Cigarette Burned Stars

by berrylove

It's a challenge hardly worth Blaine's time, but he was never one to back down from a bet. The payout would be far better than he could have ever predicted. If only he could get Rachel Berry to play along.

1. I'll Take That Bet

Title: I'll Take That Bet 1/? (Part of: Cigarette burned Stars verse)
Pairing: blainchel
Summary: Blaine had no intention of going to school let alone attend a class he knew like the back of his hand without even showing up more than once; but then again, he hadn't exactly expected to agree to a bet that he could get between Rachel Berry's legs in less than five weeks either.
Authors: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)
Rating: R (suggestive language, Blaine has a trucker mouth)
Author's note: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo
Author's note 2: This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. You're welcome.

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine hated Wednesday's.

They were worse than any day of the week, in his honest opinion. Set right in the middle, a fucking cocktease; like you made it this far into the week, now you have two days left before your inevitable freedom! He rolled his eyes as he got out of his car, slamming the door closed before opening the back seat to pull his bag out. He put it over his shoulder, the satchel hanging and pressing lightly against his thigh; he adjusted his black and worn leather jacket over his pinstriped t-shirt, chewing on his lip. He glanced around at the swarms of students heading in twenty minutes before first period even started, bouncing along in animated conversations about football or prom or something meager and meaningless.

He didn't even know why he kept showing up, to please his mother he assumed, because by this point the only class he wasn't failing was English...and that was because the teacher had a sweet spot for him. And maybe he indulged in that fact by throwing her easy smiles...and bam, he had a solid B+. It wasn't that he was stupid, actually, he could have passed all of his classes with flying colors and then some. The problem was that all of his teachers were idiots; he knew a lot more than people gave him credit for. So why, if he could put two and two together when his teachers were trying to make four out of three and six, should he show up to class? He had a lot of other things he could have been doing...

He smiled softly as he leaned against the front of his car, his black jeans pulling perfectly across his waist and thighs, as he saw his best friend approach him. Luci had bright and wild curly red hair tied back in a messy bun, some of the curls framing her pretty features, her eyes were bright and close to his own color and they seemed to sparkle when she saw him leaning against his car as he waited for her. Her fashion sense was always a bit strange to him, she had on these black jeans like he did but hers had a bunch of paint on them, purposeful bleached spots and bright red paint. Her chest was covered with a light blue t-shirt, cut up in a design on the sides, showing pieces of her skin and a red tank top revealing just a bit of her mid-drift.

"Hey B." Luci grinned at him, waiting for a group of jocks to pass before she finally made it to him. "Aren't you looking fuckable today?"

He chuckled and shrugged his one shoulder, moving to sit on the front part of his car. "I do what I can."

She hummed, leaning against to him and setting her bag down near the windshield. "Can I bum a cig? My step mom caught me smoking again and stole all my packs."

Blaine bit his lip before sitting up a little to dig into his back pocket to pull out his pack. "It'll cost you."

"I'm not sucking you off in front of the whole student body, Blaine." She teased, licking her lips however and making Blaine's cock jerk. He rolled his eyes and recovered, putting a cig in her mouth and flicking his lighter at the tip. She took a few long drags and let the smoke curl out of her lips.

"Once was enough," Blaine mused, putting his own cig in his mouth and lighting it before putting the pack and lighter away. "Too much teeth."

"Fuck you."

He grinned, taking a puff on the cigarette before letting it blow slowly out of his mouth, the burn in his lungs and throat incredibly comforting in a way. He leaned a little into Luci's shoulder and took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked the ashes off and to the side, glancing over at her.

"We should skip."

She made a face and rolled her eyes. "Just because you skip, like, everything, doesn't mean I can. I've got a perfect attendance record asshole."

"I'm so impressed." He rolled his eyes. "Come on, we can get beer and pizza and go to the park."

She snorted and turned her body a little to face him, curling a hair around her ear before taking a drag off her cig. "Oh, so hot, you almost sold me."

Blaine rolled his eyes and sighed, looking out as the courtyard started to dwindle with the amount of students, ten or so minutes before class started. He could be late. He ran a hand through his curls, slightly gelled on his head. He watched a few students trickle through the parking lot, one or two turning their heads to look at them before they headed up the stairs into the main doors.

Luci jumped off the car and threw her cig on the ground, stepping on it to put it out. "I have to get to class, some of us want to graduate high school." She moved to stand between Blaine's legs, putting her hands on his thighs.

He sighed at her snip and turned his head to glance at a girl who was rushing from her car, dropping her bag to pick up sparkly pink pens and notebooks to match. He raised his eyebrows in interest as he was flashed her bright yellow panties, her skirt obviously too short to keep her hidden...and the fact that she didn't know there was a car with two people around her to look. He flicked his cigarette as his eyes trailed over her long legs, chewing on his lower lip as she stood, adjusted her grandma sweater and stormed off to class-not noticing he was there, getting a peep show in. He smirked and shook his head, his attention being drawn away as he felt Luci's hands on his thighs. He looked down at her.

"Will you go to class please?"

He leaned closer and blew a trail of smoke in her face. "Make me."

She huffed and pulled back, smacking him in the chest. "Asshole. Fuck you, do what you want." She reached behind him and grabbed her bag, moving to walk past him and to school.

Blaine merely smiled and finished his cigarette before trailing into school an hour late.*

RACHEL BERRY:
Every day started the same for Rachel.

Wake up, run on the treadmill for a half hour, shower and dress for school, suffer through eight hours of silence and torture while enduring at least one slushie a week to the face, ballet on Tuesday's and Thursday's and home for homework and singing practice.

It became slightly less monotonous with the addition of glee club rehearsals into her schedule, fitting in time to help choreograph and choose songs for the New Directions to sing together, as well as solos she could sing to an audience who for once had no choice but to listen to her. And with Mr. Schuester choosing a different assignment every week, it offered her a slice of variety into her increasingly dull, quiet, boring life that basically came down to a tick off the calendar every day that loomed closer and closer to the end of the school year, leaving her with two more until graduation, New York and her inevitable fame.

Which was why there was absolutely no reason for Rachel to be running late today.

She hadn't overslept since she was four years old; but there was something off about the day even before it began. She could have blamed it on the weather if it had been rainy and storming out, but the sun was shining and the air was crisp for late fall, leaving her no excuse. She'd barely had time to put together an appropriate outfit for the day, and the skirt she'd thrown on before running out the door was from a year ago, at least, before she'd had a minor growth spurt and she knew it was too short but she had no time to change before her first period class.

The only positive to dropping everything in the middle of the parking lot in her rush to get to class on time was that no one was around to witness that humiliation, not that anyone would have noticed regardless. Despite her talent and occasionally overbearing personality, she was still a no one, not even a blip on the radar to anyone who wasn't in glee-or Jacob Ben Isreal, but she chose to ignore that fact.

She could only hope that her day would turn upward as soon as she got to class, but she was met with a pop quiz and an essay assignment before the lunch bell even rang, Rachel's bad mood turning from bad to worse as she slammed her locker shut. It wasn't that the courseload was hard, of course-McKinley was hardly an institute of higher knowledge if you actually had half a dozen brain cells still living in your head-but it was a detriment to her regime of preparing for her future, a future that had nothing to do with quadratic equations and everything to do with keeping to her video posting schedule every night.

But it wasn't like anyone was going to decide to come sit with her now anyways, she decided as she pulled out her books to start looking over what she'd have to write her paper on. Even with the glee club, she was still the odd one out. Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and Artie seemed to have formed a clique while the Cheerio's and the football players all stuck together as tight as ever, once more leaving Rachel on her own just like she had been for the past 16 years. So she had time to get her homework done at lunch while occasionally picking at her salad her dads had packed for her, just like they still did every day while making their own lunches, engrossed in her work in an attempt to finish it as quickly as possible and not even noticing when someone moved into the chair across the table from her.

