New Directions finished their last song. There they stood, on the stage, facing the crowd who were giving them a loud standing ovation. Mr. Reid had announced it was their last show but New Directions knew it wasn't over just yet. The applause was loud and they all smiled. What Rachel had said a while back was true- they are like Tinkerbell because they do need applause to live.
They gave wide, bright smiles to the crowd, gave a long bow and exited the stage.
"It may be tiring, but I'll never get tired of it" Mercedes smiled
"That's true" Rachel said, leaning on Finn. Her face was slightly shimmery from sweat. "I wish those lights weren't so bright, though. You could roast a pig on that stage!"
Mike shrugged. "Well, what can you do?" A rhetorical question.
Kaylee and Phat Lady passed them quickly on their way out on stage.
"Stay close" Kaylee said. "Someone will get you when it's time."
They all nodded and proceeded walking backstage.
"Waiting room again?" Sam asked his group.
"Might as well" Santana nodded.
They walked to the waiting room and sat down. This time, there was no fight to get the seats.
"I can't believe we leave tomorrow" Tina said quietly. They all remained quiet, mulling over this sad fact.
"As much as I loved this trip, I can't wait to be home. I miss my clothes and I wore the same shirt three times this trip" Kurt said.
"I miss home too" Sam agreed. "I miss my family."
"That's sweet" Santana rolled her eyes.
"Okay, okay" Rachel said loudly, sensing a fight and putting a stop to it before it began. "What are the plans for tomorrow?"
"It's our last day, we should do something big" Puck smiled.
"I'd prefer small and together and fun" Quinn said.
"Let's just see where the day takes us. Maybe Mr. Schue has plans already" Finn said.
"Maybe" Blaine nodded.
"This has been a super fun trip" Mercedes said. "You know, I think that in twenty years, after we've gone our separate ways and have separate new lives, we should all get together and plan a big trip like this!"
"Well, I'm sure you'd all like to do that. Go on a trip with the famous Santana Lopez! You all are lucky. You all can say you knew me when I was a lowly high schooler" Santana smiled airily.
Everyone else rolled their eyes.
"Hey!" Will smiled, popping his head in the door. He had a warm smile on his face.
"Hello!" they all chorused.
"What're you all doing in here? Your show is done" Will said.
"Not exactly" Rachel said with a smile.
"We're singing one final song with Phat Lady" Rory explained.
"Are you now?" Will asked, amusement in his eyes. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. "I thought you guys were enemies."
"Still unconfirmed" Quinn said dryly.
"Most of us have forgiven them" Blaine said. "So I think we're on good terms now."
Will nodded. "Great. What song are you guys singing?"
"You'll have to wait and see" Brittany said. "So will I because I can't remember what song we decided on."
Will smiled and looked at them. Then he noticed Finn. Or rather, Finn's mustache.
"Uh, Finn, you have a-" Will began, but was cut off.
"MY CUP, MY CUP, SAYIN' WHAT'S UP TO MY CUP" Santana sang really loudly so that she was practically screaming. She had seen Mr. Schuester's eyes settle on Finn's upper lip and she knew he'd comment and ruin the joke. So she did what was necessary.
"Shut up!" Mike yelled and threw a fake apple at her. It hit her cheek and rolled away.
"What's your deal?" Mercedes asked Santana. No one else had caught on so her actions were alien to them.
Santana rolled her eyes. "I'm in a singing mood. So I sing. Got a problem?"
"No" Mercedes said, dragging out the word.
"Well, Mr. Schue, you'd best be going and get a seat to see our last performance" Santana said sweetly.
Will gave them a confused look than shrugged. "You guys are weird. Don't get up to anything stupid." And he left the room.
"What was that about?" Rachel asked Santana.
"Nothing" Santana said simply, but her tone told them that she wasn't speaking more.
Conversation resumed like normal for a while longer.
"Well, I gotta go to the bathroom" Finn announced, standing up. He smiled at them.
"Thanks for sharing. If I had a blog, I'd write about it" Sam said. Finn rolled his eyes and left the room. Once he was out of earshot, Santana groaned loudly.
"You guys are so dumb!" She said with a frown.
"What did we do?" Kurt asked. They were all as confused.
"It's what you didn't do" Santana said. "And that's help me out."
"I'm lost" Quinn said. They all nodded.
Santana sighed and looked up. "Remember like ten minutes ago, when I sang loudly?" They nodded. "Well, I had a legit reason."
"I should hope so. It was quite a random outburst" Rachel said.
"Mr. Schue was literally seconds away from telling Finn about the mustache! So I created a distraction by singing" Santana explained. As she said that, she could see the confusion disappear from their faces and the realization hit them.
