Part Two:
"I hate you and your stupid little face."
Rachel glanced up to see Sugar with her arms crossed in front of her. Rachel groaned, at least it wasn't Harmony trying to challenge her for applause or something like that for the show. Sugar instead wore a look of complete hatred in her dancer's costume as she stared down Rachel.
"Why do you say that?" Rachel asked, pinning a piece of hair back.
"Finn broke up with me for you, you little skank."
Rachel resisted the urge to slap the girl. But her Dad and Daddy's words began to echo through her head, reminding her of a girl who used to knock her over during ballet. Rachel heard "Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me".
"I don't like Finn; I don't have any interest in him anymore."
Sugar rolled her eyes. "Just stay away from him. All he's looking for is the Berry Cherry."
"Excuse me?" Rachel growled.
"He wants to have sex and take your virginity like a bad booty call. Then he'll dump you and your frumpy grandma clothes to the curb to get back together with me. Oops, I have self-diagnosed Asperger's. So I guess I'll see you around."
As Sugar walked away, Rachel groaned. At least he wasn't in the show; he would just be in the audience somewhere watching. Rachel didn't know if what Sugar was saying was true, but with Sugar and Finn being broke up over the last week she could only assume what she was saying was true. It was just the icing on the cake.
"You like him and you have for a long time."
Rachel glanced over in the mirror to see Blaine's reflection standing behind her. Was he talking about Sebastian? She had no clue how he found out about her feelings for him, but she wasn't planning on telling him the truth anytime soon. Maybe he thought she liked someone else in the glee club?
"Who do I like?" Rachel placed a pale eye shadow on her eye lid.
"You know who." Blaine smirked as he sat in the makeup chair beside her. "Sebastian."
She glanced towards him and rushed as she placed blush on her cheeks. Rachel hadn't told anyone, she hadn't planned on telling anyone in the first place. He was Sebastian Smythe, glee club's residential flirt. He had stopped most of his flirtations with Blaine, but he still sent a flirtatious comment to both genders every now and then.
If she would have told anyone, they would have warned her away from the former Warbler. Puck and Kurt already hated him, she really didn't talk to Mercedes as much as she wished she would, Tina was always busy with mike, leaving only Blaine as her possible person to tell. He would have given her some sappy speech about how she could do anything, but he would ultimately sugar coat the situation in order to make her feel better.
"I don't like him. He's just a really good friend." She covered, placing a dab of blush onto Blaine's right cheek. "We've been hanging out, you know rehearsing our lines every chance we have. We want it to be as authentic as possible."
"I've seen the way you look at him. It's the way Santana looks at Brittany, the way Sam looks at Mercedes, the way Harmony looks at Rory, and how I look at Kurt."
Rachel glanced down at her outfit, knowing Blaine was right.
"Please don't tell him." She whispered. "I don't think he likes me and I don't want to ruin our friendship."
"Break a leg tonight, enjoy the kiss." He said as he walked away.
Rachel had forgotten about the kiss that she was going to share with Sebastian. With their countless run through of the shows, Artie had made sure they never rehearsed the kiss. He claimed that he wanted the perfect "We haven't kissed in twenty years" kiss and it wasn't going to look real if they practiced. But tonight it would be for the first time on stage.
With everything running through her mind about the kiss, she remembered Blaine never promised not to keep his mouth clothes. "Please don't tell anyone!"
"I won't say anything unless if you tell me to. But I'm pretty sure he feels the same way and has since you sang karaoke together." Blaine said over the shoulder with a smirk.
Sebastian liked her?
Rachel felt like screaming to the rooftops of the school, she needed to find him. She couldn't wait through the show, she needed to find Sebastian and she needed him now. She hurried through the backstage area, looking around at every corner. The words were running through her mind, she had no idea what she was going to say or what she was going to do.
Rachel finally spotted Sebastian. He was walking out of costuming and he spotted her. She ran, letting her gladiator sandals click against the ground. She hurried towards him who just gave a confused look. She stopped and realized how out of breath she was, she place one finger up in the air towards him.
"Where's the fire Berry?" He chuckled.
"I like you."
Rachel watched his face go blank. Her heart stopped, as he thoughts seemed to go through his mind. Rachel doubted Blaine, maybe he was wrong. After all, Sebastian still might have had a crush on Blaine. But as quickly as Rachel's worries appeared, they disappeared with the large smile on Sebastian's face.
"I like you too, even if you're the biggest pain in my ass."
"Well aren't you a Meer cat Romeo." She grinned.
