forever fades away

chapter 26

Rachel bounced her legs nervously as she glanced around the arena. She squirmed around in her seat, cursing herself for the hundredth time for even agreeing to come out here. While she loved the fact that she was sitting court side at a pro basketball game, she hated the fact that she was sitting directly across from where Finn would be sitting, if he were ever put on the bench, which Rachel found highly unlikely... at least not for more than a few minutes to let him rest. 

She glanced over to where the aisle led to the way out the arena, debating on sprinting out of there like her life depended on it. She clutched her purse tightly in her lap, poised for escape. This was a horrible idea, she could feel it. She needed to get the hell out of there while she still had the chance. 

“Don’t even think about it, Berry.” Isabel said, reaching over and ripping Rachel's purse from her hands before setting it on the floor by her feet. “You’re not going anywhere.” 

“This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t be here.” Rachel tried to reason with Isabel, reaching over Alex to make a grab for her purse. 

Isabel slapped at Rachel's hands as Alex grabbed her shoulders and sat her properly in her seat. Alex looped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her in close to his body. “You already told Finn you’d be here, you can’t just leave.” When Rachel opened her mouth, a smart-ass reply on the tip of her tongue, Alex shushed her. “I know, I know. Finn left you, he’d deserve it, lets not go there, shall we? Just sit and enjoy the game, Rachel.” Alex’s eyes pleaded with her to not make a big fuss. 

The crowd erupted in applause as the team ran out from the locker room, single file, and began running though their warm-up drills. Rachel caught Finn's eyes for a brief moment before he got into his position to warm-up rebound shots. 

Rachel turned back to Alex to say something, but before she could, Maria and Michael filed back into their seats, their arms loaded down with stuff from the concessions stand. Maria passed Isabel and Alex a big tub of popcorn, while Michael started passing over beers. He handed one to Rachel, and she looked at him, questioningly. “Liquid Courage.” Michael supplied, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 

Rachel couldn’t hold back a laugh as she thanked him, bringing the cup to her lips to take a drink. 

“Wait!” Maria cried, reaching over to stop Rachel before she could take a sip of her beer. She held up her own cup. “A toast!” She supplied. “To finally, FINALLY getting Rachel to one of these games... and it only took, what? Six years?” 

Rachel laughed, despite herself, and chugged half the contents of her plastic cup. She set it down at her feet before turning her attention back to the guys, who were still warming up. 

“We Will Rock You” began playing, and everyone in the arena started stomping their feet and clapping in time with the music, except Rachel, who had no desire to do so. 

“C’mon!!” Maria yelled at her. “Don’t be like that! You know you’re having fun! I know you know you’re having fun, because you love basketball, and no matter the reason you’re here, you’re loving it!” 

Rachel simply shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. She glanced back and forth between Maria and Alex, who looked like they were up to no good. 

Without much warning, Maria uncrossed Rachel's arms, holding onto them tightly as Alex wrapped his hands around one of Rachel's thighs. Alex stomped Rachel's foot in time with the music, as Maria handled making her clap. Rachel couldn’t help cracking up, trying to shake them off of her. “Ok, I can do it myself! Get off me!” 

“No, actually, this is a lot more fun than just doing it yourself!” Alex replied, causing them all to laugh. 

Finn made his lay-up before jogging back into the line to continue warming up, but couldn’t hold back a snicker when he saw Maria and Alex practically attacking Rachel, in an effort to make her play along with the song. 

“What’re you giggling about, Hudson?” Jake asked, coming up behind Finn after making his own lay-up. 

Finn nodded his head over in the direction of his friends, as Rachel continued her fight to break free. 

Brian, who was in front of Finn turned around and followed the other guys’ gazes. “Damn, check out the blonde all the way on the end! I’d like to get me a piece of that ass!” 

Antonio, who was in front of Brian, turned around at that declaration, joining in the appreciation of the females. “I’d go for the other blonde. The one that’s all over that little brunette. She looks feisty as hell. Those are always fun in the sack.” He stated, garnering a high five from Brian. 

Jake shook his head. “Forget that, I want the brunette. She is too fine!” 

“Whose too fine?” Drew asked, as he fell into line behind Brian. The guys, minus Finn, who was all but seething at this point, all nodded their heads in the direction they were staring. Drew immediately recognized Rachel from the pictures Finn had shown him, and glanced in Finn's direction. 

“Which one you likin, Finn?” Jake asked, digging himself into an even bigger hole without even knowing it. “I bet you like the tall blonde.” He gave Finn a nudge with his shoulder. 

“Actually.” Finn bit out. “The tall blonde is my sister, Isabel.” Drew put his hand over his mouth to hold in the laughter as the rest of the guys who were part of the conversation attempted to retrieve their jaws from the floor. “My TWIN sister.” Finn added. 

“S-so, I guess you, uhm... you know t-the other ones too?” Antonio stuttered, feeling his face heat up. 

“Yeah, I do.” Finn nodded. “The shorter blonde, Maria, is engaged to my best friend, the large menacing looking guy sitting next to her. Oh, and the guy sitting between Isabel and the brunette, is her husband, Alex. And, the brunette is my ex-girlfriend, Rachel.” Finn stated casually, although all the guys knew he was probably beyond pissed. 

They refrained from saying anything else as they finished warming up. 

Rachel, who had finally managed to shake off Alex and Maria, sat back in her chair, waiting for the game to start. The teams were done warming up, and were sitting on their respective benches waiting for the game to begin. 

Maria leaned over slightly, causing Rachel to look over. “What?”

“Have to noticed that... a good majority of the team is staring at us?” Maria asked, glancing over towards the bench out of the corner of her eye. 

“They are?” Rachel asked, turning her head back so she could see all the players. She was taken aback when, sure enough, more than half the team was staring in their direction. She turned back to Maria. “Why are they doing that?” 

“I have a feeling it has to do with you and Finn.” Maria glanced over one more time. “He might have mentioned you or something.” 

“Now I know how the animals at the zoo feel.” Rachel muttered. She turned so she was fully facing the team, and stared right back. When none of them got the hint, she crossed her arms over her chest, raising her eyebrows. She looked at them, one by one, until they got the hint and turned. “God.” Rachel scoffed. “They’re not much for subtlety, are they?” 

As the players went onto the court to start the game, she noticed that some of them still continued to glance her direction. I should have left when I had the chance, she thought.