A Threat to Rachel Berry
Chapter 6

Jesse arrived at Rachel's house a short time after Puck's departure, twirling his keys around his finger. He smirked when he thought that Rachel had been waiting for him outside her door, but upon closer inspection, he realized that she was on her knees with her hands in front of her. He ran up and grabbed her shoulders. "Hey, what's the matter?" He momentarily appreciated how hot she looked in her apparel, but he pushed that thought back as he tried to give her emotional support. He hugged her, but he heard no sobs nor did he feel any hot tears on his shirt.

She pulled out and stared up into his eyes. She put on a fake smile. "I was just worried that you weren't going to come, and that maybe you didn't want to be with me anymore," she said, all the while, Puck's words echoed inside her head.

Jesse only smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry. I just got caught at a few red lights." He hugged her and kissed her cheek before he pulled her up. He led her to his motorcycle and placed the helmet on her head. She began to think of how angry Kurt would be if he saw her putting the helmet on. "OH, no you did NOT just put a helmet on the hair I just curled perfectly." That's definitely something he'd say.

He drove to a rather expensive restaurant that wasn't near her nor his neighborhood. "No one will bother us here," he kissed the top of her head after she removed her helmet. He offered his elbow and she accepted it graciously. They were seated at a table after he stated his reservation for St. James.

She opened up the menu, unsure of what to get. She turned to Jesse, who had his menu down already. She peeked at him, then put hers down as well. "You already know what you're getting?"

"I already ordered in advance so that we wouldn't have to wait," he said cockily, tilting his head to the side with that smirk still planted firmly on his face.

She shifted in her seat, "Then, why didn't you tell me?" She connected this to her previous conversation with Puck. Maybe he was hiding more things than she thought.

He shrugged. "You looked so confused when you were looking at the words that were all in Italian." She forced a laugh and he reached across the table to take her hand. "Are you sure there's nothing bothering you?" He asked, trying to give her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Her eyes lingered on their hands and she bit the inside of her lip. "Y-yeah, there's nothing wrong," she hastily tried to change the focus and reached for a slice of bread, spreading butter on it. She took a bite and melted into the taste, "Wow, this is delicious."

His expression remained unchanging. "Rachel, be honest with me," Oh, sure ask her for honesty when you're the one scheming to break her down from the inside.

"I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong!" She put on a fake smile and food arrived at their table. She gripped her fork as she stabbed at her salad, pushing it into her mouth. He continued to stare at her the same way. She sighed. "Please. I want to have fun tonight."

His gaze was long and meaningful, but he nodded in agreement as he picked up his own fork. They dined with small conversation. They never spoke of their schools, only of musicals they had recently seen, movies, anything that didn't remind them what they would face on Monday. They laughed as they ate and they made hardly any noise and Rachel barely noticed that he had paid for the check. "Should we leave now?" he asked her with a smile, though his eyes still searched her own for misery.

She simply nodded in response as they both boarded his bike. She rested her head against his back, listening to his steady heart beat. It was like a metronome; her highly trained ears told her that his heart was at approximately 70 beats per minute. They were nearing her house when her grip around his waist tightened. She didn't want the night to end yet. She didn't want to end it with him yet. "I'm sorry, I feel kind of selfish. Can we stay out… for a while longer?" she asked the question tentatively, still resting her head against his back. She heard the engine roar back to life as they sped off in another direction.

"Where do you want to go?" She could hear his voice loud and clear even over the roar of the engine.

"Carmell High school… Can we go there, again?"

She felt his back stiffen, which escalated her doubts and suspicions in him. "Why do you want to go there?"

She nuzzled her nose into his back and then returned to her previous position, resting her cheek against him. "I… want to sing with you, again. I feel I connect with you the most when we sing together," she explained to him.

She felt his back relax. "Okay," he switched lanes, headed in the direction to his school again. He arrived there in fifteen minutes, and Rachel didn't shift in her position in the least. He almost thought she was sleeping, but when they arrived, he felt her lift her head away and he realized how warm he was in that spot. The absence brought a shiver.

They held hands as they walked to the auditorium as they did before, but it felt different, like there was something missing. He looked down from the corner of his eye, and he noticed that she was avoiding looking at him. He stopped at the auditorium, waiting for her to make the next move. She pushed the door open quickly and pulled him inside with her. She stepped onto the stage and looked at the seats.

Jesse disappeared into a room and called out to her from inside, "So, which song do you want to sing?" He received no response. "Rachel?" Still nothing. He stuck his head out from the door and found her still looking in awe at the seats designated for the audience. He walked out to her and hugged her from behind, holding her shoulders. "Rachel."

She spoke. "Everything… is bigger, and brighter, and… better," she paused and took a deep breath, then continued. "Perfect for a star to develop its shining rays, huh?"She asked as she rested her head against his shoulder.

"You could develop your rays here too," he whispered near her ear. He turned her around, having her face him. He felt bravery coursing through him as he chose his words. "Leave McKinley High. And forget the Glee Club, they'd never be able to do anything for you anyway," he said to her, searching her eyes for any acceptance, or consideration of this offer. Unlike the time he offered to drive her back home, he found none. He really wished she had just gotten better at hiding it.

After a few moments, she spoke. "But… my friends—?"

He answered quickly. "Are they really your friends, Rachel? Plus, you could still see them, but you would be by my side."

"They'd resent me for it."

"If they're really your friends, they'll get over it."

"I might get hurt by the ones who aren't."

"Then, I'll protect you," He said this as he pulled her into his arms and nuzzled his head into her shoulder.

"What about Regional's?" she asked him without returning the embrace.

"We'll take down anyone there together."

