guarding the heart

chapter 21: Confrontation

Rachel walked into school feeling extremely proud of herself. She had done exactly what she wanted the night before. It had taken a while to map it out all out, but at last she had it; a 7-Step guide on how exactly to win back the heart of one Finn Hudson. With a smile and determined, purposeful movements, she pulled down the picture of the Grammy from the inside of her locker (yes, that was still a goal, but for further down the line) and put up her list instead. She read it once more to ensure she had it memorized.

Step 1. Compliment him at least once a day.

Pretty easy to do, really. He's always looking and smelling nice and has that adorable half-smile. That's three right there. Surely it won't be hard to come up with others.

Step 2. Attend all his football games.

Again, a pretty easy one to accomplish. After all, the last one I went to he was true to his word, didn't bother with the after party and came with me to the mall. I would have called it a date, but he was pretty determined to find the perfect gift for Kurt. If he had just settled on the first thing I suggested right away instead of wandering around for two and half hours before going back to the first item, we could have used our time more constructively.

Step 3. Suggest more duets with him for Glee.

No hardship here. Our voices already blend so well together, especially since he's learned to use his diaphragm to project his voice instead of just his vocal chords. Plus, this will put me in his path more often as we'll need more practice time. It's win-win for both us and the club as a whole. Who could possibly protest?

Step 4. Offer to tutor him.

He's shown a lot more desire to do well in his classes and his marks really have improved, but I think I can convince him that with my help he can do even better. I'm sure he'd jump at the chance to do better, especially when decisions about colleges need to be made soon.

Step 5. Give him small presents.

Nothing big, nothing obvious, just little things you come across, like those multi-coloured pens where you can click which colour to use, or his favourite chocolate bar, or maybe a coffee when he doesn't expect it. Keep it going, and he'll get the message.

Step 6. Take him to a 'guy' film.

True, his overall taste in movies is horrendous, and I don't even know how he could sit through 'Inception', not understand it, and walk away thinking is was "wicked awesome." But since he likes movies with massive amounts of gratuitous violence, little to no character development and multiple ear-splitting explosions, I suppose I can 'muscle' my way through one or two more.

Step 7. Cuddle with him, and when he looks at you 'that way', don't hesitate to kiss him!

Really, I should have followed my own advice on that one the other day. Waiting for him to make the first move is ridiculous. I mean, this is the boy to whom the first time I had to explain that he could kiss me if he wanted. But hey, I am a modern day woman and I can adapt. And no matter what any other woman may think, I know that given a choice Finn would much prefer 'Berry'-flavour to 'Candi'-flavour.

She wondered idly if Finn had had some kind of summer fling with Candi, that tall woman from the National Guard. It wouldn't have surprised her, really, since he was single and good looking and perhaps a bit vulnerable emotionally. He was basically fresh meat for any hot blooded vulture of a skank to swoop in and begin something romantic with him. Was it a summer fling that the Hudson-Hummel family had been trying to hide from her? That Finn was involved with someone else, despite his still wounded heart?