A/N: I said I would upload quickly =]

Jesse walked with Rachel up to her front door. It was barely quarter past nine and Rachel was slightly disappointed to lose any time she could have had with Jesse. He kissed her goodnight on her doorstep and she went inside. When the door had closed she leant back against it and sighed, deciding to play the cliché her life was becoming for everything it was worth. She walked into the kitchen where her fathers were waiting for her.

"You're home early." Hiram said.

"My curfew's ten." She said her brow furrowing.

"It was ten when we agreed on in it in your freshman year. You're sixteen now Rachel, I think we can make it later." He looked to Leroy who nodded in agreement.

Rachel smiled happily. "We'll extend it to twelve." Leroy informed her.

"Thank you!" She excitedly hugged them before wishing them goodnight and went up to her bedroom.

"What kind of parents extend their daughters curfew when she gets a boyfriend?" Leroy raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"Okay, she hasn't called him her boyfriend, so don't get ahead of yourself." Hiram reasoned. "Besides, she is getting older and I just want her to be happy and enjoy this."

"As long as she doesn't enjoy herself too much." He replied stoically.

"We've done everything we can. She's fully informed and I trust her to be able to make that decision for herself."

"But she's so young."

"She's a young woman now."

"No, she's a child."

"Leroy, we can't control her. If we try she is likely to rebel. We have a good relationship with our daughter. I don't want to lose that."

"Oh so because you want to be friends with our daughter we need to ignore these sorts of issues."

Hiram sighed. "Of course not and it's not that I'm trying to be her friend. I just don't want to spend years fighting with her over inconsequential things. She doesn't have a mother to talk about these sorts of things with so we need to provide her with an open environment where she feels like she can come to us with anything. If we act cagey about boys and possible relationships she won't come to us when she does need someone to talk to."

Leroy considered what Hiram said and nodded. "Fine, but you can be who she goes to with problems and I can be the one to kill the little punk if he hurts her."

"Agreed." Hiram smiled.

\o\

When Jesse returned home he saw that his father's Jaguar was in the driveway. He sat in his car for a few moments debating whether to drive away and crash at Mike's until his parents left. He eventually decided to go inside realising that they might notice if he didn't come home the whole time they were there. Emphasis on might. Jesse walked into his house and he found his mother drinking a glass of wine in the kitchen. The bottle was almost empty and she had a cigarette resting between her manicured fingers. She nodded to him. He hadn't seen her in over five months and all he gets is a nod, not even a slurred greeting. He doesn't know why he's even surprised.

He goes into his father's study, hoping for something other than the cold shoulder he usually gets.

"Dad." He speaks, getting his father's attention.

"Jesse, how are you son?"

He's slightly taken aback but doesn't let it show. "I'm good. How have the last five or so months been for you?" He fails from stopping the bitterness seeping into his words.

Brian St. James doesn't notice. "They've been busy. The business is really expanding." Jesse nodded uninterestedly. He and his father were very different people, apart from their show faces. Well, Brian would call it a poker face but that was just another one of their differences. Brian did not understand Jesse's passion or his talent. It was part of the reason he didn't tell many people. If his parents couldn't understand what are the chances anyone else would. They treated it like a joke and Brian constantly asked what he really wanted to do with his life.

"I've actually arranged for you to do a bit of work experience this summer, just to get a taste for the business."

"I don't need to a taste for it Dad, because I'm never going to do it. Besides, I've got a summer project."

"Not more community theatre? Jesse, it's time to get serious. That's a hobby. You have to think about what you're going to do with your life." Brian spoke exasperatedly and Jesse felt the anger swelling in his chest.

"It is what I want to do with my life. I'm really talented and I want this but you know what? Even if it doesn't work out I would not go anywhere near your business." He spat before turning around and walking out. He wasn't in the mood to fight with his dad. He had been having such a good day until he saw his parents. He should have just gone to Mike's.

