A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry for the long wait. I've been super busy with pretty much everything at the moment as well as writing my two other stories. I hope to update all of them soon though since I am on spring break. Anyways, please read and review to let me know what you thought of it. Happy reading!
Rachel arrived home that night with a true smile on her face. She couldn't have been happier with how her date had turned out with Will. It was like he could understand her no matter what and that was something Rachel always looked for in a guy. Will was the one person that she knew she could count on and would always be there for her, other than her dads of course.
High school boys didn't know how to be with women, Rachel realized, as she thought about her relationships with Finn, Puck and Jessie. With Will though, it was different. It was everything she had always hoped for when she thought about what kind of man she wanted to be with emotionally and physically. It may have been a rocky start for them, but after tonight, she knew they could be together as long as they were fully committed.
When Rachel pulled into the garage still in deep thought about her night and their future together, she noticed that her dads were home. Their green Subaru was in its usual place and Rachel pulled in next to it. She wondered how long they had been home and if they wondered where she had been.
She took a minute in her car to think of a lie if one needed to be told. This was the hard part about the relationship, Rachel noticed as she sat in the front seat contemplating what to say. Lying was not something she did but since she had begun this relationship with Will, it seemed like lying was all that she did. She knew it was necessary though to keep them safe, even if it meant lying to her dads.
When she had her excuse and composer, she slipped out of her car and walked in through the door that connected the garage to the kitchen.
Rachel sighed happily as she saw no sign of her dad's. She heard the dull roar of their TV and new that they were already in bed. She walked up the stairs and peeped through the door. Her dad Hiram was asleep but Leroy was still awake. He noticed Rachel peeking in and motioned her inside.
"Hi sweetie," he said quietly.
"Hi dad," Rachel said as she lent down and gave him a hug. "How was your night?" Rachel asked before he could ask of hers. She always hoped that it would be a distraction and that he would forget to ask what she had done for the night. However, it almost never worked in Rachel's favor.
"It was good. We had a nice time at dinner with our boss," Leroy said. "We are having him and his wife over in next week," he said happily.
"That's great," Rachel said, happy that her dad's had a good time.
"How was your night? Where were you out so late?" Leroy teased. He, for the most part, had forgiven Rachel when she had broken curfew at the party. He understood how teenagers were and knew that Rachel was just trying to make friends.
"Oh you know, just had a movie night with Kurt and Mercedes. The usual," Rachel said as casually as she could.
"That sounds like fun," Leroy replied, taking in no notice of her nervousness.
"It was, we are really getting along well," Rachel said. This was true. She was better friends with Kurt since he came back to McKinley and her and Mercedes were going to discuss the upcoming event of prom soon.
"Good, I'm glad. I'm glad you have friends you can hang out with, Rachel. You know, me and your daddy worry about you sometimes, especially after Finn broke up with you and when you went to that wild party," Leroy explained. "It was like you weren't even you."
"But thank goodness for Mr. Schuester," he added while Rachel froze in terror. Why would her dad bring up Will? Did he know something she didn't? She didn't think that was possible though as she never mentioned him at home other than glee related issues. She calmed down though when he began to speak again. "You're lucky to have a teacher like that, Rachel," he said. "One who cares so much about his students. Not all teachers are like that," he explained.
"Yeah, Mr. Schue is great," Rachel said keeping her personal thoughts about Will to herself. She instead went with a more simple reply that added more to her father's thoughts about the man she had just spent the entire evening with.
"Anyways, we're glad you are over Finn and are happy," Leroy said while he patted her hand.
"Thanks, dad, I am truly happy," Rachel said with a smile because she really was the happiest she had been in a while and it was all thanks to Will.
"I'm glad to hear," Leroy said as he looked over at Hiram who was still sound asleep next to him.
"Well, I better turn in before your daddy wakes up and is cranky. You know how he can be when he doesn't get his rest," Leroy said with a soft chuckle. Rachel nodded and leaned down for a hug goodnight.
"Goodnight, dad," Rachel said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Goodnight sweetheart, have good dreams," Leroy said with a smile.
Rachel smiled at him and left the room. She smiled at the fact that her conversation with her father ended up not being as horrible as she thought it would be. She knew Leroy was always the parent that was less strict with her and had an easier going personality than Hiram. If he had been awake it would have been a game of twenty questions on wondering where she was.
She knew she would get further questioned about it in the morning but for now, she was going to do her nightly routine and get ready for bed.
