the right place to be, How can I be anyone but me? If you would, I know you'd leave your whole world, But I won't let you give it to me"
"We need to do this our way, not your way. I don't want to hear it today. We need to do this our way, not just your way." We all sing the chorus and do our choreographed dance.
Quinn and Puck sing the next part together and it's really killer, "I know I turned your world around, You thought I would always be falling over you. I want you to know, I still love you, But I'm not sorry to say. That I'm not here just waiting for you."
Blaine does the next chorus solo as we do a little bit harder choreography, "We need to do this our way, not your way. I don't want to hear it today. We need to do this our way, not just your way"
"Hey Hey Hey Hey" We all sing before the bridge.
Sam, Puck and Artie sing the chorus together, "Every move I make, Every step I take, I feel like you're always right there. But, I can't tell if you truly care."
The last chorus plays and we all sing it with Rachel bringing up the end of the song, "We need to do this our way, not your way. I don't want to hear it today. We need to do this our way, not just your way"
I have the strong need to grab Puck because I've seen those eyes before. On me. Last year.
Rachel grabs Quinn's hand as the music stops so Puck and Quinn don't get any closer and a piece in my stomach twists. I hope that the moment that we just stole from Quinn and Puck doesn't jeopardize their relationship later. Though, I am sure if Rachel and I hadn't kissed last year at Nationals we probably still would have gotten together.
The crowd is going wild and I pick Rachel up in my arms and spin her around as the curtain closes, I hear Rachel say to Puck behind me, "Go get her" in a whisper, and once I put Rachel down I see Puck lips touch Quinn's.
Kurt whistles and Artie fist pumps as Santana rolls her eyes.
"Yeah, thanks for holdin' that in." Santana yells and we all laugh.
The next hour is nerve wracking, but once the list finally goes up I take a deep breath and tell Mr. Schuester that I will look at the list. I kiss Rachel's hand and walk to the board.
Vocal Fever
Teenage Dream
New Directions
I stop reading. I turn around with a smile on my face. "We're third." I whisper and connect eyes with Rachel. "THIRD" I practically scream and Rachel jumps into my arms and I hear everyone screaming with excitement while I plant lips on her and spin her around.
"We did it" she whispers breathlessly against my lips when I release hers from me, but not for very long.
I set her down but my lips are still on hers, barely giving her time to breath, "You did it." I say finally releasing her and looking her in the eyes, "You are the heart and the soul of Glee club. You did this Rachel Berry."
She playfully hits me and I grab her face, "I'm dead serious, Rachel. We would have never gotten here without you."
She just whispers the three words that I can't get enough of, "I love you."
I feel it in my bones, I feel how much I love her, "I love you more then you will ever know."