Past Mistake

*Chapter 5*: Hear Me Out

For the most part, Rachel's weekend had been far from fun. Kurt had insisted on working on his presidential campaign at his house, which meant Saturday evening had been spent with Finn hovering around her the entire night while she did her best to ignore his wounded puppy looks.

Luckily, Kurt had gotten fed up with his stepbrother's behavior and agreed to go to Rachel's on Sunday, where they didn't so much as work on the campaign as watch Friends reruns.
By the time Monday rolled around, Rachel had been feeling a bit better, though. It had been nice spending Sunday with Kurt and almost felt like having her best friend back.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" Finn asked, sitting across from her at the lunch table. Well, almost everything.

"I'm fine," Rachel replied.

"I was wondering," Finn said, shifting in his seat.

"Since you couldn't help me this weekend, can we maybe get together tonight? You know—for my West Side Story audition?"

Rachel sighed. "I can't."

"Why not?" Finn whispered, leaning across the table. "Why do I never see you anymore?"

Rachel just couldn't take it anymore; her plan was far from working, and at this point, she was just hurting him more by not breaking up with him.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" Rachel asked.

"Why?" Finn asked.

"In private," Rachel requested, trying to look impassive.

If she was going to do this, the least she could do was tell him in private, but he must have seen something flash through her eyes because he was suddenly staring at her with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open.

"Rachel—"

She could see the pleading in his eyes and it made her flinch. No matter what she did, she was always going to be the bad guy in this situation and she suddenly wished she'd done this weeks ago. She knew it probably would have been just as hard then, but at least it would have been over and done with.

"How about the choir room?" Rachel suggested.

"No," Finn said, grabbing his tray. "I don't think I need you to say anything to me."

"Finn—"

"No!" he said, cutting her off. "You're dumping me; I get it, okay? I'm not stupid. I really should have seen it weeks ago."

Rachel sighed. "I'm really sorry."

"Me too," he said, shaking his head. "Can you at least tell me what I did wrong? Is there someone else?"

"No!" Rachel said emphatically. "There's no one else. I—I just—" She sighed, not really knowing what to say. "I know it's a cliché, but it's not you."

Finn smiled sadly. "I wish that made me feel better."

With that, Finn left to sit with the other football players and Rachel couldn't help but feel guilty.

She knew the look on Finn's face—it was the look he got when he tried not to cry. Rachel couldn't blame him, though; she felt like crying too.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, sitting on one side of her while Tina sat down on the other side.

"Yeah," Rachel lied.

Kurt looked over to the jock table and frowned.

"Why is Finn sitting over there?" Rachel gave him a look and she could see the realization on his face.