"It's only because you're my Pinocchio Juliet."
He leaned down and gave her a short kiss as the backstage lights gave out. They both knew it meant it was time to gather as a group, but they didn't care. They held onto kiss that they both had been dreaming of, his cola lips mixing with her lemon water ones. When they finally pulled away, she took his hand as they walked towards the group
It was the best kiss Rachel Berry had ever experienced.
"If you're going to go on a first official date with him to with his Warbler friends, you have to dress nicely." Kurt said sitting onto her bed. "Hence the way I'm dressing."
"So should I pull out a low cut dress? Or should I do a signature skirt and sweater match set? My daddies bought me the cutest sweater with a cat on it that could go perfect with a skirt I have." Rachel suggested.
"We're going ice skating. Dress nicely, but I wouldn't wear a dress. You don't want to give the boys a show. A few of them have girlfriends, but the majority is going to try to get with you." Blaine said, turning the television on. "Sweet, there's an Eagles game on."
"Blaine, no matter how attractive you are, I could honestly care less about football after my stint as a kicker. Let's focus on Rachel."
"So what should I wear?" Rachel glanced around her closet that was color coded.
"I'm not a fan of Sebastian, but I know he makes you happy and he really cares about you. So as your best friend, I'm going to try to find that'll make Sebastian want you more than he already does." Kurt sighed.
"I don't think so." Blaine piped in from his spot. "I don't want him getting all touchy with Rachel. He may be my friend from Dalton, but Rachel's practically a sister. So I'm going to play that protective older sibling part in this whole scheme of things."
Rachel had enlisted the help of Kurt to help her figure out what to wear for Sebastian and hers first official date as a couple. It just happened that Blaine ended up tagging along because Kurt was his ride, leaving Rachel with her two friends in her bedroom. While Kurt was focused on topic at hand, Blaine was enjoying his time watching football and looking through her playbills.
Kurt examined Rachel from head to toe and sighed. "Though I normally don't advice it for a girl with a build like yours to hide your legs, go with jeggings. They're the closest things to tights you'll get, but they'll keep everything covered and warm. Do you have any?"
"I only have one pair that my cousin gave me. They're still hanging in the closet."
Kurt sat up and pulled the jeggings with an approving nod. He tossed them to Rachel and began to scour through the closet. He tossed a long sleeve cream shirt with a coffee sweater and a white scarf. Then with a quick nudge of encouragement, Rachel was tossed towards the bathroom in her large bedroom.
As Rachel took off the sundress and sweater she intended to wear, Rachel looked at herself in the mirror. Would Sebastian be proud to show her off? She had seen the Warblers in the audience at their Mamma Mia performance, but that was going to be different. She was going to have to interact, laugh, and talk with the boys that are best friends with the men in her life.
She put the outfit on, unsure what to expect. But Kurt's eye for Fashion proved to be great because Rachel felt beautiful. Instead of straightening her hair like she usual did, she placed mouse into her curls. She placed a small clip into her hair and placed the small earrings from her jewelry box.
Rachel sighed and took out her makeup, knowing she could handle this aspect. As she picks up a tube of blood red lipstick, she laughs remembering two years earlier. She had loaded on makeup and wore a spandex outfit that Kurt had chosen to sabotage her. Everything had changed since then.
Though Finn and Rachel had their run, Finn had been giving her the eye since the cast party at Mike's and it made Rachel believe what Sugar said was true. Kurt was one of her best friends along with his boyfriend. She and Mercedes had grown apart and there was no longer the Diva trio with Kurt, Rachel, and herself. Puck was still as protective as ever and most relationships had changed in the club. Now she was dating an archenemy of Kurt.
She opened her bathroom door to see her best friends making out on the bed.
"So it's not okay for Sebastian to get touchy with me, but it fine for Blaine to be kissing Kurt's neck"
Kurt flipped over and hit Blaine on the side. "I told you she was coming!"
"It's different." Blaine answered loosening his bowtie. "Is it me or is hot in here?"
"I think it might be Rachel, she looks hot. You look stunning really; it's simple but sophisticated, sexy but understated. It's perfect."
"You look gorgeous; I'm going to have to keep the boys away from you." Blaine groaned. "Both the Warblers and your boyfriend."
She chuckled as she looked out the window. Sebastian's truck was here besides Kurt's car, but there was no sight of Sebastian. Were her fathers interrogating him? She could only hope they weren't, she could only imagine the questions they were asking him. She hurried to the door only to open it as Sebastian was about to knock.
