"I need a male lead who can keep up with me vocally."
If only she could have imagined the consequences of those words. Standing on stage next to Santana Lopez was definitely not what Rachel had expected to get as a response to her demand, but apparently Mr. Schue thought it was a brilliant idea. Santana didn't, obviously, from the way she was frowning at absolutely everyone around her. It was hard for Rachel to keep still and her heart was pounding so loudly she was scared someone would hear it. This would probably not work out, she hadn't heard the other girl sing not even once in her entire life so she couldn't imagine how she could have any kind of vocal skills, besides the fact that she looked like she was ready to fly away from there the first chance she got. Yet, something about this whole scenario was making her nervous in a very peculiar way, and she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was that seemed to be giving her goosebumps.
The music started playing, and Rachel couldn't stop looking around anxiously. There were way too many things running around in her mind, the most worrying one being how on Earth had Mr. Schue talked Santana into joining them, when clearly she had no desire to be there. Suddenly, her entire body froze. Santana had barely opened her mouth, and the planet had stopped turning just to listen to her with close attention. Now this was something that could match her own talent, Rachel thought to herself, while staring at her in the most blatant of ways. Joining her in the song felt natural, almost organic. This was exactly what she had been waiting for since she was a little girl, someone who could share the spotlight with her instead of living under her shadow. She'd been so busy searching a male counterpart she'd been oblivious to her perfect match who had been right in front of her the whole time. Her entire future was playing out in her mind as she sang along with Santana, how they would take on Broadway and become a famous lesbian couple. Even if she had never thought of herself as such, the sparks that were flowing between her and her future wife were too hard to ignore, and she could accept bisexuality as a new quality of hers. Stars needed to be flexible. Now all she needed was a chance to talk to her, to get her to see how perfect they could be together, and in absolutely no time, Rachel Berry would have the only piece that had been missing from the perfectly put together puzzle that her bright future would be.
Soon enough, the oportunity presented itself in the shape of a trip to go check out their competition. Standing in line next to her to get a bagel was evidently a work of fate, and Rachel couldn't believe her own luck. This was simply perfect, and she was about to open her mouth to say something along the lines of "You and I should get married", when Santana spoke.
"Stop staring at me, Hobbit."
Rachel quickly looked away, feeling confused and terribly embarrased. She'd let her imagination fly away too far, and had completely forgotten the fact that Santana was and had always been a bully. Her undying love would probably end up changing her for good, but for now, she was going to have to deal with her cruelty and try her best not to feel discouraged by it. Shaking her head to get those feelings away from her, she smiled at Santana widely.
"I'm sorry, Santana, it's just hard to keep myself from looking at you now that I know just how talented you are. I wish I'd know sooner."
Santana didn't seem to be very grateful for her compliment, since she sighed and looked away, shrugging her shoulders. She was modest, too. Rachel felt like pinching her to see if she was real, because she just couldn't be.
"Yeah, well, isn't it just fucking amazing how talented I am. It's being helpful, my talent, getting me stuck in a club full of losers and so far away from my girlfriend, I swear I'm this close to murdering someone. Prison would be far better than this."
Out of that entire sentence, the only thing Rachel had heard was the worst possible one that could have ever come out of Santana's mouth. Girlfriend. She had a girlfriend. She was not aware of that, and it interfered with her plans terribly. That could not be, why did Santana have a girlfriend? She was supposed to be with her and become a star in Broadway while holding her hand and kissing her cheek, not be dating someone else. Her jaw had dropped at hearing the word, so she forced herself to pick it up and managed to mumble out something in response.
"I didn't know you had a girlfriend."
Her eyes burnt through her skin in both the most terrifying and the most sensual way. No one had ever made her feel like this by simply looking at her before, she was nearly shaking. She felt strangely aroused, yet she also felt the urge to run and hide before Santana did whatever terrible thing she was planning on doing.
"Oh, hobbit. You really do live under a rock, don't you?" Santana laughed loudly, and Rachel thought she couldn't possibly feel any worse than right now. "I'm with Quinn. Quinn Fabray, the amazingly gorgeous head of the Cheerios? That's mine."
She'd been mistaken. This was the worst she could feel. The pride in Santana's eyes, the way she her face had lit up at the mere mention of Quinn's name, the possessiveness of her tone, every little detail about what she had just said seemed to be sticking its own knife into Rachel's hopes and dreams. There were many things she would've done to get this girl, but she simply couldn't think of a way to compete against Quinn Fabray. This was the end for her, and she was going to have to accept it.
But she wouldn't. And soon, she would be glad she hadn't given up, because life was about to take a very strange twist.