Title: Love Was Meant For Beauty Queens
Pairings: Finn/Rachel, Finn/Quinn
Disclaimer: Glee is the property of Twentieth Century Fox and affiliates and not mine.
Spoilers: Everything up until 2x03. Although only in the loosest of sense as the story doesn't really follow canonical history.
Summary: Finn and Rachel attempt a friendship. Sequel to At Eighteen (Come Dance With Me). Alternate History.
LOVE WAS MEANT FOR BEAUTY QUEENS
Chapter 4
It was exactly 7pm on the dot when Finn picked Rachel up from the dance studio.
The weather had cleared out to blue skies and yellow sun during the day but by 6.30pm it was all dark heavy clouds and thunderstorm. The rain pelted down as Finn grabbed his jean jacket, holding it over his head as he ran to where Rachel was waiting undercover. She didn't have an umbrella so they had to race back to his car, huddled closely under his jacket.
It was raining so hard that Finn was getting drenched anyway, water splattering over his jeans and polo shirt. If it had just been Finn he would have discarded his jacket a long time ago, because it wasn't really working as an umbrella like at all. Rachel however was small enough that his jacket could cover like 80% of her body from the storm. He angled his overly large body, using it as a shield to stop the rest of the rain from hitting her.
Finn placed his left hand on the small of Rachel's back as he guided her to the passenger side of the car. Even with his jeans wet, thick and heavy against his skin, he could feel the heat of Rachel's body, the curve of her bottom, as he pressed against her as he fiddled with the lock. The fat drops of rain falling on the back of Finn's neck and sliding down his spine did nothing to cool him down. He used his left hand to prop his jacket up, conscious of trying to keep her as dry as possible. When she slid passed him to get into the car, he missed the friction of having Rachel so damn close.
By the time he got into his car, water was rolling off him. His trainers sloshed as he moved his feet, pressing down on the pedals, and his socks felt beyond gross. Finn's jeans stuck uncomfortably to his skin and his shirt wasn't in any better condition. He kinda just wanted to strip everything off and crank the heater on high. Only the air was still too warm from the afternoon sun and, besides, driving across Lima naked had never been on Finn's top ten lists of things to do.
(It was totally something that Puck would do though. And Finn didn't know why he was thinking of that douchebag right now. Maybe because he had been best bros with the dude since they were in diapers and somehow it was hard to do anything without thinking about what Puck would say or do.)
Rachel had thankfully been spared from most of the rain and Finn was proud of himself for that. Rachel was worried about how soaked his clothes were and she fussed over him, making this 'tch tch tching' sound that he had heard come out of his mom's and Mrs Puckerman's mouths before. He wondered if it was a female thing.
She took off the bright green cardigan she was wearing and bundled it up in her hands using it as a cloth to wipe the rain off him. She was dabbing at his hair and down the side of his neck and it wasn't meant to be a turn on (but it totally was).
'I'm okay, Rach,' he said. 'You're ruining your cardigan and it's a lot nicer than any of my clothes.'
'I'm not worried about your clothes,' she told him. 'I'm worried about you. You'll catch your death of cold and it will be all my fault. You were only out in the rain in the first place because you were picking me up from dance class. And don't think I didn't notice your act of gallantry before, which was highly unnecessary but also greatly appreciated.'
'I'm fine,' Finn insisted, gently pushing her hands away.
Rachel shot him a look like she didn't believe him.
'No, really, I'm fine. Or I will be fine as soon as we get back to your place and I can dry off.'
She frowned, like she wanted to continue her attentions, but backed away letting Finn start the car engine. (It was totally nice how Rachel was making a fuss but Finn didn't want to make a big deal out of it, even if it did kind of feel like a big deal.)
The car ride was quiet except for the blare of the radio. Finn mostly concentrated on the road because it was raining so hard that he could only really see the yellow headlights on the road. Rachel fiddled with the tuner trying to find something that she liked.
As the rain started to ease out, a familiar opening keyboard riff floated through the air.
