CHAPTER 3

At the end of the song, everyone in the bar cheered and clapped. Once she stepped off stage, Finn walked over to the girl.

"So, first time singing karaoke, huh?" Finn remarked. The girl giggled.

"First time today." She replied. "I'm Santana by the way."

"Finn." He replied. "You know, I bet you did great because of the encouragement we gave you before the performance."

She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Yes. You were the wind beneath my wings." She chuckled.

"So, what do you do?" Finn asked.

"I'm a reporter for Metro News One." Santana replied. "Well, kind of a reporter. I do those dumb little fluff pieces at the end of the news. You know, like, um… monkey who can play ukulele. I'm hoping to get some bigger stories soon."

"Bigger, like, uh… gorilla with an upright bass?" Finn joked, terribly. When she didn't laugh, Finn blushed. "I'm sorry. You're really pretty."

She laughed, before waving at someone behind Finn. He turned around and saw three women sitting in the booth behind him, glaring at Finn and Santana furiously.

"Oh, your friends don't seem too happy." Finn remarked. Santana nodded.

"Yeah, see, the one in the middle just got dumped by her boyfriend so tonight, every guy is the enemy."

"You know, if it'll make your friend feel better, you could throw a drink in my face. I don't mind." Finn said. Santana laughed and beamed at him.

"She would love that! And it does look fun in the movies." She replied.

"Hey, you wanna have dinner with me Saturday night?" Finn asked.

"Oh, I can't. I'm going to Orlando for a week on Friday. Some guy's attempting to make the world's biggest pancake." She said. "Guess who's covering it?"

"That's gonna take a week?" Finn laughed.

"Yeah, he's gonna eat it, too." She sighed. "It's another record."

Finn nodded.

"Uh, I know this is a long shot, but how about tomorrow night?" He asked. Santana smiled.

"Yeah. What the hell?" She said, covertly handing him her number so her friends wouldn't notice. Suddenly, for the benefit of her friends, she picked up her martini glass and threw it at him.

"Jerk!" She exclaimed and her friends smiled. As she walked away, she winked at him. "That was fun." She remarked. Once she was gone, Puck walked over to him, smirking wildly at him.

"De… wait for it… nied! Denied!" He laughed jubilantly, assuming that Finn struck out from the drink thrown in his face. Finn rolled his eyes and took out the slip of paper with her number on it.

"We're going out tomorrow night." Finn replied. Puck scowled at him.

"I thought we were playing laser tag tomorrow night!" He exclaimed. Finn chuckled.

"Yeah, I was never gonna go play laser tag." He replied.

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The next night, Finn took Santana out to a little bistro in Brooklyn. There, up on the wall was a blue french horn.

"Wow! That is one badass blue French horn." Santana remarked as she sipped her drink. Finn laughed.

"Yeah. Sort of looks like a Smurf penis." He remarked, before internally putting his head in his hands. How dumb could he be? When you go on a first date with a girl and you say 'smurf penis', normally, that would mean that there would not be a second. Girls don't ordinarily like that. But Santana was not some ordinary girl. She choked on her drink in hysterical laughter…

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Back at the apartment, Sam was working on his laptop and Quinn was reading a book. She was forced to wear an eye patch on her left eye because of the incident with the champagne cork.

"Quinn?" Sam asked. Quinn leapt into the air in shock. Although they were sitting right next to each other on the sofa, because of her eye patch, she didn't know he was there.

"How long have you been sitting there?!" She exclaimed. "Stupid eye patch."

At that moment, Finn walked into the apartment, grinning wildly.

"Mom, dad, I have found the future Mrs. Finn Hudson. Sam, how have I always described my perfect woman?"

"Now, let's see…" He said. "She likes dogs?"

"She's got 5 dogs!" Finn exclaimed.

"She drinks scotch?" Sam asked.

"Using her words, she 'loves a scotch that is old enough to order its own scotch'." Finn replied. "And, I'm saving the best for last. She hates olives."

"She hates olives! Awesome!" Sam exclaimed, high fiving his friend. The explanation behind 'the olive theory' was based on Sam and Quinn's relationship. Sam hated olives, Quinn loved them. In a weird way, that's what made them such a great couple. Perfect balance.

"Yup. And you'll never believe what happened next." Finn remarked…

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An hour ago…

Finn had just explained his olive theory to Santana and she smiled sultry at him.

"You know, I've had a jar of olives just sitting in my fridge forever." She remarked.

"I could take 'em off your hands." He replied, smirking at her.

"They're all yours…"

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"Oh, it is on! It is on, till the break of dawn!" He sang.

"But wait. It's only the break of 10:30. What happened?" Quinn asked. Finn sighed.

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Half an hour ago…

"I gotta get one of those blue french horns for over my fireplace." Santana remarked as they walked towards her apartment. "It's gotta be blue. It's gotta be French." She stated.

"No green clarinet?" Finn asked.

"Nope." She replied.

"Come on! No purple tuba?" He laughed.

"It's a Smurf penis or no dice." She replied. Just as they made it to her place, a Metro News 1 van pulled up alongside them and the driver slid the window open.

"There you are!" The driver exclaimed to Santana. "We got a jumper. Some crazy guy on the Manhattan bridge. Come on. You're covering it!"