BLAINE ANDERSON:
He had a headache by fourth period. He guessed he could blame that on really keeping a cigarette and coffee breakfast for the past two days. His mother was irritatingly chipper in the morning, always trying to make him pancakes or some shit she saw on the mountain loads of cooking channels she watched when he was at school. He was almost glad it was lunch; he walked into the cafeteria around five minutes late, weaving through the space of circular tables, chairs and masses of students sitting down with trays. The air was thick with cooking grease and chatter, Blaine moving to sit at his typical table that he sat with Luci. He saw her things littered across the table like always, a few sketchbooks with papers sticking out in every which way, containers full of paints and pastels and her bag half open on the chair.

"Don't get the meatloaf, it looks gross." Luci passed him, setting her tray down and sticking her hands in her pockets as she looked at him.

He sighed and set his bag down, shrugging his leather jacket off to set on the back of the chair. "If I wasn't so fucking hungry I wouldn't be touching the cesspool they try and pass as food here."

Luci picked up a crouton off her salad and popped it on her mouth, smiling slowly. "Someone's cheery today. What crawled up your ass and died?"

"I have a headache."

She leaned back into the table. "Maybe you should eat something other than cigarette ashes." She grinned, flashing him a teasing tone that he almost didn't appreciate...but it did make him smile.

He stole a french fry off her tray, taking a solid bite out of it and rolling his eyes. "Happy?"

She smirked and pulled out her chair to sit down. "Ecstatic. Go get some food I want to show you some of my sketches."

He licked his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, watching her sit down and grab one of her sketchbooks before he took her direction and went to stand in line for food. He grabbed a french fry boat and skidded past the cash register as he walked with a group of girls chattering on about prom. Easily slipping away without paying, he approached his table again and sat down next to Luci, grabbing her water on her tray to take a long sip.

"One of these days you're going to be sorry for that."

He raised his eyebrow. "For what, stealing your drink or stealing shitty cafeteria food?"

"Both," She licked her lips, taking a bite of salad before pushing her book to him. "Well?"

Blaine rolled his eyes and looked down at the sketchbook, flickering up to look at her. "Am I supposed to be amazed or some shit."

Luci glared at him. "Don't be a dickhead for once, I worked hours on that."

He shrugged his shoulder. "I have no idea why you always ask me to look at them, it's a bunch of lines and color Luc, what am I supposed to see a deeper meaning in this?"

She snatched the book away from him, rolling her eyes and muttering 'forget it' before stuffing it in the direction of his back. He smiled softly and ate a few of his french fries-she was pissed at him, which was typical, he was being an asshole. He was about to ask for the sketchbook back to look at it, because honestly, school was awful as it was, he didn't want to spend the rest of the day with her mad at him. It was more annoying than it was worth it. But then something else caught his eye to his right, a short skirt...the one from the parking lot. He was actually surprised he noticed seeing as how he wasn't getting a flash of yellow this time...but those legs, he guessed he could pick those out anywhere. The skirt was plaid, with navy and green highlights...was that a reindeer on her sweater?

"Don't waste your time."

Blaine turned his attention back to Luci. "I'm not doing anything."

"You're giving her the Blaine Anderson once over, I think I know you by now to figure out what you're doing."

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "So what if I am, she's kinda hot...in a nursing home sort of way."

She rolled her eyes and turned her head, snorting as she realized who Blaine was looking at. "Rachel Berry?" Luci crossed one leg over the other. "Like I said, don't waste your time. Her legs are so tightly closed I'm pretty sure she used super glue."

Blaine grinned at her, leaning until his face was close enough that his breath was bouncing off her cheek. "That sounds like a challenge, you know me, I love a challenge."

Luci turned her head, swallowing at Blaine's proximity, his stomach coiling tightly as he saw how nervous he was making her. He noticed her eyes flicker to his lips and then back up to his hazel eyes.

"She's not going to fuck you, Blaine."

He pulled back and stretched his back, rolling his neck to crack it. "Well, it's probably good that I'm not into that sort of thing. I was hoping it'd be the other way around." He smiled at her and gave her a playful wink.

Rachel Berry. It took him a minute to really consider who she was. He'd heard the name before around school-typical Lima loser, tormented by her peers for being an outcast, smart, secret kind of sexy, killer voice and she had a hard on for the main quarterback...which only made her presence at school worse because his crazy bitch of a girlfriend only made it her life mission to make her even more miserable.

"She's not going to pry her virgin legs open for you unless your name is Finn Hudson..." She looked up at him as he stood, gathering his jacket and bag.

"That sounds like a bet, Burke. I'll take you up on that."

She laughed, obviously not confident in his abilities. "Alright, you want to make this a bet. I give you five weeks. Five whole weeks to weasel your way into those panties you totally weren't checking out this morning. We can think of payoffs later."

He grinned at her, moving to kiss her cheek, whispering in her ear and enjoying the sharp audible shiver that ran through her. "It's a bet."

Blaine pulled back from her and walked over to the table, Rachel was sitting alone, her eyes glued to her tray. She barely looked up when he pulled the seat next to her back to sit down. She just flinched, which made sense, she was probably trying to prepare herself for a slushie he had seen countless people give at this damn school. It was fucking childish.

He leaned up and scrunched his nose at her tray. "If you want poisoning, I suggest you just eat a three month old cheeseburger because," He nudged her lunch. "It's the same fucking affect."

RACHEL BERRY:
Rachel blanched as an unfamiliar voice greeted her, clearly willing to pass by simple things like 'hello' and 'my name is' before diving into vulgar conversation that Rachel had certainly not invited from the boy now sitting across from her.

She vaguely recalled him from around school, what little she'd seen of him anyways. A couple of the girls-and Kurt, naturally-had fawned over his stereotypical 'bad boy' image, cigarettes and leather jacket and impish grin that he was now shooting in her direction. She was sure if the glee club saw her now she'd be the subject of questioning by the afternoon, even when she didn't want to be.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked, keeping her tone clipped but polite. She didn't have anything against him, per say, except for his desire to skip class and apparently, his newfound desire to bother her while she was trying to do some of her school work. "Because I'm in the middle of a paper that I'd like to finish before the end of the day, if I can, so I don't exactly have a lot of spare time."

It wasn't exactly the truth, by any means, but he didn't need to know that. And he more than likely didn't, either. Rachel may have longed to be known, to be popular and walk around the halls on Finn Hudson's arm, but that didn't mean she was anywhere close to achieving those goals as of yet and so for the schools resident rebel without a cause-Blaine, she remembered suddenly, she was sure he was in one of her classes somewhere-to know who she was seemed like a ridiculous assumption.

"Don't you have something better to be doing right now than interrupting my studying?" she inquired after a second, raising an eyebrow in question.

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine felt a smile grace his lips as Rachel's confused and startled expression quickly shifted into something else as she realized who he was and that he was in fact sitting next to her and talking with some sort of purpose...she just had no idea what that purpose entailed. He had never actually spoken to her before, it had taken him a moment to recognize her, the glimpse in the parking lot (though more memorable for a specific reason) not the first time he had noticed her presence in this god forsaken place. He was pretty sure he had seen her slushied once or twice, they were kind of hard to miss. They tended to draw a crowd of amused students and worried teachers once the attack was accomplished. He hadn't laughed or joined in on the taunting, for the sheer fact that it was below him, but hadn't moved to help her either. He just hadn't cared enough to. People got slushied at this stupid school, he had no idea what wet dream it accomplished but Luci had saved him from his one and only attempt to shove cherry ice in his face so he wasn't as concerned with them past the few thoughts on how ridiculous they were.

He hummed as she asked him more than once, he noted, voice shrill and unamused when her lips pursed around her questions as to what he was doing there at her table. Apparently bothering her. He licked his lower lip, her eyes still cold and unwavering as they bore into his hazel ones; not even looking once at his mouth. Interesting. Not that he was particularly cocky but he was confident in himself, years of getting what he wanted in terms of females through experience alone building up a bit of an ego in him. He noticed on more than one occasion that when he licked his lips, people were drawn to look at them like a magnet and he usually could get them to gauge what he was thinking from that simple inference.

