Chapter 33

"Yeah mom, I'm at …yes Mom" James tries to get a word in as his mom is bombarding him with questions down the phone; are you alright? Did you make it to Julliard? Are Matt and Lucy with you? He's always had a really strong relationship with his mom and always appreciated the way she treats him as her primary concern. It's nice, especially considering how his Dad has barely taken an interest in his life for the past seven years aside form "Happy Birthday" and "Well done for passing". But, Mom's are moms and at times when she is bombarding him with a million questions and being overly protective just because she's in Oregon and he's in New York; well she drives him crazy. "MOM I'm fine. Matt and Lucy are fine; we're standing outside the building now. I didn't get mugged, or beaten up; I'm fine alright?"

He barely hears Matt laugh next to him; shooting him a glare as his mom speaks again down the phone. "Okay sweetheart, I just want to make sure. My Baby is in that city all by himself and I don't want you getting hurt and don't even think about drinking"

"I won't mom" He replies with a smile at the fact she goes from worrying about to warning him in the same sentence. Honestly, he loves his mom and despite how annoying she can get he wouldn't trade her over protectiveness for anything.

"And you better behave; I don't like how you've been getting cockier since Nationals. Just because you won doesn't mean you have to show off in front of the rest of the people there"

James laughs down the phone at her and tries to defend himself that he hasn't, but if he's honest he has been enjoying nationals. He's always been popular at school, but ever since they won the school's first National Show choir title, his popularity has shot through the roof. If he was any other guy he would have loved the way girls have been practically throwing themselves at him, but he isn't like that. He's always respected woman, something about being brought up by his mom practically by herself and having an older sister as his two role models makes him turn away more offers of hook-ups than his friends think he should. Not that he doesn't enjoy flirting with them; Hey he's been single for 6 months and what guy doesn't let the attention get to their head.

"I won't mom, I promise" He ends up replying as she tries to lecture him more. "Yeah I love you too"

He hangs up and shakes his head, putting his phone back in his pocket before turning his attention back to his two friends. Matt has been his friend since…well forever really; they practically grew up together. Lucy, he's only known for four years but she's like a sister to him; they look out for each other. All three of them do.

"Andrea giving you a hard time?" Lucy asks with a small smile.

"The usual, make sure I don't do anything stupid…like I'd actually do anything like that" He replies rolling his eyes. "I haven't gotten into any trouble in my entire life"

Matt snorts, and he shoots him a smirk; the two of them very clearly remembering the time that they got in huge trouble with their parents for breaking into houses. Not to mention the broken windows and that one time they were almost arrested.

"Yeah, and I bet you're the President too" Lucy rolls her eyes before threading her fingers through Matts. "Come on, let's go inside"

He nods, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder as the three of them walk up the steps of the large building Julliard has arranged for them to meet at. As they push the doors open, they're greeted by a large foyer filled with students from schools around the country, all of whom want to apply to Julliard or NYADA next. Most of them won't get in, but its good experience. James has wanted to go to Julliard ever since the first time his mom let him watch a musical when he was eight; Hairspray. He'd been hooked instantly and ever since had wanted to be a performer. It took a little while for his father to agree, but his mom was amazing and convinced him that James was talented and should be allowed to fulfil his dream.

"Yo!" He hears a familiar call and spins around to see that familiar short blonde hair attached to the douche of the year. Smirking he pulls Jake into a hug the moment they get in range. He's known the Vocal Adrenaline guys for like two years now and not all of them are bad. Ever since Jesse St James has graduated they seem to be more open to actually being friendly.

When he pulls away, he hugs each of the girls from Vocal Adrenaline. They get talking for a few minutes catching up after the month or so since Nationals and he loves rubbing in the fact that the Scale Blazers are responsible for Vocal Adrenaline's first competition lose in nearly seven years. Jake punches playfully and they exchange more banter before him, Matt and Lucy have to go sign in and get their welcome pack to the summer course.

He stands in the line for a really, really long time behind Matt and Lucy but when he gets to the desk; he smiles, knowing that this is going to be totally awesome summer.

"Hi, What's your name?"

"James Agrisino" He replies watching as she runs her finger over the piece of paper in front of her until she finds it and crosses his name before looking up at him as she reaches and hands him a name tag and folder.

