*Authors Note* : Be prepared.

(Reviews, Favorite Author/Story, Story Alerts, all of it makes me so happy and I thank you! Enjoy this chapter and please review!)

Chapter 19

"… make sure you're okay. You weren't at home, and I'm on my way to Louis's right now but I don't think you're there either. Where are you..." Rachel bit her lip. "Call me back soon Blaine, and I'll come over. I- … bye." Blaine buried his head in his hands, tossing the phone off to the side. It landed softly in the grass.

How many times he listened to her voicemail he didn't know, but he knew two things for sure. Rachel almost said the words he used to dread, and he was torturing himself by listening to it over and over. But he couldn't face her, not after what happened between him and Quinn.

"Ugh!" Blaine slammed his fist into the trunk of the tree he was leaning against. Pain exploded under his skin, spreading around his wrist, but he didn't care. He deserved something more painful than that. How was I have been so stupid, he thought. The tequila, Quinn taking care of him, it was the simplest play to hook up it was the first one every player learned, and he had completely seen through it.

A soft droplet of water landed on his cheek, and Blaine looked up to see dark clouds through the ceiling of leaves that was covering him. Rain was falling carefully, like a mist, but Blaine could recognize a storm when he saw one. So he pushed himself away from the tree and began walking home, not sure if he was hoping or dreading to find Rachel waiting there for him.

"Forget something?"

Blaine had spent the last four years of his life on guard, but he wasn't prepared for this. Turning he saw Rachel standing where he had just stood, holding his phone in her hand. "Rachel…"

"So you're phone does work," She didn't look at him. Instead, Rachel thumbed through his phone, staring at it mindlessly. "I see you got my message too…" Rachel finally made eye contact with him, and Blaine couldn't remember ever seeing her so angry. "How nice of you to return my calls."

Rachel tossed the phone at his feet, but Blaine stepped around it walking towards her. "Rachel, I was just – "

"Hiding!" She spat. "You were hiding from me Blaine. I looked everywhere for you, I went to every possible place I could think of! Do you have any idea how scared I was when I walked out of school to find not you, but your bike smashed to bits knowing that the same had happened to you? I called you, I went to your house, I went to Louis's, I called Kurt, and I called everyone! I even called Quinn!"

Blaine winced, and Rachel looked away. "Were you even going to tell me?" She asked.

"Yes!" Blaine blurted. "I was trying to figure out how, that's why I was…"

"Hiding," Rachel said again. "Well don't worry yourself too much because Quinn told me everything?"

Blaine's throat tightened. "Everything?"

"Yes, down to the last disgusting detail," A tear starting to fall down Rachel's cheek, and Blaine reached out to wipe it away. "Don't touch me," She told him, and a roar of thunder shook the sky.

"Listen Rachel," Blaine began as the rain began to come down faster. "Quinn means nothing to me. I didn't want her to find me this afternoon, but she did and she took advantage of me. I didn't mean it, none of it. I wasn't thinking clearly, and the alcohol… it was too much."

Rachel's eyebrows furrowed together. "What the hell are you talking about?" but Blaine just shook his head, thinking her couldn't say it again. "What did you do with Quinn?" Rachel demanded.

"If she told you already, why do you need to hear it from me?" Blaine snapped.

"Because Quinn didn't tell me you cheated!" Rachel shouted, stepping forward to shove him. Startled, Blaine stumbled backwards and a wheezed from his ribcage injury. "Quinn told me about you lovely little bet to 'fuck the virginal slut'. I thought she was wrong, but you just proved how right she really was. Now that you've gotten a few rounds out of me, you've gone back to her is that it?"

"No!" Blaine told her. "Rachel please listen –"

"No! I'm sick of listening to you and your lies." She shouted.

"You were the one that made me fight for you the first time around and now, when you mean everything to me, and I'm trying to fight for us, you won't even listen to me?" Rachel avoided eye contact, and Blaine stepped toward her again cautiously. When she didn't move away or yell, he reached out to touch her face.

"It must've been so easy for you to seek out a heart to break." She said softly. "And I made it so much easier for you, since mine was already cracked."

"Rachel, it was a stupid, stupid bet and it started that way…" Blaine admitted. "But things changed between us… something changed in me that night when we were together. I didn't want to believe it so I shrugged it off, but then when I thought I was going to lose you completely… I couldn't stand the thought. I've never felt that way about a girl before. Everyday used to be a battle to convince myself that I was worth something. And you… you're so special Rachel, and somewhere along the line you decided that I was worth saving. Don't let go of me now. I promise I'm worth it, and if you don't think so, just hold on a while long, please…" He pressed his forehead against hers, and was thankful for the rain that masked his tears.

"I used to think it was never too late for you to change into the person you always could've been…" Rachel whispered. "And that night, when you cared for me, I thought you meant it, I thought… I thought you were genuine. For once in my life, I thought to myself, I found someone who would actually care about me and what happened to me. That I found someone who could turn my whole world around." That's when Rachel pulled away from Blaine. "But Blaine, you rotated it 360 and I'm back to where I started. I already feel like I'm spinning out of control and I can't wait again for everything to be okay."

Rachel turned from him, but Blaine refused to release her hand. "Just because you're letting go of me, doesn't mean I'm going to let go of you." He told her. "Don't you understand Rachel? For the past four years, I've denied myself of every form of love there is and I'm not going to let you get away."

"It's not your choice Blaine!" Rachel snapped. Her were closed as tears began to spill from them.

"I love you, Rachel." He told her. "That is my choice."

Rachel shook her head. "When are you going to get it through your head that we aren't good for each other? Everyone thinks it…"

"Even you?" Blaine asked, but he already knew the answer. "We are good for each other, and if these past couple of weeks haven't convinced you I don't know what will. And even if we aren't, I don't care Rachel."

"It'll never work between us," Rachel stated, looking up at him. Her eyes were brimmed with tears, her hair was matted to her face, and she wore a distant smile. "I'm glad I finally figured that out. I'm finally accepting it."

"That's a lie, and you believe it about as much as I do," Blaine told her.

"You would know wouldn't you," Rachel's anger quickly returned. "You're brilliant when it comes to lies." She scoffed, and shook her head. "Don't follow me…" Rachel turned away, walking quickly from him so he wouldn't have another chance of stopping her.

"Rachel! Please, don't walk away from me!" Blaine didn't even recognize his own voice. The way it scratched his throat, and how feebly weak it sounded in the open air… Blaine could only recall one other moment when his voice sounded like this, so desperate to call someone back into his life. He ran after her with all the strength he had, trying not to slip on the moist ground beneath his feet.

Rachel turned to Blaine, when he reached where she was. "Go home, Blaine." She told him, when he was done catch his breath. But Blaine just shook his head. How could he go home when he didn't have one? "Can you just…"

"Can I what?" Rachel sighed.

Blaine swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at her. Rachel. His Rachel was leaving him, and there is nothing he could do about it, except watch. "Can you just stay where you are? So I don't feel like I'm falling completely to pieces." He wheezed, clutching at his side.

Rachel's eyes softened with what Blaine hoped would be sadness, but instead he saw pity. "Some things are better staying broken," Rachel told him, reaching out to touch his face, where Blaine instinctively leaned into her palm. "Please…I don't want to watch you walk away…"

Rachel sniffled, and more tears spilled down her face. "Then close your eyes."

Blaine did, but it didn't make a difference. The warmth of her hand pressed against his cheek, and the smell of her perfume was gone. And when he opened his eyes, Rachel was gone.