2 Steps Away
At the beginning of the summer right after Nationals junior year, through unavoidable circumstances Rachel and Santana were forced to spend time around each other. During that time they found that they actually had a lot in common and fell in love spending a wonderful summer together. Now that school has started back will the stress of McKinley be too much for them or will one of them be forced to step away. Pezberry Two-Shot!
A/N: This is going to start out as a Two-Shot inspired by the song 2 Steps Away by Patti Labelle but may eventually be added to with other one shots in the same universe.
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Glee or any of it characters. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are mine.
2 Steps Away-Breaking Point
Rachel's POV
From down the hall she watched the scene play out in front of her and felt sick as Puck leaned into Santana's personal space flirting with her. Santana seemed to be flirting right back and after watching for a few more moments hoping she would flatten the boy Rachel couldn't take it anymore and turned to flee in the opposite direction. Unfortunately since she only had eyes for what was happening down the hall she failed to see the slushy coming and was doused in cherry iciness as the crowd around her erupted in laughter. The boys that threw it taunting her, "Good morning loser."
Taking a deep breath she turned and retrieved her slushy kit from her locker and headed down toward the bathroom to clean up and change. Hopefully she would be able to finish before the end of homeroom and be able to make it in time for 1st hour.
When she entered the bathroom the group of Cheerios that were already in there started laughing and she just sighed moving to the sink to rinse her hair. She ignored them as they taunted her but they all turned as the door opened and Santana came through it.
Glaring at the other Cheerios she took in the scene around her and yelled, "Get out!" Than locked the door and checked the bathroom for other people before stepping up to Rachel pulling her towel out of her bag. "Here, let me help you."
Rachel just shook her head removing her shirt and took the towel from her to dry her hair. "What's the point? Don't bother."
Santana looked hurt and turned her face to look at her. "What the hell, what's wrong with you?"
"What's the point San when apart from the slushies you don't treat me any better than they do." Santana took a step back in shock at her tone and Rachel took another cleansing breath. "You know, I understand how you feel about coming out, I can even understand you not talking to me in the halls or…"
Santana cut her off stepping closer. "You know why I can't come out. You said you were ok with that."
Rachel sighs putting on her clean clothes and starts brushing her hair out. "I'm not asking you to come out with me Santana but would it kill you to be civil to me. I mean it feels like it's freshman year all over again with you, minus the slushies. Hell you were nicer to me all of last year and we were just teammates."
Santana opened her mouth to answer but Rachel held up a hand and stopped her. "But you know, I was dealing with all of that bullshit because I love you and you need to be popular. You can't come out for various reasons and I was ok with that. I really was, but I swear to god if Puck gets close to you like that again and you don't remove him I'm going to cut off little Puck and mount it on my wall. And you, you just let him and you were flirting right back with him. How do you think that makes me feel?"
Santana stepped forward to grab her but at the look in her eyes she stops. "Baby you know that I love you and that that shit with Puck out there was just for show. I actually told him to back off."
Rachel threw her hands up, "with a flirty smile and a slight coy push to his chest. If he had tried that last year you would have had his balls in a vice but the closer you come to being yourself and coming to terms with that you get scared and start regressing back. It gets worse every day and the only thing that keeps me sane is being in your arms the second the door to my house closes but even that is starting to not be enough. I love you but…"
Santana pushed in and took her hands. "Rachel you know I love you. I'm sorry for the thing with Puck and I promise it won't happen again. You know the only one I want is you baby please."
Rachel looked up at her with tears in her eyes. "When you hold me at night and when we are in the privacy of my house I know it. I can feel it but that time together has been getting shorter and shorter. I see you and get to actually be with you for a total of maybe, at most, 6 hours a week. There's always Cheerios or family stuff and the longer school goes on the more distant you get and the crueler you become in public. I just… I'm not sure how much longer I can take it."
Santana held back a sob and pulled Rachel in kissing her desperately. Rachel allowed it needing the closeness and contact but didn't let it go too far. When she pulled back Santana looked in her eyes. "I don't know what you want me to do Rae. I love you and it's not like I would ever date anyone else but you. You know this…"
Rachel put a finger to her mouth silencing her. "I love you too San and I thought I could do this until the end of the year when we move to New York and get the hell out of this fish bowl we live in but I didn't sign up for this. It wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to be, if not friends than teammates and civil to each other around everyone else and spend all of our time outside of school that we could together. I get an hour a night Monday through Thursday and two hours on Sunday if I'm lucky. It's just not enough. I need more than a quickie before dinner with you a few times a week San. I… I think we need to take a step back. You need to figure out what you want and understand how your actions affect me and I need to really look at this situation and decide if I can continue on this way."
She took a step away and started gathering her things. Santana stood stunned for a moment then shook out of it and rushed to her side. "No Rae, stop. You can't do this. I need you, I can fix this please baby I love you."
