A/N: Your reviews really do mean the world to me, so thank you so much! I hope you enjoy.
Rachel woke up at mid-afternoon the next day. As soon as she was eased into consciousness, her head felt like it was about to explode. She brought a hand up to grab her head, hoping that it would in some way dull the pain. It didn't. Rachel let out a soft moan, squeezing her eyes shut and rolling over.
Rachel slowly opened her eyes, the brightness only making her head feel worse. She was now regretting drinking so much last night. But how could she not? Her date with Finn, a date that she had had high hopes for, had been a complete bust. He had made her feel awful, acting like he was better than her just because she liked to party once in a while. She wasn't out of control or a bad member or society. She did nothing wrong, and Finn was completely out of order.
Rachel slowly sat up, wincing as she did. She needed coffee and aspirin as soon as possible. She got out of bed and grabbed a robe from her wardrobe. Wrapping it around herself, she left her bedroom and walked towards the kitchen.
Before she made it to the kitchen, she heard Brittany talking to someone. She assumed it was their new house-guest, Santana, though she could only hear Brittany's side of the conversation. Curiosity growing inside her, she opened the door to the kitchen and poked her head inside.
Brittany was talking on the phone to someone while she made some coffee. At the sound of the door opening, she turned around to see who was entering. Rachel thought that Brittany looked worried when she saw Rachel, her eyes widening with what Rachel thought was panic. Frowning, Rachel walked fully into the kitchen, worried that something bad may have happened.
"Yeah... Yeah... Yeah..." Brittany was saying, never moving her eyes off Rachel. "I got it... Don't worry..." Rachel took a seat at the kitchen table, watching Brittany watch her. "Who's known her longer?... Me. Exactly... Bye." Brittany put her phone down onto the counter and walked over to join Rachel at the table.
"Who was that?" Rachel asked curiously.
"No one." Brittany mumbled, never quite meeting Rachel's gaze. Rachel opened her mouth to question it further, but Brittany spoke before she had the chance. "No offence, Rachel, but you look like hell."
At the mention of how bad Rachel looked, she began to feel just as bad as she had when she woke up. Her headache suddenly felt worse and the lights felt brighter. Rachel looked down at the table, resting her head on her hand. "I have a hangover." She groaned.
"The date was that bad?" Brittany said, sympathy in her voice, mixed with a hint of... surprise?
Rachel's head snapped up as she looked as Brittany suspiciously. "How did you know the date went badly?"
Brittany's eyes widened slightly, though she tried to remain calm. "Well...Uh..." She panicked, making Rachel wonder what was really going on. "Why would you have such a bad hangover if it went well? I just assumed that it went horribly and then you drank the pain away."
Rachel looked at Brittany suspiciously for a moment longer before nodding. "Well, yes, it went badly." Rachel confirmed, putting her head back down on her hand. "But I don't want to talk about it right now."
Brittany nodded in understanding. "Let me get you some coffee."
"And aspirin!" Rachel added.
"And aspirin." Brittany confirmed with a cheerful giggle. "Anyway, you have work today, right?"
Rachel sighed, remembering that Brittany was right, she did have work that day. There was no way she could go into work feeling this bad. She didn't have the strength to serve obnoxious customers, or get hit on by drunk men. No way. She'd call in sick today.
"I'm not going." Rachel informed her room-mate. "I'll call in sick or something."
Brittany turned around with a grin on her face. "Perfect." She said, walking back to Rachel with a coffee in one hand and a box of aspirin in the other.
"Why's that perfect?" Rachel asked with a frown.
"Uh..." Brittany looked away and remained silent for a couple of seconds.
"Brittany, what's going on with you today?" Brittany was definitely acting strange. Even if she had always been... unique in certain ways, today was different.
"Nothing!" Brittany said immediately, a little too loudly for Rachel's liking. "I just need you to meet me somewhere today."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at Brittany, trying to understand why Brittany was acting this way. She was usually good at reading people, though there seemed to be no plausible explanation for this. She seemed quite jumpy and... almost like she was hiding something.
"Meet you where?" Rachel asked slowly, carefully.
"Bow bridge at Central Park." Brittany replied, still avoiding eye-contact.
"Why?"
Brittany looked at the watch on her wrist and then stood up. "I better get to work." She said, picking up her bag. "Just promise that you'll meet me at Bow Bridge tonight at 5?"
"Britt, why do you want me to meet you there?"
"I don't have time to explain." Brittany said, looking at her watch again. Rachel knew that she was trying to get away. Brittany's shift started in 25 minutes, and it only took her 10 minutes to get to work. "Just promise you'll meet me?"
Rachel hesitated, not knowing what was going on. But Brittany was her friend, and she could trust her. "Fine. I promise."
As promised, at 5pm that evening, Rachel was standing on Bow Bridge, watching the people in boats on the water below. She looked around for the fifth time. Brittany was still nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Rachel took out her phone and decided to text Brittany saying,
Britt, I'm here. Where are you and what's going on?
