Pairing: Rachel/?, Dalton Academy Warblers

Rating: K+

Genre: Friendship [maybe romance if you want me to continue]

Summary: It was a busy week for her and her teammates, Blaine being slushied by his former teammates, the Warblers picking up a fight with them, acceptance letters arriving, and her being engaged to Finn. She just needed someone to talk to, and that someone was not what she had in mind.

Rachel sat down on the edge of stage as the rest of the New Directions and Warblers walked out of the auditorium. She had told Finn she needed to rehearse another song for Glee, and told him she was okay by herself. It was a busy week for her and her teammates, Blaine being slushied by his former teammates, the Warblers picking up a fight with them, acceptance letters arriving, and her being engaged to Finn.

'I'm engaged' she thought.'I should be happy... Right?'

She took a deep breath and stood up to walk to the auditorium's piano. She began playing different tunes on it, singing softly to herself. "Why don't you sing a bit louder for me to hear?" a male's voice came from behind her.

Rachel, surprised, suddenly stopped playing and turned around to see who owned the voice.
'That blazer looks familiar' she eyed the young man from head to toe. He was about as tall as Kurt, with short dark-brown hair combed back, and brown eyes that were now staring at her with amusement. Confused, she asked, "Umm... May I help you with something?" she said to the man in front of her.

"Uhh, Nah. I just left my notebook on one of the chairs" he waved the notebook in front of him, with a small smile on his face.

'He's cute and very charming. Are all Warblers like this?' she smiled back at him.

"Oh." she said, and remembered she hasn't introduced herself. She walked towards him and held out her hand "How rude of me. I'm Rachel-"

"Berry" he finished for her, as he took hold of Rachel's hand, "I'm Nick, Nick Duval. But you can call me Nick. Kurt has been talking a lot about you when he was at Dalton. You're quite famous with us Warblers" he winked at her and shook her hand.

She chuckled at him, "I hope he didn't say bad things about me." she joked, as she gestured him to sit on the piano bench next to her.

He sits down next to her, his arm brushing against hers; "Well, Kurt did say a lot of things about you," he said as he tapped his finger on his chin, something he always does when he thinks. Rachel looked at him with horror in her eyes, thinking that Kurt did say bad things about her. Noticing her anticipation, he added, "Nothing bad though. I don't think he meant 'a future New York diva with big Broadway dreams' as something bad" he smiled.

Rachel blushes at this, "At least he got that he didn't destroy my invisible reputation to you guys." She smiled at him. She looked down at her ring, and sighed "But I don't even know if that dream would come true anymore." she says sadly. She doesn't know why she's talking about her personal things to him, but he just makes her feel comfortable.

He turns to face her, and sees her looking down at her ring. 'Kurt didn't tell us she was married. So much for asking her out- Wait. What?' he shakes his thoughts away. "What do you mean?" he asks.

"I just... I don't know... Kurt received his letter from NYADA saying he's a finalist earlier this week," she started, "And I haven't gotten mine," she whispered loud enough for Nick to hear. "I've worked so hard these past few years for my future, for this letter" she paused. He wasn't sure, but he knew he heard her quiet sobs, "And I didn't get in. All I have now is my boyfrie- no, fiancé." she chuckled softly.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder as a reflex, trying to comfort the young diva. She looked back up to him, tears forming at the rims of her eyes, giving him a small smile and gently resting her head on his shoulder, "I haven't gotten my acceptance letter in NYU too." he confessed, "I've been waiting for it for 3 days, but you know the New York mails can be slow sometimes. We might get our letters when we go home, or maybe tomorrow morning. I'm sure the both of us will get in." he smiled back.

Rachel giggled, rubbing her eyes. "I know. I guess I was just being silly. We'll just have to wait for them. We might even see each other there." She grinned, and pulled him close to hug him. "Thank you, Nick." She said, before pulling away from him. She then sat up straight and began swinging her legs. "It's just that New York has been my dream, you know? I don't know what to do if I didn't get in NYADA. It just tears me up inside with just the thought of not going there." She stares at her engagement ring again, and sighs.

Nick notices this, "I know what you mean, NYU has been my dream school too. I've always dreamt of doing something for the theater, drama or writing musicals, that would be great." He sighs. He looks back at her, her eyes full of admiration, but still playing with her ring. He just grins at her. "Not to be rude or anything, but who's the lucky guy?" he bumps his shoulder lightly to hers.

Her smile fades a little. She doesn't know why she feels disappointed in herself, but she shrugs it off. "My boyfriend, Finn. Kurt must've told you about him." She smiles shyly at him and looks back down at her ring.

"Oh. Kurt's step-brother? Wow. You must really love each other if you're engaged in high school." He gives a small grin "He's very lucky to have you as his fiancé" he looks at her, and realizes she's staring at him.

'he's so handsome when he smiles… he's also nice, and dreams big like me and Kurt…' She thought, without realizing that she was staring at him. He smiles again, making her shake her thoughts. She gives him a faint smile, and begins swinging her legs again.

'she's beautiful…' She looks back at him, giving him a light smile. He stares as a strand of her hair falls on her face. Before he could register what he was doing, he reaches out for the strand of hair and tucks it behind her ear, startling both of them. "I'm sorry about that," he blushed and turns away to hide it. She just smiles at him, and tells him that it's okay.

