"Oh my gosh. I'm bubbling over with excitement. I'm so happy. I love New York! I love NYADA! Take that, Lima Ohio. Rachel Barbra Berry is on her way to the top. One step closer to her Tony. One step closer to an EGOT. They'll be talking about this for weeks back home, won't they Brody?"

"Uh yeah Rach, maybe you should slow dow-"

"I bet you my dad could get this in the Lima Heights paper. He's a good friend of the editor, you know? They're in the same book club. Oh! I can see the headline now: Rachel Berry, small town NYADA freshman, lands her first big role."

"Rachel, it's only a college musical…"

"Just a college musical?! Brody, you said it yourself. No college freshman in the history of NYADA has ever landed a lead role in the winter showcase!"

"Yeah…I probably should've never said that…"

"Yet here I stand! That first college freshman!"

"Okay Rach, maybe it's best you stop gloating. Or can I at least walk you back to your dorm. You can gloat there all you like? If the director sees you…"

Brody took the opportunity to steer the two of them away from the theater doors and away from the jealous onlookers. Rachel was right. This was huge for her. She had every right to celebrate But he was worried, nonetheless. She had no idea what the pressure of being in a NYADA showcase was like. The scouts, the talent agents. Plus, she would really need to prove herself. He knew that almost every upper classman, and even Rachel's fellow freshman classmates, would be waiting with baited breath for her to screw up. And if she did, they'd eat her alive.

He found himself oddly protective of the girl. Perhaps it was because when he first met Rachel, he saw the same uncertain, cautious and overwhelmed freshman that he once was. Perhaps it was because when he finally did get her to open up, he saw a girl bursting with confidence and positivity and pure talent. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be an older brother or a mentor. Or perhaps, he really did have feelings for Rachel. He wasn't sure yet. He hadn't really liked a girl in about a year. But he'd figure it out in due time.

However, Brody was certain of one thing. Rachel was the first true friend he had in a while. Friendship was hard to come by in a competitive, cutthroat environment like NYADA. So, he decided he would do everything possible to help Rachel, to make sure she wouldn't falter. He'd do everything in his power to make sure Rachel wouldn't make the same mistakes he had as a freshman.

"Brody are you even listening?"

"Sorry, what?"

"I said I'm sorry! Here I am bragging all about my role and myself and I haven't even congratulated you on yours, Roger! It's too bad I couldn't be the Mimi to your Roger. We do have some great chemistry." She winked at him. "But I do suppose I'm better suited for the role of Maureen. And to think, I'll be reviving the role my idol created! Idina! People say I look like her, you know?"

"You have a similar likeness," he said as she opened the door to her dorm room. He figured now was as good a time as any to set his plan in motion. "But Idina is just so hot."

She huffed, "But Brody after that Britney performance, I thought I could do 'hot.'"

Brody couldn't help but laugh.

"What?!" Rachel said, stomping her foot.

"Nothing, nothing. It's just the fact that you put air quotes around hot. Who does that?"

Rachel gasped suddenly. "Wait are you saying that you think I won't be a hot enough Maureen?!"

"No, no. Rachel, calm down and listen. It seems like you're finally past that initial shock and overwhelming excitement, and now that you are, I want to offer you my help."

"What? Like show me how to play sexy?"

"Well, I do think that is a large part of Maureen's character. But not just sexy; more so provocative. She likes to make a scene, she likes to draw attention to herself."

"I'm good at that," Rachel joked.

"You are," he smiled. "And the last ten minutes of your outburst is our proof. But Maureen tends to make a scene with her body. Over the Moon and La Vie Boheme are key examples of that."

"Okay, yeah that makes sense." Rachel nodded and looked at Brody studiously.

She made a mental note to write all this down later. The first thing that had really shocked her when she met Brody, aside from how similar they were (sometimes she thought she was looking at an older male version of herself), was how intuitive he was when it came to understanding characters. He taught her that even in a three-minute performance you're still creating a character. Rachel always had a problem with understanding characters. She supposed it had something to do with being too self-absorbed. But Brody was helping her change that, and with his help maybe she could fully understand the character of Maureen.

"So what should I do?" She asked him.

"You might not like it."

"Brody, I can assure you that I will do absolutely anything to be the perfect Maureen. Like it or not."

He looked to Rachel's nightstand where Finn's picture still stood. He had no idea why she still kept it out.

"Finn might not like it…"

Rachel visibly shuddered and Brody felt like a jackass for bringing Finn up. When he first met Rachel, she was a shell. She spent the first month of school constantly calling Finn, checking in on Finn, and trying to get back together with Finn. It was tiring. And depressing. Rachel had barely made any friends in college. Her roommate Bree had tried to get a fun side out of Rachel but quickly grew annoyed with her. Rachel even failed to take advantage of the fact that she was in the greatest city on earth. The girl truly got nothing out of her Finn obsession and the only thing Brody really got out of it was that this Finn guy was a poor excuse for a boyfriend and seemed to be dragging Rachel down. Then it settled for a while when Rachel and Finn got back together. But just three weeks later, Finn broke up with Rachel again. It was endless.

Until finally, classes started to pick up around mid October and so did Rachel's confidence. She buried herself in homework and scripts and extracurriculars. Brody guessed that some preexisting spark had been relit.

Rachel quickly looked at Finn's picture and then rolled her eyes.

"I don't care what Finn likes or doesn't like anymore. He's just a good friend from home. Go on, Brody."

"Okay, then to get to Maureen's inner 'hotness,'" he used air quotes and Rachel smiled, "we should start at the root of the character."

