AN: I know a lot of us St Berry shippers were unhappy with the finale failing to give us the much needed closure or interaction we needed between these two drama queens. I hope this fic helps and let me know if you like it or want it continued as a future fic. Enjoy!
The Whole World Disappears
He's making his way to the airport when he messages her one last time, trying to summon some kind of indication she is as interested in him as he is in her. Maybe he was a fool for thinking all was forgiven, the apology, the prom dance, the giggling, the neck kisses and the kiss on the stage where everything melted away while they revelled in a world of their own. He was mistaken. Here he was walking into the rows of seats from a sold out show in Manhattan, seeking out the ever eager show choir coach with identically coifed hair.
'I couldn't stay away.'
He sits down, clasping the playbill when the guy next to him asks the inevitable question.
'From the show or from her?'
He already knows the answer to that so he doesn't bother answering, he just looks a little sheepish and eyes the stage. The performance is electric, the chemistry between them glowing and lighting up the whole stadium but he cringes when that oaf's lips match hers in a passionate lock as the world swirls around them and disappears.
Silence, the entire crowd watches in awe at their public display of affection. He clenches his jaw and gulps. It's like having your heart ripped out of your chest. He should have known.
He's always going to be second best. The whole moony eyes they make at each other make him want to claw his eyes out in dismay. The crowd erupts into an uneasy applause and they resume to perform their next show stopping number, getting everything dancing but he stays still, firm in his seat, taking it all in. She chose him. Again. He came back for her and yet she didn't want him.
He hands in his resignation to Figgins a week after their predictable loss at Nationals, he can't bear to hear the giant mutant boast about the superman of kisses any longer. Or bear to look at her, the gleam back in her eyes. He remembers when she used to look at him that way.
He's standing in the distance as they cheer over their consolatory trophy as the 12th ranking of the team, her arms are wrapped around his, her tiny hands engulfed in his humungous ones. He feels sick, with jealousy, maybe bitterness and even fury. Why him?
They never talk or say goodbye, he simply disappears out of her life. He makes a go of his consultancy practice as a talent agent, he gets his certificate and licence within the gap year, deciding to go back to college to realise his dreams. He knows he'll see her again one day.
He's just shutting up the doors of his office in Brooklyn a few years later when he hears the infectious laughter erupting in the street. He turns to find her tiny form clung to a girlfriend, they're dressed up from a night out and she's never looked more glamorous.
Their eyes meet across the street and he bows his head to out his keys away in his suitcase, making his way to his car when she shouts out his name like a little giddy girl.
'Jesse! Is that you?'
He's got a bachelors in musical theatre, he's an established talent agent and consultant for show choirs, it's safe to say success found him. He can't wait to let her know, maybe even get some kind of satisfaction out of it, to imply he did it without her. He made it on his own.
She crosses the street, running away from a car approaching traffic like the lunatic she is. He chuckles as he sees her figure retreating and coming towards him. He straightens up and breathes. She's still tiny, pint sized really but her body is filled out, her boobs bigger and her arms less scrawny, she's looks like a real woman now instead of the little silly girl he knew.
'Hey.' His voice is soft, filled with longing and regret when she smiles back.
'Hi.' Her eyes are teary and he's startled when she falls flush against his chest, clinging to him in a tight embrace.
'Why did you go?'
He sighs, stroking her hair as her head rests on his heavy chest.
'I had to move on, Rach.'
She tilts her head to look at him with a sombre expression on her face. 'I'm sorry.'
He doesn't get why she's apologising but he understand what she means. She's sorry she chose him, she's sorry they never got the closure they deserved, she's sorry she kissed him and left him hanging. She's sorry about a lot of thing and so is he.
His hands cup her face and he strokes her cheek with his thumb delicately. She's the prettiest girl he's ever met, he's always been intoxicate by her, her energy, her beauty, her talent, her passion and tonight is no exception.
'I missed you.'
Her eyes are leaking with salty tears and her voice breaks when she speaks.
'Me too.'
He drives her back to her back and the journey there is filled with a comfortable silence as she holds his hand over the console, rubbing his knuckles.
He turns on the radio. Luck would have it, it comes up with their song, playing Hello by Lionel Richie in this time of the night. He can feel her eyes on him, warm and tender as he bites back a smile. They're outside her apartment, fate would have it she only lives a couple of blocks away from him.
She leans over to kiss him goodbye and thank him but he finds her lips instead and kisses her back with more vigour, her hands dig into his messy hair, fisting it in balls as he slips him tongue in her mouth, his teeth biting her bottom lip as she kisses him back.
They split for air, gasping and breathing heavily as they part, their eyes locked to each other.
'Goodbye, Rachel.'
She walks away.
He never sees her again.