DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE OR ITS CHARACTERS; THIS IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.
3.
Finn ended up wasting another two days before coming to his senses and going after Rachel. He needed to fix things before everything fell apart. Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but he hated being away from her. He was in for a rude awakening when she actually did move to New York.
He had just gotten done with baseball practice when he went to find her. He knew that she would still be at school. She had mentioned a week ago that she needed to prepare herself for her final audition for NYADA, the school she was going to attend this coming fall semester. And to prepare herself, she needed a real stage with great acoustics like the one in school.
Finn's cleats clicked on the linoleum floor of his school. He knew the janitors would kill him if they saw him walking with dirty shoes, especially ones that have plastic like spikes, but he was taking his chances. He didn't want to miss her before she left. Sure he could just go to her house, but he didn't know what he would do or say, especially if one of her dads' answered… He just couldn't face it. He knew Rachel was very open with her dads', so she probably told them. Hopefully he isn't on the Hiram/Leroy Hit List.
His heart flutters as he approaches the entrance to the auditorium. The doors on the left side are wide open, and he can hear her angelic singing voice bursting out in a gentle melody. The lights are off except for one sole spotlight that shines right on her. She looks adorable, too. With her bangs straightened with her part. He preferred her bang-less as he could see her face better. She wears this cute tan dress with white ribbons. Always so naturally beautiful, Rachel never needed to wear makeup.
"When I look into your eyes,
It's like watching the night sky.
Or a beautiful sunrise.
Well there's so much they hold.
And just like them old stars,
I see that you've come so far.
To be right where you are.
How old is your soul?
Well I won't give up,
On us.
Even if the skies get rough.
I'm giving you all my love,
I'm still looking up.
And when you're needing your space,
To do some navigating.
I'll be here patiently waiting,
To see what you find.
Cause even the stars they burn,
Some even fall to the earth.
We've got a lot to learn.
God knows we're worth it.
No! I won't give up.
I don't want to be someone who walks away so easily,
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make.
A difference is they do a lot
To teach us how to use the tools and gifts we've got
Yeah we've got a lot at stake.
And in the end you're still my friend
At least we didn't tend for us to work
We didn't break we didn't burn.
We had to learn how to bend
Without the world caving in.
I had to learn what I got
And what I'm not and who I am.
I won't give up on us.
Even if the skies get rough.
I'm given you all my love.
I'm still looking up,
I'm still looking up.
I won't give up on us.
God knows I'm tough enough.
We've got a lot to learn.
God knows we're worth it.
I won't give up on us.
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love.
I'm still looking up."
He sits in stunned silence, baffled by the beautiful melody that Rachel can hold and by the lyrics of this song. It's so beautiful, so meaningful. And so true. She has to be talking about him and her, right? Like, not romantically, but friendship wise. How she doesn't want to give up on them just yet.
That's at least how he felt. And he felt pretty confident that that's what she was feeling too. Because they had built this entire relationship for so long, had worked very hard to achieve this once in a lifetime friendship to let it go so easily. They're not giving up, it's impossible to give up.
He can't help himself after a few seconds of being quiet. He suddenly jumps up and starts applauding as loud as he could.
She squints her eyes tightly, nearly shutting them, trying to make out the figure in the auditorium. She didn't think anyone would be watching since one, most people here at McKinley despised her and her talent, and two, it was past the normal time spring sports practices got out. Rachel had just assumed everyone had gone home, or at least was getting ready to go home.
But she apparently had a surprise guest.
"Hello?" Rachel's voice rings around the auditorium.
"Rach, it's me," Finn's voice replies.
He moves his way down the aisle and up to the stage, ignoring the glare that she pointed at his shoes.
"What are you doing here?"
Finn flinches at the harsh voice Rachel used. Her eyes are dark and cold, now glaring at his face and not his cleats on her stage floor. His eyes wander down her body to the floor in shame.
"Look, Rach, I'm so, so sorry," He starts, lifting his head up when he hears her scoff loudly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"And I-I know it's not enough to just apologize. I've done a lot of shitty things lately and I'm just so sorry. I just have been acting up because, well… you're leaving. And it sucks, God does it suck, that my best friend who knows everything about me and has always stuck by me is going to be gone. I'm so afraid, Rachel. I'm so scared of what's going to happen to me, to us, when you're gone.
"Like, what's going to happen? I mean, I'm not going to be able to do shit with my life. I haven't even been accepted into any colleges. That's so screwed up. So what, I don't get into college, so I go and work for Burt and become another Lima loser? I can't do anything without you, Rachel. That's why I wanted to go to New York, that's why I'm trying. That's why I blamed you for leaving us all; I just wanted you to stay.
"I'm being so selfish, and I'm just sorry, okay? Please just hear me out on that."
There. He's spilled out everything. The expression on her face is saddened and she has tears in her eyes. That's fucking great, too, since he made her cry for the second time in a week or two. This is just getting so frustrating. Things didn't have to be this way; they didn't have to waste their time.
"You," She starts, stuttering. "You're scared?"
"Out of my mind," He admits with a shaky voice, looking back down to the ground.
