"I could lie through my teeth.

Say I never missed you.

Say I didn't want you.

Say I fell out of love when we were over.

I could close my eyes.

And say I didn't see your smile everytime I did.

Say things just went dark like normal.

Say my lids weren't just holding back tears.

I could smile if I wanted to.

Say everything was fine.

Say things were going to go back to how it was before.

Say I'd be focusing on me, my future.

I could pretend.

Say I never had dreams of you.

Say I never pictured our future.

Say I didn't see our kids, our wedding.

I could go on.

Living half- alive.

Breathing although it hurt my lungs.

Smiling though tears burned my eyes, stung my cheeks.

But, baby…

Please…

Please, don't make me.

Let me back into your world.

Let me hold you in my arms again.

Let this not be the last time I call you mine.

Let this not be the last time I see you before I leave."

She crumpled the letter she had found at her doorstep when she had finally gotten home. Some part inside of her knew this had all started because of her, what she had decided to do with her life. She threw her keys on the bed as she walked into the bedroom of her small hotel room. She couldn't make anyone who she told understand that she did what she had to to get by. She couldn't make anyone understand that not everyone's dreams come true in New York, not everyone had the talent to go as far as others. Everyone she had come here with had made it, they were living their dreams. She sat gingerly on the edge of the bed and stared at the piece of paper, tears beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes. She had just fallen short of what she hoped.

It was time she learned the hard way that looks really don't get you as far in the real world.

Her cord phone rang from its place on the kitchen counter. She jumped up, using one hand to wipe her eyes and the other to gently lay the letter on the bedside table, and swiftly made her way over to pick up.

"Hello?" Her voice was weaker than she had expected it to come out.

"Miss Fabray?" The man's voice that came over was the familiar, nasal- filled voice of the hotel manager. "I hope you're not getting sick. Who am I going to get to fill in for you to carry those bags? That's no pay for you either until you're fully recovered. Can't have you getting guests sick."

"No sir! I'm fine really!" She cleared her throat and tried to sound as perky as possible.

"Well… That's good then, I guess. Well? Why aren't you already down here in uniform then?" And with that he hung up.

Quinn sighed a rather heavy sigh. She made her way back into her bedroom and picked up the letter. She read over it one more time before folding it back up and putting it back into its envelope. She slid it into the bedside table's only drawer.

Pulling off her cream colored tank top covered in sweat from the night before and stepping out of her liquor splashed shorts, she looked at herself in the floor- length mirror on her closet door. Her bare chest seemed to be showing more ribs than she was used to. Her G- string underwear looked unfamiliar as she stared at this person she had become since moving here. She sighed again and pulled her now long again hair into a bun on top of her head. She walked into her bathroom, shivering slightly as the cool floor touched her bare feet. She splashed water on her face from the bathroom sink and looked up to stare at the bags that were now sitting there, ugly under her once bright, green eyes.

After changing into her uniform, she trudged her way down to the elevator. As she passed by the room five doors down from her own, she debated stopping by to see if he was still there, but she decided with the noises coming from the other side of the door escalating to lower her fist and keep walking. Some people really don't change from high school. Then again.. Here she was doing everything she never thought she would have even been capable of, and he had a record deal- still sleeping with every girl under the sun or not.

The day was the same as any other. No sleep from the night before. Smiling a fake smile to every bitch or ass- hole that walked through the front door. Carrying heavy bags up multiple flights of stairs in an itchy, puke green bellboy uniform she was forced to wear even in the hot summer times like these when people seemed to have more bags and park further and further away. And always never enough tips to even pay for a decent dinner that night.

As she carried the endless amount of bags though out the motel, she thought about what she had seen in the mirror, what she had become. She came here with a group of friends from high school, each with his or her own dreams. Hers was simply to get out of the hell hole that was Lima, Ohio. She had thought that, maybe, with her looks, she could go to a few auditions here and there for this and that. Maybe try for a photo shoot to be one of the beautiful models that were on every billboard. But no matter what she tried, who she got in contact with, there was just no work for her here. That's when she starting running low on money. She finally found the motel, Motel Sunset 68, which offered a discount for employees. There it was, a job and a place to stay- no matter how small, dank, and nasty. But pretty soon, the money wasn't enough- not with rent and food. She had tried to find more work, but her luck had all but run out. When finally she came across a man looking for directions, said she looked like the kind of girl that would work there. After being appalled by the idea of being mistaken for a girl like that, she had run out of all options and decided what could she do but look into it? Thankfully they had just fired four girls that were found with illegal drugs, so they were tight on help and hired her on the spot. That's how she got the job that gave her all her money. When they asked what stage name she going to go by, she didn't have to think before replying. She became Star.

Her alias was everything she never could be on her own- confident, sexy, and rolling in money. Everytime she put on the glittering make up and costume, or lack there of, she became a new, fierce woman who had men and women alike eating out of the palm of her hand.

At this point, things were going great. Star was bringing in money, she could tell her friends about her daytime job which was "just until she got on her feet", and she was about to celebrate two years of being with the one person she had ever really and truly been in love with. The inspiration of her alias. The inspiration of her dreams.. Her Rachel.