'Wait,' Finn said, stopping Rachel from changing the channel. 'I know this song. Man, I haven't heard this in like forever. I used to sing this when I was a kid; in the summer out in our front yard with the hose as a microphone.'
'For a smile they can share the night. It goes on and on and on and on,' Rachel sang.
Her voice cut through the thunder, hanging in the air with a sound so clear that it made his chest throb and race.
He turned from the wheel and snuck a glance at her, surprise on his face, 'You know this song?'
'It's a great classic rock song, Finn,' Rachel said. 'I'm not just Broadway musicals and pop music. I think it is important in life to have a wide range of experiences so that we can broaden our tastes and develop a more fulsome perspective.'
'That's like a good view to have,' he complimented. 'You're always pretty smart like that, Rach.'
'All right, I confess,' Rachel blurted. 'I lied. My preparations for auditions and admission into Julliard and Tisch required me to extend my musical repertoire. So I undertook some research. But once I actually listened to Journey, I found their music to be surprisingly relatable.'
He grinned at her and said, 'It's okay. I just think it is pretty cool that we like the same music.'
They belted out the chorus together and stretched out the notes – Hold on to the feelin' – and their voices mixed, blended, became one. Finn felt kind of heady after that one song, like he had drunk too much beer, and he had to grip onto the steering wheel real hard just to steady himself.
He thought about singing with Rachel and maybe introducing her to some Bruce Springsteen, Rick Springfield, Dashboard Confessional and Kings of Leon. The thought was still floating in Finn's head as he pulled the car up at Rachel's home and parked it in his regular spot. (He had only driven to her home twice but the space on the road along the curbside near the oak just felt like his.)
Finn made Rachel wait in the car because while the rain wasn't as bad as it had been when they were at the dance studio, it was still pouring. Once more he used his jacket to provide Rachel with coverage from the rain as they made a dash to her front door.
She shooed him inside and he was so freaking sopping wet that he was leaving puddles in her hallway. Thankfully her hallway was tiled.
'Um, maybe it is best if you wait here,' Rachel said. 'I'll go get some towels and you can dry off. I promise to be quick.'
Rachel kept her promise so that Finn was only standing in her front hallway staring at the cream painted walls for less than a minute.
She handed him a couple of towels and he tried to pat himself down and squeeze as much of the excess water into the towels. It helped a bit but when Finn took a couple of steps a trail of water followed him, seeping from the ends of his jeans and shirt.
'This isn't working,' Finn growled in frustration. 'I'm gonna turn your carpet into a lake.'
Rachel eyed him thoughtfully, biting her lower lip as she instructed, 'Well, you're just going to have to strip down to your underwear.'
'What?' he wheezed, the incredibleness of the entire situation taking his breath away.
(Or maybe it was the fact that his clothes were wet and Finn was starting to shiver despite the afternoon heat still lingering.)
'Look, we shouldn't make an issue out of this. It's the only logical and sensible solution,' Rachel said even though she was totally blushing. 'And…and it's not like I haven't seen you in less.'
She did have a point and the idea was making Finn extra warm – a mix of embarrassment and being really, really turned on.
Oh, what the hell. He was gonna do it.
Finn took his shirt off first and it dropped to the floor with a splat. His eyes locked with Rachel's as his thumb and index finger found their way over the metal of his jeans button. He slowly undid the button – and okay, maybe his fingers weren't quite working properly anymore, especially not after he heard that hiss escape from Rachel's lips.
When he pulled down his zipper the sound it made was loud, so loud that Finn almost flinched. Rachel's eyes grew really wide and extra dark and hazy. A thrill ran down Finn's spine igniting something deep inside. He hooked his fingers around the top of his jeans and deliberately edged them down his legs, relishing in the hitches in Rachel's breath and the rosy tinge on her cheeks.
When Finn finally kicked his jeans off, Rachel let out a little 'oh' and his mouth broadened into a grin. He felt like a total stud.
