WOULD HATE TO BE ALONE [Rachel]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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Outside, the sun had already set, and Sam Evans was sitting in a corner table at The Lima Bean, his hands wrapped around his hot chocolate. Tonight wasn't exactly going well for Sam - his mom had been in one of her "moods" coming home from work, and Stevie wouldn't stop teasing Stacy all afternoon, for whatever reason. Maybe it was just to make Sam's job more difficult. He couldn't stand to be crammed in a single room with both of them at the moment, but he didn't think he would want to be alone either, which was why he had asked Rachel to meet him there. Even if she wouldn't completely understand, she wasn't hard to keep up a conversation with and was also one of his closest friends.

Sam slouched back in his booth seat, taking a long sip of his hot chocolate. He wasn't much of a coffee drinker, hence the cocoa instead. It was definitely a good night for hot drinks, since the weather was finally starting to feel like fall rather than summer. At that thought, a draft passed and goosebumps started to pop up on his arms. Maybe a seat by the window hadn't been his finest idea.

The bell above the door sounded and Sam looked over his shoulder towards it. Rachel? he thought. No. It was just another customer coming in off the streets; probably a regular, from the way she spoke to the cashier. Sam was almost worried, considering that the girl was hardly late for anything. He pulled out his cell phone to check and see how late it was getting. It was past nine now, but the coffeehouse luckily wouldn't close until midnight. In a way, this kind of made him feel bad for the people who worked there. Yet again, if it would keep him out of the house on nights like this one, Sam would probably love it. Maybe he should apply for a job... He glanced over at the Help Wanted sign on the window, then back at the door. Sam's foot tapped anxiously against the floor, awaiting some company on this lonely night.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 357
NOTES - Helloooo c:
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[rachelberry]

people change and promises are broken
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

Normally Rachel never had any trouble getting out of the house after dinner, since both her fathers trusted her enough to not set a strict curfew for her. They had a time that they would like her to be home by, but it never was really enforced, since the tiny brunette tended to already be in bed by eleven thirty, most of the time even earlier than that. She had gotten Sam's text in the middle of having a late dinner with her fathers, and while they normally had a no-cellphones-at-the-table rule, they had let her off the hook when she mentioned it was from a friend, asking her to meet up with him. They seemed pleased that she had finally made some friends over the last couple of years, and seemed even more pleased when she mentioned she considered the blonde boy to be one of her best friends.

The had insisted on knowing everything about him, where he was from, how they met, was he nice? and Rachel had been tapping her fingers against the side of her chair impatiently as she waited for an opening to slip out of the conversation and go find her coat. A couple quick glances told her she was running late, and, if she didn't believe that the words were vile and unnecessary in many instances, the brunette would have most likely bit out a curse. But then daddy had mentioned wanting to take a couple of days off work and spend some time antique shopping, and dad had latched on to the change of topic. Rachel had excused herself from the table before hurriedly pulling on her coat and grabbing her keys and purse.

The car ride out to the Lima Bean didn't take long, and she was hurriedly pulling opening the door and making her way up to the counter to order her drink. As she waited for her order to be filled, Rachel looked around to spot the familiar head of Sam's blonde hair. It didn't take long, he never was terribly hard to pick up from a crowd. Within five minutes, Rachel was thanking the barista for her drink, and sliding into the chair across from Sam. "I am so sorry I'm late!" she exclaimed, her tone slightly more dramatic than it needed to be as she looked over at her companion with wide, apologetic eyes. "Dinner with dad and daddy ran a little longer than usual, and I couldn't quite find the right moment to try and get away, so I had to sit there until there was a change in topic, and -" Rachel let her sentence end as she took a much needed deep breath, offering another apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, you probably don't care much. Did I keep you waiting long?"

TAGGED ! [/color]Sam!
LYRICS ! Anticipating - Britney Spears
WORDS ! 467 - I am the rambling Queen!
OUTFIT ! click me!
CREDIT ! MEELA! on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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Sam jumped about a foot in the air when he heard the grinding of the chair across from him against the tile floor of the coffeehouse. Instantly, he looked up from the ground and his heartbeat calmed itself when he realized that it was only Rachel, her eyes wide and apologetic as she excused her absence and then apologized for her rambling. Sam shook his head, chuckling, and said good-naturedly, "Don't be sorry; I always have time for your adventures in trying to escape the dinner table." He offered one of his trademark lopsided grins and took another sip of his hot chocolate as a cool breeze whipped by. Cold tonight, Sam thought, a chill passing up his spine and causing him to shiver. Hopefully, it wasn't just him; if he was sick, he would be in trouble. Getting out of the house for school was one of the only things that kept him sane these days.

