A/N: I think I told a few people this would be out last Thursday, then yesterday. Oops?
Once again, it appears I need to apologize for a lengthy delay. My muse escaped from my basement so, if anyone sees an emaciated muse with a broken chain attached to its right ankle and handcuffed hands could you please capture it and return it to me? Thanks, I'd appreciate it greatly.
So yea, I'm probably teetering pretty close to Dead Fic territory here but I'd like to reiterate that I will finish this story no matter what, even if I lose every single reader I have.
One more thing, the anonymous reviewer barbby can go fuck him or herself. I had a much, much longer rant written out but I thought better of it. In any case, on to the story.
Amazing.
Fantastic.
One of the best.
Superb.
Those were just some of the words reviewers used to describe Rachel Berry's voice during her short musical theatre career. Rachel took pride in the fact that other many people recognized what she did at an early age. She always knew that she had the natural vocal talent to succeed on Broadway and the talent competitions she won throughout her life proved it. However, that didn't mean Rachel took her voice for granted, like any other instrument it had to be taken care of for it to perform its best.
Unlike the majority of the other actors on Broadway, Rachel didn't smoke cigarettes since she knew the cancerous chemicals they contained would not only damage her vocal chords but reduce her lung capacity, which she needed to hold the longest notes in the songs she sang. Besides coffee, Rachel's drink of choice was tea, which was required to sooth and heal her vocal chords that she strained every night. Her one and only vice was staying up late partying, which was needed to unwind after every performance, but she moderated, or at least tried to, her drinking and made sure to get plenty of rest after the late nights. After all, what was a little tardiness compared to having a well rested voice?
Of course, natural vocal talent wasn't the only reason behind Rachel's voice. It was widely thought in the Broadway world that Rachel had excellent relative pitch, but wasn't known to most was that Rachel had absolute pitch which was one of the reasons she was able to get away with arriving late almost every day. It also allowed her to detect the smallest imperfections in the voices of her fellow performers which annoyed them to no end, but in Rachel's mind the production would always come before soothing the egos of other actors. This was why Rachel was loved by every director and tolerated or even disliked by most of the actors she had ever worked with.
So, when Rachel woke up to a blood curdling scream at 3 AM, she was immediately able to identify it as a pitch perfect B-flat coming from the mouth of one Finn Hudson. When the scream died just as fast as it started, Rachel couldn't tell if she had dreamed it or not so she laid awake for a few minutes, nervously holding onto the comforter, until she heard the scream again, proving that she hadn't dreamed it. This time, the scream lasted much longer and if terror hadn't been building up in Rachel, she would have been impressed with the lung capacity required to scream for so long.
When the second scream died, she slowly made her way up out of bed and out of her room, clutching onto her monkey in one hand and rape whistle in the other. The third scream came and went while she slowly took the steps down to the first floor, every creak sounding like a tree trunk shattering to her ears. The fourth and loudest scream hit her ears as she stood in front of the half-open door that led to the basement, trying, but failing, to stop herself from shaking.
"F-F-F-Finn?" A cat would have had a hard time hearing her.
Her right elbow nudged the door completely open and she gingerly started to make her way down the stairs until her foot landed on the second step and a creak froze her in place.
"F-F-Finn?" Her critically acclaimed voice failed her again.
She swallowed twice, trying to get her dry mouth to produce some saliva to wet her throat before she tried again.
"F-F-"
The fifth scream silenced her.
"F-Finn?" She found her voice again as she leaned forward slightly, "Finn? Can you hear me? Are you-"
A hand lightly came down on her left shoulder and she learned where the expression "to jump out of your skin" came from. The hand gently turned her around and she found herself looking up at Burt who had a sad smile on. He gestured for her to be quiet and she followed him out of the stairwell, closing the door behind her. The sixth and final scream she heard that night was barely audible through the door and faded into nothingness as Burt led her towards the living room to the sofa.
"Do you want anything? Glass of water or juice?"
Still trembling, she said, "Wa-water."
"So I guess the screaming woke you up?" He said after he came back with a glass and they took their seats.
A few sips of water slowly brought the trembling to a stop. "Wha-what was that?"
Burt stared blankly straight ahead. "Finn has nightmares," He turned his head to look at Rachel and he had on another sad smile, "but I guess you already figured that out."
"Shouldn't we wake him up?"
He shook his head. "No, waking him up just means he can't fall asleep again that night." He let out a breath, "We learned that the first few times we tried it."
They sat silently for a moment.
"He scared the crap out of me and Carole the first few times we heard him up in his old room." He finally said as if he was talking to himself while still staring blankly ahead, "Had no idea what was happening, all we heard was screaming and when we opened the door all we saw was him screaming and grabbing his leg."
"What did you mean 'his old room'?" She asked when it became clear that Burt had finished talking.
"Oh," He looked over at her, "the room you're in now used to be his room, but when he learned that he was screaming all night long he said he would move out. Well, me and Carole wouldn't stand for that so we got him to move to Kurt's room in the basement and installed some soundproofing down there, including a soundproof door, course that doesn't work if he doesn't remember to close it. I mean he's usually good about it but he forgets sometimes if he's had a long day at work."
Rachel nodded. "The last job yesterday did give us some trouble."
He returned his gaze to some unknown spot in front of him and chuckled, "Kurt said the only way he would let Finn stay down there was if Finn didn't redecorate at all, something about not wanting cowboy wallpaper to touch his room, but I think he just hopes one day Finn will be able to move back upstairs." His voice trailed off as he said, "We all do…"
They went quiet again with Rachel's water sitting forgotten and untouched on the table in front of them.
