A/N: Enjoy the chapter lovelies!
Rachel was sitting in her room intently studying her chosen song for the week when she heard a faint knock at her door, she glances up. It was no doubt one of her father's informing her dinner was ready.
"Enter!" She yells, expecting to see one of her father's walk in.
Finn Hudson was one of the last people she expected to walk in. She looks at him with wide eyes.
"What are you doing here?" She asks quietly and Finn looks around nervously.
"I wanted to talk to you." Rachel raises an eyebrow, he had barely spoken two words to her at school and now he was making a visit to her home. Something was wrong.
"About?"
"Us." He murmurs and Rachel looks at him confused but says nothing.
"Why?"
"I wanted to say I'm sorry about the whole Santana thing. I was just upset that you chose Jesse over me and Santana was just kind of there, I never thought she would tell you. Especially the way she did. I've seen how lonely you've been the past couple of weeks and I think that we should get back together."
Rachel stares at Finn with wide eyes. Once again here he was, asking to get back together. If it had been six months ago she wouldn't have even given it a second thought about saying yes. She thought he was the one but she was the same immature slightly star struck little girl anymore. She had grown since that moment.
"You broke up with me Finn." Rachel says quietly. Finn shrugs.
"I was just upset over the whole Puck thing, it brought back too many bad memories of Quinn-" Rachel raises her hand to pause him, Finn hurriedly closes his mouth and looks at her expectantly.
"I'm not Quinn. I will never be Quinn nor do I want to be. When are you going to realize this? Not every action I do has some ulterior motive like Quinn's often did. I feel this has always been the biggest barrier in our relationship. You could never look past the one you had with Quinn and how much she hurt her. I'm sorry Finn but I deny your request for us to date once more." Rachel said quietly, looking away.
Finn looked taken aback for a moment.
"Have you found someone else again?" He asks.
Not necessarily someone else, Rachel thinks but of course doesn't say this aloud.
"No I have not. I just need to be on my own for awhile. I need to find Rachel Berry again. I changed too much in our relationship Finn."
"Yeah but that was a good thing." Finn says, looking at Rachel.
"For you perhaps but not for me. I've always prided myself on never changing for anyone and than you came along and unlike our last romantic endeavour where you weren't as immersed into the relationship as I was and than after Regional's you seemed to be having as much fun as I did. I changed gradually for you, even changing my clothes, my hair and even my attitude. I want to find Rachel Berry again and become that person once more. You are unnecessary distraction in that enterprise. So once again Finn. I'm sorry but I will not get back together with you. You may leave now." Rachel explains, never once breaking eye contact with the tall boy.
Finn nods his head but doesn't say anything.
"I guess I'll see you in Glee club tomorrow then?" He asks.
"Yes you will." Rachel says nonchalantly, not looking at him as he walked out of her room.
Twenty minutes later Rachel was once again torn away from her musical studies to 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' ringing throughout the room. She picks up her bedazzled phone and smiles when she sees a message from Kurt.
Finn just told everyone what happened. Food after school? I'll pick you up
Rachel smiles to herself. When Kurt had been at McKinley they had never really gotten along but since their brief conversation at Sectional's they had surprisingly become quite close. Regularly having musical nights (and of course singing along with the songs), shopping days and lunch. Mercedes sometimes joining them also.
Of course, sounds lovely. What time?
She sat patiently waiting for a reply, which didn't take long. Rachel swore Kurt's phone was attached to his hip or something to that affect.
5 sound good? I know a good place for vegan
Rachel quickly wrote back.
Sounds good. See you then : )
Maybe tomorrow wasn't going to be so bad.
Kurt arrives at exactly 5 like he promised. Rachel was sitting on the front steps of her house, waving happily when she sees Kurt pull up the driveway, he was still in his school uniform and she can't help but think he looks like something out of The Sound of Music when he wears it.
When she gets into the car, Kurt looks at her chosen outfit with distaste. The bright red sweater with a rather large yellow duck resting securely in the middle, her signature plaid skirt and bright blue leggings.
"Really Rachel? How is it you manage to look like a toddler and an old woman at the same time?" He asks, arching an eyebrow. Rachel shrugs.
"I like these clothes thank you very much. If you remember correctly I was the only one who never made fun of you for wearing a kilt to school, so I believe you should do the same for my chosen fashion attire." Rachel stated. Kurt places his head down and says nothing.
"Touché." He mumbles under his breath before pulling out of the driveway.
Kurt hadn't been lying when he said the place was good for Vegan, usually there was only, on average, one vegan dish on the menu. This one had at least five, she finally decided on the Baked Lentil and Tomato Casserole.
"How do you not eat meat?" Kurt asks after he finishes ordering his Caesar salad with chicken breast. Rachel shrugs.
"My daddy is a strict vegan and he raised me that way. I've only eaten meat once and it was disgusting, all I could think of was the poor animal dying to satisfy my palate." Rachel explained casually before sipping on her icy water.