But Rachel hadn't torn her eyes from his once and that made a little thrill work up his spine. So, Luci was right. This was going to be a challenge. That was perfectly alright with him. Short and easy was boring anyways.

"Oh well, you're Rachel Berry right? Upcoming Broadway star?" He smiled slowly, noticing that gleam in her eye...that amount of hope that he didn't quite understand. "I just wanted my autograph before the fame sets in, you know...I think I've got a pen...will you sign anywhere?" He let his hand fall to his thigh, dangerously close to the zipper of his jeans, inferring but not really, open for debate, for imagination to wander.

Blaine sat up then and set his bag on the table, reaching across her to steal a crouton from her salad. He popped it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, glancing down at her paper. For a quote unquote 'know it all', she really had to brush up on her Hemingway, she was misquoting the fuck out of him. He didn't say that however, there was no need to piss her off more than he already was, and simply leaned back in his chair, smiling amusingly at her as he glanced around the cafeteria.

"And to answer your onslaught of questions, no. I absolutely have nothing better to do," He looked back at her. "Hence gracing you with my presence."

RACHEL BERRY:
She had to admit to being skeptical as to why he knew her name, who she was and what she wanted but maybe she wasn't as completely invisible as she constantly felt. She supposed it was possible, after all, that somewhere along the lines, in between the busy hallways of McKinley, someone might have paid any attention to her.

But there was a high probability of doubt that it was Blaine Anderson, of all people, who barely paid attention to himself. And if he did have any sort of interest in her, she wasn't naive enough to think it was anything other than physical, his light innuendo about autographs solidifying that assumption even as a slight blush crawled over her cheekbones, her fingers fidgeting with the ends of her hair before she pushed it behind her ears, intent on ignore any advances he attempted. She'd been ignoring Jacob for two years now, she had enough practice.

"Really," she replied after a moment, pursing her lips and ignoring his small attempts at diverting her attention away from his eyes, the only real safe thing-but even 'safe' wasn't a proper term, not really, because she'd never been close enough to him to really see him before. How the almost golden hue lit with laughter and amusement, how they were almost captivating in a way she would hate to admit she was falling prey to. But that was the easiest thing to fall into, she knew, and if she focused on that instead of the way he ran his tongue over his bottom lip, or how his fingers danced near the metal of his zipper on his jeans, she would never be stupid enough to fall into his trap.

"I would think earning yourself a reputation as notorious as your own would take up copious amounts of time," she said breezily, turning back to her notebook and jotting down a couple things because she wouldn't let herself get distracted by an admittedly attractive boy deeming her with his presence. "Cigarettes to smoke and classes to skip and an air of indifference that's clearly been rehearsed and cultivated for the specific appeal of being aloof, helping drag stupid girls into your clutches. Talking to me must really be putting down a few of those factors."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine smirked softly and ran a hand through his curls, picking at one near his forehead and twisting it a moment before leaning back up in his chair. Her words that were meant to cut easily bounced off his armor, not even nicking the metal as she turned her attention back to her notebook. He had heard about her being high strung but Jesus Christ, her prickly presence was almost injuring him. Blaine wondered how long it'd been since she had a proper orgasm, surely that would take the edge off of her high pitched indignant tone. He hoped to God she wasn't like The Virgin Queen Fabray, who barely touched herself let alone let her caveman of a boyfriend slide his hands up her skirt. If Rachel Berry didn't let out her frustration through at least a few orgasms, or at least knew what the fuck she was missing from not having sex, someone to give her those mind blowing sensations without her hand doing all the work...then this was going to be much, much harder than he thought.

Putting that to the back of his mind and returning his attention back to her (she talked a lot more than she should have), he picked at another croton and leaned his elbows onto the table, watching her nervously scribble down notes in her notebook.

"It takes up an incredible amount of time," He mused, humoring her for the sake of doing so. "No time to update my Myspace page or rinse cherry stains out of my grandma sweaters," Blaine licked his lips and propped his chin upon his hand, the action making him look far more innocent than he was. His indifference was natural; he wondered how many times she had to rehearse sounding stronger than she actually felt.

"Those girls certainly weren't making discontent noises when they were in my so called clutches," He pointed to a part of her essay. "You might want to check that quote before you hand this in. I think you mean, "'Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."' He stood up from his chair and grabbed his bag as the bell rang and slung it over his shoulder. He smiled down at her and gave her a fond wink.

"As pleasant as this was, I've got to get going. Those cigarettes aren't going to smoke themselves." He put his jacket over his arm, glanced for Luci in the crowd of moving and groaning students as they threw away their lunches and made his way out of the cafeteria.

RACHEL BERRY:
Rachel rolled her eyes at his jibes at her habits and unfortunate reputation around the school, though she managed to quell the instinct to defend her attire knowing it was fruitless. She was comfortable in her sweaters, even if they only served to bring her more mockery than she already was flung, and she wasn't going to change who she was just because a few high schoolers were too close minded to actually get to know who she was underneath of them.

But his correction of the quote on her notebook page startled her, and she wasn't sure why. He had to be intelligent to actually be passing high school, she supposed, especially if he was never in class. And he didn't even give her a chance to reply with a small amount of gratitude before he was gone, disappearing as quickly as he had arrived and Rachel couldn't stop herself from wondering what, exactly, that entire encounter had been about.

It was disconcerting, really, because most of the closest people she could consider in her life hardly talked to her without ulterior motives. They wanted to have her figure out everything for the glee club, from school pictures to solos and duets and what songs they were going to sing at sectional's. They didn't come and sit with her at lunch or ask her about her weekend or give her the time of day, really, aside from the occasional wave in the hallway.

Really, the only one who did pay her any attention was Finn, and she supposed that she could admit her crush had probably rooted from that in the first place. But she'd gotten to know him, and he her-the only one of them who had tried spending any sort of time with her from their club-and he was sweet, if not a little slow at catching onto things at times, and he treated Rachel with respect. There was no way Blaine would ever do that, not that she was dwelling on the concept of him ever even speaking to her again, because that would be a fruitless exercise in the first place.

Which was why, when she arrived into her science class just before the first bell rang, she was surprised to see him already sitting at one of the lab desks, leaning back in the chair and she could feel his eyes on her even as she attempted to move to the opposite side of the classroom, only to find her normal seat taken and the room seemed to fill before she could even find herself a spot, the only one open the chair next to Blaine, victorious smirk across his features and all.

BLAINE ANDERSON:
"Did you seal the deal? Did you get a one way ticket to a place no man has ever gone before?" Luci teased, right next to his right ear. He had no idea how she appeared and disappeared at random but one fucking minute he'd find he was alone and then the next she was buzzing in his ear like a fruit fly.

"No," He scowled, stopping at his locker to throw his leather jacket inside. It was...Wednesday, did he have Bio next? It had been so long since he had actually stopped in... "She's proving to be harder than I realized."

"Such a poor choice of words seeing as how that's exactly what you're not going to be." She grinned at him, her eyes pointedly trailing to his pants.

He glanced at her, a small smile pulling at the edges of his mouth. "Cute, don't quit your day job."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Which reminds me, will you pick me up from Sheets n Things tonight when my shifts over?" Blaine turned to look at her, leaning against the lockers after he shut his own. His must have been giving her this disinterested face (he honestly had no idea why he considered them best friends when she was far too good for him) because she rolled her eyes and unclipped her hair from her bun, letting her curls run free. "I'll buy you dinner. Shitty pizza and beer at my house. Come on."

Well, he supposed he wasn't going to get Rachel to suddenly cave and come back to his place tonight on a sheer whim that he had corrected her ridiculous mistake on her essay so...free beer, pizza, maybe if he was lucky and nicer a few rough kisses with Luci...

"Sure, I'm in. Don't be late coming out this time, I'm not a damn chauffeur that waits thirty extra minutes for you to finish sucking off your coworker Mark."

