CHAPTER 1
LOS ANGELES
It was a hot, sunny morning in Los Angeles, much warmer than what the members of the New Directions were used to at home. Sam and Blaine had just finished their breakfast and were walking together back to the boys' room.
"Dude, this is it! Our last Nationals!" Sam said to his best friend and Blaine nodded with a big smile on his face. "I bet you can't wait to go to New York and see Kurt everyday, huh?"
"Yeah, it's going to be great. But how about you? Aren't you going to miss Penny?" Blaine quietly asked him as they entered their room. They stood at the door for two seconds before turning around leaving, Artie quickly wheeling behind them.
"I don't think they'll ever stop arguing about Marley. Whatever, I need to go and find Kitty. See y'all later." He told them before getting inside the elevator. Blaine and Sam shrugged at each other and sat down on the floor.
"Penny…" Sam quietly muttered. "She's awesome, she is. Don't get me wrong. It's just…" He stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"Just what, Sam?" Blaine asked him. "Did something happen?"
"No, I just… I think I stopped seeing her that way, you know?" Blaine nodded understandingly at that, offering his best friend a sympathetic smile.
"I guess sometimes that happens." He said, patting Sam on the shoulder. "But you do know that you have to talk to her about it, right?"
"Yeah, I'm just dreading that moment." Sam sighed.
NEW YORK
Rachel had had a long day and wanted to get home, take a nice shower and go to bed. After a day full of waiting tables and rehearsing for "Funny Girl", she wasn't in the mood for anything other than a calm night. Unfortunately, as she got up from her seat and waited to leave the train, the man next to her had a different idea.
"Hey." He said, his mouth close to her ear. Rachel was startled, as she wasn't paying attention to anything around her. She quickly looked at him and looked away, hoping he'd leave her alone. "Today is really hot, huh?" He continued, ignoring her obvious discomfort. Rachel cursed the train for not moving fast. They were so close to her station! "Yeah, it's really hot… Just like you." He whispered in her ear.
That had been it for Rachel. She slapped his face as the train stopped and the doors opened. With a huff, she stormed out, ignoring the fact that the guy was calling her all sorts of names. Before she knew it, Rachel was crying and entering the loft she shared with her two friends.
"Ugh, thank God you're home, Berry. Lady Hummel here thinks he's better than me at…" Santana stopped mid-sentence when she saw that Rachel was sobbing. "Rachel, what the hell?" She asked, not unkindly.
"Oh, Rachel, what happened?" Kurt hugged Rachel, letting her wet his (very expensive, thank you very much) shirt. She just shook her head, unable to say anything. "Santana, go and make her some tea."
"Oh, no, Hummel, you don't get to boss me around just because your hag is bawling her eyes out. I hug her, you make the damn tea." Santana said, lightly pulling Kurt away from Rachel.
"No, it's okay. Thank you, guys, I don't need tea." Rachel finally said. She let go of her best friend and tried to dry her face with her hands, failing miserably. Kurt and Santana shared a quick concerned look. "I just had a bad day, that's all." She told them, trying to sneak into her bedroom.
"Rachel, come on. We're your friends. Talk to us." Kurt muttered, softly holding her arm. "You can't arrive home like this and expect us to let it go. We care about you. Even if Santana would like to pretend that she doesn't." He added, receiving a glare from her.
"Shut up." Santana told him, leading them to the couch. The three of them sat together, Kurt and Santana waiting for Rachel to say something. When it became obvious she wasn't going to willingly share what had happened, Santana huffed. "Rachel. Just tell us already."
"Santana, give her a few moments." Kurt angrily whispered. Santana rolled her eyes at him, but they sat in silence until Rachel stopped crying. She took a deep breath as she got ready to tell her friends what had happened.
"Okay. So I was about to leave the train when this guy… He…" Rachel stopped, shaking her head and holding back new tears. Kurt took her hand while Santana put hers on Rachel's back, encouraging her to go on. "He hit on me." She finally said, starting to cry again.
"Wait, that's it?" Santana asked, dropping her hand. "A guy hit on you on the train and you cried for thirty minutes?" She demanded. Rachel nodded, unable to speak. "Was he that ugly?"
"No." Rachel weakly sobbed. She took a few deep breaths and managed to stop crying. "I just… I wasn't expecting that. He was actually good-looking, but that's not the point." She said, her voice gaining strength. As her two friends stared expectantly at her, Rachel shook her head again and looked down. "When that guy whispered in my ear, all I could think of was all the times that… That Finn whispered in my ear." She finished, her voice low again. "And I'm not ready for that. I don't want to be ready."
"Rachel." Kurt squeezed the hand he was holding, his voice gentle. "Of course that it'll take you a while to start thinking about dating again, and that's okay." Santana nodded. "You don't have to move on right now, nor next week, nor next month. You can move on when you feel like it's time to do it. Just remember that it's okay to be happy. Finn would've wanted you to live your life." He added in a whisper. Rachel slowly nodded as her friends hugged her.
LOS ANGELES
The New Directions were anxiously waiting for the results after giving an amazing performance. Mr. Schue kept patting them on the back and congratulating them on their good job, while the girls were holding hands and the boys were pacing. Finally, it was time to see the top ten show choirs of the competition.
There were many people in front of them and, before they could check the list themselves, some members of Vocal Adrenaline saw them. Chuckling, they bumped into Unique as they walked away from the crowd.
"Shouldn't have left us, tranny." One of them muttered, receiving a couple high-fives from the others.
"Hey!" Jake and Ryder shouted together, their argument about Marley momentarily forgotten as they shared a look of understanding and got ready to defend their friend.
"Guys!" Mr. Schue yelled, trying in vain to hold them back.