"Ohhhhh" they said and nodded once they understood.
"Clever" Tina said.
"Why that song?" Sam asked.
"What song is it?" Blaine asked. "The lyrics are odd."
"That was the first song that came to mind" Santana said, cracking a small smile.
"I wrote that song" Brittany said happily to Blaine.
"That explains it" Blaine grinned.
"Artie helped. But no one else liked it so we didn't sing it at Nationals" Brittany told him.
"There's a shock" Kurt muttered, making Blaine laugh.
They all smiled and laughed too.
"And Finn never suspected a thing yet" Sugar said.
"Well, we're just lucky his IQ is about as high as Beth can count" Quinn said sarcastically.
"Beth is very smart for her age" Puck said proudly. "I taught her!"
"Poor child" Mercedes said but smiled when Puck made a face.
"Finn's smart too" Rachel protested, but no one listened.
Tina smiled. "By the way, in your rooms, did you guys have little bars of-"
She was cut off by Finn storming in the room.
"Anybody care to explain this?" Finn asked in a loud, mad tone and pointed to the mustache. His brow was furrowed and he almost shook with anger.
The other members of New Directions gave wide, innocent looks to Finn. Most of them had to bite their lips or cheeks so keep from laughing because Finn's reaction was actually quite hilarious.
"Well?" Finn demanded.
"What ever do you mean?" Quinn asked sweetly, making the task of holding in laughter that much harder.
"I mean this!" Finn yelled, pointing to the mustache so much that he poked himself a few times. Blaine totally lost it and had his face buried in Kurt's shoulder to muffle the giggles.
"Finn, it's vacation. It's okay if you don't shave" Sam said with a smile.
"Very...rugged, Finn" Mercedes winked at him jokingly.
"I went on stage like this!" Finn yelled. "People saw me!"
"Oh, Finn, man up" Santana said. "It's barely noticeable."
"When did you notice it?" Rory asked.
Finn's anger died down a bit. "I saw it in the mirror in the bathroom."
"Darn, we should have seen that one coming" Puck said.
"Uh, hello!" Fin said, snapping back into his mad tone. He realized he had to target them one at a time to get the best outcome. And he knew right away who to hit up first. He turned to Rachel, who, despite her previous resistance to the whole idea, was also fighting to keep in a giggle.
"Rachel, how could you let this happen?" He asked, trying to sound nice and mad at the same time.
Rachel's eyes grew wide with guilt. "I'm sorry, it was just a joke and I was against it at first, but really, it's not that bad and it is kinda funny..."
"Have a sense of humor, bro" Puck said. "And don't blame the chick."
Finn knew Puck was right.
"Come on" Kurt said to his taller step-brother. "You know it's funny. You know you want to laugh."
Finn's lips twitched as if he did want to smile.
"You know you want to" Sugar repeated in a sing-song voice.
Finn rolled his eyes and chuckled. "I suppose."
They laughed along with him.
"You're not going to take it off now, right?" Brittany asked.
"I most certainly am" Finn said. He marched to the door. "Right now."
"What? But it's so stylish" Mike said. "Keep it."
"No thanks" Finn shook his head. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to wash this off."
He left the room and stepped into the backstage area. Rachel stood up, adjusted her dress and ran after him. He was just down the backstage hall.
"Finn!" Rachel called, running up and almost into him. "I really was against the idea. They did it when you fell asleep between shows. I'm sorry I didn't try and stop them. I didn't think you'd be so upset about it. They told me you'd be okay and it would be funny, which it sorta was but really, I'm honestly sor-"
Finn pulled her close and kissed her. She was rambling and with Rachel, you had to do two things to shut her up- kiss her or tell her some shocking fact like Wicked was getting canceled permanently or something like that. He chose the first and best way.
When Rachel's eyes fell shut and she relaxed into the kiss, Finn pulled back.
"Calm down, I'm not mad at you" he said quietly, but she could hear him.
"No?"
"I'm not even mad at all."
"Oh...okay" Rachel nodded.
"Sure, I was a little annoyed, but not with you" Finn said, and kissed her again. This time, it wasn't such a shock to her and she kissed back.
"I love you" Finn said to her. "And don't you forget it."
"Only if you never forget that I love you too" Rachel smiled.
Finn hugged her. "I'm anxious to be home because then we can do this without all thirteen of them hounding us. Privacy is a meaningless word on trips like this."
Rachel sighed. "I know, right. But just watch, you'll miss them and this trip when it's all gone and over."
Finn smiled and chuckled. "Maybe...probably."