She rolled her eyes. "That was one time, he traded me his hours. And at least I got something for doing him the favor...seeing as how I'm still waiting for some sort of nice payoff from sucking you."

He grinned at her. "Aw babe, are you trying to tell me my friendship is not enough?"

She shook her head, but a smile pulled at the ends of her mouth and a melodic laugh sounded up from her throat. He liked it a bit more than he should have. She went past him to head the class as the five minute warning bell rang.

"Eight PM!" He yelled down after her. "I mean it!"

She merely threw back her middle finger at him and turned the corner.

000

He had to remember what classroom he was in first of all and wow it had really been a while if he couldn't remember whether he was in lab 304 or 305. He chose the one closest to his right and knew he had picked right because the cheerleader lesbains were seated at the very first lab table near the front door and really, how could he forget that?

The class was filling up quickly, no one taking their seat next to him as he sat in the back of the class like he had expected. He really had no idea why he had chosen to show up...he guessed because he needed to complete one class today and science was far more interesting than history. He really regretted that decision when he heard the teacher mention something about partner projects until he looked up and...low and behold, Rachel Berry was walking into class with her books pressed against her chest as the final bell rang. It was like fucking fate or something, like God was giving him a green light to the inside of those yellow panties; he hadn't even remembered she was in this class...which to give him credit, he had barely realized she existed not more than an hour ago.

And he was the last seat left since she had been so late and he couldn't help but let a bright smile grace his lips as he patted the stool next to him, watching her breasts bounce softly in her sweater she stalked over to her seat, huffing as she sat down.

"Really, I'm impressed." He smiled easily, leaning closer to her to whisper as the teacher started to talk. "We talked for like ten minutes and you're already stalking me."

RACHEL BERRY:
"I am not," she snapped, organizing her notebooks and textbooks into the nice piles she did for every class before taking out the simple pink one she used for biology everyday. "Unlike you, I actually show up for class every day. One could argue that it's you stalking me," she said pointedly, raising an eyebrow and glancing at him out of the corner of her eye before their teacher snapped her attention back to the front to start the lesson.

Biology was Rachel's least favorite class, if only because it required her to actually pay attention instead of getting work done for other classes or planning out extravagant choreography in her head for some number for the New Directions. It wasn't that it was hard, just more specific, dangerous if you weren't paying close enough attention. It was an ironic train of thought given who she was sitting next to; Blaine wasn't even pretending to pay attention to the class and she wondered momentarily why he had bothered to show up. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually seen him in the room, though she'd never paid much attention before.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who noticed his presence, Brittany had completely turned around in her chair to stare at them despite Santana's incessant slapping of her wrist, the Latina's own eyes trailing to them in confusion while Rachel tried to copy down the information they'd need for the project they'd be assigned-not only for the day, she realized with a groan, but at least two weeks of time with the same person.

She had a bad feeling she knew the only one who'd offer to be her lab partner, and that it wouldn't come without repercussions.

And she almost had hope as they were told that they'd be paired up alphabetically, before any hope that she could work on her project alone was dashed away for good.

"Blaine Anderson and Rachel Berry..." their teacher called out, Rachel groaning as she hid her face in her arms, unpleased with just how badly this day could possibly go before she turned to face a grinning Blaine, his smile almost too charming for his own good.

"Just because we're working together," she said, ignoring how he had moved closer to her somehow when she wasn't giving him attention, "does not mean that I'm going to put up with your sly remarks. We'll do this project because I actually need to preserve my grades and get out of Ohio, and if you don't want to work on it then I'll do it all myself."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine repositioned himself on his stool, opening his bag and setting down his one and only notebook that he brought to class. He set it down and searched his bag for a pen, a bright pink one courtesy of his wise ass best friend was nestled between a bottle of water and an extra pack of cigarettes at the bottom of his bag. He pulled it out and set it down, tapping with it as Rachel accused him of being the stalker.

"Hmm," He hummed, his eyes falling down to her legs...which were perfectly revealed from her position on the stool and her very short skirt. "Maybe I am." He teased, putting the end of the pen in his mouth as he looked at the front of the room and at the green board.

Class droned on for twenty minutes, the teacher counting off the systems of the body (which of course he already knew, seriously, what the fuck was he doing here?) ; Circulatory, Digestive, Endocrine, Integumentary, Lymphatic, Muscular, Nervous...

He leaned back in his chair, running a hand over his face and fisting his curls before hooking his feet under the lab table so he could balance himself on to legs of the stool-he swore he wouldn't be here at all, in school in general, if he hadn't been doing this for his mother and goddamn Luci at this point. He glanced over at Rachel as she dutifully took down the teacher's notes on the board, obviously trying very hard not to be distracted by his presence. He leaned the stool forward and put his elbows on the table, glancing at a blonde cheerleader as she turned around and watched them with a childlike innocence that was hard to make fun of or even glare at. The Latina, however, apparently was not thrilled by the blonde's attention being given to them, to Blaine in particular, so she glared at them and slid her hand down her girlfriend's back to distract her.

He sighed softly and was about to make another go at trying to rope Rachel into at least talking to him when the teacher started rounding off names for projects.

Blaine smirked softly as the the teacher sounded surprised when she read his name off and actually saw him in the back of the classroom-like she had been prepared and ready to pair Rachel up with another group because he was skipping again. He smiled at her and nodded his head at the assignment, like a dutiful puppy might and considered the systems of the human body that he'd like to do the project on as Rachel groaned beside him at her predicament.

Maybe this bet was looking up if he kept getting handed opportunities like this. Before he could even speak Rachel was scolding him, mentioning that she'd be more than happy to do the project herself. Well, he couldn't have that now could he.

"Doing the project all by yourself will result in a failing grade." He smiled at her. He may not have been to class in a while but he wasn't an idiot. "And we both know you don't want that."

He sighed and clicked his pen a few times before writing down a quote he remembered from Poe in the margins of his notebook.

"We have to pick a system to explore," He turned in his stool to face her. "I don't know about you, but I vote reproductive." He smiled slowly.

RACHEL BERRY:
Rachel could feel the heat blush over her cheeks at his suggestion, even if he was being as tame as she believed he could potentially be. And while she didn't particularly want to do this assignment at all, it would probably be easier to just do whatever he wanted and finish sooner rather than later.

"Fine," she said, trying to keep her tone calm and even and she was proud of herself for managing to do just that. "Only because I'm sure you'll actually participate in helping with that one."

The project seemed easy enough on it's own, some research and throwing together a paper and a small presentation at the end, but it would require teamwork and worse of all, it would require time out of class spent together. And she didn't exactly want to end up in his den of inequity, the thought of other girls who had been led there on false promises of real feelings crawling over the walls, so she took matters into her own hands once more.

"I'd rather get this over with as quickly as possible, if you don't mind," she stated, ripping out a piece of notebook paper to scribble her address and phone number on, "so we might as well work on this tonight and get as much done as we can. I have glee and ballet but after 7 I'm free, so you should come over then so we can get this over with. And I don't take well to late comers, so be timely, please," she said, smiling briefly in an almost strained way, trying her hardest to be polite while distant.

Because she knew herself too well, knew her tendency to latch onto those who gave her attention when she was so obviously desperate for it. And if she was going to be forced to spend time around Blaine, she had to remember who he was and all the rumors spread around school about him. She absolutely could not form any type of attachment to him, and she could not let herself get distracted from her school work, no matter how attractive he might have been on the surface.

BLAINE ANDERSON:

It was amazing to him how much people relied on the rumors that flew around school at warped speed. Everyone at McKinley had at least two or three rumors each, five if you were popular, sixteen if you were Rachel Berry, that passed between the lips and lockers of students at least twice a day. He never paid them no mind, rumors were simply that. He actually found the ones about himself amusing: that he lived alone or with his grandmother, that he was actually adopted and lived with foster parents, that he was actually alien spawn of some kind (he knew the brilliance of that one could have only come from Finn Hudson himself), that he was stupid and that's why he skipped classes, that he had gone to rehab once for drugs-so on and so forth, so many rumors so little time. None of them were true...it was somewhat frightening what a leather jacket, a few cigarettes and not the time or care to attend class and an indifferent attitude could do to one's reputation.