"It's okay, just let it go." Unique whispered as Marley held her hand and Kitty glared at the boys from Vocal Adrenaline.
"Come on, guys, you helped me with my proposal, I thought we were all friends." Blaine said, trying to get everybody to calm down. Sam stood next to him, nodding in agreement, but also ready to jump into action if necessary.
"Whatever." They said, walking away. The New Directions stood in silence, watching them leave, until Mr. Schue cleared his throat and announced that he was going to check the list. They didn't say anything as their teacher started making his way to the front. When he came without a smile, they looked down.
"I… I'm sorry, you guys. You really did an amazing job out there." Mr. Schue told them. They slowly started going back to their hotel, without saying anything. Blaine was holding Tina's hand while taking his phone from his pocket.
"I should probably call Kurt and tell him the news." He said quietly. Tina nodded, clearly not in the mood for much talking. As he waited for his fiancé to answer the call, Blaine looked around, watching his teammates. Kitty had one hand on Artie's shoulder, while her other hand was holding Unique's left hand. Unique had her right arm around Marley, who was silently crying. Jake and Ryder were walking side by side, without exchanging any words or looks.
"Blaine!" Kurt's voice caught his attention. "Sooo… How did it go?" He asked. Blaine sighed in response. "Oh… Don't tell me that you guys…" There was a pause and neither of them said anything for a few seconds.
"We didn't rank." Blaine finally told him. "I mean, we were amazing and it was really fun, but… I guess it just wasn't good enough." He finished in a whisper, afraid of offending the others. "Anyway, we're going back to the hotel now and I think we'll be going back to Lima tomorrow."
"Blaine, I'm so sorry." Kurt kindly said, worried about his fiancé. "I'm sure you were really great, I wish I could've been there to see you… And to give you a hug now." Blaine nodded, wishing Kurt really could've been there. "I guess today was a bad day for everybody. Rachel cried for half an hour today."
"What, why?" Blaine asked, concerned about his friend. "Did something happen? I mean, of course something happened… I just… Is she okay?" Tina, who had been vacantly staring at the air until then, looked at him, silently asking him what was going on.
"Oh, she's going to be fine. A douchebag on the train hit on her and she got really uncomfortable, it made her think… It made her think of Finn." Kurt replied, his voice lower than earlier. "Anyway, Rachel got home crying as if she had lost her voice again, and Santana and I were in the middle of a discussion, so it was a little messy. She's sleeping now."
"I hope Rachel gets better soon." Blaine said, Tina still waiting for an explanation. "Listen, I gotta go, I need to calm Sam down… He's not looking forward to going back to Lima. He's going to break up with Penny." He added in a whisper. Tina gasped.
"Oh, wow, yikes. Okay, but call me before you go to bed?" Kurt asked.
"Of course. I love you."
"Love you too. Take care."
LIMA
Sam was nervous. He was very nervous, actually. Blaine had helped him prepare a speech and they even had asked Tina to play Penny, which didn't turn out too well when Tina thought that slapping Sam would be Penny's reaction, but he didn't feel like he was ready for it. Sam was about to find Blaine and tell him he had forgotten everything they had rehearsed when Penny saw him on the corridor.
"There you are!" She said with a big smile. Sam awkwardly smiled back and, when she tried to kiss him, he hugged her instead.
"So, hey." Sam muttered. "Listen. Uh, can we… Can we talk?" He asked her when he let her go. Penny's smile left her face and she quietly nodded. They walked together to her office and Sam couldn't remember a more awkward moment than that in his life.
"Sam. What's going on?" Penny finally asked when she noticed that Sam was stalling and looking anywhere but her. He took a deep breath and finally met her gaze.
"I'm sorry, I'm just… I'm nervous." He told her, deciding that being honest was the only way to do it. "Listen, Penny. I like you. I really do. I just… I'm not sure what happened, or how it happened… Or when it happened. But I don't think I like… like you anymore." Sam finished with a gentle whisper and an apologetic look on his face.
"Oh." She replied. "I… I see."
"I'm sorry, Penny, I really am." He tried to say, but she raised her hand, stopping him.
"I just don't understand why." She told him, looking for a reason. Sam nodded, and then looked away.
"Neither do I." He slowly replied, deep in thought.
NEW YORK
Pamela Lansbury had just finished an amazing concert and the five singers were laughing and hugging each other as they left the stage. Kurt was holding Rachel's hand as they found a table. Elliott told them he'd buy them drinks and left while Dani and Santana sat next to each other.
"That was awesome!" Dani shouted over the noise of the bar. Elliott quickly came back and they started planning their next concert. Once that was done, Kurt turned to Rachel and asked her in a lower voice so that nobody else could hear him.
"How are you? Are you still upset about yesterday?" She nodded, her smile not so wide anymore. "Rachel, you can talk to me, you know that." He told her and she squeezed his hand in response.
"I know, and thank you so much for being my best friend, Kurt." She replied. "I am definitely better. I just needed some time to process what happened." Rachel said, deliberating on her next words. However, Elliott called them and announced he had something to say.
"Okay, Pamela Lansbury! Two weeks from now, my gorgeous boyfriend is going to throw a big party and I demand that you four show up!" He yelled, a little drunk. The others laughed.
"Of course we'll be there!" Santana told him.
"Oh, and Blaine and Sam might be here already, so we can take them with us!" Kurt happily added.
"Sounds like a plan!" Rachel agreed and they all cheered.
AN: First chapter done! There'll be another five chapters (maybe four, maybe six), so it won't be a long story... it'll mostly focus on Sam and Rachel, especially Rachel and how she gets to the point where she's ready to date again. But the others will have a few individual plots here and there. Hope you enjoyed it!
