A/N: Hey everyone! I feel like I'm always apologizing for late chapters recently but it's because I am, so I'll just come out and say, sorry for making my amazing readers wait about two weeks for this chapter. I didn't end up writing for like a week after the last update and when I did eventually start writing this, it took my a few extra days because of its length. But without delaying any longer, here's the next chapter in my little Fuinn saga!
Football season had come and gone, Finn leading the Titans to the playoffs before they eventually lost. He was upset about it but he couldn't really complain. He had done what seemed to be the impossible and made starting QB as a freshman and led them to one of their longest seasons they had in the history of football at McKinley. It still sucked to have lost but he was happy he was going to continue starting next season.
Like he had planned, he ended up playing basketball right after football finished and baseball soon following in the spring. He spent most of his free time away from athletics with Quinn. He still hadn't gotten her to be his girlfriend yet but he was working on it, heck, he's been working on it since their first date. Even though they acted like they were together, kissing, holding hands, and spending time together, they still hadn't made it official, much to the shock and surprise of the rest of the student body.
The reason they hadn't made it official yet wasn't because they both hadn't agreed to wanting to date one another, because they had, but because of her father.
Finn knew from the first time he met Mr. Russell Fabray that the man meant business. He had strong beliefs in who he was and in his family. They were devoted Christians and he was completely old fashioned. There was no way that Finn could become Quinn's boyfriend unless he made it a proposal…. to her father. You know, the way guys back in history used to do it all the time; ask the father of the girl for his daughter's hand in marriage. It wasn't like Finn was asking Quinn to marry him but in Mr. Fabray's terms, he should be planning on it.
He couldn't lie or deny it; Mr. Fabray scared the crap out of him. No matter how many times Finn had gone to Quinn's house and talked to her dad and tried to earn his trust, Mr. Fabray was always trying to find something within him, a flaw, something to stop him from letting Finn be with his daughter.
He finally decided that no matter what her father thought of him, he would become her boyfriend.
Today was the day. It was the last day of their freshman year. He had spent the whole second semester with Quinn, trying to win her over, and he thanked his lucky stars every day that he had. He really like her, like, really liked her. He never wanted anything more than to be the lucky guy that got Quinn Fabray on his arm; well it was actually the second most desired thing in his life. The first being his strongest desire for his mom to be proud of him and for him to be there for her. Quinn was a very close second.
He had just finished taking his last final of the year, geometry, which he pretty much failed since he sucked at math and lost track of what they were doing half way through the year. He slugishly slipped out of his seat and walked up to the front of the room to turn his test in. When he handed Ms. Savvoy his exam, she gave him a less than pleased look. He figured she must have seen the monster truck jumping through a ring of fire flippy-book type of picture he made on the corners of the pages. He just grinned at her thinking, 'you couldn't really expect too much of me. I fall asleep during this class.'
When he returned to his seat, he discretely pulled out his phone from his pocket and texted Quinn.
Hey, meet me at the front of the gym offices after the bell? - Finn
A few minutes later his phone lightly buzzed in his pocket. He flipped it open and read the message.
Sure. See you then. – Quinn
Since baseball ended a few days ago, he had to run by the gym offices to give Coach Tanaka back his baseball jersey. They never got to keep any type of sports jersey over the summer. It was weird but it was school policy.
While he waited patiently for the last bell of the year to ring, he thought about how Coach Tanaka coached everything. It got him wondering if the school was too cheap to hire more coaches or if Coach Tanaka was just that good that he could do it all. He rethought about it, 'nah. Tanaka's terrible. He sits there and stuffs his face at our games.' It was definitely McKinley's low funding to every other sports team besides the Cheerios.
After the bell, he made his way to the gym. He dropped off his jersey and waited for Quinn to show up while he relaxed his body up against the wall next to the door of the athletic office. He thought about his plan to ask Quinn to come camping with him and his mom this weekend. He knew that Quinn wasn't much of an out-doorsy person like he was, but she was always up for something new. That was something he loved about her. Quinn was constantly unpredictable in those ways. She seemed like a girly girl in school but Finn knew better. He learned about her extreme side the day she asked to go dirt biking with him. She even got all padded up in his extra gear, wearing his riding shirt and everything. 'Oh yeah, that was a good day.' he thought before he was snapped out of his reverie by someone.