Sam snapped out of his self-centered thoughts and realized he was keeping an expectant Rachel waiting. "Oh, no; I was here for maybe a half an hour. Don't worry about it," he assured her with a smile. "I figured you wouldn't have stood me up. It's just not your style." Sam's eyes scanned the small crowd in The Lima Bean, not sure if this was a slow or fast day, or what the usual amount of people. There were only a few other customers; one was the girl he had noticed while waiting for Rachel to join him and there were a couple others. One looked like a young couple and there was a table of about four kids who looked like they were about college age. Sam sighed. College....that was another thing for him to worry about, regarding his future.

Quickly, the blond snapped out of his thoughts and told himself firmly that he would have to stop getting lost in his own cares and pay more attention to Rachel. After all, he had been the one asking her to meet him here, not the other way around. "So, how's your night been so far? Aside from your ever-so-interesting dinner experience," he asked with another grin. It was hard for Sam not to smile; it was just his personality, to joke around and try to make light of difficult situations. Whether they be a simple instance of running late or, a more complicated situation, losing your house. Both of which Sam had experienced before.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 411
NOTES - Wish I could've met your word count, Miss Rambling Queen...I try my best, haha
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[rachelberry]

people change and promises are broken
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

Offering another apologetic smile as she saw Sam jump at her obviously unexpected entrance, Rachel bit the corner of her lip before blowing a breath over the hot tea in her hands. The weather was finally starting to turn more towards typical Fall weather, and Rachel could feel little chill bumps spreading over her arms underneath her sweater as a light breeze swept through the coffee shop. Not many of the other patrons seemed to bothered by the cool air, so she had to wonder if there was a slight draft around the table they were sitting at. It didn't matter to her for long, however, as she took a sip of her drink. The hot liquid warmed her from the inside out, and she let out a content sigh. Rachel had never really been one for coffee much, other than the occasional soy latte, but thankfully for her, the Lima Bean also happened to serve hot cocoa and quite delicious teas.

Turning her attention away from her drink and back towards Sam, Rachel couldn't help but return his grin. The one thing she liked about him the most was that he was one of the few people who really didn't care if she spent half her time rambling about everything that crossed her mind. He would just sit and wait patiently until she was done, never really interrupting her or telling her to be quiet like many of the other members of New Directions had done easily. No, instead he simply smiled and let her talk to her hearts content, even offering his own input at times. "They're normally not that exciting," Rachel said with a light shrug. Being just her and her dads, they ate dinner together, but it was never much of a big family thing like she knew other's had. They would simply chat about things, and part ways once they were done. "They were mostly asking about you after I got your text." They being, she was sure he'd know, her fathers.

Leaning back a bit in her chair to get more comfortable, Rachel smiled in relief that she hadn't kept Sam waiting for long. Half an hour was more than she would have liked, but it was still better than an hour or longer. She nodded in agreement at his words, though a small frown was present on her face. Rachel was definitely never the type to stand someone up, at least not without letting them know she wouldn't be able to make it, but she had never understood people standing someone up either. If you made a commitment to meet someone, then you should stick to it unless something life or death came up. She exchanged her frown for another smile as she crossed one leg over the other underneath the table, "Still, I'm sorry I kept you waiting."

She watched Sam silently for a few minutes before looking around the shop as well. There weren't too many people there at the moment, though she couldn't really say she was terribly surprised. Most people didn't go out for coffee once it hit this late, and most of the people other than them looked to be only a few years older, which certainly was the age group she expected to see here at this time of night. She returned the smile once more before answering, "Rather uneventful, actually. Nothing terribly exciting tends to happen at my house, especially after that disaster that was supposed to be a party," she laughed, making a face at the memory. Things had definitely gotten out of hand then, but that had been the most exciting thing that had happened at the Berry residence in a while. Things tended to be rather quiet at home, seeing as it was just the three of them. "How are you?" she asked, conversationally as she took another sip of her drink.

TAGGED ! [/color]Sam!
LYRICS ! -
WORDS ! 649 - don't worry about matching! I get carried away sometimes. Channeling Rachel, maybe? haha
OUTFIT ! click me!
CREDIT ! MEELA! on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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Sam shook his head and took another sip of his hot chocolate at the mention of Rachel's dads not being particularly interesting. "It's got to be more exciting than my family," he assured her. "At dinner, my mom and dad and me sit in awkward silence while Stacy tries to keep Stevie from stealing her food. Sounds fun, right?" He offered up a wry grin before glancing out the window. There wasn't much to see, since it was nearly pitch black outside now and only mere shadows were visible beneath the starlight. The streetlights were old and useless, the bulbs starting to fade and not really much more helpful than a typical night's worth of moonlight. Sam turned back to Rachel and sighed with relief, noticing the chills running up and down her arms. "So it's not just me," he remarked, gesturing to the goosebumps on her arms. "I was starting to think I had a cold or something."

