Finally, it was time for Nationals, Ive been dreading it all week mainly because I was a nervous wreck. What if I messed up the choreography or a note? Also because that would mean needing to be next door to Sam. Didn't really look forward to that.
The flight to New York was normal, I sat next to Kurt and Santana, they made it fun. What wasn't fun was seeing Sam and Mercedes sit next to each other, while flirting the entire way there. Other than that, it was pretty normal.
'Hamburgers?!' I exclaimed staring at multiple white box's mike was holding trying to balance them all.
'Duh, we're in Times Square. Also...mind helping me?' He asked signaling for help.
'Oh yeah, sorry.' I chuckled grabbing some boxes from his pile, setting them down on the red steps we were all sitting on.
Mike also set them down letting out a big sigh. 'That was a workout.'
Immediately everybody opened random boxes and grabbed their hamburgers soon sitting down as well.
'A year and a half ago, the new directions were nothing but a group of six misfits, stumbling their way through a horrific rendition of "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat." Kurt chuckled holding his hamburger. 'Now here we are, at the top of the show choir heap: Nationals!' he exclaimed.
'I want to hit up Central Park, get my frolic on.' Tina raised her shoulders earning a genuine smile from mike.
'I want to throw stuff off the Brooklyn Bridge.' Puck spat.
'You guys, hold on. I mean, we still have two songs to write.' Finn interjected giving a look of uncertainty.
'Okay, Mr. Bossy Pants.' Kurt mocked. 'But I think we might have some time for a tune before we leave.' he smiled, beginning to sing.
♪ Start spreading the news ♪
♪ I'm leaving today ♪
♪ I want to be a part of it ♪
♪ New York, New York...♪
'Guys, I have news.' Rachel exhaled interrupting our cappella. 'To celebrate our impending win at Nationals, I got us all 14 tickets to Broadway's longest-running show ever, Cats!' She beamed holding up tickets.
'Whoo!' Brittany whooped.
'Yeah, you did!'
'You might want to check the dates on those tickets, Rachel, because Cats closed about 11 years ago.' Quinn spoke making Rachel relook at the tickets she held.
'He did seem crazy.' She nodded. 'He charged my credit card by swiping it through his butt-crack.' she shrugged.
••••••••••••••••••••
Not to long after, we made our way to our hotel, everybody hung out in the lobby meanwhile Mr. Shue was checking us in.
'Do you guys have skittles?' I asked one of the workers passing by Kurt and I.
'I'll go check.' The worker nodded walking away.
'So have you talked to you know who?' Kurt whispered.
'Kurt, there's about more than 100 people here, you don't gotta whisper.' I noted shaking my head. 'But to answer your question, no I haven't.'
'You are so gullible, Allaire.' he shook his head clearly disappointed by my response. 'He clearly liked you as well.'
'If he liked me, he would've kissed me back. Plus if i didn't need a relationship all these years, I don't need one now.' I awkwardly chuckled looking around to see if the hotel worker was anywhere near coming back.
'He's so on my list.' I heard a voice appear. I turned my head to see Santana crossing her arms.
'Have you been here the entire time?!' I nervously asked.
'Hell yeah. Anyways, you deserve so much better, like who does he think he is?! Ridiculous!' She spat giving a death stare to Sam.
'Way to make it obvious, Santana.' I inhaled slapping my hand against my forehead.
'Sorry not sorry, anyways, here's your skittles, these workers take so long to get one piece of candy.' she shook her head handing out the skittles. 'I snuck into the place where they have all the goodies.' she normally spoke shrugging.
'Finally, I've been waiting so long, thanks!' I thanked grabbing the candy out of her hand.
'It hasn't even been like 5 minutes Allaire.' Kurt giggled, while I gave him an awkward smile.
••••••••••••••••••••
'Do you know that I can get a ahi tartare and a steak sandwich at 3:00 in the morning from their all-night dining menu?' Kurt informed giving a big smile. 'I feel like Eloise.'
'I have pills for that.' Brittany said.
'All right, guys, this is your time. Now, you are all on lockdown till you finish writing our songs for Nationals.' Schue began. 'I want at least two solid verses by the time I get back.' He ordered.
'Aren't you gonna help us?' I asked playing around with my notebook.
'Uh, um...I will be back and read your amazing creations and give notes, but right now, I have to head to the theater to, uh, fill out some paperwork.' he stammered, clapping his heads, and walking out.
••••••••••••••••••••
My Cup -
Performed by Brittany S. Pierce & Artie Abrams
'Awesome.' Brittany cheered.
'Hold on. Are for singing about a cup?' I asked meanwhile tapping on my shoe.
'Yeah, totally.'
'We got to get out of here.' Quinn stood up to grab her jacket.
