7x12

Finn had spent the whole weekend thinking about Piper. He tried texting her on Sunday, wanting to clear the air with her before Monday's rehearsal, but she had never responded, and he was certain she was avoiding him. He felt horrible for not saying more to her after she had admitted her feelings to him, but at the time, he'd been confused and frustrated.

After having two days to think everything through, however, he knew exactly what he had to do now.

Finn arrived at the studio early on Monday, not because the Dancemania cameras were coming to the studio (something the bros had been enthusing about all weekend in their group chat), but because he had to talk to Piper first and foremost. There was no way either of them would be able to focus in rehearsal if they didn't address Piper's feelings beforehand. And once rehearsal was finished, Finn had to have a conversation with Amy that he really didn't want to have, but he had no other choice given the new circumstances.

Much to Finn's surprise, Piper seemed to have a similar train of thought. Only a minute after he arrived in the locker room, she appeared in the doorway, clutching her dance bag so tightly her knuckles had turned white. When Finn's eyes met hers, he honestly expected her to turn and run the other way. Instead, Piper took a deep breath before entering the room with determined steps.

"We have to talk," she told him, dropping her bag on the bench closest to her locker then taking a few steps towards him. Her eyes appeared shiny as she gazed up at him seriously. "I shouldn't have told you all of that the other day."

"Piper—"

"No, don't. Just let me say what I have to say first. Please." Her voice was so urgent that Finn relented, noting the way her hands fidgeted nervously as she spoke. "I shouldn't have said anything about having feelings for you. I had so many chances to say yes to you, and it was my own fault that I didn't, and you're with Amy now, and I have to respect that."

She paused to take a breath, but her eyes were watering, and her voice cracked as she continued, "But you're my best friend, and I don't want any of this to change anything between us because you're really important to me, and—"

Her breathing was increasing, and tears had started rolling down her cheeks. Finn was afraid she might start hyperventilating and immediately reached out, taking her hands in his as he assured her, "Piper, it's okay. I promise you it's okay."

She stopped rambling as he spoke and forced herself to meet his gaze, taking a deep, shaky breath to steady herself. "Okay," she whispered.

It hurt Finn's heart to see her so upset over something that wasn't even her fault. He was the one who had cornered her in the locker room and questioned her about her feelings and then left her behind. If either of them had anything to be sorry for, it was him.

"You're really important to me too," he assured her softly. "I shouldn't have walked away the other night. I just needed time to think things through."

Piper glanced down at their hands and reluctantly pulled hers out of his grasp. Finn let her, a twinge of disappointment surging through him as she did that was all the more confirmation to him that he had to end things with Amy before this situation and these feelings – whatever they were – escalated even more.

"Can we just pretend like it never happened?" Piper asked quietly.

Finn sighed and started to shake his head. "Pipes—"

"Please, Finn. I can't go through this again. Can you just forget everything I said?"

Finn had no idea what she meant in that she couldn't go through this again, but he did know that there was no way he could forget everything she had said to him. But he agreed anyway, if only because the pleading look in her eyes was almost as painful as seeing her cry and feel so distressed by the fact that she had told him how she felt.

He would let it go for now. At least until he could sort things out with Amy and focus solely on Piper.

And speaking of Amy...

She suddenly appeared in the doorway, dimples on full display as she grinned excitedly. "Dancemania is coming!" she exclaimed as she practically skipped over to her locker, curls bouncing voluminously.

Amy's excited smile fell immediately when she noticed Piper's eyes, which were still glassy with tears being held back. "What's wrong?" Amy asked, eyes full of concern as she looked from her best friend to her boyfriend.

"Nothing," Piper answered quickly, wiping her cheeks for stray tears before moving to put her dance bag in her locker.

"Piper..." Amy started to say, sounding completely unconvinced, but Piper just shook her head.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. Don't even worry about it."

