Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 15
While Puck and Kurt were cracking up when Sam resurfaced, Finn stared down the ground of the pool. First, he had seen how Rachel had moved, but now, nothing.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"Oh come on. As if we didn't know the trick to feign death.", Puck snorted with laughter, helping Sam out of the pool.
Rachel wasn't resurfacing.
Finn somehow knew that something was off. His heart was racing, and he quickly jumped in.
"Finn, I doubt that she…" He didn't hear the rest of Kurt's sentence anymore because he was underwater. Quickly, he swam down to Rachel, took her upper body and swam back to the surface with her.
She didn't move.
Shit.
"Rachel", he panted when they were on the surface. He shook her. "Rachel!" Suddenly, she coughed, spitting out water, and gasped for air. He held her tight.
Rachel was frantic. "Get me out of here!", she screamed shrilly. "I have to get out of here!"
He nodded and swam to the edge with her. He then lifted her out of the water, and she sat down on the edge. Rachel had to cough again, and he just held her while she coughed out more water. "I want to leave.", she croaked, and Finn's heart skipped a beat.
He got up and helped her to her feet.
She didn't look up, but he could see the tears which had mixed with the water.
She almost fell down, so Finn lifted her in his arms, bridal style. Rachel didn't even protest, her whole body was trembling.
Livid, he turned to Sam who wasn't grinning anymore.
"You're such a dick.", Finn hissed quietly.
He would've shouted at him, but he didn't want to scare Rachel.
With Rachel in her arms, he turned on his heel and left the winter garden through the backdoor.
Andy needed some minutes to arrive at Sam's place, but he had soft towels and some things to change. Rachel avoided his glance when Finn helped her dry her skin and her hair.
She was still shaking.
Not saying anything, Andy handed him another towel and Finn dried her hair. Maybe he was exaggerating, but he would continue rubbing her dry until she didn't shake anymore.
Even if it would take the entire night.
Rachel started sobbing even more, and Finn froze.
Seeing a strong person cry like that hurt a lot, and he didn't know what to do. He could only continue rubbing her with the towels.
After she was dry, Finn helped her put off her blouse and put on his McKinley football sweater Andy had brought with him. Of course, the sweater was way too big for her, but it was better than wet clothes. Rachel leaned her head onto Finn's chest, still sobbing a bit.
"That whole thing was my fault.", Finn whispered. He should've convinced her to stay away from that party.
Rachel looked up to him. Although her eyes were still shimmering with tears, she looked almost normal again. Like the strong, combat-ready Rachel he knew. He was somewhat relieved.
"Come on, let's get you home.", he finally said, holding open the door of his limousine.
She got in and he followed suit. When Andy started the car, Finn's head started spinning. Right, he already had some drinks.
"I'm so scared of water.", Rachel next to him suddenly whispered. Finn frowned.
"Why?" It took her some minutes before she could answer.
"One of my dads used to love fishing. He took me with him to his boat to excursions. When I was nine, we had an accident." She stiffened a bit, and Finn could feel how horrible she felt right now. He took her ice-cold hand which felt so fragile right now.
But Rachel was the opposite of fragile.
"What happened?"
"A bigger boat crashed into us because it didn't see us coming. Our boot was destroyed, I almost drowned and my dad was in the ICU for weeks. Luckily, he fully recovered, but it was horrible."
Finn squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry", he said because he didn't know what else to say. He felt bad beause she had told him a traumatizing story, and the that was the only thing he could say.
"It's okay. You are not like your friends."
Finn sadly shook his head. "That's not true. I'm even worse than them." Rachel shook her head.
"But now, you aren't."
For the rest of the drive, they decided to say nothing, and Finn thought about the story she had told him.
After some minutes, Rachel fell asleep on his shoulder and he carefully caressed her hand which luckily was warm again. Twenty minutes later, they were at Rachel's. Inside her house, there was still light, and he was supposed to wake her up, but he just couldn't. She looked so peaceful while she was sleeping.
"She is a good girl, Mr. Hudson", Andy suddenly said through the loudspeaker. Finn looked up. "Don't mess it up."
"I have no idea what you are talking about.", Finn answered.
But he didn't let go of Rachel's hand.
Rachel decided to spend the following day in her pajamas. Her dads were visiting some friends, so she had the whole house to herself. This was her relaxing day because she just wanted to forget what happened yesterday.
Currently, she was in the kitchen, trying to bake chocolate chip cookies. It didn't look that complicated in the videos when Jamie Oliver did it, but in real life, she was failing miserably.
The dough looked so weird and she didn't know why. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ringing. Rachel quickly cleaned her hands, frowning. Her dads weren't supposed to return until 8 pm. Why were they back, now?
The brunette quickly opened the door. "Why are here so early? I thought you were…"
Rachel stopped talking when she saw Mercedes Jones on her porch, one hand on her hip, the other hand with her phone.
"Rachel Barbra Berry! Don't tell me that's you!", Mercedes exclaimed, entering.
"Mercedes, nice to see you. And yes, you may come in...", Rachel mumbled.
Actually, Mercedes had never been at her place. Or any of her classmates. She didn't want her worlds to collide. But right now, she couldn't care less. She had bigger fish to fry.
Rachel looked at Mercedes phone's display. She spotted a photo with her and Finn, her face was on his chest, her hands where around his neck.
Oh oh.
"Rachel? What the hell happened yesterday?", Mercedes asked softly, following her to the kitchen.
