Disclaimer: Rachel and Quinn belong to Glee. All other characters are mine unless stated otherwise.
Should I be working on my two other fanfics? Yes. Yes I should. But i'm currently a bit blocked. So here's something I had written a couple of weeks back but never published.
63 days.
That's how long it had taken for Rachel Berry to pick up a guitar on a whim and learned how to play the basics.
She had relied on the endless supply of Youtube tutorial videos as well as a stack of old, worn out 'How To' books she had picked up at various garage sales around the city.
After that, it was another year of constant practicing in her apartment before she could really say that she had somewhat mastered the skill.
Well, as much as she could in a year.
No longer having a career really freed up a lot of her time.
Her first and only Broadway show had lasted a glorious three months before it had been abruptly cancelled due to lack of funding.
Or as the cast liked to call it 'the producer using the show's budget for his own personal needs'.
Just like that, she had been out of a job. Her dream job.
But that hadn't discouraged her.
Yet.
It was the embarrassing attempt at a career in television that had driven her away from the acting business.
After her brief and suddenly cut short stint on Broadway, she had auditioned for the pilot of a new TV show. She had been ecstatic and had even flown to LA to shoot the first episode. She was so excited because she thought she was turning over a new leaf by entering the Television business.
But to her utter embarrassment, the pilot aired and was met with horrendous ratings and reviews.
She had been humiliated.
It was mostly out of shame, but she had gotten a taste of the cutthroat world of Broadway/Television acting and ultimately decided that it wasn't for her.
Besides, her true passion was singing.
She could do without the acting.
And she could definitely do that without being on Broadway.
During her time holed up in her apartment, she had rediscovered her passion for music and after the long year where she had done basically nothing but practice and work at an old diner to pay the bills, she set out to find people who shared her passion.
People who weren't vicious, backstabbing and downright egotistical like the people she had met while working in theater.
Nine months later, she found herself 2915 miles from New York City, the place she had called home for the past few years.
San Francisco, California.
It was here first time in the beautiful and eclectic city.
And she was performing.
While she had still been living in New York City, she had met three people that had changed her life.
For the better, of course.
First there was Angela.
A bass player.
They had met by chance at a hole in the wall coffee shop where Rachel had been pouring over a stack of music sheets, attempting to write one of her first songs.
The dark haired girl happened to glance at what she was doing and they had instantly started a conversation about their favorite music genres as well as their opinions on today's industry that lasted well until the shop's closing time.
They had become fast friends,and together, they would have little jam sessions whenever they could.
Then there was Brennan.
A drummer. A spectacular drummer, actually. One of the best she had ever heard. It still surprised her that he wasn't famous already.
She had never seen someone drum that fast before.
Strange enough, that had met online. It was shortly after she had met Angela, when the two of them had started throwing around the idea of starting a band.
It was just a silly fantasy at first, neither of them thinking that it would actually take off.
But then they found Levi in Central Park, where he was playing for a small group of people.
He was a keyboardist.
He was young, but he was good. Very good.
And he had been the missing part of their puzzle.
They had taken a leap of faith.
And together they formed the The Bad Beginnings.
With Rachel on the electric guitar, singing lead vocals of course.
It took a couple of months for them to get their sound right and be able to play smoothly together.
But eventually they started getting a few gigs here and there around New York City and the surrounding areas.
People started paying attention to them and their mix of original songs and covers of rock classics got their name circulating around the music scene.
And now they were here.
Paradise City.
A bar in the middle of San Francisco's Bay Area.
The city that birthed the Summer of Love.
And an important city when it came to rock and roll history.
It was their first West Coast gig.
And if they were lucky, there would be important people there to watch them play.
None of them were actually in it for the money, no.
They were in it for the music.
The passion of it.
The thrill of getting up on stage and captivating a crowd with their sound.
But they all agreed to landing a recording contract would help them pay the bills.
After all, the four of them had all left behind their former lives for this.
Paradise City.
It was the beginning of something great.
She didn't know what exactly.
But she could feel it.
Something was about to happen.
Rachel had been standing in front of the vanity mirror in the small dressing room for the past twenty minutes, frowning at one of the cracked light bulbs.
It was 9:42 pm.
They were scheduled to go on at 10 pm.
And she was a nervous wreck.
Sure they had played more than a dozen gigs before this.
But this was a bigger crowd. A bigger bar. And a different kind of people.
West Coast people.
The majority of which probably hadn't even heard of them.
But tonight, she had one mission in mind.
To make them remember their name.
Rachel's voice could do that to people.
She could sing her heart out and everyone in the audience would be mesmerized.
"Are you almost ready, Rae? You gotta be out in like fifteen minutes. The place is packed!"
The voice came from the other side of the door.
It was Angela.
She gulped lightly as she looked at the time on her phone.
9:44 pm.
She was the last one in the dressing room. Everyone had finished getting ready at least half an hour before her. But she was always the last one out because she spent so much time perfecting her look.
Her new look.
In high school, she had been all about argyle and short plaid skirts. Knee socks and animal sweaters. Penny loafers. Practical, yet hideous clothes.
