Friday had finally come, and it had never seemed to come so slow before. Jesse hadn't told anybody about his encounter with Rachel Berry the other day, especially not his dad. And that meant he couldn't tell anyone in Glee club, because he knew those immature blabbermouths all too well, his dad was sure to find out during a rehearsal. Jesse had a feeling Mr. Schue wouldn't be supportive of his decision about going out with Rachel, so he figured he would keep it unknown to others as long as he could. What would the team do once they found out? Not that any of them could tell him what to do, but anyway. He also hadn't contacted Rachel since they had met on Tuesday. "Gotta keep her guessing" he kept telling himself. Though he had to admit it was hard to stay away, he couldn't even keep count of how many times he wanted to call her or just show up at her doorstep. Jesse also couldn't believe that he had gotten 2 dates with 2 different girls in 2 days. Deep down he knew this meant trouble but for the mean time he'd just go with the flow. Because really, it was just a date, a first date, with both Rachel and Quinn. In his defense, Rachel was the one who suggested their date, if you could even call it a date. He'd have to see how it goes with both of them and then decided where to go from there.

At lunchtime Jesse decided it was finally time to make his date plans, via text message, because he didn't want to call her during school hours, she might be in class or something.

"Hello Rachel Berry of Vocal Adrenaline. How's your parade this Friday afternoon? Pick you up at 7?"

He didn't sign it, because that would require him to reveal his name. Besides, he put in far too many clues in that text for her not to get who it was.

After a few minutes he received a single word in reply.

"Lovely."

She had known exactly who it was and didn't even bother asking for a signature.

"Lovely" He repeated to himself and smiled.

It was 7:03 and Jesse had pulled up to Rachel's house. As he was driving he was curious about what they would talk about. What if she was a total snob? A diva he could handle but snobs were simply unacceptable in his book. What if she really wasn't educated in the arts, only a talented performer? She could be one of those girls that loves singing but has no idea who Mandy Patinkin was. Did they even share any other interests other than music? Not that Jesse had many other interests, anyway. Once he pulled up he wasn't sure whether he should get out and go to the door or just wait for her there. But as he was thinking Rachel was exiting her home and coming his way. Jesse got out of the car to greet her. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark blue dress shirt under this leather jacket. His hair was perfectly styled, as always. Jesse didn't care about what he wore (though his appearance was important to him) as much as how his hair looked. This was probably because of his father who usually spent 45 minutes to an hour trying to coif his hair just right.

"Hello there." He said, nodding his head a bit and raising one eye brow.

"You're late." she stated, approaching the car.

"Only fashionably." Jesse smirked.

They both felt a little awkward, since they had never actually really talked to each other, they were just so into the moment the other day that they didn't think ahead about the fact that they had no clue about one another. But Jesse had a feeling things would turn around. He didn't expect that what they felt back at the book store would suddenly reappear once they saw each other. So he attempted to break the ice a little.

"You look very nice." Jesse complimented her. She did look nice. Her long brown locks were perfectly and loosely curled and she had long bangs covering most of her forehead, and a little bit of her slightly heavily make-upped eyes. She was wearing what looked like an expensive white designer lace dress, though it wasn't too fancy. Green earrings complimented the dress along with matching colored flats. It was an excellent choice for a first date, whatever it may be. Even though Jesse knew no one else would see it, so it didn't really matter what she wore. There was something about Rachel that Jesse loved – she was trendy, yet there still was a hint of that timeless old-school glamour. The way she walked, the way she talked, acted and probably thought, too.

"Thanks, I hope I'm not over or underdressed, I wasn't sure what to expect." She admitted. Truth was she knew she couldn't go wrong with what she was wearing. It was classic, elegant yet casual enough to wear to someplace like a pizza parlor. But she didn't suspect this mystery guy would take her to such a cheap place.

"It's perfect". He said sincerely, before he went over to the other side of his car and opened the door for Rachel. Jesse didn't go on dates often but he knew how guys were supposed to act. And acting was something that Jesse needed to have down to perfection.

"Thanks." she said, giving Jesse a shy smile.

Without a word he got in the car and they were off.

"So…" Jesse said. "Uhh…How was your day?"

"You know you're not very good at small talk, and I'm not particularly fond of it anyway. How about we skip that and you just tell me where we're going?" she insisted.

"Let it remain a mystery for now."

"Wow. I'm sitting in a car with a guy I don't even know and he's taking me who knows where on a Friday night. Forgive me if I don't seem ecstatic." Rachel said and she didn't sound amused.

