A/N: So chapter 8 :) I'm trying to make the story go a little faster to get where I want the storyline to go so I've been skipping episodes, going from like epside 5 (rocky horror) to episode 8 (furt) I hope that doesn't bother anyone but I think it will all be okay in the end.

I wanted to add some show filming type of things into this so that's what the beginning is about. Yeah... I think that's all I wanted to say or could remember to say.

Enjoy!

Naya exited the scene.

"Cue Lea!" Carol Banker, one of the many directors, shouted softly to have Lea enter the scene as Naya walked out.

"Aren't you going to tell me how pretty I look?"

Cory who had to get up from a chair in the room walked over to her. "You look amazing."

"What?"

Cory looked down at Lea as they were Finn and Rachel. "I just really love you."

"Cut!" Brad walked in from the side of the room behind the cameras and boom mics.

Cory and Lea turned around to face him.

"Okay Cory… Um…" Brad began, rubbing his chin.

"Did I mess up the line?" Cory asked.

"No no, not at all."

"Alright then, what's up?"

"Well, you did the lines right but this scene is a big scene for Finn and Rachel and I want your delivery of the 'I love you' line to be a little more… meaningful, if you know what I'm trying to get at here." Brad explained looking back and forth from Cory to Lea.

"Yeah I get what you're saying." Cory nodded his head as a crewmember came up to him to readjust his mic on the collar of his shirt and another came to dab off the sweat from Lea's brow.

"If it helps, just think of someone that's really close in your life. You know, someone you love dearly and hopefully that emotion will come through on your delivery." Brad told him as he backed up and returned to the outskirts of the shot. "It's Friday so let's wrap this episode up and the weekend too!"

Both people of the crew that were working with Cory and Lea ran out from in front of the cameras and Carol shouted, "Reset!" Cory took his position back on the chair and Lea stayed in the middle of the room.

Another person held a clapboard in the scene and said, "Furt. Scene nine, take two. And… marker!" then clapped the swing arm down and pulled the board out of the shot.

'Okay Cory, you got this.' He mentally coached himself as Lea began to speak.

"Aren't you going to tell me how pretty I look?"

Cory got up from his seat again, took a breath then spoke. "You look amazing."

"What?"

This was the line he had to work on. He didn't want to force another take so he was going to do this right. He took Brad's advice and thought of someone really special to him. He pictured her figure in his mind, as if she was in Lea's place. Her golden locks resting gently on her shoulders, her perfect lips forming a smile. Cory wanted to smile himself but he had to keep a serious face for the shoot.

"I… I just really… love you." He got out and he knew that he seriously meant that. Everyone else in the room would think it was just really good acting but he knew that it was a real thing when he pictured saying it to Dianna.

"I love you too."

Cory let a smile grace his features as he was told to in the script and then it was over.

"And cut and that's a wrap!" Carol announced to the room as cameras reset and powered down and crew clapped for another episode wrapped and finished.

"That's what I'm talking about Cor!" Brad said and patted Cory on the back. "I loved the feel of that one. Great job and as always, a lovely job to you as well Lea."

Cory smiled and Lea thanked him.

"Awesome work Cor." Lea added as they high fived.

"Why thank you and same to you."

"I'm going to go get something to drink, you up for something?" she asked.

"Oh no I'm good. I'm just going get changed out of this suit."

"Okay sounds good Cor. See you Monday." She said as she walked out of the room.

Cory followed her lead but before he could make it all the way to his trailer he ran into Chord.

"Hey dude." Chord greeted.

"Oh hey man. What's up?"

"Nothing much just getting ready for the weekend. I was on my way to get out of this suit and then I was going to head to walk Sunset Boulevard for a bit." He answered.

"Sweet dude. That's sounds cool." Cory nodded along.

"Yeah, you wanna come? It's always kind of boring to do stuff by yourself."

Cory pursed his lips in thought, trying to think if he had anything important he had to do for the rest of the day since it was only about two. 'Nope, nothing.'

"Yeah sure I can do that." Cory agreed. "I just have to get changed too. I'll meet you at your trailer."