-Rach.
After hitting send, Rachel turned back to the water. She tried to understand why Brittany had been acting so strangely earlier. Was it something to do with why she had been on the phone? Rachel remembered that she still didn't know who Brittany had been talking to, and that worried her. Brittany never kept things from her, but it seemed like she was today. Why else would she have seemed so nervous?
Interrupting her thoughts, Rachel's phone vibrated with a message. She pulled it from her pocket and opened it.
I'm almost there. Stop worrying.
-Britt.
She still hadn't told Rachel what was going on. And that message was extremely vague. Rachel considered leaving and telling Brittany that she didn't like surprises, that she didn't like that fact that she was obviously keeping something from her. But as Brittany had said: she was almost here. She may as well stay and find out what was going on. Besides, she couldn't just stand Brittany up either.
Rachel's thoughts were interrupted again, this time by a pat on the shoulder. With a sigh of relief, Rachel whizzed around, dying to find out why Brittany had asked to meet her here.
But it wasn't Brittany who had tapped her. It was Finn Hudson. Holding a bunch of flowers and a small basket. He smiled at her sheepishly, almost like he was scared of her reaction. Rachel didn't know whether to be happy or angry at seeing him. She chose the latter.
"Finn, what are you doing here?" She said, folding her arms across her chest.
"I'm here to meet you." Finn replied, holding the flowers out towards her. "These are for you."
"Finn, I'm here to meet Brittany, not you. She should be here any moment, so if you'll excuse me." Rachel turned back around, ignoring the hurt look on Finn's face. She hoped Brittany would arrive soon, waiting for her had just become a whole lot more awkward.
"Brittany's not coming, Rachel." Finn said from behind her. His voice had a hint of amusement behind it.
"How would you know?" Rachel said bitterly, surprised that Finn would even say that.
"Because she never was." Finn replied simply, causing Rachel to frown and turn around. "You're actually here to meet me."
Rachel was confused. She didn't know what was going on, but she intended to find out. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I called Brittany this morning and asked her if she could get you here. I need to speak to you."
"You don't even know Brittany's number." Rachel stated matter-of-factly, folding her arms stubbornly across her chest.
"I'm a cop, I have my ways." Finn said with a casual shrug. He held the flowers out to her again, waiting for her to take them.
Rachel looked at them, though made no move to take them. "What makes you think that I want to talk to you?"
"Listen, Rachel, I owe you an apology for last night. Please let me make it up to you?" Finn sounded like he really did want to make it up to her, though Rachel really didn't know Finn well enough to trust him entirely.
"Forget it, Finn. We went on a date that ended badly. It's no big deal." Rachel was still reluctant to speak with Finn. What made him think that he could just show up and make everything OK?
"Please, Rachel. Just give me 10 minutes?" Finn pleaded.
Rachel contemplated this for a moment. She narrowed her eyes at Finn, trying to figure out if he really did want to make things right. He had no reason to lie about it, right? And what did Rachel have to lose? If she left now, it would have just been a wasted trip. Rachel shrugged casually, "Fine." She said. "Ten minutes."
Finn tugged up the corner of his mouth into his charming half-smile. Rachel felt butterflies in her stomach just at the sight of him, but she forced herself to ignore them.
Finn held up the flowers even higher again. "Here." He said, urging her to take them.
Rachel sighed and grabbed them. "Thank you. They're beautiful."
"Yeah, well they reminded me of you." Finn smiled flirtatiously, causing Rachel to blush slightly.
"Wow, Officer Hudson, such a charmer." Rachel sounded like she was joking, but she wasn't. He really did charm her, sometimes without even trying.
Finn chuckled slightly and held out his hand for Rachel. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Rachel said cautiously, taking Finn's hand anyway.
"You'll see."
Finn guided her off the bridge and to an area of grass nearby. It had the perfect view of the bridge and the water, but also had some trees and flowers nearby. He took her to a spare space and opened the basket. He took out a blanket and laid it down on the grass. He indicated for Rachel to sit, which she did, then sat next to her. Rachel looked around, seeing other people going about their lives. Some people were just walking along, others jogging, some were sitting on the grass nearby to them, others on benches. It was a beautiful spot.
When Rachel turned back to Finn, he had taken some strawberries, grapes, and other small snacks from the basket and laid them out between them both. He took out two glasses and filled them both with some sparkling water.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I chose sparkling water," Finn said as he handed Rachel her glass. She wasn't actually, but she nodded anyway. "I was going to bring wine or champagne, then I remembered you might come here in a car."
"So?" Rachel asked, confused as to where he was going with this.
"You've not had a good record with drink-driving in the past, and I wouldn't want to have to arrest you." He said in a teasing voice.
Rachel narrowed her eyes at Finn and gave him a playful nudge. "Very funny."
Finn pulled his half-smile again and picked up a grape, dropping it into his mouth. "So, I want to apologise to you." He said, looking her in the eye so that she knew he was telling the truth. "It was wrong of me to judge you so harshly before really getting to know you. I think I just stereotyped you, which I know I shouldn't have."