"Yo, what's up bro?" he heard a voice ask walking out of the gym doors right near where he stood.
"Oh, hey Puck. I thought you would be outta hear by now." he responded as they did their signature hand shake.
"Yeah I know right?" the tone of his voice even sounded in disbelief. "No, I'm on my way out now. Had to drop off my jersey and grab the rest of my stuff out of my gym locker. You know, the stuff I can't go the summer without like my muscle milk. " he let Finn know as he flexed.
"Sweet. I just finished doing that stuff too." Finn told him with a laughing smile.
Puck looked at him curiously. "Then why the hell are you still here? You actually like school enough to stay later than the last bell of the year?" he asked jokingly.
"No man, I'm waiting for Quinn. She's meeting me here." he corrected.
"Oh okay. That sounds more like the Finn Hudson I know. The Finn Hudson that liked school was kind of freaking me out." he commented while laughing.
After they finished joking, Puck's face quickly tensed up, realizing something. "Sorry dude but I have to go. I told Santana that I'd meet her somewhere."
Finn caught on to the sudden urgency in his voice, so he let him go. As fast as they could, they did their handshake again then Puck turned and made his way down the hall while Finn watched Puck's figure grow smaller and smaller as he disappeared down the abandoned hall way.
He was happy for his friend. He had gotten what he wanted, with the help of Finn, and stuck with Santana. It also benefited Finn because it made Santana forget that she ever had a thing for him. He wasn't upset about the loss in her.
To pass a quick minute, he slowly walked over to the gym doors to peer inside and see if there were anymore of his team mates coming out of the locker room. When he didn't see anyone he glanced down at his watch to check the time and turned around to find Quinn leaning up against the same wall where he had been, just silently watching him.
He jumped back a little being completely startled by her presence. She sweetly smiled at his shocked expression.
"Wow, aren't you good?" he started. "You know, you and Santana both. Just coming out of no where. Coach Sylvester must be teaching you guys like, ninja moves or something." he joked.
She answered with a quiet laugh to his comment. He laughed along but kept in mind that she never technically answered his question. What happens at Cheerios practice stays at Cheerios practice he supposed.
The giggles died down as she began to speak. "I am so glad school is over. I'm happy we won't be freshman anymore too. No longer the babies of the school right?" she asked with a grin.
"Riight." he agreed.
Finn took notice how Quinn uncomfortably shifted her Cheerios bag on her shoulder.
"Do you want me to hold that for you?" he asked while pointing at the large bag that hung off the side of her body.
"Sure… thanks." she breathed as she huffed pulling the huge duffle bag off her strained shoulder and gave it to Finn.
As soon as he had a grasp on the bag, he realized how truly heavy it was. He almost let himself drop it because of its weight, but he quickly recovered. He slung it over his right shoulder and immediately knew why Quinn gave up the bag easily. It felt like there were a bunch of bricks in the thing.
Quinn gave Finn a laughing smile as she saw his quick but noticeable struggling face as he moved the bag's strap farther onto his shoulder.
"Anyway," he began. "I know that your summer cheer camp thing starts next week, so I was wondering if you would want to do something this weekend with me before then since you're always into trying new and exciting things." he questioned with an accompanying smile.
She raised an eyebrow in response before she asked, "like what?"
She watched as his grin slowly formed on his face.
"Well, I was thinking that, this weekend, you might want to come camping with me…. and my mom." he finished while rolling his eyes at the note of his mom.
"Camping?"
"Yeah, you know, with me. My mom will be there too but she won't really be around watching us… just camping."
She didn't say anything in return and Finn had immediately thought that she might think this was him trying to make advancements on her, trying to get her alone. His eyes grew wide and facial features tensed up before word vomit just started pouring out of his mouth a mile a minute. "But I mean, I mean not like us alone, I'm, I'm- I'm not trying to make that seem like I'm coming onto you, my mom will be there! Like, I meant she- she won't have to watch us as in, not like a baby sitter would because we don't have to be babysat. She's going to be there since she has to I guess…" He felt completely and utterly stupid like a dumb moron at that moment but he began to feel better when he saw her sweet smile grace her soft features.
"It's fine Finn. That's not what I thought at all. You're a great guy and I know you'd never pressure me into anything when we're camping this weekend." She said, relieving him.
