Friday couldn't have rolled around fast enough for Rachel. Aside from her coffee afternoon with Thad, the school week had been less than spectacular, and had made Rachel even more eager for Friday afternoon to arrive. She even (secretly) wanted Glee practice to go by quickly so she could get to the Lima Bean, and Thad's company, faster. The club were busy attempting to write their own original songs for regionals, her fellow members finally agreeing that Rachel had come up with an excellent idea. Coming up with the idea was the easy part, writing a song was a much more difficult task, as Rachel soon found out. The only one who seemed to be having any real success was Noah, much to Rachel's surprise. Rachel still had a blank sheet of paper in front of her, she was much less inspired than she thought she would be. She had tried explaining this predicament to both Kurt and Thad without revealing what exactly it was that she was doing, yet neither of them had been able to offer her any solution to her problem.
"Okay guys! That's enough work for today, keep trying over the weekend! You never know when inspiration may hit you!" Rachel rolled her eyes at her teacher's words. She knew he was trying to be encouraging, but it wasn't helping at all. Rachel followed everyone out of the practice room, before hurrying back to her locker to collect everything she would need for the weekend ahead.
Just as she was pulling on her coat, she noticed someone walking towards her. She decided to ignore them, and prayed that they didn't have a slushie in their hands. She had managed to avoid one all week, and just hoped that fate wouldn't be cruel enough to have one thrown at her now.
"You know, I never realised that McKinley would be so small. I mean, I know it's a public school, but compared to Dalton, this is tiny!" Rachel shot her head up at the sound of Thad's voice, her face breaking out into an uncontrollable smile. She almost threw her arms around him but stopped short when she saw the bunch of roses in his hands. They were the yellow and red mix, her favourite one of all. Thad grinned at her, before handing her the flowers.
"These are for you," he stated, almost shyly. Rachel accepted the bouquet gracefully, lifting them up to smell their sweet scent.
"They're beautiful, Thad. Thank you, so much. How did you know that these were my favourite?" Rachel questioned, unable to wipe the grin off her face, even more so when Thad grabbed her bag and began walking with Rachel towards the parking lot where his car was waiting.
"Well, you know. A little bird may have helped," he replied, "and I am, of course, talking about Pavarotti."
Rachel giggled in reply, "of course you are."
Unbeknownst to the pair, Finn Hudson was watching them with a frown on his face. Why would Rachel be hanging out with a Warbler? She was supposed to be in love with him, right? He paid no attention to Puck walking to his side, choosing to concentrate on Rachel and Thad's retreating figures. And why was the Warbler's arm around Rachel's shoulders?
"Give it up, man. He likes her, she likes him," Puck clapped his hand on Finn's left shoulder, trying to tear his friend's gaze away.
"But I thought she liked me?" Finn questioned, his voice laced with confusion.
"Yeah, she did like you. Past tense. Looks like Harwood is her future now," Puck announced, dragging his friend out of the school grounds.
"I figured you might want to leave your flowers at home, so I got Kurt to give me your address," Thad explained as he drove towards Rachel's neighbourhood.
Rachel smiled at his thoughtfulness, "that's fine, thanks. They are so beautiful; I wouldn't want them to wilt before I got home."
"Just like you," Thad commented, sneaking a glance at her before focusing his eyes back onto the road.
"What?"
"Beautiful. I got beautiful roses for a beautiful lady." As soon as the sentence left his mouth, Thad wanted to punch himself. That had to have been the most cheesiest line his brain could have thought up. When Rachel didn't reply, he sneaked another glance in her direction, and was surprised to see the blush that had coloured her cheeks. They drove in silence until Thad pulled onto her driveway, parking behind the same car that he had accompanied Rachel to on the night that they first spoke.
"Did you want to come in while I put these in water?" Rachel asked. "No-one's in, my Daddies normally share a car to work."
"Sure." Thad smiled and climbed out of the vehicle, running around to Rachel's side to grab her door for her. He followed Rachel as she headed into the house, taking her lead and kicking his shoes off and leaving them neatly next to hers. They padded into the kitchen, and Rachel immediately began pouring water into a vase for her roses. Thad studied the many photographs that decorated the walls of the room; Rachel was in every single one of them, and was either singing or dancing, or both.
"My Dad likes photography," Thad turned at the sound of Rachel's voice, unsure of how long she had been stood next to him.
"They're all great," he smiled, taking Rachel's hand in his own. "Do you want to go get that coffee now?" Rachel grinned in reply, before dragging Thad out of the house, giggling as Thad nearly tripped over in his haste to reach his car before Rachel did.
"Why do you do that?" Rachel questioned as Thad began backing out of the driveway. Thad waited until he was safely on the road before answering.
"My dad has always done it for my mom, and she says it makes her feel special. I just like the gesture, you know? I like the thought of making you feel special," he replied, "unless you're a firm believer in opening your own car doors. Then I won't bother anymore."
Rachel let out a soft laugh before replying. "I like the gesture too."
"Then I shall always endeavour to open your doors for you, Miss Rachel Berry," Thad grinned, briefly looking over at Rachel before sliding his right hand towards her left, clasping them together as they drove to the Lima Bean.
I am so sorry about how long it's taken me to get this chapter out! I suck at updating, aha! Massive thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited and put this on their story alerts, I love you all!
