7x22

"Bro, can we just go?"

Finn huffed in irritation and told Henry shortly, "No, I have to talk to Piper."

They were waiting in the hallway outside of the dressing rooms assigned to them by the show. Most of the team had already changed out of their costumes and gone back to the hotel, which was conveniently located in walking distance of the Dancemania studio. Piper had yet to emerge from her dressing room, however, and Finn wasn't leaving until she did.

After that performance, they clearly had a lot to talk about.

Henry shared an exasperated look with Heath as the younger boy asked, "Can't you just talk to her tomorrow?"

Finn clenched his jaw and didn't respond, and Heath sighed. Henry nudged the younger bro and nodded down the hall towards the door that led to the elevators. "Let's just go. We'll catch you at the hotel, Finn."

He simply nodded, glancing over at his friends as they left him behind. As an afterthought, Heath called over his shoulder that he would text him their hotel room number. Once they were gone, Finn let out a deep breath, resting his head against the wall behind him dejectedly.

The first day of Dancemania had been – to put it lightly – terrible. Missing his flight had messed everything up. The weather had delayed his and Emily's back-up flight. He'd barely made it in time to perform at all. He had nearly cost Piper the biggest opportunity of her life, and she was mad at him for it, and he couldn't blame her because he was mad at himself too.

And as if all of that wasn't enough, the tension between him and Piper had earned harsh criticisms from the judges and nearly gotten the team eliminated on the first night of the competition.

He never should have listened to Kingston and put his phone on silent. But in his defense, he wouldn't have had to if Piper hadn't gone overboard with those damn alarms in the first place. She was at fault here too, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

Finn waited a few more minutes before deciding this was ridiculous. He knocked on the girls' door before entering the dressing room. Piper was sitting on the couch, her arms crossed and a sour pout on her face that turned into a glare when she noticed her boyfriend.

"Finn, you can't just come in here. It's the girls' dressing room," she snapped at him.

Summer frowned from where she was sitting on the small make-up counter next to Amy, who was wiping her make-up off with a facial wipe. "It's not a big deal," she started to say, but her comment went ignored by both Piper and Finn.

"Can we talk?" he asked, looking at his girlfriend seriously.

Her jaw clenched, and she ripped her gaze away from him, swallowing thickly before saying, "I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Piper—"

"Summer, are you ready to go?" Piper asked quickly, abruptly standing from the couch.

"I thought we were waiting for—"

"Come on." Piper had crossed the room and grabbed her arm, practically yanking Summer off of the make-up table and dragging her to the door without even a glance Finn's way as she swiftly stepped around him.

Summer sent a helpless look to Amy over her shoulder as Piper dragged her out the door. Amy rolled her eyes, shaking her head as the door slammed shut behind them.

Finn tried to keep his expression impassive, but there was a lump growing in his throat and not for the first time that night. The team had almost gotten eliminated because of his mistake, and now, Piper wouldn't even look at him. He slumped against the wall, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill over. He couldn't cry over this. He didn't deserve to when he'd brought it on himself.

"Would you rather sulk here or at the hotel?"

Finn looked up to find that Amy had finished wiping all her make-up off and had turned to him, her arms crossed. She was frowning, but her expression softened as he met her gaze. She gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded toward the door. "Come on."

Finn wordlessly followed her out of the dressing room, and they made their way down to the first floor of the building in silence. It didn't last long, however, before Amy asked, "What's wrong?"

"What do you think?" Finn mumbled.

They stopped to get their phones back from a crew member before stepping out into the warm summer night. Once outside, Finn continued, sounding as dejected as he felt. "Piper's never been this mad at me before. I don't know what to do."

"She spent all of yesterday worrying about you, and then she almost got cut from the show today," Amy pointed out. The thought of Piper worrying about him only made Finn feel worse, and he stuffed his hands deep in his pockets, staring straight ahead as they walked down the street.

Amy sighed at his silence and continued with, "Look, you know her as well as I do, Finn. When she gets upset like this, she fixates on it until it either wears her out or she has to deal with it- whichever comes first. Just give her time. She'll come around."

Finn turned his gaze downward, quietly voicing the thought that scared him the most. "What if she doesn't?"

"She will," Amy assured him, "She's going to have to talk to you eventually if we want any chance at winning Dancemania."

"I'm not getting my hopes up."

He kept his gaze down as they waited at the corner of an intersection for a signal to cross. He could see Amy watching him in his peripheral vision, but he avoided meeting her gaze. Finally, she said candidly, "She's overreacting."

Finn looked up in surprise at that. "You think so?"

Amy rolled her eyes as they finally received the signal to cross. "Of course I do. I mean, don't get me wrong. She was justified in being upset earlier, but you made it here, and everything worked out. Everyone needs to let it go now. What's done is done."

The fact that Amy didn't seem upset with him for what had happened gave him a little hope that the rest of the team might not think much of it either, but that didn't change the fact that Piper was still angry and that they had messed up the dance for everyone.

Frowning, he pointed out, "We got destroyed by the judges tonight because of me."

"Oh, I know. It's not every day the dance you worked so hard to choreograph gets called a trash sandwich."

