Chapter 10

The next week and a half of Rachel's last few weeks of summer being back in Ohio went by in a mixture of emotions. The first two days after her revelation and subsequent argument with Finn had left her feeling emotionally drained. Even though speaking with James on the phone afterwards had relieved some of that feeling she had, but Rachel hadn't been the same for a couple of days as she recovered. Her Dads left her to it, knowing that there wasn't much they could do to relief her heartache at losing her friend; but they ensured that one of them was always around in case she needed to talk. By the end of the week, she had started to feel herself after talking to Kurt and Blaine about it. James had noted she sounded much happier during their nightly conversations before she went to sleep. Rachel had told him that she was feeling better about the whole Finn situation and she was looking forward to him coming to Ohio the week after. He explained that he was flying into Akron on the Monday and was flying home on the Sunday afternoon.

"When are you coming to Lima?" She asked, as she sat in her bed twirling some of her hair in her fingers.

"Jake's going to drop me off on Thursday morning" He replied "We've got the rest of that day, Friday and all day Saturday together"

"Sounds great baby" She said smiling.

The two of them talked for a little while longer before hanging up. The following day she had met up with a few of the glee club kids as they were for a lunch at a pizza place at the Lima mall. She enjoyed talking and spending time with her friends; while she had gotten to know several of the kids at the programme while she had been in New York, she felt it easier to be herself around the people she had known for several years. As they left, they promised to meet up again before they went back to school and have some fun. Several of them where eager to meet James when he came to visit the week after, and Noah tried them into another party at his. Rachel had told him that she would think about it, but really she knew that she wanted to spend as much time with James on her alone; enjoying his company that she had missed.

Thursday night swung by and Rachel spent the day with her dads as they both had the day of work. The three of them went to the movies and had lunch before they went home as Rachel prepared her room for the night to follow. She, Mercedes and Kurt had yet to have one of their sleepovers since they had been back in Ohio and so that night the two of them came over to her house. A couple of hours later, and they were sat on her bed watching Dreamgirls. They were chatting about their plans for the week after; the last full week that they had before school started again.

"Me and Blaine are going to the community theatre to watch their show of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He goes back to Darlton on soon, so we don't really have that long left to spend together. Especially not now that I'm back at McKinley; there's so few chances to see each other during the week" Kurt said sadly as he ate some popcorn.

Mercedes squeezed his arm gently, "It'll be okay Kurt, you two have got the weekends and they invited phones for a reason"

"I know but it's hard not being able to see each other all the time" Kurt said sadly, and Rachel looked down at her lap biting her lip. Kurt seemed to have noticed and quickly made to apologize.

"Oh Rach, I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring it up" He said intertwining her fingers with his.

"It's okay" She said smiling, "He's coming to visit next week and I get to spend four days with him. it's going to be so much fun"

"Are we going to get the chance to meet him or are you keeping him to yourself?" Mercedes asked smirking, and Rachel blushed furiously.

"You're awful!" She said giggling.

"Please, you know exactly what she says is true…based off New York anyway" Kurt replied laughing.

"Behave you two" She said slapping his arm playfully, before sighing "To answer your question, yes you will get to meet him; that's why he's coming to meet my friends. Well, and to see me but I know his best friends and he only really knows Kurt so…"

"Are you going to bring him to Puckerman's party?" Mercedes asked eating some popcorn.

"I don't know…I mean; I didn't drink at Noah's last time and I don't even know if James drinks" She said thoughtfully, "He didn't drink at Callback's, but that doesn't mean anything consider that there were so many that didn't..."

"Plus you just want to spend time with him alone" Kurt replied nudging her shoulder teasingly.

"I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable if people are drinking" Rachel said shrugging her shoulders

"He'll be happy just to spend time with you and your friends" Kurt said smiling at her, and she nodded.

"I'll ask him about it" Rachel said smiling slightly.

