Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee, or any of the quotes/lyrics included in this story.
"After that, he was in my dreams nearly every night, but always on the periphery, never within reach."
-Stephenie Meyer
Rachel continued to stare, her eyes never wavering from Finn, as she now knew him. He put together his cue, pulling a piece of chalk from his bag to apply to the tip before he finally met her gaze.
"What's up Rachel?"
"Umm, I...pool" she stuttered, heavily relying on her own stick to hold her up.
"Want a partner?"
"Sure" she cried a little too loudly, quickly spinning around to readjust the balls but running smack into Sam's chest.
"Whoa babe, where's the fire?" he laughed, for the first time making her cringe at his pet name for her.
"I, I just really want to hurry along with my practicing so that I can sooner be an asset to the team. Weren't you going to play in the other room?" she asked as Finn started to rack up the balls at the end of the table.
"Oh yeah, did you ask the-"
"It should be open, you just go have them give you the key. You can use my student card to pay if you don't have any money" she scrambled, gently pushing him away towards the gaming room. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart as she turned back towards her new practice partner, the loud smack of the balls being broken surprising her. "Ah!"
"You're a jumpy little thing aren't you" he commented coolly, smirking at her.
"I just haven't really gotten used to that part yet" she said, thinking back to the last time she tried to break the balls herself and only the corner balls moved. "Breaking is still one of my obstacles."
"Well, you won't have to worry about that as long as you're playing with me."
Rachel blushed at his words, praising him for his chivalry in her mind as he glanced to her for her reaction. "Thank you."
"Have you played any actual games yet, or just practiced the shots?" he asked, leaning over and effortlessly knocking in the three ball.
"Just shots so far."
"Well today Rachel, we're going to play actual games. In pool, typically the person who wins breaks up the balls for the next match. So don't worry, you won't be breaking anytime soon" he explained cockily, knocking the one ball into a rail and sending it flying into the corner pocket. "I'm shooting at the solid balls, so you have the solids. First one to get them all off, and knock in the eight ball wins."
Rachel gasped a little at his attitude, not at all having expected that. "Excuse me, but you know that I'm new to the game. Don't you think you should give me some sort of handicap?"
"Nope, you'll never learn that way" he retorted, chalking his stick as he turned to her, daring her to argue. Which of course she did.
"That's not true at all! I've learned a sufficient amount already by just shooting the balls repetitively and having help from Will. I think you're just being a bully" she cried with exasperation, a little angry that he'd made four shots already and she hadn't even gotten on the table.
"It's called being a tough coach, no babying and all that. Think of it as like, being thrown into the pool when you're just learning how to swim."
"Fine" Rachel grumbled, only really giving in because he missed the six and she was dying to get on the table and show him what she had learned. She positioned herself and lined up her shot, trying to ignore the beautiful and frustrating man standing right behind her with a very good view of her derriere.
"Hot damn" he said appreciatively, causing Rachel to completely miss her shot as she stiffened and stood up. Angry, and ready to throw a tantrum over him objectifying her and making her miss, she turned to find Finn was no longer there.
She watched as he, Will, and another random young man a few tables away all moved towards the windows, watching a very busty bottle blonde walking down the sidewalk right outside. Rolling her eyes she turned to gauge Tina's reaction, who seemed indifferent even though Mike too was subtly sneaking glances. "You get used to it...they wonder why mostly just guys hang out in here" she sighed with a laugh, bending back over her game.
"Come here girl" Finn catcalled to the window, making the other men laugh. Almost as if she had heard him, the blonde turned toward the window. At the same exact time, all of the men turned to face different directions, showing no signs whatsoever that they had just been drooling seconds before.
Rachel burst out laughing, tears almost escaping as she watched the spectacle. Yes, it was a little degrading and disrespectful, but she had to admit that it was pretty funny. "I'm not even going to comment" she said, shaking her head as he approached her.
"Nothing wrong with appreciating the beautiful things in life."
"I suppose she was kind of pretty" Rachel said grudgingly.
"Oh. I don't know. I didn't really get past her neck."
Rachel rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head as she watched him bend over the table. "What are you doing? It's my turn!"
"Did you not miss?"
"Well, I did. But it wasn't my fault, you distracted me with your demeaning mating calls."
Finn paused mid stroke, smirking over at her. "That's not my fault Rachel, you should have had your head in the game. Keeping your focus is one of the most important parts of pool. Remember that midget" he said, resuming his place over the ball.
Narrowing her eyes at the injustice, and unpleasant nickname, she waited until right before he shot to release a loud, exaggerated sneeze. "ACHOOOOOO!" Finn jumped, accidentally hitting the eight ball and watching as it sank into the pocket.
"You little cheater" he said, a little taken aback at her outburst.
"Whatever do you mean? You can't blame me for your lack of focus Finn" she chirped, smiling sweetly at him. "Does that mean I win?"
