DISCLAIMER: I neither own Glee nor the characters. They are the property of Ryan Murphy and FOX. This is purely for fun. Enjoy :)

A/N: Me Voila! The Minsk here with another story! This is another scenario that will take place in the back-nine, but it will not be Hey Jealousy part II; this is a completely different story. Spoilers/Spec from the back-nine promo. Enjoy!

Just Friends

Chapter One: Moving On

'Hm, should I get the Chicken Parmesan or the Fettuccine Alfredo?' Finn Hudson nibbled on a breadstick, deep in thought. 'These breadsticks are so good, I could eat them as an entire meal!'

He stared at the Olive Garden menu, fighting between the cheesy chicken goodness he craved and the carbs he needed to eat to have energy for practice in the morning. A waitress came over and refilled his water and the waters of the two Cheerios sitting across from him: Santana and Brittany. Santana and Finn had been dating for over two weeks now, and it was normal for Brittany to tag along on their dates; he barely cared anymore. Those two girls were inseparable, he'd decided. He made his choice regarding his food. He was rocking the Chicken Parm tonight!

While he was deciding on his meal, he vaguely heard the chatter of the Cheerios and recognized a certain girl's name. . .

"Did you see what Rachel was wearing today?"

Santana's answer was curt and mocking. "She looked like Pippi Longstockings."

"Those sweaters make her look home-schooled." They both shared a vicious smirk. They looked up at Finn to see his reaction.

Finn looked up from his menu. He tensed a little bit. He hated when the two of them talked about Rachel in front of him; it made him feel more than a little uncomfortable. He had told Santana once that Rachel was his friend- his best friend actually. And he certainly did not like listening to his girlfriend call his best friend a tranny diva. But then she'd thrown a fit; saying that he had a freak fetish and, as head cheerleader, she could say whatever she wanted about the losers at the school. He'd stopped voicing most of his opinion after that.

It was just like dating Quinn all over again. This time without the baby drama. And he got to touch boobs.

He realized that Santana was still waiting for his response, so he just shrugged his shoulders and made a non-committal grunt.

He knew the truth, though. He liked the way Rachel dressed.

He stuffed another breadstick into his mouth and the waitress came over and took their orders. He asked the waitress for more breadsticks, so he could pretend to eat and not have to talk. Santana and Brittany bent their heads close together and shared more vicious whispers. He thought he'd heard Rachel's name mentioned more than once.

He took this opportunity to stare at Santana. He spent most of the time they spent together staring at her.

He was waiting.

He was waiting for the moment he looked at her and felt something more than what he felt now.

Right now he felt nothing.

Blah.

He was waiting for the moment when he actually felt good about his new relationship and appreciated Santana for who she really was.

It still hadn't happened yet.

They had been together for two weeks, and he felt nothing for his girlfriend.

How did he even end up with a girlfriend he didn't like?

It was actually Santana who was the one who had pursued him. He'd been so stunned that a popular cheerleader actually wanted to date him after the Baby-Gate fiasco, he'd jumped at the chance without thinking. He'd been desperate. His ego had been busted, his pride had been bruised, and Santana was willing to start dating him. It hadn't hurt that she was popular too, which had helped him regain some of the popularity he'd lost after Baby-Gate. Who wouldn't want to date the sexy, head cheerleader?

Finn never thought he would be the one who would answer "Me" to that question.

Sure, she was hot. She was more than hot: she had a pretty face (when she wasn't smirking) and a smoking-hot body (that she talked about all the time). She was popular and confident and not-at-all a prude. . .

But she was so. . .mean.

She never had a nice thing to say. Even to him. She told him he was freaky tall and dorky and those were supposed to be terms of endearment from her. She was always talking about other Glee kids like they were from Mars when they were all supposed to be a team. She never made an effort to be nice and she expected everything to go her way.

But he was still waiting. He would stare and stare until he felt something. Anything.

He had to move on. He had to pick of the pieces of his life and look ahead. He was captain of the basketball team and the captain of Glee. He had his cheerleader girlfriend and he was on top of his game again.

So why did he keep thinking about Rachel? Why did she keep popping into his head, distracting him and confusing him with different emotions he couldn't sort out?

They were friends.

Just friends.

He found himself repeating it like a mantra on a daily basis, because he wanted to be positive about it. It always sounded like a prison sentence in his head.