"I can't wait to see this guy anyway." Mercedes said as they turned the attention from the film a few minutes later. "He sounds great and super cute for a white boy"

The three of them laughed. Kurt spoke still laughing gently "He's coming Thursday right?"

"Yeah he is, Jake is going to drop him off" Rachel replied, turning to Mercedes to clarify her confused expression "that's one of the guy from Vocal Adrenaline"

The three of them spent the rest of the evening talking as they watched a series of musical films, from the movies themselves to glee club and the ideas they had; and had been coming up with over the last couple of weeks as they had met up with the other glee club members.

The next day she and Kurt had spent the day walking around the mall shopping. In New York, she had trusted Kurt to help her buy some new clothes and that trend had continued while they had been back home in Ohio. They were walking out of one shop when they came across Finn walking alongside Puck in the mall; causing Rachel to stop in her tracks as the other two did the same a few steps away from her. Noah smiled at her and waved that she returned before the two guy walked away. Kurt put an arm around her shoulder and guided her to walking towards the coffee shop again. They ordered and sat down, and Rachel sat in silence still contemplating their encounter with Finn. They hadn't spoken since the argument they'd have, and even though she had gotten over it; seeing him again had been hard. Even when they had broken up the year before, they had still been comfortable around one another and had still talked friendly to one another. Suddenly having no contact with him, despite being so close to her in the same town, was strange and seeing that had brought those thoughts back.

"You'll two will figure it out" Kurt said comfortingly; "You'll be friends again, you're both just upset"

"I know" Rachel replied and smiled slightly "Do you think I should speak to him or let him come to me?"

"You aren't in the wrong" Kurt said reassuringly "He just needs to understand that you don't want to be with him but you still want to be his friend"

Rachel nodded and hugged him before they continued speaking for another couple of hours before they headed home. Later that night after eating dinner with her dads, she made her way upstairs for her nightly call with James. Smiling as she heard his voice, they talked about their days. He told her that he had a pool party with his friends due to how warm it had been in Oregon. She laughed as he told her that he and Matt had ganged up on one of his called Tom and thrown him in the pool that had spilled over into a full flown wrestling between them all. She started telling him about hers, and he was happy that she had spent the day with Kurt.

"I miss speaking with Kurt" James said sadly, "I feel bad I haven't spoken to him much since we left New York"

"It's okay, you'll get to see him next week" Rachel replied, "He's been busy enough spending time with Blaine, they've been practically inseperable. Like me and you were"

He laughed at her as she giggled with him, before he spoke again "What did you two get upto?"

"We went to the mall" She explained, and told him about how they had gone shopping to buy some more clothes and that she had picked out a few things she couldn't wait to show him. He complimented her saying that she looked great whatever she wore causing her to blush furiously.

"You're making me blush" She said biting her lip, and she could hear the smirk on his face down the phone.

"Only because you look gorgeous when you do" He replied, and she felt her cheeks redden even more.

"You should be banned from being this charming" Rachel teased, and he laughed at her again "Anyway…afterwards we were heading to get some coffee…and I we ran into Finn, he was with Noah"

"Are you okay? Did he say anything to you?" He asked concerned, they hadn't spoken much about what had happened after that initial night but he knew that she still upset at the fact her friend was talking to her.

"No, we just sort of looked at each other before they walked off" Rachel said softly.

"Do you miss him?" He asked calmly, and Rachel wasn't sure what to say.

"I do" She said softly after a few moments, and she heard him breath down the phone. "Not like that…but as a friend. I don't like him being upset with me, even if it was his own doing. He was my first real friend at McKinley…"

"I get it babe" He said truthfully. "I know you still care about him, its only natural. I'd hate it if my ex wasn't talking to me; she still knows what to say to cheer me up"

"You're amazing" Rachel said, "Other guys might be upset that their girlfriend is missing their ex"

"I know you two are done, Rachel" he replied "I told you before, I trust you completely and when you told me this summer I believe you"

"I trust you too you know" she said gently and he replied happily.

