Okay everyone, this is my longest chapter EVER! 5,607 words not including the author's notes. Sorry it took me some time to update, or at least more time than normal. I had three projects going at once this week and they took up all my time. It sucked. I passed in two out of the three on Thursday so I started writing then and just finished today. Hope you all enjoy it :)
Tick…tick…tick…tick…
'Ugh, why won't this clock go faster? Maybe I'll just sleep through the last twenty minutes.' Finn thought to himself while he sat through his last period class, geometry. Ever since he solidified his and Quinn's plans in lunch, he had been counting down each individual hour, minute, and second until their date. You know, he was just a little excited.
Since he would be stuck in school for another twenty minutes and he had no idea about what they were learning at the moment, he decided now would be a good time to catch up on the sleep he missed the previous night. It was power napping time.
He felt his eye lids getting ever so closer to each other, his teacher's figure growing smaller and smaller from his view, and finally it was dark.
Some time later, his eyes reopened feeling quite refreshed. 'Power naps are awesome.' He figured the bell would ring any second. He shot a glance back up to the large black and white clock that graced the wall of every class room to confirm his suspicion.
His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. 'What? Five minutes? Seriously? How is that possible? How has it only been five minutes?' he complained to himself as he frustratingly ran his fingers through his short dark hair.
He didn't understand how it was possible for him to say he'd only sleep ten more minutes in the mornings and end up sleeping for thirty, but when he wanted to sleep for twenty minutes, he could only sleep for five? What the hell! It's one of those things where you feel like you've slept for a short time but you actually slept for longer and vice versa. It sucked.
For the last agonizing fifteen minutes of class, he sat impatiently in his seat, bouncing his leg up and down under the table with his fingers lightly strumming the top.
After a thousand desk strums later, the bell let out a blaring ring.
"Finally!" he thought out loud, receiving a discouraging look from Mrs. Savvoy who was sitting at her desk in the front.
He awkwardly smiled at the annoyed teacher and wasted no time shoving his papers into his bag, crinkling them in the process, booked it out of math, and down the hall to the area where the buses lined up.
He rested his head against the window as he stared out watching the trees, houses, and other cars zoom past out of the view of the small window, trying to zone out the screams and shouts of other students. He had just shut his eyes hoping that the ride would go by faster when the bus hit a pothole which caused his head to bang off the window. It was times like these when he wished his mom decided not to show a house when he got out of school. That pothole wouldn't nearly have sucked as much if it were hit by something smaller like his mom's little Volkswagen sedan.
Being the last stop, since his house was almost out of town, he didn't get home until after about a thirty minute ride, but he was thankful to finally be off the shock-less bus.
He unlocked his front door with the key he and his mom kept on top of the door frame since he lost his house key a while ago and made his way into the house.
He walked inside to an empty, quiet house. He assumed his mom was running a little late and was still showing the house that she had been talking about all week.
Instead of thinking about it anymore, he quickly jogged up the staircase to his room and threw down his bag against his desk. He checked his watch for the time. It was three o'clock.
He had around three and a half hours before he would need to leave his house to pick up Quinn. He had to add in the walking time it would take to get to her house from his. Why walk? It was always good exercise and he liked being fit, plus, there was no way in hell he was letting his mom be their chauffer. Knowing her, he knew for fact that she would embarrass him beyond belief. He had done pretty well in not even letting her know Quinn's name or anything about her, and he wasn't going to give in now.
There was still some time left before he had to start getting ready, so, even as much as he really didn't want to, he started on some homework. He read a few pages in his english book, which he didn't even know what he read after getting to the bottom of the page, and took probably a whole hour trying to do his geometry homework. An hour was a long time to be working on math problems, or at least for him it was. He couldn't understand why he would ever need to know about Pythagorean Theorems. He could barely pronounce it never mind actually doing it, so he settled for scribbling down random numbers and drawing shapes on his paper to suffice.
He checked the time again. It read four-thirty. He had two hours left and was extremely stoked to say the least. Since he finished his homework, he decided it was time to start getting ready.
He began to put his things away back into his school bag and then sat down on his bed for a few minutes. The silence of the house and his room led to a lot of thoughts that flooded into his head. Most being worried thoughts ranging from, 'I wonder if I should take a shower. She might think I smell if I don't and that would be a total turn off' to more drastic ones like, 'what if she only agreed to go out with me because she felt bad for me. I bet my stuttering and rambling is so pathetic.'
He really liked her and chose to blow off all the bad thoughts he had. It wasn't time for negativity. He pursed his lips and nodded to himself in determination. Oh yeah, he could definitely do this.
