forever fades away

chapter 19

Finn slammed the front door closed behind him, causing Isabel to jump. “Finn? What’s wrong?” She asked as he stormed into the room and threw himself down on the other end of the couch. 

“I’m an idiot.” He replied, glancing over at her. Her facial expression was clearly asking for a little more information as to how he concluded that about himself. He sighed, shoving his hands through his hair. “I invited Michael’s cousin Tess to Maria’s birthday party tonight. She was over at Michael’s earlier when I went over there. I guess Rachel ran into her when she was leaving the Crashdown and Tess told them about it, so Rachel invited Kyle Valenti.” Finn spat his name out like it was poison on his lips. 

“And you wanted her to go alone?” Isabel asked. When Finn nodded, she slowly nodded as well. “Ok, so you didn’t want her to have a date, even though you already had one?” 

“Well, it sounds stupid when you say it.” Finn mumbled. 

“That’s because it IS stupid. I, however, am not. I see right through you, Finn. You’re still in love with Rachel, no matter how much you want to deny it, so why did you invite Tess?” Isabel drew her legs up underneath her, turning to face her brother. 

“I didn’t know she was going to consider it a date.” Finn dropped his head back against the couch. “That’s not the truth.” He sighed. “I wanted Rachel to be jealous. I wanted to know that she still cared, but she obviously doesn’t.” 

“You’re so blind, its ridiculous.” Isabel shook her head. “She IS jealous, Finn. Why do you think she invited Kyle? To make YOU jealous. She cares, probably a lot more than she wants to. You have to look at it from her perspective... you broke her heart. She doesn’t want to miss you, she doesn’t want to care, she doesn’t want to give a flying fuck about you. But she does, and it scares her.” 

Finn sat up a little. “She said all that?” He asked, hopefully. 

Isabel gave Finn a small smile. “No. She didn’t say any of it. But...” Isabel tagged on when Finn fell back against the couch with a groan. “She says a lot when she keeps her mouth shut. It’s all in her eyes. She’s going to crack, Finn. I’d bet that by the end of this party tonight, she’s gonna crack.” 

“And if she doesn’t?” Finn asked, afraid to look over at Isabel, but instead picking at one of the throw pillows. 

“She’ll come around eventually.” Isabel stated matter-of-factly. 

“That’s it?” He glanced over at her. “That’s all the advice you have?” 

“That, and... look hot tonight. Get all dressed up in a nice suit, or whatever and take her breath away.” Isabel smiled. “Oh, and don’t hang all over Tess. That’s just going to make her hang all over Kyle, and that’s not going to get either of you anywhere.” 

Finn sighed. “This sucks.” He sat, pondering his situation for a minute. “I’m going to go take a nap. Wake me up in time to get ready.” 

Isabel didn’t say anything as Finn walked out of the room and made his way upstairs to the guest room where he was staying. Isabel waited until she heard the door close before snatching up the phone and quickly dialing Maria’s number. 

Rachel finished touching up her curls, shaking her head slightly to observe her hair from all angles. She’s tuned out Maria about ten minutes ago, when she started going on and on about what Michael might be getting her for her birthday. Rachel came out of the bathroom, switching off the light behind her. 

Maria was sitting on the edge of the bed, still babbling like there was no tomorrow. Rachel walked across the room and glanced out the window towards the street. She noticed Isabel’s car was in the driveway, which wasn’t the case a few minutes ago. “Isabel’s here.” Rachel announced to Maria. 

Isabel popped into the room, as if on cue. “Hey guys.” She smiled at them, dropping down onto the bed next to Maria. “Happy birthday. You look amazing.” Isabel gave Maria a kiss on the cheek. “Rachel, you look beautiful as ever.” 

Rachel's gaze dropped down to her dark blue halter top dress with the asymmetric hem, and she self-consciously smoothed her hands down the front of it. “Thanks. You do, too.” 

“Can we leave yet?” Maria whined, bouncing on the bed like a three year old. 

“God, Maria, calm down. The limo isn’t even here yet.” Isabel placed her hands on Maria’s shoulders, trying to keep her in one place. 

“Limo?!” Maria squawked, a huge smile spreading across her face. 

“Ah, hell.” Isabel shook her head. “I guess it was still a surprise. Michael hired a limo to take you to your big birthday bash in serious style.” Isabel smiled. “Why the hell do you think I came here instead of going straight to the restaurant?” 

“Really? He did that? Aww, how sweet.” Maria smiled. 

“Yeah, I’m sure it was a real sweet phone call he made.” Isabel rolled her eyes. “This worked out well, though. Kinda like a double party, of sorts.” 

“What do you mean?” Rachel asked, squirting some perfume on her wrists, then rubbing her wrists behind her ear. 

“Well, its like a birthday party for Maria, and a goodbye party for Finn.” Isabel explained. “See? Double party.” 

“Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute.” Rachel  held up her hand. “Rewind the tape. What do you mean, goodbye party for Finn?” 

“He’s leaving tomorrow morning. You didn’t know that?” Isabel asked, glancing at Maria, who simply looked the other direction. She’d put off telling Rachel that Finn was leaving, for fear of how Rachel would react. 

“Oh.” Rachel blankly replied. She glanced back out the window. “Limos here. Let’s go.” She grabbed her purse and headed towards the front door, a guilty Isabel and Maria following behind her.