"Okay sounds like a plan. See you in like fifteen minutes."

Cory nodded then turned to make his way to his trailer.

Inside, he quickly stripped out of the black suit and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He threw on his black Nikes and his wayfarers and walked out of his trailer.

He only made it about half way across the lot to find Chord when he was stopped again.

"Hey Cor." He heard a soft voice from behind.

He craned his neck to look over his shoulder and saw Dianna.

"Oh hey." He muttered.

It had only been about three weeks since the choir room outburst. They had seen each other around set like Cory said they would and they acknowledged one another but they didn't really talk too much aside from the 'hey' and 'what's up' small talk.

It was kind of hard to be friends when things were awkward even when they tried to not make it that way. Since things were a little weird between them, he was happy to not have many scenes with her besides the group ones. Never any one on one major talking scenes yet.

"So?" she questioned.

Cory blinked a couple times, focusing on her voice again. "Huh?"

"How was your scene with Lea?" she asked with furrowed eyebrows at having to repeat her question.

"Oh you know, it was good." He smiled a little at remembering how good he had done with his line after picturing the girl in front of him.

Dianna couldn't help but smile at the sight of him smiling even without knowing she was the one that made him do it. "Good then."

Cory nodded.

"So do you want to get a smoothie with me? I was heading that way and I figured it was something we could do together." Dianna offered.

Cory had a hard time answering with her beautiful eyes boring into him but he had to say something.

"Sorry Di but I kind of can't. I already have plans. I'm hanging out with someone." He couldn't ditch Chord even though he kind of wanted to go with Dianna. "Maybe you can ask Alex." He harshly said since he was still bitter from the news of the two but immediately regretted it after looking at her.

She looked angry. "You know what, I'll see you later Cory." And with that she walked off.

Cory smashed his hand to his forehead. 'Dammit, why would you say that!' he chided himself. 'You're supposed to be friends and it probably reminds her of what he did to her.'

He bit the side of his cheek and looked off in the direction Dianna had left in. He watched on as she walked, not once looking back.

Cory rubbed the back of his neck and started to make his way to Chord's trailer again muttering about how insensitive that was as he walked.

A minute later he was there.

"Hey Cory, you ready to go?" Chord stepped off from the trailer steps where he had been waiting.

"Yeah totally."

"Alright, let's go."

They got into Chord's car and drove over to Sunset Boulevard.

Shortly after speaking with Cory, Dianna kept on her walk through the lot and to the smoothie place.

'I can't believe he would say that! He knows I don't feel good about the situation and god what nerve and-'

She was cut off from the rant in her head when she heard someone call to her.

"Hey girl, over here!"

She looked to her right as she walked past the lined trailers and found her gaze fall upon Amber who she knew had called her and Lea who was standing with her.

She put on a smiling face and walked over.

"Hey!" she returned.

"So I just saw you walking and you looked very determined and kind of… upset." Amber told her.

"Upset? No…" she lied. "Determined? Yes."

"And what were you so determined about?" Lea asked.

"Oh, I was on my way to get a smoothie from that little shop down the street. I love those when I'm winding down from a shoot." She tugged at the straps of her purse as she answered.

"Oh that sounds really good actually. Do you mind if we join you?" Lea wondered, fully aware of how tasty their smoothies were, especially their pomegranate passion one.

"Yeah that would be great. I was hoping someone might want to tag along. Things are always better with others." She smiled and nodded in the direction of the exit to the lot as she began to walk.

"Oh wait but, shouldn't we change first?" Amber asked as she pulled on the strap of her red dress that they had worn for their 'Marry You' scene.

"Eh, why? We're only running to get smoothies and we can get them to go and come back and change after. Besides, I think we look amazing in them. Lou would be insulted if we didn't show off her designs to the shop's patrons." Dianna joked.

They loved Lou Eyrich; Glee's very best in lead costume design.

"Yeah, Di's right. We can change later. We'll just go get the drinks and get back fast Amber."

"Okay then. It would be a shame to waste Lou's talent." Amber agreed and they all laughed.