"Yeah you're right. I'm so glad you didn't take that the wrong-" he stopped himself in mid sentence. "Wait, so is that a yes?" he asked hopefully.
She smiled at his cute look of anticipation. "Mhm-hm. That's a yes. I'm sure my parents won't mind. My mom says yes to anything."
He couldn't help but smile and get excited at her answer. "Great! So I'll come over later tonight to pick you up? My mom thought it would be better to leave tonight rather than tomorrow so we could get in more time to camp and stuff."
"That sounds fine. I have to run over to Brittany's anyway to grab some pom-poms and my extra pair of sneakers… and some clothes I let her borrow." she noted as she remembered the last bit. "I should be back at my house sometime around four-thirty."
"Okay then. I'll come by your house at five to get you, give you some time to get stuff together."
"Alright." she agreed.
"Sweet. See you then." he told her before he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, returned her bag, and backed away down the hall facing her while she sweetly waved then he turned around and started on his walk home.
On his way home he thought about his little white lie to Quinn. He told her he would be there at five but his actual plan was to get to her house before she got home and talk to her dad so he decided to show up at four after he finished getting his last minute things ready for the weekend. He figured he might need a little bit of time to explain himself to Mr. Fabray about the "proposal" and even though a half-hour wasn't that long, he would take what he could get since it was the only time he'd be free.
When he got home it was three o'clock. His mom was sitting in the living room reading a book. She took the day off from work to dig through some old boxes in the basement. She never told him what she was planning on doing with them this morning but he assumed she was looking for camping stuff or hopefully getting rid of her weird old memorabilia junk she kept from the 80s.
"Hey mom." he greeted her as he shut the door.
She looked up from her book and at him. "Oh hey Hun. How was your last day of school?"
"Fine I guess." he casually answered while shrugging and threw down his bag on the kitchen table.
"How did that geometry final go? I hope that studying did you some good." she called from the living room.
He was pretty sure he failed and that the "studying" didn't help either. While his mom thought he was studying for hours last night, he was actually playing Call of Duty online on his Xbox. It was his weakness.
He answered her when he walked back into the living room. "Eh, you know. It went…." He couldn't think of a word to substitute for bad and at the same time not sounding it so he just answered with, "Yeah, that studying definitely made a difference."
She just smiled at him probably thinking he meant it in a good way but he wasn't planning on telling her anymore.
"Enough about my day mom. I want to know how your day went." he asked her changing the subject.
"It went really well. I was very productive today." she responded with a delighted smile as she pulled out a box from behind the couch.
"What's that?" he questioned eyeing the box.
She folded open the flaps of the cardboard box as he peeked over it. As soon as he saw the contents he knew exactly where the box was from.
"It's dad's stuff?" he wondered out loud.
"Yes it is." She paused for a brief second before continuing. "Finn, I know that you really like Quinn and want to make a good impression on her dad later so I just thought you might want to look nice; dress the part."
There was a short moment where he regretted telling his mom about his plan but it was easily forgotten when she pulled the contents from the old box.
His eyes grew wide when he saw a navy blue jacket rising up from its cardboard container. "This was your dad's favorite blazer. He wore it the night he first met your grandpa when he came over to my house for dinner. First impressions were always important to my dad and this is what your dad chose to wear; to dress to impress." she informed him with a look on her face like she was trying to relive the memory.
"Wow mom." is all he could say as he gently grabbed the blazer out of her hands, being careful not to damage the soft fabric; not wanting to ruin one of the few things he had left of his father.
She looked extremely happy but quickly shrugged it off. "I mean, you don't have to wear it when you go over if you don't want to, I just thought-"
"No mom, I want to." he spoke up cutting her off.
He watched her face light up. "That's really nice Finn sweetie... I may be going over the edge here by suggesting this but… I know you have a tie to match."
Normally he wasn't one for wearing ties but since it would be for a special occasion and Mr. Fabray always dressed classy, he decided he would.
She must have anticipated that he would say yes because she pulled a blue and black striped tie out of another smaller box and held it up to the blazer. He softly smiled at her gesture and ran upstairs to his room. He found a white button up shirt in his closet and changed into it. He returned back downstairs and grabbed the tie and coyly handed it to his mom.
"Would you mind tying this? It's been a while since I wore one of these things and I think the last one was a clip on." he mumbled as he tried to remember the last time he actually put a tie on. They were so uncomfortable.