Just in case, he hopped into the shower to clean up after a day of school, even though he took a shower this morning. After about ten extra minutes of letting the hot water run over him, he shut the shower off and stepped out. He wrapped a towel around himself and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He rubbed his face noticing the hair on it. His friends like Puck only tell him it's peach fuzz but he's proud of it no matter what. Then he brushed his teeth and gargled with his minty mouth wash, twice. The last thing he wanted was bad breath.
As he threw on his football workout shorts and a McKinley t-shirt, he heard the door downstairs open. He walked to the top of the stairwell and yelled down, "Mom?" He waited a few seconds before he heard his mom shout back, "Yeah Hun, it's me. Sorry I'm home a little late."
He replied that it was okay and went back to his room to search for money.
He went into his closet and grabbed the small shoebox off the top shelf where he put his most prized possessions like his blanket his dad got him in the hospital which he named McGeeGee, his limited edition Ken Griffey Jr. base ball card, one of his Skinemax magazines, and his money. As he opened the box that was now on his bed and sifted through its contents, he realized he didn't have any money left in it. He started to wonder where it had gone when he remembered his last purchase.
He looked to the far end of his room near his TV. On the same stand was his answer.
"Ugh, stupid Halo! You just had to buy it new, didn't you Finn?" he asked in a mock tone while face palming himself.
He didn't have money for his date with Quinn. Now what would he do? He immediately had a solution but he didn't like it.
Finn slowly walked downstairs and into the living room where his mom was sitting reading one of those home décor magazines.
"Hey mom! How was your day? Are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something?" He quickly thought about what he said and needed to correct himself. "You know, something simple I mean. Like…. a sandwich?"
He kept a bright and pleasant smile plastered on his face, merely for appearances as she gave him a strange, confused look. He knew she was wondering what he was up to.
"Did I mention that I love you?" he added, hoping to get some extra brownie points.
She only raised an eyebrow in response before asking, "What are you up to Finn?"
'God, how does she always know?' He answered her as nonchalant as he could. "Why would you think I'd be up to something? Can't a son do nice stuff for his mother?" he asked trying to sound as taken back as possible.
"See, I like to think so but that's never the real reason. So what do you want Finn?" She saw straight through his act.
There was no use in playing this any longer so he just came out with it. "Okay mom. I was wondering if I could borrow some money."
"How much money?" she suspiciously asked.
"Um…. I don't know….. maybe like….. forty bucks?" he answered dragging out his words trying to sound as innocent as possible.
"Forty dollars? Finn, why on earth would you need that much money?"
"It's for a charity?" he replied hoping she'd buy that.
"Yeah, nice try Finn. What is it, the 'Finn Hudson Charity'?" she said not buying anything he was selling.
Man, she was difficult. He guessed he'd have to tell her eventually. "Fine… I need the money because... I'm taking a girl out tonight."
Mrs. Hudson couldn't help but smile and get excited. "Ooooh, is it for the girl you were thinking of last night?" she questioned.
Finn couldn't face his mom while answering her. He felt defeated in the sense that he knew he had to tell her what he had been trying to keep a secret. He answered her looking in another direction. "Yeah. Her name's Quinn Fabray. She's on the cheerleading squad and she's in some of my classes. She's really nice and extremely beautiful and she agreed to go on a date with me, so I really need this money." He told her hopefully.
She smiled at him, still in disbelief how grown up her little man has become.
She got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen and grabbed her purse off the kitchen table. She returned to the living room where Finn was still waiting and started to dig through her purse.
"So does that mean yes?" he asked, eyeing her hand rifling through the contents of her purse.
"Yes." She simply said and handed him the money.
He gratefully took it from her hand and smiled at her. "Thanks mom. You're so totally awesome."
She just quietly laughed to herself and let out a little, "I know," and watched as Finn shot back up to his room.
He hung out in his room for the rest of the time before he had to leave. He mostly just watched the Ohio State vs. George Mason basketball game on TV. He never missed a Buckeyes game no matter what. He always wanted to get better technique in whatever sport so watching those beast college guys own was how he learned. The last minutes he had in his room were spent making sure he didn't have any pit stains on his shirt on account he had been pretty nervous.
He was Finn Hudson, popular jock. He shouldn't be nervous, but he was. Outside of school, he was just Finn Hudson, a normal guy from Lima, Ohio.
Pushing all of his pre-date jitters to the side, he put on his most confident face he had, stared at his reflection in the mirror for a few seconds, and walked back downstairs.
Near the front door, he grabbed his running shoes and put them on. Once he was finished and stood up, he let his mom know he was leaving. She wished him good luck, but he was already assured of that since he was wearing his lucky boxers, and made his way out the door.
