Years and years of tireless lessons, rehearsals, and auditions paved the way for the life Jesse St. James was living now. Long ago were the days where his reputation was only that of an ex-show choir star who couldn't even make it through a semester at college or coach a team to national victory. Many thought the heyday of Jesse St. James was long over about six years ago, but it was really just beginning. Now he was nearing his twenty sixth birthday, living in New York, and already with a few gigs on Broadway under his belt. They weren't very big, but they got his name out there and opened the doors for more auditions that led to this: His first starring role.

It was a brand new revival for the Broadway showstopper, Thoroughly Modern Millie. He recently got the call that he had beat out all other men auditioning for the role of Jimmy Smith and the part was all his. No other harsh opinion of past or present pertaining him mattered because he was getting to do everything he ever said he'd do. He was finally going to be the star that he was born to be and the whole Broadway world would know his name.

The first day of official rehearsals called for an early start and Jesse had every intention of being the first to arrive to make a good impression with the creative team and the rest of his cast. As their male lead, he felt a similar responsibility to them like the one he felt when he was starring in Vocal Adrenaline so many years back. He had an important job to help lead the show to greatness alongside his co-star, whom he had yet to actually meet. He didn't know of any of his cast mates, actually. They were all informed of the parts they had gotten from the producer and director in private, so today would be the first day they were all introduced.

When the elevator reached the floor of the dance studio they were told to report to, he was caught by surprise when he heard the sound of some very talented tap dancing coming from the rehearsal room. Someone had actually beaten him there. Figuring it was his co-star, he quietly pushed the door open to take a peak.

The first sight of her was from behind. She was small, even in her tap shoes with their three and a half inch heels. Her long dark hair was in loose curls and she wore a very sleek black leotard with fishnet tights that had nice long seams running down the back of her legs in an almost vintage look. She was so sexy and yet so familiar…

Then he caught her reflection in the mirror before her and his heart stopped dead in his chest. Before he realized it, the tapping had stopped and she was standing there frozen with her eyes glued on his reflection behind her in the mirror. And in a second, the initial shock faded because they both realized that they didn't really feel it much at all. It was no surprise that they were running into each other this way. Soft smiles crossed their lips as they both crossed the room to meet each other in the center.

"It's about time," he murmured, looking down a sort of softness that only ever came out when he saw her.

Rachel stood up taller and placed her hands on her hips proudly.

"I know. It's great to—"

"Alright, everyone inside and sit on the floor before we start!" called out the stage manager from the door to the group of actors crowded around in the hall.

They all filtered in and Rachel quickly sat down, pulling Jesse down with her. When the whole cast was sitting on the hardwood floor, the producer, director, musical director, and stage manager took their spots in front of the room.

"It was a long process, but welcome to the revival production of Thoroughly Modern Millie!" said the director, David Chase. "First things first. We all need to get to know each other. So let's have our stars come forward. Playing the role of Millie Dillmount, we have the lovely Ms. Angelica Levy. Come forward Angelica."

A tall leggy woman with wavy red hair pulled into a loose ponytail sitting in the front of the group pushed herself up to her feet and gave the group a little wave in response to the applause.

Jesse felt Rachel's shoulders slump next to him and his heart practically sank at the same time when he realized that she wasn't starring opposite him like he figured. He glanced over at her, noticing that she had put on a brave show face and applauded for Angelica like the rest.

"Since Millie was Sutton Foster's first major starring role, we wanted to go with someone new as well. With any luck, by the time the show opens, everyone will be lining up and praising the name Angelica Levy."

"David, please," said Angelica with a slightly sheepish grin.

Rachel's shoulders slumped all over again. Jesse wanted to reach out and give her some sort of touch for comfort, but that instinct needed to be ignored. It's been years and they were now practically strangers all over again. Kindred spirits, yes, but strangers nonetheless.

"And our female lead needs a winning male. Playing the role of Jimmy Smith, we have Jesse St. James!"

