Roommates

19. Falling Apart

Previously...
"He told me he loves me. And that he'll protect me." I smile down at my desk, remembering how sweet and considerate Finn was, even though I could tell inside he was angry.
Santana rests her head on my shoulder and I rest mine on top. "You're gonna be fine, both me and Finn have your back." She reassures me. And with that we drop the subject and get on with our work.

***

Finn's POV
"So, in this scenario, would I use 'por' or 'para'?" Spanish class seems to drag on because my mind is elsewhere. I can't help but think about Rachel. I wonder how she's feeling in her class; hopefully Santana's there with her to distract her, otherwise she'd probably be thinking about Natasha and worrying.
"Finn?" I snap out of my thoughts as I see Mr Schuester standing right in front of my desk, looking down at me.
"Uh, yes sir." I reply, sitting up straighter. He sighs.
"Finn, have you been listening to a word I've been saying?"
Mr Schue's a pretty nice teacher, so I can be honest with him. And anyway he can basically tell when anyone's lying. Even if it's Puck. "No... Not really." I scratch my head feeling awkward as I hear a couple of snorts from my classmates, and Puck just rolling his eyes and smirking next to me.
"Can you see me after class Finn?"
I sigh. "Yeah, sure Mr Schue." I sit back in my chair and don't say a word for the rest of the lesson, not even to Puck. I can't stop picturing in my head what the argument between Rachel and Natasha looked like when it happened. Part of me doesn't even want to think about it, but the other part wishes I'd have been there to help Rachel.
I'm her boyfriend. I should have been there. I think to myself. I'm such a bad boyfriend. Crap. I sit with my head in my hands and just feel bad.

*

"Okay guys, that's it for today. You're dismissed." Mr Schue finally says. I'm about to leave when he calls on me. "Except you Finn. Remember?" I sigh and nod and walk over to his desk.
"Finn, are you okay today? You seem distracted." Mr Schuester asks me.
"Yeah, I am a bit." I decide to just be honest with him.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Mr Schue holds out his hand towards a chair that's near his desk, so I walk over and pick it up, putting in in front of him and sitting on it.
"I'm just worried about my girlfriend, Mr Schue. She's having a hard time right now. And I know I shouldn't let my personal life interfere with school but--"
"Sometimes you can't help the two colliding." Mr Schue stops me. "I understand Finn. When you care about someone you can't just block out your feelings suddenly when you enter a classroom."
I smile. "Thanks Mr Schue."
"You don't have to thank me. Just make sure she knows that you're there for her. Girls like to know they're protected and cared for. Then she'll be okay." Mr Schuester really is amazing. "Just try to catch up with what you didn't hear today, okay? You have those textbooks I gave you at the start of term." He adds, and I nod and am dismissed to leave.

Rachel's POV
I'm standing in the lobby waiting for Finn to meet me and he's late. I have these butterflies in my stomach. What if he's forgotten about me? What if he's busy? What if he's with Natasha?
"Stop it. Stop it Rachel." I whisper to myself, somehow deciding if I talk out loud it'll block out my thoughts. "He's not with Natasha. He knows what she did." I take a couple of deep breaths and try to make the butterflies fade away. It's not really working until I see Finn up ahead walking quickly towards me. I start walking too, meeting him halfway as he pulls me into a hug.
"Hey beautiful." He greets me, and I smile as I breath in the smell of him, knowing I'm okay now.
"Hey," I reply back. "How was class?"
We pull away from our hug. "It was alright. I had to stay behind and talk to Mr Schue though, that's why I was late. Sorry." He explains.
I smile, relieved to know he hadn't forgotten me. "That's alright. Hey, I thought maybe we could go out for lunch somewhere?" I suggest, and Finn smiles.
"That'd be great babe." He takes my hand and we get ready to leave, since neither of us brought school books with us to class - our teachers had them.
We make our way to the door when I stop. "Oh my god." I see Natasha walk in. I'm so shocked it almost feels like the whole thing is in slow motion.
"What? What's wrong?" Finn says, and I nod towards the door. Finn follows my gaze and sees Natasha for himself and I feel his grip on my hand tighten.
"It's okay babe, I've got you." He tells me, and I feel slightly better knowing Finn is on my side. Unfortunately, the "slightly better" feeling wears away as Natasha notices us and walks over.
"Hey guys!" She says cheerfully, acting like nothing's happened. "What's up?" She looks at me and gives me an evil glare with her eyes although she's still smiling.
Finn pushes my hand slightly behind his, like he's telling me he'll sort it. "What do you want?" He asks her, but Natasha's smile stays on.
"I'm just checking out the school. Why?"
Checking out the school? What the hell, she's been here before.
"Why.. Why do you need to check out the school?" I ask her, afraid of the answer.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm going here now."
I feel like my heart just stopped. Natasha's enrolled here now? For how long? Why? Is she doing this just to spite me? Probably. But now she can be closer to Finn. Oh my god this is a huge problem.
I stare up at Finn who is just staring at Natasha's evil face and I feel myself go pale and I feel physically sick with worry.
"You can't enrol here." Finn tells her.
"And why's that?"
"Because you're a danger to my girlfriend. And I won't have you anywhere near her."
"Well I just walked in and I'm here."
I butt in. "Trash belongs back outside." I'm feeling pretty proud of myself when her gaze turns to me and her smile goes and the sick feeling gets worse.
"Get outside then, dwarf." I'm about to say something to her but Finn steps in front of me.
"Don't talk to her like that." Finn lowers his voice and he sounds kinda scary to me. But Natasha doesn't flinch at all. She just smirks again.
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Because I've had enough of your crap. Leave my girlfriend alone or you'll have me to deal with."
Natasha scoffs. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise I'd done anything."
Finn raises his eyebrows and he scoffs back. "Did you just happen to forget that you shoved her twice and gave her a massive bruise? Or are you a bitch to too many people to recall that?"
Natasha's eyes widen. "Excuse me? Didn't she tell you what she did to me? She deserved that shove." What? What is she talking about? I've done nothing to her! She just shoved me out of nowhere.
Finn turns to me. "What's she talking about?"
"Nothing, I don't know." I tell him and step forward to Natasha. "I haven't done anything to you!" I tell her.
"Well of course you'd say that in front of Finn. But I'll tell him the truth." Oh my god, are you a psycho? Wait, yes. I think to myself. "You were rude to me ever since I arrived to support Puck at the tryouts. You tried to pick a fight when you first saw me. And I tried my best to ignore you and just try to get along," Well that's a load of crap and she knows it. "but instead you come up to me and start throwing around threats, telling me that I'm disgusting and that Puck doesn't really love me. And then you slap me across the face making me fall over! Not once but three times!"
I can't believe what I'm hearing. I honestly can't believe it. I want to yell and scream at her that she's a liar, but no words will come out. I look up at Finn who is just frowning at the floor. I want to tell him that she's lying and that I love him, but I can't speak. I'm completely shocked.
Finn doesn't even look at either me or Natasha, he just continues frowning. He doesn't believe me. He doesn't believe me. I can feel tears forming in my eyes, and I have to look away so Natasha doesn't see me wipe them away. But no matter how many times I do, I can just feel more tears falling down my cheeks. I feel my hands start to shake and I can't hold myself together. Without saying a word to Natasha or Finn I just run away from them. I don't even wait for the elevator I just run and run down the hallway to the long staircase that I can use instead of the elevator. As I'm running, I feel my breathing get heavier and I need to get back to the dorm quickly before people see me having a panic attack in the hallways. I run up the stairs as fast as I can and make it to the second floor where mine and Finn's room is. I shake with my key but eventually manage to undo the door, and I slam it behind me as I go inside. I don't even bother to take off my jacket, I just drop my bag, run to the bed, pounce on it and cry because nothing matters if Finn doesn't believe me. I scream into the pillow and I bang my fist on the bedside table, knocking over a cup and a few random bits, and I just continue to cry.

