light my candle

chapter two

chapter two

rachel pov

i did it. i was mimi. i got the part. not that i was surprised or anything, but i was grateful nonetheless. the few girls who were there not because of finn got the female leads; i was mimi, jillian lawrence was joanne and emma williams was maureen. adam thomas was mark, nathaniel stevens was collins, tyler sheffrey was angel and sam mccarthy was benny.

i was afraid to look at the name next to roger. i wanted it to be finn so badly, but at the same time i wished it wasn't just as much.

but i didn't have to look. emma came over to congratulate me and gave me the answer for herself.

"congratulations, rachel!" she exclaimed, smiling, hugging me.

"thank you, you too!" i replied, smiling and hugging back.

"you must be so excited to play mimi opposite the hottest guy in school," emma said, pulling away. i looked at her.

"who's playing roger? i didn't look," i answered.

"you can't tell by my clue anyways?" she asked, and i shook my head. she laughed and hit my arm.

"finn hudson, silly!"

"dammit" was the first word the crossed my mind, followed by a rush of excitement, which was then followed by remembering i needed to be cool about it.

"oh! well, he's certainly something," i replied, and we shared a smile and she let out a delighted shriek before rushing over to congratulate another cast member.

"congratulations," a voice behind me said flatly. i didn't have to turn around to know who it is.

"thank you, finn," i said, turning around to face him. "you too." he smiled a little.

"thanks," he replied, and i smiled back. he leaned against the wall, shoving his hands into his pocket.

"so, i was wondering if you wanted to hang out or something tonight," he suggested.

"with you?" i asked, a stupid question. he looked at me a little funny and nodded slowly.

"yeah...i just thought that we should probably learn how to get along better if we're going to play a couple and everything," he explained. i nodded.

"sure. that sounds alright to me. but, none of your fraternity stuff. that's not really my thing," i stated firmly.

"i wasn't really thinking about doing any fraternity stuff with you...i was thinking about just watching tv or a movie or something," finn replied, seeming a bit put off by my assumption, which was understandable.

"oh. i'm sorry. watching tv or a movie with you sounds great," i said, allowing my smile to grow a little bit.

"awesome. so...my place around, say, eight?" he asked.

"don't you live in a frat house?" i asked, raising my eyebrows.

"that doesn't mean i don't have my own room," he answered with a shrug. i gave him a look and he sighed. "with a couch and chairs, not just a bed, rachel," finn added, annoyed. i nodded.

"alright. that's all alright with me," i replied. finn nodded and then looked somewhere beyond where i was standing, giving someone a big, broad smile.

"i gotta run. i'll see you later though." and with that, finn pushed through the group of people looking over the cast list and over to two girls-different than the two he sat with at auditions-and walked off with them, an arm around each.