Brody Weston was a nice guy. He was tall, he was reasonably good-looking, he was athletically-built and well-groomed. He was polite, chivalrous, and considerate. He played sports, but he was also a talented singer and dancer. He was generally well-liked, and people easily got along with him.

Save for Claire, most people Rachel knew who also knew Brody generally seemed to like him. He was involved in a lot of clubs around school, and was a popular upperclassman who was known for his reputation as being very approachable.

As a boyfriend, he was attentive, sweet and caring. He gave Rachel the time and attention she needed, and he wasn't out to monopolize her time. He took her out on dates; and he had passable knowledge on music and theater, enough to carry a conversation with Rachel.

He was a sweet guy, and a good boyfriend.

But even Rachel knew that it was a shallow assessment of Brody: she was well aware that she hadn't really been looking deeper.

Like the fact that his friends had given him a makeover when he first got to New York: she hadn't asked to see any of his 'Before' pictures. She had never wondered what had he been like in high school: Did he like growing up in Montana? Had he always wanted to go to New York? What had it been like, to grow up in Montana intent on growing up to become a professional dancer? They had shared childhood stories, but she didn't know who his favorite musicians were after he grew out of his Ace of Base phase.

She didn't know why he called up his mom and sister every week, only that he did. She thought it was sweet, but if she were to be asked how old his sister was, she couldn't say for sure.

And, of course, there was the unnamed ex-girlfriend. The girl who had dumped him not soon after they went to their respective colleges. There were obvious questions - Was there someone else? Did he see it coming? Had they been drifting apart even before? Was she the love of his life? Did he still have feelings for her? - but Rachel never bothered to voice them. Maybe as a defense mechanism to prevent Brody from asking her questions about Finn, or maybe to keep the girlfriend a vague shadowy figure from Brody's past. The point was, Rachel only knew Brody's high school ex-girlfriend as the girl who broke up with him out of the blue and had done it brutally enough that Brody was still wary of any serious romantic commitment, almost two years later.

Brody was a good guy.

And she knew he was a good guy because she had learned to qualify what made a person good or bad. She was, after all, friends with Noah Puckerman, who for all his good attributes, was still someone who slept with whomever he wanted for the sake of it, without any consideration for others' feelings. (She would never truly forgive him for what he did to Quinn, even if he had manned up enough to admit that he had been wrong there. And she still had him on friendship probation after she had learned he had slept with Shelby... Still gross.)

She knew Brody was a good guy because he had never really done anything to hurt her.

Yes, he had slept with Cassandra July even while knowing that she and Rachel were very adversarial, but then Rachel could understand why Cassandra had gone out of her way to crush Rachel - there was a thrill to achieving victory over a rival and Rachel could respect that as the reason why Ms. July had done it. Yes, Brody apparently also flirted and slept with a host of other girls while they had entertained the idea of a relationship, but that wasn't his fault: They hadn't really been together until Thanksgiving, and even then they agreed not to date exclusively.

They had agreed, after it had been revealed that he had slept with Cassandra July when Rachel had gone to Lima to watch Finn's directing effort of McKinley High's production of Grease, that they were both clearly not ready for anything serious, but that they did enjoy dating each other. Brody didn't want to hurt her, and Rachel didn't want the responsibility of helping him out of his relationship funk. They had agreed to keep things casual, to be able to keep their options open while continuing to see each other.

Then Claire spilled the proverbial beans and Jesse had given someone else red roses.

Put together, the two events had highlighted the flaw to keeping things with Brody 'casual'. It wasn't a serious relationship , but it was a relationship nonetheless. She hadn't realized until too late that despite the lack of any real commitment, her expectations on Brody had been the same as with any of her past boyfriends. She couldn't really be surprised he dated around - she had known how much of a flirt he was from the moment she had met him: it was how they had met. Thanks to Quinn, and some deep reflection on the train ride back to New York, Rachel recognized that his flirting with other girls had little - if at all - to do with her, and just him exercising his freedom to do so. She wondered if he would stop if she were to ask; she had a feeling that he would, but ultimately knew she wouldn't.

Because he was just a nice guy she had been dating.

There were no show-stopping duets in their future, no heated arguments and even more heated making up. They were not going to have extremely talented children, a shelf (shelves!) full of awards, or matching calendars (or very organized personal assistants) to ensure matching days off from very busy performing schedules.

That she didn't obsess over who else he could be dating or flirting with was as much of an indicator as anything else.

Brody Weston was a Nice Guy.