In college, she had switched to a more sophisticated look. She kept the skirts, but she no longer owned any with a plaid pattern. She wore more neutral tones, and traded in the knee highs for tights. And the penny loafer for nice heels.
Now? It was a complete one eighty from the Rachel Berry who used to strive for the Broadway stage.
Leaving her old life and failed career behind meant leaving her old self behind as well.
The hair went first, and it was probably one of the hardest things to get rid of.
The long chestnut locks that once flowed down her back were now cut just above her shoulders.
It was easier to manage that way.
She had kept the color, but Levi had convinced her to add in a couple of electric purple streaks.
It suited her.
The wardrobe was the easiest to change.
She got rid of all her skirts, heels and modest sweaters and replaced them with skinny jeans, vintage band t-shirts, combat boots, leather jackets and the occasional pair of leather pants.
Brennan always said they made her ass look fantastic.
And she agreed.
For some reason, she always went home with a pocket full of phone numbers when she wore her tight leather pants.
(Which is why she was wearing them tonight.)
Yes. It was drastic and a complete change from who she used to be during her high school and college years. But it was a change that she felt she needed, and she liked it.
She had fully embraced her new identity as the front runner of an aspiring rock band.
And then there was...the tattoos.
Yes, the formerly goody two shoes Rachel Berry had gotten tattoos.
Not many. But there were a couple here and there.
It had all started with a tiny blue butterfly that she had gotten a couple of years back in memory of her grandmother's passing. It was small and located just above her hipbone where it was practically invisible to most people.
But soon she had wanted more, fascinated by the beauty of the colorful ink that could be forever imprinted on her skin.
So now she got a new one every once in awhile, with her biggest and most recent piece being the cherry blossoms on her back.
Among other things, cherry blossoms represented the fleeting nature of life. So she had them done as a way to remind herself that life was short, and that she shouldn't be wasting it on the things that weren't making her feel happy and fulfilled.
And music?
Music was definitely fulfilling her right now, and leaving the theater for it was the best decision she had ever made.
"Rachel, come on. You have to make sure that your guitar is tuned before we go on. Remember what happened in Jersey?"
It was Levi this time.
And she tried not to think about the time they had performed at a small bar in New Jersey and she had went on with her electric guitar completely out of tune.
It had been horrible.
With a sigh, she ran a hand through her short dark locks.
"Give me two minutes and I'll be out!", she called back.
She met her reflection in the mirror again and swallowed lightly.
She was wearing her favorite pair of leather pants, an old Deep Purple t-shirt that had actually belonged to her father, a leather jacket and boots.
Basically, her outfit was kind of a cliché. But she liked it.
And she always contrasted the dark colors of her wardrobe with a nice red lipstick, because it accentuated her pouty lips and made her look hot.
Again, according to Brennan.
She put the finishing touches on her makeup and lightly ruffled up her hair, not wanting it to be too neat.
The last thing she did before leaving the dressing room was grab a bottle of water and her lucky guitar pick, and then she was out.
"We thought you would lock yourself in there all night and miss the show, Berry.", Levi teased her as she walked over to the members of her band, who were all sitting on old speakers in the closed off area behind the bar's stage.
She scoffed lightly at him and rolled her eyes, smacking him on the shoulder.
"Shut up. I'm just...nervous.",she admitted quietly as she briefly chewed her bottom lip. "This is a big night for us. We've never performed out here before and if everything goes well tonight, it could help us land our next big gig, okay? We need this. We've worked hard enough for it and we deserve to start getting somewhere." ,she murmured softly, looking at the three of them.
There was a brief moment of silence before Angela walked over to her and gently squeezed her arm, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Hey, don't worry, Rae. We've been practicing for weeks for this gig, remember? You had us in Levi's garage running songs over and over ever since we got the call that we booked the gig. We're ready for this. Don't worry, short stuff. We won't embarrass you out there.",she winked playfully as she nudged Rachel's hip.
The brunette rolled her eyes at her and grabbed her guitar that was sitting on a stand nearby.
It wasn't much. Just an old Fender American that she had bought at a trade shop when they had formed their group.
Her plan was to save up some money for something in the Gibson variety.
While she and Angela made sure that their instruments were in tune, Brennan absently twirled his drumsticks between his fingers while sipping on a beer, and she could hear Levi humming along to an old Queen song that was playing on the loud speakers to entertain the crowd before they went on.
"Hey Rach, you should cover that one sometime." , she heard Brennan say as he sang along to The Show Must Go On.
She simply smiled at him before the bar manager appeared to tell them that they had two minutes until it was their queue to go on.
9:58
Her heart was thrumming like crazy and she could feel her palms sweat, so much so that she had trouble holding on to her guitar pick.
She felt someone pat her on the back and looked over to see Levi giving her an encouraging smile. "Hey. You got this, Rach. We've got this. We all left behind different lives to pursue this because this is what we love. Music is what we love. It's what we want to do and it's what we're good at. We're going to let San Francisco know who we are and they are going to remember us.", he said softly, but loud enough so that the other band members heard him.
They all grinned at him.
