Tuesday afternoon found Rachel and Finn sitting in the living room of the Berry household.

"I didn't know you played the piano," Finn said in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had began after they both had taken a seat on the couch. He stared at the instrument with question.

"It's a recent development," Rachel explained.

"Oh."

Silence.

"So," Rachel began once she had her fill of quiet, "Mr. Shue wanted us to come up with ideas for Regional numbers. I've given it some thought, and I do know a little about what we should do. Obviously, because our performance has to last six minutes, we should do a combination of three related songs. We need a mix of tempos, also. So, the only way to arrange that would be to have a ballad, then an up-tempo number, and then close with something that's a mixture of both. The last song should be motivational and poignant. It needs to be something that we can all relate to so the true emotion can show through our musical performance."

"Sounds good," Finn nodded. He honestly wasn't sure what half of Rachel had just said meant, but he figured she would know about this kind of thing. Honestly the set list for Regionals wasn't the first thing on his mind.

"I suppose that the ballad needs to be a duet between the two of us," Rachel continued.

As her ramblings continued, Finn found himself less and less focused on what she was saying and more and more focused on why he had really asked if they could get together after school. He wasn't a complete idiot, Finn knew that he was only going to get so many shots at this, and waiting wasn't really an option considering there seemed to be a growing chance of someone else snatching her up. So, once again, he acted upon his first instinct and interrupted her with three words.

"I love you."

Rachel's reply was immediate and almost automatic, "I love Jesse..."

"You and Berry are getting pretty close," Puck commented lightly. Jesse and himself were lounging in Jesse's trailer waiting for him to be called to set.

"Yeah," Jesse nodded. "I guess we are."

"You guess you are?" Puck laughed. "Dude, you got her an audition for a freakin' TV show."

"She deserves it," Jesse responded indignantly. "She's really talented. You should have heard her run lines with me the other day. I haven't seen that kind of emotion out of an actress in a long time."

"Let's not forget that you hadn't even heard her act until after you booked the audition."

"I just had this feeling-"

"All I'm saying is that I've never seen you do anything this wussed-up for a girl. And as your best friend-"

"I've never said you're my best friend-"

"As you're best friend, it's my job to make sure that you don't make a complete ass out of yourself to a girl that might not even love you back."

"Puck that's – wait, did you just say love?"

"Um," Puck frowned. "Yeah."

"Love?" Jesse laughed. "Puck, I'm not in love with Rachel."

"I'm pretty sure you are, man. Puckzilla is never wrong."

"You thought the Colts were going to win the Super Bowl last year."

"Well, yeah," Puck sighed. "But only because Peyton Manning is beast."

"You thought that suggesting Jack Daniels as a name for my cousin's baby girl was a good idea."

"She only smacked me once. Twice if you count her husband."

"My point being that you've been wrong before."

"Dude-"

"And I can assure you I am not in love with Rachel Berry. We're just friends," the conviction with which Jesse delivered left no room for argument, and lucky for the both of them the Stage Director called Jesse to set at that moment.

Finn frowned, "Just last week you were telling me that you and him were 'just friends.'"

"Finn," Rachel addressed, though it was obvious her mind was in another place, "I think it'd be best if you left."

"Fine," he snorted and without another word he stormed out the front door.

Rachel didn't even think about how rude it was of him to slam the door, or how he had no right to be angry with her. Her thoughts were centered around what she had just blurted out.

I love Jesse...

Where did that even come from? What could have possibly made her say that out of all the different ways she could have let Finn down? It was crazy, stupid, and – unless...

No. No, she could not be in love with Jesse St. James! Sure, he was probably her best friend, but they hadn't known each other that long. And, yeah, he could be really sweet, but he was also overly confident. Sure, he seemed to understand her better than anyone else ever had, but... but-

"Oh my God," Rachel whispered. Suddenly it was all clear to her and her thoughts zoomed in on the one truth that she had been refusing to let herself see.

I love Jesse...

For the remainder of the evening, Rachel buried herself in school work refusing to let herself acknowledge what she had discovered earlier. She wasn't giving Jesse a second thought, but when her phone rang at eight she found that it wasn't something she could avoid forever.

"Hello?" She answered and waited for his voice to come over the line.

"Hey!" Jesse responded with enthusiasm and without detected the slightly off tone that she had used. "You said you'd call me after you met with Finn and tell me what songs you had decided on for Regionals. I figured you just forgot."

"Oh, yeah," Rachel said lamely. "I guess I did." She silently cursed herself for how stupid it made her sound.

"So..."

"What?"

"What songs did you pick?" Jesse expanded. "Are you okay? You seem a little out of it."

"No, no. I'm fine. Um... we actually didn't pick out anything."

"You're telling me that you were given the opportunity to develop the perfect set list by yourself and didn't come up with anything? I repeat, are you okay?"

"Our session was deemed unproductive due to a certain outburst that resulted in awkward tension that could have had an undesired outcome on said developing set list," Rachel hoped that her wording would keep him from asking for specifics.

"Wow," Jesse said. "What exactly did this outburst consist of?"

Rachel sighed but ultimately decided giving in would be easier than trying to divert his interest. "Finn told me that he loved me."

"Oh," was Jesse immediate response, but he quickly added more. "Oh. Wow... Um... What did you say?"

"I told him I thought it would be best if he left," Rachel replied. It was only a half lie... She did say that. She was only omitting what wasn't necessary.

"I'm sorry that happened... No wonder you seem kinda out of it."

"Yeah," Rachel nodded though she knew he couldn't see it. "It was just really unexpected. Just yesterday he was saying that all he wanted was friendship, and then today he just tells me that he loves me. I don't understand why he can't just make up his mind. I know that I don't want to pursue a romantic relationship with him, so why can't he respect that?"

"I get what you mean," Jesse agreed. "It seems like everyone has bought into some notion that guys and girls can't just be friends. I mean today Puck started talking about how I was apparently in love with you."

"Really?" Rachel responded with a forced laugh.

"Really. I had to explain to him that we don't have romantic feelings for each other. What's so weird about just wanting to be friends with the opposite gender?"

"Beats me," Rachel frowned though the false humor in her voice came through perfectly. "Listen, I've got a lot of homework to finish, so I have to go. I'll talk to you later though. Okay?"

"Um, yeah that's-"

But she had hung up before he could finish his sentence.

So that night a very emotionally stressed girl and a very confused boy went to bed 2,000 miles apart.

So now Chapter 11 has been completed...

And the drama can now begin:)

Thoughts?