Well, I'm sorry about my lack of updates. I was hoping that I'd be able to update more, I really was. My family situation has been pretty overwhelming. I was even hoping to be writing two stories at once, but so much for that. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to review. In the next chapter - Finn and Rachel both have troubles at college.
Chapter 6: Operation Mini Finchel
Finn put his arm around Rachel as they watched the 4th of July parade pass by them. The small neighborhood parade was never very entertaining. Just a bunch of little kids riding their bikes and a few adults playing tunes on their instruments. Finn's mom's friend organized the parade, so she always made him go.
Rachel didn't personally mind, as long as she got to go with Finn. Plus, they'd had fun yesterday spray painting stars and stripes onto solid white t-shirts. She had her hair in two braids, each section including a small strand wrapped in red, white, or blue ribbons. She'd even convinced Finn to let her paint his face to match hers. As they got their ice cream sandwiches, Finn's phone rang. "Hey Mom... Oh, do I have to? I wanted to hang out with Rachel! Fine, I'll ask her." Finn put his phone down. "Rachel, want to come to the family cookout?"
Rachel smiled. "I'd love to." Unlike her family, which was a bit distant and dysfunctional, Finn had a large, happy, loving family, who often treated Rachel like one of their own.
Finn and Rachel got in the car and drove to Finn's grandparents' house. The adults were sitting around the table talking, while his cousins were running around playing with a frisbee. As Finn and Rachel got out of the car, Finn's younger cousin ran up to them, screaming, "Finn! You brought Rachel!"
"I think my family likes you more than they like me," Finn said to Rachel, laughing.
"That's not true!" Finn's nine-year-old cousin Katie said. "I like her just as much as I like you."
Finn sighed. "I'll take that."
"I've always liked Rachel," Katie said. "I didn't like Quinn."
"Hey, that's not nice," Rachel said. She and Quinn had become best friends, but still, she was glad Finn was dating her and not Quinn.
"Finn, do you think you and Rachel will get married?" Katie asked.
"Well, I like that idea," Finn said. "What about you, Rachel?"
"I like it, too," Rachel said, smiling that Finn was considering the idea.
"We need to finish college first, though," Finn said.
"I'd marry him tomorrow if I could!" Rachel blurted out. Finn blushed. Katie giggled. "I was wondering - do you two want to go swimming with me?"
"That would be fun," Rachel said as Finn nodded. "We should probably say hi to everyone else first."
Finn and Rachel began walking around to say hi to everyone. Rachel felt right in place with Finn's family. Her mom's family loved her, but her dads' families were not fans of their lifestyle, thus cutting off contact with Rachel and her dads. After they said hi, Katie grabbed Rachel's hand. "Rachel, when are you going to start giving me dancing lessons?"
Rachel smiled. "Whenever you want."
"Finn could use dancing lessons too," Kurt shouted.
"Hey!" Finn said. "I'm getting better."
Rachel kissed Finn. "That you are."
"I saw the video of you two singing at Nationals," Katie said. "It was so cool and that was a great song."
Rachel smiled. "Thanks."
As Rachel and Katie began dancing, Kurt called out, "Katie, you're pretty good. Maybe you should get a professional to teach you."
"Rachel IS a professional!" Finn shouted.
"She's beautiful AND talented," Finn's grandmother said. "How did you score her?"
Finn laughed. "It was simple. All she ever wanted was to be together and she never gave up, even when I was with other girls."
"She's so sweet, too," one of his aunts said.
"Unless you're her competition for a solo!" Kurt said.
"Kurt, you and I do the best duets," Rachel said. "Other than Finn and me."
"What about me and Kurt?" Blaine whined.
"You guys do nice duets, too," Finn said.
Burt's mom turned to Burt and Carole. "How did they both manage to find such great significant others?"
"We only hope Ally finds someone HALF as nice as her brothers found," Burt said.
Rachel enjoyed a fun afternoon with Finn's family. Dancing with Katie, talking about college with his mom, aunts and grandma, showing everyone the video from Nationals with Finn, Kurt and Blaine.
