"What?" Finn said in an exasperated tone as he looked up from his next to notice his friend and business partner Steve giving him a look. It was the same looked Steve had been giving him for the last two and a half weeks. A look like he was waiting for Finn to say something or had a question he wanted Finn to answer without the question having to be asked.
"Nothing." Steve said casually as he returned to the monitor in front of him for a split second before he slammed it closed and turned to study Finn's face. "I've just been waiting for you to tell me about the from Kurt's wedding. The one Alison said you were making kissy face with." He hung his tongue out at Finn for a moment before pushing his rolling chair over to Finn's desk. "Come man spill. I haven't seen you so much as talk to a girl in years and now you're dancing? You didn't even dance at your wedding I know I was there! So if your dancing it's a big deal and don't tell me it's not. "
"It was nothing," Finn responded as he blew out a breath and ran a tired hand down over his face before looking at Steve and letting out a small growl. "She's someone I knew in high school okay. And I hadn't seen in a long time. We talked she asked if I would dance with her so I did. That's it. Nothing more. And nothing to make a big deal out of. I haven't even talked to her since the wedding alright?"
"Okay, okay," Steve said as he held his hands up in a shielding manner. "Just some girl from high school you danced with. Got it. No more questions. No need to get defensive." The two men had been friends since their freshman year of college so if there was anything Steve knew it was when not to push Finn for more information.
"Good," Finn mumbled as he returned to the inventory paperwork in front of him trying in vain to focus on it. Seeing Rachel again had been a big deal. The emotions she stirred in him had been the kind of emotions he'd been trying to keep buried for years. But he wasn't about to admit to anyone that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since the wedding. He beat himself up the whole flight home for not asking for a number where he could get a hold of her. And every time he stopped and thought about her he felt the way she had slipped her hand into his before she asked him to dance. He knew that if he really wanted to talk to her again he could call Kurt and get her phone number but at the same time if she had wanted to talk to him again she could do the same. But it was better that their moment stay frozen in time. The last thing Rachel needed was someone as screwed up and damaged as him. And he figured she probably saw how screwed up and damaged he was during their encounter at the wedding and decided it was best they not try to carry on any kind of contact.
But her eyes, the way she had looked at him. The way she felt pressed against him, he couldn't just forget that. It had been almost a month since the wedding and he still saw her every night when he closed his eyes to go to sleep know; no matter how hard he tried to shake the image. The vision of her had become as much a part of his daily routine as his coffee in the morning and to be honest with himself no matter how much he didn't like it, he didn't want it to fade either. A sharp breath left his lungs as he tried to refocus on his paperwork. It would go away in time though, he told himself before glancing over to catch Steve giving him that look again.
"Hey, Mr.H," Finn's head snapped up as the young shaggy blonde haired boy that worked their front office after school entered into the office space. "There's a lady out there asking for you," the boy mumbled as he tried to swallow whatever he was chewing. "And I don't know who she is but she's hot and she's got these awesome cookies."
Finn sat straight up in his chair and cocked his head back, as Steve cocked a questioning eyebrow at him. "Cookies?" Finn asked as he started to stand from his chair. There was only one girl he knew that made cookies and well it couldn't be, he thought to himself as he looked back at Steve and then nodded towards the office door before he quickly walked towards the front of the building.
Steve raised an eyebrow as he stood up from his desk and walked to the office window seeing the dark haired woman patiently waiting at the counter with a plate of cookies in her hand. She looked like the woman Alison had described from the wedding or at least how he would have pictured the woman from the wedding to have looked like. His fingers kept the blinds pried open as he watched Finn emerge from the hallway and giving the woman a surprised embrace. He didn't know who this woman was but when the embrace broke and he caught a good look at the smile on Finn's face one thing was for sure she definitely was a big deal.
A nervous ball formed in the pit of Rachel's stomach as she stood at the front counter of Finn's sporting goods store waiting for him to come out of the office. She tried not to let fear wash over her as she wondered for a moment if he would even come out. She reached forward and took one of the business cards from the holder on the counter. It was exactly like the one Kurt had given her before he'd left on his honeymoon. She hadn't asked him for it but she hadn't had too. She could tell by the look that Kurt had given her when he handed it to her that he knew she was going to ask for one, whether he thought it was a good idea or not.
