FIC: Oh How I Loath Thee (Let me count the ways)
Title: Oh How I Loath Thee (Let me count the ways)
Words: 2391
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. But I wish I did.
Rating: G
Character/Pairings: Rachel, Finn/Rachel, little mention of Quinn/Finn
Summary: Rachel knows Finn has flaws, oh boy does she.
Author’s Notes: Based off of the Miley Cyrus song "7 things"
Title: The title is the the tag for the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, but the story is not based on that, at all.
Based on the song "7 things" by Miley Cyrus.
Enjoy!
Rachel Berry did not fall in love easily, and when it came to falling in love with jerks, well it’s safe to say that never happened. Her dads had raised her better, had always told her any guy who doesn’t treat you right is not someone to waste your time on. She usually followed this advice and by doing so she never really let anyone close enough to her for her to actually start falling for them. She always found something wrong with any guy who had even had an interest in looking at her. And after a few years of ignoring the guys in her grade they stopped looking, she became “that freak that doesn’t have any friends.” But all that had changed. He had changed that. Finn Hudson. Football quarterback with a heart of gold and singing talent like she had never seen before.
Everyone loved Finn. What’s not to love? He was a giant slice of tall, dark, and handsome all rolled up into a 16 year old boy. Yes, he was dreamy and he had somehow found a way to steal Rachel’s heart in one day. And
for that first day, and only that day, did Rachel seem to think she had found herself the perfect guy. A guy who never be a jackass and wouldn’t purposely hurt her. Boy she was wrong. Finn was far from perfect. He was full of flaws almost to the point where he was one giant flaw in hot-guy packaging.
Where to begin:
1. He was vain.
He couldn’t seem to understand that practice was important if he wanted glee to go to Nationals. When it came down to it, sure he had a great voice but if he wasn’t going to put more time into the club than into football then he shouldn’t even be on the team. He was dragging them down and he didn’t even seem to notice or care. She used to find it as an endearing quality, but now Rachel just wanted to smack him over the head because of it.
2. He liked to play games with her emotions.
Whether he meant to or not he did. Like this one time:
“Hey Rach?” Finn asked one day after practice as Rachel was getting all her stuff together.
She whipped around at the sound of his voice, she had thought everyone had left, “Yeah?”
He nervously shifted from side to side, clearing his throat, and was looking at the floor as f there was something interesting splattered al over it. He looked like a little kid and it was unbelievably adorable, “Are you going to the game tomorrow?”
Rachel’s forehead crinkled in confusion, “The football game?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head, “I wasn’t planning on it, I do really do sporting events,” she explained slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
“Oh,” he nodded, looking slightly defeated.
“Why?”
He shook his head lightly and smiled at her, “Nothing I was just hoping you were going, I really wanted you there.”
Rachel’s eyes widened in surprise, “You did, I mean, you do?” she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Finn Hudson wanted her to go to his game because he wanted her there.
“Yeah, I’m nervous about it, its kind of a big game, and I was thinking about what helps me calm down when I’m not playing football and the first thing I thought of was you. You just being there I think would put me at ease.” he smiled again and shifted once again too. This was obviously was a little uncomfortable for him to say. He was actually saying that she helped him, made him calm. This was going down as one of the greatest conversations she has ever had.
She smiled and tried to brush of the waves of excitement bouncing around within her and calming said, “Well now I have to go.” she started to head out the door past Finn who began following right next to her.
“You don’t have to, I mean, if you don’t want to go you shouldn’t feel like you HAVE to go,” he rambled while gripping the strap of his backpack tighter.
“No I HAVE to go. See if you are nervous playing football that could get you hurt. So hurt that you wouldn’t be able to dance and then Glee would crumble down in ruins, so yes, I HAVE to go.” she laughed.
Finn then stopped in the middle of the hall grabbing Rachel’s arm to stop her and turn her to face him. Rachel’s breath caught in her throat at how close he got to her. His eyes were piercing through hers, and she could feel his body heat radiating off of him. She was pretty sure she had died and gone to heave but for the moment she was ok with that.
“Thank you Rachel, this means a lot to me. I really, REALLY want you to be there.” he brushed his hand across her face placing a strand of hair behind her ear.
All Rachel could do was nod and smile up at him. She couldn’t believe this was happening,. He was standing closer to her then he ever had outside of a dance routine. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute and she was pretty sure his was too. Almost already in complete shock she was even more surprised when he didn’t turn away from her. He actually started to lean in. To say that she was freaking out would be a biggest understatement of the year. She had hoped, dreamed, about this happening and now it was in the middle of the hallway of the high school. They were so close she could feel his breath on her face and just as their lips were going to meet, a damn classroom door came slamming open springing Finn as far away from Rachel as possible. It was probably a good thing he sprung that far because barreling out of the classroom was none other than Quinn Fabray, his girlfriend.
“Finn there you are,” she smiled, seeing him standing there, probably thinking he had been waiting for her. He smile faded as soon as she saw Rachel standing next to him, “Finn, why are you with her?”
Finn looked down at Rachel and then back at Quinn, “I’m not, she was just walking by when you came out.” he lied. Rachel’s eyes automatically shut in pain. How is it that he wanted her to go to the game but he didn’t want to even be seen with her in the hallway? She could feel the tears creeping her eyes lids but she tried her hardest not to let them fall, “Let’s get out of here.” she heard him saying moving further away from her. When Rachel finally opened her eyes, she was glad for the tears blocking her vision or else she would have gotten a crystal clear shot of Finn pull Quinn into a long kiss.
