new directions | glee

2. BOSS ☑️

CHAPTER TWO |
boss

***

"RACH? Oh my god." Kayla mumbles as she looks at Rachel's slushie doused figure. She hurries over and escorts her to the bathroom to clean her up.

Rachel leans against the sink, willing herself to open her eyes, but Kayla stops her while she's grabbing paper towels and wetting them.

"Keep your eyes closed, babe." she says, the petname falling off her tongue out of habit. For just a second she panics, her hand pausing as she goes in to wipe the dye off Rachel's face, but the older girl seemingly doesn't react to it, so she moves forth.

She wipes at Rachel's skin gently, making quick work of it knowing that she has a health class to teach in twenty minutes. She hums softly to kill the silence and once Kayla has wiped under her eyes, Rachel looks at her again, a small smile brushing on her lips.

"What?" Kayla quirks amusingly.

Rachel shrugs. "Just thinking about the first time you helped me with a slushie."

A little snort leaves Kayla as the memory comes back to her. It was within their first few weeks of glee club when they were barely more than acquaintances. They were civil, but hardly friends. Rachel was just at her locker when Dave doused her in red dye and looking back on it now, she was pretty sure she yelled at him and honestly how did it take her so long to realize she was in love with that girl?

Rachel continues. "You pulled me in here and you just took care of me. It was the first time I really felt like I had a friend."

Kayla smiles, squeezing Rachel's shoulder gently. "I'll always be your friend, Rach."

"Forever, huh?" Rachel chuckles.

"Yeah. Forever," An awkward silence envelopes them and they're left just staring in each other's eyes. It takes all the strength Kayla has to pull away and keep talking. "Um, I have some extra clothes in my car. I'll go grab them for you."

"Okay." she mumbles, watching Kayla go. She's left in the bathroom waiting for her friend to return alone with her thoughts and all they lead her to is what she's missing. She knows she still wants Kayla. She can't ignore that even if she tries, but if they'd tried three times already, what were the chances this time it would stick? She just didn't want to be the reason Kayla's heart was breaking again. She didn't want to hurt her anymore.

Before Rachel could contemplate the big feelings sitting in the pit of her stomach, Kayla returned with a pile of clothes. It's simply a pair of jeans and a sweater, but she smiles as her fingers flit over the fabric. She always loved wearing Kayla's clothes back home. They made her feel safe. But she was beginning to realize that it wasn't necessarily her clothes—it was Kayla who made her feel safe.

"This is my favorite sweater." Rachel comments, smiling as she walks to a stall. If it was six months ago, she would've just changed in front of Kayla, but they weren't like that anymore.

Rachel can't see her anymore, but she just knows Kayla is smiling behind the stall door. Once Rachel has her slushied clothes disposed of, she exits the bathroom and watches the smile on Kayla's face grow. God, she loves that smile. She just doesn't know if that smile loves her anymore.

"It always looked better on you." Kayla comments, opening the bathroom door. Rachel clutches her ruined clothes in her hands, staring up at Kayla with revere.

The younger woman shifts back and forth on her feet, looking at her watch. "So, I gotta go. Teaching sex ed to the kiddos."

"Well, you have plenty of experience." Rachel says and then her eyes bug out when she realizes the connotation of her words mixed with Kayla's amused expression. "Oh, God. Not that—I wasn't trying to call you... Um, I just meant that you're an adult, so you're totally qualified to—this is not coming out the way I want it to."