Finn's POV
Rachel ran away and now there's just me and Natasha.
"Well, she didn't cover for herself. Do you believe me now?" Natasha says.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." I tell her, ignoring her question.
Natasha seems shocked. "Seriously? You're going after her when she lied to you?" I start walking away. "Finn! Finn!" I carry on walking. "Fine. I'll see you in class." And with that I hear the sound of her heels walking away too.

I get to the dorm room and at first I'm reluctant to open the door. I don't know what to think right now. I don't believe that Rachel could hurt anyone, but she didn't say anything. She didn't tell me that it was a lie, she just ran away. I tried to take in what Mr Schue said, about me showing Rachel I can protect her. I take a deep breath and enter the dorm, and the first thing I notice is Rachel's bag on the floor with it's contents spilled out. I kneel down picking the things up and putting them back in Rachel's bag, and I place it on the table. She must have just dropped in when she came in. I listen around me, and I can't hear any sound, but I know Rachel's here.
"Rachel?" I call out but I don't get an answer. But then I hear a noise from the bedroom, like something's been knocked over. I run into the room and I see Rachel sat on the floor staring into nowhere, with tears rolling down her cheeks and her eyes almost all black from her smudged mascara. A bunch of things have been knocked over from on top of the bedside table next to her, and from the dresser.
"Rach, oh my god." I can't think of what to say so I just rush over to her and sit down next to her, and I hold her in my arms. She doesn't even look at me, she just stares ahead with a blank expression and she looks exhausted from crying. "Rachel look at me." I tell her and she slowly turns her head towards me and looks at me.
"Do you believe her?" She asks me slowly, her voice shaky.
"No. Of course I don't." I tell her. I suddenly see her face scrunching up again and I pull her into my arms before she starts sobbing and screaming.
"I didn't do anything to her." She tells me through loud crying.
"I know you didn't. I know. Hey, come here. You're okay." I run my fingers through her hair, knowing that she likes that and it'll calm her down. She breathes heavily and I just continue to hold her close, wanting to cry with her, but I have to stay strong for her.

After another ten minutes Rachel's breathing becomes slower and she begins to calm down, although she's still holding onto me collapsed in my arms. I kiss her forehead.
"Hey, you're gonna be fine." I tell her. She slowly raises her body and sits back up straight, turning to look at me.
"I'm sorry." She tells me quietly. I look at her confused.
"Hey, you've got nothing to be sorry for. It's Natasha winding you up. It's her fault." I rub circles on her back slowly and she smiles.
She stands up slowly, holding on to the bed as she steadies herself. I get up too and she hugs me tightly. I kiss her and run my fingers through her hair one more time.
"Now, how about we go out and I treat you to that lunch?" As I suggest this, she laughs and nods sweetly.
"Okay." She smiles up at me, still wiping the last few tears from her face. I wipe away her smudged mascara and even though now she only has on some foundation, she doesn't seem bothered about it. To me she looks beautiful without any makeup at all. I take her hand and we walk to the door, picking up her bag on the way and head out to enjoy ourselves and hopefully distract Rachel from Natasha.