*Thanks so much for the reviews! It means a lot to me. I don't really have much to say about this chapter, so enjoy and keep up the reviewing :D*
Rachel and Jesse stayed like that until the cab pulled up to her apartment. She paid and thanked the driver, then gingerly led Jesse into her building. Getting him up the stairs was a challenge because, if he had been out of it before, he was even more far gone now. Thankfully Rachel's apartment was on the second floor rather than the fourth or fifth. Jesse was mumbling something under his breath about lost dreams. Rachel didn't respond, she was still busy trying to process everything Jesse had told her in the cab. She had a feeling he didn't have a friend here to open up to. Not that he would have opened up like that even if he had a friend. Jesse was the kind of person who didn't believe in failure, so naturally he would hide his failure from everyone, even those closest to him. She led him into her apartment, her mind swimming. She brought Jesse to the small living room and set him on the couch.
"Um, stay here," she said awkwardly. "I'm going to change, and then I'll be right back." Jesse didn't answer, so she hurried back into her bedroom. Her dress had just hit the floor when Jesse barged in.
"I'm such a failure," he moaned as a shocked Rachel tried to cover herself. Jesse either didn't notice that she was only wearing her bra and underwear, or he didn't care. "I should just quit show business all together," he continued, flopping onto her bed morosely. "I'll just do something completely boring and mediocre with my life. Like accounting." His last words were muffled by Rachel's comforter. Rachel, forgetting herself that she was only wearing her undergarments, sat on the side of the bed and stroked Jesse's curly brown hair.
"No you won't," she said softly. "You're going to become a big star. You just haven't found the right part yet."
"And what part is that?" Jesse asked without raising his head from Rachel's bed.
"I don't know. Let me think about it," Rachel said soothingly as she started to rub his back the way her dads would when she was sick. Within seconds, he was asleep. Rachel sighed. I guess it's the couch for me, she realized. After putting on some pajamas, she grabbed a blanket and went to lay in the living room. Before trying to sleep, she texted Erin. Jesse's staying here for the night because in his current state of inebriation, he couldn't remember his address. Just warning you so you don't freak out when you come home and there's a boy in our apartment. Erin quickly replied. I'm already freaking out! Why didn't you text me sooner, I was worried this guy murdered you and chopped you into little pieces! How do you know this Jesse kid anyway? btw, you're probably the only person on Earth who uses the word inebriation in text messages. Just saying ;) Rachel smiled and sent a quick reply. I know him from high school. It's a very long story. I'll tell you in the morning. She didn't wait for Erin to text back, just set her phone on the coffee table and laid down. She was dead tired, but after about fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, she realized this sleeping on the couch thing was not going to work. "Screw it," she muttered and headed back into her room. Jesse was kind of sprawled out across the bed, but he didn't even stir as she carefully pushed him to one side of the bed and climbed into the other. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was Jesse's peaceful, sleeping face.
That night, Rachel dreamed she was in her old room making out with Jesse on her bed. But suddenly the bed was sitting on a stage and all of Vocal Adrenaline and New Directions were in the audience, laughing as Jesse pulled away from their kiss and very nonchalantly smashed an egg in her face.