𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 • 𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚎

𝚇𝙸𝙸

The next few weeks were...interesting. I had been preparing for nationals. Lexie and Scarlett had been helping me plan my wedding. Lexie had told me that Sam didn't understand the fact that I hadn't be planning it. I mean, it was understandable. It's not like they were the ones getting married. I was. It didn't seem fair. To any of them. 

Lexie was spending her time with me, so she barely saw Finn. Scarlett barely saw her own child, as she was still trying to help me with nationals and my wedding. Sam barely spoke to me, which sucked because we lived together. Finn was the only one who really would sit down and talk to me. Maybe it was because he could read my emotions very well, or maybe it was that weird sibling intuition, but he always knew exactly what I was feeling. 

I was sitting in the teachers lounge, scrolling through YouTube on my laptop, trying to find the perfect assortment of songs for them to do, when Finn came in and sat down next to me. "Hey, little sister. What's wrong?" I sighed as I looked up at him. 

"Oh, you know, nothing new, besides the fact that I have to prepare for a singing competition, that I lost when I was in high school, twice. AND I have to plan a wedding. My fiancé is barely talking to me, you rarely see you're girlfriend because she's helping me, and your best friend doesn't see her child because she's doing what? Helping me. Everything relates back to me. I don't know how so many people do this." 

He smiled as he moved a seat closer to me. "So many people can do this because, they're good at multitasking. You...when you set your mind to something, you need to have your mind focused on that one thing. So, right now, forget about Sam. Let Lexie and Scarlett focus on the wedding. You...you and me. We're going to focus on this. We're going to focus on nationals." 

"Me and you?" 

"Me and you. We're going to make this the most A.J/Finn project ever. Okay? We are going to own that stage at nationals. Don't you worry." 

"A.J/Finn projects never work out. I mean, do you remember my fifth grade science project?"

He laughed a little. "Yeah...maybe a cotton candy volcano wasn't the best idea, but we did make it with everything we had around the house because mom didn't have enough time to go out and get things to make a paper Mache volcano." I nodded. 

"My point exactly. Maybe taking over glee was a bad idea. Maybe I should've stayed in New York and taught piano to a bunch of middle schoolers. It would've been a lot easier." Finn sighed as he sat next to me.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" 

I looked up at him for a minute, furrowing my brows. It was clear that I didn't understand what he was trying to say. "What?" I asked. He smiled a little. "You aren't my sister, you know how I know that?" I shook my head. "You're doubting yourself. A.J rarely doubts herself. And even when she does, it's for one day and then she's back to being a badass. Clearly, with how long you've been doubting yourself, you aren't A.J. So, what did you do with Amelia Jane?" 

I laughed a little. "You're right...I have been doubting myself. It's just feels like everything over the past few months is moving so fast. I mean, think about it. Ever since Lexie got out of the hospital and Sam and I got back together, it all just seems like I'm on a rollercoaster that's moving so fast and I just wanna get off." 

Finn looked at me for a moment, unsure of what to say. "A.J, Lexie was in the hospital months ago, she's fine now. And yeah, maybe you and Sam getting back together after that whole cheating thing was a little fast, but in the end, it was right for you. You don't think that we don't see the way that you look at each other. Even the mention of your names make you both light up ten times brighter. You're meant for each other, but I get it if you want to stop the ride for a bit and get off. It's normal to feel that way. You don't think that when Lexie was pregnant I didn't wanna step off the ride for a bit? Or how about when Quinn cheated on me? It's normal, okay? I promise." 

I smiled a little before looking down at the paper I was writing on earlier. "Sometimes I question how I ended up with a brother like you." He laughed a little before grabbing me and pulling me into a hug. "I ask myself the same question. Not about how you ended up with me as your brother...I meant reversed....like how I ended up with you as my sister- I'll just stop talking now."

I laughed a little bit. I had missed this. The way we were before. Before relationships, heartbreak, anxiety, and everything else. I had missed the way it was just us before everyone else had joined. Before Scarlett and Lexie, before Sam, before New York. 

Before Graduation. 

I missed everything about it. Sometimes, I would close my eyes and think about the times we would stay up past midnight in the living room. How we would wait for our mom to come home. The brother-sister time we would spend together. I just...missed it all. 

But, right now. In this moment. Everything that I had missed was coming back. It felt right. This was where I belonged. Not in New York. Not in college. Here. In Lima, Ohio. At McKinley High School. With my brother.