"Finn told me what happened last night. He seemed pretty upset." Kurt said finally, Rachel looks at him and than places her head down once more.
"He wanted to get back together and I rejected him. I didn't like the person I was becoming when I was with him."
"Everybody else did." Kurt said quietly, looking at the girl with sympathy.
She wasn't nearly as bad as everyone believed her to be.
"I'm not about pleasing everyone else Kurt. I have my dreams just as they have theirs and when I was with Finn, I was losing sight of those dreams. I didn't like it, everything I had spent my life working towards would have been in vain." Rachel explained and Kurt nodded in understanding.
"You are very talented Rachel but you don't need to inform everyone who comes into contact with you." Kurt said gently and Rachel shrugged.
"Without my talent, I'm a rather boring and bossy person."
"There was more to breaking up with Finn wasn't there?" Kurt asks, he knows the girl well and she wouldn't just reject Finn without having more reason behind it.
She wants nothing more than to tell him that she is speaking with Jesse again but she knows Kurt would no doubt get angry and call her stupid (the boy was very blunt) and for now, she wanted it to be her secret. She refused to let anyone else's input be placed into the relationship this time around. If she was going to pursue anything with Jesse, even if it was merely a friendship, she would do it at her own pace and her own way.
"No, there honestly wasn't. I just need to discover myself once more and I can't have any outside influences pressuring me to be someone I'm not." Rachel lied, placing a subtle show face on. Kurt looked at her sceptically for a moment before nodding his head.
"You know you can always talk to me right?" He asks and Rachel smiles at him.
"And the same goes for you Kurt." She says quietly.
This friendship game wasn't so horrifying after all, Rachel decided quietly to herself.
When Kurt drops her home, he promises to try and stay in contact more often. Rachel doesn't necessarily believe him but smiles and nods her head anyways. Promising that she will do the same (she really won't but it's easier to lie).
Her father's greet her casually when she arrives home. She kisses them both goodnight before bounding up the stairs, she can still hear her father's discussing their days at works. Usually she would join them and speak of the injustice she faces while in Glee club but not tonight, there is too much on her mind.
She finds one new message flashing annoyingly on her computer. She sighs and walks over, praying it isn't from Finn. He hadn't even glanced at her when he performed his song in Glee today (ironically Cryin' by Aerosmith).
Her heart flutters when she sees it from Jesse, she hurriedly clicks open. Wondering what he had sent her today. He hadn't written anything to her since she didn't reply to his last email. She isn't really shocked to find a downloadable ziplock.
It doesn't take long, she clicks open. It's all MP3's of him singing songs such as Hello, Total Eclipse of The Heart, Apologize, All out of love- and by the fourth song she has gotten the general view of the theme, she listens to each song numerous times, it was refreshing to hear his voice again.
The last time she heard it, it had been at Regional's and it hadn't be a sweet moment between them. She shakes her head, she didn't want to have her last memories of Jesse being bad, they had so many good moments together too. Despite what everyone told her, they didn't see Jesse when he wasn't around people.
He was caring, sensitive, kind, he listened to her like he really listened to her and would even add his own input into their conversations. He was the only person who ever truly knew what she was talking about half the time.
It made her heart hurt to think about him.
She clicks reply, taking in a deep breath before writing her reply.
He deserved that at least.
Jesse feels his heart sore when he hears the obnoxious sound of his email notification. He clicks open, his heart thumping annoyingly in his chest as he sees that is in fact from Rachel. Maybe his heartfelt ziplock had wooed her just like he wanted.
He reads over the message numerous times, his heart sinking more so each time.
I'm sorry isn't the hardest sentence someone can muster. I forgive you is.
He glances around his still practical bare room. There were a few photos scattered around the room, from his Vocal Adrenaline days but the most precious being the only photo he and Rachel had together. It was just before the Run Joey, Run incident, they had spent the day by the lake and she looked beautiful in the photo. So happy and relaxed in the photo. Two feelings Rachel rarely portrayed.
She had made him happy. More happy than he was willing to admit, she could always put a smile on his face, even if that smile was in disbelief at something she had said.
He regularly visited her Facebook page, she often updated new photos of her and Finn (something he always hated to see) but it wasn't the way her smile was forced in the photos, it was the way she looked.
She had bangs now. Rachel had told him, she would rather cut her luscious locks off rather than get the fashionably horrible bangs as she so pleasantly called them.
He can't remember the last time he saw her wear one of those god awful animal sweater or bright coloured leggings.
He watched her change before his eyes and he was powerless to stop it.
People no doubt thought he hated Hudson because he took Rachel from him (rather he handed her over to him on a silver platter with a cruel smile on his face) or that he believed he wasn't as talented as Jesse (which he was not!).
Yet it was neither of those things that made him hate Hudson so much.
Hudson was too dumb to see an amazing thing when it was front of him.
And when he finally got that amazing rare creature.
He changed it.
If there was one thing Jesse was proud of in his relationship with Rachel it was he never made her change or wanted her to. She was just perfect.
Even if Rachel couldn't see it. Jesse could.