At the end of the day, Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Blaine, Katie, and Katie's twelve-year-old brother Michael sat together, eating hot dogs and watching fireworks. As the fireworks shot into the sky, Finn put his arm around Rachel. Rachel looked at him and smiled. She knew she had a place with Finn and his family and knew that if she and Finn were to get married, this would be a group of people she'd love spending every holiday with.
x
Rachel sighed as she woke up. She'd had so many flashbacks of their final summer before she went off to college. It felt like every night she had a dream about her and Finn with a memory from the summer attached. Rachel heard her phone ring and looked at the caller ID. Kylie. With all the stress about college, she'd almost forgotten about her friend's dilemma. "Hey, Kylie," Rachel said.
"The situation just got a lot worse," Kylie moaned.
Rachel sighed, just glad this wasn't her and Finn. "What happened?"
Kylie began belting out the details from last weekend. A BOE party had been held. The kids were in the basement playing spin the bottle. It was Kylie's turn. She spun the bottle - and it landed on Jake's brother, Kyle, who was only in seventh grade.
"Don't do it, Kylie," Jake had said.
"Why not?" Kylie had snapped. "He's got the guy version of my name. That should be something." She kissed Kyle. Then she turned back to Jake. "Why can't you just forgive me?" Her eyes were filling with tears.
"Let's go to another room and talk."
"No, let's talk here. So, Jake, why can't you just forgive me?"
"You cheated on me!"
"I don't love Graham and I don't love any other guys! I just love you and I want you back!"
"We're going to talk in another room."
"No, we're not."
"Kylie, I don't think I belong with anyone right now. But I still think you're a great girl. You know, just because I can't be with you doesn't mean I don't care about you or support you…" Jake began.
Kylie began sobbing. "I do not give a flying shit about whether not you believe in me," she said. "I have my parents for that. I want to be back together Jake. It's not that you CAN'T be with me. It's that you DON'T WANT to be with me. You know, for a straight A student, you can be pretty fucking stupid." She stormed upstairs.
"I want to go home," she told her parents.
Another BOE member's son gave her a look and said, "He's over you and it's about time you get over him, too."
"That sounds like a real roadblock," Rachel said when Kylie finished talking.
"I don't know what to do anymore," Kylie said.
"I think I might have something in mind," Rachel said. "Just let me call you back in a few minutes." She picked up the phone and dialed Finn's number. Finn picked up right away and said, "Well, hello beautiful."
"Hello handsome," Rachel said. "Kylie was calling me for help. What was it that made you realize it was time to forgive me?"
"I wanted to forgive you from the day I broke up with you," Finn said. "But I realized I couldn't wait any longer when you sang 'Get It Right' at Regionals."
"I know what to do," Rachel said.
"You're having Kylie write a song?" Finn asked.
"No," Rachel said. "Just wait to get the call from Jake."
Rachel called Kylie up. "Kylie, send me some photos of you and Jake. We're making him a video."
"A video?" Kylie asked.
Rachel smiled. "Leave it to me." With all the stress of college and being away from home, she needed a distraction. She used the pictures Kylie sent and created a montage to "Get It Right." She then sent the video to Kylie, instructing her to slip it into Jake's locker at school the next day. Kylie insisted on putting it in Jake's mailbox at home instead. Rachel didn't know if that was a good idea, but told Kylie to do what she wanted. She hoped it would work for her friend - and realized by doing this how much she missed Finn.
x
A few days later, Finn saw his phone ringing and that it was Jake. He picked up the phone. "Hey, what's up?"
Jake began talking. "A few days ago I went to the mailbox and found an envelope with his name on it. In the envelope was just a DVD with "Watch me" written on it. I figured it was another apology item from Kylie - she's left quite a few things in the mailbox during the week after our breakup. I put it on his desk to be dealt with later. Then last night I saw it on my desk. I decided to put it on. She'd made a montage of photos of us set to a Taylor Swift song. I listened to the words and looked at the pictures. At the end of the video a message popped up "I'm so sorry. I love you." I was just watching a video Kylie made for me again. I just - I feel really bad about everything that happened."
"Well, it's like I told you, you have three options," Finn said. "You can totally kick her out of your life and move on, you can accept mistakes on both ends and forgive each other or you can sit around the house moping. Moping doesn't seem to be making things any better for you."
"That's what I'm thinking," Jake said. "It's not over with Kylie. Watching the video I felt feelings - the feelings I felt when I was dating Kylie. Maybe I do still love her. Maybe I just needed time to forgive her. We've both made mistakes. I'm really the one to blame for Kylie making out with Graham. I've made up his mind. When I see Kylie at school the next day, we'll talk."
"Good thinking," Finn said, wishing he and Rachel could talk in person again.