Her smile was sweet in return with no judgment as she took the tie from his hand. A few minutes later, the tie was fitted around his neck and he folded the collar of the shirt over it. Then he picked up the blazer and slid his long arms through the sleeves.
"It fits you nicely." his mom commented as she smoothed out some of the creases.
"Yeah, it does." He had to agree with her. He and his dad must have been around the same size when he was Finn's age. It was one of the times he felt closest to his deceased father.
He walked into the bathroom down the hall and checked his appearance in the mirror. He smiled to himself at the sight of him. 'Damn, I do look good.' he thought as he did a quick spin and snapped his fingers at his twin in the mirror. He examined the rest of himself and looked down at his pants and wondered if he should wear nicer pants than the jeans he currently had on.
When he returned to the living room he asked his mom if he should wear slacks or something but she told him that he didn't need to go all out and just to put on a nicer pair of jeans.
He listened and came back downstairs from his room a second time with a new pair of jeans on.
"Yeah that looks fine." she told him as she took in his appearance.
"Cool." he simply agreed.
He was so impressed with the jacket that he didn't even notice that his mom had pulled something else out of the box. It was much smaller than everything else she had taken out. It was a tiny black box.
"What's that?" he asked as he took notice.
"This," she began, "is something I think you will really like." She slowly opened the cover to reveal a small silver ring with tiny diamond studs lining the top part of it.
"A ring?"
"Mhm-hm."
He had to admit he was a tad bit confused. "Um, why are you showing me a ring?"
Ms. Hudson had to suppress a small laugh at her son's lack of, well… common sense.
"I want you to be able to give it to Quinn." she responded while handing him the box with the ring inside.
Even though it was a sweet gesture, he had to decline her offer. "Mom, I can't give Quinn your ring."
She looked taken back. "Why not? I haven't worn it since I put on my wedding ring to replace it."
Finn raised his eyebrow, confused yet again.
"Your dad gave it to me when he asked me to be his girlfriend. His dad gave it to him to give to a special girl, and now, well now he's giving it to you to give to a special girl. He'd want you to have it and I want you to have it."
He carefully slipped the ring out of the box where it had been resting for years and played with it around his fingers.
"Thanks mom… for all of this." he said enveloping his mom in a hug.
"No problem."
When they finished putting the boxes back down in the basement, Finn checked the time on his watch. It was almost four so he ran to the bathroom to make sure he still looked good. He threw a small amount of styling gel in his hair; just enough to keep stray hairs from sticking up.
He ran up to his room to put on his shoes and grab his bag for camping to throw in the back of his mom's car. It was smart of him to have packed last night because he ended up not having time to have been able to pack today. He told his mom to pick them up at five and she wished him good luck as he started out the door. Before he left the driveway he checked his coat pocket to make sure he had the ring.
He made the short walk to the Fabray's and without any hesitation rang the doorbell. He took the short time he had before the door was answered to fix his tie and make sure the gel was still doing its job and his hair wasn't sticking up. He just finished when the door swung open.
There stood the one and only Mr. Fabray, and at the moment, he looked a little surprised. "Finn? I wasn't expecting to see you until five. Quinnie said that's when you were coming to pick her up but, she isn't here right now."
"Yes Sir, I know that but I thought I'd come over a little early. I actually wanted the chance to have a word with you before she got back." he responded confidently.
He still looked somewhat surprised but agreed and invited Finn inside.
"Don't you look quite dapper Finn." he commented taking notice of what Finn was wearing.
"Thank you Sir." He didn't know what dapper meant but hoped it was good or else he would look like a total fool thanking someone for insulting him and he was pretty sure no one would want a fool dating their daughter.
"You're quite welcome. A little over dressed for camping I suppose but who am I to tell a young man not to dress nicely?"
Finn just nodded his head in agreement.
"And, by the way, you don't have to call me Sir, Finn. You've been over here enough times now and have had enough conversations with me to lose it. Just call me Mr. Fabray, no more of that "Sir" nonsense. We're over the, extreme, formalities, don't you think?"
"Uh, yeah. Thanks Mr. Fabray."
"No problem son. So what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked leading Finn into the den.
'Alright, here goes nothing. Just don't throw up.' he told himself in his head as he took a deep breathe to take an edge off the sudden nerves that had rushed over him.