"Welcome to Julliard, Mr Agrisino. I hope you enjoy your time with us"

"Thanks and I'm sure I will" He replies, flashing her a smile before turning around. He expected to turn around, pick up his bag and go find Matt and Lucy. Instead…..wow

He comes face to face without the most beautiful girl he's ever seen before in his life. She's looking up at him and god her eyes made him feel weak at the knees. Her eyes were the most expressive he'd ever seen and he could easily get lost in those deep brown eyes. She had a small smile on her face and he had the urge just to lean down and kiss her.

They stared at each other for several moments and he couldn't get his mouth to work. He wanted to move his lips and say something to her, ask her what her name was but he was floored; not able to break contact with those amazing eyes.

"Yo James, you coming bud?" He heard Matt's voice and both him and this girl turned to follow it before gazing back at each other.

"Nice to meet you" He whispered, bending down to pick up his bag as he slung it over his shoulder and walked away from her. Nice to meet you? What a complete idiot; Why didn't you ask her name

"Who was that?" Matt asked as he fell in step next to him.

"I dunno, some girl" He replies non committedly instead of blurting out how amazingly beautiful she was. He didn't know who she was, but he was going to make sure he saw her again.

…

Rachel has been having a great week. It's the Thursday of James first week in Ohio and she has honestly has been loving every single moment of it. Their routine is lovely, she wakes up in his arms in her room and they spend a few minutes saying good morning with their lips before they take it turns to shower first. After getting dressed and refusing to allow herself to touch him as he walks around her room with his chest exposed they go downstairs and have breakfast with her Dads and his mom. The two of them go to school together and now after a couple of days; he's got a grasp of the school and where classes, James has insisted upon walking her to class now, leaving her with a soft kiss on the lips that leaves her smiling. He's an affectionate boy and she loves that he insists on meeting her outside her classes even if he has to walk from the other side of school. After school they sit together in her room and do their homework together, in between make out sessions, before eating dinner with her Dads. They go to bed together and watch a film, cuddling up in her bed before they fall asleep.

Having him in Glee Club is an incredible experience. He's been to three glee club rehearsals and has been super helpful to everyone, asking them if they need help and his dedication impresses a lot of the glee kids; normally she's the only one who cares that much but apparently they were wrong. He's even asked, like Blaine did, to attend the Booty Camp so that they can see he's serious about wanting to work hard for the team. She loves him for it, and when she asked him about it Wednesday he shrugged it off and said he wants to be a team player. Rachel couldn't help but kiss him.

She knows this routine isn't going to continue forever and she'll be sad when the new house is ready for them to move into at the weekend. Andrea told them that the small bits of furniture would be arriving on Saturday and insisted that James was going to help her decorate the new house. Rachel hadn't been over to see it yet, her Dads had, but James told her little bits as they sat in bed cuddling on Tuesday night. She mostly got the impression that he didn't want to be anywhere but staying in her house but what he did tell her made it sound nice.

The only thing Rachel wasn't happy with was the Maria call back. The drama with Mercedes had hit her confidence and while she tried to put on her show face to act normal, James and Kurt could see that she was more nervous than she'd ever been. She was incredibly thankful for them as they tried to keep her spirits up; James had even been helping her rehearse in the Auditorium, and she loved him even more as he put up with her running through harmonies and warm ups for hours on end all without complaining as he sat there with a smile on his face.

On Thursday afternoon, both she and James had a free study period at the same time; something she was more than grateful for when he offered to help her rehearse in the auditorium and Rachel couldn't keep the smile off her face as she walked through the doors to the building.

A couple of minutes later and she is walking down the steps towards the stage in the auditorium, her smile widening as she sees James already sat at the piano. Rachel skipped the rest of the way towards him, her smile fading a little bit when he doesn't seem to acknowledge her presence; rolling her eyes as she calls out his name.

"James?" She says walking towards him before giggling at the way he was leaning his arm on the piano supporting his head as he sat there with his eyes closed. He looked adorable as he dosed lightly and she felt a little guilty at waking him as she reached out at touched his shoulder gently. "Baby?"

Rachel giggled again as he made a noise halfway between a groan and a snort but nonetheless cute as his eyes fluttered open. She loved watching his face erupt into a smile every time that he saw her, especially when he had been sleeping; a mesmerized look in his eye.

"Hey beautiful" He muttered, wiping his eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's just after three" She replies, sitting down on the seat next to him and pressing a kiss against his cheek. "How long have you been asleep in here?"