The rest of the weekend for Rachel was filled with quality time with her father's as well as cute, discreet, texts to Will. He had reassured her to meet him in his office Monday before school so they could talk about the rest of their weekend and the fact that Will had mentioned to her how much he missed her in his arms.
She smiled at his eagerness to see her and her heart swelled at the thought of him missing her. She was glad that his feelings for her were just as strong as she had for him.
Monday morning rolled around and Rachel quickly got ready. What was normally an hour or more of her getting ready, only took about a half hour. She planned to be at Will's office before him to surprise him.
She quietly snuck downstairs but was caught by Hiram.
"Where are you going so early, Rachel?" he asked confused. It was only 7:15. He knew Rachel's routine just as well as she did.
"Emergency early glee club practice, you know because nationals is coming up," Rachel said excitedly.
"Oh. Mr. Schuester sure likes to get you kids up early," Hiram chuckled. "This is the second time in the past couple of weeks," he added, remembering that Rachel left early a couple of days ago as well.
"Yeah, we want to be more prepared. It's only a couple of weeks away and we need more rehearsal time than just the afternoons," she explained.
"I wish we could see the performance, Rachel, but you know me and your dad will be away for business that weekend," Hiram said with a frown.
"I know, it's okay. I understand," Rachel said. She honestly was happy though that her parents weren't coming along. It meant that she could have more alone time with Will, only of course when they were done focusing on the group and the performance.
"Well have a good day honey," he said as he kissed her cheek. Rachel smiled at him and gave him a hug in return.
"You too," Rachel said as she finally headed towards her car in the garage.
The drive to school only took fifteen minutes today because of Rachel leaving earlier. The traffic was less than what is usually was because everyone was trying to get to school on time. Now, she was practically the only one on the road.
She pulled her car into the student parking lot and noticed that Will's blue clunker was already there. She smiled at his punctuality and quickly got out of her car. It was only 7:30. They had at least a half hour before the first bell.
Rachel decided to skip her locker to save time and headed straight towards Will's office. She walked in through the choir room and knocked on the door to his office.
Will immediately opened it and moved out of the way so Rachel could step in. He shut the door and proceeded towards his desk, stopping by Rachel to give her a kiss.
"Hi beautiful," Will said as he kissed her lightly on the lips, completely forgetting they were in his office and on school grounds. He just couldn't help it when he saw her and it was like he couldn't tell what was right or wrong anymore.
"Hi," Rachel replied, happily running her hand along his strong jaw line.
"How was the rest of your weekend?" he asked curious to know what she did.
"Pretty boring actually. I spent some time with my dad's, which was nice because we haven't done anything together in a while but nothing else. What about yours?" Rachel asked as she leaned on the front of his desk.
"That sounds nice. I didn't really do anything special either. I tried to think of songs for nationals, but nothing is popping up at me," Will stated as he moved to the space in between her legs, grabbing her hands gently in his.
"Well, I'm sure you will think of something and maybe a song that could give me a solo?" Rachel asked sweet and innocently. She smiled at him with her chocolate brown eyes but Will didn't cave.
"How about I think about it?" he said with a mischievous grin on his face, knowing that she was probably disappointed he didn't automatically give her one.
"Will!" Rachel said as she was about to complain, but Will thinking fast, cupped her cheek with his right hand and kissed her on her lips. Rachel smiled as it was a long and tender kiss.
"Let's not talk about nationals anymore," he said as he broke away from her. He gently maneuvered her towards him to where she could wrap her hands around his neck.
"I couldn't stop thinking about you all weekend," he said as he began to plant hot, heated, open mouth kisses against her skin. Rachel couldn't help but let a loud moan escape out of her throat. His lips were dancing across her skin, leaving hot, tingling, spots behind. It made her shiver for more.
"I missed you too," Rachel said as she clutched onto the collar of his shirt for support. Will then began moving his lips further down, to where they eventually met with her collar bone. He used his lips and teeth expertly as he began to lightly bite at her skin. He found her sweet spot and Rachel let out a gasp in surprise.
"Will," she muttered out through the dazed pleasure she was feeling. She began to move her hands until they were at Will hips. She grabbed onto them gently and pushed him forward into her. He let out a small grunt at the friction that was caused between them and Rachel smiled at him.
It amazed her at how comfortable they were doing this in his office, on school grounds. A couple of weeks ago she would not have believed it if someone had told her that her and Will Schuester would be fooling around in his office. Yet, here they were, so wrapped up in each other to notice what they were doing or where they were. The rules they made at the beginning of the relationship seeming to have disappeared.
