A/N: Just to remind you that each chapter is a different song and a different story, so each one shot is completely unrelated to the last.

This chapter is inspired by a song that I love: Begin Again by Taylor Swift. If you haven't heard it then I would strongly recommend giving it a listen. It beautifully tells the story of getting over someone and a new relationship beginning. Enjoy!

Lastly, this story is written in the first person from Rachel's POV. I'm just experimenting with this writing style so leave me a review and let me know if I've done it well :)

And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid,
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did,
I've been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does is break, and burn, and end,
But on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again

8 months.

It had been 8 long months since I had last been on a date, which my best friend, Quinn Fabray, thought was a ridiculously long time. She had given me the 'You Need To Get Back Out There' speech so many times that I could recite it for you right now. However, I'll just give you the general message, which is "Just because one relationship ended badly it doesn't mean they all will," and "You're not getting any younger, Rach, so you need to get back in the dating game." Oh, and who can forget the classic, "The right guy is right around the corner."

But my last relationship hadn't just ended badly, it had crashed and burned. Allow me to explain the disaster that was Brody Weston.

I met Brody just after I'd moved to New York and we hit it off right away. In fact, it didn't take long before we were dating and were convinced that we were in love. But we weren't. Well, I loved him, though he only loved the person that he'd changed me into. You see, there were so many things that Brody didn't like about me that I was willing to change who I was to please him. Anyone who knows me knows that that is incredibly out of character for me: Rachel Berry, but love makes you do crazy things.

I started to wear heels everyday because Brody thought that I was too small without them; I only listened to music through my headphones because Brody didn't 'get' the show tunes that I love; and, worse of all, I got a job in advertising because Brody thought that I needed to get over my 'childish' dream of being on Broadway and get a 'real job'.

I am eternally grateful that Quinn stepped in when she did. Quinn showed me what Brody had turned me into and reminded me of the old Rachel Berry. After that, every time that I looked in the mirror I hated myself, because the old Rachel Berry would have never changed who she was to please a man. She would have known that she was better off without him. So, I went to see Brody to tell him that if he wanted our relationship to work then he had to accept me for who I really was. However, when I got to his apartment I found him in bed with the girl who lived downstairs. Needless to say our relationship ended right there and then.

That's when I swore to myself that I wouldn't date again, because it only ended in tears; usually mine. I quit my job in advertising so that I could seriously pursue my career on Broadway, and I turned back into the old Rachel Berry.

The only problem was that Quinn had a friend called Finn Hudson. One day, Quinn made the comment that Finn and I would make a cute couple, which I laughed off and didn't think too much about. Then, Quinn said that our personalities would be quite compatible too, which I again tried to laugh off. But then Quinn decided that she was going to set us up on a blind date, which was an idea that I obviously didn't like as it broke my 'no dating' rule. So, why was I now about to leave for this blind date?

It wasn't much of a blind date, anyway. I knew that his name was Finn Hudson, so I'd obviously looked him up on every form of social media. I now knew what he looked like; I knew that he played the drums; I knew that he was in a band with some of his friends, (they're actually quite good, if their cover of Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' is any indication); I knew that he was a teacher; I knew that he was dating a girl called Lucy six months ago (they broke up but are still friends, though she's now dating a guy called Dave); and I also knew that back in 2012 he went on vacation to Hawaii and had a good time.

Finn seemed like a perfectly nice guy, but that didn't matter to me. I'd only just got over Brody and I didn't want to get my heart broken again.

My heart was pounding by the time I reached the café for my date. It was stupid that I was so nervous because I'd already come up with a plan to make this date a one-off: I was going to be myself. It sounded stupid, but being myself usually sent men running for the hills, and I assumed Finn would be no exception.

I checked the time on my phone, disappointed to see that I was a couple of minutes early. If I knew anything about men, it was that they were always late. I sighed and stepped into the café, deciding I may as well wait in the warmth instead of in the frosty New York air.

As soon as I stepped inside, my eyes were drawn towards a man sitting in the corner of the room. I recognised him straight away: it was Finn Hudson, my date. I felt slightly guilty for presuming that he would be late when he had actually arrived early. Maybe I shouldn't generalise guys and maybe I should give Finn the benefit of the doubt.

