Rachel Berry sat in the living room of her apartment in silence, watching the television with a blank stare. She could feel the temperature of the room rising by the minute and groaned. Santana Lopez, her roommate, had an icepack on her forehead and a wet, cold washcloth draped across her tan stomach. Santana was wearing a bikini, confined to the apartment for the rest of the day, and Rachel was dressed in a white camisole with her shortest pair of light pink shorts. Rachel stood up from her spot on the couch reluctantly and grabbed her light pink flipflops before turning back to Santana.

"Do you want me to pick you up anything while I'm out? I'm going to the store to grab something frozen." Rachel said, frowning at the weather. She really didn't want to leave, but if she stalled any longer, the heat would just rise even more.

"No thanks, Rachel. I think I'm just gonna take a cold shower. Go have fun, we can pick up food later tonight. Go make a new friend. I heard all of the next-year NYADA and NYU students are heading by here to pick out apartments. At least, the classy ones who really don't want to be stuck in dorms are." Santana commented, scrunching her nose up slightly. Rachel just shrugged and went to the mirror to check her makeup before grabbing her purse and heading out the door.

Santana was right. There were tons of next-year-students on their block alone. The one person who caught Rachel's eye was her best friend from NYADA.

Rachel met Kurt Hummel on her first day in NYADA and they were instantaneously friends. He came from the same town Santana did, somewhere out in Ohio. Rachel was originally from the big apple, but she got along with them both famously. Rachel and Kurt grew closer as the year went by and Rachel had actually offered Kurt to come live with her and Santana, but he was living about a block away in an apartment with his NYU boyfriend, Blaine Anderson. Blaine had gone to high school about 2 hours away from Kurt, but they had been dating since their junior year of high school. Either way, Santana knew Blaine, as well. So, all four of them had become really great friends and pretty much did everything together.

That was why, when Rachel spotted Kurt tugging on a tall, rather handsome boy's arm, she was automatically shocked. That is, until Blaine was spotted and he wrapped his arm around Kurt's waist. But, that still left the question: Who's that guy walking with them?

Kurt must have seen Rachel through the mess of people cluttering the sidewalk, because now he was heading towards her, dragging Blaine and the mystery man with him.

"Rachel! Hey! Rachel, this is my brother, Finn. Well, stepbrother." Kurt said, smiling at Rachel as he tugged Finn towards him. "Finn, this is my best friend, Rachel Berry. Santana is Rachel's roommate, actually."

Finn smiled at her politely, showing off a set of straight, shiny, white teeth. He was very handsome, in Rachel's opinion. He was much taller than Rachel, which wasn't her usual type, but it suited him well. He had brown hair that was spiked a little similarly to Kurt's, but it looked more rugged and muscular on him, while it looked stylish and classy on his brother. Finn had slight stubble, but not much, and a lean build. He also had a goofy half-smile gracing his features as he took in Rachel's appearance.

Rachel knew what her best features were and she flaunted them. Her skin was nice and tan, due to her beach day a few days ago and her hair had tons of natural highlights from the sun. She had dark, chocolate brown eyes that had a little bit of red in them, too, and she had nice, full lips. Rachel finally got curves her last year of high school and they flattered her petite figure well. Her legs were long and smooth and her eyebrows were perfectly plucked to perfection. It also helped that she got a mani-pedi last week with Santana.

"Hey Rachel, I'm Finn, it's nice to meet you. I hope Santana's softened up since high school, she used to be pretty rough." Finn said, shuddering slightly. Rachel giggled despite herself.

"Hey, you used to be pretty dense in high school, Finn. Things change," Blaine commented, standing up for his best friend.

"Oh, trust me, Anderson, I know. Kurt had the biggest crush on me sophomore year and now he barely takes his eyes off of you." Finn quipped. Kurt turned bright red from his spot next to Blaine, who was now failing to stifle a laugh.

"Don't get me started, Blaine Anderson, need I remind you of your gelled days?" Kurt asked, ruffling Blaine's loose, curly hair. Blaine immediately stopped laughing and smiled sheepishly up at Kurt before pecking him on the cheek, sweetly.

"Awww," Finn and Rachel chorused, smiling at the adorable couple. Kurt and Blaine both blushed and Kurt gave both Rachel and Finn a glare.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, how's everyone in Ohio, Finn? Is Puckerman still a little delinquent?" Blaine asked Finn, who laughed and shook his head.

"Nope. Ever since the members of Fight Club graduated, Puck's been keeping to himself. He just got done with his freshman year of Lima Community College, actually. The dude's pretty proud of himself. Quinn's proud of him, too. They got back together a few months ago." Finn said, smiling. This caused Kurt to demand to know all of the McKinley relationship gossip.

Rachel watched them interact for a while, taking note of the names that she knew and the names that she didn't know so she could ask about them later. Rachel also got involved in a musical conversation with Finn while Kurt and Blaine discussed Blaine's old show choir group, The Warblers. Overall, Finn and Rachel were getting along quite well.

"Alright, Rachel, we better get going so we can unpack all of Finn's stuff at the apartment. He'll be starting NYU in the fall. He's gonna be a teacher. Why don't we all meet up at Blueberry Hill Café in a few hours? Santana, too. I'll text you guys with the details." Blaine suggested, clasping his hand with Kurt's.

"That sounds good to me. It was nice meeting you, Finn. I'll see you later." Rachel said, smiling shyly at Finn.

"Lovely meeting you, too, Rachel. See you at dinner," Finn said, smiling and-was that a wink?!- Winking at her, the goofy half-smile still gracing his defined features. Rachel blushed and waved back at the three of them before heading back to the apartment, not realizing that she hadn't gotten anything done and that she had only left for about 15 minutes.

"You're back early. I haven't even showered yet. And, look, you're blushing! Meet anyone special?" Santana asked, winking suggestively over her shoulder at Rachel.

"Possibly. Is there anything you can tell me about Kurt's brother, Finn?"