"I had been at Sam's party", Rachel answered.
"Yes I know. But I want to know what happened on this photo. I want to know everything.", she demanded, arms crossed.
Rachel sighed. Actually, she just wanted to forget everything. Mercedes looked around in the kitchen. "What happened here? Is this a battlefield?", she asked, eyeing the failed cookie dough and the mess with the flour and the chocolate pieces.
"I just wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, but I'm not the best at baking, or cooking", Rachel shrugged.
Mercedes cocked an eyebrow. But then, she rolled up her sleeves.
"Listen, white girl. I'm gonna help you bake those cookies. And while doing that, you will tell me everything, deal?", she suggested, dumping her failed cookie dough into the trash.
Rachel sighed deeply. She was too tired to talk her out of that. "Okay."
"That was really charming of him to be honest", Mercedes commented after Rachel was done with the story. Now, the cookies were in the oven and they were sitting at the kitchen table.
"But on the other side, he is still Finn Hudson…", the black girl murmured, torn. Rachel had to agree.
But yesterday, he acted like a real gentleman. He had put her clothes on, he had held her hand after she had told him about the accident.
Last night had changed something between them, she could feel it. Her body had been shaking when Finn touched her.
He had wrongly assumed that it had been because she was still feeling cold, but it had been because of his touch.
Mercedes next to her seemed to be fuming. "I can't believe Sam did that. Next time I'm gonna see him, I will kick his ass", she ranted, but Rachel could see the disappointment in her eyes.
Was there something she didn't know?
Mercedes always refused to talk about her love life because she would never fall for one of these arrogant snobs of McKinley, like she always said.
But the way she had looked at Sam when they met in the hallways spoke volumes.
When Rachel considered asking her about that, Mercedes opened her mouth again. "But on the other side, it was kind of cute Finn carried you in his arms. I can't believe it.", she mumbled, stunned.
Neither could Rachel. Especially because he had acted so arrogant and cold some weeks ago. That version of him didn't fit to the Prince Charming version from yesterday.
"If I hadn't seen the photo, I wouldn't have believed it.", Mercedes said, staring at the photo, not noticing that Rachel didn't say anything.
"Maybe he realized that Sam had crossed the line and he intervened. Maybe he is not that bad." She lifted her head as realization dawned on her.
"Oh, hell to the no…", she groaned. Rachel confusedly looked at her. "What?"
"You like Hudson, don't you? Admit it!", she said. When Rachel thought of an answer, the alarm for the cookies went off. "The cookies! We have to turn off the oven!", she said, walking over to the oven.
Mercedes frowned, but followed her anyway. They took out the cookies and went over to the table. Carefully, they put the still soft cookies on a plate.
"It's okay to like someone you are supposed to hate", Mercedes suddenly said, looking thoughtful all of a sudden. Rachel wondered whether she had experienced something like that, but she would ask her some other time.
"But I still can't believe it. Finn Hudson of all people, the freaking king of our school", the black girl mumbled, biting into a cookie. "Damn. Those are awesome", she gushed, chewing.
"I have no idea how that happened to be honest", Rachel sighed and took a big bite so that she didn't have to talk anymore. "Did you say thank you or something?", Mercedes wanted to know. Rachel shook her head. "But there is nothing between us. We are just…friends", she said.
Friends.
She and Finn Hudson were friends.
If someone had told her weeks ago that the two of them would be friends, she would've laughed.
But now…
"You need to text him or something!", Mercedes insisted, handing her Rachel's phone.
"Okay, okay, I'm going to text him", she gave in.
Rachel: Thank you. – R. B. B.
"What did you write?", Mercedes wanted to know.
"I just thanked him, that's all."
Mercedes snorted and bit into another cookie. "Alright. I'm gonna text Sam some angry texts now.", she decided, dipping her cookie into a glass of milk.
When Mercedes was furiously typing in texts and before she could ask her why the hell she had Sam Evans' number, Rachel's phone vibrated.
Finn: You never told me what that second B is supposed to mean
Rachel: Guess.- R.B.B.
Finn : Barissa ? -F.C.H.
Rachel : Nope.- R.B.B
Finn: Barbara.-F.C.H.
Rachel: Almost.- R.B.B
Finn: Barbra.-F.C.H.
Rachel: Not bad. You only needed three guesses.- R.B.B
For a while, he didn't answer. Rachel stared at her display, expectantly waiting for another text. Finally, it came.
Finn: Are you feeling better now?
No initials. No jokes anymore. Rachel gulped. She shuddered when she thought about yesterday. She didn't want to think about it or about Monday when she had to return to school.
Rachel: I'm scared of Monday. There are photos of us
Finn: Don't worry about that. People only see my wet back on the photo
Was that an indirect flirt? Or did he mean it like that? She had no idea.
Rachel: At least concerning that I can be happy
She had to wait a bit for his answer. Did she cross a line? Oh no.
Finn: Rachel Berry, are you trying to flirt with me?
Rachel smiled and hid that smile under her pajama shirt. Mercedes looked up from her phone, cocking her head to the side.
"Why are you grinning like that?", she wanted to know.
"I don't", Rachel defended herself. "How about we watch a film or something while we eat the cookies? I have Breakfast at Tiffany's on DVD", she quickly changed the topic. Mercedes looked skeptical first, but then, she nodded.
"Okay. But I won't let you get away next time like that.", she laughed while Rachel searched for the DVD.
A/N: Next time: The aftermath of Sam's party at McKinley *_*
