CHAPTER 21

Finn's mom always used to say to him, 'Nothing good happens after 2 am.' And she was right. When 2 am rolls around, just go home and go to sleep. Case in point:

"Hi, Finn. It's Santana. Um, listen, I know it's late, but do you want to come over?"

20 hours ago…

Santana woke up with a huge smile on her face. It was a sunny day in New York City. It was going to be a good day. She got out of bed, brushed her teeth, walked and fed her dogs and went to Quinn's kindergarten class. It was career day and Quinn had asked Santana and Puck to come in to talk about their jobs.

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"And so, the life of a television reporter is very rewarding and I strongly urge you to consider it as a career." Santana finished her presentation to Quinn's kindergarten class a few hours later. One of the kids raised their hand to ask a question.

"Do you have a fiance?" The child asked. Santana laughed nervously.

"Sam was here yesterday." Quinn explained. "They just learned the word fiance."

"Oh, no, I don't have a fiance." Santana replied.

"Then who do you live with?" The child asked.

"Well, actually, I've got 5 dogs." Santana said.

"Don't you get lonely?" The child asked, completely innocently.

"No, I've got five dogs." Santana snapped. Truth was she did get lonely quite often.

"My grandma has five cats and she gets lonely." One of the kids remarked.

"Well, yeah, that's cats. I'm not some pathetic cat lady." Santana spat before realising what she said. "Not that your grandmother is… Does anyone else have a question?"

One of the other children, a young asian boy, raised his hand.

"Yes?" Santana asked.

"Are you a lesbian?" The boy asked.

"No! Are you?!" Santana exclaimed. "Just because a woman lives alone doesn't mean she's a lesbi…"

"Okay, let's have a big hand for Santana the reporter!" Quinn interrupted, trying to end the conversation as soon as possible. Once Santana sat back down next to Puck, he turned to her, grinning.

"So, Santana, you ever, uh, report on train wrecks? 'Cause I just saw one." Puck remarked. Santana rolled her eyes.

"Haha. Laugh now. Those kids are monsters. They're going to eat you alive." Santana replied.

"And next up…" Quinn announced. "He has a job doing… What do you do?" Quinn asked, realising that she also had no idea what he did for a living.

"Haha. Please." Puck chuckled, standing up. "Kids, let's rap. You guys don't give half a brown Crayola what I do for a living, do you?"

"No." The kids all answered honestly.

"No, right? But I know what you want. Magic!" He exclaimed, creating a fireball with his hands. The kids all cheered. Santana sighed. It was shaping out to be a pretty bad day.

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That night…

"Hello?" Santana answered her phone. She was about to go on the air and she had just received a call.

"Why hasn't she called yet?" Finn's worried voice floated into her ear. She sighed.

"Okay, you're making yourself crazy." Santana said. "It's Saturday night. Go out and do something."

"No, what's the point of going out? I got a girlfriend… for now. Besides, if I go out, who's going to watch your channel? I'm like half your viewership."

"I'm flattered you think we have two viewers." Santana chuckled. "She's not going to break up with you, Finn. You're awesome."

"Thanks." Finn replied. "Anyway, it's almost 11. I should let you go. Break a leg."

Five minutes later…

"And we're clear!" The producer announced as the camera stopped rolling. At that moment, Santana's co-anchor, a misogynistic jackass named Sandy Rivers, turned to her.

"So, Lopez, you got a boyfriend?" He asked.

"No, and why does this keep coming up today?" Santana snapped, the memories of the career day from the morning still fresh in her mind.

"Oh, I just thought that guy you were on the phone with…"

"What? Oh, no, that was Finn. He's just a friend." Santana replied. "I mean, there was this moment where we almost dated, but we want completely different things. Anyway, now he has this girlfriend in Germany and he thinks she's calling to dump him tonight but I don't think she is. And besides, we want completely different things."

At the end of Santana's long outburst - which convinced no one, least of all herself - Sandy turned to her.

"We should have sex." He stated.

"What?" Santana exclaimed.

"Why not? We're both available, we're both attractive, we're both good at it. At least, I'm good at it. And even if you're not, don't worry. I'll have a good time either way!"

"Well, moving past the horrifying image of your hair helmet clanging against the headboard, I don't get involved with people I work with." Santana responded.

"Get involved? Who said get involved? I'm just saying we should have sex." Sandy replied. "Having sex is fun. Here's my home number. Call me anytime."

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Santana walked into her flat that night and saw that all of her dogs were lying on the ground, half asleep.

"Hey guys. Miss me?" She asked, hoping that at least one of the five would wag their tail. None did though, and Santana sighed. "Missed you too."

Santana changed into her pajamas and poured herself a massive glass of wine. Chugging it all in almost one gulp, she pulled out her phone, calling a number. The man on the other end answered moments later…

"Hello." Finn answered it.

"Hi. Finn. It's Santana. Um… listen, I know it's late but, but do you want to come over?

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Finn almost dropped the phone when Santana said that sentence. He was temporarily speechless.

"Finn?" She asked, hearing no voice on the other end of the line.

"Um, yeah. Uh, hi, I'm here." Finn stammered.

"So, do you want to come over?" Santana asked.

"Why? What's up?" He asked. Santana knew the actual reason for sure but she stammered to come with an excuse.

"Well, um, I, uh, I just finally set up my new juicer, and I was going to make some juice. And I was like, 'you know who likes juice? Finn.'"

"I love juice." Finn murmured.

"Great. So you want to come over and make… juice?"

