In the four months since Rachel had left New York, she could already see the vast differences in who she had been. But Los Angeles was a lot different than New York, her relationship with Blaine was vastly different than anything she'd ever been in before, and she was, for the first time in her entire life, without a set and stable plan.
Life wasn't as easy as movies and TV made it look. It was much harder in the real world to do everything she had to in order to get by. When the two had first arrived in Los Angeles, their goal was jobs. Neither had been employed before, and the circumstances looked bleak, but eventually Blaine was fortunate enough to find a small, classy restaurant where he played piano, earning a relatively good paycheck and tips. Rachel, on the other hand, had only managed to find a waitressing job, and even that was only because the manager could tell she was desperate when she showed up to the interview-her fifth for the week.
Her dads had, unfortunately, blown up at her when she first called to let them know what was going on. They refused to help her, saying that if she was "old enough to quit a college she had already gotten into and drive 3,000 miles across the country without discussing it" that she was plenty old enough to take care of herself. After a few weeks of cold shoulders, however, they drove her car out to California to visit her (still unaware of the entirety of her relationship with Blaine, for Rachel had never corrected them on the stance that he was indeed gay) and said once she got herself back on her feet, with a plan and her goal in front of her once more, and she was back in school, they would of course help her.
Which is how, come February, she was stuck working at a family restaurant and attending a community college to at least take care of her general requirements. She had tried to apply to UCLA, but since she was so late in the game they told her to wait until the fall semester to apply for a transfer. It was a blow, but one she had been expecting, so it wasn't as difficult as expected to enroll herself in the two year school the academic advisor had suggested for her. Blaine was taking classes as well, though he wasn't as certain what he wanted to do so as Rachel ever had been. As for what his parents said when he told them about their move, Rachel was still unsure. He didn't tell, and she didn't want to push the issue.
As for Blaine himself, they quickly surmised that living together and beginning a new relationship was increasingly detrimental. The first few weeks were spent either fighting or fucking, and it took awhile to get into a groove for the two of them. When they were apartment hunting, staying in a small studio flat, there was no room for separation. Eventually they managed to find a decently affordable two bedroom furnished apartment, and the space that it allowed them evened them out a bit.
Their first real date was New Years Eve, which should have been cheesy but Rachel didn't mind. There was no snow and it felt weird celebrating the New Year three hours later than everyone else, but she suspected over time she'd grow used to these things. And having Blaine kiss her at midnight was really all she needed.
November and December were the frantic months, trying to figure out how exactly they were going to get away with this crazy idea. But by the time January arrived, they were more stable-they had a good apartment and jobs, were planning on starting at least a community college, and Rachel felt more like she was in stable ground again, like she could breathe and they could focus on what they had been neglecting-their relationship. While they still spent most of their time trying to adjust to their new life, they were finally at the point of settling into Los Angeles. They worked late hours at their respective jobs, working even later as school work started piling up. Most of the time, they really only saw each other in the mornings or really late at night when one would sneak into the others room like they were going to be caught. The month wore on, and while the winter was nowhere what either were used to from Ohio, it was still visibly winter and often times Rachel wondered if she had made the right decision, leaving New York with Blaine. But then, he'd smile or laugh or realize exactly where her mind was starting to wander too, and he'd pull her in close and whisper that she was brave for doing this, and how glad he was that they had found each other and finally gotten together.
"You made me breakfast," Blaine smiled one Saturday morning as he sat down at the small table, Rachel sliding a plate full of French toast in front of him as she helped herself to a bowl of fruit, too tired to be really hungry yet.
"Well, I couldn't sleep," she offered as he dug in to his food. "I was up tossing and turning most of the night."
"Why didn't you come and get me?" he asked, sounding a little wounded between bites.
She shrugged, leaning over and wiping a bit of syrup off his chin with a napkin before answering him. "I didn't want to disturb you, you're barely getting anymore sleep than I am," she told him.
"Still, you could have come in anyways," he responded. She shrugged once more, playing with her food more than she was actually eating it. "Do you have work today?" he asked after a few minutes once he had finished eating.
"Yeah," she nodded. "I have the midday, so it's not too bad. Just until six-ish."
