Hi y'all,

first i wanted to thank for the tremendously great responses I got regarding this little side project of mine. Here's another piece I can share.

Before reading, please note that the chapters I put here are greatly decontextualised (I hope that's an actual word - I'm too lazy to look it up :) ), so when reading stuff such as this one I wouldn't recommend jumping into certain conclusions and accepting that no one is perfect.

Anyway, I'm working on another chapter of KA, so it may or may not appear before Christmas :)

R&R!

-s.

2: Mistake

Rachel's POV

Rachel broke up with Jesse at the beginning of her sophomore year at Julliard.

She entered the building trying to make her way upstairs without tripping over some unconscious body sprayed on the stairs. She was running late for a birthday party that her friend, Cat, dragged her and Jesse to. However, as she needed to stay longer in after her workshops to work on her class solo – which resulted in her practicing her song for three more hours – she was now speeding through the unusually busy corridor in search of her boyfriend. Who was nowhere to be seen.

Jesse called her a couple of minutes earlier, already barely able to speak because of the amount of alcohol that he absorbed during the last few hours, telling her that he was waiting for her upstairs. Rachel sighed at the sound of his voice: Jesse was recently very stressful about his upcoming showcase – not that he would ever admit it out loud. She realised that he needed to let go of some steam before the big day, so she wasn't going to hold his current state against him.

She looked around the crowded space and when she couldn't recognise her boyfriend's figure she took out her phone to call him. It was then that she noticed the picture sent from an unknown number which made her blood boil.

It was a picture of Jesse crushing some dark haired girl's lips in a kiss. She almost dropped her phone. She opened the message again, certain that whoever was in the picture couldn't have been Jesse.

It was.

"Rachel? Rachel!" she heard a female voice to her left. Rachel forced herself to look at her friend who quickly grabbed her arm stopping her from entering the room. "Rachel, stop."

Oh, so now her friend knew too?

"Let me go, Cat," Rachel growled. "I'm going to kill him!"

People around them started to notice the angry scuffle. Slowly Rachel managed to get to the centre of the room where she met Jesse's wide terrified eyes. He opened his mouth and frowned then looked back at the girl he was still holding by her waist and again at Rachel as if trying to compute the situation.

"Screw you, St. James!" Rachel roared at him and tried to tackle him to the ground. She was mad. He promised not to ever look at another girl. He told her he loved and then he just cheated on her not caring about the crowd of people. What could be more humiliating that this? He was... "I'm going to fucking kill you, you son of a bitch!"

Rachel wallowed herself at Jesse but before she could reach his neck, she was pulled away by Cat and her boyfriend, Patrick.

"Rachel, come on, he's not worth it," Cat told her. He embraced her arms and pushed them through the drunken crowd. Patrick stayed behind and Rachel could her Jesse's voice calling her name and slurring some insults at Patrick. Rachel couldn't remember more over the heavy tears falling down her cheeks and Cat's hushing voice.

With the moral help of Cat and Patrick, Rachel packed up all her stuff from Jesse's apartment ignoring his pained stares and his incoherent explanations. He was still hung over and barely able to speak due to the cracked bone in his nose, courtesy of Patrick. Patrick was holding him by his arm in the entrance of his room where Rachel tried to collect her spare clothes.

"Jesus, Rach, it's not what you mean, I was drunk, never meant to... It was a mistake!"

"Shut up, Jesse. I don't want to hear it," she barked at him on the verge of tears.

"Rach, babe, I thought it was you."

"What?" she interrupted him, tired of his pleads. "Hell, Jesse, that is the stupidest excuse that I have heard in my entire life!" she repeated his own words and moved pass him to get her cosmetics from the adjacent bathroom.

"I..."

"You what, Jesse?" she suddenly turned to look at him through the tears. "How am I ever to believe in anything you say again? How many times you swore to death that you will never look at anybody else, huh? When I asked you about this exact situation you told me it would never happen. You..." she felt the fresh stream of tears fall down her cheeks. "We're over."

She shook her head and finally closed her bag. Cat glowered at Jesse when she guided the crying Rachel out of his apartment.

She ignored his calls, barely looking outside her dorm room not to accidentally run into him on her way to the classes. Cat managed to get some doctor's certificate to make sure the teachers would excuse her absence so Rachel was content not to move from under her comforter even for food. Her roommate tried to comfort her but the only response was Rachel snapping at the poor girl. It was the last time she would try opening her mouth to the sickly looking ball of depression on the neighbouring bed. Rachel couldn't blame the girl.

