-* November 24, 2012 *-

Rachel prayed the mark on her dress wouldn't become a stain as she stared down at the liquid pooling on the kitchen floor.

She instantly regretted wearing white the second the glass slipped backward in her grasp. She regretted even more that she had agreed to stay sober when she saw Finn, causing her to drop the glass in the first place.

Fine. She thought as she spotted her ex-boyfriend attacking some girl's mouth... with his tongue. It's fine. He's single. I'm single. It's fine.

It wasn't fine.

The glass broke against the hardwood floor, making Rachel glad for the deafeningly loud music keeping her embarrassment at bay. The last time she'd seen Finn was their breakup. Nothing about him being in her parents' house, on her best friend's birthday, kissing some random girl was fine.

Quickly dropping a few towels over the mess and picking it up, Rachel hurried from the spot with her eyes trained on the streak of cranberry juice running down the front of her dress. She took for granted her intimate knowledge of the house's layout as she slammed her face into someone's hard back.

In the middle of her flustered apology she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

"Whoa Munch." She peeked out from beneath her hands, seeing her brother's amused smirk. "Hey there."

Rachel groaned and tried to push past him. He reached an arm out to stop her, genuine concern etched on his features.

"What's with the face?"

"Finn is here." She gestured over to the boy whose dancing was as painful as ever to witness. "It's fine. I'm fine. I, um, I – I just spilled on my dress. And I have to go so it won't stain. And I... I don't know."

She could see that he was trying to restrain himself from forcibly throwing Finn out of the house. She smiled at the attempt.

"No. Let him be."

"Munchkin."

"Really, Cooper. I'm fine." Rachel lied unconvincingly.

"I'm kicking him out."

"Don't. He's Kurt's brother." She sighed. "I think for one night I can handle it. I don't even have to see him – Oh my God, he's coming over here." And with that, she scampered up the stairs, heading toward the bathroom.

Rachel opened the bathroom door, but didn't enter.

"Did you hear that?" said one half of the couple making out in the bathtub.

"Hear what?" the other replied, out of breath.

"Blaine really," he said before pulling back the shower curtain and gasping. The door was open. Someone might have seen them. He started to step out of the tub, then jerked his foot back and closed the curtain when the door moved. He slapped a hand over Blaine's mouth, knowing his habit of speaking first, thinking later.

Rachel returned to the bathroom with a change of clothes in her hand.

Blaine heard the movement of another person in the room and the hand disappeared from his lips in recognition of his understanding.

As Rachel took off her dress and switched outfits, she was completely unaware of the boys' presence. The water rushing from the faucet blocked the sound of the boys' heavy breathing. Trying to keep still and quiet became difficult with the intimacy of being so close. Their breathing grew even heavier and the pull was magnetic.

Unable to keep his hands to himself, Blaine reached into the other boy's jeans that elicited a gasp that thankfully went unheard.

Rachel gave up on the dress, deeming it a lost cause. She turned the water off just in time for her to hear a muffled moan coming from the shower. That was strange. Another moan rippled through the silent bathroom.

"Is someone in there? Really? Because that's totally gross. This is someone's house. I'll have you know –"

Blaine let out an annoyed groan. "Ugh, shut up Rachel."

"Blaine?!" Somehow that just makes it worse.

"Go away."

Rachel whispered an apology and left as quickly as she could, abandoning her stained dress and her shoes.

"Mood officially killed."

"Yeah," Blaine sighed as he stepped out of the tub.

Rachel made her way to the bottom of the stairs to rejoin the party. It didn't take long for Cooper to swoop in for a checkup. Before he could open his mouth to ask if she was feeling any better, Rachel stole the drink from his hand and downed it. She handed it back as he looked strangely impressed.

"Your brother is disgusting," she said seriously before walking away.

"He's only my brother when he's done something wrong," Cooper teased.

Cooper followed Rachel into the kitchen. He pulled out a chair from the table and slumped onto the seat. He had no idea how tired his body was until it started to get comfortable.

Rachel yanked a beer from the fridge and twisted the cap off, debating whether or not to drink it and somewhat surprised by her own actions. She had promised Kurt she wouldn't drink so that he didn't have to host.

"Screw it."

Cooper smiled into his arms as he sprawled out across the table.

"What did he do?"

"What do who do?" Rachel responded after practically ingesting half of her beer. "This tastes like piss."

Cooper chuckled softly and mumbled Blaine's name.

"Oh. Him." The disgust very nearly dripped off her tongue. "Honestly, if he wants to have sex in this house, he can do it in his room. Not in the shared – I repeat, shared bathroom."

With this information, Cooper suddenly found himself much more awake.

"Wait. He did what?"

"Not just did. Probably still is doing. He yelled at me to get out. So gross."

Cooper flew out of the room, presumably in search of Blaine.

I don't know why you'd want to see that, Rachel thought while walking through the house. She caught another glimpse of Finn and all of a sudden the room was too hot. Finn noticed her looking and came barreling toward her. Rachel cursed under her breath and made her way outside.

Knowing Finn would find her, she sat on the porch steps waiting. She focused on the couple making out against the side of the house as a distraction. Finn quickly caught up and clumsily sat down beside her.

"Hey."

"Hi Finn."

"You've been avoiding me."

Rachel thought about mentioning that he was too busy making out with someone all night to have a right to care. She thought of all the terrible things she could say to cut into him. Ultimately she decided that would only deepen the pain so instead she simply nodded, smiling slightly.

"I thought it might be easier."

"We can't go back and start over, but –"

"Of course not, Finn," she snapped at him unintentionally.

"Look, you don't have to be mean." The hurt Finn was feeling showed on his face and Rachel's hard look softened immediately. She wanted to apologize, but found herself unable to make a sound. Finn tried and failed to get Rachel to make eye contact. Finn stood in frustration. He didn't want to make things worse either.

"Hey guys," a new voice intruded on the conversation.

Rachel looked up surprised at the boy in front of her. Finn waved in his direction, and then went back inside the house.

"Have you seen Blaine?"

Rachel snorted, "He's probably hanging out in the bathroom with what's left of your dignity." It was the boy's turn to be surprised. He raised an eyebrow in the girl's direction.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing... just maybe next time lock the door."

The puzzled look on the boys faced grew even more confused when Blaine bolted out of the house followed by a screaming Cooper. Blaine made it only a few steps down the walk before he realized who he had just stormed past.

Cooper's yelling ceased.

Blaine's anger dissipated.

Rachel's heart broke.