All He Didn't Have A Chance To Say...

prom night

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or its characters.

He knew getting kicked out of prom was not his finest moment, but really the entire ordeal had passed in a relative haze.

He'd just been so jealous-hurt-jealous-confused-jealous-angry-jealous when he'd approached them, and started pushing him, that even as he was pulled away, Coach Sylvester's shouts, Quinn's cries, Jesse's continued under-his-breath taunts, the gasps and whispers of a gym full of witnesses, all blurred behind the pounding of his own heart and the heavy rasp of his breath, until everything just looked and sounded like chaos.

By the time he finally made it outside, into the clear night and the dark parking lot, his heart had slowed, his lungs had relaxed, but the sudden quiet was almost deafening, and his mind was still so murky, clouded, with the sheer exhaustion of the moment.

The only thing that really registered at all as he walked across the pavement was the lingering sight of hersmile, her laughter, with someone else's arms aroundher, someone else's lips against her neck.

The only thing he could really see was something he'd wished he'd never saw.

Thankfully (sort of) Sue had watched over the exiled pair until they were both inside their cars, or Finn, exhausted or not, might have gone in for another swing. Once Jesse peeled away, Finn started his own truck and pulled out a moment later, without any clear idea as to where he was headed.

When he realized 11 minutes later that he'd driven to Rachel's, it somehow didn't surprise him at all (nor would it, he imagined, have surprised anyone really), despite it not having been a conscious decision on his part.

As his brain slowly, so slowly, cleared out enough and caught up to his life, he knew that there was going to be quite a bit of fallout from this.

Certainly Sue would try to turn it into a bigger deal on Monday, likely getting Figgins and Mr. Schue involved, threatening the glee club in some way. His mom would be, at the very least, severely disappointed in him. And Burt would be, too.

Naturally, Quinn was going to be furious. Or worse.

But for reasons he didn't have the energy to name, his number one priority, out of the numerous messes he was going to have to clean up, was talking to Rachel, and making sure that any of the damage he'd done between them tonight wouldn't be permanent.

The lights were all off inside the home, and after a quick glance at the display on his dashboard he suspected her fathers were probably already asleep. He pulled himself from the truck with little speed and less enthusiasm, and made his way to the steps.

Then he sat, there on the Berry front porch, shoulders slumped, eyes downcast, and waited.

He was actually surprised at how quickly the time passed, while he stared somewhat bitterly at his hands, until a flash of light and the squealing of old breaks caused him to lift his head just in time to see Sam's beat-up car pull up to the curb behind his truck.

Finn sat up a little straighter, his pulse instantly quickening, but he didn't stand as Sam got out and walked around to open Rachel's door, helping her out with his hand.

Finn saw her notice him, eyes flashing his way as soon as she stood and straightened, but rather than acknowledge him immediately she smiled up at Sam, sweetly and sincerely it seemed, laughing a little at something the blonde boy said, before lifting her head to kiss his cheek. Sam looked over his shoulder at Finn before whispering something to Rachel, and while Finn could see, even at this distance, that her gaze was clouded when she looked his way again, when she returned her eyes to Sam's she shook her head a little before pulling out another tiny smile. Sam took her hand for just a second before walking back around to the driver's side. And while she started slowly up the walk way without making any eye contact, Finn knew the look the other boy shot at him over the roof of his car was meant to be a warning.