He didn't live too far away from the Fabray household on Dudley road. He had walked there before for a carbo night that she held at her house for the cheerleaders and football players once, and he remembered the way easily.
As he walked, he watched the sun sink below the horizon and thought about how cool it looked. He picked up his pace and turned it into a brisk walk after the sun had disappeared considering it was starting to get cooler and he didn't really feel like being too cold.
It was then that he thought about how much chillier it would be walking to and back from the date, but he'd rather suffer with Quinn in the cold than suffer his mom in a car ride.
Finn just turned onto Dudley road and could see Quinn's large white home. It was the third house, well mansion, on the street and was easily visible from where he was. His fast pace got him to his destination quicker than he thought and he arrived at her doorstep five minutes early.
He stopped in front of the big red double door and took a deep breathe and then slowly exhaled. He could do this.
He pushed the small lit up door bell on the right side of the door and listened to it chime. Not even ten seconds later did someone open the door.
A man answered the door. Finn took in his appearance. He was pretty big, a bit smaller than Finn though, blonde, middle aged, probably around the same age as his mom, and he wore a yellow sweater vest with tan slacks and loafers. Finn had never met Quinn's father before but he made a pretty good guess that this man was him.
"Yes?" the man asked curiously, eyeing Finn up and down.
Finn took a split second to respond, the nervousness building up inside him yet again. "Hi, I'm Finn Hudson. I'm here to pick up Quinn." He answered as confidently as his voice would let him.
"Oh right, Quinny mentioned a boy would be over around this time." He said while looking at the grandfather clock that Finn could easily see through the door.
"Why don't you come in and wait. Quinn isn't ready yet but she should be down any minute know." he told Finn as he guided him inside the house and shut the door.
Quinn Fabray's house was just as nice as it was the last time he had seen it, maybe even nicer. It looked like stuff had been added since the last time he was there.
He was pretty sure Quinn's family came from money, either that or her dad must have been a drug dealer, he figured. Then he took another glance at Mr. Fabray. Or maybe he was just a doctor or a lawyer, he reconsidered.
He sat down on their couch as Mr. Fabray had directed and waited in silence with Mr. Fabray staring him down.
He awkwardly smiled at the man, trying to be as polite as possible. 'Oh God, could this be any more uncomfortable?' he asked himself.
"So, you said your name's Finn Hudson?" Mr. Fabray asked.
"Uh, yes Sir, that's me." he politely confirmed, trying really hard to hide his nerves.
"Are you related to Carole Hudson?" he questioned.
"Yeah, that's my mom." he confirmed smiling.
"She's very nice. She showed us this house when we decided to move to here from another part of Lima." Mr. Fabray told him as he gestured around the room.
"Yes Sir, she's really great, and really good at what she does."
"That she is." he said while Mrs. Fabray came into the den.
"Oh! Why hello. You must be Finn. I'm Mrs. Fabray." She told him as she introduced herself.
He was pretty sure he had met her before but he stood up any way and shook her hand. She reminded him of one of those peppy slash, blousy alcoholic moms that he sees sometimes on that Desperate Housewives show.
"I'll go check on what's taking Quinny so long and be right back." She announced to the room and graciously walked up the marble stair case.
Finn smiled to himself, thinking about how Quinn's parents call her Quinny. He knew he had to bring that up later. Then Mr. Fabray started talking again.
"So Finn. Do you play sports?" he wondered, seemingly trying to figure Finn out.
"Yes I do. I play football right now and I plan on playing basketball when that starts and probably baseball in the spring."
He looked at Finn with interest. "Oh, what position in football?"
"I'm the quarterback." he answered.
He watched as Mr. Fabray nodded his head and said, "I played half back myself in my high school days."
Finn just politely smiled and nodded his head in return.
"Are you in any clubs?" he asked him, still very interested in probably trying to find a flaw in Finn.
He answered that he was thinking about joining the Celibacy Club because they shared his beliefs, which was a lie. He really wanted to join because Quinn was in it.
He was happy when their conversation switched back to sports from religion. He didn't feel right lying about stuff like that.
"What's your favorite college team Finn?"
"Well, I like the Buckeyes. They've had a pretty good record this year. I just watched the George Mason basketball game before I came over and I have to say…" his voice trailed off as he noticed Quinn and her mom out of the corner of his eye.
She was standing at the top of the stairs and started to walk down. She definitely listened when he said to wear sporty clothes. Her hair was up like normal and she had on a long sleeved Cheerios cheer shirt on, with capris looking yoga type pants and some sneakers. She looked hot.
