A/N: I want to apologize again for the lateness of this chapter! I have been extremely busy with work the past few days – parent teacher conferences are coming up, and as if that wasn't enough, I've had two large projects due for my graduate degree this week. Needless to say, I haven't had much time to write! However, this might be one of my favorite chapters :) It starts off slow, but once you hit the second part… well, just hold on. All of this 'First Time' episode hype is getting to me! So much so that I had to change the rating of the story! ;)

Please follow me on Tumblr and Twitter (links are in my profile), and please leave reviews! Love you all! xoxo – Therese

Chapter 19

It was already our fifth night in La Jolla. We would only be here for seven. Shit, this whole break was just flying by. With only two days left, I could tell that the house was starting to shift. More and more of us were beginning to talk about everything that we had to do once we were back in Los Angeles. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the scripts for the first episode should have been mailed to us already. Literally, our jobs were waiting for us in our mailboxes back at home. After all, shooting started in about another week, and then we'd all be together again. Only this time, Season 3 was going to be really different.

We had all recently heard that for some of us, we'd be graduating at the end of the school year. While it messed a lot of us up, knowing that this fairytale dream might be coming to an end sooner than we had hoped, we also knew we had to make this season an exceptional one. Of course, some of the cast were "juniors", like Jenna and Kevin, and I had even heard Darren might be a junior – but for people like me, Cory, and Chris… well, we were graduating. And we weren't even really sure of our futures. Would we be kept around? A spin-off? Would we even be going off to college? Would the show follow all of around? I was sure we were eventually going to be getting answers – but the waiting was the worst part. That's what made this vacation with all of us together so nice. No matter what next summer held, we had this amazing one.

And honestly, I'm terrified to think about where my life will be one year from now.

Will I still be with Cory? Will I still be living in my same rented apartment in Los Angeles? Will I still have a job? What if I get another role on Broadway? There were so many questions up in the air. And in a way, I felt very much like a senior in high school. All of these questions about the future and what was going to happen, but no answers.

I had spent pretty much the entire day outside on the deck in my bikini, hoping the sun and ocean air would help this killer headache melt away. I had tried juice and sports drinks, sleeping and taking vitamins… nothing was really working. Heather told me to exercise, but my head felt like a heavy watermelon that was glued to the back of the lounge chair. I slept for a little while, but everyone going in the pool kept waking me up.

Cory, though, had been really good to me all day – he kept coming up to me and checking on me. He even made me a salad, even thought he put too much dressing on it, and he left out the croutons. I love croutons… I figured he knew that by now. But, I guess that's just one thing I'll have to tell him about myself. He even lay on the pool chair next to mine for a while and he was nice and quiet. It was just so nice to have him next to me, especially after he took such good care of me the night before.

You know, I'm a pretty lucky girl.

The sun was beginning to set over La Jolla. Mark and Darren worked over the barbecue, preparing dinner. The smell of the hamburgers and hot dogs roasting over the fire wafted through the air, and even though I don't eat meat, I can appreciate the smell of a good cookout. I tried leaning over to peer at what else was getting ready to go on the grill and I spotted some steaks, pinwheel sausage, and chicken that was being marinated in a bowl. I even saw there were some vegetable skewers, and that made me excited. Dianna must have made those. I'm sure there were some other vegan goodies inside – you can't really barbeque tofu or anything soy. Besides, if I know Jenna, she'll whip up this amazing pasta dish that I love so dearly that when I die, I want to be buried with a bowl of it.

Cory emerged from inside the house through a sliding glass door, a bottle of beer in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. He smirked as he offered me the bottle of water. "How are you feeling?" he asked before taking a sip of his beer.

"Okay," I replied honestly as I cracked the seal of the water bottle cap. "Better than I did this morning, but still not one hundred percent." I took a sip of water. "Why did we take so many shots last night?"

Cory laughed as he gently moved my legs to the side and took a seat on the edge of my pool chair. He rested his hand on my sunscreen-slathered leg and rubbed it back and forth. "Because you challenged me."

"I should have quit while I was ahead."

"Lea Michele Sarfati isn't a quitter."

I let out a sigh before sitting up. I was dizzy at first, and I was sure that the weight of my head was going to pull me right back down to the chair. However, I gripped onto the armrests of the chair and used all my strength to stay up. "How much longer until we eat?" I asked. I hadn't really eaten anything all day since I was afraid I'd just chuck it all up. Maybe that was why I wasn't really feeling good? Sushi and shots probably weren't a great combination last night and I wasn't doing anything to help myself out today.

He quickly shrugged his shoulders. "There's some food out on the table now. Amber made bruschetta and different salads. Do you want me to help you get inside? Eating will make you feel a million times better, I promise."

I smiled before slowly swinging my legs over the edge of the chair. "I think I'll be okay," I told him as I tried standing up. Again, the weight of my head made me feel like I was going to fall right over, but I managed to take a few steps without crumbling down. Cory was close behind me, though, and I knew that if I fell, he'd make every effort he could to try and scoop me up. Such a gentleman.

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It was long after dinner. The sun had disappeared now for hours, and the skies over La Jolla were as black as the asphalt on the city streets. Small silver stars, however, lit up the sky, and the full moon glowed in the middle of the night. Strangely, everyone went to bed rather early. It was just after one in the morning, but yet, the house was quiet. I sat at the kitchen counter perched on a stool, flipping through a magazine with a cup of tea at my side. Cory was right – eating a good dinner really helped pick my health up. I didn't feel as nauseous as I thought I was going to feel, although the smell of the potato salad made me feel queasy. Maybe it was just the combination of mayonnaise and carbs.

