Singerella
Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd be writing for FOX, not FANFIC...I'd also be writing from somewhere on a warm sunny island...ideally my OWN island...which would have it's own smaller island within it. An island within an island people...imagine the luxury.
Chapter 10
Jesse was driving back to the Fabray's after a lunch meeting in town. He had met up with his old agent for lunch and they had discussed the changes in both of their careers. Jesse was happy to be able to report that his was seemingly on the up-an-up. He as becoming a well-known name to Broadway A-listers. The dream was his to lose. His agent had also made him privy to some interesting news. Shelby Corcoran (whom he was now lucky enough to consider a friend) would be coming to Ohio at the end of the summer as a gust judge for a Nation-wide singing competition. Jesse couldn't wait to meet up with her. They exchanged e-mails and spoke on the phone occasionally, but Shelby hadn't mentioned a stop in Ohio, he would call her tonight and find out more!
He turned the corner, glad of the extra height his SUV afforded him as he splashed through yet another large puddle. It had been raining for two days straight and the ground was saturated. His windows were fogging up in the downpour though, so he was forced to have his window open a crack. He heard a strong female voice coming from somewhere out in the terrible weather so he lowered the force of his windshield wipers and spotted a long figure in the distance pushing a loaded bicycle. As he drew nearer he recognized both the song (Don't Rain On My Parade – the irony of song selection amused him) and the figure (none other than Rachel Berry herself).
He slowed down until he was crawling beside the sopping wet girl and rolled down his window "Miss Berry", he said conversationally, "Can I offer you a ride?" He smirked slightly, sure that this would offer him the opportunity to find out more about the mysterious girl. "No, thank you, I am perfectly all right", she responded to his shock barely turning her head to look into the vehicle and somehow managing to look both poised and like a drowned rat at the same time. Jesse was shocked as she kept walking and so he decided to appeal to her talent. "You can't keep walking in this weather, you'll ruin that gorgeous voice if you catch a cold". With that, Rachel stopped short, so much so that a few packages teetered precariously on the bicycle. She spun around, staring at him through the window with a shocked expression on her face, one that quickly morphed into censured indifference, "I don't know what you're talking about" she said guardedly, shocking Jesse when she calmly continued walking. "How can you say that, there's no one else around, you have a great voice, Rachel, how come you never sing at home? She stopped short again, causing him to have to jam his foot onto the brake. She turned and looked him straight in the eye, grabbing onto the open window ledge to pull herself to her full height, the rain streaking down her face from the whorls of wet hair that surrounded it. "Look, Mr. St. James, I don't know what you heard, or what you thought you heard, and I don't car. It wasn't me. I can't sing, you were mistaken, and no, thank you, I do not need a ride. I much prefer to walk". And with that she started off purposefully with a quicker step. Jesse rolled up his window and drove away, a perplexed expression on his face. What had just happened?
0o0o0o0o0o0
Jesse didn't see Rachel very much for the next few weeks. It seemed whenever they were about to be alone in a room together she would suddenly have something 'terribly important' to do elsewhere and disappear. It seemed as if Puck was in on it too, he always seemed to be around to provide Rachel with an alibi to leave. Not only was Jesse beginning to despair of ever confronting Rachel about that rainy day, he was almost beginning to believe he had dreamed it up entirely. Then, one Sunday morning Jesse had been feeling ill and had decided to stay home from church. He was wandering into the kitchen looking for a snack mid-morning when he heard it. Her beautiful voice. He snuck into the kitchen, hiding behind a closet door as he listened to her, oblivious to his presence as she stirred the pot that would becoming the Sunday afternoon stew.
He snuck up behind her just as she was reaching the climax of the song, singing into the spoon with her eyes squeezed shut in emotion. He marvelled that even singing a pop song like Firework her voice was exquisite. He cleared his throat and she instantly paled and dropped the spoon with a clatter looking up at him. "You can't say anything you have to promise me, oh God he'll throw me out...after he kills me!" Jesse laughed at her theatrics until he realised that she was being serious. She actually was deathly afraid of him revealing her secret. "Who would? What are you afraid of, Rachel? You're voice is stunning, you could really make something of yourself" Rachel was shaking her head before he'd even finished speaking. "No, No, you don't understand. You have to please, please promise you'll not speak of this to anyone. I'm serious Jesse, I'll, I'll do anything. Just, don't tell ok?" Jesse was mortified to see that the young girl was almost shaking, with tears flowing down her face. He moved towards her, placing a comforting hand on her upper arm, wincing when she flinched away in fear, but still standing her ground and looking him in the eye. "I won't ask you to tell me why, now, Rachel. But I hope you trust me enough to talk to me about it some day. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me".