Author's Note: Opening night is finally here! I know you guys have been waiting for this, among other things. I know some of you had wanted to see the rehearsals, but hopefully this chapter will make up for that. Again, thank you guys so much for the amazing reviews. I love seeing the review alerts, story alerts and favorite story alerts in my e-mail inbox. They bring a smile to my face. Please leave me some feedback on this chapter and let me know what you guys think.
Jesse woke up excited, and with a smile on his face, the day of the show. He was still pissed that the one person who was supposed to love and support him – his wife – wasn't going to be there but he wasn't going to let that ruin what he was sure was going to turn out to be one of his favorite days. He lay in bed for a moment and his thoughts drifted from Isla to Rachel. He couldn't wait to see her. He was sure that she would be just as excited as he was.
He looked over at his phone on the nightstand and decided to send her a text.
Breakfast? was all it said.
Getting out of bed, he headed to the bathroom to jump in the shower and took his phone so he could hear when she sent him a text. He had just tugged his pants off when he got her response.
Smiling he looked to see what she'd written. I'd love to. The Breslin in an hour?
He typed out his response quickly, unable to stop grinning like an idiot. Perfect.
Ever since they had become friends again – or whatever they were – she had become the best part of his day. He woke up every morning giddy, like a schoolboy, with the anticipation of seeing her face and talking to her and singing with her. He just wanted to be with her all of the time.
He took his time getting ready, knowing that he had plenty of time before he was actually supposed to meet her. When he started feeling a bit antsy and he still wasn't supposed to meet her for another thirty minutes, Jesse decided that he would just walk to The Breslin, since it was relatively close by, and work off some of the nervous energy that had been steadily building inside of him that morning.
As he walked down the street he thought about how he never got nervous, not really. Jesse St. James didn't do nerves and he hadn't since he was a kid. And if his nerves were about the show then that he could deal with, but they weren't. They were about Rachel.
She was all he seemed to think about lately. That morning was a perfect example. One of the first things he had thought of when he woke up that morning was meeting Rachel for breakfast. He wondered if it was the same way for her. He couldn't be the only one having those feelings. Whenever they were together, he felt it. He could see it when she looked at him. Jesse was just thankful that kissing her was part of his job, otherwise he might not have been able to keep up the façade as long as he had so far. Granted, a scripted kiss and love scene in front of an audience wasn't what he really wanted but if it kept him from doing something foolish then so be it.
He got to the restaurant ten minutes early and went ahead and got a table, then he text messaged Rachel that he already had a table for them. While he waited, he ordered some tea and did his best to relax. Thankfully, it appeared to be working until he looked up and saw Rachel walking over to the table with a bright smile on her face. His heart skipped a beat.
"Good morning," Jesse said as she sat down across from him.
"Morning," she replied, still grinning happily. He was about to say something when she rushed out, "I'm so excited. You know, you would think that being this excited would have kept me from sleeping last night but that was not the case at all. I slept like a baby. Although it could've been those glasses of wine that I had at your house that helped me sleep. It would have been a disaster if I was not well-rested for opening night."
Jesse thought her rambling was adorable so he let her continue to tell him all about her morning and how she had been about to text message him about breakfast when he had sent her the text. If he didn't know that Rachel would never drink coffee on the day of a such a crucial performance, then he would've sworn that she'd had at least ten cups before she even got to the restaurant.
Finally she said, "I think that this should become a tradition."
"What should become a tradition?" Jesse asked, an amused smile on his face.
"Breakfast. Once a week. Just the two of us," she explained.
"I like that idea. Always The Breslin or a new place every week?" he inquired with a quirk of his eyebrow and his mouth crooked up in a half smile.
"Let's see how we feel next week." She motioned for the waiter so they could give him their order then she turned back to Jesse with a brilliant smile on her face.
Once she had turned back around, he replied, "Sounds like a plan."
Then Rachel added, "Although, we reserve the right to change the venue whenever we feel so inclined."
"Agreed," Jesse said.
As they ate breakfast, Rachel seemed to relax just a bit even though they were discussing their upcoming opening night performance. And since they didn't have to be at the theater for hours they decided to spend the rest of the day together just enjoying the city.