I lifted my head up from the magazine when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind me. I turned my head slowly and looked over my shoulder and I saw Cory and Mark lugging large baskets of laundry up the stairs. I smirked as the two of them walked down the hallway, dropping the baskets off at the front of everyone's bedroom doors. Really, the two of them are the best together. They're the two best friends out of any of the guys on set. They just seem to understand each other, which I can appreciate. It's always nice to have a friendship that doesn't have to be talked about and worked over.

Mark retreated into one of the bedrooms, and Cory walked back down the hallway. He spotted me in the kitchen and smiled right away. "What are you doing out here? I figured you were in bed by now."

"No," I quietly responded as he approached me. He leaned down and placed his lips against mine. I smiled and kissed him back. God, he was so sweet. "I slept pretty much the whole day. It's not in the cards for me now." I looked down the hallway, and then back at Cory. "What were you and Mark doing with all of that laundry?"

He took a seat on the stool next to me. "I was keeping him company when he was doing his wash, and everyone else just left all of their stuff in there. So, the two of us just worked through it and sorted it as best as we could. Like, we knew what pieces were Chris' because they were so blatantly obvious compared to, let's say, Chord's."

"Well, I'm sure everyone will appreciate it," I smiled.

"What are you doing now?" he asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

He nodded towards the sliding glass door that led out to the pool. "Want to go for a dip?"

I looked right up into his knowing brown eyes, and I smirked. He smiled right back at me, and I wanted to melt right then and there. "Let me put my bathing suit on."

I was just about to hop off of the stool, but his hand caught mine. "No," he responded in a low, smoky voice. "You don't need it."

At that point, I was about to drop to my knees and ask the good Lord what I did right in life to deserve that response. But instead, I looked down at his hand on mine, and then I looked back up at him. "O-okay," I managed to stammer.

With my hand in his, Cory led me through the kitchen and out the sliding glass door. The deck was dark, and the only light that we could use to see were the small lights that came from the kitchen, and the small circular lights that lined the walls of the pool.

We could both hear the roar of the ocean and the waves crashing against the shore in the distance, but that was the only sound we could hear. Cory let go of my hand as soon as we reached the edge of the pool. And with one quick, but slow, motion (if that makes any sense…), he grabbed onto the sides of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. He allowed his shirt to fall to the deck and he stood shirtless in front of me.

My eyes traveled from his face to his chest, and then back up to his face. I knew what he was waiting for, because he was studying me and my body in the same manner. I grabbed for my shirt at the sides and pulled it up over my head. I dropped it to the deck, right next to his.

I never felt more naked, but more comfortable, with him in my whole life. I was standing before him in a pair of running shorts and my red lacy bra with my hair tied back and no makeup on my face, and yet, I felt at ease. We hadn't ever done anything like this before.

Almost knowing how comfortable I felt, Cory took my hand once again, and led me to the steps going into the pool. He took the first steps in, and at the speed he was going, I could tell he was cold. But even so, he bucked up and kept walking in, taking me in behind him. As soon as the cold water hit my skin, I let out a small gasp. I could only imagine how I was going to feel once my whole body was submerged in the practical ice water.

Effortlessly, Cory was able to lead me right into the water. I was shivering and every square millimeter of my skin had goosebumps on it, but with Cory, I didn't really seem to mind. As we stood in the water, he pulled my body in close to his. Chest to chest, we stood together, and he lowered his face down to mine once again. Our lips met and it was almost like an explosion of heat and electricity surged through our bodies. Our hands ran over each other's backs, and I could feel Cory getting caught up on my bra straps and clasps. I almost squealed in his mouth when his fingers ran over the silk and ruffles.

Decidedly, I had to take charge. I managed to push his body over to the wall of the pool with our lips still pressed together in a passionate, exploration-filled kiss. Now, I'm not sure how I did it, but as his body was pressed up against the wall, I lifted my legs and wrapped them around Cory's waist. I pressed my hips into him and I could feel the outline of everything through his shorts. I quickly gasped for air as his lips left mine and they traveled down my chin and to my neck. He sucked on my neck and pulled at my skin with his teeth, and I couldn't help but let out a carnal moan.

As his lips were on my neck, I could feel him begin to fumble more with the back of my bra. I knew he was going to try to take it off… it was finally happening. Everything that I've wanted since I developed this crush on him. I always wondered what it was like to be with Cory Monteith… and it was all happening. I wasn't going to stop him. It was something that I had wanted for a while, and after the events of the past days, I assumed it was something that he had also wanted. And with a quick twist and a pull, I felt the back of my bra come undone, and the straps began to fall from my shoulders.

He lifted his mouth and head away from my neck and he looked deep into my eyes. Our stares were locked in with each other's for a long while as I allowed him to pull the bra off of my body. I give the man credit; he didn't look at my chest right away. Instead, we kept our chests pressed against each other's for a long while before I nodded, which was the sign he was looking for to proceed. Our lips met again while his hands began the long and exciting journey towards my breasts. Gently, he cupped them and ran his hands over them, and my body quickly fell into overdrive. My senses were extremely heightened, and my head fell back so far that the bottom of my hair fell into the pool.

It was one of the most amazing nights of my life. While Cory and I didn't have sex that night, we took hours exploring each other's bodies in the cool water out in the warm California night. By the time the both of us left the pool, the remaining clothing that we had on when we entered the pool were all floating in the deep end of the water. Cory reached in and fished them out as I wrung out my hair, letting all of the chlorine water that it had soaked up fall right back out onto the deck. We managed to grab towels that were left outside to cover our bodies as we retreated inside to shower off… together… and fall asleep… together.