He didn't even really feel awkward despite the fact that he was standing in the middle of her front hallway in only his blue boxers. His blue boxers that were clinging to his skin and outlining everything, like seriously everything, because Finn was hard and that was totally obvious.
'We should take a shower,' Rachel advised him, flustering when she realized exactly what she had said. 'Uh, I mean you should take a shower.'
'We could totally take a shower if you want, Rach?' Finn told her, his voice low and husky and he cocked his head like the way Puck always did when he propositioned a female. He made sure to throw Rachel a lopsided grin because Santana had once mentioned he actually looked hot when he smiled like that.
'Okay,' Rachel squeaked.
And see, Finn was a total sex god. Puck would be totally proud, except maybe about the whole red circle and green square thing. Also, it was kind of weird to be thinking about Puck when he was about to have a shower.
Naked.
With Rachel Berry.
In the shower.
The spray from Rachel's showerhead was strong and hot. (The Berrys had the best shower pressure, like ever.) The glass was all fogged up except for the smudged areas where he had pushed Rachel against the glass. She was moving – kept on moving, writhing, shifting, shifting, shifting like she couldn't keep still. Her back was drawing patterns against the glass as he slammed into her and then he pulled out and then he was back in again.
Her nails were digging into the skin on his back and it should have hurt but Finn was too intent on watching the soapsuds sliding down Rachel's body. There were a couple of bubbles that trailed her collarbone, glided over the valley between her breasts, down the flat of her stomach, narrowly missing her bellybutton. The bubbles finally popped just below her hips when Finn pressed into Rachel again.
Finn liked how one of Rachel's legs was curled behind him and how her long dark hair was slick across her face. The steam and the hot water were creating red patches across Rachel's skin so he soothed the areas with his mouth and tongue.
When he shattered into her – and she had already fallen apart so Finn made sure he had a good hold on Rachel, using the glass to balance their bodies – the water from the showerhead was strong but cold. He remembered to turn the taps off (they had used up all the hot water) as their bodies collapsed on the floor of the shower.
Shower sex.
Like wow.
Finn's life was totally awesome.
-o-
Finn's life sucked.
'I can't believe you're refusing to accompany me to Santana's party tonight,' Quinn bitched at him, reaming him in like the first place trophy for cheerleading nationals depended on it.
(Maybe it did.
It would explain a lot.
Over the years Finn had started to notice that the Cheerios weren't really that cheery. They were kind of bitchy in fact. Finn had seen really nice girls he had known like his entire life put on that red and white uniform and suddenly they were not so nice.
Sometimes though when the Cheerios closed in on some girl who wasn't the perfect size zero – Quinn was always saying stuff about the importance of size zero whatever that meant – Finn thought that maybe the uniform was evil or something. Only not the skirt. The skirt was awesome.
Or maybe it was the whole not eating thing that Coach Sylvester made them do. Finn would be totally pissy all the time too if Coach Beiste made him not eat.
The Cheerios were always nice to him though. Finn was the most popular guy in school.
Or at least Finn had been the most popular guy in school before today.)
Finn shook his head because Quinn was still talking and he needed to tune her in. The last thing he needed was to give Quinn one more thing to bitch at him about.
'Santana's party is not a multiple choice question,' she admonished. 'There aren't any 'yes' or 'no' boxes for you to tick. The only acceptable answer is 'yes'. Yes, you are coming. Yes, you will be escorting me. Y.E.S. Yes.'
Finn rubbed his temples because he didn't really want to get into all of this with Quinn right now. It had been a long day and he just wanted to leave and head home now that school was finally over (although Finn kind of had detention so he had to stick around for like an hour longer, which totally sucked balls).
The day had started off well enough. He had woken up at 6am, which was actually kind of wrong. But he had managed to convince Rachel to try out that excellent morning sex idea that he had had the other day, which was actually all kinds of right. Finn thought the Health Department should totally endorse morning sex as the required form of daily exercise. People would be healthy like all the time.