It’s safe to say Rachel stayed home the next night and just posted another MySpace video. The next day she found out the football team lost, Finn had played his worst game of the season.
3. He was insecure.
He always worried about not being good enough. Not doing what other wanted him to do. He built his whole life around what Quinn wanted and what Puck thought he should be doing. It almost as if he never had a single thought or feeling for himself. In Glee he pushed himself, almost to the point of straining his vocal cords because he thought if he didn’t he wouldn’t be good enough. She knew he wanted to be good and to make everyone proud, but sometimes he needed to do things for himself. Sing at his own level, do things he wanted to do, be who he wanted to be. He’s insecurities about not being good enough were annoying and self-pitying and if there was one thing Rachel didn’t stand for it was self-pitying. It wasn’t going to get you anywhere in life and it just pisses off the people around you.
4. He acted like he was into her, then he would turn around and be into Quinn.
See #2 for an example.
5. He had a real act of making her cry.
She cried over him, a lot. She tried to keep a brave face on at school, act like him being with the stupid bitch of a cheerleader didn’t bother her, be his friend and only his friend. But at night, it was a whole other story. She cried, all the time. For the moment she got home she would run to her room throw herself onto her bed and just let it all out before her dads got home from work. As soon as she heard the garage door she would wipe her face off, put on a smile and go down stair and act like the perfect daughter who didn’t have a care in the world. But then 11 o’clock would come and she would be settling down for bed and the second wave of emotions from the day would hit her, harder this time.
She would cry because of him, because of Quinn, because she would be going to bed and she knew that she would dream of him, of him wanting her as desperately as she wanted him, she cried because she would then wake up and the aching whole in her heart would send pain shooting all the way though her body. He may not even know that he makes her cry, but he does, oh did he make her cry.
6. He sometimes acted like his friends, like a jerk.
Though he had never thrown a Icee on her before or anyone else that she had heard about. But sometimes when he was with all his other football playing buddies they would treat some of the underclass men like crap. Throwing in dumpsters, pushing into lockers, dumping their stuff on the ground. Finn didn’t do a lot of it but he would laugh with them and do that weird guy-shoulder-hug thing.
And when she came up to talk to him in the hallway the guys around him started laughing to themselves and whispered to themselves. Occasionally they would say things a little louder so they both would hear what they say. It was always something about how weird she was, or a comment of her fathers, and Finn would laugh to himself a bit like a smug jackass. She didn’t understand why he acted like this, in Glee he was sweet and kind to everyone. She once heard Puck call Artie “that wheelchair freak” and instead of standing up to him Finn just laughed and nodded. Finn was one of Artie’s best friends but apparently Finn could care less when he wasn’t in the choir room with them.
And then comes the last flaw, the biggest one of them all. Bigger then how vain he is, how many game he plays and how insecure he is. Bigger then his feelings for Quinn, and how he makes her cry every night, when bigger then acting like a total ass to the rest of the world. No his biggest flaw was WAY bigger than that.
7. Even through all the crap he does and the things he says, Rachel can’t help but be totally and unconditionally in love with him.
His hair that seemed to always stay perfect even after long dance rehearsals and football practices. His gorgeous brown eyes that seemed to see right through all of the walls she put up, straight into who she truly was. It always made her heart flutter when he looked at her like that. He had these pair of old jeans that he wore once a week, usually on Wednesday’s that fit him perfectly, he looked GOOD in those jeans.
And then there was when they kissed, ok they didn’t really kiss, they kissed in her dreams. It was always perfect though. Gentle and tender but still with a since of urgency about it, like if they stopped kissing it would be the most awful thing in the whole world. It was sweet and prefect, and not real. But something was better than nothing.
And just like he could make her cry he could also make her laugh. He was without a doubt one of the funniest people she had ever met in her life. Every time they got new costumes for Glee he made her do this little dance with him while sing ‘I’m too Sexy” it always made Rachel start laughing so hard she was almost in tears. The times they laughed together almost made up for all the times she cried over him.
There was this perfect way their hands fit together when they were singing. Even when they song didn’t call for hand-holding, Finn’s hand somehow always found it’s way into Rachel’s. It never seemed to stop surprising Rachel how well their hands fit together. Like they were made for other another.
Yeah Finn had flaws, a lot of them, but none of that really mattered, because no matter hw hard she tried not too, she couldn’t help it, she was in love with him. And she planned to stay that way.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The 7 things I hate about you
You're vain, your games, you're insecure
You love me, you like her
You make me laugh, you make me cry
I don't know which side to buy
You're friends, they're jerk
sWhen you act like them, just know it hurts
I wanna be with the one I know
And the 7th thing I hate the most that you do
You make me love you.
-----
The 7 things I like about you!
Your hair, your eyes, your old Levi's
When we kiss I'm hypnotized
You make me laugh, you make me cry
But I guess that's both I'll have to buy
Your hands in mine when we're intertwined,
Every thing's alright
I wanna be with the one I know
And the 7th thing I like the most that you do
You make me love you
A/N I hope you all like this. I realize there may be some grammar mistakes, grammar is not my strong suit at all.