And he could tell, as soon as Rachel opened her mouth about meeting at her house, that that was exactly what she was thinking about. All those rumors. All those wasted words. Funny he actually suspected better from her, seeing as how she had just about as many rumors as he had, maybe even more. He felt like telling her no, that he couldn't come over, because he'd heard a rumor that her gay dads were pedifiles, see how well that went down. But decided against it for many reasons, the first was that he just didn't want to piss her off...and while hate sex was always on his kink list, something told him hate sex with Rachel Berry would somehow be more work than it was actually worth.

Blaine took the paper from her and folded it easily, standing to tuck it into his back pocket. He rolled his eyes as she mentioned that he should be punctual, the fake smile and upbeat tone to her voice making him crave a cigarette. He rubbed the back of his neck, cracking it and stretching his back before looking at her.

"Rachel, if you wanted to see how the reproductive system worked as soon as possible all you had to do was ask." He insisted with a slow grin as she squirmed on her seat. His eyes trailed over her legs, his hands itching to touch the soft skin of her inner thighs but refusing to do so. "But I thought you liked to actually put so called thought, effort and time into your projects."

He shook his head and made a tsking noise. "Stop trying to have sex with me."

He smirked and stuck his notebook and pen into his bag, closing it and the looking at her. Seven...why did seven sound impossible. Oh, right.

"I can do seven but I'll have to leave to pick up my friend Luci from her work at eight to drive her home," He drummed his fingers on his thighs. "Or we can meet at nine." He tilted his head. "When's your curfew start cinderella?"

RACHEL BERRY:
Rachel pursed her lips, unable to decide if she should be offended or flattered by the nickname before deciding ultimately to ignore it. The name Luci was unfamiliar, though she was sure it was the red head that was almost always attached to Blaine's hip, the one half the school assumed was his girlfriend while the other half assured them that Blaine would never be caught dead with a girlfriend. The few times she'd seen them together, Rachel was sure that the story was at least half right-she might not be his girlfriend, but the moon eyed looks the girl gave him said that she definitely wanted to be.

"I don't have a curfew," she huffed, slightly annoyed. "My fathers trust me and my judgment in doing what I want and when it's for something like school work, they'll hardly be bothered. Nine should be fine, but you can't be late, Anderson. I mean it. I have a strict regime I follow and I'm already pushing it off an hour or two to get this done with."

The bell rang and Rachel stood without another word, turning to leave without so much as a goodbye. She figured it was his style, after all, he'd yet to actually greet her when arriving suddenly in her life, crashing in without warning and disrupting her day. He'd probably appreciate that she didn't care enough to officially end their conversation, and besides, she couldn't afford to be late to another class.

But it stuck in her head all day, the realization that she'd invited Blaine to her house. It carried with her through her afternoon classes and she kept messing up steps she'd known by heart half her life during glee, earning a comment from Puck that it was like watching Finn dance in Rachel's body. It was disconcerting, certainly, annoying definitely, but she couldn't shake the thought of the boy from her head all day.

She couldn't have that.

Even as she readied herself for his arrival the closer it got to 9pm, her eyes flashing to the clock every two minutes to gage if he was going to be late or not, she felt...nervous, almost, in a way she hadn't prepared for. And while her dads were out for the night, not due til late, it only made her slightly more nervous about having the boy over. Because she'd never done anything like that before, even for school work. The one time she'd had to do a history assignment with Mike Chang freshman year, they worked in the library later in the afternoon so that his friends wouldn't mock him for being around Rachel Berry of all people, even as he apologized for the cruelty she'd been enduring for years. Finn hadn't even been to her house, and he was the closest she had to a real friend at this point.

Rachel was so engrossed in making sure her room was clean, perfect and presentable and that she herself was the same, running a hand over the red skirt she'd changed into after ballet, her shirt not nearly as offending as the reindeer sweater she'd worn earlier-it was almost something she could see someone like Quinn wearing, outside of her Cheerio's uniform, not that she'd ever admit to doing something like that on purpose. But it was warmer in her house than it was at school, she reasoned, plucking at the shorter sleeves of the shirt, and she'd had time to present herself after dance class this time, and she absolutely would not think too hard about why she was doing any of that in the first place.

Until, of course, the doorbell rang, Blaine clearly not even waiting for her to answer the door as she rushed to the top of the stairs and his head poked in, a loud 'hello' echoing through the main entranceway while she smirked.

"Come on," she said, waving her fingers, "I have all my school work in my room, in case my dads come home and start singing Broadway tunes again."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
It had taken forever for school to be over-he guessed that was what happened when you actually went for the entire day, from beginning to end, stuck inside one building that smelled nothing like team spirit-books, lemon cleaner, coffee and mixes of cologne and perfume, the insides of sneakers and wafts of the lunchroom; weird combinations that always made the back of his throat hurt if he breathed it in for too long. He drove home after class and peeled his clothes off, stepping into a hot shower to rinse the grime of after school special off his body. He rolled his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck, his hand trailing down to slide over his flaccid cock resting against his thigh. He licked his lips and swallowed, lazily flicking his thumb over the head to make a strong thrill run up his spine. Unfortunately he had no time to jerk off while thinking about what was under those bright yellow panties Rachel had on today, he had to actually find something in his kitchen to eat for dinner, actually eat, find his bio book that was stashed under his bed or something, a notebook and the assignment sheet from today and pick Luci up and take her home before stopping over Rachel's.

He stepped out of the shower and changed into a pair of dark jeans and a light blue t-shirt, grabbing his leather jacket to take downstairs as he pushed his feet into his boots. He pocketed his cellphone and managed to scrounge together something that resembled a pizza, ate it quickly and attempted to try and call Cooper a few times to check in and catch up, they usually tried to keep in touch a few times a month but it was getting harder and harder to do so. They were both settling in their lives...and Blaine didn't want to admit how much that actually bothered him. Cooper was becoming too busy for him, just like his father. He guessed with living with him he shouldn't have been too surprised. Something had to run off on the eldest eventually.

He sighed and left his house, telling his mom he'd be back late as he slid on his leather jacket and got into his car, checking the time, almost eight as he drove to Luci's work. He pulled into the parking lot and not a minute or two after eight, Luci came out of the main building, untying her green apron and stuffing it into her bag. She pulled the car door open as he lit up a cigerette, opening the windows a little to let the smoke filter out.

"What kind of a place is named Sheets n Things...I mean...what does 'Things' cover, exactly?" He asked her, watching her as she buckled her seatbelt and stole his cigarette from him, taking a long drag before placing it back between his lips

Blaine took in a long drag and let the smoke slowly out of his mouth as Luci glanced over at him. "Like everything," She rolled her eyes. "We're two strawberries short of a fruit basket. Literally, we have everything...there's even a tiny food court."

He started his car, looking behind him as he pulled out of the spot before putting the car in drive and started out of the lot. He looked left before turning right and started on his way to Luci's house, listening to her drone on and on about how much she hated her job, her stepmother and something about pizza-oh fuck, pizza.

"I forgot to tell you, I can't do dinner tonight. I have a project to do for Bio," He grinned at her as he pulled into her driveway. He could literally feel the temperature dip in the car, her smile fading slightly from her face before she recovered and shrugged her shoulder. He sighed and finished his cig, flicking the butt out the window and turning to lean on his side to look at her. "Come on, you're the one who wanted me to go to a class...I did. Besides, as part of winning the bet between us, Rachel and I are lab partners."

She turned on her side and rolled her eyes. "So you're, what? Going over her house for a study party?" She gathered her things and went to get out. "Have a good time."

Blaine grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back into the car, hooking the side of her jaw with his finger and pulling her closer to kiss her softly.

"Your jealousy is kinda hot, Burke."

