Disclaimer: I do not own Glee nor do I own it's characters or locations. I'm merely using this background as a way to tell my story.

Just Friends?

It was the beginning of the summer after Rachel's senior year of high school. She was looking forward to what the years ahead had for her, but sad to leave a lot of things behind her. She would miss her carefree nature that comes with not having a lot of responsibility in her young life. She would miss high school and the glee club, she loved it so much. It had changed her and made her into the woman she had become. And she'd miss her friends most of all. They were all going in so many different directions it was going to be hard to keep up with each other. But, there was one friend she'd miss most of all. Finn.

Finn and Rachel had become best friends when they were 14. Sitting next to each other on a bus ride bonding over a shared experience that week on a trip with a local humanitarian organization. They grew so close on that long bus trip laughing and sharing jokes with each other. Over the years their friendship continually grew. He was her best guy friend, she was his best girl friend. They told each other everything, went to each other for advice, and joked around about everything. They were always making each other laugh. But, he never knew that her feelings ran deeper than what they appeared to be on the surface. From the moment that they were laughing on that bus when they were 14 she has loved him.

Ever since she really met Finn, Rachel hasn't looked at another guy. She's looked, but never really seen a guy as a potential romantic interest. She has always known that she is supposed to be with Finn and that he was supposed to be with her. That was how it always turned out in movies and in the love stories of people she had talked to, right? So even though he might occasionally come to her and say that he thought so and so was really hot today she never let it bother her because she knew one day that they would be together.

The New Directions just got back from a week in Disney World where they had been asked to perform for a special music celebration in the parks. Since a good majority of the glee club had just graduated from high school a short 2 weeks prior to the trip they saw it as one last hoorah for the club as a whole. One big senior trip where they could spend a week together in the happiest place on earth and not have a care in the world about college and scholarship applications and roommates and saying goodbye to each other. They were like little kids in a candy shop all week long. So many laughs and squeals of joy were heard. Rachel was so sad when they got back to the school at the end of the week and everyone's parents were there to pick them up. She was glad to see her Dads, but leaving her friends in that parking lot was one of the saddest moments she had ever experienced.

Two days after arriving back in Lima Rachel was so excited to receive a phone call from Finn asking her to meet him at Breadstix for dinner so they could just hang out. "I also have something I want to talk to you about" he said. Rachel agreed to meet him and was so excited, as she always was to hang out with him. It had been far too long since the two of them had hung out.

Rachel drove to Breadstix and met Finn in the parking lot. She laughed as he pointed to his shirt and which was one he had bought in Disney World. Mickey Mouse's face was plastered across his back. They got to their booth and talked about how much fun they had had on their trip and the memories that they had made. "I would give anything to hear Aerosmith blasting in my ears one more time on Rockin' Rollercoaster!" Finn said and Rachel giggled.

After they had finished eating Finn leaned forward on the table and said, "Ok, there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Alright," Rachel said. "Shoot."

Finn let out a slow breath, "Well...I'm not ever good at these type of things..."

"It's ok Finn, it's just me" Rachel said.

"Ok, well...you know how last year when we went to Nationals in New York and I kinda started a thing with a girl from Missouri and it didn't last long because we were long distance and everything? Well, I guess I'm just getting a track record for developing feelings for girls when we're on a trip or something. I just I don't know...I spent a lot of time with this one girl last week while we were in Florida and...well..." Finn continued to speak.

Rachel sat there with a smile on her face listening to him talk "It's me!" she thought. "It's finally happening. We're going to finally get together."

"I mean..." Finn continued "We've always been friends so it was weird to me at first when I started to have feelings for her..."

Rachel was getting really excited "This is it!"

"Do you know who I'm talking about?" he asked.

"No..." She replied, trying to feign innocence and play dumb.

"Well...It's Quinn" Finn said. "Since you two are friends I was hoping you could help me ask her out."

Rachel's heart plummeted to the very bottom pit of her stomach. She felt like she was going to puke up all of the Italian food and endless breadsticks she had been eating for the past hour. How could this be happening? He was her best friend! How could he not be talking about her? They had spent so much time together in Disney World! Well, except for when he road the Haunted Mansion with Quinn...and when he went and grabbed a bite to eat with Quinn when the rest of the group rode Tower of Terror...and when they rode on the bus home together for a few hours...and...Oh gosh! She let him fall in love with Quinn and didn't even realize it! What was she supposed to do now? She knew it was a mistake to be ride buddies with Puck on too many rides! Why was she so stupid! If she had just let Finn ride all those rides with her this whole evening could have gone so differently! So what could she do now?

"Yeah of course I can Finn." She half smiled, trying not to show the pain she was feeling inside.

"You are such a great friend." Finn smiled and reached for another breadstick.

"Yeah..." Rachel said, her smile faltering as she blinked back tears. "I'm a great friend...That's all I'll ever be."

A/N: Here's to the start of a new FF! Just a word of warning, given the fact that this story is based on reality some of the traits of these characters will not follow those of the characters in the show. This is my first time writing "Glee" FF, so please be easy on me. This whole story is just a therapeutic form of coping for me from an experience that I had several years ago and "Glee" was the most believable/easy platform to write this on. Hope you enjoy! More chapters will come soon! Leave me a review and let me know what you think!