"Well, I guess I'll just get down to the point." He began. "Quinn is something really special. She's so smart, and beautiful, and funny, and thoughtful, and nice, and, I guess she's just the whole package and, she makes me… everything I am and, everything I hope to be." He paused for a second while he smiled to himself. "She's really special to me and I want you to know… that I like her a lot and I would really like to take our… friendship… to the next level." He was really trying to word this right.
"And that's why I'm here right now. With your permission, I'd like to ask Quinn to be my girlfriend, with this." He finished his sentence with a slow breathe and pulled out the small silver ring from his coat pocket.
He gulped from being anxious and nervous at the same time. He was glad he didn't throw up though.
Mr. Fabray stared at him for a few minutes then at the ring but it felt like longer. He added, "I was planning on making that longer and I had a whole like, speech but I was too nervous where I thought I'd forget it, but it's- it's not a ring to marry her or anything, I mean, at least not now because we're obviously too young for that…" His voice died down.
Great, more word vomit at the worst times. He just shut his eyes not wanting to see the death glare he was sure he would get, but when he opened his eyes a few seconds later, he was greeted with something much different.
Mr. Fabray wasn't glaring but actually smiling, or at least his type of smile which didn't look that much different from a frown but his face had a softer expression. Probably a Mr. Fabray thing.
"Well," he started, "I'm happy that you asked me. Where I come from, it's the proper thing to do and I would expect this and any type of proposal to my daughter to be asked to me first. I only have two daughters Finn, and Quinnie is my youngest. My girls are my pride and joy…" he droned on.
'Ugh, come on... I asked you, so now can I just have an answer, not a speech. I spared you from a speech!' he complained inside his head. He would never dare say that out loud.
"…Anyway, I see how happy Quinn is when she's with you and I wouldn't want to stand in the way of her happiness because it's all I ever want for her, so, Finn Hudson…"
Finn leaned a little further off his seat waiting for the answer he thought would never come.
"…you have my permission to make my Quinnie happy."
Finn's mouth dropped open a little. He was extremely surprised he got the answer he was looking for out of Russell Fabray.
"You're welcome son." he added prompting Finn.
"Oh, uh, thank you Mr. Fabray, thank you… so much. It means a lot." He got up from the chair that he had felt glued to for the longest time and shook Mr. Fabray's hand.
"You know though Finn, if you ever do anything to hurt her, I'm a member of the NRA and the noble sport of hunting is one of my passions." he informed him quite seriously.
Finn was taken back and his facial expression grew tense. He just nodded back.
"Good boy." Mr. Fabray praised as he patted Finn on his shoulder.
Only a few moments later did Quinn walk through the front door. She had just walked past the living room entrance on her way up the stairs when she back tracked to see Finn and her father standing up together in the living room.
"Uh, hi?" Her confusion was voiced through her words and the echo of the room made it all the more prominent.
Finn looked over to the arched entrance where the living room met the foyer of the Fabray household to see Quinn standing in it utterly confused. He didn't say anything but just looked at his watch. It wasn't even four-thirty yet. She was early.
Mr. Fabray was the first to respond to Quinn. "Oh hi sweetie. I didn't think you were going to be back for another," he paused, hastily checking the time on his watch and continued, "twenty minutes."
"Yeah I ended up getting my stuff back from Britt a lot faster than I thought." As soon as she finished answering to her dad she looked in Finn's direction where he was still standing with a bewildered look on his face.
"And you're early too Finn. I thought you said five? Why are you here?" she asked somewhat suspiciously.
"Um, I uh…"
Mr. Fabray could hear the struggle in his response so he decided to pipe up. "He got a call from me asking him to come over early so he'd be here to help you get your things together. I know you can pack your own things but I thought about how you were only little the last time we went camping and I was afraid you might not remember to pack all the necessities. Finn's here to make sure you didn't forget anything."
Finn couldn't believe Mr. Fabray had just stood up for him and not even that, but lied for him as well. He subtly looked to the man who gave him a small, discrete smile in return. He switched his view back to Quinn and nodded his head in agreement, playing along as best as he could.
"Oh, okay. Well do you want to come up with me now Finn? I just wanted to throw this stuff in one of the spare bedrooms and then we can pack." she asked while nodding up in the direction of the stairwell.
"Yeah sure. I'll meet you up there though after you put away your pom-poms and stuff."
