"Another glass of whisky but it still don't kill the pain
So he stumbles to the sink and pours it down the drain
He says it's time to be a man and stop living for yesterday
Gotta face it…"
It's a Tuesday afternoon in March and Rachel is in the middle of recording song for her MySpace fans. In the past few months since they won Sectionals friend requests have become more frequent, but unfortunately so have the rude comments.
"Cause' I don't wanna' spend my life jaded Oh I don't wanna' keep on wishing, missing
Waiting to wake up one day and find
That I've let all these years go by
Wasted
The still of the morning, the color of the night
I ain't spending no more time
Wasted."
Her voice trails off and she glances over to the occupant on her bed. "That sounded okay, right?"
Finn nods. "It sounded great Rach, just like the last three times."
She sighs. "But it needs to be perfect! Great does not win Tony awards, Finn. Perfection does."
Her boyfriend shrugs. "Why do you care so much? You know you're talented, why even bother with the whole MySpace thing?"
"Because this could help me get my big break. Tons of people get discovered through the internet."
Finn stares at her intently for a moment. "You know what I think? I think you're trying to impress people."
She guffaws. "I thought that part was obvious."
"Not, like, agents or whatever. I mean the kids we got to school with." While everyone in Glee club has grown to accept her, the rest of the school has yet to follow. In fact, the entire group of New Directions is kind of isolated from everyone else at this point, but by now they've pretty much just stopped caring.
"Finn that's not true." Rachel's eyes dart to the floor as she avoids his gaze, which Finn has grown to know she only does when lying.
"Yes it is." His eyes light up. "Come here, I have an idea."
She frowns as he grabs her arm and pulls her towards the bed. "What are you doing?"
"I have an idea. Sit down here." Finn stands up and grabs her video camera, setting it on the desk so it's facing her bed before returning to her side.
"What are you doing?" Her voice is somewhat sad, and he knows she disappointed in herself, even if she'd never willingly admit it.
"You wanted to make a MySpace video, so that's what we're gonna do." He answers. "How do you start this thing?"
"Finn, I don't do these types of videos. I just record performances."
"I don't care." He says simply. "Now how do you get this thing to record?"
Rachel holds up a tiny remote and points to a red button near the top. Finn takes it from her hand and aims it at the camera, pressing the button.
"Hello internet," he smiles. "As I have just been informed, this is not the usual type of video that's put up here. But we're trying something new. See, this is my girlfriend Rachel," Finn wraps his arms around her affectingly and presses a kiss to the side of her head. "And I just wanted to take a minute and let all of the people that watch her know how amazing I think she is."
"Finn, really-" she starts to protest.
"See, she's not sure if these videos she puts up are the best." He goes on, ignoring her interruption. "Which is stupid, because her voice is one of the best I've ever heard, and I know everyone agrees with me. And all of those people that write mean stuff about her are really just jealous and shallow."
Rachel's cheeks are red by now due to the immense blushing she wishes she had control over, but Finn doesn't let that stop him.
"And besides her voice, she's also a great dancer and actress." He tells the camera. "But, as cool as all those things are, that's not why I love her. I love her because she's really nice to everyone no matter how she's treated back, and I love how she has enough confidence in herself to be different. That's something I really envy. And she always… she carries herself all determined and ready to take on whatever comes up with no fear. She's fearless."
Again, she tries to cut him off. "Finn, I'm scared of plenty of things-"
"Not to mention the fact that she's gorgeous." He adds, turning to look at her. "I mean, sometimes I just stare at her and I can't even think or say anything 'cause she just… she just amazes me. And how she sees something in someone like me, well, makes me think she's nuts." Finn smiles at her softly. "'Cause she could do so much better than me."
"Finn-"
"But I'm not gonna complain." He's nearing the end of his speech now so he keeps going, faster than before, out of fear that he might wimp out at the end or that Rachel might finally kill him for embarrassing her like this. "Because she's the best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm never letting her go." Finn finally turns his gaze back to the camera and says his next words seriously. "So there it is. Me and her, we're a package deal. You say stuff about her, you're saying it about me too. Because she deserves to know how awesome she is, and as long as I'm around I'm gonna make sure she hears it all the time. You guys can leave her stuff and agree with me, otherwise don't bother. It won't make any difference because for every lie you come up with, I have ten good things to make up for it. So you're done hurting her feelings." And then, as an afterthought, he adds, "Oh, and if you still do stuff to her Puck and Matt and Mike and I will kick your ass. Later!" Finn aims the tiny remote at the camera and the screen goes black, their images vanishing instantly.
"So now all we have to do is put it on the computer, right?"
Rachel nods slowly. "Yes, but there's no way I'm letting you do that. People will think you're crazy."
"So what? I don't care about them." He says, clearly not concerned at all. "Come on, if you don't show me how to do it I'll ask Artie or Tina or someone to help me figure it out."
She knows he will follow through on his promise, so with a small sigh she takes the camera and plugs it into a cord already connected to the computer sitting on her desk.
"You need to come up with a title for it." She says a few minutes later as the video is loading.
Finn pauses and thinks about it for a minute. "How about 'A Word From Finn'? That sounds good."
"Okay." Rachel types the words into the correct box and after a few more clicks of the mouse, she pushes her chair back from the desk. "There, it's up and waiting for the world to watch."
He smiles. "Good, now you just wait and see."
One week later Finn and Rachel arrive home from school and head up to her room to start their homework, but before a book can be cracked open Finn is already at her desk booting up the computer and heading to his video. It has nearly three hundred and fifty views, two hundred ratings for an overall average of four stars, and forty eight comments. Not a single one contains an insult of any sort.
After that Rachel decides that maybe her MySpace career should be put on the back burner for awhile. She has far more important things to do.
Like make-out with her amazing boyfriend.
Yeah, MySpace can definitely wait.