Now she found herself standing in a sporting goods store in Cincinnati waiting for a man she'd only seen once since high school to emerge from his office. At that thought the panic set in. What if he didn't want to see her? What if the moment she'd thought they'd shared was just in her head? She knew he was bitter about the way he'd been treated by the women in his life and that somewhere in the timeline she was one of those women. So what if he walked out and told her to get lost, or that she was wasting her time or… Her body went rigid as she huffed out a breath and tried to calm down her racing thoughts. She had to see, she was compelled to see. Even before the wedding, even when she hadn't seen him in ten years, even when she thought he was still married and it hurt she still thought about him all the time. Rachel couldn't explain it, not to herself or anyone who might ask because all she knew was she had needed to see him again. She had to see if the moment was just a moment that had simply come and gone.
And her question was answered as soon as she saw his figure step out of the hallway and his face light up as he made his way toward her. It was a reaction she hadn't expected and when his arms wrapped around her in an embrace it was a feeling she couldn't explain. She buried her face against his shoulder and inhaled his scent as he hugged her. Some things never changed and right then in that moment she was transporter back to high school and the first time he kissed her. The first time she'd ever gotten to really take in the way he felt against her and the way he smelled. The memories his scent triggered almost made her forget that they were no longer kids and instead adults that now barely knew each other standing in front of one another.
"What are you doing here?" Finn asked his voice a little too high as he broke their embrace. His head was still spinning from the shock of seeing Rachel standing right before him.
"I was in the neighborhood." Rachel said casually and gave him a slightly shrug. She watched Finn tilt his head a bit towards her and before he even had the chance to ask the question the words started tumbling from her mouth. "It's Daddy's birthday weekend. So I had taken a couple of days off to come home and surprise him. But when I got to the house they weren't there. I guess I probably should have let Dad in on my surprise for Daddy because when I called I was politely informed that they are in Wisconsin at some retreat for the weekend. Then when I put my phone back in my purse I found your business bard that Kurt had given me and I figured I was already in Lima, and Lima and Cincinnati aren't that far apart so I…"
"So you made cookies and then came here?" Finn finished her sentence with a small laugh as his eyes crinkled a bit showing his age.
"Well you said I should come see your house if I was ever in the neighborhood and Ohio is kinda the neighborhood." She shrugged slightly and looked around starting to feel slightly uncomfortable and realizing that she had just shown up and intruded in of his life without even so much as a phone call. The fears she'd tried to quell when she was waiting for him to come out started to bubble up again. "I can just leave the cookies and go if you're busy I mean it's…" Her body started to shift towards the door.
"Rachel," he said reaching out to grip her hand to stop her from turning towards the door. His heart pounded a bit in his chest and he tightened his grip on her. "It's fine. I'm just surprised." A half smile crossed his lips, and she smiled back softly the simple action putting them both a bit more at ease. "Really surprised and I'd love for you to see my house. You remember Alison and Jace the woman and little boy I was with at Kurt's wedding?" He released his grip on her wrist and waited for her to nod an affirmative before he continued on. "I promised Jace I'd go to the Reds game with Steve and Alison and him tonight but you can come. We have an extra ticket. We always have an extra ticket because they're always hoping I'll bring someone but I never do and," Finn caught himself rambling out and quickly took a breath to compose himself. "You wanna come to the Reds game with us tonight? It's baseball and not Broadway but it should keep you entertained for a few hours."
Rachel felt herself melt as he shrugged and gave her a half smile. All the time that had passed and Finn Hudson still made her feel like a schoolgirl with a crush. She still wasn't entirely sure what had made her feel so compelled to see him again but she was glad she did. "I'd love to," was her response as she nodded vigorously at him and bit down softly on her lip.
"Good," he glanced back at the office door to see Steve peering through the blinds. He glanced back to Rachel then back at Steve and repeated the action as he tucked his hands into his pockets. Now he just had to figure out how to explain the situations. He had to explain Rachel to Steve and Alison and well Steve and Alison to Rachel. "Give me a few minutes to finish some stuff up and we can go get something to eat because before we go anywhere with Steve and Alison," his voice becoming unsure as he paused and looked down at Rachel. He wasn't sure how well this was going to go over but if she didn't take it well then he wouldn't have to do any real explaining to Steve and Alison, so he was going to start with Rachel. "There's probably something I should tell you."