CHAPTER 123
Thursday - 3 days to the final
Finn woke up early the next day and smiled to himself. He was going back to Lima today! He leapt out of bed, got ready and ran down to the lobby of the hotel by 8 am. The hotel was a pretty lonely place now with pretty much all of the contestants gone. But it's not like Finn had a lot of time to mess around with the other contestants anyways. He couldn't wait to go back home and it was going to be extra special that Nicole was coming with him. In addition, he was also playing a homecoming concert in Lima, and apparently, the 20,000 tickets had sold out within an hour. He was going to be performing in a sold-out concert by the Town Hall!
When Finn walked into the lobby, Nicole was already waiting for him. She stood up and smiled at him as he walked over to her.
"Finn! How'd you sleep?" She asked.
"OK, I guess. I'm really excited to go home today!" He exclaimed. Nicole smiled.
"Yeah, and I can't wait to see where you used to live!"
"Ha, you're in for a rude awakening when you see where I live." Finn remarked. "So what time are we leaving?"
"We can leave anytime between now and 12. We're taking a private helicopter and it's not like we're on a strict schedule."
"Ok, that sounds awesome."
There was a brief silence between them for a moment.
"Finn, about last night…" Nicole started but Finn cut her off.
"Nicole, please. Can we talk about it after Sunday?" Finn asked. Nicole nodded.
"Yeah, sure." She replied. "Right now, our next stop is Lima!"
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3 hours later, Finn and Nicole were in the helicopter on their way to Lima. Finn was bursting with excitement at this point. Going back home after so long, especially under these unbelievable circumstances, was so amazing.
"Are you excited?" Nicole asked.
"Oh, come on! You're just excited because you're dropping in in a helicopter!" Nicole laughed. Finn chuckled.
"Damn right!"
Lima was absolutely buzzing about Finn's arrival too. Practically the whole town was out on the streets, awaiting his arrival. People from neighboring cities such as Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, etc. even made the journey out in hopes of catching a glimpse of the rising star and his mentor.
"Look at all the fans!" Nicole exclaimed, pointing to the ground outside the chopper. Finn looked out the window and his mouth dropped. She was right. He could see thousands of people on the ground, waving signs, banners and posters supporting him. The helicopter then started hovering over the town hall - which had been barricaded in preparation for his concert there that night - and started slowly descending downwards until they landed with a small 'THUMP' on the ground. Immediately, fans rushed over but couldn't get too close due to the barricades.
"Dude, are you ready?" Nicole asked. Finn smiled and nodded.
"Hell yeah." Finn replied. They opened the doors as they stepped out of the helicopter.
The best word to describe what he felt in that moment would probably be… overwhelming. The second he stepped out of the plane, he was greeted by cheers and screams from a frenzy of fans. There were people of all ages present: young children, teenagers, adults and elderly people were all there, but what they all had in common was their love for Finn and his music.
Arriving in Lima in a helicopter was insane. With Nicole Scherzinger by his side, getting off the helicopter to a frenzy of screaming fans - it was just crazy to think that it was all for him. Being away for so long made him miss his friends and the dump of a city so much.
Their first stop was McLaren's Pub, where Finn used to play all of his acoustic gigs. There were so many people in the streets. He couldn't quite believe that there were so many people out there. The bar and the street around it was absolutely packed with excited people. There was luckily already a barricade set so him and Nicole could walk into the bar freely as he knew that if there wasn't, they would be absolutely mobbed by the fans. Once they got out of the car, they were greeted once more by the racquet of all the fans. Up ahead, at the entrance of the bar, Finn spotted a number of familiar faces and he smiled. He walked up the two people who were allowed to stand at the entrance of the bar and he hugged them tightly.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
"Finn! It's been so long, dude!" George said.
"Yeah, too long!" Santana added. Finn smiled as he hugged Santana.
"Hey, shut up, Santana! You got to see him 4 weeks ago!" George exclaimed. "Which reminds me, Finn. I have a bone to pick with you. How come you said Santana was your best friend?" He demanded, jokingly.
