disclaimer: glee is not mine
a/n: this has also been posted on my tumblr!
i.
"It's perfect," she whispers. She presses her hand to the fabric, a smile tugging her lips. Kurt squeals excitedly, pulls it from the rack, and ushers her into the fitting rooms.
She steps out gingerly, trying to hide the smile that threatens to reveal itself. "So?"
"Perfect!" He hugs her tightly. "Jesse's gonna love it."
Her heart squeezes. Finn, she wants to say, Finn is going to love it. But she doesn't, because he won't. He's not her date.
ii.
"You're perfect," Finn says, dropping his jaw and squeezing her hand. She flushes and stares down at the elegant, gold dress she'd chosen for her senior prom. "I mean, not that I didn't know that already. But you look so beautiful."
He leans in to kiss her, but Kurt runs between them, squawking about her lipstick that he painstakingly applied, or something. He settles for running his hand down her cheek and kissing her forehead. "Thank you."
"For what?
"Everything," she responds, and kisses him anyway.
iii.
The first dress she sees she tries on. It's dark blue, elegant, and backless. She pulls it off the rack because, quite frankly, she wants to shock people. Playing a sweet, young girl in her first Broadway lead has its ups—and its downs. She appreciates being called sweet, adorable and cute—but she's been called that her whole life. She wants to be hot, take your breath away, drop dead gorgeous.
So she tries the dress on and falls in love. Kurt refuses to let her try anything else on, and sets about finding shoes. It's her first Tony Awards Ceremony, and even a week before, she can feel the butterflies blooming in her stomach.
And at the Awards a week later, interviewers tell her how stunned they are by her dress—pleasantly surprised. She just grins and thanks them graciously. Her heart sinks when she doesn't win, but her show does win, and in a way, even being nominated is a win in and of itself.
She gets a call the next morning—well, it's really afternoon—that wakes her from her sleep. Her mouth forms a garbled hello once her hand finds the phone.
"You looked beautiful last night."
She sits up and leans against the headboard, smiling at the sound of his voice. "Hi, Finn. I wish you could've been with me."
"Me, too." She hears him let out a low breath, and it's times like these she regrets agreeing to be 'just friends' with him when the long distance got to be too much.
There's a knock on her door, and she already knows who it'll be—Finn, of course. (That's how it happens in movies.)
"Hold on," she tells him, jumping out of bed. Her heart begins to pound in anticipation. She decides that she'll just hug him first, and kiss him later. She yanks the door open, only to find Kurt standing at the door.
She lets him in and ends her conversation with Finn. "I've got to go. I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Bye, Rach."
She sits at the kitchen island and buries her head in her hands. Kurt doesn't speak, merely pats her on the back and pulls her out of her seat. "C'mon, Rachel, let's get some coffee."
"I know that I broke up with him," she begins as they push through the doors of the Starbucks down the street from her apartment, "but he was just so…calm about it. Is it bad that I can't stop thinking of him? I just—I just imagined he would be the one in the audience when I was nominated for my first Tony; he would be the one next to me, holding my hand, supporting me."
Kurt very clearly doesn't know what to say, so he just squeezes her shoulder and tells her he's going to the restroom for just a minute. She smiles, nods, and gets in line.
A young, teenage girl walks up to her and taps her on the shoulder, saying shyly, "Miss—Miss Berry?"
She turns and smiles, suddenly flashing back to that evening in Sardi's when she saw Patti LuPone. "Yes?"
"I just—I want to tell you that you're, like…you're like my idol."
"Thank you—that's so sweet of you."
"Can I have your autograph? My friends won't believe me when I say I met the Rachel Berry!"
"Of course!" She pulls out a program from Rachel's show and puts it in her hands. "What's your name?"
"Katie."
"To Katie: never give up on your dreams," she says as her Sharpie flies across the page.
"Thank you so, so much! You looked great at the Tonys, by the way!" Rachel laughs as she waves goodbye to the young girl, smile refusing to fade as she tucks her Sharpie back into her purse.
Another person taps her on the shoulder. She turns and gasps. "Hi, Rachel."
"H-Hi, Finn."
iv.
This is her favorite dress, she decides. She runs her hand down her waist, turning and admiring every angle of her body in the dress. It's the culmination of all her previous dresses—elegant, sexy, sweet, stunning. All she's ever wanted in a dress. Kurt comes up beside her wrapping an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her close. "After all this time," he sighs. "Finally."
She squeals and hugs him tightly. "Finally," she agrees.
Her daddy pokes his head into the room, "Rachel? Honey, it's time." There's a flurry of excitement among the people in the room, friends from high school she'd never dream she'd keep (Brittany as her maid of honor is most surprising to her) as well as Kurt as the best man.
Her arms loop through her dads' and she bites her lip in anticipation. This is it. The day she's been waiting for since she was sixteen—it's finally here. She remembers that tether concept he came up with their junior year and it's never felt more potent than it does right now, as she's walking down the aisle to the rest of her life.
His hands are steady when they grasp hers. She can't help it, she's shaking, absolutely shaking with joy. "We made it," she whispers, squeezing his hand.
Finn's smile is permanent for the entirety of the ceremony. He doesn't take his eyes off of her. And after he's kissed her in front of their friends and family (for much longer than is custom), he wraps his arm around her middle and presses his lips against her ear. "You're perfect, baby, absolutely gorgeous. Thank you."
She smiles a little and squeezes his wrist. "For what?"
With another kiss, he responds, "Everything."