Rachel gave him a quick kiss. "Can I be honest with you?"
"That's a stupid question. Of course, yes. I want you to always be" Finn said, frowning a bit because people, girls especially, only asked that when they had something sad or important to say.
Rachel nodded. "Good. I just wanted to tell you that...you don't look good with a mustache."
Finn looked relived because he was expecting her to say something worse. "I don't?"
"No, sorry" Rachel said. "Really, mustaches aren't hot on anyone. Except maybe Orlando Bloom..."
Finn raised one eyebrow. Rachel saw it and giggled.
"Sorry. You weren't planning on growing one, were you?"
"Nah" Finn shook his head with a smile.
"Good" Rachel said.
They sorta stood there for a minute, staring lovingly into each other's eyes, enjoying each other.
"Well, I better go back to the group. And you have to wash off the mustach" Rachel said, swinging their interlocked hands.
"Good plan" Finn smiled and press a kiss to her forehead. They broke apart and went in opposite directions, only looking back once, catching each other's stare and giving a wide smile.
Will returned to his seat after he chatted with the kids. Emma sat on his left and Shelby sat on his right and Shannon sat on Emma's left.
"Where are the kids? And why are you sitting down?" Shelby asked Will when he sat in his seat.
"The kids joined forces with Phat Lady and they're gonna sing a song together at the end of this" Will explained in a hushed voice.
"Really?" Emma asked.
Will nodded. "They said they've forgiven Phat Lady. Well, most of them."
Shelby shrugged. "Okay then."
"Seems harmless enough" Beiste said, look up to the stage where Phat Lady was perfectly singing a loud pop song.
"So I guess we'll have to stick around then, huh?" Shelby asked.
"Yeah, why?" Will asked. "Got better things to do?"
Shelby chuckled. "Sleep. I'm old and tired and this is the most excitement I've had in years. I want to go to bed."
"Oh, Shelby" Emma smiled. "You're not old."
"Yeah, I think I'm older than all of you" Beiste said.
"How old are you?" Will asked, innocently curious.
Beiste made a 'tsk' sound. "Will, you never ask a lady her age."
"Shannon's right" Emma said. "It's just plain rude."
Will rolled his eyes. "Sorry."
"Anyways, you can sleep after the show. And then when we return in Lima, you can sleep for as long as you please" Emma said.
Shelby nodded. "I may sleep for a year."
Kaylee came to the door exactly thirty minutes later.
"Hey guys!" Kaylee said, a bit out of breath from performing.
"Hello" Artie smiled.
"Ready?" Kurt asked her. Kaylee nodded and New Directions all stood up. The girls adjusted their dresses and skirts and the boys smoothed out the front of their shirts.
"So do we just follow you on stage?" Mercedes asked.
"Nope. You wait backstage and when I announce it, you all come out. Sadly, we don't have enough mics, so you'll all have to sing loudly. I guess with all of us, it'll be fine" Kaylee said as they trailed behind her backstage.
"Great" Tina nodded.
Kaylee came to a stop near the curtains. The other members of Phat Lady were on stage singing a rock song that Finn, Artie and Puck seem to know, but was foreign to all the girls.
"Well, here we are. I'm going back on stage now and you'll hear the cue for you guys to come on" Kaylee said with a smile. She tucked a stray lock of black hair away from her face and looked at New Directions. "I'm really glad we're doing this and I'm glad everything's cool between us."
"Aw, so are we" Mercedes said with a dazzling smile.
Kaylee gave him a smile then when the song Phat Lady was singing ended, she threw open the curtains and went back on stage.
Phat Lady sang another song. Then after that, the music died and Kaylee took a mic.
"Hello" Kaylee said loudly to the crowd. "Hope you're all enjoying the show. We have one last treat for you. In honor of their last night here before they get on a plane and return to Lima, Ohio, we welcome back to the stage for one large and loud duo group performance, here is New Directions!"
With that cue, New Directions ran on stage and was greeted by a loud thunderous applause and smiles from Phat Lady's members.
The music started.
'Let's get it on, yeah, y'all can come along
Everybody drinks on me, buy out the bar
Just to feel like I'm a star, now I'm thanking the academy
Missed my ride home, lost my iPhone
I wouldn't have it any other way
If you're with me let me hear you say
I like it like that!
Hey windows down, chillin' with the radio on
I like it like that!
Damn, the sun's so hot, make the girls take it all off
I like it like that!
Yeah, one more time, I can never get enough of everybody
Sing it right back, I like it like that!
Till the break of the dawn, yeah, party on my lawn
Whistle as the girls walk by if the cops roll up, so what?