"Why does he have nightmares?" She asked quietly.
"I take it you're not a big fan of college football?"
She looked over at Burt who was still staring blankly ahead. "No, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"It's the reason Finn has nightmares. He injured his leg playing football in college and couldn't play again and now," His voice became bitter, "since he hasn't suffered enough, he has these damn nightmares almost every night. Kid can't even get a fucking good night's sleep." He looked over at her, "Sorry, didn't mean to sound so rough."
"That's okay; I know it must be difficult."
Rachel picked up her once forgotten glass of water and took a few more sips before replacing it on the table.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Already did, but I'll give you another."
"This may be too personal, but if Finn went to college why is he here in Lima, um…" Her voice faded as she tried to think of a more tactful way to phrase her question.
But she needn't have bothered. "Working as a mechanic?"
She nodded.
Another sad smile appeared on Burt's face. "That's my fault. Ohio State switched him to a full academic scholarship after his injury but I had to go and get my second heart attack. Docs said I couldn't do anymore physical work and we needed someone at the shop to pay for Kurt's tuition so Finn dropped out to come back here to work."
"Why would he give up on college like that? There must've been another way."
Burt looked towards the basement door. "Finn thinks that he owes Kurt something since he took too long to do anything about the bullying Kurt went through back in high school. We tried to tell him that we'd hire someone else, but he said that with Kurt's high tuition we needed to find the cheapest guy and he was it." He looked off in front of him again, "You know, I don't think he even takes the money he makes from the shop."
They sat silently together on the sofa for what Rachel thought was a long time, but when she looked at the VCR – wait, people still owned and used VCRs? – only three minutes had passed when her mind unconsciously put two and two together.
"Whose stuff is in the closet upstairs?" She blurted out.
"Oh, that's some of Finn's stuff that he didn't want to take downstairs."
She looked down at herself, her eyes narrowing. "So, this is Finn's shirt I'm wearing."
"Yea," He gave her a confused look, "Finn didn't tell you?"
She calmly replied. "No," Her left eye twitched in anger twice, "I guess it must have slipped his mind."
"Well, I think it's time we tried to go back to sleep." Burt stood up, "You wouldn't want to be dead tired for work tomorr- well, I guess that's today now isn't it?"
But work was the furthest thing from Rachel's mind as all she could think about was how Fi- no, the Neanderthal, had been playing with her with his stupid joke for over a week. He probably laughed at her with his fellow Neanderthal every single day.
Her left eye twitched again. "No, we wouldn't want that."
"I'll remind Finn to make sure the door is closed every night." Burt said, just before he disappeared up the stairs.
Rachel drained the remainder of her water and as she made her way back up the stairs to her room, the terror and sympathy she had felt minutes earlier was completely replaced with anger over the fact that the Neanderthal had done this. When she returned to her room the first thing she did was pull out her own sleepwear from her luggage that had finally arrived during the early in the week, fully intending to change right then and there, but as she was halfway through the process of unbuttoning the Neanderthal's shirt, a smirk came to her lips. If this was the game the Neanderthal wanted to play, then she would play it and he would pay. Oh, he would pay dearly.
No sense in letting him know she was on to him, so she re-buttoned his shirt and went back to bed with one question running through her mind.
How would she make him pay?
Finn couldn't put his finger on it, but something was off with the cheerleader. Oh sure, she was still nice to his mom and dad – he still couldn't figure out if that was an act – and she rambled a lot about everything under the sun but as he drove them to Quinn's place he was pretty sure something had changed.
Things had gone pretty well that week at the shop with her still handing him the tools he needed and helping him clean up at the end of the day, which made the days fly by pretty fast which was awesome. Their arguing changed too, oh sure they still fought about almost everything but it had slowly lost the edge as the week went by which was kinda nice. She even seemed to learn how to sorta get along with Puck during lunch which was a bonus.
But all yesterday, she was back to acting like it was the first day they had met. No, that wasn't right. Even on the first day, she hadn't been this annoyed with him. At work, she barely let him finish a sentence before cutting him off to reply and she almost slammed the tools he asked for into his hands. At lunch she had all but ignored him and to talk with Puck and after lunch she didn't say a single word until it was almost time to close. He almost-kinda-sorta-barely missed her rambling in a he'd-never-ever-tell-another-living-soul and an oh-crap-did-he-actually-think-that kind of way.
It kept going this morning too, when he asked her for the salt and pepper at breakfast, she pulled her hand away as fast as possible before he had a good grip on them, making him drop them. Plus, instead of just rolling her eyes at him when he made his daily comment about sleeping in "Kurt's" shirt, she gave him a look that reminded him of Quinn just before she tore him a new one. That usually happened when it was her time of the month. The thought that it might be the cheerleader's time of the month made Finn shiver.
As Finn pulled into the driveway to Quinn's mansion of a house, they could see that they weren't the first to arrive since there were already a few parked cars there.
"What do Quinn's parents do?" Rachel asked as she stared, stunned at the size of the house they were standing in front of.
"Uh, her mom doesn't do much and her dad is like some big shot business guy in town." Finn replied as he grabbed a cooler from the bed of his truck, "Come on, let's go round back."