"OK, fine. My best friend who lives in the country. You're my best friend, George." Finn laughed.
"Hey! Woah! Hey!" Santana said, indignantly.
"Oh, shut up, guys!" Finn laughed. "Oh my god I missed you guys so much!"
"We missed you too." George said.
"Finn, this is amazing. All these people… they're here for you. We're so proud of you. You deserve this."
"Thanks, San."
At that moment, Nicole walked up beside him and they entered the bar. The bar was more than at its maximum capacity. People were packed shoulder to shoulder, trying to shake hands with him, pat him on the back, ruffle his hair… anything at all. Finn somehow managed to walk over to the elderly bartender who was watching, amused, as Finn fought his way through the crowd to get to him.
"Well, well, well. Look who it is. The famous Finn Hudson." He stated.
"Hey Red. How's it going?" Finn asked.
"Not too bad. Not everyday one of my employees and friends becomes a nationally well-known superstar."
"Haha. Oh, Nicole, this is Red." Finn said, turning to Nicole beside him. "He's the man that convinced me to audition for the show in the first place. I have him to thank for all of this."
"Yeah, you do! And I haven't yet received my rightful 50% of all your earnings because of it!" Red joked. "Anyways, nice to meet you, Ms. Scherzinger."
"Nicole." Nicole corrected. "And I also have you to thank. Thanks to you, a star has been uncovered."
"Yeah. I guess it's safe to say you're handing in your two week's notice, huh Finn?" Red said. Finn laughed.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Oh, do you want to sing a song? I'm sure everyone would love it!" Red exclaimed, pointing to the stage where Finn stood countless times and performed on.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, go right on ahead."
With the hundreds of eyes in the bar on him, Finn slowly stepped on stage and sat on the chair that was already there.
"Hey guys." He said into the microphone as he took out his guitar. "For those of you who don't already know me, I'm Finn Hudson."
The whole bar started cheering and screaming the second he started speaking. Finn was taken aback.
"Wow, hello!" He laughed. "Yeah, so I actually used to work here. I used to perform on this stage night in and night out. I actually recognise a fair number of the regulars' faces. Pete, how's it going buddy?" Finn asked, waving at a gentleman who was in the middle of the crowd. He was one of the bar's regulars and Finn really liked him because he always slipped Finn a bit of extra money.
"So basically, I was very poor. I had no money and um… I wanted to be a singer. I wanted to be a songwriter and I was just on my own path, probably not going to get anywhere because I had no support or management or anything. Then, one day, I was sitting in this very bar, in the corner booth right over there, and I had just had a few beers then my bill came. I opened my wallet and then I realised that I literally had no money. I needed to pay my tab so I asked Red, the amazing bartender who pours all of your drinks. Yeah, give it up for Red!" Finn said, clapping. Everyone cheered and clapped with him.
"Yeah, so I asked Red if he'd be able to spot me for the twenty dollar tab. He said no, because I had actually done that literally every week. He'd been paying my tab pretty much every time in the past month, and he was kinda tired of it. Eventually, he gave me an offer. He told me if I auditioned for the X Factor, he'd cover my tab for the next week."
The fans realised where he was going with this and started cheering.
"At the time, there was an X Factor mobile audition truck in Lima, and Red told me to go audition for them. I was like why not? It didn't cost anything to audition, and it meant a free week of drinks. So, I joined the back of that queue, and the first thing I saw where a bunch of these really pretentious, snooty people with their vocal coaches, doing these vocal warmups that I'd never ever heard of. I thought to myself what the hell am I doing here? I was so tempted to just ditch the audition and tell Red that I did it and got rejected so I'd still get the free drinks."
Everyone laughed. Red rolled his eyes at him and Finn winked.