"I know" He said and she smiled at his words. "How are your dads anyway? I miss speaking to them more than Kurt, your dads are cool"

They both laughed and then she told him about how they were doing. Leroy had been working a lot since they had returned to Ohio; a side effect of his decision to ask for a month off to go to New York with his daughter and husband. Sure he had been working a little while they had been there, it was different than being around to deal with the meetings his position required. After another hour, he told her to give his Dad's his best and that he needed to help his mom clear up before bed.

….

The weekend sped past quickly, and the first couple of days of the following week did as well. Rachel mood drastically improved knowing that in only a few short days that James would be coming to visit her. She'd been happy the previous week after she dealt with the Finn situation, but she was truly glowing with a smile that never seemed to fade. After spending a few hours with Kurt and Blaine that weekend, they had both commented on the fact that she looked absolutely radiant; as her and Kurt shared knowing smiles before she blushed furiously.

The rest of the weekend was spend with her Dads, as they both had the days off work and they took the opportunity to for one of their family walks around a large park a couple of hours away before they went to a favourite restaurant of Hiram's that evening.

That Sunday night, James rung her from the airport telling her that he was going to flying soon and that he didn't have much time to talk to her. Although she was sad about that fact, she told him that it was okay because they would be able to see each other face to face in a few days. Asking her about her day, she told him about her walk with her dads and that she had spent the evening the preparing their guest room at her house.

"Already?" James laughed "I'm not even coming until Thursday"

"I know, but I'm so…so excited" Rachel giggled. "I just want to make sure everything is perfect"

"You are crazy" He said, and she frowned a little at it before he added, "And completely and utterly adorable. I can't wait either"

They spoke for about twenty minutes more before he had to go to board his flight and she was said at the shortness of their talk. They had spoken for a couple of hours most nights and that short twenty minutes made her feel as though someone thing was missing before she went to bed.

The first couple of days of the week passed by and Rachel spent much of the time with Blaine, Kurt and Mercedes hanging around at the mall or at either her or Mercedes' house. They could tell she was nervous about James coming, and they tried their best to keep her mind off the fact he hadn't called her since his plane had touched down at the airport in Akron; telling her from the back of Jake's range rover that he had arrived safely and was heading to his house now.

It was Tuesday evening now, and as she sat eating dinner with her Dad's and Kurt, who her Dad's had grown to love during their time in New York and had missed his presence and thus had invited him over for dinner, silently playing with her bean salad with her fork. She was listening to them talk about a song that was in the charts at the moment, and normally she would have taken part in the discussion but she wasn't much in the mood for talking. She hadn't slept as well as she normally did the night before as James hadn't called her. She would have called but she figured that maybe he would be tired after his flight and adjusting to the time difference. When he didn't call her in the morning, she couldn't help but feel a little bit down.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Hiram asked, and her head shot up to meet her Dad's concerned gaze.

"Yeah, you're not normally this quiet Rachel" Kurt added, smiling at her.

"I'm just thinking about something…" Rachel added, shrugging her shoulders.

"James?" Leroy replied, and she couldn't help but smile sadly and nod her head.

"Still hasn't called?" Kurt asked softly

"No…I know he's in Ohio but he hasn't called me since he landed…" Rachel said softly "I know that he's going to be here in a couple of days but I miss talking to him…"

"It'll be alright, he's probably just been busy seeing his friends. I'm sure he'll call sweetheart" Leroy added, and squeezed her shoulder. Rachel smiled nodding, resolving to getting involved in the conversation now.

Kurt stayed for another hour, and the four of them ended up heading into the room where they gathered around the piano singing show tunes and spending time having fun with one another. After he left, Rachel helped her dads clear up from dinner before heading up to her room sitting down at her desk to look on her laptop for a little while. While she was in New York, she had ensured to get all of the kids she had become friends with to exchange facebook details and become friends. She browsed subconsciously onto James' profile and saw that his last post had been a few days ago talking about how excited he was to see Jake and the guys from Vocal Adrenaline. She was about to log off and curl up in bed to watch a film when she got a message from Matt.