Rachel followed Finn down a path that led to the back of the house which revealed an enormous backyard and an Olympic-size swimming pool with Quinn, Santana, and Brittany already lounging on chairs poolside with Noah was standing in front of them, chatting them up over the pop music that was playing over a set of outdoor speakers. There was also a person there that Rachel didn't recognize setting up a grill on the far side of the pool, or at least trying to; it was a blonde man about their age with abs of steel and lips so full that most of the women on Broadway would give their souls in exchange to have them.
Santana looked over at the newly arrived pair and loudly said, "Finally, a real man is here. Hudson, show these two idiots how to set up a grill."
"Hey! I'm getting there!" The blonde man yelled back.
Santana looked over at him. "Whatever, by the time you finish, we'll all be dead from starvation." Santana looked at Rachel, "That's Sam by the way, also went to high school with us."
Sam walked over to Rachel. "Hey, you must be the person staying with Finn."
"I am. I'm Rachel."
"Hudson, you bring the drinks?" Noah asked.
"Yea, there are two more coolers in my truck." Finn said as he set the cooler he was carrying down next to a table.
"Come on Sam, let's go get 'em while Santana makes Hudson the grill bitch." Noah said as he started towards the front of the house.
"You heard the man," Santana smirked at Finn, "get to grilling. By the time you get it set up and cooking it'll be time for lunch. And tell me you brought champagne because I wants me a mimosa or two before lunch."
"Yea, there's champagne." Finn said as he made his way to the grill.
Quinn turned her head to look at Rachel. "Glad you could make it Rachel."
"That is such a cute swimsuit Rachel!" Brittany said.
"This is just a shirt and a pair of shorts. I have my swim suit on underneath." Rachel said while giving a funny look to Quinn.
Quinn smiled and said, "Don't worry, you get used to Brittany."
"B is right though, why aren't you in your swimsuit?" The Latina said from her chair in-between the two blondes, "Let's see the body that Finn isn't getting any of."
Rachel smirked at Santana, faking a confidence she didn't really feel.
It didn't pass her notice that before her were three incredibly beautiful women. She noticed it at the mall during their swimsuit fashion show last week and definitely noticed it now, with their toned stomachs and complete lack of fat on their legs or arms. All three of them must have done some sort of sport during high school and/or college.
As a young Broadway star, Rachel kept her body in good shape but she couldn't really compare with the three near perfect specimens lying before her and even though she went topless every night for her musical she almost felt embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit next to these three. The difference being, of course, her nudity was for an artistic performance that was appreciated by thousands of people while here, all that would happen would be a comparison. She couldn't explain it, but she didn't understand why she didn't want to be compared to the three women in front of her.
A quick glance around saw the Neanderthal setting up the grill at a much faster pace than Sam was and Noah and Sam just making their way back to the pool.
It was almost as if she knew that people would find something wrong with her, but Rachel didn't get where she was by being timid so she stripped out of her shirt and shorts revealing one of the half dozen swimsuits she had brought with her.
All her worry was for naught.
"Damn Berry, my first impression was right. Not bad, not bad at all." Santana said with a smirk and then winked, "If I wasn't taken, I'd love to have your legs wrapped around me."
Rachel stood there speechless with her jaw slightly hanging open.
Quinn smiled up at her. "Cat got your tongue?"
"No, I just haven't met anyone quite as… forward as Santana in my life."
"I'm like a fine wine; I just get better the longer you keep me around."
"That makes no sense at all…"
Santana gave her a look. "And?"
Quinn laughed then gestured at the beach chair next to her. "Take a seat."
Rachel took a seat in the offered chair and watched as Sam helped Noah set up a drink table by them.
"So," Rachel looked over at Santana, "I think you're gonna wanna Hudson or Puck put sunscreen lotion on you. Sam's not bad to look at, but he's pretty useless as a guy. He doesn't do it hard enough." Santana looked over, slid down her sunglasses and winked at Rachel, "Now, Puck and Hudson can definitely do it hard enough, but I prefer Hudson. I know Quinn does too." Rachel glanced over at Quinn who only rolled her eyes, "Something about his rough hands that just does it for us."
"Hey bitch, that's not what you said last time." Noah said as he came over.
Santana smirked up at Noah. "Aw, the panties you wearing under there in a bunch?"
"Fuck you." He looked over at Rachel and Quinn, "You ladies want something to drink?"
Rachel started to respond with her usual drink order. "Jack-"
Santana cut her off. "Mimosas all around and make it quick, I wants to get my drink on."
"I said ladies so I definitely wasn't asking you."
Quinn smiled up at Noah. "I'll have what San's having."
Rachel knew how this girls vs. boys game was played. "I'll have a mimosa as well."
Noah looked over at her. "Didn't you want something else?"
Rachel smiled up at Noah. "I changed my mind."
Noah turned around and stalked off, muttering something about the damn women ganging up on him while the three women looked at each other and grinned.
As they waited for their drinks, they spent the next few minutes chattering among themselves about the latest celebrity gossip from magazines when a new voice interrupted them.
"Puck! Sam!"
"Mike!"
Rachel looked up to see a tall, lanky Asian being greeted by the other two with man-hugs and fist bumps all around.
"Chang!" Santana waved him over, "Get over here, big man on campus, got someone new here for you to hit on!"
"Hey, I don't hit on everyone on campus." Mike said as he walked over with a beer.
"Yea, just all the hot chicks who throw themselves at you." Quinn said before she pointed at Rachel, "Anyway, this is Rachel and he's Mike, star wide receiver at OSU."
Mike raised his right hand as if he was taking an oath. "And I am taken and completely faithful to my college sweetheart, no matter how many hot co-eds throw themselves at me." He grinned at Rachel, "I may or may not engage in some light flirtation when I can't help myself."