"Since the end of lunch" He says softly, resting a hand on her leg. "I figured I'd come in and practise to pass the time but I guess I fell asleep. I was dreaming about you"

"You were?" She asked with a sheepish smile, not knowing what he was going to say next. He smirked at her and raised a hand to push a strand of hair behind her ear. "What was it?"

"The first time I saw you" He replied as his smile widened and she couldn't help that hers did as well. "This summer when I turned around and saw the most beautiful girl in the world"

"I did look pretty that day didn't I?" She teased, biting her lip as she saw him smirk.

"You look amazing every day" He said simply, his eyes emphasising his words and she felt her heart skip a beat before leaning forwards and pressing her lips against his. They share several soft, chaste kisses before they separate; resting her forehead against his as she feels his hand gently caressing her neck.

"I love you" She whispers, giving him one last tender kiss.

"love you too" He replies smiling as she shifts away from him. "Want to run over your call back song ?"

"Yeah" Rachel replies, turning and sitting properly at the piano as James pushes back the cover protecting the keys and runs his fingers over them to warm up.

They run through the song a couple of times after she insists that she wants to keep practising. James tells her at first that she sounded great but Rachel dismisses him saying that she didn't like how one of the higher notes sounded in the middle of the song. She knows that he knows she's being excessive; but thankfully he doesn't question her any further just smiles and nods before starting to play the song again. Rachel kisses his cheek as a means of thanking him because honestly he's being amazing with her and she loves him for it before opening her mouth to sing.

"That was great. You were perfect" He tells her with a wide smile as she finishes singing it a second time. Rachel smiles weakly at him before looking down into her lap. She doesn't know what it is but even though she trusts him when says that she sounded perfect, there is just that niggling feeling in the back of her head that it wasn't good enough for her to beat Mercedes at the call back.

She feels his hand gently nudge her chin upwards and she looks up to see James staring at her with a concerned look in his eye. Rachel tries to give him a smile to try and reassure him but it's a weak one and she knows he noticed it. "What's wrong Rach?"

"You really think I sang it well?" She asks softly, allowing the vulnerability to show through. James titled his head and gazed at her with a slight frown.

"What? Yeah I do, I'd never lie to you" He replied, moving his hand to rest against her neck. "What's wrong"

"I just….I don't think I'm good enough to out sing Mercedes on this song" She admitted, closing her eyes as she let out a sigh.

"Why not; you sounded brilliant" He supplied, and she smiled opening her eyes to see him gazing at her; his eyes showing the truth of his words.

"Thank you" She says leaning forward to kiss him softly; shaking her head as she pulls away "Sorry I'm just being crazy. My nerves are just shining through"

"It's alright, don't apologize baby. Come here" He replied, stroking her jawline with his thumb. He offered a smile, shifting closer and pulling her against him as he wrapped an around her shoulders. Rachel giggled softly and rested her head against his shoulder, hugging him as she wrapped her arms around his waist. When he pressed a kiss against the top of her head she closed her eyes and sighed contently. There was something about being in his arms that relaxed her completely; taking away the stress that she was feeling.

Rachel sat there for a few minutes as James ran his fingers through her hair, simply enjoying his soothing presence next to her; glad that he had moved to Ohio and transferred, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to deal with everything going on if he wasn't here with her.

"You know what you need" He murmured softly and Rachel lifted her head off his shoulder to shake it at him. "You need to have some fun; you're so stressed about this that singing is becoming a chore and you're not enjoying it"

Rachel nodded at him. He was right, she'd been so focused upon trying to make sure that this song was perfect and she'd probably been putting too much pressure on herself.

"You're right…" She admitted, frowning as he moved his arm from around her as he gave her a wink and faced the piano again. "What are you doing?"

"We're going to have some fun" He replies with a smirk. He stretches his fingers before starting to play a tune and she smiles as she recognizes the opening bars of "Defying Gravity". Of course he would go one of her favourite songs to try and cheer her up. As she opens her mouth to start singing; she's interrupted by the sound of James' voice singing the song instead.

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game

Rachel can't help herself and she has to giggle at listening to him sing it; his strong powerful male voice singing. "What are you doing!?" She asks, giggling like a maniac as he shrugs at her with a smirk on his face.

Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!