"Thanks." She mumbled, remembering to reply to what he said earlier "but to be honest, I never thought I'd say yes to him. I-I just felt I had nothing, only Finn. When Kurt received his letter and I didn't receive mine, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what would happen if I didn't get in. But Finn was there, and it was like I had to answer him after all that has happened. My mind was blank after I said yes, and here I am, wondering what happened and if I made the right choice." She said softly. Her voice filled with sadness mixed with confusion.

Nick didn't know what to say after her confession. He was surprised that she even told him all of that. She was confused and didn't know what to do. "Rachel, you don't have nothing, you have talent. That is a gift, and with that talent you'll go to places and reach that dream. I know we just met, but from what Kurt told me, you're very smart and you have a very strong personality. You have friends, like Kurt and Blaine, and hopefully this charming warbler beside you" he winks at her, causing her to giggle once again. "-that will always be there for you. And regarding your engagement, I know I'm not in the position to judge you, but think of what you really want. Kurt has told me that Finn might be staying here in Lima to take over their dad's auto-mechanic shop, while Burt does what he's supposed to do as congressman, and I think that's something to consider. You just have to choose, being with Finn here in Lima or going to New York and living your dreams. You know what's best for you." He said.

Rachel looked back at him, taking in everything that he said. He's right; she has to choose what's best for her. It is her future after all. She has to think over this one more time.

"I don't know why, but I feel so comfortable talking to you like this even though we just met." She said, as she turned to face the piano beside them. "I could only talk to Blaine and Kurt about these things, and you're the first person I told the engagement to. I hope we could be friends." She panicked as the last part slipped out of her mouth. "I mean, if you only want to. You know, who would want to be friends with Rachel Berry. A stuck up diva, who hogs all solos, who gets slushied everyday, who-"

"I accept your offer, Miss Rachel Berry." He smiles at her, as she blushes. "I was hoping you would ask me that." He winks at her, "I am much honored to be friends with a future Broadway star." He grins, making her laugh. 'Such a lovely laugh… Too bad I lost my chance.' He thought.

Suddenly the auditorium doors swung open. "Nick! Come one dude! Everyone's waiting!" yelled a blond warbler came running in the auditorium, approaching the two. "Oh. I didn't realize you had company with you." He smirked at his friend as he walked up to the stage, making the two blush. "Nicky, aren't you going to introduce your best friend to the lovely Rachel Berry?" he smiled at her as her head shot up upon hearing her name.

Nick chuckled, "I told you, Kurt talked about you a lot. And with that picture of the two of you in his wallet that he keeps showing us, it's not hard to not remember you."

"Righty-O! You're quite famous with the warblers, Miss Rachel." The blond said. "And you're more beautiful in person." He winked at her.

'Typical. He's flirting again.' Nick shook his head at his friend. "I almost forgot, Rachel this is Jeff Sterling, my wacky, childish best friend." He laughed as Jeff pouted at him.

"You're mean." Jeff whined. "I'm not wacky. I'm just childish." He gave a goofy smile at Rachel, and held out his hand, which Rachel shook immediately. But Jeff had other plans in mind; he bent down and placed a kiss on the top of her hand, causing Rachel's cheeks to turn bright pink. "I finally get to meet the lovely Rachel Berry. A pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you." She replied. "Are all warblers this charming all the time?" she chuckled, noticing the pink tinge on both warblers' cheeks. 'They're adorable…'

"Well… honestly, I think we're the only charming warblers in the group." Nick winked, which made Rachel laugh more.

"You two definitely are charming. But I don't think you're the only ones though. I'll be the judge of that when I meet the other warblers." She smiled at the two. "Well, at least I can tell that Sebastian isn't one of the charming ones" she said with a small frown.

Jeff shook his head at what she said, "Well, he is kind of a jerk. I mean he did try to hurt you guys, but you don't know what he's facing at the moment."

"Yeah, He's a great guy, once you get to know him. There's just a lot of things going on." Nick added, giving Rachel a small smile. "I'm sorry for what he did to you guys, especially to Blaine. I hope you guys can forgive him someday."

Rachel just looked at the two. They did have a point, she didn't know Sebastian like they do. "I understand what you mean. I'm still mad at him for putting Blaine into surgery though. I hope I get to know you guys better." She smiled at the two.

"What's taking you guys so long?" someone yelled from the doorway, making the three jump and look where the sound was coming from. There stood Sebastian, arms crossed in front of him, looking pissed at the two Warblers. "The rest of the guys already left. I had to volunteer to stay and wait for you because Trent was screaming in my ear for everything that happened." He said, not noticing the brunette beside them.

"We're coming!" the best friends called out. They both looked at Rachel and frowned, sad that they didn't have any more time to chat with her, especially Nick.

"Don't worry guys, I'm okay here. I have to go home too, I'll just wait for my daddies to pick me up." She said as she went to go put her stuff in her bag, and walk back up to the two. "It was really nice meeting you two." She said as she gave a hug to Jeff, which made the blond smile and hug her tight.

She let go of the blond, and giggled when she saw Nick pout. "Don't worry, you get a hug too." She walked to him, and hugged him tight. "Thank you for being there for me. I'm really happy I have a friend like you now." She whispered, and gave him another squeeze.

"You're welcome Rach. I'm very happy I'm friends with you too." He said as he stepped back, and winked at her. "I hope we meet again soon, Miss Berry."

She smiled, as the two walked to Sebastian, who was leaning on the auditorium's door. The two Warblers waved goodbye, before they were completely gone.

"I wished I had company like that all the time." She muttered sadly to herself, before walking out.

let me know what you think :)

This is my first fic, so I hope you guys could be gentle on the reviews XD