Santana grinned. "Sarah's lucky she got her claws into you freshman year."
Mike grinned back. "And I am lucky that she got her claws into me."
Noah walked over and threw his arm around Mike's shoulders. "This fucker's gonna be famous and filthy rich-"
"Hey, stop with the bromance and finish making our drinks." Santana interrupted.
Noah shot a glare at Santana then turned his head to find Sam. "Quit your bitching. Sam's bringing them over." He looked back at the women in front of him, "See? Now where was I? Oh yea," He slapped Mike on the back, "Mike here is gonna be filthy rich when he makes it to the NFL." He shook his head, "I still don't get why you didn't go pro this summer. You're a sure fire first round pick."
Mike laughed. "You never know man." No one but Rachel noticed his eyes glance over at Finn, who was almost done with setting up the grill, and the laughter fell off his face for a moment before his eyes returned to Rachel, "So, what brings you to our tiny town?"
Rachel smiled up at him as Sam handed her a mimosa. "Let's just call it an unwanted vacation."
"Well for an unwanted vacation, you've got it pretty good don't you? A sunny day, a pool, music, food, and drink."
Rachel thought this over for a moment. "I suppose I can't complain too much."
Santana spoke up. "Speaking of food," She turned her head and yelled, "Hudson, you done yet? When can I gets my hot dog on?"
Finn yelled back. "Food's going on right now."
"Got Finn grilling again?" Santana nodded and grinned at Mike, "Then I'm gonna go swipe that hot dog of yours Santana," Mike nodded at Rachel, "Nice meeting you Rachel."
"Don't you fucking dare! And tell Finn to bring those magic hands of his over here." Santana said as Mike grabbed another beer and headed towards the grill.
Rachel took a sip of her drink and her eyes widened. "This contains some high quality champagne."
Noah nodded at her. "Hudson always brings the quality stuff."
Another sip was taken and swirled around her mouth before being swallowed. "The cherry, apple, and citrus notes complement the orange juice very well and there's a nice crisp finish." A sip was taken and swallowed again, "This is very full bodied, shining through the orange juice. I'm very impressed."
The four people surrounding Rachel gaped at her as she finished her short critique on the champagne, while Brittany was too busy dipping a pretzel stick in her mimosa.
Noah's jaw pulled itself back up. "You know Berry, you could've just said: 'This shit tastes great.'"
Rachel shot Noah a glare. "'Great' is not specific enough to describe the quality of this champagne."
"Okay, fine." He looked up in thought for a moment, "The champagne is fucking great. Better?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Yes, that is so much better."
"Whatever princess."
They glared at each other for a few moments before Brittany broke the silence with a whisper. "Guys, I think my cat is a witch."
"Why do you say that B?" Santana responded in a bored tone.
Brittany continued to whisper. "I had a duck on a scale and when my cat got on the other side, they weighed the same!"
Santana continued to be bored. "And?"
"Witches weigh the same as ducks because they both float!"
"Okay B, we'll get your cat a broom or something."
Rachel stared incredulously at Santana and Brittany. "That makes no sense at all!"
Santana shot a glare at Rachel while Brittany responded. "Witches burn which means they're made out of wood and wood floats like ducks do. So, if something weighs the same as a duck that means it's a witch. It's like totally obvious."
Rachel gaped at Brittany for a moment. "Wait, that sounds familiar, like it's from-"
"Whatever, no one cares." Santana glared over at the grill, "What is taking Finn so long to cook a damn hot dog?"
"Speaking of food, will there be anything else besides hot dogs and, I assume, burgers?" Rachel asked.
"Yea, Finn said you were vegan so I picked up a box of those tofu burgers." Quinn responded.
"Oh," Rachel looked over at the grill to see Finn talking with Mike as he stuck a hot dog in a bun, "that was nice of him."
Quinn looked over at Finn who was making his way over with Mike. "He can be thoughtful when he wants to be."
Finn held out a plate to Santana. "One hot dog."
"And where are my fixin's?"
Finn grinned. "You just said you wanted a hot dog. If you want all that other stuff they're on the table by the grill."
"You ass." Santana pulled herself up and grabbed the plate, "When I get back, I want those hands of yours spreading sunscreen on my back."
"No can do," Finn held up a pair of dirty hands as he left for the grill again, "I've got grease and charcoal all over them."
"Ugh, why are all the men I know so useless?" was tossed out before Santana stalked off behind him for the condiments.
"Are these all the people coming to the party?" Rachel asked.
"A few more people might be able to make it." Quinn gave her a funny look, "Why do you care?"
"I just thought with this much space more people from your high school would've been invited."
"No, now that I don't have to deal with them on a daily basis, I could care less about hanging out with those people. Especially since I haven't talked to most of them in years." With that said, Quinn turned and began a conversation with Brittany.
Rachel looked around the pool and couldn't help but feel she was, once again, in a completely different world than the one she left back in New York. If this was a party back in New York they'd be lounging around a pool on top of a skyscraper with a DJ blasting the latest club hits so loud she could barely hear herself think, much less hold any sort of meaningful conversation. There would be drunk men and women stumbling around everywhere trying to hook up with anything that moved and the conversations she had would mostly range from inane to idiotic back to inane again and that was when she talked with the people she regularly hung out with.