She groaned, pushing his chest, a soft blush dusting her cheeks prettily. "Fuck you Anderson, you're not getting another blow job from me. Ask Rachel if you want that done." She stuck her tongue out. "If she even knows what that is." She winked and got out of the car and he shook his head and licked his lips, making sure she got inside before pulling out and driving to Rachel's.

000

Three whole minutes fucking early. Damn he was good. He didn't even want to wait for the satisfaction of Rachel opening the door for him when the door was unlocked and pushed it open, sounding a solid hello before looking up at her as she stood at the top of the steps. He nodded his head and came inside, closing the door, the comment about showtunes far too easy to make fun of for his liking. So he bit his tongue and followed her upstairs, walking into her room and raised his eyebrow at all the damn pink.

"Wow, this kind of hurts my eyes." He teased, sliding his jacket off and setting it on her bed.

He went straight to her dresser, which had a bunch of stuff that smelled like flowers in random sized and shaped bottles. His eyes flickered over pictures and awards and trophies and Jesus fuck she had a lot of time on her hands to win singing competitions five years in a row.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, turning his head to look at her and noticed she was staring. He smiled slowly and shook his head; perfect. He was probably the first damn boy she had ever had in her room. Color him honored.

"Where do you want to start...or did you want to continue staring at me?"

RACHEL BERRY:
She didn't quite know what to do with herself. He seemed to be completely at ease, bursting into her room just like he seemed intent on bursting into her life in general, not once thinking about any potential damage he could possibly send her way. She'd already had to endure painless questioning from Santana that afternoon about what, exactly, he had wanted from her and when, exactly, she was expected to fall to her knees to quote unquote 'suck him off like the whore he probably thought she was'. It didn't matter if that's all he thought of her, because the bottom line was that she wasn't, and her dignity would just have to be held close at hand to remind anyone who questioned her again.

But still, she couldn't stop staring as he took a look around her room, commenting on the color and Rachel couldn't even come up with anything snappy to reply with, merely rolling her eyes. She hadn't had her room painted since she was born; of course it was bright and colorful and she didn't mind. It woke her up in the morning and kept her attitude and demeanor bright and cheery, most of the time, and a small comment about his head hurting wasn't the worst thing he could have said.

Him catching her staring, however, wasn't exactly something she wanted.

But he was staring too, just not at her. Her belongings, pieces of her she had hidden from the rest of the world. Her singing trophies, dance trophies and ribbons and the few pictures she had of herself, of her dads, of family vacations and she crossed her arms over her chest to examine him with a completely clear, non-biased mind. He had shown up on time, after all, and he hadn't really mocked her, aside from a few jabs. There was the potential that maybe he wasn't as mean as the rest, that maybe his act of not caring about anything wasn't merely an act but the truth, and that maybe-

No, she reprimanded, shaking her head and pushing the thought away before smiling at him. "If I was staring at anything good, I'd let you know," she jibed right back, turning to pick up her books and motioning towards her desk or bed, letting him have the option of seating as she settled herself down primly on the edge of her bed, crossing her legs and opening the text to the section they'd need for their essay. "But I figured it would be easiest to get the essay out of the way first. We can build our presentation off of that, anyways, and figure out which of us will present what parts, if we want a visual aid to go along with it..." she trailed off, momentarily distracted by how much he clearly wasn't listening to her words, his eyes continuing to run over her every few seconds.

"Blaine," she hissed, snapping her fingers in front of his face until his eyes locked with hers, "this project is worth half our grade. Maybe you should stop staring and pay attention."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine smiled, sticking his hands in his pockets and shifting on his feet, biting his lower lip as his eyes flickered over her skirt, shaking his head before nodding to take a seat. Did she not own any pants? He was going to ask her but he figured he should let her win this one, whatever put her in the best mood was probably going to work better for him in the long run. Besides, he had the satisfaction in knowing he was right, there was no need to argue that fact with her? If she wasn't staring at anything, then why waste so much fucking time? He hadn't noticed it right away but she had to have been staring for a good three minutes. Three whole minutes of nothing good according to her; he nearly snorted. Right. Wasn't worth bringing up.

He took his phone out of his back pocket and sat it on the nightstand so he wouldn't sit on it and perched himself easily in the center of her bed, kicking his boots off and crossing his legs Indian style on the bright pink flower patterned comforter. He pulled his bag closer and pulled out his Bio book and notebook, drumming his pen on the spine of the book as he looked at her.

So alright, maybe it was the lighting in her room, or the fact that they were in her natural surroundings or because he hadn't gotten to jerk off before he left his house or maybe there was a lack of oxygen making its way to his brain from all the cigarettes he had started smoking but whatever the reason, Rachel Berry looked sort of hot right now. Like something that should have had a lot of boys pursuing her. And for a moment he couldn't figure out why she hadn't had a lot of dates or at least a lot guys wanting to fuck her; he didn't understand. She had killer legs and he was totally a boobs kind of guy (which Rachel was severely lacking but hey, he had to work with what he was given...an orgasm was still an orgasm) but her ass was nice and her trim waist worked with the hourglass shape she almost had. Maybe she hadn't had a lot of boyfriends or any at all but...it was still a mystery to him why he'd been the the first to try and pry her legs open.

Her voice hissing out his name got his attention and he looked up at her from tracing his eyesight around her knees. Suddenly it was very fucking clear to him why no one could get within fucking distance of Rachel Berry.

Her voice resembled a dog getting hit by a car when she was pissed off and he was pretty sure chewing on glass was more interesting than her personality.

"I was thinking about the reproductive system!" He defended, mock offence lacing his tone as he put a hand to his chest. Then he smirked. "Honestly." Because well, he had been, but he was pretty sure thinking about the positions he could have Rachel in within these five or so weeks wasn't worthy of their project.

He leaned back in her bed, his back colliding with her headboard. His shirt rose to expose his hipbones and he didn't dare fix it.

"Alright so, a paper," He hummed, getting lost in thought about what they could think about. He ended up humming a song he heard on the radio on his ride over here, quietly singing a few words before stopping. "Depends on how you want to break the paragraphs up and what you want to talk about. We could start off general and then branch it into Male and Female..." He sucked on the end of his pen. "Production of gametes, development and..." He sighed. "Diseases."

RACHEL BERRY:
Rachel tried to wait as patiently as she could for him to come up with anything that had to do with the actual assignment at hand, keeping her eyes trained on his face and not the flash of skin exposed as he made himself comfortable on her bed. It was little things like that, she was sure, that had girls tripping over themselves for a chance to follow him into bed, and she was smarter than that.

Clearly not smart enough to get out of doing a presentation with him in the first place, but at least that was academic, and she could rest easy knowing he would have never come inside of her bedroom had it not been to work on school.

"That sounds like a good enough plan," she said with a nod, jotting down notes and dividing the work up into sections. "We can collaborate on each part and combine it to write the actual paper, and of course we can use our own sections to present it to the class...if you actually show up that day and don't leave it all on me, that is," she added with a small smirk.

Though, he had already taken her by surprise by even showing up and showing the slightest interest in their project, so she supposed she shouldn't count him out just yet. For all she knew, he might have even known more than she did, write essays better than she did and even be able to pull off a presentation better than she ever had-though she doubted the last one, sincerely, since every presentation was like a performance and Rachel gave no less than 110% of her soul into them.

He didn't argue with her, taking the piece of paper she'd ripped out of her notebook with his sections on to work on, and for a little while, at least, it was nearly silent while they worked on getting a good chunk of their paper done. He kept singing under his breath, probably to break the silence, but she couldn't say she exactly minded that. He had a lovely voice, after all, though she was afraid to tell him that for fear of the same mockery she'd had to endure when she tried to compliment anyone. Because of course Rachel Berry would notice nothing more than a person's talent, when that's the only thing she had going for her. Not that if she tried to compliment any other aspect of someone's personality they'd immediately slushie her, or worse. It was easier to stay quiet, keep her head down and push through whatever obstacles McKinley threw at her before she could leave.