Finn also looked a little nervous, which made me feel better because I knew that I wasn't alone. He roamed his eyes around the room until they landed on me, then they immediately widened as he stood up. Clearly Finn hadn't liked the idea of a blind date either and he must've done his own research on me. How else would he have known what I looked like? We had never met lifted his hand into an awkward little wave that made me smile as I walked over to him.

"Hey, you're Rachel, right?" Finn said when I reached the table.

I nodded with a polite smile as I said, "And you must be Finn."

"The one and only." He replied, pulling his mouth into the most adorable half-smile. However, I didn't have much time to appreciate it as it immediately faltered. "Well, I suppose that technically I'm not the only Finn, there are many other Finn's in the world, but I'm the only Finn Hudson." I nodded my head with a smile, trying to hide my amusement at his awkwardness. "Wait, but that might not be true either." I raised my eyebrows as he kept talking. "Although I've never met someone else called Finn Hudson, there may be someone somewhere, maybe in Florida or Washington or something." At this point it was pointless even trying to hide my amusement at his awkward stammering, the wide smile on my face probably gave me away. "Sorry," Finn continued. "I should just shut up. I get a little nervous when I'm around beautiful women."

"You think I'm beautiful?"

Finn's face flushed a deep shade of pink as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well... Uh... I... Yeah." He said sheepishly.

A warm feeling filled my chest and spread down to my stomach, making me feel like a high school girl who had just been smiled at by her crush.

"Shall we sit?" Finn said, obviously trying to change the subject. I nodded my head as Finn walked around the table and pulled out my chair, helping me into it like you see guys do in those cheesy romantic comedies. In the year that Brody and I dated, he never did that to me.

"Wow, so chivalrous." I commented, watching as Finn sat in his own seat. He was so tall that it seemed surprising that his long limbs could fold onto the small chair. I realised that I wasn't wearing heels today so we must've looked comical standing next to each other; he was abnormally tall and I was abnormally small.

"Thanks," Finn smiled, before furrowing his brows together in confusion. "I think."

I took the time that Finn was deciding what to order to study him closely, and appreciating how different he was to Brody. Finn's hair was slightly messy, like he hadn't touched it since rolling out of bed that morning, yet it still looked amazing; his eyes pulled me in like a magnet, making it hard for me to break eye contact whenever he looked at me; he also had the most adorable, child-like dimples in his cheeks when he smiled, making him look like a little kid when he laughed. He was so attractive that just looking at him made my heart race, but he wasn't arrogant about it, almost like he didn't know.

All I could think was that if I had to go on a date once every 8 months, then I was glad it was with someone like Finn.

Finn went to order some drinks and muffins for us, then carried them on a tray back to our table. I could barely keep my eyes off him the entire time, and there was a small smile on my face that I just couldn't erase.

"Well, if teaching doesn't work out then I think it's safe to say you have a promising future as a waiter." I joked as he placed the tray back on our table. Finn laughed too, something that I wasn't used to because Brody never laughed at my jokes or found me all that funny. However, Finn's laughter didn't last long as he looked confused as he sat down. "What is it?" I asked.

"I just didn't think that I'd told you I was a teacher yet."

I flushed pink as I realised my mistake and looked down in embarrassment as I said, "Well, I may have googled you before we came today." I looked up to see Finn smirking at me and got even more embarrassed. "Great, now you think that I'm some crazy stalker."

"No, no, not at all." Finn said, though he was laughing as he said it. "Just remind me to check under my bed when I get home tonight to make sure you're not hanging out under there."

"Finn!" I whined, throwing my napkin across the table at him. He threw his head back as he laughed, making me laugh too as I found it infectious. Eventually our laughter died down and that's when Finn added, "I'm kidding. I looked you up on facebook too."

"Really?" I asked, as he confirmed my suspicions from earlier. That was how he knew who I was when I walked in.

"Yeah. By the way, you looked great in that bikini when you went to Florida that summer." That earned Finn another napkin to the face.

Once we got settled, he asked me some questions about myself, including what I did for a living. I told him that I was currently just a part-time waitress to pay the bills while I auditioned for Broadway musicals.

"That's awesome." He said, surprising me. When I had told Brody he had laughed at me, thinking that I was joking. He told me that the chances of me making it on Broadway were minuscule, and maybe I should think of a plan B.