Once they got to the theater, they went their separate ways to get ready for the show. As Rachel was in her dressing room getting ready, one of the PA's knocked on her door and said that the director wanted the entire cast onstage. Rachel scanned the stage for Jesse once she got there, but didn't see him so she just stood by one of the other girls towards the front. Then she felt an arm drape across her shoulder and she looked up to see Jesse smiling at her as he gave her shoulder a little squeeze.
"You guys have put in a lot of hard work over the last couple of months. We've ironed out all of the kinks in rehearsals and the last couple of weeks have been flawless," the director said to the group. Rachel leaned into Jesse and wrapped her arm around his waist as the director continued to talk.
"We have two amazing leads that are going to set that stage on fire tonight. I don't know if I've ever seen two people with more chemistry than you two. The audience is going to love it," the director said, pointing to Jesse and Rachel who were both beaming but did not let go of each other. Jesse noticed Thomas raise his eyebrows at Jesse when he noticed how he and Rachel were standing. Being affectionate was so common in theater that most of their cast didn't even bat an eye, but after Jesse's confession to Thomas a couple of days earlier, he knew that it wasn't innocent affection. And even if Jesse had never made that confession to him, Thomas knew Jesse well enough to know that he was never that friendly or comfortable with any of his co-stars. That just wasn't how Jesse worked.
"All of you make up one of the best casts I've ever had the pleasure of working with. It's not very often that a director is given such a wonderful gift. You've worked your asses off and tonight you'll reap the rewards of that hard work you've all put in. So when that curtain goes up tonight, I know you're going to knock 'em dead," the director continued.
Rachel leaned her head on Jesse as they continued to listen intently and finally broke apart as everyone began clapping when the director had finished his speech to the entire cast and crew. They all did their vocal warm-ups onstage before everyone trickled off in various directions to continue to get ready for the show.
Thirty minutes before the show was due to start, there was a knock on Jesse's dressing room door.
"Come in," he called. "Rachel," he breathed, surprised when she walked through the door. He had seen her in costume during dress rehearsals but she looked absolutely breathtaking at the moment.
"I still have to finish getting my makeup done," she said, pointing towards her face. "But I just had to come see you before the show," she explained, shutting the door behind her. "For luck," she added.
"You look fantastic," he said as she walked towards him. "The 1940s would have suited you."
"Thanks," she replied, looking up at him almost shyly. "You look pretty great yourself, you know." She thought he looked so dashing in the military uniform he was currently wearing.
"Well, I always do so that's nothing new," he joked. She gave him a playful shove. Catching her hand in his, he kept her from stepping away. "You know they're gonna love us, right?"
She nodded. "Because we're going to be great."
"We are going to be better than great," he corrected. They stood there just looking at each other for a moment, before Jesse realized he was still holding her hand in his own. Releasing it suddenly, they both took a step back.
"I probably need to go," Rachel said, motioning towards the door. She began backing away, still looking and smiling at him.
"Break a leg," he told her as she reached for the doorknob.
"You too." Then she was gone. He had been telling her the truth. They were going to be wonderful on that stage together. The world was finally going to see just what Rachel Berry and Jesse St. James could do together.
As Rachel stood waiting in the wings of the stage for the curtain to rise up, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and looked across to the other side to see Jesse apparently doing the same. It didn't quite work as well as she had hoped it would, but then he turned his head, looked at her and smiled and she felt that little bundle of nerves, that she had been unable to get rid of all day, dissipate.
She watched as Jesse walked out onto the stage, that looked like a USO cantina from World War II, to open the show and sing the beginning part of the opening number as the rest of the cast slowly made their way onto the stage to join him in a way that made it seem like the cantina had just opened. The dancing was flawless, the singing was pitch-perfect.
When Jesse and Rachel's characters had their first meeting fifteen minutes into the show, it was like the audience and everything else melted away once they locked eyes and touched hands. As they sang their first duet on opposite sides of the stage, they were both glad that their characters were supposed to be gazing at each other from across the room because they could barely tear their eyes away from each other.
