Author's Note:I went ahead put the below information so you'd know upfront what kind of story this was. This is only my second fic and my first Glee fic...please be nice. I'd appreciate reviews :)
Pairings: Rachel/Sam; Blaine/Kurt; Santana/Dani
Summary: This is not set in any season. Blaine has been accepted to NYADA and Sam has been accepted to NYU after unsuccessfully finding a modeling contract. They've both moved in with Rachel, Kurt, and Santana. Rachel and Kurt are in their second year at NYADA and both are auditioning for Broadway shows. It's a little over a year since Finn's death.
Author's Note: This will be a Samchel story, please don't flame. If you don't like the pairing…don't read. I'm trying this out, it was a challenge fic someone asked me to write. This is after Funny Girl, Santana and Rachel have made up but will be moving out. Reviews are more than welcome
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Ryan Murphy is the Genius behind Glee. This story is purely for entertainment purposes only.
Chapter One
Rachel was standing next to Kurt in the in the lobby of the LaGuardia Airport. Santana was taking a shift at the diner so she wasn't able to be there. The two best friends were waiting impatiently for their high school friends to arrive. Blaine, Sam, and Artie were set to arrive in New York from Ohio and they were beyond excited. Blaine would be starting the school year at NYADA with them while Sam would be attending NYU with Artie. Artie had decided to live on campus, but Blaine and Sam would be moving into their very spacious apartment. Kurt was bouncing up and down next to Rachel with excitement. She was happy for him, he was finally going to live with Blaine the way she'd always hoped she'd get to with Finn. It was going to be hard with Blaine there, she wasn't going to lie to herself or Kurt, but that didn't mean she wasn't happy for him. She'd already had the discussion with them about how it was going to change the dynamic in the apartment. Dani stayed over a lot with Santana, and now with Blaine there…well Rachel wasn't looking forward to her lonely nights on the couch by herself. Kurt had promised that they'd make sure they saved time for each other, but it wouldn't be the same. They were growing up, getting older, and it was definitely different. Rachel was a ball of mixed emotions as she finally saw her friends approaching them. She was so excited to have her fellow Glee members there with them, but she didn't look forward to the pity that they were going to throw in her direction. Rachel watched as Kurt rushed forward and ran into Blaine's opening arms, it was beautiful to see. Sam was helping Artie off of the elevator and they both headed in their direction. When Sam's green eyes reached hers, her heart did a little flutter, but she pushed it down guiltily. Kurt and Santana had teased her mercilessly about the innocent flirting that she and Sam had shared during his visit, so the last thing she needed was more of that.
Rachel greeted each of her friends with a hug, and they all set off for the luggage terminals. Between the three of them, they had a lot of luggage, so they opted to rent a taxi instead of taking the train, which was going to be expensive. They piled into the vehicle and headed to their apartment first so they could drop Blaine and Sam's luggage off before heading to Artie's dorm. The one bad thing about their apartment, was the fact that there was no elevator and they had to carry Artie and his wheelchair up three flights of stairs. Kurt and Rachel had spent a lot of time setting up a space for Sam. There weren't really any bedrooms, it was more of a warehouse space, but they'd each carved out their own "rooms" with curtain rods and lots of heavy material to give them each privacy. It was a large place, but they couldn't take in anymore roommates without getting into some serious personal issues. Blaine and Kurt immediately set off to Kurt's room to start putting his things away, so Rachel showed Sam to his area. She helped him carry his bags over and his hands brushed hers as he took it from her. Rachel smiled up at him to hide how uncomfortable she was, but he seemed to know. His eyes sparkled as he looked at his room and then back at her.
"I really appreciate this, Rachel. I know that you and Kurt have some big auditions coming up, so I'll do my best to stay out of your way." Rachel looked up at him then, she didn't want to be rude.
"Sam, please don't worry about things like that. Kurt and I are happy that you and Blaine are here. Frankly the two of us needed some different company because we don't always get along, especially with Santana. It's great to have you here, you guys are the best friends we've ever had." Sam's smile brightened as he heaved the last of his bags into the room.