It's time to try defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity
And you wont bring me down!

She has to admit that while its funny and she loves that he's doing it to cheer her up; he's killing it and she doesn't think there is a song she wouldn't love to hear him sing. As he ends the note he was holding he nudges her and gestures with his head for her to join in.

I'm through accepting limits
Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But 'til I try, I'll never know!

Their voices joined together sound beautiful to her ears and she could spend the rest of her life singing with this guy. She can't help but smile into the song as she sings, resisting the urge when he attempts to match her on the high notes.

Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!

I'd sooner buy defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you won't bring me down!

I'd sooner buy defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye I'm defying gravity
I think I'll try defying gravity
And you won't bring me down!
Bring me down!

Ahh ahhh ahhhh!

When they stopped singing, Rachel throws her arms around him; giggling as she feels him laughing against the skin on her neck. When she pulls away after a few moments, she beams up at him; the grin on his face telling her that he's happy she's not upset any longer.

"That was so much fun" She says happily, moving her hand to cup his cheek.

"I love singing with you" He replies, leaning into her touch. "You feeling better now?"

"I am" Rachel says sighing. "Thank you baby, I haven't felt this relaxed all week"

He nods at her, smiling before leaning over and kissing her gently. Rachel moans at the contact and after a couple of tender kisses she gladly opens her mouth for him to deepen it as one of his hands rests gently on her waist, pulling her towards him as she wraps her arms around his neck.

….

After spending the remaining time of their free period together in the auditorium, Rachel walked hand in hand with James to their shared last class of the day. She sat extra close to him, as close as possible without sitting on his lap; feeling especially intimate after what they shared as she always did. Not just with the kissing but with opening herself to him and how he comforted her, holding her close to him.

During Glee club, Rachel wore a smile the entire time as they ran through choreography that they were working on for sectionals. She was amused by the fact that Mr Schuster said it was so that James could catch up with them and learn it but her boyfriend was actually managing the dance moves faster than the boys who had been doing it for the past few weeks. Rachel couldn't help sitting there admiring him wearing his tight fitting t-shirt that highlighted his arms in all the ways she loved as he danced with the rest of the boys and Mr Schuster. She catches his eye a few times and by the smirk on his face, she knows he's noticed that she's quite plainly checking him out in the middle of rehearsal. When he gives her a wink, the heat grows quickly in her groin as she feels her cheeks heat up.

She's not surprised at the fact that as soon as they're alone in her car, he pulls her against him as he starts kissing her. Rachel is powerless against him, the thoughts of him dancing still in her mind as she wastes no time slipping her tongue into his mouth as straddles him in the back seat.

They're late home and neither of them really cares as she pulls car into the driveway, taking a few moments to run her fingers through her hair as he straightens his shirt next to her; a proud smirk on his face. Licking her lips, she turns to him and runs her hand across his cheek.

"You better wipe that smirk of your face before we see my Dads" She remarks with a smile. He simply grins back at her, pulling her in for a quick kiss before they get out of the car and walk into her house cuddled together.

...

Later that night they're cuddled up in her bed watching The Bourne Identity; she hates this film but considering he's let her pick musicals the three other nights this week without a single complaint, though she knows that even if he does love musicals he doesn't want to watch them every night, the least she can do is put up with it. Besides there is nothing bad about cuddling into him and wrapping her arms around him as his fingers absent mindedly run through her hair.

It's not as relaxing as it normally is though, because her mind feels like its running a marathon as she thinks about the musical and her call back audition tomorrow. She really wants it; playing Maria in her senior year musical could be a big game changer in her NYADA application and she simply has to get into that school. When James laughs suddenly, it snaps her attention of her college applications and she stares up at him for a few moments as her thoughts dwell on him.

"You're staring" He murmurs a few minutes later, gazing down at her with a smirk.

"Sorry" She replies instinctively, smiling sheepishly at him.

"What you thinking about?"

"College" She says simply, licking her lips before speaking again "How important this is to my chances"

"You'll kill it" He says confidently and she can't help but grin at him. She loves that look he gets in his eyes when he speaks about her; so full of certainty and truth that she can't help but love him even more.

"What about you?" She asks and honestly it has been bugging her a little. She wants a big ticket item to advertise herself for college but he doesn't seem as interested.

"I don't know, what about me?" He replies, his eyebrows shooting upwards.