He flopped down onto his bed and played the American Idiot soundtrack on his computer. He couldn't see straight. Every time his parents came home they had this effect on him. The last time they had come home he had been dating Quinn and she couldn't understand why he suddenly turned into the biggest asshole she had ever met and he really hadn't wanted to talk to her about it. He wanted to talk about it to Rachel but he doubted she would understand. Everyone in Lima knew about her family but the one thing Jesse knew without even having to meet Rachel's dads is that they probably worshipped the ground she walked on. They put thought and consideration, and a lot of money he was sure, into her conception. She was wanted before she had even existed. While Jesse had heard on numerous occasions that he was a mistake. His older brother and sister had been planned because the St. James' needed to be a picture perfect family but they were respectively thirteen and fifteen years older than him and he hardly ever saw them. His parents had married and had his siblings when they were young but Jesse had been a surprise and not one they were happy about and he had continued to disappoint them throughout his life.

He was too young to know whether his dad had ever tried to force his brother Andrew to take the company and it wasn't like they talked so he couldn't ask. Besides, Andrew had a respectable profession as a lawyer so it was hardly the same.

Jesse took his phone out of his pocket and sent Rachel a goodnight text and then looked through the pictures they had taken that day. He had taken one of her singing and she insisted on taking some of him and then together. There was one that he had now made his background, where they were both smiling with their faces pressed against each other. Looking at it and remembering how he had felt just a few hours ago helped defuse the anger he had been feeling. It did however create a space for a wave of anxiousness to break its way in. He had been on one date with the girl and just thinking about her could make him forget about everything. He was afraid to start depending on her. It didn't hurt when his parents left because he didn't care about them, but he already felt like it would hurt like hell if Rachel ever left him. He fell into a restless sleep, filled with dreams of working in an office wearing a suit while seeing pictures of Rachel on red carpets on the arm of some actor.

When he went downstairs the next morning to grab something for breakfast before heading to rehearsal he found his parents sitting at the breakfast table.

"Jesse, we wanted to talk to you." His mother spoke.

"Well that makes a nice change." He muttered.

"Can we get through one conversation without the sarcasm?" Brian asked.

Jesse rolled his eyes but sat down in the empty seat.

"At the end of the summer we are going to be moving to California." His mother informed him.

"What?" He shouted, outraged.

"We felt that living somewhere else might be better for our family."

He laughed bitterly. "You don't live here!"

"Jesse!" Brian reprimanded.

"No, you're never around and now you're going to take me out of my home and away from my friends because you don't like a place that you don't spend any time in. This is a fucking joke." He stormed out, slamming the front door behind him.

With rehearsal the farthest thing from his mind he drove quickly to the hill and ran up to the top. Once there he screamed, a loud deep sound tore from within him and he was satisfied to see a flock of birds flying out of a tree at the shock of the sound. It was almost cinematic. He breathed deeply, still out of breath from running up the hill. He took out his ipod and started listening to it glaring out across the lake.

/o/

Rachel sat on the stage doing a few warm ups with some of the other actresses.

"Where's Jesse?" Shelby asked the room but got no reply. Rachel had texted him and called him but he hadn't picked up. She had assumed that he was running late but they were almost an hour into their day and he still wasn't there. He didn't turn up all day and Shelby was not happy. That day Rachel had driven herself because both of her dads had work so she headed towards the hill on a whim. She knew Jesse wasn't the type of person to miss rehearsal for no reason especially without letting anyone know. She saw his car and parked behind him. The path was blocked from view at the top so he wouldn't see her coming. When she neared the top she could hear him singing 'Don't do Sadness' from Spring Awakening.

Awful sweet to be a little butterfly
Just wingin' over things
And nothing deep inside.
Nothing goin', goin' wild in you, you know.
You're slowing by the riverside,
Or floatin' high and blue.

She could hear the anger penetrating his singing. She stood silently and listened to him.

Or may be cool to be a little summer wind.
Like once through everything
And then away again.
With the taste of dust in your mouth all day
But no need to know.
Like sadness, you just sail away.