"We should go on a date then," he grinned, the excitement spreading across his face. For someone who proclaimed they weren't good at romance, Blaine was doing his best to woo her, which was completely unnecessary since she was rapidly falling in love with him. Not that she voiced that, aware that it was all too soon-something the past Rachel Berry would have never even considered.
"Okay," she responded, the butterflies she often felt when their relationship was mentioned, casually or otherwise, starting to flutter about again. She still got nervous when he kissed her or looked at her with a glance that wanted to take her breathe away. There were the times she wanted to chase him around with an axe, but those times were few and far between and were understandable. Living together at the beginning of a relationship was probably the stupidest thing she had ever decided to do, but they didn't have much of a choice for the time being.
"Good," he agreed, standing up and bringing his plate to the sink before kissing her forehead and grinning at her. "I have to work until 7, but I'll swing back home and pick you up straight afterwards. Be ready Rachel Berry, because tonight? I'm going to rock your world," he winked as she let out a loud laugh, the words ringing familiar as their first kiss played through her mind while he left the room, presumably to get ready for his own job that day.
By 7:30, Rachel was dressed up in her prettiest dress that she had brought with her, her hair innocently curled around her face. She enjoyed dressing up like this, going somewhere fancy that they shouldn't have even thought about going but did anyways. Blaine liked to treat her to nice places, saying he wanted to show her off, show the world how lucky he was that she chose to be on his arm.
"Let me just change!" he yelled as he ran into the apartment, not pausing the bathroom where she was finishing the final touches on her makeup. She grinned, her stomach full of nerves and excitement as she gave herself a final glance over before heading towards the kitchen to wait for him. She was glad that even though they had been dating for a month or so, and having sex for even longer, that he still liked to do things like take her on dates. She had heard so many horror stories-from Quinn, Santana, and worst of all even Sally-where the guys lost complete interest in dating or being romantic once they got the girl into bed. But Blaine seemed to be the opposite, which suited Rachel perfectly.
He appeared a moment later, and she grinned as she pulled him close so she could kiss him. "You look great," she whispered, and he chuckled.
"You took the words straight out of my mouth," he responded, lightly kissing her once more. "Ready to go?" She nodded and grabbed her clutch, Blaine directing her with his hand on her back as they walked down the stairs to the car.
He wouldn't tell her where they were going, and she sat anxiously in the car, music playing softly as she tried to guess.
"We're not going bowling, are we?" she asked wearily, looking down at the heels she chose to wear. He laughed, shaking his head and turning right.
"No, we're not going bowling. Though I don't see why you refuse to go, I'm sure you're perfectly acceptable at it."
"Not even a little bit," she muttered, glancing out the window. They were in a new part of town, not that this was surprising-most of the area was new to her, aside from the four blocks around their apartment and her work.
"I promise, you're going to love this place. One of my managers was telling me all about it, and it seemed perfect." She smiled, feeling almost like flailing at the simple fact that Blaine was reminded of her at work. She shouldn't have expected any less, she was, after all, his girlfriend; but it never seemed to stop her excited reactions.
They pulled up to a quiet looking venue, Blaine opening the door for her and ushering her inside. It was quaint but beautiful all at once-not something that necessarily took your breath away the first time you looked at it, but a beauty nonetheless. The restaurant was small, a string quartet and piano playing softly from a corner somewhere as they were sat at a table nearby.
"It's an all vegan menu too," Blaine grinned as she picked up her menu, "and since I know how hard it is for us to find places we both can enjoy, I thought we could give this one a run through."
She glanced up at him, her heart swelling with adoration. "It's wonderful," she answered as their waiter came over to the table.
"Hi, I'm Jesse and I'll be your waiter for the evening, can I get you anything to drink, perhaps an appetizer to start off with?" Rachel glanced up at the end of his speech, tearing her eyes away from Blaine as the all too familiar voice registered in her brain. Sure enough, when she glanced up she couldn't begin to hide the shock that colored her face and her voice.
"Jesse?" she asked, her jaw practically dropped.
He glanced at her, clearly not having done so before, his own face registering shock as he questioned her with only her name, a quick "Rachel?" falling out as the pair stared at each other, Rachel unsure of who was more surprised.