When Finn had finally snapped out of his stupor surrounding Baby-gate, he had approached Rachel needing a friend. He'd felt like she was the only one he could trust with his fragile emotions and she was there for him. Every time he'd called her in the middle of the night or texted her in the middle of school, she was there for him. They'd talked, they'd laughed, he'd yelled, and she had helped him get over one of the most difficult and painful times of his life.

And then nothing happened. They'd just stayed friends. No one had made the first move. No one made a move at all. He'd been sure she still had feelings for him, but she hadn't been all over him the way she once was. He was starting to think that she was over the crush she'd had on him. He didn't know if that made him feel good or bad.

He had no idea when he had started feeling the way he did towards Rachel. He didn't even know what he felt, but it was there, bugging the hell out of him and keeping him up at night. Part of him thought he had always felt this way about her, but he couldn't be sure. She had always confused him to no end. He could never figure out exactly how he felt about her. He needed her, there was no other way to explain it. He needed her kindness, her smiles, her wise words and advice. He felt so many things when he was around her that he could never sort them all out.

He looked at Rachel and he felt so many different things that it was overwhelming.

He looked at Santana and felt absolutely nothing, and it was extremely disconcerting.

Should he be worried?

He was worried.

He should have never started dating Santana. It was really just for the attention and the boost to his pride, and now he felt like he was stuck with her. People expected him to date a cheerleader, so he dated one. And she wasn't going to let him go anytime soon. She said they had potential to be the school's next ultimate power-couple, whatever that meant in the realm of high school bullshit.

The whole thing made him feel like crap.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to mess with his regained popularity; it was still fragile and breaking up with Santana might crumble it before he had built up more clout.

So he would stare. He would stare at Santana and wait until he felt something, anything.

Because then he would know he wasn't fooling himself.

The waitress arrived and snapped him out of his daydreams. He looked up at his girlfriend and she and Brittany were still deep in conversation, completely ignoring him.

He started eating his chicken parmesan.

It was the only good thing about his date.

Rachel sat in the auditorium, playing the piano and practicing. She still couldn't practice at home because of the Judge's court-order, so she normally stayed after school to practice and have some time alone. Her fingers idly hit the keys as she belted out some old-school Mariah Carey.

There you are holding her hand
I am lost
Dying to understand
Didn't I cherish you right?
Don't you know you were my life?

Even though I try
I can't let go
Something in your eyes
Captured my soul
And every night I see you in my dreams
You're all I know
I can't let go

She poured her heart into the song. It hit way too close to home. She just couldn't get over Finn. He had moved on, so why couldn't she? She just wanted to wake up in the morning one day and be over him. She didn't want to feel like her soul was being crushed when she saw Finn with Santana in the hallway. Santana! Santana-freaking-Lopez; it made her want to barf. If she had a gag-reflex, she would.

She had put herself out there so many times she had lost count, so she had given up. She wanted to be there for Finn, and she guessed the only way was to give up her pursuit of him and become his confidant. His friend. His Best friend; she'd never had a best friend before.

But he would never be hers, the way she had always dreamed of. It didn't matter what she did.

She wouldn't give him up, though. She would rather suffer forever and have him as her best friend then not have him at all. She had never had a friend as good as Finn before. She had never had a friend before Finn, period. She wasn't going to mess this up, but she wanted more. So, so much more.

Just cast aside
You don't even know I'm alive
You just walk on by
Don't care to see me cry
And here I am
Still holding on
I can't accept
My world is gone
No, no

"Who is he?" A voice came out of nowhere backstage, and Rachel fumbled on the piano keys and let out a scream of surprise.

She turned around and she saw a boy standing by stage left. She had never seen him before, so he definitely didn't go to McKinely. He was. . .really cute. Medium build, dark wavy hair, kind eyes. She could have sworn he looked familiar, though. She was kind of stunned and still a little spooked from the scare, when she remembered he had asked her a question.

"Um, what?"

"Can't Let Go by Mariah Carey? The guy you're singing about. Who is he?" She was stunned. Who was this guy? She didn't even know his name and he was asking her very personal questions about her very raw emotions. She didn't know why, but she was compelled to answered his question.

"Um, this guy I had a thing for." Understatement of the century.

"Does he know you can sing like that?" Stunned again. This guy was having a strange effect on her. But she answered his question again, nonetheless.

"Yeah, we're in the Glee club together."

"And he passed up a girl this pretty who could sing like you?" She blushed at his forward compliment, and he moved closer to her.