"She-you, see-look, great-beautiful." Sebastian stuttered. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you." She said, standing on her toes to give him a peck on the cheek.
The once nervous Sebastian seemed to regain his composition as he glanced over his shoulder towards Blaine and Kurt on the bed. "Having a threesome without me? You know I would have joined if you just asked."
"You weren't waiting for me long were you?"
"Ten minutes maybe, but it's worth it." Sebastian smiled. "Your dads did interrogate me though. How old I am, why am I interested in their daughter, how well of a driver I am, what my grades were, and what I do after school besides glee and musical. They complimented me on my performance though."
"So did they approve of you?"
"I think so, but who doesn't like me?" He said in his cocky tone.
Sebastian didn't seem to notice Kurt raising his hand; of course Blaine pulled it down before he could notice. Blaine stood up from the bed and walked over to Sebastian, examining him up in down though he stood half a foot shorter than him. Blaine paused and looked upward at him.
"Sebastian, you're a good friend of mine. But Rachel is my girl along with the guy glee clubbers. Do anything to hurt her and you will end up in a hospital bed. Got it? "
Rachel stifled a laugh at Blaine being so out of character.
"Yes." Sebastian said, holding back a smile of his own. "Let's go, we still have at least an hour and a half drive to get to Westerville."
Rachel and Sebastian sat on the ledge of the stage, taking a break from their usual group at lunch to celebrate the holidays. Rachel enjoyed the salad she had brought while Sebastian ate his favorite nutella and banana sandwich. It had been a happy month and a half of their relationship, there was no fights only blissful happiness. Even Kurt started to smile at Sebastian's comments.
"So I didn't know what to get you." Rachel started, pointing towards the small box. "So I got you a few things."
"You didn't have to get me anything." Sebastian said.
"I didn't, but I did. Open it up."
Sebastian opened the small box that was wrapped in navy blue wrapping paper and with a bright red bow on top, making him smile. He untied the bow and lifted the top off, grinning immediately at the contents of the box.
Rachel had been struggling to put the gift together, but once she realized she should do a collection of things it was hard to stop gathering gifts. She had pictures of their relationship and photos from Mamma Mia placed onto a coffee mug, she had purchased him his favorite cologne that he complained he couldn't find, one scarf with the Warbler colors and one with William McKinley colors, a collection of candy, and the first four Scream Movies.
"It's perfect. You didn't have to do any of this." He said giving her a kiss.
"No, I wanted to." Rachel said as she pulled away. "Besides you gave me seven gifts for Hanukkah."
"But I have one more for Christmas." He grinned.
"Sebastian, I will not accept it. You spoiled me already." She said starting to stand up.
He tugged at her wrist and pulled her into his lap. Rachel sighed and looked at him. "What more could you possible give to me?"
Sebastian pulled a small little case out of his pocket and quickly revealed a necklace. It was simple, a silver snowflake with small diamond accents. It took her breath away out of its beauty. She never saw any of the other girls wear a snowflake, yet she wondered why he had chosen a snowflake instead.
"I know you love gold stars, but I think you're just like a snowflake. Every day now I see millions of them but it's the first one I catch every winter means the most to me. A snowflake is beautiful and unique, not like any other. It may not be the perfect snowflake that you see in drawings, but that first one is the best part of winter. You're the most beautiful and imperfectly perfect person I have ever met. You're the best part of me and I love you."
"I love you too." She smiled, wiping the tear away.
She leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips. If she ever had a top five moments of her life, this would be easily up there. Moments like these where he showed his sweet side is what made Rachel fall in love with the former Warbler. His attraction and once annoying sense of humor helped, but she knew that he was the real thing. When they went to New York in the fall, she would attend NYADDA while he attended Julliard for music.
When they broke apart, she sat in his arms just staring at the ceiling and enjoying the moment as they made small talk about their duet in the upcoming glee special. When the conversation eventually faded, Rachel remembered something that had been bugging her for ages.
"Tell me about your life before I met you."
"Well you know I used to go to Dalton. I had to transfer here because of my father actually." He started, taking another bite out of his sandwich. "My father and the headmaster were actually best friends growing up. They did everything together until this summer when the headmaster thought it was okay to hit on my mother and apparently to her it was."
"My parents got divorced after seventeen years and my mother and my headmaster got married. At the time we lived in a town about an hour south of Columbus where my dad was a part of a physical therapist practice and my mom was a housewife. There was a fire at the high school when I was in eighth. So my parents sent me to Dalton because of my father's best friend."
