525,600 minutes

chapter 5

Indi bit her tongue feeding Beth something that smelt like she had already digested it while Rachel set everything up in the basement; she was pretty sure the entire contents of the refrigerator were now spread out downstairs.

"Why are you going to so much trouble for these morons anyway?"

"A good hostess is always a good hostess regardless of their guests." Rachel replied smoothing her hair down.

She'd changed out of her school clothes into a more comfortable outfit suited to working out choreography; Carver had of course put it together having been inspired after their marathon of truly terrible musicals they couldn't help but enjoy. Green army style shorts that were as tiny as the skirts she loved to wear and a white singlet with 'Dancing through life' printed across the bust, a sheer white blouse over the top and knotted at her navel.

"You invited a pig over and you haven't even set out a trough; that's not good hostessing if you ask me."

"No one did!" Rachel called back over her shoulder. "I have to work with him on this project, I will be cordial and polite but it is no way an olive branch of friendship or an invitation for something more."

"Does he know that?" Indi asked pulling faces at Beth who was lapping up all the attention.

"I'm sure he sees this as an opportunity to earn my forgiveness but it will be as fruitless as all his other endeavors will be. To earn my forgiveness he would have to do something truly remarkable and the Finn that I remember was always far too concerned with his social standing to attempt anything even minutely close to what I am imagining."

"Are we talking Ferris on the float kind of big or the standard jewelry big?" Indi checked, it was up to her to ensure that the big doofus didn't break Rachel's heart again; Carver had made her sign a contract and everything.

"Not even a star shaped diamond would be enough." Rachel told her reaching over to squeeze her hand. "I can handle this Indi, I'm not the same girl you meet in that dorm room."

"You may be stronger and more musically diverse but we both know that Finn Hudson still makes your heart go pitter pat." Indi teased. "And from everything I've heard you make his heart do the macarena"

"I'm strong enough to ignore those feelings." Rachel said confidently. "I know where they lead and it is to nowhere I would like to visit ever again."

The door bell rang before Indi could reply which was probably a good thing, she wasn't so crash hot on that think first thing, most of her afternoon had consisted of the girls fighting over what songs to sing, who would be lead and who would be back up. When they weren't arguing about that, they were attempting to extract information about her brother or insulting Rachel and her. Her New York acid tongue had been put to what she considered good use.

"Where's McQueen?" Indi asked noticing that only the freakishly tall male was with Rachel.

"He text me before he's got an appointment with his physical therapist." Finn answered. "So it's just me."

"How convenient." She said dryly fixing Rachel with a look, so not a coincidence, she'd be having a little chat with Artie tomorrow.

"We'll be downstairs working on our glee assignment. Dad isn't due home until late and Papa is still away for another week, will you be okay up here alone with Beth?"

"Piece of cake, you guys should get started we wouldn't want Finn to be here all night." Indi looked at him pointedly, she was quite proud of herself having refrained from miming that she was going to kill him. The door clicked shut behind them and all she could now hear was the TV and her guilty pleasure True Beauty, we all had our vices she only hoped that Rachel was able to handle hers.