But then he started singing a song she actually knew, and she didn't think she could actually stop herself from humming along until the words fell from her own lips too, trying to keep her attention on the notes she was jotting down and ignoring how pleasant they sounded together. Because it was even better than singing with Finn, and she had been sure nothing would ever sound better than that. But whereas Finn's voice was occasionally pitchy, lacking in true professionalism that she'd never expect from a high schooler with no training, Blaine's was smooth, even, forceful only when the song required it.

"I didn't know you could sing," she finally said quietly when they had finished the song, her eyes wide as she looked over at him. "You're really very good, you know."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine didn't like when things were quiet for long periods of time. It wasn't that he couldn't take silence, because he could, it was more like when it was stretched out for hours at a time that he began to feel stir crazy. He supposed that had been ingrained him at a very early age. The quiet of his house had allowed him to hear his parents fighting, constantly, through the venting system and his father's very loud and obnoxious tone. He'd do anything to fill that silence, so he couldn't hear them anymore. Sometimes he had sung to himself or hummed very loudly, practiced the small play piano keyboard that he kept stashed under his bed, put headphones in or sometimes Cooper would come into his room and instruct him to put his hands over his ears and then put his own hands over his to block it out.

He sighed softly and noticed, after a certain point, that Rachel was humming along with him. Because then it hit him. That was it. That was how he was going to get to her. Through music, through something she was good at and enjoyed. He didn't know how he was going to do it yet but he thanked God once again (he seemed to be on his side, sorry to Luci, for this damn bet) that he was born with a pretty good set of pipes, of raw talent that hadn't been taken advantage of...but talent nonetheless. His brother had been into broadway while growing up and acting, and he had taken him under his wing...embarrassing family shows with them singing and dancing. So yeah, he could sing. He could play instruments. He could read music. And he could dance. But not many people knew that about him. It wasn't like he was going to start prancing around McKinley singing about his feelings.

Blaine glanced up at her when the song ended and she opened her mouth to speak; she had obviously noticed his voice because her eyes were wide and interested...thrilled about something he didn't quite understand. He almost wondered if she was going to causally combust or orgasm or something to let off that extreme excitement that he could see brewing behind her eyes. But instead she swallowed it, her frame relaxed and she complimented him. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a compliment...he wasn't used to receiving them, especially about something he didn't share with anyone else.

He also refused to get caught off guard by her. "There's a lot you don't know about me." He shrugged his one shoulder, because that was true. "Just things you assume you know."

Blaine tapped his notebook with his pen and stood up to stretch. He ignored her compliment, not knowing what to say to it anyways. Besides, since he wasn't used to receiving them there was this wall that kept threatening to shoot up between him and her, this invisible one that he usually kept at bay when he was around Luci but there was a reason he didn't get too personal with anyone, or do emotions. Emotions were just confusing, they fucked everything up. Why bother with something difficult and convoluted? He didn't want that wall to shoot up, as much as it protected him, because then his mouth was going to open to push her further away...and the last thing this bet needed was for him to be an asshole. One insult too many and she'd never speak to him again.

"Let's take a break. What do you have in this place to drink that's not water or green tea." He was shooting for coffee but she didn't look like the type that drank it...he couldn't even imagine her personality hyped on caffeine so maybe that was a good thing.

RACHEL BERRY:
She watched as he walked around, a small smile on her face even as he asked for something to drink. "Well," she said, standing up as well and leading him down the stairs to her kitchen, "while we have both of those, there's also juice and probably some coffee, if you'd prefer that. My dads keep it roasting pretty much all day, for when they're stuck working late nights, so there should be some relatively fresh already brewed in the pot," she offered.

He seemed keen on that offer, and Rachel made quick work of reaching for the coffee mugs, standing on her tip toes to reach them and feeling his gaze on her back even before she turned around and caught his stare,rolling her eyes before she handed him the mug and turning to grab herself a bottle of water. It was far too late in the evening for her to even consider drinking coffee, not that she had it that often anyways, she'd always prefered tea.

"So," she said after a moment, leaning against the opposing cabinets and refusing to back down from his almost challenging gaze, "if there's so much I assume about you, why don't you clear up some things for me? After all, if we're going to be working together, it'd be a lot easier on both of us if we could at least get along. And while we're both running on presumptions and relying on the rumor mill, that's clearly not going to work in our favor."

She took a deep breath, aware she was rambling and fighting off a nervous chuckle even as it seeped out anyways, looking down at the water bottle in her hand. "I just mean...I'm not saying I expect us to be friends, or anything, but it would be nicer to at least be civil to one another. And not lace every other sentence with an innuendo," she added with a raised eyebrow in his direction.

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine leaned onto the counter of the island table in the center of the kitchen, thumbing at pieces of mail near the corner. Something caught his eye that looked like a catalogue for kitchen supplies and he pulled it towards him to flip through it as Rachel walked around her kitchen to get him a cup of coffee. Thank God. He had been craving a cigarette for the past hour and he somehow figured whatever was sparking between them would be ruined if he took a break to smoke. He could tell just by the way she had mentioned it at lunch that she didn't approve of him smoking-not a lot of people did. Luckily, Luci didn't care and often joined him in on buying packs and shotgunning. Coffee would at least curb his craving for the rest of the duration of his time here.

He sighed softly as she reached up to get a mug out of the cabinet, her skirt lifting from the back as she did so. He shook his head; how was someone a tease when they had no idea. The girl had probably had been barely kissed properly and here she was, nearly flashing him her underwear again. He wondered if she had changed everything between school and then...like he had went home and gotten a shower. Did she still have one those bright yellow panties? Or maybe they were pink this time, maybe even red. The thought made something hot and tight coil in his lower belly.

When she caught him staring she rolled her eyes and honestly, he shrugged his shoulders and just took the mug from her...what did she expect when she was prancing around her house in a short skirt and almost flashing him while getting a coffee mug down.

He took the sugar she provided and stirred in a few spoonfuls, adding cream and stirring again, letting the steam rise and curl, tickling his nose as he leaned against the counter again, the muscles in his arms flaring as she leaned against the cabinets with her bottle of water. His smile faded a fraction as she suggested they get to know eachother. Was he seriously going to have to tell her every nook and cranny of his personal life for her to let her goddamn guard down? Was this really worth a damn bet that essentially had no payoffs at this point? He blew on his coffee, his eyes never leaving hers. She was challenging him, he could feel it. And to hell with her if she thought he'd back down from a challenge. A few personal tidbits to outweigh the rumors couldn't hurt...

He smirked softly at the mention of lace. Honestly. If she wanted him to stop using innuendos, she had to stop making it so fucking easy for him.

Blaine bit his tongue hard and let it slide. "I make no promises," He said instead, running his fingers through his un-gelled curls. "but sure, I'll clear up some misconceptions." He picked and chose which classy high school rumors that he'd heard about himself that he wanted to correct.

"I've never been to jail, I'm not an idiot...I actually know a lot more than most of those hackjobs in classrooms try to teach the rest of our..." He chose his words carefully. "Peers and that's why I don't come to class. I live with my mom, I'm not a ward of the state...or in a foster family. I don't live in a trailer park or in some dingy alley or back hotel. I actually live near the Fabrays." He knew that would at least give her an idea, he lived in a nice neighborhood, with garden gnomes and white picket fences and mailboxes at the ends of driveways that all looked the same. Cookie cutter neighborhoods, he liked to call them.

His eyes traced over her face as he took a sip of coffee, not willing to share anything else. That was enough. That was more than was needed, actually. Now, at least, she could get a general picture of his personality vs. what the school was portraying and while he didn't really give a shit about much there were a few things that he did care about.

RACHEL BERRY:
She nodded, letting the information seep in. Half of the rumors spreading through the glee club about him seemed ludicrous, the only other person who seemed to be on her side of that argument was Puck because according to him, no one could be a bigger bad ass than he was. She doubted that was true, because try as he might, Puck was actually genuinely sweet underneath his hard exterior. Their brief foray into dating had shown her that much.