"Which is?"

"Maureen's sexual fluidity of course."

"Huh?"

"Rach, did you forget one of Maureen's most important character traits. She's gay!"

"Yeah so what does that have to do with me?"

"Well, you're not exactly Miss Promiscuous and you are definitely not sexually fluid. Trust me, I'd know."

"Okay, okay. But I still don't get how Maureen being gay—or sexually fluid or whatever you call it—how does that have anything to do with me?" Rachel cheeks flushed. "I mean I'm not gay."

"Yeah and that's the point."

"Brody, you're really confusing me right now."

"You're not gay. You have no experience being gay." Rachel's face flushed again. "So, how do you expect to create that crazy sexual tension with Joanne."

"Um by acting…"

"No Rachel, you're going to need to really understand Maureen if you're going to impress a crowd full of jealous peers, expectant teachers and hungry talent agents."

"Oh…shit." Brody smiled. He liked hearing Rachel curse. "Okay. So gay. I can do that. Of course, I can. My dads are gay, my best friend from home is gay, my best friend from here is bi," she grinned at him and Brody winked back. However, he did feel a twinge of annoyance at the mention of Kurt Hummel. Brody was really not a fan of the Hummel-Hudson clan. When Kurt came to visit Rachel for Halloween, she mentioned in passing that Brody was bi. Kurt then proceeded to say something along the lines of it being a 'bullshit-still-in-the-flaming-closet-excuse.' Since then, Brody believed wholeheartedly that Lima, Ohio bred some really intolerant and closed-minded people.

"…I'm in New York, I'm at a dramatic arts school. I basically scream gay," Rachel finished.

Brody quirked his eyebrow and she flushed again. "I hate when you do that eyebrow thingy," she muttered. "Alright, so what I just need to hangout with some more lesbians? Oh, I'll give Santana a call!"

"Yes! Do that. Call her up, have her come visit and make out with her."

"Wh—what?" Rachel stuttered.

"Well, how did you expect to make out with your Joanne counterpart when you have no prior girl-on-girl experience? Honestly Rachel, sometimes it shocks me that you're a theater major. I mean every girl I know in theater has made out with another girl."

"So you're saying I need to kiss a girl…"

"And you better like it," he smirked. "Cause that's how it needs to look onstage. So this Santana, let's call her up. Is she hot? I love hot lesbians."

"No no no. Not Santana."

"Oh, so she's not hot? Too bad. I was looking forward to tha—."

"She is hot!" Brody looked at her, puzzled. "She really is. It's just she has a girlfriend and they're madly in love and it's the cutest thing in the world and I would never want to hurt Brittany like that."

"Okay, so we'll find someone else for you to hook up with. This is New York, Rach. No worries." He lay back on her bed and closed his eyes. Being Rachel's mentor/brother/potential suitor was exhausting sometimes.

After a few minutes of silence, he heard Rachel rummaging through her desk drawer. He figured she was getting started on some homework. But with Rachel, silence came in rare and short forms.

"Brody…"

"Yeah?"

"What if I don't want to hookup with a random girl?" she asked tentatively.

"Why? Did you have someone in mind?" Brody looked over at her.

Rachel had an envelope in her hand and she was thumbing through whatever was inside.

"Rachel, who did you have in mind?"

"Well, there's this girl—this friend. One of my closest friends, actually. And she goes to Yale."

"You have a friend at Yale? How have you not mentioned this?"

"Yeah. Her name's Quinn. And we have a really complicated past. Really complicated. But she's really smart and really pretty and she goes to Yale. And well, I could easily go to visit her, seeing how I have all these metro north passes." She pulled them out of the envelope.

"You bought metro north passes to New Haven and never used them?"

"Actually, I didn't buy them. She did. For me."

"Wow, this could work…" Brody muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." But it wasn't nothing. Brody couldn't help but think that a friend would never spend that much money on another girl who was just a close friend. There had to be something more. A deeper connection. Something that would explain why Rachel was acting so nervous and distracted at this first mention of Quinn. "Okay, so then you go up to Yale for a weekend. Visit Quinn. Get drunk at whatever party she takes you to. And then make out with her. Mission accomplished."

"I don't know if it'll be that easy Brody. You see Quinn, she was a cheerleader and president of the celibacy club and pregnant once and used to call me manhands and—"

"Wait, pregnant?"

"That's not the point. The point is that this is Quinn we're talking about. She would never just make out with a girl, nonetheless me. She was raised in the most conservative and intolerant family in all of Lima, Ohio. And that's saying a lot seeing as everyone is super conservative and intolerant in Lima."

"Well then you'll just have to use all ten of those tickets until she does make out with you."

Rachel rolled her eyes and blushed. "Brody I know everyone in this business is intense, but has anyone ever told you that maybe you're just a little bit too intense with all this character business?"

"All the time, Rachel."

A/N: Hi! I hope you guys enjoyed that! Please read and review! I'm already halfway done with the second chapter, but I wanted to post this first for some feedback. I know my first two faberry stories were a bit rough, but I actually have a good outline and plan for this story. So I really hope to make it work! As long as you guys are positive!

Story plan thus far: The next chapter will revolve around Quinn. Let's just say that Rachel hasn't heard from her in these first two months because Quinn's been doing a bit (a lot) of changing and 'coming out' herself at college. I might have her involved with a play in which she also will play a gay character, leading her to the same Rachel conclusion and possibly a skype call with her favorite brunette before the end of the next chapter :)

Let me know what you think!