"Well if you ever want me out of the way, just say the word. I intend on getting a job as soon as possible so that I can help out. I can't imagine what this apartment costs in rent and it's not like my family could help out with any of that. With the student loans for college…yeah I need to get a job as soon as possible." Rachel nodded and ran over to the couch where she plucked a uniform from the arm and ran back over to hand it to him.
"Kurt and I anticipated that you and Blaine would need jobs. We showed Gunther some of your performances and he's offered both of you singing waiter jobs at the Spotlight. Everyone there is great and you get to sing all of the time, it's kind of like Glee club…only with serving food. I know you might want to find something else, but it's something while you look." Sam laughed as he took the uniform from her and laid it on the futon that would be his bed.
"That's so great of you guys, we're going to have a blast." They walked back into the living room where Artie was holding a DVD of Funny Girl, Rachel was on the cover. He smiled up at her as he replaced it back onto the coffee table.
"Rachel, we're sorry that weren't able to come to see the show, but it was great of you to send us copies of it. You were amazing as Fanny, the best since Barbara herself." Rachel couldn't help the giggle that escaped as she sat down on the couch.
"Artie, don't worry about it, I know you guys had finals and Nationals. I knew that you all were supporting me from where you were. Mr. Schuester and Ms. Pillsberry…er Mrs. Schuester came to the show and it was incredible. Mercedes, Quinn, and Mike even showed up at one of the performances. Kurt and I are going to be going to auditions next month and even though I've already done it…I'm still so nervous." Blaine and Kurt came back into the room and Blaine waved his hand dismissively.
"Rachel, you are going to nail whatever part you try out for. You're an amazing performer so any director would be crazy not to give it to you. Kurt here is the same way, amazing. I just wish that I could try out with you, but I know a professor has to sign off on it. I don't think they'll do that with me only being a student for a month." Kurt clapped his hands excitedly as he joined the conversation.
"That would be so much fun if all three of us got to be in the same musical! I'm sure one of your professors would sign off because you are amazing. I'm really excited now!" Rachel tilted her head as she studied Blaine, a smile slowly blossoming into place.
"Kurt, can't you see Blaine as Drew…he'd be perfect!" Blaine rolled his eyes as he plopped down onto the couch to try to take the attention off of himself.
"What play is it anyway? You guys have been very hush hush about it." Kurt shared a glance with her and then shrugged in mock nonchalance.
"Its bad luck to gossip about a role before your first audition, but Rachel is right about you being perfect. We're auditioning for Rock of Ages, it was such a fun movie that we both immediately looked up auditions for it. They're having open auditions next month, anyone can try out. Normally, they only open up certain parts, but they're opening all of them to the public. I'm trying out for Lonny and Rachel is of course, trying out for Sherrie. She's right, you would be perfect as Drew. You have the vocal range and the two of you have proven that you're great opposite each other." Blaine opened his mouth and closed it again, at a loss for words, but it was Sam that spoke up.
"Dude, you have to ask one of your professors! You went around singing those songs for like two weeks after we watched that movie." They were all talking excitedly when Santana sauntered through the front door with Dani in tow. She stopped at the sight and smirked as she walked over to them.
"Hey Trouty, I almost forgot that you were joining us as well. My God Artie, how did you even get into this apartment, do you have a super chair or something?" Rachel had to suppress the snarky remark that almost rose out of her mouth. Ever since the feud between the two of them over Funny Girl…well it had never been the same. Sam rolled his eyes at Santana and sighed heavily before getting up.
"Okay, can we not start off as roommates with the stupid nicknames? We're not in high school anymore and frankly, I'm sick of the snark. I know you think you're being funny, but I actually do have a name." Rachel and Kurt had to avoid eye contact or they were going to both get caught in a fit of giggles. Santana had the decency to look contrite and nodded as she took off her work boots.
