AN: Part three of the Al'infini series. The remaining of the story will be posted here so if you're interested in this story, please subscribe. Goodnight or good day for you...but def goodnight for me.

Update: I updated the chapter because of unfixed errors.


It's been years since she last laid her eyes on Santana Lopez. She's begun to worry that her eyes might give up on her and not recognize the girl that could be lurking around anywhere in the city. It's not impossible. After all she did apply to NYU. But New York is a big place and she knows her chance of ever seeing her again is slim to none. They should just move on with their lives as Santana had said. Days after Rachel had professed her love for Santana they had come to agree in a silent agreement to attempt and forget every moment there ever was between them and pretend like nothing had happened. Which as expected was excruciating on Rachel's side. She had put herself in a position she's still in now, to this day. Deserted in a storm of emotions twisting her from the inside and pushing her closer and closer to the edge until she felt like nothing was holding her balanced. It began on their first day back to school. Santana greeted her in the hallway, gave her a quick glance, Rachel waved pathetically and then the Cheerio continued the way she was heading to. This act that only acquaintances should have went on for weeks and weeks until it felt like it would be in vain to aspire a friendly relationship between the two of them. But it was not defeat that Rachel felt, instead she felt like a drug addict. She was suffering from drastic withdrawal and her head was starting to mess with her heart. She couldn't function properly but she had sworn to try and move on, because Rachel Berry was not a quitter. She would not dwell on someone she knew she could not have. She was such a hypocritical.


2015

It's another dusky, rainy day in New York and Rachel's scolding herself for not bringing her neon colored umbrella; despite the clouds she had spotted this morning when she first woke up. Which is why she's standing at a bus stop, fortunately with shelter above her head but waiting for the rain to go away. She was foolish not bring a jacket with her, there is no way she's walking home, dressed in jeans and a knitted sweatshirt. She would be soaked in a matter of seconds and end up with hypothermia, possibly ruin her voice. Oh god, she can't have that. Not after the flue she had last year. The rain is hitting the pavement like nails, the sound almost like white TV noise. It's annoying the drums out of her eardrums and she wants to get out of her as quick as possible. She scans around the area for anything she could use for cover. A few feet from her she spots a newspaper stand. It's the best offer she has really, so she pays the newsstand guy 2 dollars for the heaviest newspaper he has. She huffs as a wind swarms in and holds her newly bought paper…"mobile roof" over her head and starts running.


She dumps the wet, soaked newspaper in the garbage disposal and walks the flights of stairs to her apartment. As soon as she enters her place she starts removing her soggy clothes, throwing them in a corner. Her jeans were a bitch to pull off with all the rain it had soaked up. Her hair was saved from destruction, so she smiles and heads to her bathroom to get cleaned up. Halfway through her bathroom routine, she opens her cabinet and runs her eyes back and forth over the glass shelves. She moves some of her makeup and other stuff around until she finds what she's searching for. Her face lights up as she reaches for it, the only thing that's been keeping her intact all these years.

TBC