"So why did you move here?" Rachel asked.
"My Aunt lives here, she actually owns the Lima Bean." He added. "So when my father needed to leave our old life behind, he moved here and helps my Aunt now. With the recession a few years ago, he helped pay for the coffee shop and left his practice. He bought a house outside of town and only talks to my mom when he has to."
"I didn't know. I wouldn't have brought it up if I did." Rachel took his hand and gave it squeeze.
"It's fine, I'm glad I told you now. It's good to have a clean slate." He nodded before chuckling. "It kind of ruined the mood though."
Rachel wanted to think of something that could cheer her boyfriend up. That's when she thought of her dream from a month earlier of the two of them making out on the fly deck of the stage. She had lied saying it was an anxiety dream, but she wanted to be truthful. Trying to be as seductive as she could manage, she motioned a finger towards him. Sebastian leaned forward and she placed her lips near his ear.
"Want to hear a secret? It's a part of your Christmas gift that I forgot." She whispered.
Sebastian nodded with a grin, sensing where it was going.
"Remember when you had the barbeque sauce on your shirt and you woke me up during my dream? It was about you and me up there having a good time."
She stood up and glanced over her shoulder, sending him her best wink as she sauntered over towards the ladder that was down. As she scaled up the ladder, she swore that she could hear Sebastian saying "Merry Christmas to me."
"We need to talk."
Rachel glanced from her locker to see Finn standing there. He hadn't gotten together with Sugar, which meant what she said was right. So Rachel had been avoiding him purposely, only interacting with him when it was necessary during glee or school work. Normally it wasn't a big deal because Rachel almost always had Sebastian at her side, but he was going to be late to school because of a dentist appointment.
Two days earlier at Regionals, New Directions had crushed the other schools without a doubt. Santana and Mercedes led number showy number with the entire choir, Harmony and Rory had managed to snag the duet, and there was a group number where everyone had a short solo. But in the midst of the celebration Sebastian had managed to trip and chip his tooth badly, requiring a filling as soon as possible.
With Regionals over, Rachel knew she needed to step it up for nationals. She already had begun to write music and didn't let anyone know, not even Sebastian. She wanted the song to be perfect, but all the music she had written sounds worse than "My Headband". She knew she needed to draw from a place where she drew "Get it Right", but that place was impossible to find with everything going perfect in her life.
"Okay, what do you need? You have to tell me in under three minutes though, I have class and my teacher will kill me if I'm late." She asked walking towards her class.
"I miss us." He answered shaking his head. "I screwed up big time with cheating on you with Sugar."
"You had your chance." Rachel sighed, knowing that this conversation was going to come one day. "You ended it too."
Finn sighed. "I know and I'm going to prove it to you that I'm the one for you."
"Finn, we're over. Please, I'd still be friends with you; I just don't want any games." Rachel said as she turned down the hall.
"This isn't a game though. Remember our picnic on the stage? Remember I'm forever yours faithfully?" He said with a sad smile.
Rachel wanted to believe he was doing this because he liked her, even if Rachel would never get back with him. She was in love with Sebastian, even with this flattery. But Sugar's words echoed in her head. "Berry Cherry" rang like a bell in her mind, reminding her that he just wanted sex with her.
She hadn't had it with Sebastian, though she almost considered having it on the stage with him. But she knew that making out session shouldn't have ended with that. It was hard to believe that had been together for three and a half months. It had been the best time of her life of her life; she hadn't had to worry about any sexual pressure from him. Though she was nervous for her first, she knew it was going to be soon and she wouldn't want it from anyone else.
"I remember and you weren't. You're a great guy, you always have been. But all of the things you have done, I'm not going to go back." She frowned. "Here's my class. Bye Finn."
"I love you."
Rachel pretended she didn't hear that as she settled into her Spanish class. Though she was supposed to be talking in complete Spanish, it didn't stop her mind from racing in English. He shouldn't have said those three words and to her. The only boys that were allowed to say that was her daddies, Kurt or Blaine in a friendly way, and Sebastian.
Rachel shook it off, glad that Sebastian arrived two periods later. They finished out their remainder of classes for the day when it was finally after school. Rachel had been excited for the lack of glee club today. Though she would have loved to be able to spend the hour with her best friends and her boyfriend doing the one thing she loves the most, she was excited to go out to eat on a date with Sebastian and for the Valentine's Day party tonight at Tina's.
"So how was your day?" Sebastian asked, collecting his history notes.