"Hey, need I remind that you were the one who asked me out? Besides, mystery is what makes life exciting. What would be the fun of living if you knew what was coming?"

"Perhaps you're right. Even though I know exactly where I'm going to end up in 10 years, you still gotta keep yourself guessing." She added.

Jesse turned to look at her in surprise that she just said that, as if she could read his mind.

"What?" she asked, reacting to his sudden stare.

"Nothing. You're just very interesting, Rachel Berry." He replied, giving her a curious smile and then turning back to look at the road.

"About that… Can I at least get your name? Or something I can summon you by?"

"You can call me… Christian." He said as if he had come up with a good false name and proudly presented it. The odd thing was that he didn't even react to the fact that she just said "something I can summon you by". Damn those narcissists and their acceptance of each other.

"Christian," She looked skeptically over at him "That's not your real name is it?"

"Reality is overrated." He smirked and shrugged his shoulders, keeping his eyes on the road.

"You really are something else, Christian." Rachel said, shaking her head and smiling.

They drove for about 20 minutes, until they reached their destination, a hilltop. It was about the highest place you could find around there, overlooking the city. It was around sunset so everything looked much more beautiful, the city lights were getting brighter and brighter as the sky turned redder and darker.

"I can't believe I've never been here before…" Rachel said, as she was getting out of the car and admiring the surroundings, "It's beautiful…"

Jesse smiled, being proud of himself. He didn't know whether she'd been there or not but he thought it was a romantic spot, plus there were no people around. It was just the two of them, the peak they were on, some trees and the view of the city. It was so quiet and peaceful.

"I like to come here to think…" Jesse finally said, staring off into the oblivion.

"That is such a cliché." Rachel said, rolling her eyes. But as she stared off herself she agreed that it was a great place to come and clear your mind. Rachel wasn't used to peace and quiet around her, she was always very busy or doing her best to keep everything organized.

After a few minutes of enjoying the scenery Rachel broke the silence, feeling anxious to get on with the evening, she didn't like not knowing what was going to happen. Rachel wasn't a fan of surprises.

"So…what are we doing here exactly?"

"Nothing really." Jesse replied, still staring, not even blinking.

"Nothing. You mean to say we drove half an hour to this place and all you come up with is 'nothing'? How can I know that you're not going to chop me into little pieces and leave me scattered all over here? How do I know th…"

My gift is my song

Jesse interrupted her rambling by belting into song, his voice echoing in the distance. Rachel suddenly stopped talking. Then he turned to her and continued.

And this one's for you.

And you can tell everybody that this is your song

It may be quite simple but now that it's done

I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is, now you're in the world.

Rachel yet again was left speechless by this mystery man, and she just looked into Jesse's eyes and experienced his voice as much as one can experience a voice. He sang like an angel.

"Christian" she thought "Of course, Christian from Moulin Rouge." Jesse didn't know this but that was one of her favorite movies and she suddenly felt as if she herself was in this movie. Yes, of course she acknowledged the original author and song but she made the connection instantly.

This may have been one of the most romantic things anyone had ever done for her. And truly, the mystery made it that much more exciting. She now felt silly for blowing up at him. Never had she met such a boy, he was absolutely…fascinating. He was like her yet so much different.

Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen!

Rachel almost began to cry as he continued to serenade her, looking as sweet as anyone she'd ever seen. His voice was perfect for this song, and she felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She tried to resist it but she was hopeless. The connection they both had felt a couple of days earlier was back, they could feel it like a magnet pulling them together.

I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words

How wonderful life is, now you're in the world!

As Jesse ended his song, he saw that he had gotten under Rachel's skin. She could feel him in her bones.

By now the sun had set and the sky was still a little bright but making the perfect romantic moment. Once he couldn't hear his own echo anymore he asked:

"So did that answer yo-"

But Rachel didn't let him finish that sentence, she quickly went over to him, grabbed his face with her tiny hands lightly, reached up and kissed him.

After a few seconds Rachel pulled away from their kiss, which was just more like Rachel pressing her lips against Jesse's. She looked at Jesse, waiting to see his reaction. It was rare to ever see a boy who would object to her kissing him, she knew this. But this boy was different, she didn't know what to expect from him. Her face looked like she was terrified to do what she was just doing but she wanted to do it so bad she couldn't resist.

"You always kiss on a first date, Rachel Berry?" Jesse teased her. Truth was he had a tornado roaming around in his stomach. He hadn't expected her to kiss him but it made him so happy he couldn't describe it. It took almost all his willpower not to swoon and keep his cool; Jesse St. James wouldn't be caught falling head over heels over some girl that kissed her. After all, he was a dude. And to be honest, he was kind of hoping this would be the outcome, so he had a few good tricks up his sleeve.