The last thing Finn expected was for a small pair of arms to wrap strongly around his body in a powerful hug. He let out a long sigh and wraps his own lengthy arms loosely around her tiny frame, dropping his face to the crook of her shoulder and inhaling deeply. God, she smelt so nice; like a floral shop or something. She felt amazing too, soft and so Rachel-ish. It'd been forever since they contacted each other, let alone physically interact.
Just one simple hug did it for him.
They were now sitting on the edge of the stage, right in the center with their legs hanging off, enabling them to kick the limbs around freely. Her hand was on his thigh, gently massaging it in a calm manner. His hand was on top of hers.
"I didn't realize how concerned you are about me leaving. I mean, I knew that it was going to be hard for… both of us," Rachel says in a quiet tone.
"Of course I'm concerned."
She nods slightly and looks down at her lap, inhaling loudly and exhaling just as.
"I'm the one being selfish."
He turns his head to face her with shock etched on his face. He didn't want her to think that about herself. It's not true or anything.
"No, why would you say that?"
"Because… I'm only thinking of myself. It's all I've ever thought about. God," She scoffs. "I'm just so damn conceited and look where it's getting me; to New York. New York, it's all I've ever wanted. But when I go to New York, who am I going to have? I won't have family or friends or… I won't have you at all, Finn. I can't believe you ever put up with me."
"What? No, don't say that. You need to go to New York, Rachel. It's everything, it's you. You deserve a place like New York. New York deserves you. I want you to go the distance. And sure you are pretty selfish," He grins down at her.
She punches him with her free hand in the shoulder.
"But you've had your moments. Like all the times you take care of me when I'm sick, or when you do charity events, or how you always make people want to be a better person; it's all very unselfish. You're pretty amazing."
Her laugh echoes around the auditorium loud and strong like everything she is. She's always just this rock for everyone, a person to lean on whenever you need to. And although the Cheerio's give her hell and the jocks mess around with her, they would be screwed without her. Rachel has contributed so much to their class, to their school, to their community. She knew what she was doing and she was doing a hell of a job at it.
Finn Hudson had never been so proud of anyone in his life.
"So are we…are we good?" He dares to ask.
"Yeah," She smiles brightly. "We always were. We just had a stupid argument. I overreacted, and you were a ass, buuut," She sings, "It's fine. Now I have A LOT to tell you!"
"Okay, starting with what exactly?" He smiles.
"My final NYADA audition, the one where the advisors at the school choose who will go to what classes and whatnot, is coming up so soon, Finn," She stands up, walking to center stage where she had been when he first came in. "And I'm so excited."
"You're not nervous at all?" He questions.
She shakes her head with a small smile on her lips.
"I'm so ready for this. And I'm performing one of my favorite songs in the world that I'm absolutely stunning while singing-."
"Don't Rain On My Parade?" Finn takes a wild guess.
She fake gasps, "How'd you know? Have you been snooping around my diary?"
"Nah, I just know a lot about my best friend," He gets up himself, walking to center stage to her.
"It's getting pretty late. You want to go out for pizza or something?"
"That'd be great. Now get off my stage with those cleats!"
"So, you and Rachel made up?" Kurt wonders aloud, walking into Finn's bedroom.
"Dude, knock," Finn snarls, glaring at his step-brother as if he had walked in on Finn doing something embarrassing or confidential. However, Finn was just sitting on the edge of his bed with his Xbox controller in hand, playing Call of Duty.
Kurt just laughs lightly, sarcastically, and plops down on the bed, stretching his body out across the freshly washed linens.
"And I guarantee you know the answer to your question. I'm sure Rachel just called you and talked for hours about it," Finn continues.
Rachel and Kurt were perfect for each other. Rachel always told Finn that Kurt was her soul mate, her exact match. Finn couldn't agree more. They were both Broadway bound, they both loved girly things, and they both could talk someone's ears off. Those were ones that stood out, although there were tons hidden underneath. Like the fact that Kurt hates everything that Rachel wears, but loves her knee socks to death. Although Kurt would never be caught dead in knee socks or even having people find out about his adoration of them, he still is a fanatic. Anyways, Kurt was gay and pretty serious with his boyfriend Blaine, so Rachel couldn't get together with him or anything.
"She did, of course," Kurt flatly confirms. "And did you know that she's singing Don't Rain on my Parade from Funny Girl?"
Finn pauses his game, tossing his controller to the ground and turned to look at Kurt.
"Yeah," He shrugs. "She's awesome at that song."
"Yeah, I know. But… it's so basic, don't you think? She got into the school, just like myself. But now she needs to… jazz it up a bit. She needs to do something more risqué, per say. Like I was going to sing a Phantom tune, but decided to go with Chicago."
"What are you getting at, Kurt?" Finn rubs a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted by all the words flowing from his brother's mouth.
"I'm just saying that a Jewish girl with a loud voice singing a Barbra song is typical. If she wants to get with the finest teachers at NYADA, she needs to step up her game."
"Why didn't you just tell her that yourself?"