Jesse smiled and pushed himself up to join Angelica in the front of the room. As he looked out at the room of applauding actors, he noticed Rachel giving him a smile that was actually genuine.

"All the girls in the audience will be swooning when you take the stage," said David as he slapped Jesse's shoulder with a rolled up script.

He laughed and turned to face Angelica who had tapped his other shoulder.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jesse. And I'm sure it'll be even more of a delight to work with you," she said, holding out her hand for him to shake. Her big blue eyes sort of brightened up when he returned her smile and shook her hand.

"Definitely will be a pleasure," he nodded.

So caught up in meeting his new co-star, he didn't see Rachel staring up at them with wide eyes. She quickly pursed her lips and looked away before anyone realized just how irritated she probably looked right now.

"So how about we move on to the rest of our cast?" asked the director as he clapped his hands together.

He brought forward every other major character and introduced them to the rest of the group, but never called Rachel forward. By the time the last of the characters who actually had names were standing up, he realized the fact of the matter at hand. Rachel was in the ensemble.

She sat there, trying not to look like the fact that she was not up there crushed her. And while this was a really important moment for Jesse and his career, it sort of sucked to see Rachel sitting there like that. Everyone else in the ensemble looked just as excited as the leads to just be chosen to be there. They looked exactly how he felt when he had been cast in his first ensemble job in a show. But he knew that hardly any of these people were here for the first time. Not even Rachel was. They were all trying to pay their dues for as long as it took to earn their spot up there where Jesse stood with the rest of the major cast members.

There was a difference, though.

He knew that Rachel deserved to be right up there with him just as much as he did. He was certain that behind those brown eyes, she was absolutely aware of the fact as well. That's why the smile she wore wasn't as genuine as the rest.

The ensemble introduced themselves one by one and when it came down to Rachel, she gave her best smile and crossed her hands together on her lap.

"I'm Rachel Berry and I'm delighted to be here working with you all," she said briefly.

Jesse tried to get some eye contact with her, but she seemed to be avoiding it at the moment. At the same time, Angelica was trying to get his attention, so he gave up and let Angelica have what she wanted for the next hour.

Luckily, the years had gone by had made it less difficult for him to be in the same room as his ex-girlfriend as it would have been if this would have happened when he had first moved to the big city and Rachel was still studying at NYADA. Time had a way of healing things and it was a pleasant surprise to actually feel okay in her presence. Even more, he didn't find himself aching to go across the room and talk to her about how she had been doing over the last six years. In a way, it was almost liberating to not be so lost in her spell that she was the only thing he could really see. He was fine. He was better than fine.

He was happy.

Across the room, Rachel had just finished changing into her character shoes when she stood up and bypassed the group of ensemble members who had already gotten so friendly without her. She had pulled her white over sized sweater on over her leotard and walked over to where the group of main leads were standing together.

Feeling a light tap on his shoulder, Jesse turned around to find Rachel standing there with an almost expectant look on her face.

"Hello again," he said as he leaned back against the mirrored wall with his arms crossed.

"You two know each other?" asked Angelica as she leaned back as well, almost mirroring Jesse's actions.

"We go back a little," was all he said.

Rachel's smile fell, for a quick second, but she didn't let it stay down for very long.

"Rosie, was it?" asked Angelica as she offered her hand out to Rachel.

Rachel bit her lip and shook her head, but took her hand anyway and gave it a quick shake.

"It's—"

"Rachel," murmured Jesse. "Rachel Berry."

Angelica looked between the two of them and dropped her hand back to her side.

"Congratulations again on the part, Angelica. Millie is such a huge role and I'm sure you're just going to kill it," said Rachel with as much of a genuine smile as she can muster.

"You're too sweet," she replied. "I really hope I do it justice. Sutton was just so amazing in it and—"

"You will. I'm sure you will. They picked you as the star for a reason," Rachel replied. "I don't know if you remember, but I was there at callbacks. I saw your audition after I got cut… You're definitely talented enough for the part. Definitely."