'Wait. No, no, no. Mr. Shue gave us explicit instructions...' Rachel muttered laying up.
'To write a song and our problem is, is that our only inspiration are mattresses and bathroom cups.' she continued putting on her jacket.
'Quinn's right, we're in the artists capital of the world. Poets, musicians, actors, playwrights. Every dreamer that's ever lived has passed through this city.' Puck agreed. 'And if we want our dreams to come true, we need to be out there with them, not stuck in here.' he spat taking off his guitar.
'Guys, I don't think this is a good idea. I mean, we still got those songs to write. If we don't write them, we're going to lose.' Finn explained with uncertainty.
'No. They're right. Can't you hear the city calling to you?' Lauren voiced.
'We don't need to write songs for Nationals. New york's going to write them for us.' Quinn lightly chuckled.
I Love New York / New York, New York -
Performed by The New Directions
••••••••••••••••••••
Finns POV:
'Hey, can I try something out on you guys?' I asked turning around to face the boys. 'I think that one of our songs should be a duet with me and Rachel.'
'I just want to win. We all know that you two doing a duet is our best shot at that.' Mike smirked throwing a paper airplane my way.
'Awesome.' I smiled.
'Okay, can we just talk about the Jewish elephant in the room? Ask her out, dude.' Puck began.
'Who? Rachel? But she's totally into Jesse right now.' I replied looking back at my notes.
'You're in New York, the city of love.' he praised.
'I though that was Paris.' Sam chimed in speaking with a mouthful of chips.
'Anything's possible here, you need to ask her out tonight.' Puck demanded. 'Take her on one of those big, awful dates you see in those unwatchable romantic comedies that you grow a vagina if you watch all the way through.' he mentioned.
'This is your shot, dude. If I was in love with a girl, and I wasn't homeless, I'd totally go for it.' Sam continued eating more chips.
'Well, you can probably get her like a hotdog or something, maybe a balloon.' Puck nodded. 'Allaire wouldn't mind a balloon for a gift.' he mumbled turning back to me.
'What?' Sam coughed meanwhile a bunch of chip crumbs fell on the floor.
'Oh, nothing.' he smiled. 'Go for it, dude.' he assured me making me smile.
••••••••••••••••••••
Allaire's POV:
Still listening to Mr. Schue I was writing on my notes trying to come up with song lyrics, meanwhile the girls were putting their shoes on to go down to the lobby and get some snacks.
'You coming?' Santana slowed down slightly opening the hotel door.
'Yeah! I just gotta go to the bathroom, real quick.' I replied setting my notebook aside.
'For sure, come on guys!' she exclaimed leaving the room with the other girls.
I had finished doing whatever I needed to do, which didn't take more than 3 minutes. I sat down and put on my shoes and sweater. Just as I was opening and door and setting out of the room, Sam was standing there, with a balloon.
'You scared the crap out of me, Sam.' I chuckled taking a step back.
'Here's a balloon!' he quickly spoke, handing over the normal sized balloon.
'That's really nice of you! I love balloons.' I grinned gripping onto my gift. 'I've gotta get going now, but thanks so much for the balloon, sam.' I ended pulling him into a hug.
Instantly when I hugged him, I felt him tense up.
'You're really welcome.' he slowly smiled. 'I'll see you later.' He waved me off.
I didn't know why he gave me a balloon, I guess it was just a normal gesture. I didn't think much of it anyways. Who would've anyways?
••••••••••••••••••••
I woke up to the sound of Rachel and Kurt rambling in their suitcases looking for something to wear, honestly I didn't even question it, I tried going back to sleep when they left but couldn't. So I knocked on the boys room, wanting to talk to Finn about how his "work date" with Rachel went.
since he also never filled me in, he seemed pretty bummed last night.
surprisingly the door handle was turning and the door was about to open, I honestly thought they still would've been asleep.
'Allaire?' Sam grumbled rubbing his eyes.
'Yep, is Finn awake?' I asked putting my hands behind my back.
'Uh yeah, he is.' he replied. 'Finn, Allaire's asking for you.'
Right after Sam said his name, he sped walked up to the door and waved at me.
'What happened last night? Did it go well?' I questioned him being super curious.
'Well, we were about to kiss...but she backed away and said she couldn't.' he answered, his smile turning into a frown.
'I'm sorry, maybe she'll come around. I know she still loves you, and I know you still love her.' I apologized, poking at his chest.
'You think?' he sighed.
'nope. I know damn well, she does.' I chuckled shaking my head giving him a big hug.
••••••••••••••••••••
We all found out that after Nationals, Mr. Schue was going to leave and go on Broadway, it made us sad but we were happy for him.
'All right, guys, who's up for some real New York City...pizza?' his voice trailed off noticing our frowns.
'We heard.' Quinn breathed playing with her fingers.