He couldn't help but smile widely at her as he watched her make her way down the stairs with her hand gliding down the railing. Then he felt eyes burning through him.
He looked back to Mr. Fabray who was still sitting in the chair but giving him something that resembled a death glare.
He quickly averted his eyes off Quinn and onto the floor, a little scared for himself.
"Hey Finn! You ready to go?" he heard a sweet voice ask.
Finn looked up from the floor slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements that might get her dad upset.
He softly smiled at her and said, "Yeah, I'm ready now that you are."
"Great. Let's get going then." she replied and grabbed his hand to pull him off the couch.
He got up and followed her to the door; Mr. and Mrs. Fabray close behind. He turned around to face them once more.
"We'll be back around nine." he told them.
"At nine!" Mr. Fabray strictly answered, causing Finn to jump a little.
"Right, at nine." he confirmed back to Mr. Fabray trying his best to give him one last polite smile, and then they were off.
They had only walked for a few seconds before Quinn started to talk to him. "Sorry about my dad. He tries to put on the tough guy act in an attempt to scare boys."
"Well it works." Finn replied while laughing a little.
She giggled at his response too. "So now can I know where we are going? I can only deal with surprises for so long." she joked elbowing him softly.
"Okay fine, I'll tell you now," he began, nudging her back. "I hope you as coordinated off the field as you are when you do cheers because we're going to the batting cages at the sports park." he said with his grin.
"I think I can handle that." she let him know nudging him back harder this time.
"Oh, is that a challenge?" he asked in a mock tone.
"I think it just might be." she responded raising her eyebrow.
Finn could not help but be super excited, and even a little intimidated.
They only walked for a short while longer and continued to talk, joke, and laugh before they got there.
"Thank God this place is indoors." she breathed as they walked into the entrance of the batting cages which was thankfully warmer inside than outside.
"Yeah." he agreed as he went to the guy running it.
He paid the guy for an hour and brought back two bats and two helmets to the bench where Quinn was waiting.
"Okay. You can have this helmet since the other one was just being used and it's sweaty." he pointed out.
"Eww that's gross." she replied.
"I know, but I'd wear it for you." he responded sweetly.
She smiled at him and put her helmet on. He handed her, her bat and let her into the first batting cage, which had the slowest balls.
"Okay, you got this. Let's see how much coordination you claim to have!" he shouted from outside the cage.
She laughed and waited for the ball.
The first time she swung she was so far off from even getting close to hitting the ball. It was then when Finn noticed her terrible stance.
He threw on his helmet and ran into the cage in between balls. He watched the timer on the far end that told you when the next ball was coming.
"Okay Quinny. Even though I know you are just, so good, I'm going to help you a little bit." he teased.
She gave him a, 'ha-ha you're funny' look as he showed her the proper stance and aligned her up with the plate. He stood as far to the side as possible when the next ball was pitched and watched her swing and….miss.
"Ugh… this is really difficult." she told him and he sweetly smiled.
"Here." he quickly said before he lined up behind her and positioned himself around her small figure. He grabbed on top of her hands with his and they practiced a few swings in unison.
"Okay, do you think you get it?" he asked right before he started to back away.
"Yeah but I still think you should help me hit the ball." she answered looking behind her asking him to stay.
He grinned and agreed. They waited for the next ball and together, they hit it to the two hundred yard mark.
"Nice!" he congratulated her with a high five before she jumped into his arms and hugged him. He returned the hug and when they let go of each other, he saw the big smile on her face.
'Wow' is all he could think.
They stared at one another for a few split seconds before she cleared her throat and said, "Um, it's your turn now."
He cleared his throat as well. "Oh, uh, right."
They moved to the third cage where the balls were faster for him. He was glad that he had played baseball in the spring since he was younger and could hit fast balls. It would definitely help him impress Quinn.
She watched in amazement as he hit every ball that was launched his way. When he finished, he took off his helmet, which he felt bad for the next person that wore it, because it was now even more sweaty and gross, and grabbed Quinn's and brought them and the bats back to the front.
He checked his watch that showed 8:05pm.
"So do you want to grab some ice cream?" he asked her.
She looked a little hesitant. She didn't want ice cream where she would have to sit outside in the cold and eat it.
He could tell this is what she was debating so he added in, "There's inside seating."
Her expression changed from hesitant to happy. "Okay, that sounds so much better." she told him giggling a bit.
"Alright." he agreed and they took the short walk to the Lima Scoop.
They walked into the ice cream shop and Quinn looked around. "Oh yeah, I should have known this place had indoor seating. I've been here before, but it was a while ago. Probably not since the beginning of last summer."
