About four months after breaking things off with Rachel over her make out session with Puck and her not being able to understand why that was so much worse than the Santana thing, Finn was beginning to regret his decision. For a while, things were cool with Santana and the sex was awesome and it had been a little flattering that Rachel kept trying to get him back…until she stopped.

Dating Santana was nothing like dating Rachel or even Quinn. She was actively mean, didn't really care what he wanted and then she up and dumped him. Not cool.

That was when he noticed that Rachel was smiling again. He always thought she looked pretty when she smiled. During Glee, she laughed and talked and seemed somehow calmer and less frantic than she usually did. But she was still very Rachel, in her little skirts and sweaters, the little gold star necklace replacing the charm with his name.

As everyone gathered their things and left, he managed to catcher her arm and asked, "Can I talk to you?"

Oddly, Puck, Mike, Tina and Brittany looked back at Rachel and she waved them on. They left in a huddle, casting looks at Finn. "What can I do for you, Finn?"

He looked down at her and smiled. "So, I've been thinking…we've been broken up a while now and I decided we could get back together, 'cause some time has passed and stuff."

Rachel's mouth fell open in a little O of surprise and Finn smiled. Then, when he noticed her shaking her head, he stopped smiling.

"Finn," she began, taking a step back from him and he'd rarely heard her sound so serious when not talking about a performance. "It's not that you're not a good boy, in some respects you may even be the better boy but…"

All at once he knew where this was going. Knew why she'd seemed different lately. Seemed happy. Puck had been different too. Calmer. Getting into a lot less trouble. "It's him, right?"

"Yeah, I am sorry," she said, giving him a small smile. "He makes me happy."

Finn made a face. "But you just said I'm a better guy…."

Rachel held up a hand emphatically. "No. I said you may be a better boy…but that does not make you a better man. The fact that you don't understand that only proves my point."

Finn didn't know what to say to that and he had no idea how he kept losing girls to Puck. It wasn't fair!

She seemed to take his silence as a goodbye and turned to leave the room. He followed her out into the hall and watched as she met up with Puck, Mike, Tina, Brittany and Artie. She looped her arm through Puck's and he smiled down at her as the group wandered towards the door. As they were leaving, Finn heard Brittany exclaim, "DDR time!"

How had he not noticed this before, Finn wondered. He also wondered when Rachel became friends with the others. When they'd been together, no one could stand her.

Bummed out, he headed out to his car alone and wondered how things got so messed up.

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