Rachel took a deep breath as she walked down the steps outside the venue, looking for Carmen Tibideaux she had never felt more nervous for a performance before, this was their big chance and she was certainly not going to let Finn ruin it again with his idiotic move like last time. This was New York, her NYADA acceptance was riding on this and she had to impress.
"Looking for what's left of your dignity?"
Rachel froze in mid step, her hairs on the back of her neck standing as she heard that voice, the one that plagued her mind and entered her dreams, even after the funk move she could never truly forget him. She rolled her eyes slightly and turned to see none other than Jesse St James walking towards her, she sighed and smiled at him.
"Nice to see you too Jesse"
"If I were you I'd be spending more time focusing on how you're going to wrap up fourth place than looking for her" Jesse straightened up slightly, looking into the deep brown eyes he could never forget, as much as he didn't want to he had to be truthful to her. "There's no way in hell Carmen Tibideaux is coming here"
Rachel raised an eyebrow and glanced around, "Wait. How do you know about Carmen?"
Jesse crossed his arms over his chest, putting his best show face on, "It's my business to know everything about my competition. I'm always looking for that extra edge" He said matter-of-fact, Rachel nodded and glanced away from him, ignoring the warm feeling coursing through her system
"I'd hate to see you pull the same choke job up there today" He taunted, half teasing and half being serious, the Rachel he knew had long disappeared, and replaced with a shell of a girl, the girl that choked her big audition. And he knew most of it had to do with that tall oaf Hudson. If being mean to her pushed her to be her best today, then that's what needed to do.
Rachel just laughed and shook her head, "Okay, I know exactly what you're doing right now. We didn't date for that long and I don't even know how much of it was actually real but when you get nervous you get mean and you get really pale and you start putting your hands through your hair like Danny Zuko" Rachel smirked as Jesse paused with his hand in his hair, he raised an eyebrow. She still knew him well.
He took a deep breath and put a hand on her shoulder, gently guiding her as they began walking again. "Look, you have no idea the kind of pressure I'm under. Last year Vocal Adrenaline lost for the first time in 8 years" Rachel nodded, chewing the inside of her lip slightly. "If they lose again this year then that's it. The dynasty is over" Rachel looked straight ahead as they stopped, not knowing how much more of this she could take before her feelings exploded for everyone to see, but as Jesse began to speak again his soft voice made her look towards him again.
"The mystique and aura we use to intimidate our opponents will vanish. I promised them I would reboot the program. I'll be humiliated"
Rachel looked down and smiled, "You did help the program what you did with Unique was amazing"
Jesse took a deep breath, that touched a sore spot and it was something he still needed to talk to Wade about himself but he smiled anyway, taking credit for the idea. "It was a pretty inspiring idea of mine" Rachel smirked, knowing his play already
"It was actually Kurt and Mercedes' idea"
"But I implemented it" He grinned
"Sure"
"I don't know but I just think that these new rules are messing with my head. 33% of the numbers have to be vintage, what does that even mean?"
Rachel frowned, staring at the once confident man, instead of him all she saw was an extremely nervous one who was on the verge of a major freak out. "The only vintage thing about me is my Tyrone powers haircut and pager"