And then, the stage lights dimmed and the music that was playing on the speakers died down to nothing.
The crowd started cheering.
It was their time.
10 pm.
Their biggest crowd yet.
And they would rock it.
"We all had a few bad beginnings, and that's what brought us together. Now let's bring this place down together.", Rachel said confidently.
And with that, they walked out onto the stage.
Rachel nearly stumbled when she saw the crowd, her eyes widening slightly.
Angela wasn't kidding. The place really was packed.
She didn't even know that the bar could fit in this many people. Surely it went against some kind of safety regulation.
But nevertheless, the crowd was huge. And they were all cheering as they waited for them to start.
It was definitely an adrenaline rush.
Even more so than when she had seen their band name in big letters outside the bar when they had arrived.
Her heartbeat was practically fluttering as she walked over to the microphone stand in the middle of the stage, her guitar swinging behind her on its strap.
She was upfront. Angela was on her left. Levi was on her right. And Brennan was in the back. Their usual set up.
She tried to be subtle about needing to take a few calming breaths.
The crowd was cheering so loudly that it drowned out everything else. And they hadn't even started yet.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that everyone else had gotten into position and was ready.
Well, ready as they'd ever be.
She cleared her throat and glanced over at the bar manager, who gave the signal to turn on their mics.
She took a moment to lean down and plug in her guitar before straightening back up.
As soon as she stepped up to the mic, the crowd silenced and she couldn't help but grin softly.
They were ready for them.
Deep breath, Rachel.
"Hello Paradise City!",she said loudly into her mic, her grin stretching wider when she was met with a round of applause and cheering.
She began absently strumming on her guitar. Nothing too loud, just a quiet melody while she spoke to the crowd, warming herself up.
"Tonight's our first time visiting the beautiful city of San Francisco and it's definitely an honor to be here."
More cheering.
Everybody in the front row was practically pressed against the sides of the stage.
"This is also our first ever show on the West Coast.", she added.
When the cheering died down again, she briefly licked her lips and smiled again.
"I won't keep you guys waiting any longer. My name is Rae Berry. We are The Bad Beginnings, and when you leave this place tonight, I promise you'll remember who we are."
And with that, they launched into a cover of The Cars' 'Just what I needed', Rachel's powerhouse voice putting its own spin on the old 1978 released song.
To her great relief, they had a smooth start and she thanked God that she hadn't gotten choked up or suddenly forgotten how to play guitar.
Something that always seemed to happen in her worse nightmares.
She began to relax, her body seeming less tense as they moved into the chorus of the song and she began to lightly sway along to the rhythm as she played.
For the first few seconds, she had been focusing on one of the lights in the back to keep her concentration, but as her nerves melted away, she began to scan the crowd.
There were so many people.
So many different faces and such a diverse group.
She still couldn't believe that they were all in there, listening to them play.
Listening to her sing.
It was amazing.
The audience was swaying along as well. Some waving their hands, and some even singing along.
It was the best feeling in the world.
She only hoped that one day, people would be able to sing along when they played their original songs. Now that would be the best feeling in the world.
They were moving into the last chunk of the song, where the chorus was basically repeated a few times until the song faded out.
She skimmed the crowd again, a wide smile on her face while she sang.
There were a lot of men in the audience.
But also a lot of women.
A whole lot of women, actually.
And she had to try her hardest not to blush because it was kind of obvious that some of them were staring.
At her.
She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, moving closer to the mic.
"I guess, you're just what I needed
I needed someone to feed
I guess, you're just what I needed
I needed someone to bleed
Yeah, yeah, so bleed me..."
She crooned into the mic.
But as she kept scanning over the crowd, her heart gave a little flutter.
Now Rachel had seen lots of beautiful things in her life.
She had been to art galleries, seen the sunset a few dozen times, walked through a field of wild flowers. That sort of stuff.
But right there in the front row, among the sea of swaying bodies and smiling faces, she caught sight of the most beautiful pair of hazel eyes she had ever seen.
"You're just what I needed, you're just what I needed, you're just what I needed...Yeah yeah yeah."
And then just like that, they were gone again. Lost in the mass of people.
Before she had the time to properly register it, they were starting their next song.
An original that she and Levi had written a while back called 'Manhattan Morning'.
Funny enough, they were the farthest place from that very city at the moment.
xxx
So a little something different. Quinn and Rachel don't know each other yet in this fic, which is probably going to make it easier to write.
Now this fic is not my priority. The other two are. But i'm having a bit of writer's block and I want the next chapters in those two fics to be good so I decided to post this while I worked on Strawberry Shampoo and A Table for Two is Where You'll Run Into Your Past.
So I won't update this one as often. Maybe once a week if I can. Depends on how i'm doing with the other two.
I've always been amused by the idea of Rachel going rock and roll.
Next chapter will be from Quinn's POV and how she got to Paradise City.
Please be kind and review!
Song: Just what I needed - The Cars.
xxx
(P.S: The band name is actually based off a Lemony Snicket book, and if you hadn't guessed, Paradise City is a Guns N' Roses song. One of my faves.)