Here though, sitting around Quinn's pool, everything was different as Rachel watched Santana come back with a second hot dog for Brittany, just the way the blonde liked it, then easily joining in on the conversation that was taking place between the two blondes. There were no old, drunk, lecherous men trying to hit on her or bottom feeders trying to brownnose their way onto a bigger production or catty females giving backhanded compliments around the pool. It was just a small group of friends who genuinely enjoyed spending time with each other, not something that Rachel had too much experience with.
Rachel watched as Santana reluctantly chose a gleeful Noah to apply sunscreen to her back after her hot dog was devoured surprisingly fast. Surprisingly, Noah didn't linger with the application of the sunscreen and quickly finished Santana, Quinn, and Brittany before moving onto her. She quirked an eyebrow at him as he motioned for her to roll over before she did but unlike Santana and Brittany, he lingered quite a bit longer. Not that she minded, his hands felt perfectly fine on her back as he rubbed the sunscreen onto it.
"Having fun?"
Rachel looked up to find Mike standing over her with two plates of food and grinned. "Things could be worse."
He handed her a plate after she waved Noah away and rolled over. "Well, here's a disgusting veggie burger for you, courtesy of Finn the grill bitch."
"Veggie burgers are not disgusting, in fact they are quite delicious. I can't imagine a real hamburger could possibly taste better."
Mike laughed. "I've grabbed one of those tofu patties by accident and let's just say it was one of the worst things I've ever eaten."
Rachel opened her mouth to respond but Mike held up a finger.
"And I've had plenty of tofu before since you know, I'm Asian, but whatever that is, isn't tofu."
"Well, I think it's delicious." She said as Mike took a seat in the chair next to her.
She began to assemble her burger while he began to eat his before Finn made his way over with a plate for Quinn. He gave her a small smile which she returned before he headed back towards the grill with Noah and Sam.
"Not hanging out with the other guys?"
"Nah, I'm tired from training this morning and it's not like I don't talk with them every day during summer break."
"Training?"
He nodded. "Yea. Running and lifting mostly, gotta stay in shape for the fall."
"What happens in the fall?"
He laughed. "Not a football fan I take it?"
"No, that is such a barbaric sport. I can't believe so many people enjoy it."
"Yea," He nodded, "it's pretty brutal, but I guess there's something alluring about watching two army-like teams going at it."
"If you know it's such a brutal sport, why do you play it?"
Mike looked up in thought for a moment. "I guess the main reason I play is because I have fun doing it. If I didn't have fun playing football, I couldn't put up with having to train and study playbooks and game plans all week long, then I'd have the crap beat out of my for three hours every Saturday."
"Fun?" Rachel said incredulously, "That's your reason for playing?"
"Yea, why would I put myself through all that if I didn't have fun doing it? Oh, I guess the hundred thousand screaming fans don't hurt."
"All those people come to watch you play?"
"Well, not me specifically, they come to watch their football team play. But I mean it's pretty awe inspiring when they're all chanting the same thing."
Rachel couldn't imagine what it would feel like to have 100,000 people cheering her on. The largest venue she'd been at was the Radio City Music Hall and that only held 6,000 people who just politely clapped for her.
"It must give you a huge rush to hear all those people cheering for you at the same time."
He gave her a thoughtful look. "You know, it doesn't really matter when I'm on the field playing. I'm kinda in a zone out there just playing the game and nothing else matters." His thoughtful look turned into a grin, "But it does sound awesome when the defense is on the field and I'm just sitting there. Gotta love the fans."
"You like your fans?"
"Yea, why wouldn't I?"
"Don't get they get annoying? Always asking for autographs, photos, and answers to their questions?"
He laughed. "Some of them can get a bit intense, but I still love them. I mean, without them my college tuition wouldn't be paid for by just playing a sport that I love."
"But you're the one doing the thing that they love to see! They should be honored that you're sharing your talent with them!"
"I guess, but I look at it like this: If I'm not the one that they're cheering for then they'd just find someone else to cheer for. It's not like football wouldn't be played if I wasn't around. So, I guess that I'm the one who should be honored that they've picked me."
"I- I've never thought of it that way before."
Mike nodded. "Football was around long before I got here and it'll be around long after I've retired. So I figure I might as well enjoy as much as possible, fans included, while I'm playing."
"Is that why you didn't go pro this year?"
Mike nodded again. "Yea, playing in football is college is almost like an extracurricular activity, but I know that if I make it to the NFL it'll be my job. I need to enjoy it as much as I can before all that extra pressure is on me." A bite of his burger was taken, chewed, and swallowed, "Plus, I'd like to graduate before I go pro, just in case I need something to fall back on."
"That's very thoughtful."
Mike looked down for a moment. "I, uh, had a wakeup call that made me think about a few things."
"What was the-"
A scream from Santana interrupted Rachel. "Turn up the music! I haven't heard this shit in forever!"
"—promised, out throwback song of the week, "Ride with Me" by Nelly."
The soft acoustic guitar intro to the song was quickly turned up until it filled the backyard and Santana and Brittany began to sing along with Quinn joining them after rolling her eyes. It took a point and an angry look from Santana to get Mike to join in. The three guys around the grill joined in after they screamed out the second "Hey! Must be the money!" Soon they were all rapping the first verse, some of them doing a pretty poor job, namely all of the men. Some, Santana and Brittany, were actually doing a pretty good job.
Like Santana, it had been years since Rachel had heard this song. The last time was probably sometimes early in her high school career in some Upper East Side condo party thrown by an upperclassman who was probably blowing his dad's money on coke and whores now. Even though it had been so long, Rachel still remembered the lyrics to the song thanks to her memory and couldn't help but join in thanks to the sheer joy of the people singing around her.