With that, Piper hurried out of the locker room without a second glance, leaving Finn alone with Amy. She immediately turned to him a frown on her lips. "Finn, what's going on?"

He sighed, gently shutting his locker as he told her, "She's just got a lot on her mind."

Amy pursed her lips as she opened her own locker to put her things away. "Do you think she's stressed about Dancemania or something? Maybe nervous about the cameras?"

"Maybe," Finn muttered. He certainly wouldn't be surprised if Piper was nervous about Dancemania, but the TV show seemed to be the last thing on her mind today. Not that Amy knew that.

Taking a deep breath, Finn reluctantly asked, "Hey, Ames, can we talk later?"

Amy turned to him, her brows knitting together at his serious tone as she nodded slowly. "Yeah, of course." Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, and Finn shifted uncomfortably.

Nothing had happened with Piper. He had nothing to feel guilty for, yet he still felt guilty anyway. He hadn't cheated on Amy, but he had been dating her this whole time while fighting off feelings for their best friend. Amy deserved more than that. She needed someone who could love her the way she deserved, and Finn knew now, without a doubt in his mind, that he couldn't be that person for her.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Amy asked one last time.

Finn gave a tight smile and nodded. He didn't want to ruin her whole day by breaking up with her before rehearsal. He figured he at least owed her the chance to enjoy the Dancemania cameras before he ultimately had to break her heart.

"We should get to rehearsal," he told her, "Don't want to miss any of the camera action."

"Oh, I know! I can't believe we're actually going to be on the show. Just think about it. We're meeting the people who worked with Darrell."

"Oh man, what a legend!"

They discussed Dancemania the entire way to Studio A, and Finn was happy to have the momentary distraction from his feelings. The Dancemania cameras were already setting up when they reached Studio A, and Amy left him to stretch and warm-up with the other girls while Finn did the same with the boys. Ozzy and Heath were bickering as usual, but he tuned them out, glancing over to where Piper was stretching. All of the girls were talking around her, but she had a blank look in her eye, completely disengaged from the conversation.

Once the cameras started rolling, Sean, the Dancemania producer, split the team into two groups for a competition to see who could come up with the best routine. By either fate or pure coincidence, Piper was in the same group as Finn. She shot a wide-eyed look at him before quickly turning back around, and Finn felt another pang in his heart. Piper was seriously panicked about being around him.

Maybe he shouldn't have pressured her into telling him how she felt. Finn had only wanted her to be honest with him, but should he have expected that doing so might trigger her anxiety somehow? She had been closed off to dating in the past, but he was starting to wonder if there was more to the story that he didn't know. He hadn't seen her this stressed out about something since Regionals.

The group dance might have been fine if their group hadn't been given the theme of betrayal. As soon as Richelle suggested that Piper be in love with Finn and steal him away from Lily, Piper immediately objected.

"Why does it have to be me? Why can't Kenzie do it? Or you, Richelle?"

Finn glanced at her awkwardly as Richelle put her hands on her hips and grit her teeth. "Because you and Finn have chemistry, Piper," she said in a sickly-sweet voice, her gaze flitting to a spot behind them momentarily, which could only mean one thing.

Finn glanced over his shoulder, immediately putting on his most charming smile for the cameras. Meanwhile, Richelle continued saying, "Give me one good reason why you can't dance with- Finn, turn around."

Finn grimaced as Richelle snapped at him and turned back to face her. In the most calming voice he could muster, he said, "It's fine, Richelle. We can dance together." At the look Piper gave him, he said lightly, "You heard her. We've got chemistry, Pipes."

She bit her lip and looked away but seemed to resign herself to her fate. As they started figuring out choreo for the routine, Piper stood off to the side. While the other girls debated the order in which they would dance with Finn, he moved away from them, hoping to ease Piper's nerves somehow.

"You don't need to worry about it, Pipes. It's really fine," he assured her again as he joined her off to the side.