"I did. That's the problem, that's why I came in here to you. I don't want Rachel to fail. Okay, she won't fail. But in her own mind she will. Especially if she doesn't get in with Carmen Tibideaux she'll be devastated," Kurt answers in a stressed tone.
"Carmen who?" Finn gawks.
"Carmen Tibideaux; the best professor in the entire dramatic arts program. She's done a gazillion musicals on Broadway and has tons of community recognition, not to mention just plain stardom. Rachel wants to get in with her, she needs to get in with her to jump to a great Broadway career. I want this for her as much as I want this for myself. Maybe even more…"
Kurt starts rambling on and on about how much Rachel needs this and Finn's head just spins slowly. Carmen Tibideaux; that's a fancy name. How come Rachel never told him about it? That's not really important; she probably just didn't want to bore him to death. Or maybe she actually was nervous about her audition. Maybe she didn't want him to know that she was shaking with fear at the thought of being turned down by a star herself.
Whatever it was, it really was concerning Finn. He totally forgot about his own college problems and started worrying about Rachel's college problems. He knows that it won't be the end of anything if she doesn't get chosen by this Carmen chick; Rachel will still go to New York and still come famous.
"But it will take her longer," Kurt's words ring loudly.
It will take her longer to achieve her dreams, and that's not going along with Rachel Berry's life plan. Broadway was her destiny and she wanted it and wanted it fast. She knew that it wouldn't happen in an instant, but if she had gotten in with Carmen's group, she'd be a part of an elite club. She'd practically have a pass to center stage, to roles that define generations! This would be so big for her!
"I need you to help her, Finn. She needs you to help her."
Finn nodded his head, fully convinced. He needed to take a step back from his own problems and think about her.
After all, she was the only reason he was doing any of this. Plus he needed some time to kill. Waiting around for acceptance was really pushing him over the edge, stressing him out completely. This would be the perfect distraction, plus he'd be helping his best friend. And then they'd be able to start the best summer ever.
Rachel Barbra Berry, you better be ready.
"Absolutely not," Rachel hissed, slamming her binder of sheet music on her desk in her bedroom.
"Whoa, Scary Rachel," Finn calls out on her nasty attitude.
She places a hand on her hip, jutting it out far enough to emphasize her sassiness she currently was sporting.
"How dare you even suggest that I do anything different? Do you not understand how i-important and how crucial this audition is?"
"Yes! That's why you need to do something out of your comfort zone!"
Her eyes widen, "What? That's one million percent crazy, Finn! If I do something out of my comfort zone I will not be performing as well as I could with something that is in my comfort zone!"
"Rachel, stop playing it safe!" Finn yells loudly, interrupting her.
Her hand drops from her hip and her mouth snaps shut.
"Look, you need to do this, okay? I can't force you to do it, but I sure as hell will keep trying to convince you to do it. You sound absolutely amazing singing Don't Rain on my Parade. Seriously, that will still shock this Carmen chick-."
"How do you know about Carmen?"
"What?" Finn innocently questions.
"I can't believe Kurt," Rachel mutters, rolling her eyes
"I can. Because he wants what's best for you. We both want you to go the distance and we know that you'll do fantastic with singing a Barbra song, but it's too typical. You need to rock the socks off of Carmen. You need to make her say 'wow, this girl wasn't afraid to take a chance and really nailed this audition'. You need to make her want to work with you," Finn stresses.
She looks down at the floor, blushing a bright red. She knew that Finn was right; it was just hard for her to step away from something she'd practiced since she was a toddler. Barbra would do justice, but wouldn't 'wow' anyone.
"But what song would I sing?"
Finn looks at her with a 'really?' stare.
"You're telling me that in this trunk," Finn moves to her closet, opening up the doors and pulling out her pink shaded storage trunk. "You can't find something to sing, something that is daring?"
"Well, I don't know," She shrugs, looking at it with wide eyes.
"There's only one way to find out then, I guess."
It was two in the morning on a Saturday night and Finn was sitting on a plus white carpet with sheets of music in piles all around him. Five feet away from him was his petite best friend Rachel Berry, her hair pulled up in a high pony tail as she rifled through each and every piece, studying the notes and the rhythms.
"This is useless," Rachel sighs, slapping down a Thoroughly Modern Millie song. "Everything in here is basic. I've performed all these songs and nailed them all. I need something difficult, something that I have to work for."
Finn leans over to the pink trunk yet again, looking in it and seeing only a few contents left. Under the sheets of white paper was a bright yellow folder. Finn pulled it out curiously and opened it up. He saw the inside label and read the sole word it contained.
ATTEMPT
"Rach, I think I found it. I think I found your music choices."
Short chapter, I know, I know, crucify me. But I promise from here on out everything will be way longer. I usually like a 5000-7000 word chapter as I feel it's worthwhile, but… I can't do that right now. I don't want to make you guys wait forever for an update, so I'm just going to give you a few shorter chapters. I have exactly 7 days left in school, so I will be studying like a mad man since finals are here, but I promise that in 7 days once it's all over I will be giving you all long chapters and as frequent as possible. THANK YOU FOR R&R, PLEASE REVIEW NOW!