"You don't seem as worried as I do about college?" She says, chewing her bottom lip. "Why haven't you auditioned for the school musical? I know it's your favourite and you'd be a great Tony if you auditioned I'm sure they'd have a hard time not giving it you"

"I don't want to audition" He replies.

"Oh" she says and she can't help the hurt in her voice because honestly, she would love to play Maria opposite his Tony. "I just thought it'd be nice for us to act-"

"It's not that I don't want to play Tony against your Maria; we'd be awesome" He says with a smirk an she can't help but smile back at him. "It's just…I don't want to come in and take over everything."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Blaine and Kurt have both auditioned for Tony right?" He asks. Rachel nods as she shifts up in bed so that she's sat instead of leaning against him. "I don't want to just barge in and take it…not to mention with New Directions as well; I don't want to cause any conflict, I just want to go to school and spend my senior year with you"

Rachel blushes a little, he knows exactly what to say to elicit that reaction from her but she pushes the smile of her face in order to ask him; "Baby, seriously; aren't you worried about college?"

"Yeah I'm worried" He replies, shrugging "But me being in the school musical isn't going to make much difference to Julliard. I'm not applying to a Musical Theatre degree like you are; I'm doing Dramatic Arts, the experience I've done working at Community theatres and stuff over the last couple of years will count more. As long as I get the grades and keep up performances; it'll all come down to the auditions I'll have later in the year"

"You really have thought about it?" She asks and he smirks at her nodding his head. "I just thought because you don't ever really talk about it-"

"I'm not just a pretty face you know? I might not be as smart as you but I know what I'm doing" He replies and she beams back at him. "Love you"

"I love you too" She replies leaning up to kiss him. Settling back down in bed against him, she rests her head on his chest in time to see what must be the fiftieth car explosion in the film.

…

The next day was all a haze up until that moment she was stood on stage alongside Mercedes and Miss Pillsbury. Thanks to James, she'd been much more relaxed than she would have imaged in the morning when she woke up next to him. For the first time that week he'd insisted on making her breakfast, instead of letting her just eat cereal and as she sat eating the omelette with a smile on her face she felt more confident about the day.

Rachel didn't have any classes with James that day, but they sat together at lunch outside; eager to get some alone time away from the rest of the Glee Club. She didn't want to be around them with the pressure of the call back on her shoulders and instead enjoyed James doing his best to distract her by talking about unimportant matters while he idly played with her hair. They didn't have Glee Club that day, Mr Schuster calling it off so that the musical could hold the rest of their auditions and Rachel was glad; giving her the opportunity to warm up properly. When the time came to head to the auditorium, she was nervous until James took her hand and pulled her aside from the rest of the Glee Club as they all gave her wishes of good luck and promised her she'd be amazing. Aside from Finn and Noah, she knew that they had all said the same to Mercedes but it wasn't until James pressed a tender kiss against her lips and assured her of the same thing that she actually felt herself calm.

"You're going to be amazing" He whispers in her ear just before she walked out onto the stage to do the coin toss for who would perform first. Rachel smiles at him before taking a deep breath and heading to face the music.

She lets Mercedes perform the song first; still wanting to be friendly towards her even if Mercedes seemed determined to make them enemies and as she listened to the girl sing, Rachel had to admit that Mercedes was doing a great job of it.

The time came for her to sing and she started off well; in fact she sang the song better than she'd ever managed to before in practise with James or by herself, the demands of her call back almost causing her to subconsciously raise her game and put on a spectacular performance but there's still that little niggle in the back of head that she doesn't quite hit some of the notes that makes her smile nervously as she gets a standing ovation.

Mercedes is smiling sadly, but Rachel doesn't know if that's from pity or from actual acceptance that she sang it better than Mercedes. Walking off the stage towards James, he hugs her tightly as soon as she's in touching distance; murmuring how great she was and how much he loves her as she puts on a fake smile. She knows she did a great job, but why does it feel like she wasn't the best?

"What's wrong Rach?" He asks, pushing her hair out of her face. Rachel takes his hand and looks at him sadly, her eyes wide with emotion.

"She was better than me"

…..

A/N:

Fluffy chapter, lots of James and Rachel cuddling (they do a lot of it). Next chapter will be Rachel getting shown around James' house (and I have pictures of it to show) as well as the fallout from Rachel's little bout of doubting herself.