Piper's hands clenched, and she shook her head at him, muttering, "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Okay, that's fine. But you're the one who said you didn't want anything to change," Finn reminded her. She fidgeted nervously with her ring as her gaze wandered to where Amy was currently choreographing her group's routine and smiling with Henry about something.

Even though the last thing Finn wanted to do was forget about Piper's feelings for him, it seemed like that was the only thing that might put her nerves at ease right now. With a sigh, he reluctantly continued with, "I don't even know what you're so upset about. What were we talking about earlier? It seems to have slipped my mind."

He looked at her seriously, and she finally allowed herself to meet his gaze, the corners of her lips twitching upward though her eyes appeared watery again. He gave her a small half-smile, and she nodded once to herself, her shoulders rising and falling as she let out a deep breath.

"Are you two planning on contributing to this dance at all, or do we have to do it all ourselves?"

Richelle's voice effectively ended their conversation, and Finn nudged Piper with his arm. "Come on," he muttered before leading the way back to the rest of their group. Piper followed behind him, appearing a little more at ease.

They spent the next hour choreographing their dance to "Not A Love Song." It admittedly wasn't much time, but Finn thought the dance was fine for the amount of time they'd been given. Amy's group performed first, and she ran over to Piper and Finn with a big grin on her face after receiving high praise from Sean.

"Good luck, you guys! Not that you need it. You'll be great," Amy told them excitedly.

Piper glanced at her, nodding weakly before moving to the center of the studio. Finn watched her go, biting the inside of his lip guiltily. As long as he was still with Amy, Piper was going to continue beating herself up for having feelings for him. He glanced at his girlfriend and gave a forced smile before joining his group in the middle of the room, wishing that he could go back in time and stop himself from asking Amy out altogether, if only to save Piper from the heartache she was currently experiencing.

There wasn't anything truly special about their dance. Finn did a lift with Richelle then danced a little bit with both Kenzie and Lily before Piper came into the routine and "stole" him away. She met his gaze as she grasped his hand with hers, and Finn wrapped his arm around her waist. They swayed in time to the music, her head resting on his chest, and for a moment, Finn flashed back to dancing with her at prom – the night that had changed everything for them.

Dancing with her that night had meant everything to him. It meant even more to him now. Because back then, Piper had been his crush – the mysterious girl who Finn would give anything just to have a conversation with. But now, she was so much more than that. She was his best friend – the girl he'd spent hours theorizing about Hotel Dystopia with, and who he stayed up way too late texting at night when she couldn't sleep, and who made him feel like less of the airhead most people wrote him off as and more like the person he actually wanted to be.

Piper meant everything to Finn. Dancing with her was unlike dancing with anyone else. When it was just the two of them, he forgot about the rest of the world. It was just the two of them, together, and that was all that mattered.

When the dance came to an end, Finn carefully set Piper back down from their lift. Her face was so close to his, and his breath momentarily caught, his gaze flicking from her beautiful brown eyes to her lips. If he leaned in just a little more, he could have kissed her.

But then she turned away from him, and he took a step away from her, pulled back to reality as their teammates clapped for them all. Sean was praising both dances, but Finn barely heard him as he looked back to Piper, his heart still racing from the moment they'd just had. She caught his eye for a moment before looking away, wiping her palms on her leggings.

"You did so good!" Amy had skipped over to him, grinning and squeezing his arm.

Finn smiled and thanked her before glancing around for Piper again. The cameras had stopped rolling and were packing up, and the team was dispersing. Piper had disappeared, and Finn felt a twinge of disappointment at the realization that she was gone, but then he turned back to Amy, who looked like she was having the best day of her life.

He hated that he was about to ruin it.

"You want to go to The Next Steep?" he suggested, an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. His least favorite thing in the world was hurting and letting down the people he cared about.

This is the right thing to do, he reminded himself as Amy agreed. Something in her mood had shifted as soon as he had suggested The Next Steep, and her grin had faltered. She didn't reach for his hand as they navigated through the hallways to the café.

