I'm not a huge fan of this chapter, but it really had me stumped. I had no clue what to do with it, but it is kind of important to the story. Still, I hope you enjoy it!
"I'm so pleased you're joining us for dinner, Rachel!" Sharon exclaimed as a slightly rumpled Thad and Rachel climbed into her car. "Thad has been so quiet about you recently, but I'm sure that's because you were just focusing on Regionals! Your songs were fantastic dear, who were they by originally?"
"Um, they were our own original songs," Rachel replied, slightly bewildered by Sharon's chattiness.
"Your own?" Sharon repeated, slowly turning around in her seat to face Rachel. Thad reached over and squeezed her hand for support, wishing he had forewarned Rachel about his mother. To say she was passionate about music would be like saying that Rachel simply hoped to get into NYADA. Thad often found himself wondering how someone like his mother could marry someone like his father, a person who believed that music was only really good for quiet background noise. If Ed Harwood had his way, all three of his children would not have joined their school choir and focused more on their studies. It had been their mother who had convinced him that it would have no effect on their schoolwork, just like it had been their mother who had pushed for the music room to be built in their house.
"So creative! And your vocals were so beautiful dear; your voice is just made for Broadway!" Sharon eventually turned around in her seat and began driving towards the Harwood's home. Thad had been hoping he would be able to steal Rachel away for an hour or so in order for them to continue where they had left off in the hallway. Unfortunately for him, his mother and sisters had other plans. Thad should have seen it coming, to be perfectly fair. He'd had a narrow escape when he first introduced Rachel to his family.
"Family pictures!" the twins announced, guiding Rachel into a seat on the sofa. Thad collapsed onto an armchair, cursing his mother's love for documenting what seemed to be every waking moment of his younger years. Still, it could have been worse. The twins could have gotten out the family movies.
"You were such a cute baby!" Rachel cooed, staring at the photo album in front of her. Jenny and Dani giggled and continuing flicking through the pages, making sure they stopped at all of Thad's embarrassing photos. Sensing he wasn't going to be missed any time soon, Thad slipped out of the room and headed upstairs to get changed out of his school uniform. Even on another floor, he could hear the three girls giggling and shrieking, and even though it was at his expense, he still smiled. He was lucky to have a girl like Rachel, someone who his sisters took to immediately. And he was stupid for almost letting her go. He met his mother in the hallway as she emerged out of the master room his parents shared. She had some clothes in his hands, a mixture of Jenny, Dani and his mother's, from what Thad could tell.
"I thought Rachel might want to change," she explained, "I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable when we're all dressed like slobs."
Thad nodded, and went to walk down the stairs when his mother called him back to her.
"She's precious, Thad. Don't ever lose her, if you can help it."
Rachel loved how comfortable she felt around Thad's family. The Harwoods (minus Ed) and herself were all sat in sweat pants and hoodies, eating pizza (vegan for Rachel) and swapping interesting stories with them. Rachel had learnt more about their passion for music, and loved how knowledgeable Sharon was on the topic. Sharon also seemed to be one of the only adults, minus her dads, who didn't feel that NYADA was an unreachable goal for her. Most adults were like Ed, who only gave a reply they thought she wanted to hear. It wasn't difficult for her to work out that Ed wasn't a fan of music, namely because all the stories that had been swapped barely featured him at all.
"Can we go up to the music room? Please?" Dani begged. "We can all perform in there."
"I'm sure Rachel doesn't want to do that," Sharon began, before Thad cut her off.
"Rachel never turns down an opportunity to perform," he smiled, squeezing Rachel slightly. That was all the encouragement Dani and Jenny needed, they shot off into the room, with Sharon following them. Rachel went to follow them but was pulled back by Thad, who pressed a gentle kiss on her lips.
"I'm really sorry," Thad whispered, his forehead touching Rachel's. "I should have never spoken to you like that. You didn't do anything wrong, but I acted like you'd committed the biggest crime in the world. I'm such an ass. I even threw a book at Nick."
"You did what?" Rachel questioned, before bursting into a fit of giggles. That would explain the limp Kurt had mentioned when he filled Rachel in on the Warbler business she had been missing out on. Rachel's head filled with hilarious images of textbooks flying about Thad's dorm room, all aimed at Nick, which just made her laugh even harder.
"I'm trying to be serious!" Thad protested, before wrapping his arms around Rachel's waist and kissing her.
"Gross." Jenny announced, walking into the room. "We're all waiting for you."
Thad silently groaned, cursing his bad luck and his sister's awful timing.