This is my story for the stage door challenge. It's AU, multi-chaptered, and very loosely based on one of my favorite books Pride and Prejudice. I want to thank Original Groffete for taking the time to beta this chapter!
Rachel Berry had fallen in love once more. She did not think it was possible, but here she was, head over heels again. She had only felt that way once before, when she first arrived in New York, but it was official: Rachel had fallen in love with London, and it was love at first sight.
Starring on The West End wasn't exactly one of her immediate dreams: it was more a future goal, something she wanted to achieve once she had made it in Broadway first. But after getting a call back following an audition for a revival of "Chicago" in the West End, she knew it was an opportunity she would not let float past her nose, as Julie Andrews had so graciously quoted once. She had worked hard, applied herself and had just obtained her BFA from Tisch, and she was ready to recognize and grab a good opportunity, even if it didn't fit into her plans.
There she was, in London, living in a lovely flat the production company had rented for her and two more actors from the show in Notting Hill, and she couldn't be happier. She had two months of arduous rehearsals before the show started, but she was looking forward to every second of it, she had never felt so alive before. And she was eager to go through the stage door of a theater as the star of a musical for the first time instead of waiting around it as a fan.
Rachel was used to hanging around stage doors, and had visited quite a few in her twenty two years. She remembered going to New York every summer with her dads to watch plays and musicals, she would go immediately afterwards to the stage door to patiently wait for the actors to come out. She always had a list of questions for the actors, like 'What is it like to be a stage actor?" and "How do you keep it fresh?". She would later write their answers and her impressions in her journal, and after hitting every stage door in Broadway while at Tisch, her journal was loaded with valuable information. She took great care of her journal, it was her bible and it was always with her.
But the first time Rachel walked into the stage-entrance door of the Wyndham's Theater she was absolutely delighted. It was crisp Tuesday morning, perhaps too cold for late April. She got there early, telling her flatmates that she needed to take care of something before getting to the theater. The stage door was painted blue, and she took a few seconds to relish the feeling of that particular moment, of going through a stage door for the first time. Then she set out to know the stage door keeper, a pleasant middle aged woman who didn't seem to mind the deluge of questions Rachel asked, and answered every last question affably. Rachel was surprised at how nice and cordial everyone had been since she arrived in London: she was expecting a bunch of arrogant, stuck-up people, but only three days had sufficed to prove her preconceptions wrong. In fact, everyone involved in her show was infinitely nicer than the cast and crew of her last performance at the university before graduating.
Once inside, she was amazed by the grandeur of the theater as she saw it from the stage, with its Louis XVI interior and majestic balconies. She could not believe that in just a few months she would be singing and dancing from that same stage to a full house, since tickets to the first two months of "Chicago" were already sold out. She stood alone on the stage, savoring the moment, knowing that her dreams were coming true: she had made it.
Jesse St James had made it. He had starred as Roger in the very successful revival of "Rent" on Broadway for two consecutive years, and had moved to London when the show opened in the West End, where it also had been a success for over a year. Even though Jesse wanted to take a break after leaving the New York production, his agent convinced him to do the London show arguing that what he needed was a change of scenery, and Jesse had to agree since he wasn't ready yet to let go of Roger.
Only three more actors had made the leap from New York to London with him: his best friends Sam Evans and Tina Cohen-Chang, who played Mark and Mimi, and were his current flatmates; and Finn Hudson, who played the role of Benny. Jesse was thankful that Finn had declined his friends' offer to share the place they had rented, it was bad enough that he had to see him on a daily basis at work, they just didn't get along, and he was not about to share the great place he had found with him. He had scouted several places all over the city before finding the perfect townhouse with a rather large private communal garden in the heart of Notting Hill. Even when the production company usually paid the lease, it was well over the acceptable limits, and Jesse had to pay for the difference by himself. He never told his friends about it, since he had the means to pay for it and did not want to make his friends uncomfortable.
Despite the fact that Jesse was only 24, he wasn't into partying like his friends, who made almost daily stopovers at a pub near the Noel Coward Theater after the show. They had almost nailed it down to a routine: after the show most of the actors would meet their fans at the stage door for fifteen minutes or so, and then they left for the pub, where some of the fans followed them. But Jesse always stayed behind at the stage door, making sure to attend to most of the fans that gathered there, signing autographs and posing patiently for pictures with them. To Jesse, staying by the stage door once the show had ended had become a ritual that was much more satisfying to him than downing a pint of beer at the pub, and to his grateful fans he was much more than a talented actor and singer, he was a gentleman.
Jesse always got to the theater early, he liked having time to warm up his vocal cords in the empty theater before the cast and crew arrived, and there was something about having the whole theater to himself for a while that he took great pleasure in. It was still morning and he was walking to his stage door when he saw them for the first time, two beautiful girls, a blonde and a brunette were hanging in the alley next to it. Even though he was used to greeting fans after the show and not before, he was willing to make an exception. He smiled as he made his way there only to realize that the girls weren't exactly waiting for him. They smiled back at him and nodded but carried on with their conversation with one another, not paying attention to where he was going.
Jesse saw the same girls again the next day, but this time he noticed that they were closer to the stage door of the Wyndham, which was opposite his stage door in the same alley. Once more he nodded as he went into his theater, and this time the blonde girl waved at him, while the brunette was apparently busy texting on her phone. He remembered that "Chicago" was set to open at the Wyndham soon, and he needed to find a way to see it, since they were probably on the same nights as "Rent".
It wasn't until the day that Sam was bored enough to actually arrive early at the theater with him, that Jesse had the chance to actually meet the blonde and the brunette he was getting used to seeing everyday across his stage door. Sam was a ladies' man, and he immediately introduced himself and Jesse to the girls. Quinn Fabray and Rachel Berry were the names of the mysterious girls, they were also Americans and were the rookie actors set to star in "Chicago". Jesse exchanged a few pleasantries with them and excused himself in order to start his warm up routine, leaving Sam to somehow find his way into one of the girls' pants; he knew his friend and could see that he was interested in more than having a simple chit-chat with them.
Rachel was surprised to actually meet Jesse St James. She knew him from the New York show, she had been to the theater stage door but she didn't have a chance to talk to him much or ask him any questions, since the mob of adoring fangirls was just too big. Rachel thought Jesse St James was a brilliant actor and singer, she herself had been hypnotized by his amazing performance, but after seeing him every day by her stage door and having him barely acknowledge their presence, she thought he was arrogant and conceited, and suspected that he was probably not worth knowing on a personal level.
Her suspicions had been proven correct on the day she met him: he barely talked to them before leaving, confirming that he was in fact a pretentious snob. His friend Sam though, was completely different; he seemed genuinely interested in their show and even invited them to a pub after his show. They happily accepted, Rachel had barely gone out since she arrived in London because of their demanding rehearsing schedule, and she needed to unwind a little and maybe meet some new friends along the way. She was simply looking forward to a fun night with her peers, and she never imagined what she was in for.
Please review to let me know if you want more! :)