Rachel nodded a tiny nod and gave her a small smile.

Angelica's bright blue eyes lit up to the point that she was absolutely beaming now.

"You don't know what it means to hear that…," said Angelica, shaking her head slightly. "You know what? Have my card and give me a call sometime. We need to get together now that we're going to be working together. It'll be fun."

She reached into her purse and popped out a pink card with a gold star on it and the name 'Angelica Levy' in lovely cursive. Rachel took it and her eyebrow raised a little at the sight of it.

"Definitely…" she murmured before looking back to Jesse.

"Anyway… Jesse… I figured that since we didn't properly get a chance to catch up, that we could maybe get together after this for some coffee? I know a place nearby…" she inquired, smiling up at him hopefully.

Jesse's eyes widened a little and he stood back up straight.

"Actually… a bunch of us were going to get together for an early lunch after this… If I hadn't already made plans…" he shrugged, looking away guiltily.

"It's fine. I figured you'd be busy," she murmured, looking a little defeated.

"Here's an idea!" chimed in Angelica. "How about you come with? There's going to be plenty of room at the restaurant."

Rachel gave her a half smile, but shook her head.

"It's alright. I just remembered that I have to get home and… feed my cats."

She quickly looked away and cringed at her excuse.

"Oh, you have a cat, too?" Jesse asked as he walked over to grab his shoulder bag from where he had been sitting on the floor before.

Rachel followed after him and nodded.

"Two. It's me, Kurt, and then little Judy and Barbra," she explained with a proud grin.

"You didn't name your cats after Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand," he muttered in mock surprise. That sort of thing was so Rachel Berry and he really wasn't surprised one bit. "You so would."

"And I did!"

They shared a small laugh and he turned to look back at the rest of the group that was about to head out for lunch.

"I guess you should be going," she said as she grabbed her own bag and clutched onto the strap.

"Yeah, I guess."

She looked up at him as though calculating something. He tilted his head curiously in response to that.

"If you ever wanted to get together for that coffee, you could always give me a call," she suggested, looking up at him like she was that insecure high school girl he met so long ago.

"Oh, sure. Sure," he nodded.

"Do you still have my number?" she asked.

He bit his lip and shook his head.

"I kind of lost all my contacts when I broke my phone a few years back…"

That wasn't exactly factual. The truth was that he forced himself to have a clean break from her once and for all after the last time he saw her when she won Nationals. He had said help send her on her way to NYADA and then he was done. For his own sake, he just needed to be done. That was a dark night filled with tears he never wanted to shed, but he did what he had to do. He deleted her number and started the real process of moving on and healing the broken heart he had lived with for so long before.

Looking down at her now, he knew for sure that it had been all for the best. His heart didn't ache or tug. He didn't have any serious urge to whisk her away and try for another chance. He was perfectly alright and he would be perfectly alright walking away from her now.

"Here," Rachel said, grabbing her own pink card with its own gold star on it and handing it off to him. "Don't lose it this time."

Jesse nodded and pocketed it.

"My number hasn't changed so… if you still have it, you know how to reach me."

"I do," she replied.

That actually came as somewhat of a surprise to Jesse, as he had expected that she would have deleted his number a long time ago. Either that, or Finn would have done it for her at some point.

"So we'll talk sometime," he said, taking a step back away from her.

"Sure," she smiled.

"Gotta go now, though."

"I know," she nodded. "Have fun!"

He gave her a small smile and turned to walk away, feeling content in the fact that he was able to. As it really turned out, he didn't need love after all. The spell was broken and he didn't need to look back at her for a second as he walked out the door.

Running his hand through his hair, he pushed the elevator and turned around to lean against the wall and his eyes found their way right back to her. Their eyes locked for a brief second across the hall and he felt himself smile. Catching himself, he straightened up and turned away just in time to step on the elevator when the door opened. As the door slowly closed shut, he kept his eyes down on the floor and reminded himself that he was happy. He was fine. What did he need with love, anyway?