"Do you have any idea what you do to me?" Will gruffly asked as he returned towards her lips. As soon as Rachel had parted her mouth towards his, he slipped his tongue inside and soon both tongues were tangling together for dominance.
Rachel couldn't respond but she was happy to know that he had the same reaction to her as she did to him. They were in such a state of need and desire for each other that all she could do to answer him was pant and moan. He seemed to be in the same state.
"Damn, the bell's going to go soon," Will said as he noticed that the clock on the wall was about to strike 8.
"Just a couple of more minutes," Rachel said eagerly. She wasn't done with Will yet and she didn't want to be left wanting him all day. The feeling in her stomach was strong and gave her butterflies but she knew it was because she was turned on.
"Rachel, we can't," Will said with all the strength he could. He needed to stop them before a student came to talk to him about a Spanish assignment, or before Emma came to ask him how his weekend was. They were all possible options that could happen once the bell actually had rung.
"Okay, fine," Rachel said as she lingered on his desk, not wanting to get down yet. She leaned forward and gave him one last kiss. This one however, was slow and passionate, rather than a hungry need for each other as the previous one's had been.
"See you in Glee club?" Will said when they finally broke apart.
"Of course," Rachel replied back with a mischievous grin on her face. She hopped off his desk and straightened her shirt. She combed out the parts of her hair that had formed tangled knots and made sure that nothing seemed out of place. She noticed Will fixing his shirt and adjusting his collar. He gave her a grin as he waved goodbye to her when she slipped out the door.
The bell had rung as Rachel was walking into the hallway. She headed off to first period English, which she forgot she had with Noah. She internally groaned to herself at the thought of what he was going to ask her about their date. She knew Noah, and if anything his questions were going to be filled with crude sexual content.
Before she headed to class though, she ran into Finn in the busy hallway. She hadn't talked to him much since the nose incident and felt kind of bad for ignoring him. It wasn't that she did it on purpose, but he was dating Quinn and she didn't like the glares she received from her whenever she walked by them.
"Hi, Rachel," Finn said as he greeted her.
"Hi, Finn, how are you?" she asked, curious to know.
"I'm doing okay. I've been ordered by Quinn though to start campaigning for prom king and queen," Finn replied with what looked like to Rachel, a frown.
"You two are running?" she asked in surprise, although it shouldn't have come as one. Finn and Quinn were the most popular couple in the school now. It was almost a given that they would win the title.
"Yeah, I'm not really into it, but I know Quinn will go crazy if she doesn't win the crown," Finn explained with a look of dread on his face. Rachel almost felt bad for him but remembered that he was the one that decided to get back together with her.
"Well good luck I guess," Rachel said unsure of what else to say. She didn't know what to think of the situation. She didn't dwell on it though as Finn wasn't her main priority anymore, Will was.
"Thanks. Well I have to go or Quinn will think I'm not campaigning hard enough. I still have to put all these stupid posters up and give out pins and stuff," Finn said as he looked down at the stack of posters in his hand.
"Right, I'll see you later in glee I guess," Rachel said as she smiled at him and continued on her way to English. Once in English, Rachel took her normal spot in the front, with Noah a few seats away from her.
"Hey Berry, how did it go Friday?" Puck asked with a smirk on his face. Rachel rolled her eyes at him and began to explain that nothing happened with what he assumed happened.
"Good actually," she responded. The less detail she told Noah, the less she didn't have to worry about it spreading around the school.
"Did you use it?" Puck asked with a mischievous grin.
"No, Noah. I told you he isn't like that," Rachel explained yet again that Will was willing to wait for her.
"Okay, okay. So what did you guys do then?" he asked. However, Rachel didn't get to respond as their English teacher walked in and began to start the lesson.
"We'll talk about this later," Rachel said quietly although she didn't know why. She wasn't even supposed to be talking about Will to anyone let alone Noah. She remembered their number one rule was that no one else could know about their relationship, but seeing as they broke the no kissing at school rule, maybe it was okay. Noah, after all, was the one to tell her to go for him in the first place.
She knew though, that she would have to tell Will about Noah sooner or later, or else he would be furious that he wasn't told the truth. Lying didn't sit well with Will after the Terri incident so Rachel knew she had to do it soon, before he found out any other way.
Rachel sat through the rest of English in silence as the class finally ended. She headed off in the direction of her locker with Noah close behind her. She wanted to avoid him at all cost and get to lunch like everyone else, but she failed to get away from him.