When it's after 2 am, just go to sleep, because the decisions you make after 2am, are the wrong decisions.

"Okay, sure. I'll come over." Finn replied. "We'll… juice."

So Finn got in a taxi, heading towards Santana's apartment, his heart rattling against his chest. He was quite possibly about to cheat on a girlfriend, something he had vowed he'd never do. He had seen enough broken relationships from back during his Navy days - plenty of girlfriends had remained faithful, but the vast majority of them had cheated on their military spouses while they were defending their country abroad.

"This is fine. This is totally fine." Finn murmured to himself, trying desperately to calm himself down.

"What's fine?" The cab driver asked.

"Oh, I'm, uh, going over to this girl's house to make some juice." Finn explained. The taxi driver chuckled, immediately knowing what was about to go down.

"Nice." The driver grinned. Finn shook his head.

"No, no, it's not like that." Finn said. "We're juicing as friends. See, I have this girlfriend. Uh, and I-I would never cheat on her. She lives in Germany. See, she was supposed to call me four hours ago to have a serious talk. I still haven't heard from her. I don't know. Sorry to bug you with my problems. Guess cab drivers are the new bartenders, huh?"

"You ain't kidding, kid." The cabbie laughed, taking a swig of alcohol from his pocket. Finn's eyes widened.

"Um… you can just let me out right here." Finn stammered. He got into another cab moments later.

"Where are you going to, buddy?" The cabbie asked.

"Park Slope, Eighth and Eighth please." Finn replied. "Okay, here's where I left off with the last guy. See, I have a girlfriend, but I'm going over to this other girl's house…"

"And you're wondering if I'd be upset." The cabbie finished. Finn gasped. Sitting in the driver's seat was Rachel! "Hi, Finn." She said. "Remember me? Your girlfriend?"

"Okay, relax. Santana's just a friend." Finn stammered.

"Right. You're going to go make some juice." She remarked.

"Yes, yes! Juice is perfectly harmless. In fact, it's healthy." Finn stated.

"Oh yeah?" Rachel asked. "Then why are you wondering what she looks like naked?"

"I am not won… Okay, even if I am wondering that, it's only because you put it in my head." Finn snapped.

"Ah, but I am just a manifestation of your subconscious, so actually, you put it in your own head." She stated.

"Damn it!" Finn muttered. "Look, nothing's gonna happen."

"Right." She raised an eyebrow. Finn glared at her.

"Okay! Okay! You want a second opinion? Fine!" Finn exclaimed, taking out his phone and dialling. Sam picked up his phone moments later. He was still at the karaoke bar with Puck and Quinn.

"Hey! Did she call?" Sam asked as he answered.

"No. I need a ruling though." Finn said. "Um, I'm… Yeah, this is stupid. It's not even a big deal, but I'm on my way over to Santana's right now. She got a new juicer. Whatever. We're going to test it out."

"Let me call you back." Sam said, hanging up the phone and turning to Quinn, his eyes wide in alarm. "Honey, there's a situation developing. Do you remember the huge secret that you told me that you weren't supposed to?" Sam asked, forced to speak cryptically because Puck was at the table. "The thing about Santana?"

"Oh, you mean how Santana's in love with Finn?" Puck interrupted. Sam and Quinn's jaws dropped in shock. "Yeah, she told me already. Go on."

"Wait. So I'm the only one that she didn't tell?" Sam asked. "She told you and not me?"

"Well, I guess I'm just better friends with her than you are." Puck said, cockily.

"Well, I'm better friends with Finn than you are." Sam replied. That had been a massive topic of argument between Sam and Puck. Although Finn considered Sam to be his best friend, Puck refused defeat and he considered himself as Finn's best friend.

"That is a lie!" Puck shouted.

"It is not a lie." Sam snapped.

"Okay, that's it! YOU AND ME!" Puck yelled, standing up.

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"Come on. Pick up." Finn grumbled as he held his phone to his ear. "Damn it, Rachel, where are you? Pick up! Pick up! Where are you? Why haven't you called?" Finn asked the driver of the cab, who had morphed into Rachel by his subconscious.

"Oh, I'm out hooking up… with three other guys." She replied. "Or maybe I'm a devoted girlfriend and I'm calling you right now."

"Yeah, why do I doubt that?" Finn remarked. Suddenly, his phone rang and he quickly answered it.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Finn, I just saw the news, and a truck carrying sulphuric acid overturned right in front of Santana's house, and it's melting through the sidewalk!" Sam exclaimed. Finn rolled his eyes. "You can see straight down to hell. It's bad! You should go home, dude."

"Sam, it's fine. Nothing's gonna happen." Finn said.

"Finn! What does your mom always say?" Sam snapped.

"Nothing good ever…"

"Nothing good ever happens after 2 am!" Sam finished. "Go home! It's too late for juice!"

"Dude, Santana and I are just friends. She doesn't even like me that way!" Finn stated.

"Yes, she does! She likes you! She told me." Quinn exclaimed. For the second time that night, Finn nearly dropped his phone.

"What?" Finn stammered.

"It's a big secret so don't tell her I told you, but she's very vulnerable right now, and you have a girlfriend. Go home, Finn!"

"She-she likes me?" Finn murmured.

"Yes. So you see why it would be a very bad idea for you to go up there. Go home, Finn!" Quinn exclaimed, again.

"She likes me?" Finn said, still not over that fact.

"Go home, Finn!" Quinn shouted. Finn hung up the phone without another word…

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