She sighed, happy that he hadn't said something obnoxious. Well, more obnoxious than that.

"Only strangers, who drive me to the middle of nowhere and sing to me, so don't feel too special." she smirked, trying to cover up that she felt a bit foolish for kissing him like that.

She hadn't even noticed that Jesse had gently put his hands on her hips while she kissed him, so now he was holding her.

"How about you let me go now?" she asked, clearing her throat, once she noticed they current position.

"Now why would I do that? Give me one good reason." He wasn't about to let this moment pass just like that.

"I carry a rape whistle." She said, trying to sound as serious as possible but you could tell she was about to burst out laughing.

"Oh my God," He laughed. "You're more of a drama queen than I am."

"I'd give you 5 more but I wouldn't want to embarrass you." She replied, squinting her eyes and shaking her head. She knew she could tell him about some of the killer self-defense moves she had learned from Dakota Stanley (you'd be surprised at how fierce that little man is, you don't want to mess with him) or how she could sing up to a high G and totally hurt his ears.

"Is that right," he said, still holding her in his arms "then I'll just have to give you one more reason for me not to." He said, as he pulled her closer, looking straight into her eyes, feeling her heart beat next to his. He raised one of his hands to her face and pushed aside her bangs so he could see her eyes clearly. They were so big and brown, like puppy eyes yet very sexy. Even though it had already become dark outside, they could still see each other just fine.

Rachel had been left a bit breathless as she was being pulled in so close to him. Once she caught her breath she tried to make herself say something before he continued any further with whatever he was doing. She admired his confidence, she would have preferred they take things slower but then again she was the one that couldn't resist herself first, so she couldn't judge him. And it wasn't like she wasn't enjoying all this, he was so warm and smelled so good. She started to notice she was becoming a bit lovesick, which she wasn't expecting nor was going to accept.

"Is… is this some sort of…uhh…. master plan to make me fall in…love with you or something?" she finally formed a sentence, trying to snap herself back into reality and telling herself to keep her cool.

"In my defense, you were the one who kissed me first. And even if it is…. It's obviously working, isn't it?" Jesse said, still looking her in the eyes, as if he was trying to see through them into her mind. This was all happening so fast, he could barely believe it. Only 6 days ago he first laid eyes on Rachel at Sectionals, where she had blown his mind, and now here he was, standing alone with her in his arms, trying to win her heart. "Not bad." He thought to himself.

The confidence in his voice almost made Rachel want to puke, only because she always was the more confident one. What she didn't know was that Jesse was simply much more prepared for this situation and obviously a better actor right now. Though he wouldn't admit it, it was very important to him to do all of this right, he didn't want to blow his chance with her, which forced him to be this forward.

"You're so full of yourself, did you know that?" She replied, trying to change the subject and ease the tension between the two of them, which was almost too much to bear. The air seemed so thick around them, making it harder and harder to breathe.

"Oh, come on, Rachel. I know you feel it too…" Jesse said, ignoring her question, he knew she was just stalling. He had finally said what they both were thinking yet not willing to talk about. It was about time one of them said it out loud.

Oh yes, Rachel felt it. She had never had a connection like this with someone. It was as if they had been connected their whole lives yet had finally met. They barely knew each other but they felt like they'd known each other forever. Rachel was the one trying to fight this feeling, while Jesse just enabled it. It was the strangest thing they had ever experienced and they didn't know how to even explain it, all they could think of was fate.

"I… I'm not sure how I feel. I mean, I don't even know you, yet somehow I feel like this is the only place on earth I want to be at this moment." She admitted, knowing that there was no use in denying it. The only way she could think of expressing herself was through song, which was exactly what she did next.

Suddenly the world seems like a perfect place,

Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace.

She sang out quietly, looking at Jesse. He smiled as he recognized the song from Moulin Rouge she was singing, guessing that she liked that movie, and joined in.

Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste.

Jesse stopped singing, wanting to see if Rachel would go on. And she did.

It all revolves around you.

She sang, smiling at him. This warmed his heart, she felt something for him. He once again joined in, adding his smooth, manly voice to compliment her soft, tender one.

And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide

Sing out this son and I'll be there by your side

Even though this song was supposed to be dramatic and vibrant, they sang with such peace, so quietly, yet filling the area with their sweet voices.

Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide

But I'll love you…until the end…of…time.

They stared in each other's eyes for a moment as their echoes faded. Then Jesse pulled away and extended his hand to Rachel.

"Hi. I'm Jesse."