forever fades away

chapter 27

The game went pretty smoothly until the third quarter. The Celtics were winning, and the crowd was pumped. Rachel had to admit to herself that she was having a great time. Watching Finn play basketball, live and in person, transported her back in time. She could remember going to his basketball practices and just watching him. The way he moved was like poetry. He always looked so strong, and confident out on the court. She missed seeing that. 

Rachel was broken out of her thoughts by the referees blowing their whistles as the guys all ran back to their respective benches. Apparently, one of the coaches had called a time out, because the guys were all grabbing some water, huddling up to talk about whatever was going on down there, and the cheerleaders walked a little further onto the court from their place on the sidelines, to keep the crowd entertained. 

Rachel couldn’t help looking at the girls, and wondering if Finn had ever hooked up with any of them. They were all pretty cute, all had the kind of bodies that all women dream about having... yeah, Rachel hated them. 

The guys finished their huddles, and started walking back out onto the court, as the cheerleaders made their way back to the sidelines. Rachel couldn’t hold back a giggle when one of the guys ran over to where the cheerleaders were, and pretended to be doing a cheer with them. 

Finn went over to grab him and get him back into the game, just as the coach started yelling at him to get his head in the game. Rachel noticed that Finn lingered over there a little longer than necessary, talking to the girls. He was talking quickly, probably to keep the trouble he would get into at a minimum, and he had a huge smile on his face, stretching from ear to ear. All the girls giggled at Finn, one of them hitting him on the shoulder with her pom-poms as they all looked up at him with barely concealed adoration, all of them batting their eyelashes like he was the best thing since sliced bread. 

Rachel had finally had enough of watching Finn flirt with his harem of cheerleaders. She grabbed her purse, and before anyone she was sitting with could say a damn thing, she got up and sprinted up the stairs and out of the arena. 

Once she’d finally made it out, she quickly glanced both ways, trying to remember which way they’d came in from. Michael had gotten her another beer since that first one, so she wasn’t completely sure she could trust herself to remember which way they’d came from. She quickly walked up to the nearest security guard, and asked for the quickest way to an exit. He directed her towards the left, and she thanked him before power walking in that direction. 

“Rachel!” She heard Maria shout from behind her. She didn’t slow down, or turn around, determined to get out of there. 

“Rach, wait!” Isabel yelled. She could hear the sound of their heels clicking quickly on the floor behind her, which only fueled her need to go faster. 

She was all but running when two hands grabbed onto her arms, halting her escape. “I’m not going back in there, you guys. I just can’t.” Rachel said, determination strong in her voice. 

“We just wanna know what happened, Rachel. You just bolted outta there like the place was on fire. I don’t get it.” Maria said, hoping for an explanation. 

“I can’t just sit there and watch him flirt with all those cheerleaders. Its too hard.” She finally turned around, keeping her eyes downcast, embarrassed that she’d let herself get so upset about something so stupid. 

They all stood there in silence for almost a minute, no one saying anything. Finally, Rachel couldn’t take it, and she looked up. She barely contained a growl at the sight of the looks Maria and Isabel were sporting. “We don’t know what to say...” Isabel finally said, pity dripping from her voice.