forever fades away

chapter 41

Finn watched, with wide eyes, as Rachel flew around her bedroom, talking a mile a minute into her cell phone. From his spot on her bed, he watched as she’d run into the closet, emerge, run into the bathroom, emerge, then go back into the closet, and come out with a completely different outfit on. Finn lost count of the number of outfits she went through around seven or eight. 

The two of them had taken a flight out of Boston the night before as soon as Rachel had gotten the call from her boss. Finn had chartered a private plane to take them to Atlanta, which should have meant that they would have landed around 2 AM, giving Rachel a little time to sleep, get up, get ready and get to work. Unfortunately for them, Mother Nature was working against them. Due to a bad storm, they’d been forced to land for a few hours. They weren’t even sure where they’d landed at, because they’d both fallen asleep on the plane, and when they were woken up, they were in Atlanta and it was 6 AM. 

“No. No, I had that fabric ordered three weeks ago!” Rachel yelled from inside the closet. “I don’t care that it’s only 7:30 AM and you’re just getting to work. I need that fabric here by tomorrow!” 

Finn glanced around her bedroom, taking everything in. If someone would have told him that Rachel were living in an apartment like this, he would have called them crazy. An apartment with brick walls and cement floors just didn’t seem like a place Rachel would be living in. Now that he’d seen it, it seemed to fit her. He glanced around at all her stuff in the bedroom, recognizing some of the stuff from back when they were together. 

He turned back to the closet as Rachel emerged again, snapping her cell phone closed. “I swear, some people just don’t know how to run a business. You can’t do that to people. You can’t promise them fabric by a certain date, and then just not deliver it. You just can’t.” Rachel ranted, dropping down on the edge of the bed to put on her shoes. 

Finn tilted his head to the side, regarding the high heeled black shoes she was putting on her feet. He couldn’t imagine that someone could walk in those, and if the ten minutes of working he’d seen her do this morning was any indication... she walked around a lot. 

“I’m really sorry that I have to run into work already. I thought I’d have time to get you all settled and everything before I took off.” Rachel apologized, standing up after securing her shoes to her feet. He watched her walk, with absolutely no trouble, into the bathroom. He watched as she sprayed on her perfume, and gave her hair one final fluff. 

She looked over at him. “Did you go mute all of a sudden? You haven’t said anything yet.” She commented, grabbing her earrings off the vanity and beginning the task of putting them on. 

“I’m not mute. I can talk.” Finn informed her. “I’m just marveling at your ability to walk in those shoes, but that’s not important.” He shrugged. “I’m going to be fine, Rach. Really, I am.” He assured her. 

“I’m not saying that you’re an invalid and you need a babysitter, I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable before I left.” She clasped on a necklace before turning to look at him. “I have to ask this one more time, and then I’ll stop. Are you sure you’re going to be ok?”

Finn groaned, dropping his head back onto the pillows. “Yes. Yes. A millions times, yes!” He lifted his head up, leveling her with an exasperated look. “As I already said, please stop freaking out about this. I’m going to be fine. I’m probably going to sleep most of the day, and if I don’t, I can manage to hobble to your couch without someone there to watch me.” 

“Ok, fine.” Rachel held her hands up in surrender before grabbing her purse and briefcase from near the front door. “I really have to go, I’m going to be late as it is.” 

“Have a good day at work, honey.” Finn called from the bed as she stepped out the front door. 

She stuck her head back inside to glare at him. “Haha. You’re funny.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “If you need me, I wrote my cell phone number on the dry erase board on the refrigerator. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 

“Bye.” Finn gave her a little wave before she disappeared out the front door once again. It closed behind her and Finn was suddenly overwhelmed by how loud the silence was. He sighed, reaching over to turn on the fan next to the bed before scooting down and getting comfortable. Before long, he dozed off.