Seven Sins of St. Berry
Gluttony
It seemed all too soon that they were pulling up in the familiar parking lot, the blacktop filled with an assortment of vehicles that she no longer recognised. She heard him cut the engine, the quiet falling over them both as they sat close in the warm darkness and surveyed the scene before them. It looked smaller somehow. He made no move to get out and neither did she. Rachel felt butterflies in her stomach as she looked up at the familiar sign that rose above the double doors, hardly able to believe they were actually back here. Had it really been ten years?
William McKinley High
Jesse watched her profile as she stared out the passenger window, looking up at the walls of fading brick and bittersweet memories. Her body was stiff and unmoving, the shadows playing across her face, hiding her eyes but not her heart.
"We don't have to do this."
Rachel half smiled. She knew Jesse was itching to slam his foot on the accelerator and get them the hell out of there. He would drive them all the way back to NYC tonight if he could.
"It's okay," she said, not taking her eyes from the school. "It's going to be fine."
He must have caught the hitch in her voice.
"You're not filling me with a lot of optimism here."
"…I just need a moment."
"I don't know why you were so insistent on coming in the first place," Jesse muttered, tugging at his tie with an almost juvenile irritation that only she knew masked the sting of old wounds. This was not a particularly happy place for either of them, and his question was quite justified.
"Because I'm a glutton for punishment," she answered glumly.
She felt him take her hand and she grasped it tight, swallowing hard but not looking away from the beckoning school doors and all that lay beyond. They were dressed up in their finery, both well on their way to becoming legends of Broadway, and had enviable lives in many ways. She had the undisputed love of her life at her side, and yet somehow Rachel still felt like her insecure teenage self all over again being back here, faced with the prospect of her old life, her old peers, her old mistakes.
"You have nothing to prove."
"I know..." she agreed as she took a deep breath, steeling her resolve. "Just call it closure."
He sighed in defeat but nodded, raising her hand to kiss the back of her palm, her fingers still entwined with his. She gave him a tentative smile as she met his gaze, her eyes lighting up with a spark of that boundless determination that he loved so much.
"It's just one night," she cajoled appeasingly, before leaning in to catch his lips with a kiss that promised to make it up to him later. "Besides, Kurt will kill me if I break our pact."
"Well, we can't have that."
Cracking the first real smile she'd seen since they'd arrived back in Ohio, Jesse finally got out and opened her door, bowing theatrically and extending his arm in true gentleman style. "After you, Miss Berry."
She laughed and took his hand, the evening wind whipping her hair and dress as she stepped out of the car and looked up at the façade where her life had changed in so many ways. The glee club…
"Ready for this?"
"Once more unto the breach," she murmured.
Rachel drew in a breath and held her head up high as they strode back through the doors to McKinley High, content somewhere deep in her heart that while the past may always be there, it didn't define them anymore. Maybe it was at last time to make peace.
The warbling chords of classic rock instantly met them, blasting from the direction of the gymnasium with an unmistakable exuberance.
"…Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on…"
Jesse rolled his eyes. Rachel smiled.
Some things would never change.
[o]