Rachel continued putting her things away and zipped up her bag. "Just… Take some time and think it over San because I'm telling you right now things have to change. I need some space and time to think myself." She leaned in and laid a chaste kiss on Santana's lips then moved to the door. "I love you but I need more," and with that she was out the door leaving a devastated Santana in her wake.
The week flew by and before they knew it, it was Friday. Santana had tried all week to contact Rachel but she wouldn't answer her phone or texts. Rachel spent the week just listening to her music and thinking about all that had happened throughout the summer and how things changed so drastically after school started.
The summer started off rocky at best when they had both got summer jobs at the same place, wanting to save money for after graduation. Both refused to quit and find another job so they were forced to interact and get along. After a very short amount of time it wasn't so forced anymore and they found that they actually liked each other and had a lot in common so they started hanging out when they were off work.
It didn't take long for them to fall for one another and when they finally kissed for the first time it was amazing. After that they were inseparable and they just got closer and closer all summer. A few weeks before school started Rachel gave herself to Santana for her first time and it was so amazing. Santana was so gently and loving with her making it a wonderful experience and that just bonded them even more. They started making plans for the future for when they graduated and moved to New York. Everything was amazing, that is until school started.
At first it wasn't so bad. She and Santana didn't speak to each other in school and only minimally spoke in Glee. After school and glee or cheerios Santana would make her way to Rachel's and they would spend the whole evening together or they would go to Santana's house and hang out there. Santana's parents knew they were friends and had really come to love the little diva. They had no problem with her being around but in the last few weeks Santana had stopped asking her to come over and started spending very little time with her.
Like she had told Santana, the longer time went on the more distant she became until Rachel just couldn't take it anymore. She still didn't know what she was going to do but during the week she had come across a song that she had heard while hanging out with Mercedes a while back and it just struck a chord with her. So now she, as always, was the first to arrive to glee and was just sitting staring off into space waiting for glee to start so she could sing the song and get it off her chest. She just needed to let out all that she was feeling.
As the others started filtering in to the room they all shared looks and eyed the diva. They were all concerned. When the school year started she was her usual bubbly self, maybe even a little happier than they were used to but that was ok. As the school year wore on though, she started to change. She got quieter and didn't sing as often or make as many suggestions.
They had all watched her slowly just stop being her. This last week it had gotten so much worse and they had no idea what was going on with her. Mercedes and Kurt even tried talking to her but to no avail. Now they all sat and watched as she sat in her own world and waited for Mr. Schue to come to rehearsal hoping something would spark her interest again. When he arrived he noticed them all watching the silent girl and smiled sadly bringing their attention to him.
Rachel had no idea when he had arrived lost in herself and had to be asked twice before she looked up to Mr. Schue. He smiled and rubbed her shoulder, "Rachel, you asked earlier to sing a song today. We're ready when you are."
Coming out of her daze she nodded getting up and walking to the center of the room. Once the band was ready with the music she turned to the group keeping her head slightly down not making eye contact. "I came across this song the other day and it fit with how I was feeling and I just need to sing it and get it out."
With that she motioned for the band to start, closed her eyes and poured her heart out.
It's hard to see the fear inside
As I walk away from you
And distance overcomes the miles
As slowly I pull through
And I cannot reach the world today
'cause I'm suffering from you
And the more I think, the more I cry
As I walk away from you
As she started singing tears started pouring down her face and everyone started looking around trying to figure out what was causing their little diva this heart ache and their hearts broke seeing her like this. When the chorus started Mercedes, Quinn and Artie, all knowing the song well, joined in backing her up.
I'm two steps away
From loneliness
I'm awake
From the mess we made
I'm alive
And I'm feeling incomplete
Santana never took her eyes off of the girl she loved so much and her heart broke all over again for causing this realizing that she may really lose the best thing that had ever happened to her because of her own stupidity.
I don't understand my life
Or the version that chose you
And the warring hearts and winter came
Now there's nothing left to do
And I cannot reach the world
'cause I'm suffering from two
And the more I think, the more we die
As I walk away from you
I'm two steps away
From loneliness
I'm awake
From the mess we made
I'm alive
And I'm feeling incomplete
I'm two steps away
I am, two steps away
I'm two steps away
I'm two steps away
I am, I am Two steps away
Two steps away
From loneliness
I'm awake
From the mess we made
I'm alive
And I'm feeling incomplete
Two steps away
Two steps away
I'm two steps away
Two steps away
Two steps away
As she finished softly the Gleeks all clapped lightly and she gave them a sad smile. "Thanks for listening, I just needed to get that out." she said as she turned to take a step toward the door but stopped when she heard her voice.
"Rachel…"
A/N: Ok, so I know I have so many other stories that are ongoing but I heard this song, 2 Steps Away by Patti Labelle and this little ficlet came to my mind and wouldn't let me write anything else until I got it out. Part two is in the works and will be up very quickly. Thanks for reading and as always any reviews are welcome.