Finn rubbed his jaw, staring at her with mock anger as he nodded. "I guess I'll give you that one" he conceded, picking the balls out of the pockets to re-rack. Suddenly Will coughed loudly, drawing Finn's attention as he looked up. He dropped the balls, again stepping towards the window as a red-haired woman dressed in a very curve-hugging sundress walked by.
"Her butt is huge" Rachel commented, the words slipping out of her mouth before she even realized it. The men turned towards her, a surprised laugh bubbling out of Finn's mouth. "Her breasts aren't at all proportionate though, odd."
"Does your boyfriend know you like to check out other women?" he asked suggestively, lifting an eyebrow at her.
"I was not checking her out jerk" she said, shoving him playfully. "Am I not allowed to join the ridiculousness of 'appreciating beauty' and offer my heterosexual opinion?"
Making her heart skip a little at the twinkle in his eyes, he stared at her as he walked forward. "That had to be the coolest thing I've ever heard a girl say" he announced, a murmur of agreement rising from the other males in the room. "We might keep you around."
Rachel released an embarrassingly feminine giggle, so happy with the progress she'd made in her relationship with her team. Finn then resumed his place, racking the balls for their next game. "You ready?"
Staring at the rack, her nerves returned. There was no way she was going to be able to spread the balls out. "You know what, you're right. I cheated, you should break them up."
"Oh no you don't" he said, backing away from the table. "Let's see what you can do."
Rachel took a deep breath, leaning down over the table as she placed the cue ball down in front of her. She lined it up and pumped her cue a few times in preparation before she closed her eyes and shot forward. As expected, the balls only moved about a centimeter from one another, almost maintaining their perfect formation.
"Ugh!" she groaned, actively holding onto her stick tighter so that she wouldn't throw it across the room in her anger.
"Whoa, calm down midget" he teased, re-racking the balls before he walked around the table to her. "Let's try that again, and see if we can make this a little less embarrassing."
Finn stood behind her, placing a hand on her back signaling for her to lower herself over the table and line up. "You don't want the cue ball to be too far away from you" he instructed, pulling the cue ball closer to her. He took her hand, sending tingles of electricity through her at his touch, as he moved it to grip the edge of the table. Finn leaned over her, lifting her hand slightly to slide the cue between her pointer and middle fingers then placed his hand on top of hers. "Until you get more comfortable, and can control your power, it'll be easier for you to use the rail for leverage" he explained, placing his other hand behind hers on the back end of her stick.
"I'm gonna give it a few practice pumps to let you see what it should feel like" he warned, reaching forward to slide the cue ball over and out of the way. He replaced his hand on hers, and pulled back on the stick, then pushing forward as it slid between their joined fingers smoothly. Rachel bit back a moan from his proximity as he moved behind her. She fought to ignore his breath on her shoulder as he repeated the movement two times, before gripping the table and her hand a little tighter, using that to push the stick forward with force. "Got it?"
Rachel nodded dumbly as she turned, meeting his piercing gaze. "Uh-huh" She shook her head in an effort to clear it as he rose and walked over to the other side of the table.
"Go ahead."
Rachel took a deep breath, pulling the cue ball back over as she lined up. She gripped the table as tightly as she could, pumping a few times and shooting forward. A loud smack resounded through the room, and she opened her eyes to see the balls spread out a good amount on the table. "Oh my God, I did it!" she squealed, looking up to see her long-forgotten boyfriend standing next to her new favorite teacher, big grins on both their faces.
"Holy crap babe, look at you!"
"Thanks" she smiled weakly, ashamed of herself for being such a bad girlfriend. "Did you got done with your game?"
"Oh yeah, I killed it babe you should've seen me! I worked up a super appetite too, wanna go get something to eat and go back to your place?"
"Right now?...we're actually not done with our game."
"It's cool Rachel, we can finish some other time" Finn interjected, nodding in acknowledgment to Sam.
"How much do we owe for his games" she asked Finn, grabbing her I.D off of her key-chain to pay.
"Don't worry about it, I won't charge it" he dismissed, waving a hand at them. "You're with her, and she's on the team so you're good. Just don't tell my boss" he added, looking over his shoulder at Will playing with Blaine.
"Thanks dude, I really appreciate it" Sam said, bumping fists with him.
"No problem. If you guys decide to come back, we stay open until Midnight."
Rachel nodded, storing that information away as she hung her stick up on the wall. "I don't know if we'll be back tonight, but I hope that we get to practice again soon" she said, waving goodbye as she took Sam's outstretched hand and followed him out of the room.
Rachel pasted a smile on her face, gripping his hand tighter in her own as they made their way to his car. He walked her to the passenger side, opening the door for her before she sat down. Once she was seated, he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her surprised lips. She kept her tight smile in place when he pulled away, reaching up to fasten her seat-belt as she tried to convince herself that she felt something, anything at all for him. She just wasn't sure anymore.
Thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying so far!
I think this is going to be my longest story! Reviews are love!