A Moment Like This
By: marauderette-47
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of the songs used in this work of fiction.
A/N: Major Glee kick lately! If you ship St. Berry, check out my most recent endeauvor, 'We Went Our Own Ways'. Super fluff in Chapter 1! Okay, that's all for my advertising - enjoy the fic!
All it takes is a moment. For Quinn Fabray, that moment was when Finn leaned in and kissed her for the first time. For Santana Lopez, that moment was when she saw Brittany in the arms of Artie and couldn't stand it. For Tina Coehn-Chang, that moment came during the middle of one of Mike's dance routines that he'd been practicing in front of her. There can be a lot leading up to the moment, or it can just spring itself on you, but everyone will experience that moment once in their lives. For Rachel Berry, the moment came when she was just nine years old.
Rachel had been forced to visit the Akron Academy of Dance and Song to participate in a yearly talent camp. It was one of the very few times in the starlet's life that she hadn't wanted to perform, but her fathers had encouraged her to go, and so she had. She'd been scared of staying away from home for an entire week without her dads, but she had put on a showface and signed the admission form. She would be in Akron, Ohio until the following Friday. She pretended to be excited, but inside, she was shaking.
She wasn't the youngest child at the camp, but she wasn't the oldeset, either. The camp accepted children ages 6-17, and the older kids slightly intimidated Rachel, even though she would never admit that to anyone. She walked through the glass doors of the Academy on the first morning with her head held high and her star necklace sparkling. She met the eyes of everyone who looked her way, and executed nothing but confidence. Until one of the older boys rained on her parade.
"Your showface is flawed," he said matter of factly. "You're making too much of an effort - people can tell you're nervous."
The boy was kind of cute - for a boy, that is. He was much taller than Rachel, with curly brown hair and deep blue eyes. He had a smirk planted on his eleven year-old face, and his arms were crossed over his chest. He met Rachel's eyes, but the tiny brunette refused to be fazed by him.
"Is that so?" she asked, in a voice that sounded much older than nine. "Well then that shows how much you know, because I am perfectly fine."
"Are you?" the boy challenged raising an eyebrow. Rachel nodded. "Then why is your hand shaking?"
"My hand isn't -" Rachel immediately defended, but she stopped mid-sentence. As she looked down at her small hand, she realized that it was - in fact - shaking. A blush began to creep up on her cheeks, and she looked away from the boy in shame. How stupid she was! Allowing a mediocre child to play with her mind!
"Thought so," smirked the boy. He turned on his heels to walk away, but Rachel stopped him.
"Oh no, you don't!" she exclaimed angrily. "Get back here you jerk!"
The boy turned around for a fraction of a second - long enough to meet Rachel's eyes one last time and say, "The name's Jesse, Rachel. Jesse St. James. Remember it."
The boy's arrogance annoyed Rachel to no end, and she stalked off in the direction of the breakfast hall stewing. No - she wouldn't let Jesse St. Jerk ruin her week. She would show him up at that talent show, and then he'd feel sorry. Her confidence returning, Rachel made her way to get her meal, thoughts of a certain curly-haired pre-teen engulfing her mind.
Unfortunately for Rachel, that wasn't the last she saw of Jesse. For an hour a day, she was forced to stand next to him in dance class, and for another hour, she was forced to listen to him sing in the music class. At first his voice had completely mesmerized her, but she had recovered her showface quickly. She was better - she knew she was. When he was done singing his song for the small class, the instructor began applauding.
"My, my, my!" she exclaimed. "Well done, Mr. St. James! Is there anyone here who thinks they can top that?"
Rachel smirked in Jesse's direction - even though he wasn't looking at her - and raised her hand proudly.
"Well then, get up here Miss Berry!" the too-perky young woman chirped. Rachel stood up, told her song choice to the pianist, and began her perfect rendition of Barbra Streisand's Don't Rain On My Parade. She hit every note perfectly, and when she was done, she had successfully grabbed the attention of everyone in the class - including the 'oh-so-perfect' Mr. St. James. The instructor once again looked blown away, and asked very politely if she could see Jesse and Rachel after class. They agreed.
It turns out that their talent was very special and very rare. Jesse and Rachel were doing much better in all of the camp's courses than most of the older children, and the instructor who had been in charge of their music lesson - whose name was Miss Rita - had decided that it would be an absolute crime to deprive the audience that came to see the talent show of their beautiful voices. After a few scales with them both separately and together, Miss Rita had decided that Jesse and Rachel were going to sing a duet.
"What song?" Rachel asked grouchily, not even looking at the young boy next to her. "Because the song decides the performance, Miss Rita. If I'm being forced to sing with that -" Rachel jabbed her thumb at Jesse. "-then the song has to be perfect or everything will fall apart."
Miss Rita seemed slightly stunned at Rachel's maturity, but recovered quickly and planted a cheesy smile on her face. "Well, I'll let you two decide the song, but you have to let the camp directors know by tomorrow so that we can get your music set up, okay?" Rachel and Jesse nodded, and Miss Rita smiled again. "Excellent! Well, this was the last class of the day, so you two get busy on that duet!"
Miss Rita left the room, leaving Rachel and Jesse alone with a piano and three bookshelves of sheet music.
"Perfect," grumbled Rachel. "Just perfect."
"Isn't it?" smirked Jesse. Rachel shot the little boy a glare, which only made him laugh. "Oh, lighten up." he joked. "This is a good thing, Berry. They obviously recognize our talent. Let's make the most of this and blow them out of the water - it's usually only the teenagers that get to sing the duets."