"Who are you?" She needed to know who this cute boy was. He was intriguing.

"My name is Jesse. And I have reason to believe you are Rachel Berry." He came up to her and held out his hand. When she took it he helped her up off the piano bench and she stood next to him, awkwardly, on the stage. A boy had never been so forward with her before and she didn't quite know how to react.

"How did you know my name?"

"I am the male lead of Vocal Adrenaline." That's where she had seen him before! The few times she had seen them perform, he was the lead. She remembered his solos, and boy, he could sing. "I came here with my team's advisor to meet your team, but you guys didn't practice today. Shelby is setting up a meeting with your advisor as we speak. I heard you singing and wandered in here."

"Oh. Well, welcome to McKinley. We are going to whoop your butts at Regionals." She said it as casually as if she was telling him the weather. His laugh was playful and she joined in as well.

All of a sudden, his face got very intense. He got this look on his face that sent chills down her spine. She knew that look. She had a Master's Degree in that look. It was the way she looked at Finn for two hours a day on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

It was the "I Want To Sing With You" look.

No one had ever looked at her like that before. She felt the butterflies she'd only ever felt around Finn flutter in her tummy.

"Would you do me the honor of singing with me? From one performer to another, I think it would be fun." She nodded her head timidly. It felt a lot different to be on the receiving end of the "I want to sing with you" look. He walked over to the piano and looked through the sheet music.

"Well, let's see what you've got here." His eyes lit up and he pulled out a song. "I love this song! We have to sing it together, I insist." She looked at the paper and froze in her skin.

It was "Don't Stop Believin'."

She was torn. She didn't know what to do. It was Don't Stop Believin'. The Club's Signature song. Everything the club was built on began with that song! To sing it with the lead of Vocal Adrenaline would be blasphemous to everything New Directions stood for!

It was also the first real song she'd performed with Finn. That was the day her soul felt like it was soaring out of her vocal chords with all the notes of the song. When their voices joined together in a harmony that made her believe that they belonged together. That it was just right, and perfect. . .

That was the day she fell head-over-heels in love with Finn Hudson.

But she couldn't have Finn. He had moved on. He had a girlfriend and his popularity and Rachel still got pummeled with slushies on a daily basis. Plus, she really wanted to sing with Jesse. But she was adverse to singing with him a bit. She knew how crazy her emotions got when she sang with cute boys; Finn, Puck- hell, even Mr. Schuester. And Jesse was cute, and he thought she was pretty, and he actually wanted to sing with her. . .

"Okay."

After Finn had dropped Santana and Brittany off from dinner, he had to go back to school because he forgot his Spanish textbook in his locker. He needed it to write an essay for Mr. Schuester for the next day and it was already over two weeks overdue; Mr. Schue was doing him a real solid by letting him make it up so late.

He walked past the auditorium on the way to his locker and heard Rachel singing inside. He was planning on TP-ing the home of the neighbors who had filed the complaint against Rachel with the judge; he thought it was unfair she couldn't practice at home. It was getting pretty late, so he figured he could give her a ride. He went into the auditorium and looked on from the side of the stage.

When he got closer to the stage, he realized she was singing Don't Stop Believin'. He was confused. Why would she sing that song without him there? He was about to start singing to join her in an impromptu duet when he heard a male's voice, singing his part.

What the hell was going on?

There was Rachel on the stage with a guy he had never seen before, singing their song. He couldn't explain it; there was something about that song that just made it theirs. They owned it. It also had a lot of significance to the club itself, but that was insignificant compared to how important Finn thought that song was to their relationship.

And now she was singing their song with another guy.

He felt like she was cheating on him in a sick, twisted way.

But then he remembered. He had a girlfriend. He was not dating Rachel. They were friends.

Just friends.

He looked at Rachel and saw all the emotion he would see on her face when she sang with him. And now it was directed towards this other guy. It was like a slap in the face.

The song ended and they looked at each other, full of emotion. Mystery Guy walked up to her and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, she was the one to reach up and kiss him a second time.

Finn turned around and ran out of the auditorium. He went straight home.

He never even grabbed his Spanish textbook.

Salut Mes Amis!

My vacation from writing is over! I sure needed that few days of rest.

I don't own "Don't Stop Believing" or "Can't Let Go." But both of those songs are great!

Until next time. . .*sings*. . .Don't Stop. . . Reviewing!

Merci Mille Fois

The Minsk