"Come on, Berry. Just tell me what happened and I won't ask any more questions," Puck begged. Rachel wondered to herself why he was so interested in knowing about her love life anyways. It wasn't that interesting seeing as he already knew the extent of her intimate encounters with Will.
"I can't, I'm sorry. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you about him anyways," Rachel explained in a hushed tone. The hallways were crowded, which meant that anyone could be listening. She didn't want another rumor outbreak like the last few weeks had provided with the school paper. Thankfully, she and Will were not a victim to its gossip, unlike almost everyone else in glee club.
"He doesn't even know that I know?" Puck asked in confusion. He would have for sure thought that Rachel would have told him right from the start. He knew that she didn't like to keep secrets and he knowing seemed like a pretty big secret.
"No, he doesn't and I'd like to keep it that way, for now anyways," Rachel stated. "He would not be happy if you knew and I don't want to ruin this just because you found out about us," Rachel added, while Puck processed what she just told him.
"Okay, I get you," Puck finally responded. "But I did help you remember?" he stated.
"Yes, you did. Thank you for giving me the confidence Noah, but I can't tell you anymore," Rachel finally said.
"Alright, alright, I get it. Well there's Lauren. I need to talk to her about prom over lunch. Did you know we plan on running for the court?" he asked with a smile.
"First Finn and Quinn and now you guys?" Rachel asked in surprise. Two couples running and both were in the glee club. She never thought that would have happened since glee was still on the bottom of the food chain.
"Yep, Lauren wants to win and shove it in Quinn's face so I'm going to help her. She can't do it without me," Puck said with a smirk as Lauren approached him and grabbed his arm.
"Well good luck," Rachel said again for the second time that day.
"Thanks, see you later Berry," Puck said as Rachel watched them walk away, hand in hand. She sighed to herself at the thought of everyone running for the prom court. It wasn't that she necessarily wanted the crown but more to be recognized by others. She was tired of being on the bottom of the chain and glee being treated like losers.
It didn't help either at the fact that Rachel suddenly realized she would be attending prom alone. It wasn't like Will could be her date and a chaperone at the same time. She however, just wished that she could at least dance with him. She knew though that her and Will could only be out in public if it was glee related and if everyone else was there.
Rachel, however, understood the sacrifices each had to make in order for their relationship to work. For her, prom was one of those sacrifices and it seemed pretty small compared to what Will had to lose.
"Hey Rachel," Kurt said as he approached her by her locker. His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned her attention to him.
"Is everything okay? You look like a lost puppy," he said with a slight, amusing, chuckle.
"I'm fine, really," Rachel said putting her acting skills to the test and returning to her usual smiling self.
"Well good, so how was your weekend?" he asked changing the subject, seeing she didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering her.
"Nothing special, just stayed in mostly. How about you?" she asked back.
"Blaine and I went and saw a community play of the Sound of Music," Kurt said happily. "It's kind of our thing," he added.
"That's great. I'm really happy that you and Blaine are together," Rachel said with a smile. She was glad that her friend had finally found someone that he could be happy with. She knew life at McKinley was tough on Kurt with the bullying, but since he was back, it seemed not as bad. Maybe it was because he had Blaine for support. She knew what that was like with having been with Will.
"Thanks, we are getting along really well," Kurt said happily.
Rachel nodded at him in understanding and then returned to her sullen look. She hoped Kurt wouldn't notice, but he did.
"Listen Rachel, I know it must be hard to see Finn with Quinn together again but you can do so much better than him," Kurt said to her with a half-smile, trying to make her feel better about being alone.
"How can you say that about your own stepbrother?" Rachel asked in amusement.
"Trust me, I love Finn like family but he's not right for you," Kurt explained. "You need someone who can keep up with you and treat you like you deserve," he added. "Finn's selfishness doesn't cut it," he finished.
"I know, but it's just hard you know?" Rachel said playing into his assumption about Finn. She couldn't tell him about Will so she had to play along that she still had feelings for Finn and was upset about being with Quinn. "I am happy though, Kurt, really" she added to let him know that she was okay and that he shouldn't worry.
"Well okay then. Why don't we have lunch together today?" Kurt asked as he watched Rachel load her books into her bag.
"Okay, maybe we can find Mercedes as well and talk about prom," Rachel said as she finally grabbed her lunch.
"Yeah that would be great. We can discuss what we are going to wear," Kurt said enthusiastically but was cut off by a familiar voice coming down the hallway.