And ultimately, as far as Rachel Berry was concerned, that was all he was. And that was unfair to him, because there could be some other girl who cared enough to want him and care about him and give him enough of a commitment that would make him want to try.

That she cared less about that hypothetical girl than she did about a bouquet of thirteen red roses was telling.

So Quinn was right. Unfortunately.

She couldn't ask for answers from Jesse when she was technically still with someone else. Brody deserved better, and so did Jesse. If she wanted Jesse, she had to show him. And for all his faults, she knew that Jesse was honest enough to tell her whether or not he was actually dating someone else, or if he was still even interested in her.

If he had really moved on, then... well... so be it. She would like to think that she was big enough to accept it, but at the very least, she wouldn't still be stringing Brody along while pining for Jesse.

The question was if she was really ready to face all these life-altering decisions, knowing Finn was coming to New York. And the short answer was no. But as Quinn pointed out, these things had a tendency to escalate and explode in epic proportions, and with midterms coming up, Rachel needed to decrease the drama in her life.

Worst case, she trusted Quinn or Santana to have acceptable plans for Spring Break. (Quinn more than Santana, because she trusted Quinn to have ideas on how to have fun that didn't include alcohol or sex, and Santana was due to start work - finally - at a location the Latina refused to divulge.)

No matter.

First things first.

She had to get her priorities in order, and this needed doing first. Even if it had meant asking Jesse to skip their Monday session and getting a seemingly non-committal text message of "If it's important" back.

This needed to be done, even if the reaction she got from Brody was confusing.

"Okay. But... why?"

Okay? The word was confusing: they were breaking up, how can it be 'Okay'? But to answer his question, "I didn't realize that I wasn't as OK with you dating other girls as I thought I was." Which, while true, was just barely scratching the surface of the reasons why.

Brody looked at her across the table steadily. "If it's just that, I'm willing to try being exclusive. If you are."

She had wanted to do this quickly. Efficiently. Going against the very fiber of her being to draw it out and heighten the drama and instead cut to the chase, and not provide too many details.

Unfortunately, it turned out he was going to be scratching the surface.

Rachel straightened in her seat, and stopped herself from fidgeting with her cup of coffee.

They were in a coffee shop near the school, a quiet cafe with few people and decent coffee. Rachel liked their soy chai latte, but not enough to worry about causing a scene and not being able to show her face again. What that said about the coffee or her relationship with Brody, she didn't know.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't get it." Brody admitted. "Did I do something wrong?"

She was a ridiculous cliché. "It's not you."

He gave her a wry smile, recognizing how cringe-worthy she found that statement. "Really, Rachel?"

She didn't even have it in her to match his amusement, and merely sighed. "You didn't do anything wrong."

He only gazed at her, not saying anything.

"I thought I could handle a casual relationship." Rachel admitted softly. "I thought it was what I wanted, but I don't."

"But you don't want a serious relationship." Brody noted, his tone somber, as he watched her. His frown deepened when he saw Rachel's expression grow strained. "Or... you don't want one with me."

Rachel couldn't help but glance away at that.

"Is it someone else?" Brody asked curiously.

Moment of truth. Did she spare him his feelings or did she owe him the truth?

"I... I think there might be." Rachel admitted.

He paused, and Rachel knew he didn't know what to make of that answer. She just didn't know how else to answer without going into exhaustive detail.

"Is this because of that Finn guy?" Brody followed up.

Rachel was quiet. To be honest, the answer was yes - but not entirely. Finn was definitely a part of why she needed to break up with Brody, but he wasn't the reason.

Brody was silent, and Rachel assumed that Brody had taken her non-answer as a confirmation, because sometimes silence was a good enough confession.

Rachel watched him as he glanced out the window, letting the past few minutes process in his head. Her heart ached for him because she did care about him. Just... not enough. She wanted to stay friends - he had been nothing but nice to her - but that felt like it would be asking for too much to want to be friends as they broke up.

She startled when Brody suddenly stood up. "Brody?"

"I need to go." Brody said, digging into his pocket for money for their coffees. He placed some bills on the table, and paused before he turned back to her. "Just so you know? I wouldn't have left your phone calls and messages unanswered for two months. Nobody deserves that."

She watched him leave the shop after that statement. She didn't dare call him back for an explanation or even really wanted one, and instead she turned back to gaze at her cup of coffee.

She wasn't sure what to make of his parting shot: whether that had been a reassurance that she deserved better than how Finn had treated her when Brody had first learned about her ex-boyfriend, or if it was a jab at how she apparently now had a tendency to leave calls and messages unanswered to avoid a confrontation.

Either way the message she deserved was clear: Rachel Berry was better than this.