Plus One

chapter 4: On board

Finn rubbed his eyes wearily and rolled his shoulders to get rid of some of the stiffness in them. He stood up from the computer and walked over the to water cooler to get a cup of water. 

The office was almost empty; there was only one other person around - Ben the copy editor, playing solitaire instead of going home to his wife. 

Finn took his seat again but couldn't face back into his task, so he minimized the page. He was reading an article by a teenage boy who was speaking about his experiences of being gay in high school. It was a rough read. Especially as the teenager had reworked the article to write about how he had been driven to attempting suicide by the bullying he experienced daily.

So far, Finn had read ten or eleven of the articles for the gay issue. Apart from Travis, all the other writers were adults and most of them had moved away from their hometowns to places where being gay was more acceptable. Among the writers was a judge, a CEO and an actor. They had all experienced bullying and torment in high school and had spoken of the pain and humiliation they had gone through as teenagers. But for Travis Payne, it was still a daily reality and he wrote with a rawness that made Finn's heart break.

In high school, Finn had been shy and quiet. He had very few friends, preferring the company of his Brother and Puck over anybody else and hung out in the library instead of the more populated quad at lunchtimes. 

Looking back now, he was filled with regret. What had be been so afraid of? He had never been bullied, had nothing to hide. There was no reason that he couldn't have made more of an effort to get to know his classmates and make friends. 

All those years he had spent staring at Rachel Berry, wishing he had the courage to talk to her. Why didn't? Why had he been so afraid?

He wished he could have known Travis Payne back then, known what it was really like to be afraid to open yourself for fear of what could happen.

He sighed and made a promise to himself. Next time he saw Rachel Berry, he was going to ask her out. Or talk to her at least. He just hoped that the next time he saw her wasn't at Brody's wedding. 

Speaking of which.

Finn picked up the phone on his desk and called his brother to let him know what he would be doing at Brody's wedding, just in case somebody else from Lima was at it and went back to Lima with the news that Finn Hudson was gay. 

It took Kurt five minutes to stop laughing once Finn told him about his plan, and a further ten when he revealed that Puck would be posing as his boyfriend. Finally kurt calmed down enough for Finn to ask him if he'd heard of anybody else in town that might have been invited.

“I haven't heard,” Kurt said uncertainly. “But the type of people that Brody hung out with in Lima were not the type of people that I usually hear much gossip about.”

“Puck thinks that Quinn Fabray might be there. He says that she stayed in contact with Brody after he left Lima. Have you heard anything about her?”

“I don't know, Finn. I haven't heard anything about her in ages. I don't know what she's doing.”

Finn exhaled slowly and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ok, well thanks, kurt.”

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Finn finished up and sent Travis a quick email with his thoughts on the article before logging off and saying goodnight to Ben.

As he left the building, his cellphone rang and Kurt's name showed up on the screen. “Hey.”

“Hi, Finn. I was just telling Mom about how you're gay now and-”