"Hi, Rachel, Kurt," Will said to them as he came around the corner, heading towards the teachers' lounge. Rachel noticed he had his lunch in hand as well. She longed for the days were they could eat lunch in public without anyone staring at them.
"Hi, Mr. Schuester," Rachel said as normally as she could. She couldn't help but smile though as she saw him wink at her. It was just subtle enough to where she would see it and Kurt wouldn't.
"Hi," Kurt said with a wave.
"Having a good day?" he asked as he finally reached them.
"The usual," Kurt responded.
"Same," Rachel said.
"Good, see you both in glee club later. I got some errands I need to attend to during lunch," Will said as he waved goodbye. His eyes lingered on Rachel's a little longer than they should but Kurt didn't seem to notice.
"Bye," Kurt said as Rachel added hers in as well.
Rachel watched him walk away towards the teacher's lounge and couldn't help but stare at him. He was so fit and attractive that his body was hard not to look at.
"Rachel? Hello?" Kurt said as he waved a hand in front of her face. "Ready to go?" he asked her.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just distracted by something," Rachel said as she turned to join him down the hall.
Lunch had been peaceful with Kurt and Mercedes. Their discussion of prom made them more excited for the event, except for Mercedes. Rachel noticed that she seemed upset but didn't want to mention anything to her and embarrass her.
After lunch, they parted ways and went to their last afternoon class. The last class of the day always went slowly but today seemed extra slow. Maybe because Rachel was dying to see Will in glee club because she hadn't seen him since lunch.
The class finally ended though and she quickly made her way to the choir room. She walked in to notice several members already there and more trickling in behind her. They all talked while they waited for Will.
It was ten minutes into rehearsal when he finally came in.
"Sorry I'm late guys. I had to speak with Figgins about glee club," Will explained as he took his spot in the front of the room.
"Nothing bad I hope?" Tina asked.
"No, actually. He wants us to perform at prom," Will said with a smile, thinking the others would be happy about this.
"You lie, that is bad news," Puck groaned in the back. "We want to dance and enjoy our dates," he added while several other members agreed.
"I know guys, but he is paying us to perform. That money goes to our trip for nationals," Will explained. "We need the money." Silence passed as everyone began to agree that performing at prom was what was best for nationals.
"Okay, so, here's what I want this week's assignment to be," Will said as he turned to the white board. He wrote prom in bold letters across the board.
"Find songs that fit the prom scene. Love ballads, dance songs, anything that fits to make the night even more magical," Will explained. Some excitement started to flutter around the room as Rachel just sat there with the same sullen look she had on earlier. Will noticed and took note of it to talk to her later.
"To make this easier for you all, you are all going to decided who performs what at the dance and take shifts performing," he added. "There will be plenty of time to dance with your dates," Will said as he again looked over at Rachel. He hoped it wasn't noticed by the others though.
"Now get to work with song selection," he said as he broke his stare and wandered over to the piano.
In about thirty minutes, the group had selected enough songs to perform at the dance. Mercedes and Santana were going to sing some Abba and Sam, Artie and Puck were going to sing Friday by Rebecca Black. Rachel had chosen her song as well and decided it was going to be Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri.
"Great job today guys," Will said from the front. "We'll start working on these songs soon," he said as the group gathered their things to leave.
"Rachel, can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked at the piano. Rachel nodded at him and made her way towards him once everyone was gone.
"Are you okay, Rach? You seemed distracted during rehearsal?" Will asked with concern.
"It's nothing, really. I just wish you could go to prom with me as my date and not my chaperone," Rachel told him as Will took her hand in his, holding them gently.
"I know, and I know this must be hard for you to see all your friends with dates, but I'm still going to be there," Will said trying to make her see the light of the situation.
"It won't be the same though. I can't dance with you out there," Rachel said as she tried not to let a tear fall down. She knew she was overreacting but prom was supposed to be special and for Rachel it didn't feel like it was going to be special.
"I can tell you this," Will started to say. "I'm going to do my best to make the night as perfect for you as possible even if I can't claim to be your date, okay?" he asked with hope.
"Okay, thank you, Will. You always try so hard to make me happy," Rachel said as she stroked his cheek in her hand.
"You deserve it, Rachel," Will said as grabbed her hand in place and held it against his face for a moment longer.
"I feel better now," Rachel said with a smile.
"Good, now let's practice your song," Will said as he sat at the piano. Rachel nodded at him and began to sing as he counted her off. Will watched in amazement as Rachel sang through it almost perfectly. He couldn't wait to hear it live at prom and that was just one of the many things that would make the night so perfect.