Another grin passed onto Sam's face upon hearing that Rachel's dads were asking about her. This didn't surprise him; a lot of parents were skeptical of the boys their daughters were friends with...especially Rachel's. For whatever reason, parents tended to be especially skeptical of him. Maybe because he was slightly better-than-average looking and he knew it, too, or maybe just because of the situation he was in at home. "What did you tell them about me?" he asked in a sarcastically smug tone of voice, raising an eyebrow at the petite brunette sitting before him. "You better not have said anything bad," Sam added jokingly.

Rachel began to make more amends and apologize even further about her lateness, causing Sam to smile and assure her once more, "Seriously, Rachel; I wouldn't care if I was waiting for you till midnight. Well, maybe then." He grinned playfully and wrapped his hands more tightly around his hot chocolate. It certainly didn't help that the sweatshirt he'd thrown on before leaving the house was hardly warm enough. Sam's smile faded when asked how he was doing, and he answered honestly, "Rough evening. Stevie acting up and my mom didn't come home happy. She was fighting with Dad again or something after dinner. Hence the escape." Sam gestured to the table they were sitting at, and the atmosphere in general. Glancing at the door again, he decided that he liked it at The Lima Bean, even if it did smell strongly of coffee; it was cozy. Sam turned back to Rachel. "And how're you?" he asked in return.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 422
NOTES - Yes, Izzie; channel your inner Rachel Berry! LOL
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[rachelberry]

people change and promises are broken
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

Rachel smiled as Sam explained how his family dinners happened. It sounded awkward, yes, but to her it also sounded rather fun. Even though his question had been rhetorical and sarcastic, she nodded anyways. "A bit," she admitted with a soft giggle before shaking her head, "I'm sure you don't think so since you have siblings and everything, but for an only child it sounds rather entertaining." She didn't mention that it was probably even more awkward given his currently living situation, since they both knew that anyways. She returned his grin with a smile of her own before taking another sip of her drink, letting the warm liquid pass down her throat. The hot drink seemed to be working, and Rachel could feel her body warming from the inside out. She looked down at his words, taking in the chill bumps that covered her arms. "No, it seems to be a bit chilly tonight," she answered as she looked back up at him. Rachel was glad it was the cold air, and not the possibility of being sick as he had mentioned. She was always doing her best to keep herself in the best health possible, especially for her vocal chords. The only times she had actually gotten sick was that time in Sophomore year when she'd gotten laryngitis and had to have her tonsils removed. She'd been terrified of the surgery, and the possible side effects that could damage her vocal chords and her chance to become a Broadway actress. Thankfully it had all run smoothly, and since then she really had never been sick.

Rachel laughed and shook her head at the smug tone of his voice, knowing that it was only sarcastic. Most people, well, most parents, she knew tended to be skeptical of boys their daughters hung around, but Rachel's fathers had pretty much always welcomed any of her friends with open arms, no matter the gender. They liked almost everyone until given a reason not too; and they even liked Noah quite a bit, even though they'd heard all about the reputation he'd gained over the years. Her fathers weren't like most people in Lima, so Sam should have nothing to worry about. But she bit back a smile before answering, "Now, now, Sam, would I really do that?" she teased with a small laugh, "You should know me better than that. But I told them you're in the Glee club and that you transferred at the beginning of last year and stuff like that. Nothing bad, I promise." she finished with another smile.

The petite brunette opened her mouth once more to say something before closing it and shaking her head. People had told her in the past that she apologized too much, and 'it was beyond annoying, and could she just close her mouth and shut up for five minutes?'. Of course, those types of things had been said along with others by some of the members of the Glee club a couple years ago. Since then Rachel had tried to not talk as much, mostly because she was tired of hearing the words they could easily throw at her; but sometimes it was hard. Her fathers liked to joke that ever since she was little she'd felt the need to say anything and everything that crossed her mind. Shaking the thoughts away, she refocused on Sam and laughed once more. "Well, hopefully I wouldn't keep anyone waiting that long." Her smile slipped a bit and Rachel worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she listened to Sam. Taking a hand off of her cup, she reached over and placed it over Sam's before squeezing slightly. "I'm sorry...Let me know if there's anything I can do to help, okay?" she caught his eye once more and offered a small smile hoping to lighten his mood. The conversation turned towards her once more, and Rachel shrugged a shoulder as she returned her hand to her own cup. "I'm alright, though it's still a bit surreal that we're seniors already. That this is our last chance to win Nationals!"

