A/N: Just a tiny Jesse/Rachel drabble, set right after Regionals in Season 1.
Rachel stood just inside the doorway to the locker room Vocal Adrenaline had been given to change in after Regionals. No one was left except for Jesse St. James, who was staring calmly back at the tiny brunette girl. She, meanwhile, was glaring daggers at him.
"Don't look at me that way, Rachel. I swear to God I never meant for this to happen. It was an honest mistake. I never planned on falling in love with you." He said rather derisively, as if he hadn't just scoffed at her feelings and admitted that he had meant to play her all along.
"I loved you." She said through her teeth, dead-set on confronting him.
"Don't act so self-righteous, Berry, it's not a good color on you." He interrupted her smoothly, making her even more mad.
"I did, Jesse! I loved you and you just left me! You didn't care one bit." Rachel said, her voice rising.
Jesse didn't stop changing out of his performance shirt, calmly unbuttoning the hot pink fabric and shrugging out of it, revealing the white undershirt he had underneath. He then grabbed the shirt he had brought with him and turned back to Rachel, staring at her as he pulled it on and buttoned it up.
"See, that's where you're wrong, Rachel. I did care. Too much, to be honest. Which is why I had to leave. I wasn't supposed to even get attached to you, let alone fall in love with you. It was never part of the plan and if I had stayed longer I would have tossed everything out the window for you. But I couldn't do that. Too much was riding on my win tonight. So I had to remove myself from the situation and make you hate me, so I could regroup and forget all about you."
He then turned back around and packed his duffle bag up, ignoring her easily.
"So that's it, then?" She said, venom laced through her words. She couldn't believe he was discussing this so calmly and easily.
"That's it." He confirmed, zipping up his bag and turning back to her as he hefted it onto his shoulder. "I loved you. I still do." He walked past her and stopped at the door, looking back at her over his shoulder. "I'll pick you up for dinner on Friday night. Be ready by 7."
"Excuse me?" She yelled. "You honestly think that after what you did to me I'd go out to dinner with you again?"
Jesse shrugged and left the room, walking backwards to talk to her as he went.
"It was worth a shot. I'm still coming by your house at 7 on Friday. If you want to go, we'll go. If not, I guess I'll be dining alone." With that, he turned back around and left, not looking back once.
'Jesse St. James, you are such an asshole.' Rachel thought, leaving the locker room and heading towards her fathers' car. She'd never admit it out loud, but on the way there, she was planning out her outfit for dinner on Friday night with the star of Vocal Adrenaline.