Finn was in disbelief. He couldn't believe someone couldn't come here all the time. He made it a ritual with Puck to come here at least once a week growing up and probably every other week since they started high school.
"What? How could you not come here all the time?" he questioned jokingly but he was befuddled at the same time.
"Easy. Coach Sylvester deemed this place one of the most 'Hideous Places of Lima' in her cheer book that we had to read. She told us we weren't allowed to come here or else."
"Or else what?" Finn asked worriedly.
"No one knows. She just says it's bad." she answered while shrugging.
"Well, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble. We don't have to stay here."
"No it's okay. She won't know. Thursday nights she goes to her weekly cheer seminars so she won't be out and around."
"Okay good." he breathed less worried.
She laughed at how worried he had looked and he just smiled in return.
Once they had ordered their ice creams, they sat down at one of the smaller tables in the back since it was one of the only ones they could find. Usually Lima wasn't crowded at night but this ice cream parlor was since it was so good. People all across Lima came here.
"So how's your ice cream?" he asked.
"Really good. I'm so glad to be back here. I forgot how yummy this was." she said taking another lick.
He chuckled a little. She was too cute.
"How about yours?" she reciprocated.
"Amazing." he told her with a bunch of enthusiasm that made her laugh. He loved making her laugh. "Probably not as good as yours though. I totally should have gotten what you did." he added.
She looked at him and smiled. "Do you want to try some?"
He looked at her a little confused since he knew that Quinn Fabray never usually shared too much, but ultimately agreed.
She leaned the cone towards him and just before he was about to try some, she shoved the ice cream into his face.
He jumped back in shock and watched as Quinn's face contorted from a face of sweetness to hysterical laughing.
"Ugh, that went up my nose." he told her as she sweetly smiled but continued to laugh at him.
He just shook it off and reminder her, "hey, you forgot to try some of mine!" as he shoved his ice cream into her face.
In a few short minutes, they both had colorful blobs of ice cream on their faces and they couldn't have been more excited about it.
After they had come out of their designated bathrooms all washed up, they made their way to the exit since Quinn needed to be home soon.
They had made it about half way before they ducked behind a wall with plants on it to see a certain two people sitting at a booth against the opposite wall.
"Hey, it's Puck and Santana." Finn acknowledged watching the two teens happily laughing and enjoying themselves.
"Yeah, would you believe it?" Quinn responded.
"Hmmm…go figure." he agreed but giving himself a pat on the back for setting them up and getting Santana off him.
With that, they quickly made their way out of the shop without being seen and started back to Quinn's.
Even though he hated the cold on the walk back, he was glad that Quinn said she was which allowed him to wrap his arm around her. 'Oh yeah, thank you Ohio nights.'
"Well, this is me." she told him as they walked up the drive of her home. It was 8:58pm when he checked his watch. Was he good or what?
"Yep…" he confirmed.
"Listen, I had a really great time tonight Finn. Thanks for talking me out. I usually don't like surprises but I actually enjoyed yours."
"So did I and, thanks. That means a lot Quinn." He awkwardly stood there for a few seconds before saying, "Good night Quinn."
He started to walk off before she stopped him. "Finn, wait!"
He turned around to find her running to him.
"Yea-" he started but couldn't finish before her lips were on his. The kiss was so sweet, like the strawberry ice cream she had, which was pretty good by the way. He found out when he was wiping it off his face.
He wanted the kiss to last forever and it seemed like it would have, if he didn't hear a, "Ahem!" from behind Quinn.
She quickly broke the kiss and turned around to find her father standing behind her on the door step.
"Time to come in Quinn. It's nine o'clock." he noted.
"Okay, Daddy." she responded. She took one last look at Finn who looked amazed, smiled, and then quickly walked past her dad and into the house.
"Good night Finn." Mr. Fabray said in a commanding tone.
"Night Sir." he answered with an awkward wave and turned around to start walking home.
Only once he had gotten off Dudley road did he smile his possible widest smile.
It was about 9:45pm when he got home since he walked slower even though it was cold, but he didn't care. He was pretty tired once he got there though. His mom had left the front door unlocked for him and left the kitchen light on as well.
He walked into his mom's room to let her know he was home, and then went straight to his to pass out.
Just before he was about to shut off his lights and crawl under the covers, he looked at his phone which was lit up. He reached for it on his night stand and read the text that he received.
Good night Finn. - Quinn
He typed back a response.
Good night Quinn. - Finn
He felt the corners of his lips tug into a tired smile and shortly fell asleep.
Yeah that was three days worth of writing :) How was it? Let me know. Much appreciated!