On their short walk to the shop, they filled the air with conversation from how they liked the 'Furt' episode to what their favorite song was to plans they had for the weekend. Then it went to Cory.

"I'm just really glad you guys asked to tag along. I had asked Cory before but he said he couldn't because he already had plans to hang out with someone else."

"Oh that's weird." Lea said.

"What is? That he had plans with someone else?" Amber wondered.

"No, weird that he said no to Di here. He usually loves doing stuff with you." Lea clarified as she nudged Dianna.

But really, at some level, it wasn't that weird to her. She kind of figured after what happened the previous weeks, things would be awkward between them nonetheless and knowing Cory, he liked to avoid those kinds of things most of the time.

"Yeah well, I was hoping he would change his mind and join me until he made a snarky comment."

Lea quirked and eyebrow. "Snarky comment?"

"Yeah well, when he said he couldn't do it he suggested I take Alex saying it like, 'maybe you should ask Alex.'" She mocked in his harsh tone.

"I'm sure he felt bad after it." Amber added.

"And why is that?"

"Well think about it Di." Lea started. "You know Cory is the last person to be mean to someone. He's too much of a sweetie pie to ever intentionally upset someone so when he does he feels guilty."

"And you kind of can't blame him." Amber spoke again. "I mean, especially after all the triangle drama."

This time it was Dianna with a raised brow.

"We all know about the Alex-Dianna-Cory stuff happening Di." Lea informed the blonde.

Dianna bit her bottom lip. "Oh, that triangle." She pushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Let me ask you guys something if either of you even know… How long has Cory been feeling this way for me?"

Lea and Amber shared a knowing look before Lea answered her. "Even though Cory thought it was some form of a secret, everyone but you has known that he's liked you since pre-production of season one."

Dianna let out a very audible sigh. "I feel terrible. I can't believe I could never see it."

No one spoke. Lea could feel the situation slowly declining into Awkwardville.

After a few minutes of silence, Lea decided to speak to diffuse some of the tension but she wasn't really sure as to why she asked it.

"So are you moved in with… you know?" She couldn't say the blonde man's name in fear of a more emotional situation.

"No, not fully." Dianna answered without much feeling in her voice, like she had expected it and at the same time had no more emotion left for the day.

"Not fully?" Amber asked confused.

"I've been having a hard time moving my stuff over. I've been doing it slowly." She confessed, rubbing her forehead with her eyes closed.

Amber and Lea stayed silent as Dianna started to talk once more.

"The thing is, I didn't really want to move in with him. I just kind of figured I owed it to him."

"You could have said no." Lea told as she placed a hand on her shoulder while they continued walking.

"No Lea, it was just something I had to do."

The rest of their walk was pretty silent aside from the attempts to change topic, which just made the situation even more awkward.

At the shop, they ordered and waited at a small side table near the area where patrons liked to read and pull out their laptops like it was a coffee shop. Lea and Amber grabbed magazines off one of the small racks and thumbed through them.

Dianna was just playing with her nails at the table when she looked up to the girls in front of her at the table and took notice of the magazine Amber was skimming through.

At the top was the word Star outlined in pink. She looked a little lower at the cover but wished she hadn't. Could she feel any worse at the moment?

There he was on the cover, walking into a LAX terminal with a bouquet of beautiful pink calla lilies. It was the day he had gone to pick her up… the day he thought he would only be picking her up.

"Cory…" she softly whispered, so quietly that no one would hear it in the midst of the smoothie blenders roaring.

Cory and Chord had pulled up to the side of the curb once they had finally gotten to Sunset Boulevard.

They sat in the car as Chord pulled his Blackberry from the car charger and grabbed his Boston Red Sox baseball hat and threw it on over his long blonde locks.

"Alright, you good?" Chord asked, opening his door and pulling the keys from the ignition.

"Yeah let's do it."

They had only been walking up the sidewalk for a few minutes before people recognized them.

A few paparazzi snapped a some photos but didn't say anything to them. They just kept on walking, that is, until they were stopped by a trio of teenage girls that were walking in the opposite direction to them.

One had already pulled a digital camera out of her bag rather excitedly. Cory knew immediately that these girls watched the show.