Hey Berry, hows it going?

Smiling, Rachel realized that she hadn't talked to him in over a week and she really did miss him.

Hey Matt, I'm fine. What about you?

I'm good, only a week left of summer and it's been awesome. Can't believe how much I missed my friends while we were in New York. Not that it wasn't awesome

She smiled. Me too, it's so good seeing them all again.

I'm surprised you're on here anyway. I thought you and James would be stealing makeout sessions away from your Dads.

We're not that bad. Rachel giggled, before sighing He's not here until Thursday. But I miss him.

Oh…haven't you just been talking to him. I know that he calls you to talk on the phone before you got sleep every night?

Not tonight She typed out, the pressure behind her eyes rising.

Did you get into a fight or something?

No…he's just not not called me since he landed

Oh…I'm sure you he's just been busy, he'll call you soon

I hope so, I miss talking to him before bed. She bit her lip

Don't worry Rachel, he'll call I promise. If he doesn't then I will call him tomorrow and kick his ass.

She couldn't but laugh at him, grinning that he was able to make it laugh. They spent another quarter of an hour catching up before Rachel stifled a yawn and decided she wanted to climb into bed.

Thanks for talking Matt, I missed talking to you. It won't be so long next time I promise.

I hope so, anyway my mom wants me for some help. I've got to help her out. Sleep tight Rachel.

Night Matt.

Turning off her computer, Rachel sighed standing and walked to her bathroom to get ready for bed. Half an hour later after her routine, she slipped in bed after turning on her TV with a copy of Funny Girl in. Placing her phone on top of the covers on her bed next to her, as she watched the film, smiling as it took her mind off not talking to James. As the film started to come to an end, her phone rang and sleepily picked it up answering it not paying attention to who the caller id was.

"Hello?" She said surpressing a yawn.

"Hey Rachel" James voice came down the phone, and she shot up in bed surprised as a smile crossed her face.

"James? Are you okay? You haven't called me since you landed" She said breathlessly

"I know, I'm sorry." He replied, laughing at her reaction and she couldn't help but giggle along with him

"Don't laugh at me it's not funny" She said smiling "I missed talking to you"

"I missed you two, but at least we're in the same state now" He replied, and she could hear happiness in his voice at speaking to her again.

"Have you enjoyed being here?" She asked, biting her lip. She wanted to ask him why he hadn't called but she knew he would talk to eventually. At the moment she was just glad that he called.

"Yeah its been great. I'm sorry I didn't call, but Jake's parents are away so he threw this party last night with his friends and I got distracted" He said apologetically. "I got up late this morning and didn't know what you'd be doing…I should have called you anyway"

"It's okay…I mean I was upset you didn't and I didn't know what to do" Rachel replied sadly, sniffing.

"I'm really really sorry, I promise I'll call next time" James said, "Please don't cry"

At his words, she sniffed again feeling the pressure behind her eyes. Nodding she gulped to control her feelings and forced herself to smile. "I won't, I was just worried"

They talked for an hour, reacquainting one another with what they had been upto the last two days. He told her that he'd been having fun with Jake and his friends at Carmel. She laughed as he told her about the aspects of the party. She told him about her dinner with her dads and Kurt, and how she had been bent out of shape being worried about why he hadn't called. Afterwards she told him about what Matt had told her, and they both laughed.

"I better watch my back, seems you've found yourself a big brother" James said still with humour in his voice.

"I'll protect you when you're here" She giggled. She heard him yawn "Tired?"

"Yeah, sorry" He replied, "I want to talk to you for so much more…but im really tired"

"It's okay, I'm actually in bed all ready to go to sleep" She said giggling. "Night Baby"

"Goodnight Rachel" He responded before hanging up the phone. Placing hers down her bedside cabinet and turning over in bed, sighing happily into her pillow; Rachel drifted off to sleep significantly happier than when she had gotten in bed.

….