His dance troupe gets a small part in an off Broadway play and he's not at all surprised to find out that she's the star. She smiles and waves and he smiles back, toeing at the grayish tape that marks his position on the stage.

The rehearsal is a disaster mostly because the director doesn't seem to know what he's doing. Luckily, Rachel steps in and takes charge with an iron fist and an effortless grace that reminds him of high school and glee club. He misses how easy things were back then. He misses his friends and his family.

They go for coffee afterward and once they've settled into a quiet corner booth she asks how he's been. He thinks about lying, offering up the standard, good and you, but she looks genuinely interested in a way that no one has in a really long time. He tells her that his family disowned him after he dropped out of Tech school in order to pursue his dreams of dancing and that he doesn't really know anyone in the city.

She tells him that she and Finn broke up because maintaining a long distance relationship is much harder than one would suspect and that she's lost touch with most of their friends from high school too.

They start spending more and more time together, running lines and choreographing the dance number. He enjoys being around her and wonders why they never really hung out in high school (she'd always felt off limits because of Finn and Puck and his on and off again relationship with Tina). In New York there's nothing and no one in the way so he kisses her.

They're walking through Central Park, her hand tucked inside his and she's laughing at something he's said. Her eyes sparkle in the afternoon sunlight and he just can't help himself. She doesn't push him away so he wraps his arms around her waist, tugging her closer and teases the corner of her mouth with the tip of his tongue. She melts against him, her hands moving to cup his neck and her lips parting beneath his. It's possibly the best kiss of his entire life and he doesn't want it to end.

On opening night he watches her through a part in the curtain. She absolutely shines and when it's his turn to step out onto the stage he dances his heart out—for her, for himself, for the future he's found in New York City.