After their morning exercise, Finn had eaten this awesome banana bread that Rachel had baked (and she had totally promised to bake a loaf just for him) for breakfast, which was way better than the cereal from the box that Finn normally ate. He had also arrived to school on time and had actually completed his homework for first period. His second period teacher had called in sick and instead of calling in for a substitute they were given a free. So Finn had actually been in a good mood at the beginning of the day.
However, during third period, as everyone was taking their seats and waiting for Spanish to start, Puck had dumped that freaking toy on Finn's desk. Every time Mr Reynolds' back had been turned, which was like often because Puck must have fucking bribed all the jocks and Cheerios to ask for Mr Reynolds for help as if they actually cared about Spanish, Puck had leant over and clanked the colored shapes in Finn's face.
'See, dude,' Puck had said, 'the kickass red circle don't fit into the hole for the fucking green square.'
After the twelfth time, Finn had been grinding his teeth, clenching his fists and trying to remind himself that Puck was his best friend (and why was that again?) so he shouldn't throw the blue triangle at Puck's head or smash his face into the desk.
By lunch time, Puck had started in with the singing:
'One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?'
When the hockey team joined in on it (which was so not cool), Finn had had enough.
Finn had smashed Dave Karofsky's face to the wall and thrown punches. A few of them were wide but one punch landed across Karofsky's face and then the dude was screaming like a girl, clutching his nose as blood gushed everywhere. Finn wasn't gonna lie. It was awfully satisfying. Besides he had never liked Karofsky in the first place.
After that though, Finn's day had pretty much gone down the toilet. He had received detention from Principal Figgins and had to see Miss Pillsbury, the guidance counselor, during one of his frees. Ms Pillsbury spent twenty minutes wiping stuff down (something about blood being unhygienic) and another ten minutes pumping the gel from the bottle of hand sanitizer on her desk. By the time that she had gotten round to handing Finn all these pamphlets that were of like no help at all, his free period was over and he had a double period of Calculus to sit through.
So he wasn't really happy about staying back for detention for something that was really not his fault while everyone else was done for the day. Teachers shouldn't be that sick and evil to give after school detention on a Friday. Finn was pretty sure there had to be a law against it, like in the Constitution or something.
And Quinn kept on nagging about this party at Santana's like it was some huge deal. Finn knew it was going to be the same old party with the same old crowd and everyone would be doing the same old thing. After all, he had been going to these parties since freshman year.
'I'm just so not in the mood,' Finn told his girlfriend as he grabbed his bag from his locker. (He didn't want to have to come back to his locker once he had completed detention.)
'You need to get with the program,' Quinn said, chewing him out. 'People are starting to talk. They're saying that you're like regressing or whatever. Some people are even saying that you've gone all gay now and that you're in love with that wheelchair kid. I am not going to leave this school with the reputation that I've been your big gay beard for the last three years.'
'So let them talk,' Finn retorted. 'What the team tried to do was serious, Quinn. Artie could have been really hurt.'
Quinn sighed, 'I know you're just trying to be the good guy, Finn. I understand that. I really do. But can't you think about me for once? I cannot show up at Santana's by myself.'
'I'm really not in the mood,' Finn said. 'Look, just because I don't want to go to Santana's party shouldn't stop you from going. You should go. You should totally go and have some fun.'
Quinn's eyes narrowed before suddenly softening. Her fingers lightly trailed up his arm as she whispered, 'We could have fun at Santana's party. Fun together. I'll let you touch my breasts. No bra.'
There was a vague stirring of interest at Quinn's offer but it felt more like that second glance Finn would take when a hot girl walked by. So maybe Finn was like all sexed out from his time with Rachel.
Huh, he didn't know that could even happen.
Puck had never mentioned it.
And Finn knew that it wasn't a question of his own studliness.
Because last night? Had been EPIC.
If sex with Rachel was like playing a video game then Finn knew he had made the records for top scorer.
A yawn escaped Finn's mouth and Quinn was playing with his sleeve still waiting for his answer. He was probably tired, that was it. He had had hardly any sleep last night. (It wasn't Finn's fault that Rachel's body was so smokin' that he couldn't stop touching her.)