"Alright." she finished and jogged up the stairs.
He turned once more and shot Mr. Fabray a thankful smile which he responded with a hand gesture signifying Finn to get moving up the stairs. He did as he was told and made his way up the staircase and softly smiled to himself. 'Maybe ol' Russell isn't that bad after all.'
When he reached Quinn's door he slowly pushed it all the way open and walked in. Quinn was sitting on her bed and he figured she had been waiting for him.
"Hey, by the way, why are you wearing a jacket and tie?" she asked curiously probably thinking the same thing her father had when he first arrived; over dressed for the woods.
'Okay, it's time to make up my own lie this time.' he thought to himself.
"Uh, I actually was trying this stuff on for something my mom and I have to do a while from now and I had just finished putting it on when I got the call from your dad. I decided not to change and just come over but I packed extra clothes to change into in my bag." He was surprised how easily the lie rolled off his tongue.
"Oh, well I think you look really good in it." she said and he blushed a little at her comment. Thank God it wasn't that noticeable.
"Thanks." he responded before getting distracted by a huge glass cabinet that was situated in the corner of her big purple room. He was surprised that he's never noticed it before from all the times he had been in her room.
"Wow. That's a lot of crowns." he noted as he got closer and peered inside.
"They're tiaras Finn." she corrected.
"Right, I knew that."
She rolled her eyes with a sweet smile and gave him a, 'sure you did' look. He was still scanning the shelves of silver so she decided to talk.
"Those are all of my tiaras that I've collected and won ever since I was little. Most of them are from baby pageants but there are a few from my 'disney princess' phase."
"Well I'm not surprised you won most of these." he told her with a smile. He turned back to the cabinet and found an open space among the other tiaras.
"What's up with the cleared area on this shelf?" he asked pointing to the shelf in question.
"Well, I figure the only thing that would make my tiara collection complete would be if I was ever lucky enough to win a Prom Queen tiara when we eventually get to go to prom."
He just continued looking at her without a word.
"Please don't think I'm shallow or petty and all I want is to be Prom Queen at our prom." she said with a hint of worry in her eyes and voice.
Finn took a few steps forward from the cabinet and wrapped his arms around Quinn's waist.
"Listen, I don't think you're shallow or petty or any word like that at all. I like that you have hopes and goals. I could never call you something like shallow or petty for that."
She thanked him wondering how she ever got a sweet guy like this and gave a soft smile and a quick kiss before looking at the clock on her bed side table. "So we should probably start getting things together. It's almost five."
He looked to the clock in response to her words and then said, "Right, let's get crackin'."
In about fifteen minutes they had a duffle bag full of necessities for Quinn and were all ready to head back downstairs.
They only waited for about ten minutes in the den with Mr. Fabray who watched his daughter with a smile as she held onto Finn's hand looking happier than ever. Finn could tell that Mr. Fabray knew he made the right choice. Before they knew it, his mom was waiting outside for them in the car.
After their goodbyes, Finn took Quinn's bag to the back of the car and plopped it in the trunk with all of the other things and climbed into the back seat with her.
Their drive wasn't too long before they reached the small mountain range outside of Lima. They only had a few hours before it got dark to set up everything.
Finn changed in the car and then began unloading it and set up the tents with the help of Quinn who Finn was surprised to find out, was actually good at that kind of stuff. They ended up having races to see who could put up a tent faster and much to his embarrassment, he lost.
That night, they spent most of their time sitting around the camp fire and making smores and just hanging out, he didn't even mind his mom's presence.
In only a few hours later, his mom announced she was hitting the hay and went to her tent.
They had only stayed up a short while after before deciding they that would get some sleep too.
Quinn gave Finn a light kiss on the cheek before she made her way over to the large tent that she and Ms. Hudson would share. She didn't mind sharing with Finn's mom though. They were both quite fond of each other… plus, that's where Ms. Hudson told the two of them that Quinn would sleep. The whole, boys won't sleep in the same place as girls thing. It obviously bummed Finn out but he understood.
Finn took the next five minutes putting the fire out before he crawled into his small, one person sized tent. He got into his sleeping bag and propped his pillow up and rested his arms on the top and under his head. He just laid there and listened to the dead of night besides the constant slow chirps of crickets.