Pour the cops a cup cause everybody's here tonight
Call a taxi, pack the back seat
I wouldn't have it any other way
If you're with me let me hear you say
I like it like that!
Hey windows down, chillin' with the radio on
I like it like that!
Damn, the sun's so hot, make the girls take it all off
I like it like that!
Yeah, one more time, I can never get enough of everybody
Sing it right back, I like it like that!
Oh oh oh oh, like that
Oh oh oh oh, like that
Oh oh oh oh, sing it right back, I like it like that
Oh my homie got the booze
I like it like that cause the girls playin' beer pong in the back
We havin' fun partying til the break of dawn
Go grab a cup I dunno what people waitin' on
And I'm gonna want a girl that I know I can take home
In the zone, where I think that I lost my phone
You can tell by looking in, the party's plain crack
And don't worry 'bout it girls cause I like it like
Come back stay here at my grandma's house
And leave your clothes over there, that's grandma couch
I be filmin' her friends too, hit em back on that
Double D chicks huggin', I got racks on racks
Like, I don't want the luxuries of a superstar
I'm just tryin' to chill with Miley at the hookah bar
You like cartoons? I'll make your heart melt
With this sick tune, play it in the car
I like it like that!
Hey windows down, chillin' with the radio on
I like it like that!
Damn, the sun's so hot, make the girls take it all off
I like it like that!
Yeah, one more time, I can never get enough of everybody
Sing it right back, I like it like that!
I like it like that!
Hey windows down, chillin' with the radio on
I like it like that!
Damn, the sun's so hot, make the girls take it all off
I like it like that!
Yeah, one more time, I can never get enough of everybody
Sing it right back, I like it like that!
Oh oh oh oh like that
Oh oh oh oh like that,
Oh oh oh oh everybody, sing it right back, I like it like that
I like it like that'
When the last note was sung by both groups and the music ended, the crowd erupted in a loud roar. The two groups that stood on stage, displaying wide smiles and rapidly rising and falling chests, looked at each other. They smiled even wider and they all shuffled in to a very large group hug. The ones in the middle were squished but enjoyed it all.
"Great job guys" Rachel smiled as someone's, maybe Cam's, arm moved and almost hit her face.
"We are amazing" Sophie shouted.
"Heck yeah!" Mercedes laughed.
They slowly shuffled out of the hug and gave a bow to the audience. Then New Directions and Phat Lady got off the stage and stood in the darkness of the backstage area.
"That was amazing!" Sam said, fist pumping.
"I know!" Kaylee said, laughing.
"Any chances that you guys will move to Ohio and we'll form a large glee club. Maybe 'Phat Directions' or 'New Lady'?" Puck asked, proud of his name ideas.
Cam shook his head. "That'd be amazing but I doubt it's in the near future. We love Orlando, Florida too much."
"Too bad" Rachel said. "We'd whoop those Warblers and Vocal Adrenaline so bad. They won't know what hit them!"
"I remember Vocal Adrenaline. We ran into them at Nationals last year" Jess said, frowning at the memory. "They're good."
"And evil" Kurt piped up.
They all laughed but Phat Lady's laugh was more of an awkward one.
"Anyways, I know it's late, so if you are tired, it's okay, but it's our post show ritual to swim. You guys are more than welcome to come" Kaylee offered with a smile.
"Here at the hotel pool?" Rory asked.
Cam nodded.
"Is it open this late?" Finn asked. "Pools close at a certain time."
Kaylee smiled. "For normal people, it is. For the hotel owner's daughter, it is always open."
"Really? You can do that?" Sugar asked excitedly.
Kaylee gave a small smirk, reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. There were at least five different keys on it. Kaylee held up a silver key. "This one is the pool key."
"Well guys" Quinn said to her fellow group members. "Are we gonna go?"
New Directions shared some glances, but it obvious of their unanimous decision.
"Yes!"
A/N
Hey! Hope you liked this chapter. The song they sing is 'I Like It Like That' by Hot Chelle Rae feat. New Boyz. Anyhoo, I've been busy with watching Glee (which has been EPIC) and blogging about Glee. Lately, I've had some issue uploading embedded videos on my blog and becasuse I'm guessing most of you readers are technologically advanced, I'd really love it if you helped me out. My issue is explained in the post entitled "Glee 'Prom-asaurus' videos". If you have an answer, I'll love you forever. Here is my blog:
gleerificnewsstop(dot)wordpress(dot)com
Thanks so much! Anyways, now I'm listening to Glee's new AMAZING version of 'Big Girls Don't Cry'...I'm in love. Hahaha TTYL for now!