"I've got it!" Cat marched into Rachel's dorm room with a triumphant cry.

"You've got what?" Rachel grumbled.

"The name of the skank. Carrie Grisham. She's a freshman, majoring in piano."

Jesse's favourite instrument.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Get up. We're going to beat some freshman's pretty face."

"You think she is prettier than me?" came Rachel's miserable reply.

"Rachel, I've had enough of this self-pity feast. Get up, put some clothes on and come with me."

Despite Rachel's fervent protests, twenty minutes later she was standing in front of the music studio in which Carrie Grisham was rehearsing her showcase number. Rachel's mood fell considerably when she listened to the gracious sounds escaping the room.

"Okay, this is it, Berry," Cat told her with determined scowl. "You can do this."

"No, I can't."

"Yes, you can!"

She seriously didn't want to look at the girl ever again. She still didn't see her face, hidden under the cascade of thick brown waves. She wasn't tall, more or less Rachel's height. At least she would have some chances if it came down to physical acts. Cat opened the door to the studio and stepped swiftly in the direction of the piano girl. Rachel closed her eyes shut and listened to Cat's angry yells. She loved Cat for being the best friend but, gosh, that girl had a temper.

"Hey, you! Yes, I'm talking to you, bitch. Who do you think you... Oh, shit!"

Hearing the sudden outburst, Rachel ran into the room and noticed Cat's frozen finger pointing at the girl's face with an astounded expression. Rachel frowned and moved her head to the Carrie girl. And cursed under her breath.

The girl was looking at Rachel with a terrified expression. Her face. From the long thick locks and carefully trimmed bangs, through a well-defined jaw, ending with the immediate need of a nose job... She wasn't looking at some Carrie Grisham, majoring in piano. She was looking at herself.

Almost. There were certain differences like the considerably paler carnation, for instance. And Rachel's bangs were a bit longer and her lips were fuller than the girl's. She wasn't a spitting image of Rachel. But a close one, close enough for a drunk Jesse to take the girl for Rachel.

I thought it was you.

"Oh, god," the freshman gulped. "You're the pissed girlfriend. Listen, really, I don't know why he kissed me there. I swear to God, I don't even know the guy. One moment I was gossiping with some girls, and the other I heard a voice calling 'Rach' and someone's mouth on my own. You have to believe me. I..."

Rachel didn't listen to the girl any longer. She stormed out of the music studio and rushed through the empty hallway.

"Where are you going, Rachel?" she heard Cat's frantic call after her.

She didn't turn but called back:

"What do you think?"

She bounced her hand frantically against the door to Jesse's apartment. She knew that he had the afternoon off and was sure he was inside. She didn't stop knocking even as she heard a muffled shout and an irritated "coming!" from the flat, until he finally opened the door to look at the impatient looking Rachel standing in front of him.

"Rach?" he sounded genuinely surprised. "What..."

He didn't finish because Rachel was already attacking his mouth, shutting the door behind her with her leg. Jesse, still taken aback, didn't protest but lifted her swiftly and hooked her legs around his waist.

They found themselves in Jesse's bed before she could think of why she was there in the first place. She wanted to talk to him first but seeing his pouting expression and still slightly swollen face she couldn't stop herself from jumping his bones.

It turned out that Jesse had more self-control in himself than she thought. He pulled out of her embrace, hovering over her with his forehead pressed again her own, breathing heavily from making out.

"Rachel?"

"Jesse," she panted.

"What are you doing, Rach?" he asked innocently.

"Um, trying to seduce you in order to ignore the necessity of talking?"

"Which I would gladly accept under any other circumstances," Jesse added with a smirk. "But the circumstances are what they are and I'm asking again, what are you doing in my apartment, Rach?"

Rachel sighed and pushed Jesse off her. He took his place next to her and propped his head on his palm, looking expectantly at her resting figure from above.

"I saw the girl you kissed," Rachel finally admitted. "She does look a bit like me."

"A bit?" Jesse threw disbelievingly. "Rachel, I was dead-drunk, waiting for you for three hours and I was sure it was you. I wouldn't mistake anybody for you if she wasn't your twin."

"So, can we just forget about it?"

"Forget it? You? Hell no, Berry. I know you. You will bring this up every time we have some fight, throwing in my face that I cheated on you with some chick or something."

