"So, you had to sort out Berry's paperwork?" Santana asked Finn as she poured them both a coffee.
It was the morning after Rachel had been arrested, and Finn was telling Santana about his own meeting with her college room-mate. Santana seemed amused to hear that he'd met her, and he realised that neither Rachel nor Santana spoke of each other fondly.
"Yeah," Finn nodded, accepting the drink being handed to him. "She seems nice." He said with a shrug.
"Yeah, she seems that way," Santana smiled, taking a seat at the table.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked with a frown.
Santana took a breath as if she was about to launch into a huge story, but then she sighed and decided against it. "Rachel Berry is self-centred, selfish and manipulative," Santana explained. "She thinks she's God's gift to the world, when in reality, she's nothing more than an annoying hobbit."
Finn smiled slightly, trying to hide his disappointment at hearing how horrible Rachel was. Or how horrible Santana thought Rachel was. "Why do you hate her so much?" He asked, trying not to act too interested in her. Though he really just wanted to find out more about her.
"It was back in college," Santana said slowly, almost hating to relive the memory. "And Rachel and I had a crush on the same guy, his name was Robin Wilson. Long story short, Rachel spread around this rumour that I was a lesbian, which obviously isn't true, so that I would be out of the competition." Santana sighed, looking into her coffee. "Robin never spoke to me again, probably because all of his football friends made jokes that he had pushed me into lesbianism."
"Rachel really did that?" Finn asked, frowning at how spiteful the act seemed.
"Yep." Santana nodded but shrugged. "Anyway, I thought maybe she would have changed and she wouldn't be as selfish. I was wrong." Finn tried to hide his disappointment. Rachel had seemed like an OK person; now he was hearing all this about her. "Can you believe that Rachel only contacted me because she had a crush on a policeman that she'd just met." Santana continued. "She hoped I could give her his number or something. Talk about having an ulterior motive."
Finn looked up with interest the minute he heard 'crush on a policeman.' He smiled nonchalantly and tried to hide the fact that he was eager to ask more questions. It seemed to work, seeing as Santana just sipped her coffee and looked at her nails. After Finn felt it had been a reasonable amount of time, he began to ask his questions.
"She has a crush on a policeman? Who?" He said. Santana looked up at him, a strange look on her face. She was frowning slightly, probably wondering why he wanted to know. "I... Well..." Finn hesitated. "Maybe I know him."
Santana gave him one last frown before looking at the newspaper lying in front of her. "I don't know, some guy called Fernando. I told her there was no Fernando at our station but she..."
Santana carried on explaining her story to Finn, but that was were he zoned out. Rachel had actually gone through all the trouble of finding Santana just to find him. It flattered Finn that someone would go through all that trouble for him. Especially when he had just met that person. It was a shame that he had met Rachel under the circumstances which they had; under normal circumstances, they could have been friends... just friends.
By the time Finn came out of his reverie, Santana had finished talking and was looking at him expectantly. "Everything OK?" He asked, not knowing what it was he had missed."
Santana glared at him, seemingly annoyed for a reason unknown to Finn. "Forget it," She snapped, her voice bitter. "I'll go myself."
Finn watched in stunned silence as Santana stood up from her chair. She quickly grabbed her bag and keys before storming out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.
-One week later
Rachel entered her local supermarket, walking right towards the alcohol area. Seeing as her party a little over a week ago had been a disaster, she decided to hold a poker night to make it up to her friends. Alcohol was a necessity, so she decided to get plenty. She loaded her shopping cart with bottles of all shapes and sizes. Some were pink and fruity, others brown and bitter. It didn't matter to Rachel, as long as people would get drunk off the stuff.
When she decided she had enough, she strolled around the shop, looking for anything else she might like. As she was walking, she saw a familiar tall man disappear into a nearby aisle. Frowning, Rachel contemplated whether or not she should go over. Ultimately, she decided against it. She had been 'seeing' Finn everywhere recently. Every tall, dark haired man seemed to resemble the attractive police officer, Finn Hudson. It was never actually Finn though, so Rachel decided this was just another one of those times.
Rachel turned around and walked towards the cereal aisle, deciding to get some Lucky Charms or something. As she walked, she thought about Finn and how much she wanted to see him. It was strange, even to her, how much she liked Finn. She just felt a connection with him that she wanted to explore more. Shame he was dating Santana Lopez. He was too good of a guy to cheat on Santana, even Rachel knew that.
Rachel walked down the aisle, staring up at the Lucky Charms. They just had to be on the top shelf, didn't they? Rachel looked around, wanting to ask someone to help her. However, there was no one around; no one that looked friendly anyway. Staring up at the cereal that was way out of her reach, she sighed. This was one of the many reasons she hated being so short.
She moved her shopping cart out of the way and got ready to jump for them. This would either go well, or horribly wrong. As Rachel prepared to jump, she felt an arm come over her shoulder and effortlessly grab the box she was aiming for. With a frown, she whizzed around to see who had stolen her cereal.
When she saw who it was, she was at a loss of words. Standing in front of her was Finn Hudson, holding out the box for her to take.
"It looked like you needed to hand." Finn said with a smile, obviously not as speechless as Rachel.
Rachel cleared her throat and too the box from Finn. "I did. Thank you." She smiled, brushing some hair from her face.