As he stared at the tent ceiling, he recollected everything that happened that day from worst to best; how he failed his exam, which he really didn't care, feeling connected to his father through the blazer and the ring, and the greatest answer in the world, courtesy of Mr. Fabray.
He rubbed his tired eyes as a small smile tugged at his lips thinking that tomorrow, hopefully the date June 17th, would mean something and be an important day relationship wise, in the future to come.
To no surprise, Finn was the last person to wake up in the morning. He dragged himself out of his sleeping bag and tent when he smelled the scent of bacon wafting through the mountain air. As he stepped out, he squinted his eyes and crinkled his nose in reaction to the slits of bright sunlight that shined through the trees. Quinn, who was sitting at the small foldable table they brought, cracked a smile at the sight of his "morning face" and giggled a little. Finn breathed a small laugh in return and went to join her.
They sat at the table and talked while his mom finished cooking on the gas powered miniature stove they had. Once they had all eaten and got ready, they started their next day.
The first part of their day consisted of fishing in a near by lake. They fished off shore where there were supposed to be a lot of fish but Finn caught nothing but branches while Quinn caught two fish, which was embarrassing for Finn because he was the one who was supposed to be teaching her.
"I think we should eat them tonight." Finn concluded while he eyed the two small trout swim around in the bucket they brought.
Quinn gave him 'the look,' the look that all women gave men when they've done something wrong or said something they shouldn't have.
"Finn, we are not going to eat them. I'd feel too bad. I wouldn't even want to cook them."
"It's okay, I'll cook-"
"Finn!" she shouted cutting his words off.
"Ugh, fiinnee…" he agreed jokingly complaining. "I'll put them back in the water."
She playfully shoved him as he passed her on his way to the water's edge.
They had spent the rest of the day doing other activities like hiking and swimming.
They found another lake on their hike, smaller than the previous but still a lake. Finn wasn't surprised to find a rope hanging down from a tree branch on a tree that was situated where the terrain sloped down to the water since the place they were camping was a popular destination.
Finn stripped off his t-shirt, sneakers, and socks so he only had his shorts on and walked up to the rope.
"Finn, what are you doing?" Quinn asked worriedly even though she was already aware of the boy's intentions.
"What does it look like? I'm going to use it to jump in the water." he answered grabbing hold of the worn rope.
"Come on Finn, don't do anything stupid." she ordered but her words were lost on him. He was already swinging from the rope and into the water.
A few seconds later his head popped up from under the surface of the lake and he slicked back his wet hair out of his face.
"You need to try that!" he shouted from the bottom of the slope.
"Do I look crazy?" she called back.
"Aww come on Quinn! Live a little!"
"I am! And I'd like to keep living so I am not swinging from that rope!" she shouted in return which prompted Finn to climb back up and after a short chase, wrapped her in his wet body drenching her tank top and shorts.
"Finn!"
"Now you're wet too so come in." he ordered.
She wanted to fight back but knew that this was a rare battle that she wouldn't win so agreed. Her clothes were already wet anyway, right?
She slipped off her sneakers and socks and tied her hair back before she mimicked Finn's actions and grabbed hold of the rope. She stared down the edge of the slope to the water below and was hesitant.
Finn could only smile watching on from behind as Quinn looked back and forth from the rope to the water, contemplating if she really wanted to do this.
He waited patiently for her to make her move for a few minutes before he grew restless.
"Get in the water." he demanded.
"Do you see how high this is? I might die." she said trying to reason with the impatient boy.
"Oh come on, stop being over dramatic."
"But-"
"Get in the water!" he yelled this time but quickly regretted it after he received an angry look from Quinn.
"Okay I'm sorry. Please get in the water?" he asked more softly and calmly this time.
She sighed in defeat and pulled back the rope. "I hate you Finn Hudson." she told him before she ran and swung off the rope.
"I know you don't mean that!" he called after her trying to yell it as loud as he could over her screams as she made a splash in the water.
They spent the rest of the time before night fall swimming and swinging around on the rope before they headed back to the camp site.
Ms. Hudson was stoking a newly burning fire when she first noticed Quinn waltzing up dripping with Finn not far behind.
"Quinn, honey what happened? Why are your clothes all wet?"
Quinn opened her mouth to answer but Finn was too quick and decided to answer for her.
"Oh, she fell into the lake mom."
"And why are you wet Finn?"