Finn hadn't even thought about the fact that it was Amy and Henry's dance that he had messed up, and a fresh wave of guilt flooded through him, erasing what little hope he had just started to feel moments earlier. "Shit, Ames, I didn't even think about that."

She simply shrugged and replied lightly, "It's not a big deal."

"It's the first number you choreographed for the team, and me and Pipes ruined it. How are you not upset?"

"You heard what Fredrico said," Amy said, "He thinks we have potential. And besides, it was the partnering that messed up the dance, not the choreography."

Finn sighed, supposing she had a point. Still, he told her, "I'm sorry."

"Quit beating yourself up about what happened," she replied. They had reached the hotel, and she pulled the door open, stepping into the lobby and holding it open for Finn as he followed her lead.

As they made their way towards the elevators, she added, "I want to dance in the finals, so you'd better get focused for the Resurrection Round."

Amy was right. His and Piper's relationship drama had ruined the first round for the team. He couldn't let it affect the Resurrection Round too. One way or another, he was going to have to either make up with Piper or push everything with her aside to focus on the competition. Considering that the former seemed impossible at the moment, his only option seemed to be pushing it aside for now.

That would be difficult, however, given the only thing he could think about right now was Piper.

They rode the elevator in silence, and Finn checked his phone to see if Heath had sent him the room number. His friend had indeed sent it to him, but it was another text that caught Finn's attention.

A text from his father.

He gulped and quickly slid his phone back in his pocket without reading it, his heart speeding up. In all of the drama of missing his flight, he'd forgotten that he'd told his father about performing on the show. It had been Piper's suggestion to do so. Why had he let her talk him into doing that?

His father must have watched his team get berated by the judges.

Great. Just when he'd really thought today couldn't possibly get any worse.

The elevator came to a stop on their floor, jolting Finn out of his thoughts. He blinked as Amy stepped out of the elevator then turned back to him. "Are you coming, or...?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and he jumped into motion, shaking his head as if to physically clear it of the thoughts racing through it.

Amy gave him a curious look but didn't question him as she led the way down the hall to the team's rooms. "Well, see you in the morning, I guess," she said, coming to a stop in front of one of the doors.

"See ya, Ames," Finn mumbled before continuing down the hall in search of the room he was supposed to be sharing with Heath and Kingston. He had to pull his phone out to double check he was at the right room before knocking on the door and using all of his self-restraint not to look at the text from his father. He was terrified to see what that text message would say. Probably something along the lines of, "I was right. Dance is a waste. You're a failure, and I'm ashamed to have you as a son."

Kingston let him into the room, a toothbrush hanging out of the side of his mouth. Finn entered the room to find that his roommates were already getting ready for bed. It seemed early for that, but honestly, Finn was more than happy to just go to bed and put this day to rest.

"Uh, Nick brought up your stuff earlier and a cot that you could sleep on, but honestly, the couch is probably more comfortable and safer," Heath told Finn as he entered and looked around the room.

Finn simply nodded and moved to the couch in the corner of the room. "Is it a pull-out?" he asked curiously.

Heath shrugged. "I don't know."

The couch was indeed a pull-out bed and already adorned with sheets. The boys all took turns in the bathroom before climbing into bed. "Yo, Emily should be so proud of us. We're in bed before midnight tonight," Kingston said, laying back on his pillows, his hands clasped behind his head.

"Staying up until 3 last night was a really bad idea," Heath commented, and Kingston voiced his agreement.

To Finn, Kingston added, "All my snacks are in my suitcase if you get hungry during the night, bro."

Finn nodded and acknowledged that he had heard him then Kingston turned off the light, plunging them into darkness. Rolling over onto his side, he took a deep breath before opening his text messages and selecting the ones with his dad.

His heart was pounding as he forced himself to read the text and see what it said.

Nice job? That was high praise from his dad, who had spent so many years trying to force him into the interests of his older siblings before writing him off as a lost cause. Finn was horrified to find that he was blinking back tears and rolled over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and processing this twist.

He wished he could tell Piper, but even if she wasn't so mad at him, it was hard to talk to her about the stuff with his dad. With a family as loving and supportive as her own, she wouldn't understand why a text from his father telling him nice job was such a big deal.

His thoughts kept him awake, bouncing back and forth between the fact that his dad was actually watching his dance competition for the first time in years, the Resurrection round, which he was still incredibly underprepared for, and his relationship with Piper. Even when he closed his eyes, he couldn't turn his mind off long enough to fall asleep and was starting to gain a new empathy for Piper, who dealt with anxiety-induced insomnia on a regular basis.

He sighed, rolling over on his side again and checking the time on his phone. It was after one in the morning. A selfie Piper had taken of the two of them when they had gotten frozen yogurt a couple of weeks ago stared back at him. He bit his lip, staring at it sadly. Was she still awake right now? Was it possible that she was thinking about him if she was? Probably not. Or maybe she was, but she was thinking about how he was an absolute idiot who couldn't get anything right, and what had she ever seen in him?

It dawned on him that he'd never texted her goodnight, but what did it matter at this point? She clearly didn't want to hear from him anyway.

He hoped Amy was right. That Piper just needed time to cool down and then they would be fine. Surely tomorrow would be better. Surely Piper would be in better spirits after a good night's sleep.

He really didn't know what he was going to do if she wasn't.