It had been a long time since Rachel had sung with a group of people just for the sheer joy of it. Sure, she sang with her fellow cast mates nearly every day but that was different. It was their job to constantly practice numbers until they could perform even the most complicated routine with their eyes closed. The number of repetitive rehearsals they had to go through could suck the joy out of even the most cheerful person as their performance was picked apart by the director, choreographer, and theater manager. But here, just singing with the seven people around her, there was no pressure to hit every note or remember the blocking and cues for a scene and it reminded Rachel of why she loved singing so much.
The song ended much too fast for Rachel's liking as they all laughed and cheered for each other between the final shout outs and the chorus as the song faded out. Mike, who had gotten up to dance, extremely well she might add, made his way to the grill to bring back a plate of food while Sam brought over a cooler of drinks so the entire party and conversation concentrated around the lounging women for a while.
"No way, the Flash would definitely beat Superman in a footrace around the world."
"Are you kidding? He's fucking Superman, there's no way he'd lose!"
"Jesus, are you two dorks still arguing over this shit?" Santana said, interrupting the argument Sam and Noah were having.
"Fuck you, this is important." Puck replied.
"No, it's not." Santana slid down her sunglasses and glared at them, "Please tell me you two retards aren't going to go on about this the entire summer like you did with pirates and ninjas last year."
Sam looked over at Noah. "I still say an army of ninjas would beat an army of pirates."
"Fuck no, pirates are badass. Ninjas are a bunch of pussies for because they need to kill shit at night."
Santana threw her hands up as everyone else laughed and she said, "Oh my god. Someone please shut them up," as Noah and Sam continued their argument over her protest.
"I'll stop arguing when Puck says I'm right."
"Fuck you. There's no way you're right. Pirates would beat the shit outta ninjas."
"No way, ninjas know karate and stuff. Pirates don't know shit."
"You wanna see some karate?" Noah shoved Sam into the pool causing even more laughter from the people around the pool, "Now that's fucking karate!"
Sam coughed and sputtered his way back to the surface and splashed some water in Noah's direction.
"Hey! Watch the splashing!" Quinn yelled while Noah laughed even harder.
Mike winked at Rachel and peeled off his shirt before he got up and threw his arm around Noah's shoulders.
"Remember that summer before senior year when you started that prank war?" Mike asked Noah.
"Yea, what about it?"
"Remember how Sam and I formed an alliance to get back at you?"
"Yea, so what?"
"We never called that off." Mike said before he dragged Noah towards the pool and jumped in, taking Noah with him.
The four lounging girls laughed and egged on the guys splashing around in the pool by questioning their manhood due to the weak splashes they produced. That only led to the guys in the pool splashing water at the girls causing them to jump out of their seats to get away from their tormentors. Quinn, Santana, and Brittany merely took a few steps away to move out of reach from the splashing while Rachel made a beeline straight for something to hide behind, which turned out to be Finn.
He grinned at her. "Scared of a little water?"
A glare was shot his way. "No, I just don't feel like getting wet. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Why are you just standing around here in those warm-up pants? Shouldn't you be in the pool tormenting the women along with your fellow Neanderthals?"
"Uh," Finn glanced down at his pants, "I don't really feel like getting wet either."
Rachel gave Finn a curious look before returning to her seat along with the other women since the three people in the pool had finally stopped their childish behavior and climbed out. Finn, Sam, and Mike made their way back to the grill to scrounge up more food while Noah made his way over to the women to shamelessly flirt with them. Of course, he quickly became bored with the three he already knew and quickly focused his attention on Rachel, much to her consternation.
"So what'd you say, we're both hot Jews," He waggled his eyebrows, "we should get together and make an even hotter Jew."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "That is one of the worst lines I've ever heard. Don't you have something better to do than harass me?"
"Nah, not really."
Again, her eyes were rolled. "Okay, then maybe you can answer a question for me."
He smirked at her. "Only if it has something to do with us being hot Jews."
"Why is Finn still wearing those ridiculous warm-up pants?"
The smirk fell off his face. "That has nothing to do with us being hot Jews."
She gave him a fake smile. "I never said I'd ask you a question about that."
"Means I'm not fucking answering it then."
"Why not? Isn't it strange that Finn hasn't taken off those ridiculous pants at a pool party?"
"Uh," His eyes darted around before settling onto some point off to his left, "Probably wants to keep his legs nice and pale, Finn's girly like that."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at the ridiculous explanation given to her because from what she had seen, none of Finn's habits could be taken for being girly. So, she knew that Noah was lying to her. She just couldn't figure out why and it annoyed her as she once again had to fend off Noah's advances. It continued to annoy her until Mike dragged her out of her chair to teach her how to Dougie which was when she put it together.
Football injury.
Leg.
The Neanderthal was embarrassed about his injury. That's why he refused to remove those hideous pair of warm-up pants and seconds later was when Rachel realized the perfect way to get back at him. She humored Mike and his dance lesson for a few more minutes while she figured out her plan before excusing herself and heading over to the Neanderthal who was talking with Quinn and Santana.
"Finn!"
He turned his head. "What's up?"
As with most her plans, Rachel settled on short but not quite sweet. "Aren't you going to go swimming this afternoon?"
Confusion spread over his face. "Uh, why do you care?"
"You wouldn't want to have wasted such a nice day would you? Wait, you do have swim trunks under there right?"
"I do, still don't see why you care."
