Although she would never admit it to anyone she had met thus far in the big city, Rachel loved riding the subway. She tried to keep a ho-hum, I do this every day look on her face as their train rumbled along, but couldn't help but smile as she looked over the route map and imagined all of the places they would go. She grinned as she glanced over at Kurt and saw him trying and failing at nonchalance over their foray into public transportation.
"Thanks again for doing this, Rachel," he said as he dug through his satchel. "From the Mixed-Up Files was my favorite book when I was a kid, and I always dreamed of going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art myself one day. And you know," he said, leaning in and lowering his voice, "If we ever run short on rent money, it's the perfect place to lay low for a while."
Rachel rolled her eyes with a smile as Kurt finally retrieved his phone from his bag. He passed her an earbud so they could 'sync up their NYC soundtrack,' started up a playlist, and began texting his Dad about their trip to the museum. She leaned back in her seat and let her eyes lose focus over the subway route map, trying to steer her thoughts away from the mountain of work on her desk and the criticism from Cassie July that awaited her on Monday morning. She was more than ready for a chance to set her worries aside and have some big city fun with Kurt. Brushing aside Cassie July's criticisms and focusing on her dancing got harder every time she walked into the studio. Even if it had been her only class, Rachel would be feeling worn out. Add in Basic Vocal Techniques, Music Theory, and College Algebra, and by Friday afternoon she felt as if she had been run down by a cartoon steamroller.
It was so hard to stay positive when the stress continued to build, when it felt like her whole future was at stake with every paper and pirouette. She had never felt so off-kilter; when had her adventure become filled with drudgery and fear?
It took her a second to recognize the gentle guitar melody floating into her right ear. She hadn't heard that song in a while.
Don't know much about your life
Don't know much about your world…
She smiled in spite of herself, thinking back to her sophomore days spent yearning for stardom. Things were so much simpler back then.
And I had my heart beaten down, but I always come back for more
There's nothing like love to pull you up when you're lying down on the floor
Okay, so maybe not that much simpler. The New Directions didn't have enough people to compete in, let alone win, a competition, her online performances were openly ridiculed, and she received at least one slushie facial a week, but she still found comfort in her friends and hope in Celine's words, and when she sang them herself for Coach Sylvester and Sandy Ryerson, she had felt ten feet tall.
What do you say to taking chances
What do you say to jumping off the edge?
Never knowing if there's solid ground below
Or hand to hold, or hell to pay,
What do you say…
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find Kurt waving the route map excitedly. "This is our stop! Are you ready?"
She passed him back his earbud and smiled. "Let's do this."
Just how I imagine life in the big city could be for Kurt and Rachel. I don't own Glee *sob*. The book Kurt's talking about is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg, where two kids run away from home and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's a fun one, look it up : )