'Heard what?'
'About you leaving to be on Broadway.' Mercedes shook her head.
Mr. Schue sighed putting down the pizza boxes.
'Look, I haven't made up my mind about anything.' he began.
'We get it. And we're happy for you.' Kurt assured him.
'You've inspired us in so many ways, so....this is just another.' Rachel added raising her shoulders.
'I don't understand. Who-who told you guys?' He asked.
'Goolsby'
'You okay, Mr. Shue?' Mike asked.
'I'm not going.' he revealed. 'I'm staying with you guys. I had my moment on the stage and it was glorious. But you and I...have some unfinished business to take care of.' he expressed planting a smile on his face. 'Now get out your notebooks. Time to get to work. Come on, this is Nationals, people!' he clapped.
Puck slammed his notebook on the bed and stood up giving Mr. Shue a hug, soon everybody else joined in too.
'I want in, I want in.'
'Whoo!'
••••••••••••••••••••
Finally, it was the day. It was Nationals.
'We made it. We're one of the top 50 show choirs in the nation.' Rachel beamed staring up at three flags. 'Tomorrow only ten will move on to showcase, where they'll vie for the National Championship.' she gushed slightly jumping up and down.
'We have so got this.' Kurt praised.
'Okay, usually I'm pretty cautious about getting your hopes up but honestly, guys?' Shue paused. 'I think we got a really good shot at winning this ting.' he chuckled. 'All right, everybody put your hand in the middle.'
'Of course.'
'Whoo!'
'One, two, three. New Directions!'
••••••••••••••••••••
'Okay, we got this, guys.' I cheered.
'Let's do this.'
Pretending -
Performed by Rachel Berry & Finn Hudson
To everybody's surprise, they kissed. They left the entire audience quiet. Until they soon started clapping.
Light Up The World -
Performed by The New Directions
••••••••••••••••••••
'Don't you think this is gonna look so hot on Lord Tubbington?' Brittany said holding up a T-Shirt. 'I'm gonna go find it in an extra large.'
we then heard a bunch of shrieking and cheering from side of the building.
'They just posted the top ten for showcase.' Kurt informed trying to take breathes in. 'Everybody, gather around! It's a moment two years in the making.' he clapped.
'Okay, what should we do?' Rachel questioned holding onto her own hands tight.
'Let's go look at it...together. Come on, come on.'
It felt like forever just walking up to the list, we saw Vocal Adrenaline celebrating and tons of other teams cheering and celebrating as well.
'Oh, I'm too nervous to look.'
'I'll go.' Mr. Shue replied, he walked up to the list and didn't say a word, leaving us all confused and anxious to see our results.
'What did we place?' Finn asked. 'Well, Mr. Shue? Say it. What did we rank?'
'We didn't.' Shue answered. 'I'm so sorry, you guys. We aren't in the top ten.'
And just like that, our happy moods were ruined. We didn't make it in the top 10. We lost.
••••••••••••••••••••
Finally, we made it back to our homes, we were still taking the lose pretty bad, everybody was still really sad, but coming back to my own home just made it slightly better. All I needed was my own home.
'Hey guys!' I greeted Kurt and Blaine standing in front of their table.
'Allaire! How're you doing?' Blaine smiled turning his attention to me.
'Other than being heartbroken about losing at Nationals, I'd say I'm doing great.' I laughed. 'Mind if I take a seat?' I asked.
'Not at all.' he replied taking a seat out for me.
Just as I was sitting down Kurt and spoken. 'Oh, look who's here.'
Blaine and I both turned around in sync to see Sam and Mercedes smiling.
'Hey, what are you guys doing here?' Blaine beamed a smile.
'Uh, nothing. Just, uh, getting a coffee.' Sam stammered his words, playing with his jeans.
'We ran into each other in the parking lot.' Mercedes nodded.
'We're on our way to get some sheet music. Tomorrow's my audition for the summer show at Six Flags.' Blaine mentioned crossing his fingers.
'Whereas I'm spending my summer composing Pip, Pip, Hooray! The Broadway music about Pippa Middleton.' Kurt gave a neutral face.
'I have no idea who that is, but it sounds totally awesome.' Sam awkwardly chuckled.
'We'll see you in class.' Mercedes ended.
'Bye, guys.' Blaine waved them off. 'Okay, so here are the nominees for my songs tomorrow...' he begun again.
His voice trailed off in my head as I was keeping my eyes on Mercedes and Sam, I just couldn't take my eyes off them. Not too surprising, when they held hands in the line.
At that moment, I knew I should've been the one to try harder again. I didn't try harder when he dated Quinn, and I lost him because of that. And there I went again, losing him.
It wasn't going to be easy to, but I knew I had to get over it. I just hoped that next year had something better for me.
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