Rachel rolled her eyes, feeling like a complete idiot. It wasn't like Jesse's words weren't true. But looking at him, she didn't see the picture on her phone; she was seeing her soulmate, who was more important than some petty mistake during a drunken night. She always knew what she wanted in life and Jesse was one of these things.

She needed to make him realise that.

"Well, you didn't actually cheat on me, if you were kissing 'me', right?" she whispered uncertainly.

Jesse looked at her surprised. Then he slowly nodded his head in agreement, grinning while following her logic quickly. He was still nodding, and smiling, and nodding, while placing his lips back to her neck to plant a trail of kissed from her face to her collarbone, while trying to get rid of her blouse.

Men were too easy to get into forgiving their girlfriends especially with a promise of a busy night as a perspective, Rachel thought, letting Jesse undress her.

"You still are on probation, though," Rachel breathed out in between kisses.

"Uh-uh."

"And you will have to take me out to dinner."

"Uh-uh."

"And buy me a new cell because I broke mine when I saw you calling again on Tuesday."

This time Jesse lifted his head and looked at her disbelievingly.

"Seriously?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you," she chuckled and grabbed him by his shirt to pull him into another kiss.

"Oh, one more thing." Jesse groaned hearing it. "You are not allowed to kiss anybody without being like a thousand percent and a-birth-certificate-in-hand sure that you are kissing me, you hear me?"

His answer consisted of a muffled 'yeah' and hands roaming over her body.

"Our first make up sex," Jesse noticed. "I think I like it."

"You better not because I don't want to get through that fighting ever again," Rachel replied sadly.

"So, we're really fine?" Jesse asked some time later. They were still in his bed; Jesse was lying on his back with Rachel's head resting on his chest. He was stroking her head in a lazy manner, playing with some locks. "No accusations and excuses?"

"Of course. I would've forgiven you anyway, that's why I was avoiding you during the week. I was afraid I would jump you the moment I saw you."

"Technically, you have," Jesse chuckled tiredly, making her laugh.

"I guess so."

They fell silent again. Rachel was tracing some shapes on Jesse's skin with her finger, looking around the dark walls of his bedroom. She noticed some empty cans and Chinese boxes among occasional pieces of clothing on the floor. This place was a mess which made her imagine how bad Jesse must've felt because of their fight. He was usually impeccably clean.

"Jesse?" Rachel spoke up again, shyly, uncertain if he didn't fall asleep yet.

"Rach?" came his quiet answer.

"Do you think I could bring some of my stuff back here?"

"Sure. One condition, though."

Rachel sat up looking at him with the slightest frown on her face.

"Condition?"

"Yeah. You have to bring all of your stuff here and move in permanently."

He took a hold of her hand and started playing with her fingers, kissing each one of them. Rachel was taken aback. They talked about her moving into Jesse's apartment in the past but she never thought he would make a proposition so soon, especially after a big fight.

"Jesse, I... What about preserving you man cave, or whatever you guys call it?" she managed to utter over her shock. Just how often does a perfect boyfriend ask a girl to move in with him? "I mean, this is huge."

Jesse glanced around his room and made a face.

"Is it? It's still smaller than my parent's house," he joked earning a slap across his chest.

"This is serious, Jesse," Rachel narrowed her eyes at him.

"We are serious, Rach," Jesse reminded her, looking down at her hands which he still held in his grasp.

"My dads would kill me," she protested.

"Come on, Rach, they would never do such thing," Jesse rolled his eyes at her. "They loved me when we were living in Ohio and they love me when we are in New York."

"Yeah, they loved you living with your parents in Akron a two-hour ride from Lima and they love you living in your apartment five blocks from my dorms in New York, Jesse."

"Oh, so you're saying that three years from now they will love me sleeping in my own bedroom across the hall from Mrs St. James?" Jesse pulled her right hand up to his lips and placed a careful kiss on the top of Rachel's engagement ring. "Is that so?"

Rachel giggled.

"I'm afraid so," she joked.

She wanted to say something more but Jesse silenced her with a kiss. Rachel felt the pleasure build up in her body from the touch of his hands on her chest and the side of her face. Jesse looked into her eyes.

"Seriously, Rach, move in with me. I can't stand another night without you here."

Rachel nodded her head in agreement, effectively forgetting any of her potential arguments against that idea.