Cory gave them a friendly smile.

"Oh my god! You guys are from Glee! If you have time would you mind if we got a picture with you two? We're all huge fans." The girl with the camera asked.

In Cory's opinion, the best part of his job was the fans. Without them, the show would be nothing and he would be out of a job.

"Yeah sure, absolutely." Cory agreed as he lined himself up with the girls.

"Why not?" Chord agreed and got into the picture as well.

Cory placed his arm over one of the girl's shoulders and Chord stood on the other side of the other two girls.

The girl held the small camera out in front of them, trying to stretch her arm to fit everyone in the picture.

"If you want I'll take the picture. I can put my long arms to use." Cory joked.

The girl smiled and handed him the camera. He held it out at a distance and made sure he could get everyone in the shot before he pushed down the circular button on top and heard the click of the camera.

He retracted his arm and handed the girl back her camera with a smile.

"Thank you guys so much! We really appreciate it!" One girl announced for the group.

"Hey no problem. You guys have a good day." Cory returned with a wave as the girls started to walk away.

"Later." Chord waved as well before returning to the side of Cory.

They walked on for a few more minutes before Chord saw a store he wanted to go into.

"Hey Cory, do you mind if we go in here to look around. I need some new shirts and stuff." Chord pointed to a store with the name Armani Exchange.

"Sure, I should probably look around for some stuff too." He agreed.

They walked inside the big store and looked around at all the display tables.

"Welcome to Armani Exchange. Can I help you find something?" a petite man asked.

"No thanks, just browsing." Chord answered.

The man walked off and they continued their shopping.

After a few minutes, Chord pulled a dark gray sweater off of a table and held it up to look at it. "This is pretty nice."

Cory looked at the sweater. It did look pretty nice. It was a pullover with a half zip on the collar.

"Yeah I like this." Chord announced. "I'm gonna go scope out some other stuff like this and meet you at the front since I know you wanted to look around and commenting on my clothes is a little girly."

They both laughed and agreed to meet when they were done.

Cory spent the majority of his browsing looking at the blazers and jackets.

After paying for the stuff they bought, they started back through the store to make their way out.

Cory was really glad he worked on a great show that he made a lot of friends on… and a lot of money. He sure as hell would never have bought a pair of $130 jeans when he lived in Vancouver and worked as a Wal-Mart greeter, construction worker, cab driver, and any other low rate job he did.

Just as they were about to leave he heard someone call his name.

"Cory! Cory Monteith!"

He looked behind him and immediately smiled at the person.

"Taylor Swift!" he matched her excited greeting.

"Hey!" She walked up to him and gave him a hug. "Long time no see!"

"Yeah I know, like, since the Teen Choice Awards right?"

"Yeah I think that's the last time I saw you." She agreed smiling. "It's been busy."

"Yeah you don't have to tell me twice." He laughed along.

Chord came up from behind him.

"Taylor this is Chord."

"Hey, Chord Overstreet." He greeted as he held out his hand.

"Country legend Paul Overstreet's son?" she questioned.

"One of two." Chord joked.

"Well it's nice to meet someone else from Nashville then." They shook hands.

"So what are you up to in West Hollywood?" Cory wondered.

"Visiting some friends in L.A. for a few days before I head back to the Music City. I actually just got here today and I was just looking around Sunset here to blow some time before I meet them for dinner."

Cory ran a hand through his hair and Chord couldn't help but wonder if he was nervous.

"Wow that's awesome. How come you don't stay longer than a few days?"

"Well I have to get back to Tennessee to work on some new songs and stuff. I'm hoping to get them recorded in the next week or two." She revealed.

"Working on the latest and greatest T-Swift song." he joked and she giggled.

"Yeah well, I'm hoping it will be good." She looked down at her cellphone to the time. "I'd love to stay and talk for longer but I was hoping to do a couple more things before I met my friends so I kind of have to go."

"Yeah totally that's cool. W-we don't want to hold you up." Cory spoke quickly.

Chord quirked an eyebrow. 'We?' he chuckled.

