Chapter One: Whirlwind

Heartbreak, self-pity, fury; those were three things that Rachel Berry had been feeling all at once for three straight weeks. It had been three weeks to the day since she had came home from a two-week study abroad trip, and three weeks since she found her boyfriend of five years cheating on her. Three weeks of pure hell was how she had been referring it. At twenty years old, she never thought heartbreak would come so quickly, she never thought it would come so easily.

She and Finn had began dating New Years Day their freshman year of high school. It had been an easy relationship from that moment on. They shared the same group of friends, held mostly the same interests and supported each other through the entirety of high school. The thing about being high school sweethearts though? Things never stay sweet after graduation.

Being from Ohio, Rachel was always too big for the small town of Lima. Her talents and ambitions were always meant for the bigger city and she had dreamed of New York City for as long as she could remember. So when the time came, she applied for NYU and set her sights on making every dream of hers to come true. The problem though, was that Finn didn't belong in New York. He didn't even like the city and that hurt them the second that she decided to move whether he was coming or not. In the end he moved with her, but only for a year. By the end of her freshman year of college he was miserable and moved back to Ohio. Their long distance relationship began. She trusted him though; she loved him so much and knew that they could make.

Fast forward to March, coming home from two weeks in Europe and finding him with another girl in their hometown in Ohio. Her world was shattered, nothing made sense and back to New York she went to finish off her sophomore year as a newly single girl. She just never imagined that it happening.

Three weeks later and Rachel's dealing with the breakup as best as she can, and for the most part she's okay with that. Going from heartbroken to bitter to a little bit of both is as good as it's going to get and to her, it can only get better from the moment she was standing in.

There was nothing that made her feel better than flipping through a bin of records. For as long as she could remember she had been adding on to her vinyl collection and the second she moved to the city, Rachel had found every record store on the island and frequented them quite often. She was standing in her favorite one looking over an album that she owned already trying to decide if it was worth buying a newer copy or not when she felt a presence coming near her.

"Fleet Foxes, that's an interesting band name." A man's voice said as he got closer to her. Looking over she immediately recognized who he was. Blaine Anderson, singer/actor extraordinaire.

"It's a good band, even better record." She said not being phased by his presence and popularity. Looking at him with a small smile she handed the record over for him to look over. "It's one of my favorite pieces I own."

Blaine Anderson had always been musically inclined and interested in acting. From a young age he was put in acting classes and auditioning for commercials while learning ever instrument possible. Being from San Diego, he had a word of opportunity surrounding him in one state and took advantage of it. At the age of twenty-six, he was pretty proud of the life he was living and ecstatic to have had the opportunities available to him.

Jump starting his music career after graduating from NYU with a double degree in music and acting, Blaine auditioned for the televised music contest American Idol. To his surprise, not only did he receive a golden ticket but also he won. At the young age of 22, he was thrown in to the world of Hollywood and his mind instantly jumbled. Everything was so fast paced and wild, from going into the recording studio for his first album to getting offers to do movies and television shows. Suddenly the laid back man who just wanted to have some fun and create, the entire world knew who he was. He couldn't always bring himself to be happy about that.

He was grateful though; beyond grateful for the opportunities he was given and was constantly careful with what he chose and how he lived his life. He was a private person and the constant scrutiny of LA only made him that much more closed off.

Over the course of four years, Blaine recorded one album and went on one tour. The rest of the time was spent filming a very small movie and landing his first television role. While television was never directly in his plan, he instantly fell in love with the small scream and the cast and crew.

Being in the third season of Outcasts his life has been extremely busy and anymore it didn't feel like he had any time for himself or an outside life. Having spent the last few years in and on and off relationship, which had been permanently off for the last six months, he was enjoying his life just working and having as little bit of fun as he could manage.

Which is what brought him to New York in March. Getting a long weekend off from the tv show, he was able to leave California and head to the state of his Alma Mater and spend time with friends and meet with his agent to start planning a summer tour.

Having the morning free, he was enjoying the cool day in the city just exploring and visiting his favorite places from when he attended college. Passing a record store he hadn't been to in years he smiled as he turned around and walked in. Being a lover of music, there was nothing better than finding new music and appreciating old.

As he walked in he looked around and his breath was instantly taken away by a brunette woman absentmindedly flipping through a bin before picking up a record and looking at it intensely.

She was absolutely beautiful.

Normally Blaine would shy away from anyone in public, not wanting to be noticed for who he was and most definitely not wanting to draw attention to it. He couldn't stop himself from walking to her though. To meet her and talk to her for a while. She was absolutely mesmerizing from afar and as he got closer he swore he was falling in love at first sight.

"Fleet Foxes, that's an interesting band name." He said though he knew who they were, of course he did but he couldn't stop himself.

She looked at him and instantly took his breath away. She was absolutely gorgeous, a little young from what he could tell but he was completely taken by her the second she started talking.

"It's a good band, even better record… It's one of my favorite pieces I own." He chuckled to himself as he took it from her and hummed in approval. She didn't seem to care who he was, maybe she didn't know. Either way he moved a step closer to her and leaned against the table slightly.