Her eyes seemed to tremble as they moved side to side and her lip quivered along with them. She pulled away from him. She looked down at her shoes when his piercing gaze was too much for her. She gulped. "M-maybe I will. I could be with you, I'd still be able to do what I love, I'd win Nationals, and I'd be a star…" her voice trailed off as her eyes looked off into the distance.

"Right! And I'd be right there with you!"

She moved out of his arms, "And I'd sing, and I'd sing until I couldn't sing any longer! And, I'd reach new heights, developing my voice to what I would never imagine it could be! And I'd go off to UCLA to be with you, and before I would know it, I'd be found by an agency and move on to Broadway…" Her eyes held a dreamy-like shine in them.

"And, I'd watch all your performances after I graduated Carmel, and I'd help you through your career, and after that…" Jesse looked off into the distance as well; Rachel's back was to him. "It would be… great, wouldn't it?" He heard sniffles coming from her direction. He turned around slowly, dreading to see the sight that matched with the sounds. "Rachel…"

"I can't. I just… can't." her tears flowed down her cheeks and she buried her face in her hands as she fell to her knees. She sobbed and sniffed as Jesse approached her, slowly. He saw her tear-streaked face and he felt his heart tear in two. He looked sympathetically down at her and knelt down to her level.

"I…" he started off, "If it makes you feel any better, you can… forget what I said. I know that you can't leave your friends back there," he rested his hand on the top of her head. "So… just… stop crying." He moved her hands from her face and tilted her chin so that he met her eyes.

She sniffed as she stared into his eyes. Somehow, all her suspicions of his motives were washed away as she saw the sincerity that was being displayed. He moved his arm onto her shoulder and she felt it slide from one shoulder to her back to the other shoulder, his other hand still tilting her head to face him. She felt the distance closing, and he kissed her. Something was different about this one, though. Her eyes widened in surprise at first, but she slowly closed them, melting in his arms. She moved her hands from the floor to the front of his shirt and he thought she was going to push him away, but she pulled him, both of them falling to the floor. She felt the hand that was on her chin, move south. A little too far down south for her comfort. She then pushed him away and he quickly lifted himself off of her. She trembled while he had a hand on her arm. They faced each other, on their sides.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her, his hand drawing circles on her arm. His head was propped on his elbow.

She still stared into his eyes, and then she almost found herself drowning in them. "T-too… fast," she managed to stutter out.

He blinked in confusion at first, then remembered where his hand was earlier, just before they stopped. "O-oh. Sorry… I thought that… Nevermind."

"What? You thought what?" she asked quizzically.

"I thought… I don't know. You haven't done that kind of thing before?" he asked, his eyebrow rose.

"No!" she shouted, now she stood up, her face red in either embarrassment or anger. Maybe both.

He sat up, "Now, Rachel, don't turn this into something—"

"No, I will turn it into something… Have—have you?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting themselves together.

"Have I what?" He asked.

"Y-you know…" she said, her cheeks reddening further. She looked off to the side, then met his gaze again, expecting an answer.

He still stared. He looked away too, and then back, "Okay, a few times—"

"A few!?" she gasped, and she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Well, yeah, like 6 or 7—"

This was not helping his case at all. "So… if you've done it so many times… it probably wouldn't mean very much to you to do it with me."

"Well, not really…" he said without thinking. He looked up at her and found that tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. His eyes widened and he quickly tried to rectify the situation he was in. "I mean, no! No! That's not what I meant either! I meant—"

She dashed out the door already, tears following behind her. He grabbed her, not that she would be able to really go anywhere. It was already late, and he drove them here on his motorcycle. "Rachel, wait," he had his hands grasping her shoulders even as she struggled to escape.

Her voice trembled along with her whole body before she finally spoke. "I can't do this. I can't! Not with you!" She felt all of Puck's words that she had forgotten suddenly inundate into her mind. She remembered how piercingly true everything he said was and how skeptical she felt about Jesse and his intentions afterward.

"Rach, what are you—" he tried to wrap his arms around her again.

"No! Stop it!" She pounded her fists on him feebly. "Go away! Go away! Go away…" She sniffed finally, the tears pouring out of her eyes. Her voice broke in the middle of saying her fourth "go away." She trembled still and her fist pounding ceased. "I can't be with you, not when it endangers my teammates."

His expression hardened. He lied, "I told you, I don't have an ulterior—"

"And I told you to stop!" She screamed.

He stared down at her. "Rachel…"

"I can't…" she trailed off, then picked up a few seconds later."I can't trust you like this," she sniffled before she regained control of her voice, "because a small part of me still doesn't believe that you have good intentions with me," she gulped as if to stop hiccups, "especially since you said that it wouldn't matter with me!" she was now crying her eyes out, her mascara was starting to run. He wiped at those tears and she angrily tore away from him. "Stop it!"

He was taken aback by this.

"Stop… doing this. Your comfort… just makes it so much harder for me to break away," she took fistfuls of his shirt into her hands. "Please… just don't come near me anymore. I really want to believe that what we have, is real, but I can't… keep deceiving my team the way that I am…"she sniffled before continuing her emotional episode. "So, just… let me have a clean break," she laughed although she was still crying. "Besides, it's not like we were really in love like Romeo and Juliet."

He stared down at her and in his mind, he thought, But I am.

"Besides, their story had a tragic end."

How is loving each other until death a tragic end? He sighed. It's over. The jig is up. There was no way for him to fight for his Juliet if his Juliet wanted to give up on their romance. He passed her the helmet. "At least let me drive you home."

"No, I'll just—"

"No. Let me drive you home," he said with urgency. She decided not to argue and she took the helmet.

Rachel hesitated at first. "Okay."

Yay, Rachel and her mood swings are amazing. :D

Whee, finals are fun. [/sarcasm]