"You think so?"

"Of course! Have you had any good auditions recently?" Finn asked, seeming genuinely interested as he sipped his coffee.

"Well, I recently auditioned for the role of Maria from West Side Story, but I didn't get it." I tried not to sound too disappointed, even though I was quite upset by it. Finn wrinkled his nose, but I didn't want his pity so I continued, "But next week I have an audition for my dream role in Funny Girl."

He raised his eyebrows as if he was impressed. "Well you definitely have the look for Fanny Brice. If I was the casting director, I'd give you the role."

"How did you know I was auditioning for Fanny Brice?" I asked with a frown, as I hadn't mentioned the name of the part.

"I just assumed that the dream role in Funny Girl would be the funny girl herself: Fanny Brice." Finn shrugged casually.

"You've seen Funny Girl?" I said, raising my eyebrows at Finn.

"More times than I care to admit." Finn said with an uncomfortable laugh. "My step-brother loves musical theatre so I've always been forced to watch musicals with him. Funny Girl is one of his favourites, though I personally prefer Rock of Ages."

I smiled, feeling my heart speed up because I could have never spoken about this stuff with Brody. "Yeah, that's a good one too. I also love Wicked and Chicago."

Finn smiled at me and nodded. "I gotta say, I don't think I've ever met someone who knows as many musicals as my brother."

"Well, your bother sounds like a very interesting man, I'm sure we'd get on splendidly."

"Oh, without a doubt." Finn confirmed confidently. "I'll introduce you sometime."

My smile faltered slightly, as my nerves suddenly grew. However, the only think making me nervous was the fact that after only one date the thought of meeting Finn's family didn't seem bizarre. It felt right.

Finn, proving once and for all that chivalry wasn't dead, decided that he would walk me home. He even gave me his jacket when I shivered, which drowned me because he was so much taller, but smelled of Finn's cologne so I didn't mind. For a while, we walked in a comfortable silence which made me smile to myself. Only one date and we were this comfortable together.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Finn asked, breaking the silence.

"Go ahead."

"Quinn told me that you've been out of the dating game for a while, why is that?"

The memories of Brody came back to me bringing with them a solemn mood. I looked down at the concrete in front of me while I answered. "Bad breakup."

Finn nodded understandingly and I wondered if he would ask more questions. If he would use this as an excuse to find out why my previous boyfriends had broken up with me, to see if there was anything that would make him run. "Do you want to talk about it? If not, then I can tell you about the musicals that my brother makes the whole family watch every Christmas." Was all Finn asked, making me smile at how considerate he was. He didn't want to push me to talk about something that I didn't want to talk about.

I stopped walking, not just because we had reached my apartment building, but also because I wanted to look at Finn while we spoke. I liked seeing his reactions when I said things. Whether or not he would pull what I had concluded was his signature half-smile, or whether he would furrow his eyebrows in confusion or disagreement.

"I don't really want to talk about." I said, for the first time in a while. My Brody Weston rant had become one of my favourites, which is why Quinn thought I still wasn't over him. "It's in the past now. I'd much rather think about my future." As I had expected, Finn raised the right side of his lips into a half-smile, creating a dimple in his cheek. "Which reminds me," I continued. "I would love to hear about your family's Christmas movies, but I should be going, so how about we meet up again sometime and you can tell me then?"

Finn's mouth burst into a full-on smile, giving me butterflies in my stomach. I had caused that happiness. Just me being me. He liked me for me.

"I'll call you." Finn said, his smile never wavering.

"I'll be waiting." We stood smiling at each other for a moment, as I didn't want to leave. However, I knew that I had to.

Eventually, I took off Finn's jacket and handed it back to him. As I did, I stood up on the tips of my toes and kissed his cheek, right where his dimples formed when he smiled. When I pulled away, I could see a pink glow on Finn's face and a smile plastered onto his lips.

"See you soon." I said, while Finn lifted his arm into another awkward wave.

Finally, I could forget about Brody, because I was falling in love again, right before my eyes.

I was watching it begin again.

A/N: So, what did you all think? Do you prefer it when I write in first person or third person? Please let me know.

I'd also like to remind you that I would love it if you sent me your requests for songs that you'd like me to base a story on. I have a few ideas, but I'd like to know that you're enjoying the songs I'm choosing.