Finn pulled a half-smile down at her, allowing them to stand in silence for a moment. Rachel looked at him in his casual clothing. For once he wasn't wearing his police uniform. He was wearing some dark blue jeans with a white polo-shirt. From the sleeves, Rachel could see his strong looking muscles at the top of his arms. He looked just as good out of uniform as he did in it.
Finn began to walk away, signalling for Rachel to follow him. "You know," He said as they walked. "I feel like I'm seeing you everywhere recently."
"I know." Rachel smiled to herself. She wasn't complaining about that.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were following me." Finn joked, pausing in front of some other cereal.
"You wish." Rachel laughed, knowing that it wasn't actually above her, but Finn didn't need to know that. "I think this is a sign."
"A sign for what?" Finn frowned, looking down at Rachel.
"Well, we keep seeing each other, so maybe the universe wants to see us together... at dinner, tomorrow at 8?" Rachel casually slipped in the question.
Finn seemed amused as he looked back at his choice of cereal. "I thought I already told you, I have a girlfriend."
"It's just dinner," Rachel shrugged. "Nothing serious."
"But I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate me dating other girls."
"We wouldn't be dating..." Rachel said. She would try anything to let Finn take her out just once. Just to get it out of her system. "We'd just be going on a date."
"I'm sorry, Rach." Finn said apologetically. She had no idea how sorry he really was. He wanted to take her out and get to know her better, but he knew Santana would tear him apart if he did. Besides, dating Rachel would be cheating on Santana; and Finn was anything but a cheater.
"You called me Rach again." Rachel said quietly, smiling to herself at how easily it came out of his mouth.
Finn thought back to what he had said, realising she was right. "It's an abbreviation." Finn said defensively.
"I know what it is, Finn."
"Then you know that it doesn't mean the universe is telling us to date."
"I never said that it did." Rachel reminded him, frowning at how defensive he was. "But it does mean that it's easy for us to converse with each other. We talk effortlessly and get on remarkably."
"You know who else I talk to effortlessly and get on with remarkably?" Finn asked. "Santana, my girlfriend."
Rachel sighed, knowing she would never get Finn on a date if he was with Santana. She loved how loyal he was though, even though Santana had told her the other evening that their relationship wasn't perfect. That's when Rachel got an idea, smiling to herself that she remembered it.
"I really didn't want to tell you this," Rachel said, following Finn as he crossed the aisle. "But I just can't keep it in any longer."
Finn frowned in confusion, eyeing some Fruit Loops on the shelf. "What is it?"
"Santana, your girlfriend, is a lesbian."
Finn paused, his hand in mid-air, half way to the Fruit Loops. He looked down at Rachel in surprise, remembering what Santana had told him a few days ago. It was true. Rachel really did use this as a way to get guys.
Finn narrowed his eyes at Rachel. "Santana was right." He said thoughtfully.
Rachel frowned, clearly confused. She had no idea what he was talking about. "About what?"
"You are unbelievable. How could you make up something so ridiculous just to date someone?"
Rachel frowned again. Making this up? Why would he think that? "I'm not making this up!" Rachel told him in frustration. "It's true. The other day when we went out for drinks she was checking out my room-mate. Her name his Brittany."
"I'm her boyfriend, Rachel." Finn told her, grabbing the Fruit Loops and throwing it in his basket. "If she was a lesbian, I think I'd know about it."
"She's clearly still in the closet!"
"Just stop, Rachel." Finn told her, annoyed that Rachel was everything Santana had said. "You don't know me, you know nothing about me. Leave me and Santana alone."
"I'm trying to do you a favour and save you from future heartbreak," Rachel said, still not knowing why Finn was so annoyed. "I'd appreciate some gratitude."
"You think you're doing this for me?" Finn asked in disbelief. "You did this for you, Rachel! You really are just as selfish as Santana said."
"Selfish?" Rachel said in surprise. "You don't know me well enough to make calls about whether or not I'm selfish."
"No, I don't." Finn admitted. "But Santana does." Finn began to back away from Rachel. "Leave us alone, Rachel!"
Rachel watched, still in shock, as Finn walked away from her. Leaving her in the middle of the aisle alone.
Rachel opened the door to her apartment, still annoyed with Finn. She was now in a bad mood, thinking she's ruined her relationship with yet another boy. Not that her and Finn had even been in a relationship. But they could have been, if she didn't screw it up.
She put her grocery bag on the kitchen counter, putting her handbag next to it. She noticed how quiet the apartment seemed, at a time she knew Brittany should be home. Frowning, she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Brittany wasn't there, or anywhere to be seen, but Rachel could see an unfamiliar jacket on the arm of the couch.
"Britt?" Rachel called out, walking towards her bedroom. "Are you home?"
As Rachel approached the closed door, she saw Brittany's t-shirt on the floor. Rachel picked it up and held it in her hand as she opened her room-mate's door, quietly in case she was taking a nap. When the door was open slightly, Rachel poked her head around the door and peered into the dark room.
Lying on the bed was Brittany, sleeping as Rachel expected. What Rachel didn't expect was that she wasn't alone. Sleeping, tangled in Brittany's arms, was a naked Santana Lopez.
A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews, you're all amazing! I know people hate waiting for Finchel to happen, but don't worry, we get more Finchel soon. If you like, leave me a review. Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and what you'd like to happen in the next!