"But I didn't. I performed for the mobile audition guy, he liked me, he fast tracked me to the TV auditions. And I performed this song…"
Oo-ooo-ooh
Forgive us for what we have done
We're young, we're young, we're young
I said forgive us for where we come done
'cause we're young, we're young, we're young
Oo-oo-oo-ooh, oo-oo-oo-ooh, oo-oo-oo-ooh
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I've made a lot of mistakes in my past
But I refuse to live there, nah
I saw a lot of hearts break in the past
But I refuse to go there, agh
It hurts too much, I'm looking for a crutch
I'm looking for just any girl, just for a touch
I let myself go, I let my angst out
And when I let myself down I just swag it out
Uh, uh, baby girl I'd like to dance
Uh! But I'm just looking for a brief romance
What's wrong with that? I´m young, forgive me
I live fast, die a legend, Whitney
Oh, oh we're young, oh
I said forgive us for what we have done
'cause we're young, we're young, we're young
I said forgive us for where we come from
'cause we're young, we're young, we're young
Uh, yeah
And if I die, would you try, would you walk on by
I bet the latter, sometimes it feels like nothing really matters
It's okay though, I drive one hundred on the straight roads
Back to hell again, it feels like something heaven sent
Something not important, and it somehow got a boy
Said it was atomic, and I just realised what it all meant
Amen, and you can bring the chorus in.
Amen, oo-ooh
Forgive us for what we have done
Coz we're young, we're young, we're young
I said forgive us for where we come from
'cause we're young
Oh we're young, we're young, oh
I said forgive us, forgive us, forgive us, forgive us
Oh no, oh no, oh, no
Oh we're young, oh we're young.
At the end of the song, the whole bar screamed and cheered. After saying goodbye, Finn and Nicole's next stop was his old bedsit. It was a real eye opener for Nicole.
"Come on in." Finn said as he unlocked the door. Nicole gasped as she looked around at the tiny apartment. The first thing she noticed was that there was no bed, no table, no dishwasher, none of that.
"Oh my god, this is where you lived?" Nicole said.
"Yeah. This was my home."
They sat down on the sofa and began to chat.
"Wow, I haven't been back here in so long." Finn remarked, looking around. "It's really strange being here."
"Did you have some hard times here?" She asked. Finn nodded.
"Yeah, quite a lot of hard times."
Nicole stood up for a moment and nearly fell over a broken floorboard.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, apologising profusely because she thought that it was her who broke the floorboard. Finn laughed.
"Oh, no, that was always broken! That's where I keep all my valuables." Finn said. He pried open the floorboard with a random meter stick that he kept around for this very reason, and he took out a small wooden chest.
"Oh my god! That is like your safe?" She asked. Finn nodded.
"Yup, these are all the important stuff I have. Complete with this chest. I took this box when I ran away from home so I'd be able to lock my valuables in a small, easy to travel with location. This stuff is like the only important stuff I have." Finn said, opening the box. He started taking out various items from the box and showing them to Nicole. The first was an envelope with a bunch of photos inside.
"Oh my god! Look at you! You look so young!" Nicole laughed as she looked through the pictures that he had of him from high school. "Wow, you look so different! You've changed a lot!" She said.
"In a good way I hope." Finn chuckled.
"Oh yeah. My homie Hudson looks good now, but back then, you didn't look nearly as good." Nicole remarked. Finn rolled his eyes.
"Gee thanks." He replied, chuckling. Finn took out a bunch of random papers and passports and set them on the table before coming across something at the very bottom. He slowly took out a small black box that Nicole instantly recognised as a ring box.
"Is that a…" Nicole's voice trailed off. Finn nodded and popped open the ring box, revealing a gorgeous engagement ring.
"Yeah, I didn't know I still had this." Finn said. "I haven't seen it in 3 years."
"Were you going to…"
"Yeah. I bought it during my VT right before I was supposed to be discharged. Then my final mission went wrong so I never ended up needing it."
"Finn, I'm so sorry."
"Whatever. Could you please help me pack all this shit up?" Finn asked. Nicole nodded and picked up the chest. As they packed up the small chest, Nicole glanced sideways at Finn. She could tell how much her friend was hurting, and it absolutely killed her. Her job as her mentor was to be able to help him when he didn't know how to help himself, and not knowing how to help him made her feel like she was failing at her job. Well, she knew how to help him. She would just have to do some class A meddling…