Finn paid for both of their drinks, and Amy let him as she went to find a table. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the conversation they were about to have as he carried their drinks to the table.

"Thank you," Amy said with a small smile as he set her green tea in front of her.

He sat in the seat next to her, trying not to think about how this was the exact same spot he'd been sitting in when he'd asked her out just a couple of weeks before.

"So... What did you want to talk about?" Amy asked, raising her eyebrows at him as she took a sip of her tea.

Finn had run through this conversation in his head so many times last night. Preparing in advance for things wasn't one of his strengths, but he could be serious about it when he needed to be, and this was one of those times.

"Amy, these last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun," he started just as he had planned.

She took a deep breath, stating candidly before he could continue, "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

Finn paused, frowning, his eyebrows knitting together as he asked, "How'd you know?"

Amy simply shrugged. "You've been kind of off all day, and it's rarely a good sign when someone says they want to talk."

"I'm sorry," Finn told her, and he really was. He'd thought dating her to move on from Piper had been a good plan at the time, but having feelings for two different people was complicated and confusing, and no matter how much he may have liked Amy at one point, his feelings for Piper were always going to be stronger. He knew that now. He wished he'd known it two weeks ago, so he could have saved Amy the heartache.

But Amy wasn't crying. In fact, she was smiling. It was a sad smile that didn't light up her eyes like usual, but it was a smile nonetheless.

"Honestly Finn, we were doomed from the start."

"What do you mean?"

Amy pursed her lips for a moment, hands wrapping around her tea as she admitted, "I never really got over Henry after what happened last year. I told myself I had because it made it easier to see him with Summer, but then..."

"They broke up." Finn filled in the blank confidently, but she simply quirked an eyebrow and corrected him.

"Then you asked me out, and I don't know. I guess I thought Henry had moved on and you'd be a fun distraction."

"Wow, that makes me feel really good about myself," Finn joked, and she let out a short laugh, still smiling sadly at him.

"I'm sorry," she told him sincerely, "I shouldn't have agreed to go out with you if I still liked someone else. That wasn't fair."

Finn shrugged at that, noting the irony of her statement as he told her, "Honestly, I asked you out because I was trying to move on from Piper."

"Like I said- doomed."

They fell quiet for a moment, and Finn marveled at how much better this conversation was going than the one he had envisioned in his head. It was a relief in a way. He certainly felt better knowing that there was a chance he and Amy could stay friends after all was said and done. They had formed a good friendship in their two short weeks together if nothing else.

"So, Henry, eh?" he asked in an attempt to lighten the somber mood that had settled around them.

The corners of Amy's lips twitched, and she shrugged. "He just gets me, you know? We've always had this connection, kind of like you and Piper."

This had to be the weirdest break-up ever. Neither of them was crying, and they were already talking about their feelings for other people.

Yet somehow, it felt strangely right for them.

Amy had looked up at him, a knowing glint already in her eye as she asked, "You really like her?"

Slowly, Finn nodded. "I did like you, just so you know," he assured her, "But Piper's..."

He didn't finish the sentence because he wasn't sure there was a word that could even describe everything Piper was to him at once. Amy seemed to understand anyway.

"We were just a fling, Finn," she told him, "I mean, I know I never thought we were going to be together forever. We were just having fun."

"We did have fun together," Finn said, thinking fondly of the night where they had spent a good half hour laughing together over Darrell's voice. "But I thought the same thing."

"We're not a bad match for two people who were never meant to be together."

"We're way better as friends."

"Definitely," Amy agreed with a laugh. Still smiling, she turned more serious as she asked, "Does she like you?"

Finn took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, she does."

"Maybe I should have known," Amy muttered, looking away. "She's always different with you."

"How so?"

"She's happier, freer almost," Amy mused, "But she kept insisting she didn't like you, so I was inclined to believe her. I never would have dated you if I'd known."