She softly smiled at him before saying, "Well I hope to see you again some time soon Cory and it was really great meeting you Chord." Cory nodded his head quickly and Chord half waved to her as she turned around and started to walk out.

What possessed Cory to say what he did next left him even confused.

"Hey Taylor! Maybe we can see each other sooner than expected. Would you like to go out with me later tonight? I mean, after your dinner of course."

He rubbed the back of his neck while he waited for an answer.

She slowly let a smile grow on her face. "You know what, why not?" She walked back over to him.

"Cool, great! I can pick you up after dinner or you know, whenever really it doesn't matter I guess…" he fumbled with his speech.

She giggled at this. "You can pick me up at my hotel. I'm staying here." She said as she wrote down the hotel name, floor, and room number on a small piece of paper with a pen that she pulled out of her bag.

"8:30?"

"That sounds fine." He agreed.

"Alright. See you then."

They shared a last smile and she continued out of the store and down the street.

"Wow dude." Chord said impressed. "Nice."

"Well yeah I mean, we're old friends since um, like a year ago when we met at the TCA's." he laughed. "I don't think it's exactly a date either."

"Hey whatever it is man, you're spending time with the Taylor Swift."

"Yeah I guess."

Chord didn't really want to mention Dianna even though he was thinking about her. How was Cory not wondering if this would affect her feelings?

In Cory's opinion, Dianna was dating someone and they were just friends now so why can't he take someone out?

Cory returned to his apartment while he waited for the time he would meet Taylor. He ate some food and did that P90X he had been holding out on for well… a while now.

A few hours later and after a shower and a fresh pair of clothes, he hopped in his car, plugged in the name of the hotel in his GPS and he was on his way.

About twenty minutes later, he pulled up to the valet of the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens.

"Keep it running okay. I should be out soon." He told the valet and handed him a twenty.

The man nodded and Cory entered the hotel and pulled out the piece of paper.

'Okay, floor ten, suite 1080.'

He walked to the elevator and took in his surrounding. This was a beautiful hotel. It had old beautiful Asian décor but at the same time it was still very modern with all of its pretty wood tones.

He had finally arrived at her door and he had a small chuckle at the fact that the room had a doorbell. He couldn't help himself. He had to ring it instead of knocking.

A few seconds later he heard shuffling from the other side of the door and then he watched it as it swung open to reveal Taylor.

"Hey!" she greeted and pulled him into a hug. "It's good to see you again. It's been forever." She joked.

"I know right!" he chuckled.

Cory looked her up and down and saw that she was wearing a pair of jeans and a draped sweater. "I'm glad you decided to go with something casual to go out in. I wanted to do something enjoyable and laid back and fun."

"Oh and what would that be?"

"Well it may not be what's expected but we're going…" he paused for a dramatic effect. "Bowling!"

She laughed at his delivery. "I'd actually love that."

"Then let's go." He nodded his head in the direction of the elevator and they went downstairs.

In the car, Cory had been driving for a few minutes before saying, "Oh, I actually have to make a stop before we go if that's okay."

"Yeah no problem. Is it far out of the way?"

"No, no. I actually have to stop at the Paramount Lot to grab my lucky bowling jacket out of my trailer." He told her matter of factly.

"Lucky bowling jacket?" she asked with a giggle.

"Hey hey! I have never bowled without it. It's how I'm going to guarantee my win tonight." He enlightened her.

"Ooh, someone's a little sure of himself before we even start huh?" she teased.

"It's just a fact that I never lose." He assured her with a wink.

"Hmm… We'll see." She smirked and Cory had to admit he found the banter kind of hot.

They pulled into the Paramount Lot and Cory hopped out of the car. "Come on and I'll give you a quick tour of well… outside." He laughed as he realized that that was all he could do.

They walked side by side to his trailer laughing and talking as he pointed out everyone's trailer. Then he searched his pockets for his key. "I know I have it somewhere." He said out loud as he patted down each and every one of his pockets.

That's when a voice surprised him.

"Looking for something important Cory?"

He looked up from where he had been searching in his pocket to see Dianna coming around the corner of the trailer holding up a small object in her hand.