"I'll have to listen to it sometime." He said as he gave it back to her and then held out the same hand. "I'm Blaine. Blaine Anderson to be precise." He smiled again, something he wasn't sure he was even controlling and he quickly forced himself to calm down and cleared his throat.

She took his hand though and a shock went through him from the gentle touch. "I know who you are." She said with a smile and small shrug. "Rachel Berry, it's nice to meet you."

She instantly intrigued him as she dropped his hand and continued to search through the bin, obviously on a mission for a certain album.

"Are you from around here?" He asked not wanting to leave but hoping he wasn't making her uncomfortable.

"Not originally. I'm from Ohio. I attend NYU. I'm a musical theatre major. " She answered her face lighting up instantly as she said the words. Passionate, that was the word that came to Blaine's mind. He liked that.

Rachel had no idea what was going on. Never in her life did she think that a celebrity would walk up to her, nor did she think that he would stick around for some conversation. She had instantly recognized him, but wasn't star struck by him. Had he been Barbra Streisand or any of the number inspiring artists who she adored, it would have been different. He wasn't though and though it was impressive who he was, he was just another guy walking into a record store. Something told her he probably appreciated that.

He was curious about who she was and she could feel herself blush slightly at his questions. It was mostly because she wasn't sure when the last time was a boy paid attention to her but she certainly was enjoying it.

"NYU, I attended NYU." He said excitedly and she laughed and turned towards him intrigued by what he had to say.

"Didn't you just love it there? It's absolutely incredible. I always dreamed of attending and when I got in, it felt amazing. Not that I was expecting not to, I was brilliant in my audition and honestly I knew I had to talent to join an incredible school." She continued to talk not directly looking at him; partly afraid he had already stopped listening. That was something she came to expect thanks to Finn. When she did though, he was looking at her intently and she smiled and decided to continue. "I want to go to Broadway, I intend on going. I would be there now, but I'm focusing on school and performing in shows through the school."

"That's impressive, I'd love to hear you sing sometime." Blaine said as he smiled warmly at her making her blush and she ducked her head as he continued to talk. "It's always nice to meet someone who loves to perform. Of course I'm surrounded by it constantly, but someone like you. Someone who is fresh faced and eager to learn and enjoy the life they are living. Though I have to ask, how old are you?"

Rachel looked at him almost in awe at his words; he had a way with them that was for sure. "It's nice to meet someone who is interested in what I'm saying." She said honestly. "I'm 20, I just turned so in December." She immediately felt young as she said it knowing that he was older than her.

"20, that's a good age." He said with a small laugh. "I wasn't this headstrong at 20, I admire that. Okay, maybe I was but I didn't carry it as gracefully and attractively as you do." Attractively? Did he really just say that? She blushed again.

He was drawn to her. The more they talked to more he wanted to spend more and more time with her and just learn about her. They talked about NYU, Broadway, music in general and before he knew it they had been standing there talking for a hour. It wasn't until his phone buzzed that he even noticed and he laughed and shook her head.

"Aw, man. I can't remember the last time I was lost in conversation like this." He said honestly. "That was my queue that I need to go though." He said really not wanting to leave.

"A hour?" She asked as she looked at the time herself. "I'm going to be late to class if we stand here any longer." He may have been imagining it, but she looked a little disappointed that they had to part.

Smiling at her he rocked on his heals. "I'd love to see you again, if that's okay with you. I'm only here for the weekend but if you're free tonight…" He murmured, instantly frowning when she shook her head.

"I would love to, but I am working tonight." She said with sadness in her voice and he instantly thought of an idea.

"I'm free in the morning. I know that breakfast dates aren't conventional but…" He asked hoping that she would say yes. That the word date didn't scare her.

"I'd love to." Rachel smiled and he fist pumped internally and handed her his phone.

"May I have your number? We can work out the details." He suggested, suddenly feeling butterflies as he took the phone and typed in her number.

Within the last hour Rachel felt like her life had changed. What had started out as a gloomy day of hating her life and just wanting to feel better turned into exactly just that. She had smiled and laughed so much in the past hour since meeting Blaine that she didn't want to say goodbye to him. When he asked her out, of course she said yes and she giggled as she typed in her name and number before handing the phone back to him.

"Here." She said as she handed him the Fleet Foxes album. "Learn what good music is." Rachel teased. "I have the album already."

Rachel bit her lip and adjusted her bag not wanting to go, even if she really needed to.

"I'll talk to you soon." She said as he leaned in for a hug and she happily accepted. He smelled amazing and felt even more so. It was almost comforting to hug him, like it was completely normal to do so. Pulling away after a moment she said a final goodbye before heading out of the store.

When her phone rang not even a minute later she laughed at the unknown number.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Just making sure you didn't give me a fake number." Blaine's voice said through the phone making her laugh before talking to him all the way to campus until she absolutely had to hang up for class.

That's it for Chapter 1! I apologize if the beginning was slow I promise the next chapters will be a little faster with dialogue. Reviews/comments/favorites anything is always appreciated.