Santana turned to Finn, unsure which option to go with. She really liked Finn and genuinely wanted a second date so she didn't want to ruin things. Luckily, Finn was very understanding.

"Go." He said, simply. She smiled and nodded at him.

"I'm sorry. I had a really great time tonight." She said.

"Yeah. Me too." He said and the two of them lingered for a moment…

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"So, did you kiss her?" Sam asked, eagerly. Finn shook his head.

"No. The moment wasn't right." He replied. Sam and Quinn groaned. "Look, this woman could actually be my future wife. I want our first kiss to be amazing."

"Aw, Finn, that is so sweet." Quinn remarked. "So you chickened out like a little bitch."

"What? I did not chicken out! You know what? I don't need to take first kiss advice from some pirate who hasn't been single since the first week of college." He snapped, pointing at Quinn's eye patch. She sighed.

"Finn, anyone who's single would tell you the same thing, even the dumbest single person alive. If you don't believe me, call him."

Finn rolled his eyes and took out his phone and called literally the dumbest single person he knew. Puck answered moments later. He was in the middle of a heated game of laser tag.

"Hey loser. How's not playing laser tag? Because playing laser tag is awesome!" He exclaimed before diving for cover from some little kid who was shooting at him. "Oh, I killed you, Connor! Don't make me get your mom!" He shouted after the little boy. Finn, who was listening to the exchange over the phone, rolled his eyes.

"Hey, listen. I need your opinion on something."

"Okay, meet me at the bar in 15 minutes!" He shouted. "AND SUIT UP!"

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20 minutes later…

Finn had just finished telling Puck the story as the four of them sat around their booth in the bar.

"So, these guys think I chickened out." Finn said, pointing at Quinn and Sam. "What do you think?"

"I…" Puck started. "I can't believe you're still not wearing a suit!"

"She didn't even give me the signal." Finn argued.

"What, is she gonna bat her eyes at you in Morse code, asking you to kiss her? NO! You just kiss her!" Puck exclaimed.

"Not if you don't get the signal!" Finn responded. Puck sighed and suddenly, he lunged at Sam, kissing him full on the mouth. After he pulled away from a very confused and horrified Sam, he turned to Finn. "Did Sam give me the signal?" He remarked.

"No! I didn't!" Sam spat, wiping his mouth furiously on a napkin.

"But, see, at least tonight, I get to sleep knowing that Sam and I, never gonna happen. You should have kissed her." Puck remarked. Finn sighed and nodded.

"I should have kissed her." He grumbled. "Well, maybe in a week when she gets back from Orlando."

"A week? That's like a year in hot girl time." Puck commented. "She'll forget all about you. Mark my words… you will never see that one again."

"There she is!" Finn exclaimed, pointing at the bar's television screen, where Santana was standing in front of the Manhattan bridge.

"Ooh! She's cute." Quinn remarked. "Hey, Carl, turn it up."

The bartender raised the volume on the TV so they could hear Santana speak.

"... At which point, the man came down off the ledge, giving this bizarre story a happy ending." Santana said on screen. "Reporting from Metro News 1. I'm Santana Lopez."

"Huh. Guy didn't jump." Sam said. Finn suddenly stood up.

"I'm gonna go kiss her." He declared. "Right now!"

"Look, dude. It's midnight. As your future lawyer, I'm gonna advise you that that's freakin' crazy." Sam stated.

"I know. I never do anything crazy. I'm always waiting for the moment, planning the moment. Well, she's leaving tomorrow. This may be the only moment I'm gonna get. I gotta do what that guy couldn't. I gotta take the leap!" F exclaimed, before realising what he had said. "Okay, not a perfect metaphor 'cause for me the leap is fall in love and get married, and for him it's… death."

"Actually, that's a great metaphor." Puck remarked before turning to Sam and Quinn. "By the way, did I congratulate you two?"

"I'm doing this." Finn stated. Sam and Quinn stood up.

"We're coming with you." Quinn declared. Finn nodded.

"Puck?" He asked. Puck sighed.

"All right. But under one condition…"

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Twenty minutes later…

"Look at you, you beautiful bastard. You suited up! This is totally going in my blog!" Puck exclaimed gleefully. Finn, Sam, Quinn and Puck were sitting in a cab driving towards Santana's house and Finn was actually wearing a suit.

"Stop the car." Finn said, suddenly. The cab driver pulled over immediately and Finn's friends looked at him, confused. "I gotta do something." He said, vaguely. He sprinted into the bistro that they had parked outside, he grabbed the blue french horn from the wall and ran back out to the cab, ignoring the restaurant employees shouting after him. Once he dived back into the cab, he turned to his friend, who was looking at him, perplexed. "Everyone brings flowers." He smiled. They parked in front of Santana's apartment moments later and Finn took a deep breath. "Okay. Moment of truth. Wish me luck."

"Finn's gonna get it on with a TV reporter." Puck smirked. "'This just in.' Okay?" He remarked, raising his hand for a high five. None of them high fived him though.

"Kiss her, Finn. Kiss her good!" Quinn told him.

"Kiss the crap outta that girl!" Sam exclaimed. Finn smiled.

"Sam, remember this night. When you're the best man at our wedding and you give a speech, you're gonna tell this story." Finn said as he got out of the car.

"Wait, why does he get to be the best man?" Puck shouted out the window. "I'm your best friend!"