"I assumed you were smarter than most of the school seems to think you are," she said, leaning against the island counter and fiddling with the water bottle in her hands. "It takes a fair amount of brains to be as quick on his feet as you seem to be, after all. And it's really not that hard to pass McKinley, the school hardly passes as a challenge. My dads wanted to move so I could go to Carmel, get a better education and be a part of a winning machine with Vocal Adrenaline but..." she shrugged, not sure what her allegiance was to the New Directions when they hardly had one for her. "I don't want to be a cog in the machine. I'd rather be the star, and as long as Andrea Cohen and Jesse St. James are attending Carmel, I'll never get their spotlight. Not like the one I have here."

She knew how that sounded, that she wasn't helping herself at all. But she was exactly whatever McKinley saw her as: shallow enough to fall for the schools quarterback, the only one who didn't know was Finn himself; power driven and determined to become a star; attention hungry and overbearing to the point of obnoxious. She tried, harder than people might have realized, but she had never had the same advantage of others. Kurt, as driven and obnoxious as he could be, was at least social enough to be liked, despite his tendency towards nasty comments and stalking of the boys he liked.

She could be sweet as pie, she figured, and people still wouldn't be willing to look past her ego and self inflamed narcissism just because she knew exactly how good she was. It was her biggest flaw, she was sure, because all of the others that ate away at her hindered on that one thing. It was also what was going to push her farther than anyone else she knew in the long run.

"Not that I think there's anything you actually want clarified on me, or what you even have heard about me, if anything but...you can feel free to inquire about anything you need clarified, if you want."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
He watched her take in what he was saying, could see the cogs turning in her head, filtering out bullshit she had heard about him as he replaced it with accurate information. There was something burning in her eyes...acceptance maybe. Whatever. He didn't need or want her approval. But he figured it'd be easier for her to come over his house now that she knew he didn't live anywhere dangerous or even remotely sketchy.

Blaine shook his head and absentmindedly stirred his spoon in his cup as she rambled on about Carmel and the lack of educational value at McKinley...though she really wasn't helping her rumored reputation when she said she hungered for the spotlight. Though he could tell that by just the way she spoke about it. She didn't even strive to be perfect because she was perfect, in her opinion, in terms of her voice. She was bloodthirsty for solos and competitions for the sheer fact that she thought she deserved to win at both of them. He didn't comment on that. It was nice to be passionate about something...Luci was the same in the way she loved and breathed her art...but sometimes that sheer passion could consume someone. And he had no doubt that Rachel would walk over someone's dying body for a solo and a free ticket to one of those fancy performing art schools in New York.

He shifted on his feet and took another sip of coffee, savoring the taste as it burned his tongue and the back of his throat when he swallowed. He sighed softly and drummed his fingers on the countertop as she asked if there was anything that he wanted clarified.

Blaine shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. "I don't give too much credit to rumors." And that was true. Whether he could gage by her personality that she was passionate, a little bit crazy, lovesick, cut throat, sad and lonely borderlining pathetic-he knew to discredit rumors that said ridiculous things like she was a trannie or that her fathers were pedafiles. "You don't need to discredit anything because I tend not to believe things floating around school, so don't worry about."

He smiled slowly. "Your reputation is startlingly pure in my book, Miss Berry."

RACHEL BERRY:
Her nose crinkled in slight disgust at the implications of his words, not missing the hidden meaning behind them. She was innocent, perhaps, but not as naive as people seemed to think of her. It wasn't even that she was completely disgusted by sex and the acts that came with it-she was human, after all, with her own musings and desires just as any other red blooded girl would be. She just didn't believe in acting on them with someone she wasn't completely head over heels for, and the only one who seemed close to fitting that bill was Finn.

But Finn was busy with Quinn and babygate, trying to figure out how he'd become a father so young and while her heart ached for him, she wasn't about to get into the middle of that anymore than she already had. She was trying her best to move on from the quarterback, even if it was failing, miserably, but that didn't mean she was about to pull a Santana either and jump into bed with the next person who glanced at her.

"That's because my reputation is pure," she retorted, grinning back at him. "Aside from the possibility of rumors about my pining over Finn and the sheer number of slushies I've received in the past year and a half, I've done nothing to warrant a reputation at all."

BLAINE ANDERSON:
He rolled his eyes and stood from his chair and moved to stand directly across from her, leaning back against the counter. He nursed his cup of coffee and licked his lips, finishing his coffee before moving to hover over her shoulder, his body nearly pressed to hers as he put the cup into the sink and ran water in it before pulling back. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at her statement.

"I wouldn't say that," He ran his fingers through his curls. "And please, your so called pining over Finn isn't a rumor, don't try and bullshit me Berry. If anything, that's the only true thing floating around about you."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched her, there was a slight pink to her cheeks now, a blush that might have found cute if he gave a shit about things like that.

"You don't need some special x-ray vision glasses to see through your apparent attraction for him...though I honestly don't see how you can be attracted to someone with an IQ matching a lime but hey...we all make mistakes." He winked at her, smirking as he could literally see the anger build up in her face, her cheeks reddening.

Now that was hot.

RACHEL BERRY:
"You don't even know him!" she snapped, unable to help the fuming anger that consumed her. Finn was a good person, he didn't deserve half the things the rumor mill put him through. She'd heard some of the worst of it, but it wasn't like anyone would ever listen to Rachel Berry with her incredibly obvious crush. Even Quinn knew of it, and she made sure to give Rachel hell of it anytime she could.

"It doesn't matter what my feelings for Finn may or may not be," she argued, glaring at him even as she tried to take a step back from him, unsure as to when he had gotten so close or why she hadn't pushed him away the second he had, her back hitting the counter behind her even as he took a step closer to her. She felt like she couldn't breathe with him right there, too close in her space to remember what her argument was while cigarette smoke and soap wafted off of his skin, permeating the air around them. "Finn is a good person," she started again, trying to remember where she had left off, "he tries his hardest and he's sweet and caring and he's twice the man you could ever hope to be. If you knocked up a girl, I bet you'd run in the other direction, but he's sticking to Quinn's side and trying to help her the best he can!"

"Even if my crush on him is incredibly transparent, nothing is going to come of it and I'm not some stupid girl who thinks it will. I've gone out with other boys; Noah Puckerman and I may have only dated for a week but that's only because he's hopelessly in love with Quinn and he knows I have a thing for Finn. I have options, Blaine, ones that aren't Finn Hudson or you. Now please, you're crowding me and I don't feel like I can breathe anymore," she finished, her voice not nearly as convincing as she would have liked it to have been towards the end.

BLAINE ANDERSON:
Blaine couldn't help the grin that decorated his features as Rachel snapped at him, a small thrill running up his spine and spinning inside his stomach, warming lower, lower, lower. Her anger may have been fucking irritating, this indignant tone that made her sound stuck up and obnoxious but the way her cheeks flushed, her pupils blown, voice strained, determined, felt it with her entire body-he bet that was kind of what she looked like just before she came.

He shook his head, leaning up from the island; his arms coming to rest on either side of her as he moved closer, creating a cage around her body.

"I want you to think long and hard about everything you just said, okay? Because...regardless if he's a good person, he's a fucking dumbass. Granted, I know neither of you know a lot about sex," He smiled down at her. "But I'm pretty sure you know you can't get pregnant from a hottub...or at least I hope so, otherwise I'm going to have to add an 'experiement' to the end of our project on the reproductive system."

He snorted as she let out a disgusted noise and pushed him back from crowding her. He let her and leaned back against the island again, adjusting his rumpled shirt and shrugging his shoulders. He bit his lip and opened the fridge to get out a water for himself and unscrewed the cap to take a long sip.

"Finn Hudson or me, wow, what a bunch of choices," He threw her a grin. "At least I know how my sperm works." He rolled his eyes and went past her to go back upstairs to continue working on their project. "I'll add it into my last paragraph of my paper!" He laughed softly as he went up the stairs.