"I'm just trying return the favor since you've been so nice to me during the time I've stayed with you."
His eyes narrowed. "Did you hit your head or something yesterday? Because you've been acting weird."
She plastered a smile on her face. "No, I didn't hit my head. I just think a swim would be quite refreshing in this heat, especially since you've spent most of the day around the grill."
"It's not that hot. I think I'll be fine." Finn said as he turned back around to other two women.
Rachel looked down as she pushed away the urge to stamp her foot. The frustration she felt from all the little things that hadn't gone her way ever since she stepped foot into this godforsaken town built up inside of her causing her to bite back a scream. Her eyes narrowed and a grin slowly formed on her face as she realized just what kind of warm-up pants the Neanderthal was wearing. All that frustration melted away as she thought that it was time for something more direct as she stepped up right behind her target.
"Well, I think I'll just help you out of those pants then." Rachel said as she grabbed a hold of Finn's pants causing him to begin to turn around.
"What are you-" was all Finn could get out before Rachel yanked on his pants causing the buttons that lined the legs of each side to release.
Rachel cried out victoriously, "Ha!" as she whipped away the pants with a flourish as if she was fighting a bull.
Finn didn't know what sort of reaction Rachel was expecting to get from her action but judging from the rapidly disappearing grin on her face it wasn't the one she got. The conversations around the pool quickly died and the only thing that filled the awkward silence was Katy Perry's insanely upbeat new single. The song provided a strange soundtrack to the event since it didn't fit the mood around the pool at all as almost everyone was gaping at Rachel who was standing in front of Finn while holding up his pants. The only two people who weren't gaping at them were Santana and Quinn who both looked as though they wanted to tear Rachel limb from limb.
Rachel's eyes darted around the pool as the thought sunk in that maybe this wasn't the best idea she had ever had. "I guess no one liked my little joke…?" was said before a few nervous chuckles escaped from her. A look up at Finn saw him with a blank expression. This was probably better than the looks of fury that were being given to her by Quinn and Santana from behind him, at least Rachel hoped it was better.
The pants were held in front of Finn for a moment before he slowly took them from her grasp. Just like when she was on stage, all eyes were on her as she made her way back to her seat. Although in this case, Rachel wasn't exactly thrilled at all the attention that was being given to her as she usually was. Her drink was picked from the table beside her as she tried to ignore the stunned and angry stares being given to her from the party, but especially the blank one from Finn.
After staring at her for what seemed to be hours, Finn finally turned around and made his way to the now unused grill. Santana quickly followed him and after shooting her a glare Quinn followed suit. Everyone else at the party made their way over there leaving Rachel alone in her seat. All she could do was sip at her drink and listen to the sugary pop music coming from the outdoor speakers as she ignored the furtive glances coming from the group.
Eventually, the little group gathering broke up and the party restarted itself, albeit at a much more subdued tone. Of course, everyone also treated Rachel as if she was carrying the plague, but she didn't think too much of it. It's not like she would be in town long enough to actually care what these people thought of her. So if they ignored her, she would ignore them right back. This is exactly what everyone did for the rest of the party.
"Hey."
Of course Noah would be the only one brazen enough to talk to her just as the party was wrapping up.
"Hello."
"So my man Finn said I didn't have to do this, but I figured I'd do it anyway cause it needed to be done. Hope we can still get together after."
She slid her sunglasses down and looked up at him. "Do what exactly?"
"This," he said before picking her up and walking over to the pool.
"Noah Puckerman, put me down this instant!" she screamed as she hit his arm.
"You got it."
"Wait! Don't you dare-" was all she got out before he unceremoniously tossed her into the deep end.
She coughed and sputtered after she swam her way back up to the surface as she slowly made her way to the side of the pool. Howls of laughter came from the three women lounging in the chairs while she clung to the side of the pool and tried to regain her breath. The sunglasses which were caught in her hair were pulled out of the now tangled mess and flung on top of her chair. Part of the tangled mess had fallen in front of her face which she was now blowing at, trying to get it to move.
"I told Puck not to do this," she heard Finn say from above her.
Her hair was pushed out of the way and she began to look up but her gaze stopped right in front of her. She stared at Finn's lower left leg, unable to help herself. Lines of scars ran up and down the skin, starting above and below two jagged and somewhat circular scars. From Finn's earlier resistance, she figured that his leg would've been much more grotesque looking. But from where she was treading water, the collection of scars didn't look so bad.
"Hey, my eyes are up here," he said as he waved a hand in front of her face before pointing at his eyes.
She met his eyes. "Sorry, I, uh, didn't mean to stare."
"Sure you didn't," he said as he held out his hands.
Rachel grabbed them with her own and he started to pull her out of the pool. With a bit of disappointment, she noticed that he barely looked over her wet body as he pulled her out. She kept in decent enough shape so her body wasn't that bad. He must've been more upset with her than she thought. Of course, if he was so upset with her then he probably wouldn't have pulled her out of the pool. Maybe Finn was a bit more complicated than she initially thought.
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me just yet," he said as he put a hand on her chest.
She gave him a confused look and began to say, "What are-" before Finn shoved her back into the pool.
After making her way back to the surface, again, she heard Finn yell, "Cannonball!" before he jumped into the pool beside her. The water that splashed over her made her cough and sputter as she treaded water. Finn quickly popped up beside her and swam his way to the edge of the pool before pulling himself out. He turned around and they found themselves back in the same place they were mere minutes ago.