Rachel smiled, appreciating the apology. "It's fine, Finn, don't worry. You're not the first, and you won't be the last."
"Something that you said last night really made me feel bad though." Finn continued, looking at his hands uncomfortably. "That I thought I was better than you. I want you to know that that's not true. I in no way feel like you're below me because you have a different lifestyle."
"Thank you." Rachel said quietly, smiling as she grabbed a strawberry. "I appreciate the apology."
Finn smiled at Rachel and looked down again. They remained in silence for a couple more moments. Finn thought about how surprisingly easy it had been to get Rachel to forgive him. But he really was sorry about everything that had happened, and maybe she could tell that he was. As Rachel grabbed some more food, Finn noticed her star tattoo again, spiking his curiosity.
"So, you never told me," Finn began, causing Rachel to look up at him. "What you're tattoo is a metaphor for."
"Huh?" Rachel frowned and popped a grape into her mouth.
"You're tattoo of a star on your wrist. You said it was a metaphor. A metaphor for what?"
Rachel smiled slightly, looking down at the star etched onto her wrist. She laughed slightly, almost as if she was embarrassed, before explaining. "Well, when I was in high school and college, I used to want to be on Broadway. I believed I was the next Barbra Streisand or something." She stopped to laugh again, making Finn smile. She really had had big dreams once. "Anyway," She continued. "At that time, gold stars were kinda my thing. A metaphor for me being a star."
Rachel seemed embarrassed to admit this, but Finn thought it was sweet. He smiled at her, happy to hear that she did used to dream of making it big, instead of just being a waitress all her life.
"Don't worry, I'm not that naive any more." Rachel assured him, causing Finn's smile to falter slightly.
"What? You don't want to be a star any more?" He asked.
"Of course! Who doesn't want to be a star?" Rachel said, smiling, but looking down at her hands. "I just know that I'm nothing special. I'm not destined to be the next Barbra Streisand or a Broadway star."
"You shouldn't have given up on your dream so quickly." Finn told her. He didn't think that it was his place to tell Rachel what she should or shouldn't have done when they didn't even know each other very well, but he couldn't help it, it just came out.
Rachel looked up, surprise on her face. Finn hoped she wouldn't be mad, and she wasn't. Just surprised. "You think I gave up easily?" She asked, in a somewhat accusatory, yet not mean, tone. "For the first three years after I left college, all I did was go to audition after audition." Rachel informed him. "All I was told was that I wasn't ready, or that I was too young, or that I wasn't pretty enough to be on the stage."
Finn looked down, feeling bad for Rachel. "I'm sorry." He mumbled.
"There's only so much rejection someone can take." Rachel continued. "So I realised that I wasn't good enough."
Finn wanted to argue back, tell her that that wasn't true, but he didn't know. He had never seen Rachel act or heard her sing. He couldn't tell her that she was talented because he just didn't know. He would be obvious that he wasn't being sincere. So he just didn't say anything.
"Anyway, what about you Officer Hudson?" Rachel said, moving the topic away from her.
"What about me?"
"Did you always want to be a police officer?"
"Actually, I didn't know what I wanted to be." Finn said with a nonchalant shrug. "Everyone around me had a plan, but I didn't. I didn't want people to know that I had nowhere to go in life, so I just went with it, ended up wherever life put me."
"Wow," Rachel said with a small giggle. "We could not be more different."
As Rachel said those words, Finn remembered the other reason that he had asked Rachel to meet him. With a deep breath, he decided to get it out of the way. His nerves would just grow if he didn't get it over with.
"About that," Finn began. "We really are very different people." He waited for Rachel to nod, which she did. "But I really like you, Rachel. And I'd really like to get to know you better... just as friends."
Rachel frowned, looking confused. "What?"
"I think that we're too different to date. I know that opposites attract, but we are complete polar opposites. Maybe it would be better if instead of dating, we're just friends."
Rachel stopped for a second to process what Finn had just said. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't disappointed, but she knew that Finn was right. They were incredibly different, and maybe not in a good way. Rachel was just glad that they had only been on one date when this happened, it would have hurt a lot more if their relationship was more serious.
"You're right." Rachel said quietly. "Maybe we are better off being friends."
Finn smiled, relieved that Rachel was OK with it. "Good. I do like you, Rachel, I think you're a really good person. I'm glad we can be friends."
Rachel smiled. "Me too." She said, before looking down. She pulled out her phone and checked the time, then looked back up at Finn. "Your ten minutes are up." She informed him.
"How did I do?" He asked. "Did I make up for last night?"
"Well we're friends, aren't we?" Rachel said jokingly, letting out a small laugh.
Finn nodded and pulled his adorable half-smile. Great. Rachel thought to herself. Friends.
A/N: Sorry for any errors that were in here. I didn't proof-read. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me a review if it's not too much trouble!