TAGGED ! [/color]Sam!
LYRICS ! Beat It - Fall Out Boy
WORDS ! 688 - I think I'm definitely channeling Rachel, haha.
OUTFIT ! click me!
CREDIT ! MEELA! on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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"Oh, I'm sure it would be for you; I've just lived with them my whole life. Aside from the silence part, that is," Sam said, his mouth turning up at the corners. Rachel was talkative and he didn't think she would like being in an environment where her rambling wasn't welcome. Of course, things are always different when guests are over - last time a friend stayed over for dinner, his mom wouldn't stop talking, trying to make them feel welcome. So it was always either too quiet or overboard with blabber. Sam wasn't sure how much Rachel would like the latter, either, seeing as she didn't seem like the type that wouldn't want to be able to get a word in at all. Not that she wasn't a great listener; she was just very....opinionated, and he didn't think she would do well keeping those opinions to herself. In fact, Sam thought if she had to hold them in too long, Rachel would probably explode. "I'm sure you'd be welcome over for dinner if you ever wanted to brave it," he assured her, happy to include her in the family chaos.

"It's finally starting to feel like fall," Sam commented. Meaning that fall sports would be starting up soon, including football toward the end of the season. If there was anything bad about that, it was simply having to deal with all of the non-glee clubbers on the team giving them crap about just that - being in glee club. Sam frowned slightly and took another sip of his hot chocolate, which was addictively good. With a laugh, he listened to Rachel explain what she had told her dads about him and assured her, "I figured you wouldn't say anything bad. I was just kidding." He grinned and added sarcastically, "Besides, what's bad to say about all of this?" dramatically gesturing to himself.

"Hopefully not," Sam laughed when Rachel said, "Well, hopefully I wouldn't keep anyone waiting that long." "Then I might be worried that you were abducted by aliens or something." He smiled and pulled the sleeves of his sweatshirt over his hands, suddenly feeling cold again. Sam's smile quickly faded at how concerned Rachel seemed for him when he mentioned what had happened at home. He shook his head, not wanting her to feel worried. "It's cool, Rach. And thanks," he said, offering the best half-smile that he could muster to try and convince her that he was alright. Soon, the subject was changed to a lighter note, and Sam stuck his tongue out at Rachel when she mentioned that "they" were now seniors. "You mean that you're a senior. I've got another year in this heap, and you'll be living it up in New York before you know it," he teased. "But yeah, we've really gotta do something awesome at Nationals this year to win. Something tells me you've already got ideas." Sam smiled and hoped that she would share some of her plans for New Directions, because even if other people thought she was bossy, he liked her ideas and take-charge attitude.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 512
NOTES - I think my post just died in awe XD
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[rachelberry]

people change and promises are broken
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

She laughed as Sam spoke, because it was probably true. Rachel tended to have a romanticized idea of what having siblings would be like and stuff, but she had a feeling that if she ever had any she'd be ready to pull her hair out after being an only child for the past sixteen years. The brunette couldn't be sure if she'd like having siblings at all - not that it was really a possibility - since then she'd have to fight for the attention with someone else. Even though she had written a (quite terrible, really) song about being an only child and the hardships that came with it, Rachel knew that she would probably much rather be the only kid in the house rather than have siblings. Shaking her head, Rachel looked back over at Sam in amusement, "I wouldn't want to intrude, but I might take you up on that offer sometime if your family wouldn't mind." She liked experiencing the difference between her household during dinner time versus one like the Puckerman home. While she couldn't say if she'd enjoy something like that every day, it was a welcome change at times from her own quiet household.

Rachel nodded as she glanced out the window, though she really couldn't see much in the dark night. But he was right, the weather was certainly transitioning into what Fall felt like, and soon the leaves would be turning, she was sure. "It definitely is," Rachel agreed, pulling the sleeves of her sweater down over her hands before gripping her drink once more. There was a slight chill, and while it wasn't terrible, it was still cold enough for her to seek out warmth. "Excited for football to start back up?" she asked. She may not know that much about sports, but she knew a tiny bit to understand what time of the year some of the main sports of the school started. And her fathers enjoyed the sports, so she had been able to pick up a couple of things from them as well. When he started speaking again, Rachel rolled her eyes in amusement, adding in a light, sarcastic scoff. "Smugness isn't attractive on anyone, Sam," she said seriously, though humor was reflected in her eyes and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

