Missing Moments

Finn Falls for Piper

6x05

Maybe she had a fear of being in the front row? Or maybe she had trouble picking up choreo, so she had to be in the back to follow the rest of the team?

Finn sighed and finished off the last of his juice with a loud slurp before setting the empty cup aside. Piper was a complete and utter mystery. She stands up to Miss Angela - something no one else has ever dared to do before - then completely disappears for weeks with no explanation, and when she finally shows back up, the new (or apparently not new?) studio heads put her in the back row, and she's happy about it. Finn saw her audition for Miss Angela and had seen her dance in rehearsal earlier that day. Piper was no back-row dancer. (Of course, he would also say the same thing about himself, but, well... That was beside the point.)

The point was – something wasn't adding up with this Piper girl, and he wanted to know what the deal was. She'd already dodged his questioning once, however, and he was debating whether or not he should try again or just let it go like she'd told him too. He knew what his older sister would advise: "She told you to let it go, so let it go. It's not rocket science." The difference between himself and his sister Ayla, however, was that Finn had always been interested in rocket science, and Ayla, well... There was a reason she was going to school to be a lawyer and not a rocket scientist (which was way cooler as far as Finn was concerned).

"Hey, man. Is this seat taken?"

Finn was drawn out of his thoughts as Noah suddenly appeared across the table from him, juice in hand. "No, man, go for it," Finn told him, and Noah slid into the seat across from him, letting out a long exhale as he did so. Finn could tell that something was on his dance captain's mind and asked, "Everything alright?"

"Just some drama with the other dancers and line placements. I've got it under control," Noah told him before taking a long sip of his juice and observing Finn as he did so. When he lowered his drink, he asked, "You got a girlfriend, Finn?"

"Nope," Finn told him, shaking his head. He hadn't had many opportunities yet to get to know his dance captain, so he was glad for the chance to talk to him for a bit. "But you're dating Jacquie, right?"

"Yeah." Noah nodded, looking down and smiling to himself before taking another sip of his juice. "She's, uh... She's a force to be reckoned with."

"She's a great dancer though."

"Incredible," Noah agreed before looking at him seriously. "Word of advice though: never comment on another girl's dancing around your girlfriend. I learned that the hard way."

Finn grimaced. "She got mad?"

Noah nodded grimly. Laying his hands out on the table, he explained, "I just told Summer she has good turns."

"Summer does have good turns."

"Exactly! But Jacquie didn't like that." A haunted look flashed through Noah's eyes as he continued. "And I just did something else that she's not going to like, but I guess that's the price of being dance captain."

"Well, if it's for the better of the team, you did what you had to," Finn assured him as Noah took another long drink. He'd already downed half of his juice in just a few sips.

Noah nodded seriously, setting his juice aside and mirroring Finn's posture as he crossed his arms on top of the table. "Yeah, thanks. The drama's just not good for the team. We just got rid of Miss Angela. We can't have the team already falling apart again."

"Definitely not."

"Yeah..." Noah smiled and pointed at Finn. "You're a good listener, Finn."

He shrugged at that, thriving at the compliment. "My mom thinks so too."