"Come on mom, I jumped in to save her. You should have known that. It was quite heroic actually." he answered as modestly as he could receiving an eyebrow raise and a 'you are such a liar' look from the dripping wet girl standing next to him.
"Well why don't you guys get changed and hang up your clothes on the line I'll set up in front of the fire." Ms. Hudson suggested.
"Sounds good." Finn agreed as he playfully wrapped his arm around Quinn while she pushed him back in return.
Once they had changed into new pairs of warm clothes, Finn and Quinn joined his mom who was currently sitting by the fire.
"I set up the clothes line over there for your wet clothes." she told Finn as she pointed in the direction of a small white line tied in between two trees that was situated near the fire.
Finn nodded his head in acknowledgment and grabbed his and Quinn's water-logged clothes and neatly hung them to dry.
He returned to the fire and propped his foldable chair next to Quinn's. She scooched her chair closer to Finn's and rested her head on his shoulder as they both stared mesmerizingly into the roaring fire and all was silent aside from the occasional crackle and pop from the burning wood.
"I'm going to go gather some more wood to keep this fire going." Ms. Hudson announced, breaking the silence as she sat up from her chair and looked to Finn.
Normally, she would have asked her son to venture out into the woods to collect more twigs and branches to burn but she knew he wanted to pop the question to Quinn tonight so she decided to take it upon herself and give them some time to be alone.
Finn would be the first to admit that he wasn't too bright and didn't catch onto things very easily but he immediately understood his mom's intentions when she looked to him.
"Do you want some help Ms. Hudson?" Quinn asked obviously unaware of what Ms. Hudson was trying to do.
"Oh no thanks Quinn. I'm fine doing it on my own, plus, you need to get warm. Wouldn't want you two getting sick." she hastily answered with a thankful smile before she grabbed a flash light and made her way to the trees away from the campsite.
Quinn watched as she disappeared farther into the dark and changed her view to Finn who was smiling his goofy grin and she couldn't help let a smile appear on her own face.
"What are you so smiley about?" she questioned.
"I'm just having a really good time and I'm glad you're here." he casually answered without letting his grin leave his face.
She smiled her sweet smile, which Finn could never get enough of, and put her head back on his shoulder. "I'm happy to be here too and I'm even happier that I got to have this camping experience with you. I don't really remember other times I went camping since I was young so I'm glad I got to share my first real one with you. I wouldn't want to be with anyone else."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders in response and said, "I wouldn't want to be with anyone else either."
She raised her head to look at him and leaned in for a kiss before he stopped her saying, "I have something for you."
He let go of her and jumped up from his chair and ran to his tent. Inside, he dug around for his bag, throwing a few shirts and sweatpants to the side, and eventually uncovered his duffle bag. He unzipped the protective pocket he had inside of it and reached in to gently grab the small black box, opened it, and took out the ring.
He stuck the ring inside the pocket of his sweatpants and returned outside to the fire. He sat back down and received curious stares from Quinn.
"Quinn," he started as he took one of her hands in his. "I like you a lot…but I'm sure you know that. The thing is, for me, I've liked you since 7th grade when I made a plan to talk to you when I asked you about the homework in Mr. Carlton's class, and I was really nervous by the way, so nervous in fact, that I forgot my name." He paused and shyly smiled to himself thinking that he should have just had the confidence to talk to her without a made up reason.
She softly smiled while she listened.
"I'm just glad I even had the guts to talk to you. You were the prettiest girl I had ever seen, and you still are…. And without rambling any further, which is something I guess I like to do a lot, I just wanted to ask you…" He began as he pulled the ring from his pocket and got down from his chair onto one knee on the ground, which he hoped didn't look stupid or freak her out.
"Would you, Quinn Fabray, do me the honor of being my girlfriend, officially I mean?"
I wanted to add that, maybe Finn and Quinn don't sound much like themselves on here as they do on the show but I just wanted to make it like this and develop their characters a little more and twist it for my and reader's amusement. They sound sappy at some points but I'm truly a sappy person so that's why. Lastly, sorry about the cliff hanger, well sort of a cliff hanger cuz I'm pretty sure everyone will know her answer, but it was late at night and I wanted to finish this chapter, you know, over 8,000 words later. That's also the reason why the writing gets a little crappier near the end. Anyway, enough ragging on myself here. Hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought! Thanks :)