When she agreed, I took my keys and we went to my car, I opened the door for her and she smiled.

Her smile was so beautiful. She was so beautiful.

I went to the driver's side and opened my door, then I closed and we left.

She didn't say a word until I broke the silence.

"You can turn the radio on."

"Oh, ok."

She did it and the only voice we could hear came from the radio. Rachel was nervous, I could tell. I only saw her 3 times, but I felt like I knew her for years. She was really closed and shy.

I didn't care, I wanted to know her.

It took 10 minutes to pull over, her building was nice.

"Nice place."

"Thanks."

"My apartment is 2 blocks from here."

"Really?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah."

The awkward silence came back. She cleaned her throat and said:

"So.. I have to go, see you tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Okay. Bye Finn."

I waited for one kiss on the cheek or one touch, but it didn't come. She opened the door and took a shower. I was tired and needed a few hours of good sleep.

In the next morning, I went to the theater early, I saw Rachel and Quinn talking. The cast were cool, but those two were more.

We had a good cast, so everybody wanted to be there. The songs were perfect, so were the dance numbers. We'd kill this.

"We'll rehearsal now the Rachel's first solo." Ryan turned to her "it was perfect, don't get me wrong. I just want you to dance a little bit."

She nodded and the musicians started to play. Her solo was perfect, she had 3, but the first one was more emotive.

Her voice made me shudder and her moves were just lovely.

God, what was I thinking? In my 20 years of life, I've never felt this way. She moved me in some way I didn't know how to explain.

"Rachel, my darling, where have you been hiding? You're perfect! Great acting, perfect voice and you're stunning."

She blushed really hard and looked down.

"Now let's do Blair and Greg's duet. I wanna see love, chemistry. I know you got it."

I joined her on the stage.

"And remember: big kiss in the end."

Rachel choked and I looked at her.

"Excuse me, sr. Murphy?" she raised her hand.

"You can call me Ryan, Rachel."

She bit her lip and finally said:

"Well.. Ryan, I thought we only gonna kiss in the final."

"Yeah, but I changed my mind. I mean, after this duet, the tension is so big… they have to kiss, they need to. And after, you just stutter and run away."

"Okay." I nodded.

"But the rest.." she began.

"Baby, it's fine. If you read everything with this new kiss, it will make sense. Blair is nervous when Greg is around because she feels different."

"O-ok." She stuttered.

"You can stutter like that." He laughed.

I smiled and we prepared ourselves to the duet.

"One more thing."

We looked at Ryan.

"I don't like these technical kissed. They suck. I wanna see a real kiss, a real interaction."

"What?" I drowned.

"You'll kiss her. For real."

"Like… French kiss?"

"That's right."

"No way!" Rachel yelled.

"What?"

"I can't.. I just.. can't." then she ran away.

Rachel's POV

I ran to the bathroom and locked myself in there. I was shivering and crying, I felt like I was going to be raped again.

They couldn't do that, I couldn't kiss Finn.

There wasn't another option, I had to leave.

"Rachel?" I heard a knock on the door. "It's me, Finn."

"Go away." I said, between sobs.

"No, we have to talk."

"No, we don't!" I yelled "Leave me alone!"

"I want to help!"

"You can't help! No one can!"

"Please, open the door."

I shook my head.

"No."

"I won't move, I'll stay here until you open this door."

"Why you wanna help me?" I whispered, walking towards the door.

"Because you're my friend. And that's what friends do!"

"You saw me 4 times! How… we're not friends!"

"It doesn't matter if we saw each other 4 or a thousand times. I care about you."

"You.. do?"

"Yes, open the door."

I sighed and opened the door. When our eyes met, I melted.

He pushed me against his body for one hug.

Actually, the best hug I ever gad.

"You can count on me. Always."

I nodded, trying to stop crying.

"I'm here for you. We're friends, right?"

I smiled. In his arms, I felt really safe. More safe than ever.

And I needed someone like him.

"Finn, can we be friends?" I said weakly.

He smiled.