Rachel felt butterflies in her stomach as the moment of their characters consummating their relationship finally arrived. The words flowing easily from their lips, the chemistry palpable between them. When his lips met hers on the bed, Rachel nearly forgot about the audience watching them in this intimate moment. She lost herself for a moment when he thrust against her as they began to simulate the sex scene, slipping her tongue into his mouth and actually grazing his tongue with hers. Realizing her momentary lapse, she quickly resumed their stage kiss as they continued their love scene. For the rest of the scene, she did her best to ignore Jesse's slight arousal or the way he grabbed her ass and thrust against her even more firmly causing her to gasp just enough so that only Jesse could hear her.
After that, the rest of the show was a blur. She knew that she had nailed the all-female group number that she had led. She had poured her soul into the heart-breaking solo where the audience is led to believe that the two lovers will never see one another again because her beloved may have died in battle. And the final, jubilant number where they're reunited again was perfect. The emotion of the characters, all over their faces as they sang and danced in each other's arms.
As the stage lights went down, the audience erupted into loud, raucous applause. They took their bows and got to see the entire audience on their feet giving them a standing ovation which lasted for nearly five minutes. Rachel felt Jesse link his fingers through hers and give her hand a little squeeze as they all went to bow again for the still standing and applauding audience. Rachel knew that her dads and Kurt – and Donovan, she mentally chastised herself – were out in the audience and she couldn't wait to hear what they all had to say after the show.
Finally, the curtain went down and the entire cast exploded with cheers. Jesse wrapped his arms around Rachel, picking her up and spinning her around in a tight hug. Then they were swept apart by their fellow cast mates as everyone congratulated each other on such a spectacular opening night.
When she had been unable to locate Jesse again, Rachel had gone back to her dressing room and lounged on the couch, smiling at how wonderful she felt at that moment. The response they had received from the crowd had been exhilarating. Rachel wasn't sure that any opening night for the rest of her life would ever feel that good. She had never felt anything like it in the world.
Her dressing room door opened slowly without a knock, and Rachel was about to yell at whoever it was that it was polite to knock on someone's door and wait for an answer before entering, but then Jesse's head popped in. She should have known it was him. Only he would have the audacity to just presume that it was okay for him to walk right in. She couldn't be mad at him though and she grinned as she got up from the couch.
He shut the door behind him and they both started laughing giddily. "Rachel, that was incredible," Jesse exclaimed happily. "You were enchanting on that stage. It was magical."
"No, we were magical," she corrected, still grinning from ear-to-ear. She ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him in a big hug. She had already established for herself that hugging, even when they were alone, was okay when it came to keeping things platonic. She just shouldn't linger too long. As she went to extricate herself from Jesse's arms, she felt him hold her there, not letting her out of his grasp.
Rachel looked up into his eyes and audibly gulped at what she saw there. This was why she should have stopped spending time with him after that first night that they hung out. He wasn't smiling anymore. His face had taken on a different emotion all together: lust.
The next thing she knew his lips were on hers in a hard, bruising kiss. He pulled her flush against him with one hand as his other buried itself in her hair as he deepened the kiss. Rachel's emotions waged war inside of her as she kissed him back and tasted him on her tongue. This kiss was so unlike the one they had shared onstage. It was full of guilt as much as it was long, unexpressed desire.
Her practical, moral side won out in the end as she shoved Jesse away from her forcefully. He looked at her with a pained, guilt-ridden expression on his face. She knew that he had just crossed a line that he had been trying not to cross and he was going to beat himself up for it. "Rachel…" he started, hoping that she would let him apologize.
Rachel brought her hand up to touch her now swollen lips. "You need to go," she said softly, staring at him. She couldn't believe what they had both just done.
"I'm–" he tried to explain but she cut him off before he could say anything more.
"Please," she pleaded with him, backing away from him slowly.
Jesse nodded his head and with one last look at her, he opened the door and walked out, closing it behind him.
Rachel sat down in front of her dressing room mirror, unable to look at herself, her hand still touching her lips. She felt numb, the feeling of elation from just moments ago, gone. It was funny how in the blink of an eye, your whole world could change. And how things that could once be ignored and denied, could be no longer.