"Good except for a conversation I had with Finn this morning." She whispered.
Sebastian's eyes widened. "What did he say to you?"
"That he wanted me to be with him and he loved me."
"That bastard thinks that you'll be crawling back to him after all he did to you! Where is he? I'm going to kick his ass!"
Rachel grabbed onto Sebastian's arm, pulling him. She had seen this look before in Sebastian's eyes after a bad game during the lacrosse season. His breathing was increasing and his eyes were looking around in every direction. She took his hands and gave his hands a squeeze, hoping to bring him back to earth.
"Sebastian, just calm down please. That's not the worst of it, but if I tell you, you have to calm down."
"Fine" Sebastian settled as he took a deep breath in. "What is it?"
"I didn't want to tell you because I never took it seriously until today." Rachel sighed. "Sugar said he only wanted me to steal my virginity."
For a moment Sebastian looked calm, but that was too soon. Rachel instantly regretted saying that. His hand flew and hit his locker out of anger, Rachel could tell he instantly regretted the move. She sighed as she examined his hand where it already started to bleed. The nurse had left the previous period because of food poisoning; she knew that there wasn't much she could do here.
"I'll get something to wrap that in."
She was thankful the bathroom was nearby. With the toilet paper holder locked so students wouldn't steal the rolls, she rolled out as much as she could before exiting the bathroom. She rolled the giant pile of fluff around his hand as many time as she could. Though it bled through, she didn't think it was going to need stitches.
"Let me drive you home." Rachel said.
"I'm fine." He lied. "It's just going to be sore but I'll be fine. We have to get to the restaurant before the party."
Rachel stuck her palm out. "Give me the keys we can go out to eat another time."
With the truck's keys in her hands, they walked to the parking lot. She climbed into the truck and had to adjust the car seat set for Sebastian. She felt like she was driving in a tank that could have crushed anybody as she drove towards his home. Rachel followed the path that she had taken so many times and when she turned into the driveway, helped him into the bathroom in his bedroom.
"Here, let's run your hand under some cold water." She said.
She removed the toilet paper and a large splatter of the blood hit the front of her dress. The bright pink dress would definitely stain, but she tried not to show disappointment. She ignored it as she pulled the bandages from the drawer. She wrapped his hand around the tan colored bandage and when his hand was finally clean, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"Here, let me get some clothes for you. I can throw that in the wash and get the stain right out." Sebastian said.
She stood in the bathroom with her arms crossed, waiting for him to return. This wasn't the Valentine's Day she imagined. It was going downhill, but she still had a chance to save it. She decided that she would make him something instead of going out, it'll probably be a lot more enjoyable anyways.
"Here's some stuff. It might run big, but it's better than nothing." Sebastian shrugged.
She took the small pile of clothes and changed into the Dalton lacrosse sweatshirt she remembered he wore on the day they met. She slipped on the sweater and flannel bottoms over her tights. She walked out of the bathroom and handed the folded dress towards him. Rachel could tell he was embarrassed by the fact he might have ruined her dress.
"I'll be back in like five minutes. I'll call the restaurant and see if they have another time open, then I'll throw this is in the wash. Just get comfortable and help yourself to anything."
When he left the room, Rachel quickly shut the door and began to wander around her boyfriend's room. Curiosity got the best of her as she wandered to his closet. She opened the door only to see exactly what she was looking for. In his closet the warbler jacket still hung, waiting for him to wear it at any time. She felt her heart racing as an idea formulated in her mind.
She stepped out of the pajama pants and tights, taking the sweater off next. She pulled one of the button ups that were hanging and pulled it on. It fell three fourths of the way down her thigh with it completely buttoned. It was huge on her, so was the warbler jacket that she pulled over that. That nearly skimmed her knees that were shaking from nerves. Rachel shook her hair that was pinned up.
Lastly she tied the tie around her neck, realizing this was probably the most foolish thing she has ever done. She took one spin in the mirror, hoping that what she was doing was going to be what he wanted. She loved Sebastian and though she knew it would happen soon, she was finally ready to show it to him.
"Rachel, the restaurant didn't have any more open times so we'll have to eat somewhere else. Wait did something happen? Why is the door shut?"
"Nothing happened, just come on in." She answered, sitting on his bed.
He opened the door and Rachel swore she saw his jaw drop. She stood up and walked across the room before stopping right in front of him. After placing a long kiss on his lips she grinned as she walked him towards the bed without any struggle.
"Happy Valentine's Day Sebastian"