"Point taken, Sam, I apologize. We're not in high school anymore, my attitude is more of a reflex. So…were you guys talking about the Broadway auditions? It was a long time ago, Berry, you can tell me without fear of me trying to upstage you again." Rachel stood up and looked over at Kurt with a pointed look.
"Santana, it wasn't that long ago, the curtain closed only three weeks ago. Why don't you stick to your movie auditions because we all know that's what you want to do anyway? Look, we need to get going so that we can get Artie settled in at his dorm before heading to dinner." Everyone stood up, trying to diffuse the quickly thickening atmosphere, but in true Santana style, she couldn't let it go.
"Give it up, Rachel, you won! You performed every single show, I was never called to do it. I just wanted to share a little of the spotlight because lady Hummel was getting buzz about his band and you playing freaking Fannie! I apologized for trying to steal your part, but can you please stop throwing it in my face?" Blaine cleared his throat and walked over to stand behind Artie.
"Yeah, we can…deal with this later, we really should get Artie's things to his dorm so that he can claim the cool bed." Kurt looked at Rachel in a pleading way, once again trying to get her to be the better person. Why was it her job to always "be the better person?" Weren't they out of high school now? It irked her that whenever she was around Santana she still felt like the dwarfish little girl in the Glee club trying to vie for Finn's affections. Rachel cut off her train of thought right there, she hated thinking about Finn…it only led to tears. Kurt knew the look immediately and jumped up to take her hand.
"Come on Rachel, we promised these guys a night in New York before classes start. Santana, you and Dani are more than welcome to join us if you want." Santana was eyeing Rachel, trying to figure out what was upsetting her, but she pushed her thoughts away and smiled.
"Sure, where are you headed? I need to take a shower because I still smell like the Diner…oh please tell me that's not where you're taking them?" Kurt shook his head and opened the front door for everyone.
"Of course not, we see enough of that place during the week. No, we're going to New York City…we're sort of going to wing it because we're all still broke. Just call us when you're ready and we'll meet up because we still have to take Artie to his dorm first." Rachel and Kurt headed down the steps first so that Sam and Blaine could carry Artie down. Kurt bumped her arm in a playful way to get her attention so that she'd look at him. When she did, his face was neutral, he did this when he didn't want her to cry. She smiled sadly at him and made sure that the other boys weren't in earshot.
"I'm okay Kurt, it's just…so many tiny things remind me of him. The bickering with Santana isn't helping because it reminds me of high school. When she rags on me like that, I think about us sitting in Mr. Schue's class room again while the cool kids poke fun. My entire life with Finn was in that room and…it's just hard." Kurt's face fell as she spoke, he knew that she'd kept it bottled up too much. She never wanted to talk about it, she'd get so upset and even angry when he wanted to talk it out. He was glad that he had Blaine because Blaine would listen to him patiently when he had attacks like that. Who did Rachel have to talk to if she wasn't talking to him?
"Oh Rachel, I never thought about it like that. Santana trying to steal your spotlight is just like sitting that class, watching her call everyone names…especially Finn." Rachel bent her head and turned away, she was so close to crying, but she didn't want them to see this. Finn had said it before that she had three different cry faces and if they saw this one, they'd know it was about him. Her voice broke as she responded to his all too perceptive words.
"Exactly, so just give me a moment and it'll pass. Normally, I'm by myself when this happens." She hadn't heard them come outside with them so when Blaine's voice sounded behind her, Rachel jumped.
"Hey guys, what's going on really? I know Rachel isn't that upset over Santana…she's always like that." She heard Kurt smile it off, he was probably waving his hands to try and take focus off of her…he really was the best friend ever.
"She's fine guys, it's just stress. We're about to start our second year at NYADA and Rachel found out that she has Ms. July again…she's worse than coach Sylvester. Plus, with the auditions coming up…with Santana hitting her hot button, it's just a lot of stress." Blaine started chatting behind her, trying to distract her, but she wasn't listening. All she could think about in that moment is how Finn would have wrapped her in his arms and told her that she could handle anything.