Finn gently withdrew Quinn's hand from his arm and said, 'I'm sorry. I'm just really worn out. All I want to do is go home and crash.'
Her chin slightly tremored and Finn was reminded of the five year old with the broken doll. There were moments when Finn remembered he could actually hurt Quinn, even now when she was dressed in the red and white Cheerio uniform with her blonde hair yanked back so tight it seemed to pull at her skin making her face seem narrower, tighter, harsher.
He placed a kiss on top of her head and offered, 'I'll make it up to you. I promise.'
'Fine,' she huffed. 'But I'm making you keep to your promise, Finn.'
He watched his girlfriend walk away before closing his locker door and resting his forehead against the cool metal for a couple of minutes, because it was such a relief not to have to go to Santana's party. When he got to detention he spent the hour with his eyes closed because he really was so, so tired.
By the time Finn opened his eyes again, the school had emptied out and he was probably the only one left in the building except for the janitor mopping up the dried blood on the linoleum. He was kind of glad that it was just him and the janitor because the last thing that Finn wanted to do was to talk to anyone. He just wanted to go home, maybe make a grilled cheese sandwich (his mom was out on a date with some dude called Burt, who had fixed their car two weeks ago 'cos their regular mechanic had gone on holidays), crawl into bed, and sleep the weekend away.
Finn slowly trudged to his car, his feet heavy so that he was kind of just dragging his body along. From the distance, he could see a figure by his car and he swallowed a groan. He really didn't want to deal with Puck or any of the other guys on the team.
'Look, dude, I'm so not in the mood right now,' he shouted across the parking lot. 'So you can all just shove off or whatever.'
The figure jumped and turned so that a flash of brown streaked through the air.
'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you,' said Rachel in her distinctly familiar and very female voice. 'I'll just go.'
Finn bit back a smile. Maybe there was one person that he didn't mind talking to.
'Don't go,' he told her, leaping forward to catch her on the wrist before she left. 'I thought you were Puck or one of the others. I didn't know it was you.'
'I heard what happened today,' she said.
'I think everyone in the whole of fucking town of Lima heard,' Finn replied bitterly.
'I just wanted to see if you were okay,' she murmured, her fingers across his knuckles which were starting to purple from the impact on Karofsky's face. 'I was concerned.'
'Well, I'm still alive,' he joked. 'And I somehow managed to make it through detention. So it's good.'
'That's good,' she replied, withdrawing her hand and Finn missed the way Rachel's fingers had been caressing the back of his hand. 'I'll just go now. I know you must have other plans, what with Santana's party and all.'
'I'm not going to Santana's,' Finn blurted.
'You're not? But don't you always go? And isn't a party at Santana's a really huge deal? I've heard students at school talking about the things they were willing to do just to get an invited.'
'Nah,' Finn said, 'it's only really a thing because Santana's father is a doctor and they're like loaded. Otherwise it's just the same kids at school that you see like every day.'
'Oh,' Rachel said in a really quiet voice as she stared at her shoes. 'I didn't know that. I've never been invited.'
'Yeah, well, you're not missing out on much. And you've probably got tons of awesome stuff that you were planning to do tonight.'
'I was just going to go home,' Rachel pointed out, her eyes staring at a spot in the distance away from him.
Finn reached out to brush the strands of hair from Rachel's face. He ran his thumb lightly down the side until he reached her chin and then he tilted her head so he was looking at her face to face.
'Going home sounds perfect,' he told her.
Rachel's face broke into a smile and her mouth was stretched to edges and Finn couldn't help but lean forward to drop a small kiss on the side of her mouth.
All thoughts about Santana's party, Puck, Quinn, sleep and being sexed out had totally flown out of his head.
Finn followed Rachel home, his car tracing the familiar road and he didn't need a map to know where he was going.
Music:
Don't Stop Believin', Journey
One of These Things, Joe Raposo, Jon Stone and Bruce Hart