Cassie shook her head as she stood in the doorway watching Rachel clean the countertop (for the third time). It was time for her to meet her friends; she couldn't believe Rachel's face when she heard that Cassie had friends, so the diva was freaking out. It didn't matter how many times Cassie told her to calm the fuck down, that it was dinner with some of her old friends from her NYADA days and not royalty it never helped.
"Berry, this is getting out of hand."
"Cassie I am trying to make sure everything is in perfect order for tonight. I'm not sure if you know this or not but you only have one chance to make a first impression and statistics say…"Cassandra cut off her girlfriend with a hand over her mouth.
"Well my first impression of you wasn't that great." Rachel glared at her and removed the hand that was over her mouth.
"Considering where we are now and that you eventually told me the first impression you had of me was that I was in need of a good screw, which you would volunteer for, I have to disagree."
"Whatever. I still thought you were an annoying, bratty, and overly confident girl from Iowa."
"And I still thought you were a know-it-all, stuck-up bitch who was trying to recapture her youth."
"I don't know what you're so worried about. You can definitely hold your own with my friends." Cassie leaned down to kiss the smiling lips in front of her, "And I've got your back."
"I'm going to get changed." Rachel kissed her girlfriend one more time before walking past her toward the bedroom. She squealed when a hand playfully slapped her on the behind.
"See I've got your back."
"You're impossible Cassandra July!"
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Rachel was pleased with how the night had gone so far. Cassie's friends weren't anywhere near as intimidating as the blonde so it wasn't as stressful as she had thought it would be. None of them had complained about the vegan friendly dinner and none of them had made any comments towards the obvious age difference between the two.
"So Rachel can I ask you something?" Michael asked sipping his martini. Rachel cursed herself internally for having jinxed herself.
"Of course."
"How have you not realized you're too good for Cassie yet?"
"Hey! Shut the hell up." Cassie growled pulling Rachel down to sit on her lap, "How do you know I'm not too good for her?"
Rachel couldn't help but giggle when the people around her laughed at the comment (including Cassie). She hated it when her girlfriend was right but it seemed like she was…first time for everything. Her friends were nowhere near how Rachel had imagined they would be. They were friendly, warm, receptive…the exact opposite of how Cassandra came off to people.
"Wanna hear some stories about Cassie from NYADA?" Stephanie offered ignoring Cassie's groan of annoyance at the question.
"That sounds entertaining. I would absolutely love to hear dirt about Cassie."
"There was the time Cassie got in trouble for changing all the music in dance class to songs about sex. She almost gave Ms. McGraw a heart attack."
"It's not my fault she'd probably never had an orgasm before and that's why she was so uptight about it."
"What about the time we got stoned and auditioned for the girl's senior project?" Amy volunteered and Cassie shuddered knowing that there would be a lecture in her future about the danger of drugs.
When Leo went to offer up another story Cassie knew she had to put an end to all of the sharing, "I think that's all Rachel needs to hear about tonight."
"Oh come on Cassie. You know so many embarrassing things about me." The brunette smiled looking at Cassie with the expression she saved only for her.
"Yeah well most of those things took place in front of me in Dance 101 so it's not like someone had to tell me."
"Just one more Cass!" Leo pleaded and Cassie waved her hand to allow him to continue, "The best one is when our dear Ms. July won the Winter Showcase and shocked everyone at NYADA."
Rachel turned around in her lap so fast she hit Cassie in the face with her hair, "You won the showcase?! How could you not have shared this with me?!"
"Because it was a long time ago." She looked at her friends and couldn't help the smug expression on her face when she spoke again, "Rachel was the first freshman to win."
Cassie watched as her friends practically tripped over their words in awe of how talented her girlfriend was. Which, fuck them, she knew Rachel was too good for her but they didn't have to make it so obvious. But as she watched the way Rachel handled their praise she couldn't resist planting a kiss between the shoulder blades in front of her.
"So Rachel how did you two get together? Cassie wasn't exactly forthcoming about how this relationship began."
"It was after I got the role of Fanny. I was just getting out of rehearsal when I bumped into Cassie and she told me we should grab a drink sometime."
"That's smooth Cass." Stephanie laughed
"Bite me." The NYADA instructor took in a deep breath when Rachel elbowed her for the comment.
"After that I think we just moved into dating territory little by little."
"Meaning you two banged." Amy commented taking a long sip from her wine glass.
"We…" Rachel trailed off hoping Cassie would interrupt and offer her some assistance.
"Made love."
"Awww." Leo leaned over and pinched her cheek, "Who knew Cassandra July was capable of making love?"
"Your mother did. That's why she gave me food to take home every time I left your house from dinner."
"Behave, please. I really don't need a repeat of what happened between you and Santana."
"Please, that bitch can hold her own and we hang out all the time now."
"Yes but that didn't stop you two from yelling so loud at one another that the police were called."
"Fine." Reluctantly the blonde stopped shooting Leo dirty looks and settled for placing kisses on Rachel's back.
"I think it's sweet that Cassie has found someone that she loves and can calm her down. She's so much happier now."
Rachel couldn't help but cuddle back into Cassie when she heard that she had the approval of Cassie's friends. She had done it. She had won over the friends of Cassandra July.
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"Well I think that was a success." Rachel commented after she shut the door behind the last member of the group to walk out of the apartment.
"You were a pretty big hit Berry. I gotta hand it to you. They really loved you."
"Are they the only ones?" The brunette asked wrapping her arms around the neck of her girlfriend.
"No." Cassie leaned down to kiss her lips, "Kurt and Santana love you too."
"Cassandra!"
"You never have to ask that. You already know the answer."
"Sometimes I just like to hear it."
"Alright if I must," The blonde put her hands on Rachel's waist and looked down at her with a grin, "I love you."
"I love you too. And thank you for having my back tonight."
"I told you earlier I would. Did you have any doubts? You have to know I'm especially protective of that ass."
"Do you have an obsession with my ass or something?"
"Well obviously." Cassie moved her hands until she covered the part in question, "Perfect shape, something to hold onto when you're riding me. It serves plenty of purposes."
Rachel laughed through her blush and rested her head on Cassie's chest content to stand there and listen to the beat of Cassie's heart. When Cassie spoke she asked her to repeat it, too caught up in her girlfriend to hear what she had said.
"You make me happy. And I know I don't tell you that a lot but tonight…" She pulled back to look down at brown eyes, "Tonight was perfect. Even my friends told me they could see how different I was."
"Cassandra July when did you become so charming?"
"Well I've been with this hot brunette for a while and she likes it when I say sweet shit. It happens that she's got me a little whipped."
"Hmmm from what I hear she's got you completely whipped."
"Well I like it a little rough from time to time." Cassie grinned beginning to make Rachel walk backwards toward the bedroom.
"Be gentle Cassie. I'm having brunch with Amy and Stephanie tomorrow and I have no desire to walk in there covered in hickeys or whatever other mark you decide to leave."
"There's make-up. And besides you handled my friends tonight perfectly. I think you need a little reward."
When Cassie's lips began to cover her neck Rachel gave up the fight entirely. Cassie's friends may have to push brunch back to dinner because she had a feeling there wouldn't be much sleep for her tonight.