"Uh, Dianna… Yeah, I- I am." He gulped.

Dianna walked up to him and handed him his key. "You left it on set today. Brad found it and asked me to give it to you but by the time I got it after I had my smoothie, you had already left."

She looked at Taylor. "Hey… Taylor Swift."

"Yeah hi. You must be one of Cory's cast mates. I'm sorry I don't know that many names. I haven't really gotten to watch the show."

"Yeah I'm Dianna Agron." She told her and they shook hands.

'Um, this is super awkward.' Cory thought to himself.

"What are you two up to?" she asked.

"Oh, Cory and I were going to go out bowling." Taylor informed her.

"Lucky bowling jacket?" Dianna assumed, looking to Cory.

She did know everything about him, truly.

He smiled a lopsided smile. "Yeah… I'm just going to grab that now. If you want you can wait in the car while I dig through my trailer for it." He said to Taylor.

"Okay I'll do that." She agreed and walked to Cory's car.

Cory quickly stepped up to the trailer door and unlocked it so he could grab his jacket.

While he did this, Dianna just glared at Taylor from behind. She never liked to admit she was jealous but it just really bothered her that there was another girl Cory was spending time with. And this seemed like a date even if Cory probably didn't call it one.

Cory was fast about finding the jacket which was slung behind the couch and then he retreated back outside.

He turned around off the steps to find Dianna still standing there.

"Oh, you're still here." He observed looking to her.

"Yeah…"

"What are you doing here anyway?" he narrowed his eyes with his question.

"Just picking up some stuff from my trailer as well. I was heading over when I heard you so I thought I'd stop here first."

He looked down into her deep hazel eyes. Now would be a good time to apologize for what he had said. "Listen Di, I'm sorry about what I said earlier… about Alex." He let his gaze fall off her and looked down to the ground.

"It's okay. I came to realize with some help that you probably regretted it after you said it."

"I did, I totally did Di." he promised her sincerely.

"So was that who you had plans with?" she questioned, pointing in the direction of his car.

"Her? No. I had plans to hang out with Chord and we saw her in a store on Sunset Boulevard and we got to talking. I haven't seen her in like a year and she leaves back to Nashville in a few days so I asked her out for tonight." He looked at her downcast expression. "Is that okay?"

"What? Yeah of course. Why wouldn't it be? I mean, you guys are friends, that's what friends do. They do stuff together- I mean, hang out." she rambled. In reality, she wasn't okay with it but she couldn't tell him what to do and what not to do.

Cory smiled at her reaction. He thought it was adorable. "Yeah… Anyway…" he looked down to her wrist. "How's that wrist doing?"

She looked down to her wrist and examined it. No more bruising. "It's fine. It healed about a week ago."

"Good. I'm glad. You don't have anymore that I should be worried about do you?" he asked, the need to protect her building inside of him.

"I told you I would let you know." She assured him.

"Okay, just checking." There was a short awkward silence before Cory started to speak again. "Well, I kind of have to go now but I'll see you Monday right?"

She nodded her head. "Monday." She confirmed.

"Alright then. I'll see you later Di." He began to walk away.

"Cory!" she called after him.

He turned around. "Yeah?"

She stayed where she had been. "Thanks."

"For what?" he wondered with a small smile.

"For being there for me always."

"That's what friends are for." He told her.

"Right, friends." She said solemnly.

It killed the both of them to refer to each other as friends but that's all they could be.

"Well no problem. I'm always there for you. Just know that."

"Always." she echoed.

He gave her one last smile. "Good night Dianna."

"Night."

And with that, he turned around and started walking back to his car, those same nerves in his body screaming at him to go back for her. They have been doing that a lot lately. He wasn't sure for how much longer he could deny them.

Okay! Another chapter down! I don't know how many more to come. I hoped everyone liked it. I tried to base this off factual stuff again like Cory and Taylor being friends. There were rumors a while back that they dated for a short period of time. They both deny it saying they are just very good friends but who knows? As always, please review! It really helps when I get feedback and it gives me the motivation to continue to write.