"It has to be mature," insisted Rachel. "They'll never see it coming from two kids as young as we are - perhaps something from Evita or Phantom."
"Broadway fan?" Jesse asked, as he led Rachel to the bookshelves and began to scan the music.
"Of course!" said Rachel quickly. Her eagerness made Jesse laugh. "One day, I'm going to be on Broadway. I will sing 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' in front of a sold out crowd - just you wait."
"I see," said Jesse casually. "As much as I like Andrew Llyod Weber, I don't think he's the way to go for our duet. Evita and Phantom are great, but they don't have the 'It' factor we need. Why don't we try something slightly slower?"
"You mean a love song?" Rachel asked, scrunching her nose in disgust. This Jesse kid was insufferable as it was - she didn't need to be proclaiming love to him, too!
"Maybe," allowed Jesse. Seeing the look on Rachel's face, he smirked. Again! "Oh, relax. It's called acting."
Keeping her head held high, Rachel looked away from Jesse and began scanning the shelves again. She found several books that piqued her interest, but nothing that she and Jesse could sing together. On the verge of giving up, she couldn't help but give a small smile when Jesse exclaimed, "Got it! Perfect!"
"What?" asked Rachel, pretending to only be mildly interested.
Jesse grinned. "Our song," he explained. "It's a mature one, don't worry. Lionel Richie - my dad listens to him in the car a lot, so I think I know most of the words to the song. I can try playing it on the piano, too, so we can practice. It might only be one-handed, but it's better than nothing."
"What's the song?" Rachel asked casually.
"It's called Hello." said Jesse happily. He grabbed Rachel's arm and led her to the piano. They both sat down on the bench, and Jesse unfolded the sheet music. The chords were actually much less complicated than he had anticipated, so he was able to play most of the song with both hands. He and Rachel practiced for more than an hour, before a counselor came in and told them it was time for dinner. Rachel - hungry - stood up immediately, and ran from the room. Jesse gazed after her, his fingers trailing on the piano keys as she walked away.
The week went by quickly, and before any of the campers knew it, it was Friday. Performance day. Rachel and Jesse had been practicing their number non-stop, and Jesse could even play it on the piano flawlessly. They were scheduled to be the last act of the night, so the nerves ate away at Rachel as she listened to the other performers.
"I'm nervous," she admitted to Jesse backstage, playing with the hem of her skirt. Jesse chuckled.
"That's cute," he replied. "I remember when I used to get nervous."
Rachel rolled her eyes fondly at Jesse - after spending a week getting to know him, she realized that he wasn't really all that bad. In fact, she almost considered him a friend.
Finally, Rachel heard the announcer call for the final act of the evening - Rachel Berry and Jesse St. James. Jesse tossed a grin Rachel's way, grabbed their sheet music, and led her to the stage. The applause was thundering, and Rachel basked in it. She followed Jesse to the piano, and as he played the beginning notes to their song choice, the noise in the room got so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
I've been alone with you inside my mind
And in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
I sometimes see you pass outside my door
Hello? Is it me you're looking for?
The song was a total hit - there wasn't a taken seat in the theater. It was Rachel's first standing ovation. She looked over to beam at Jesse, and that's when it hit her.
All of the applause in the room seemed to die down in an instant and it got deathly quiet. The way he looked under the spotlight - the way he was smiling at her...the way his eyes shone...it was magic.
And that was the moment Rachel Berry knew she was in love with Jesse St. James.
Years passed, and Rachel never forgot Jesse. She hadn't seem him since that fateful week at the Akron camp, but he was always there. Even when she chased Finn and Puck and Mr. Schue for a brief time, Jesse was always there. And when Mr. Schue announced in Glee Club her sophomore year that their theme of the week was 'hello', Rachel knew exactly what song she had to sing. But she also knew there was only one person she would sing it with. And he was still in Akron.
Deciding to get her sheet music together anyway, Rachel went to the local music store and searched through stacks of books for anything Lionel Richie. She was pawing through a book of his when a sudden voice came from behind the book.
"Lionel Richie, huh? One of my favorites."
His voice had deepened. It was smoother and silkier. But Rachel would know him anywhere. She slowly lowered the book and stared into the beautiful eyes of her first love.
"Well, well, well...if it isn't that Jesse kid again," she laughed, trying so hard to keep her cool. It wasn't easy.
"I saw you perform at Sectionals," Jesse smirked, as though he hadn't heard Rachel at all. "Your rendition of Don't Rain on My Parade was flawed. I personally liked it better when your nine year-old self sang it, but that might just be me. There's just something about a child under ten singing Barbra that soothes the soul, you know?"
"Yeah," responded Rachel a little bit breathlessly. Her head looked back behind her, where a piano was sitting just waiting to be played, and Jesse followed her line of sight.
"Why don't we take it for a spin?" he suggested, taking the sheet music for Hello out of Rachel's hands. He smiled as he said, "You know, for old times' sakes."
And it was still magic.
All it takes is a moment. For Quinn Fabray, that moment was when Finn leaned in and kissed her for the first time. For Santana Lopez, that moment was when she saw Brittany in the arms of Artie and couldn't stand it. For Tina Coehn-Chang, that moment came during the middle of one of Mike's dance routines that he'd been practicing in front of her. There can be a lot leading up to the moment, or it can just spring itself on you, but everyone will experience that moment once in their lives. For Jesse St. James, that moment came when he was just eleven years old, and his hands strummed the final keys of Hello while Rachel Berry ran to dinner from the music room at the Akron Academy of Dance and Song.
The end! Yay St. Berry fluff!