Just like before he pulled her out of the pool. Only this time he handed her a towel. "Make sure you dry yourself as much as possible. Don't want you getting the seat in my truck all wet," he said as she started to dry herself off.
"Yes, I'm sure you don't want your piles of water bottles and burger wrappers to be ruined by a few drops of water." The comeback was whipped out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about the situation. Her eyes snapped shut as she thought that if he wasn't mad at her before, he'd definitely be mad at her now. A deep breath was taken before she opened her eyes to find Finn with that awkward looking half smile plastered all over his face.
"That's right. It took me forever to get all those bottles and wrappers just the way I like them."
With a roll of her eyes she started to dry her hair off the best she could while everyone else cleaned up the pool area. The clean up was finished just as Rachel pulled her shirt down over her body. This let her go through some awkward goodbyes with everyone at the party: Quinn and Santana barely hid their looks of disgust, Mike and Sam gave her sheepish smiles, and unsurprisingly Noah tried to flirt with her again.
Rachel climbed into the passenger's seat and waited while Finn loaded the mostly empty coolers into the truck bed. The ride home started out silent between them except for sounds of Maroon 5's new CD coming from the stereo system. But Rachel couldn't deny her need to speak, any more than water could stop being wet. So she asked the one question that was running through her mind.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked as she stared off straight ahead, not really wanting to see what his reaction would be.
A bark of laughter escaped his lips. "Mad? Of course I'm mad at you."
Her head fell forward just a bit. "You didn't seem that mad back at the party…"
"Yea well, I don't know why you did that; but I guess I'd forgotten that none of them cares how fucked up my leg looks now."
"You leg doesn't look bad at all."
He gave her a funny look before continuing to speak. "But you were right, it got pretty hot in those pants and jumping in the pool did feel awesome. Plus, if I flipped out, Quinn and Santana would've tore you a new one at the party and then made your life a living hell while you stayed here. That would make my mom tear me a new one. So yea, easy choice."
"Still didn't stop Noah from throwing me into the pool," she bitterly replied.
"At least he didn't go with his first suggestion."
"Which was?"
She chanced a glance at him and saw he had a small grin on his face. "Stripping you naked then throwing you into the pool," her mouth fell open as his grin widened, "But, being the nice guy that I am I told him not to do anything. Course, Puck being the thick-headed SOB that he is still threw you into the water even after I said I'd get you back."
"Well, that was nice of- wait, what?"
He glanced over at her and that stupid half smile was on his face again. "Did I forget to mention that you'll be cleaning up the shop alone at the end of every day for the next week? Maybe longer?"
She was really beginning to hate that stupid crooked smile of his.
"That'll take forever!"
"Well," he shrugged, "you can't go around doing stupid things without having them come back and eventually biting you in the ass."
She closed her eyes and groaned as her head hit the headrest.
"So, how did you know about my leg?"
"Your screaming woke me up two nights ago and Burt explained your injury to me after scaring me half to death."
He grimaced and ran a hand over his face. "Crap. Sorry about that. You'd think I'd always remember to close the door after a year of living down there."
She smirked at him. "Well, not everyone's memory can be as perfect as me."
He rolled his eyes. "I still don't get why you ripped off my pants, especially since you knew about my leg."
Her eyes narrowed. "Burt also told me about whose shirt I've been wearing to sleep since I've been here."
A grimace appeared on his face. "Surprise?"
"You thought it'd be hilarious if I kept thinking that was Kurt's shirt didn't you?"
"Yea, kinda. But, you thought it'd be pretty funny to keep teasing me with it and you even kept wearing it after your stuff finally got here; I figured you actually liked wearing it. So…"
She waited a beat before picking up his train of thought. "So, you thought if you told me that it was your shirt I would've flung it at your face?"
"Something like that."
She gave him a smirk. "Well, I probably would have."
A moment of silence fell over them before she picked up the conversation again.
"You don't mind that I've been wearing your shirt for over a week?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I don't really wear those shirts that much. I mean, I really only have them since Kurt kept screaming about how every guy needs a few dress shirts."
"So, I can keep wearing that shirt?"
He gave her a confused look. "Uh, yea, if you want."
She grinned at him in response.
An entire song played before she heard Finn speak again. "So, you and uh, Puck eh?"
Her eyes shot open and she looked over with a grin on her face. "Why Finn Hudson, are you jealous that Noah is flirting with me?"
"No! I just wanted you to know that Puck's a man-whore. So, uh, yea, Puck's a man-whore."
Her grin widened. "Well, I can take care of myself when it comes to relationships and I had no intention of going out with Noah. But thank you for the warning in any case." Her grin widened even more, "Also, it's a good thing you aren't falling for me because I don't think you could handle me in a romantic relationship."
He looked over at her and scoffed. Once again, Maroon 5 was the only thing filling the silence in the truck until Finn spoke up again.
"Better make sure you don't do that either."
She looked over confused. "Don't do what exactly?"
He looked over at her and grinned. "Fall for me. I'd hate to have to break your heart."
"Really?" She grinned back, "I think you have it backwards. I would be the one breaking your heart."
His grin widened. "No way. You'd definitely be the one crying over me with a broken heart."
"Well, it's a good thing we'll never find out right?"
"Right."
They looked at each other for a moment before they both burst out laughing. Their laughter, along with Maroon 5, filled the truck and provided the soundtrack for the rest of their ride home.
A/N 2: Not too thrilled with the way this chapter turned out. I can definitely see myself endlessly rewriting parts of this shit for a long, long time.
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