'Cuz you know I don't do sadness,
Not even a little bit.
Just don't need it in my life.
Don't want any part of it.
I don't do sadness.
Hey, I've done my time
Lookin' back on it all.
Man, it blows my mind.
I don't do sadness,
So been there.
Don't do sadness,
Just don't care.

She stepped up and started to sing 'Blue Wind'. He didn't seem surprised so she figured she must not have been as quiet or as stealthy as she had thought.

Spring and summer ev'ry other day
Blue wind gets so sad
Blowin' through the thick corn,
Through the bales of hay,
Through the open books on the grass
Spring and summer
Sure, when it's autumn
Wind always wants to
Creep up and haunt you
Whistlin' it's got you
With its heartache, with its sorrow
Winter wind sings and it cries

As she sang she moved to stand closer to him. She didn't touch him she just stood behind him. She could see that his fists were clenched and hoped that he wouldn't be angry that she was there.

Spring and summer ev'ry other day
Blue wind gets so pained
Blowin' through the thick corn,
Through the bales of hay,
Through the sudden drift of the rain
Spring and summer.

When he began to sing the next verse she figured that he didn't mind her being there.

So maybe I should be some kind of laundry line.
Hang their things on me
And I will swing 'em dry.
You're just wait in' the sun through the afternoon,
And then see, they come to set you free
Beneath the risin' moon.

They began to sing together in counterpart. Neither moving from their place, each enjoying the dramatic place and each consumed with their thoughts.

'Cuz you know I don't do sadness/ Spring and summer ev'ry other day
Not even a little bit/ Blue wind gets so lost
Just don't need it in my life/ Blowin' through the thick corn,
Don't want any part of it/ Through the bales of hay
I don't do sadness/ Spring and summer ev'ry other day
Hey, I've done my time/ Blue wind gets so lost
Lookin' back on it all/ Blowing through the think corn
Man, it blows my mind/ Through the bales of hay
I don't do sadness So been there/ Through the wandering clouds of the dust
Don't do sadness just don't care/ Spring and summer

They finished and Rachel spoke up. "What were you singing about?"

"My parents are home."

"And you don't have a good relationship?" She guessed. Jesse scoffed and moved slightly further away from her.

"Hey, don't do that. Talk to me." She demanded.

He shook his head. "I can't. You wouldn't understand."

"Then explain it to me. I want to understand." She spoke softly and it seemed to convince him. He didn't want to tell her that he was moving to California, not after they had only just met. He looked at her sadly but took her hand and sat down. He kept hold of her hand as he explained his relationship with his parents and how they were never supportive of what he wanted to do.

"And now…" He paused. Just looking at her he couldn't bear to tell her that he would be leaving after he had spent the whole of the night before having nightmares of a life without her.

"Now what?"

"They're moving to California and I have to go with them." He muttered dejectedly.

"What? When?" Rachel asked unable to hide her sadness.

He turned to look at her. "At the end of the summer."

"Jesse…" She spoke sadly.

"I know." He knew that she would miss him. He knew that she didn't want him to leave. He knew that she was sorry. He knew all this because he felt it too. "I think it would be best if we just kept our relationship professional from now on." He spoke rigidly, not allowing any emotion into his voice as he pulled away from her.

"What? No, Jesse I-"

"Rachel, we're in too deep already and it's only been a couple of days. I don't want to spend the whole of this summer falling in love with only to leave you behind. I can't do it."

Jesse looked at her earnestly and she knew on some level that he was right. "But does that mean we should miss out on our chance? Why shouldn't we enjoy the time while we have it?"

Jesse shook his head sadly. "Because it would hurt too much."

"So instead we just spend the summer watching each other hurting because it will hurt less when you leave. Either way, Jesse, it's going to hurt."

"No. I think it would be best if we don't pursue this any further." He finished resolutely unable to look into her eyes. She didn't move or speak so he got up and walked back down to his car.

A slightly sadder chapter perhaps but I hope you enjoyed it. =]