She couldn't help but laugh once more at his words, shaking her head at the idea of being abducted by aliens. "I would hope I don't get abducted by aliens sometimes," Rachel said, widening her eyes for dramatic effect, "It doesn't sound like a pleasant experience at all." She shook her head for emphasis; never having been one of sci-fi novels and the such, she didn't know what the experience were supposed to be like, but she had to imagine that they weren't pleasant. Most aliens, from what she gathered, we're too fond of the human race. Why they abducted humans, however, she didn't know. Rachel laughed as Sam stuck his tongue out at her before shaking her head. "I keep forgetting you're not in the same year as us...it's weird to think that you're not graduating with us. But if you're ever in New York, make sure to come by Broadway and see me in a play sometime." she teased, even though she was positive that she would make it on Broadway before too long. Or so she hoped; she had a plan, and she could only hope that things went well for her. The brunette nodded in agreement, sitting up a bit straighter as he mentioned her having some ideas. "Well, we've done a lot of Journey and stuff like that since Glee started, and I think we should do something different this year. We don't want to become predictable to the judges, after all." she confided some of her thoughts into Sam, wondering what his response would be.

TAGGED ! [/color]Sam!
LYRICS ! Tik Tok - Ke$ha
WORDS ! 651
NOTES ! I feel like this post is kinda blah compared to my previous one... XD
OUTFIT ! click me!
CREDIT ! MEELA! on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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Sam raised his eyebrows when Rachel seemed to think she would be intruding. For one thing, it wasn't as if there was much to intrude on, considering the typical silence at dinnertime, and for another, his family would probably rejoice at not only having company for dinner, but at having talkative company. "Nah, Mom and Dad would probably be thrilled to see I've actually got friends. I think they might be kinda worried that I haven't brought anyone home yet since moving into the motel...." he admitted, then added, "But maybe one night we can order vegan, just for you." Sam offered another crooked smile, shaking his bangs out of his eyes. The only thing he would be afraid of if Rachel came over was that his parents hit her with the usual questions: "So how long have you two known each other?" "Are you his girlfriend?" Not only would that be embarrassing on at least ten different levels, he didn't want Rachel to get the wrong idea about what he'd been telling his parents (at the moment, not much, seeing as he tried to avoid as much interaction with them as possible).

As another chill passed through the cracked-open window the pair was sitting by, Sam took another sip of his hot chocolate, the warm liquid slipping down his throat and heating his whole body. He made a strange face when asked if he was excited for football or not, unsure whether to smile or frown. Was he excited? "Um, I guess in some ways I am; I mean, it's something to do and I've been playing since I was a kid, so it's familiar. But some of the guys on the team are jerks, and they're worse when they're on top of their game." Football season was a high point for flying slushie danger zones and unexpected dumpster dives, since the high-and-mighty attitudes of jerks like Karofsky were at their worst then. "Oh, it isn't?" Sam joked when Rachel mentioned the unattractiveness of being smug. He dramatized the comment as much as possible in an attempt to make her laugh.

The blond shook his head in mock pity and agreed, "No; not fun at all. I mean, not that I would know, just it never ends well in those movies." Sam figured she probably would never have seen any movies where alien abduction was a factor, seeing as he pinpointed her as more of a musical type of girl than a sci-fi one (for good reason). Seeing the traces of confusion on Rachel's face, he chuckled and explained, "They abduct people for research. Like, how in biology they make you dissect frogs? Kind of gross, but it's all science." He shrugged and broke into another grin. The grin remained on his face while he replied, "I'll save up and come see you onstage one day; I promise," meaning what he said. Rachel was one of his best friends, and he didn't want to lose her, even when they were grown up and had jobs and kids and other stuff to worry about. He would always have her back, even then, and hoped she would feel the same way. Besides, he had no doubt that Rachel would make it as a big star on Broadway, so he'd probably be seeing a lot of her in the papers and on TV anyway.

Thinking about this, his grin softened into a small smile while Rachel explained her thoughts on Nationals. "Totally," he agreed. "Mr. Shue's a classics type of guy - which is never a bad thing, don't get me wrong, but we don't want to bore the judges. But we can't just keep doing original songs, either, or they'll get bored either way." Sam liked when the glee club wrote and performed their own songs - it made their performances unique - but if they kept doing the same thing, they'd get more predictable than a Spider-man movie.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 656
NOTES - Not at all! There was a lot of conversation to build off of, actually....hence why I seem to have written a novel, haha c:
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[rachelberry]

people change and promises are broken
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

Rachel knew the look he was giving her. It was the are-you-serious? look that most people seemed to give her whenever she opened her mouth to say something. What it was about this time, she couldn't be sure, but it wasn't like it really mattered anyways. She smiled instead as he spoke, nodding in agreement. "That's how my fathers are. I mean, they've never said it out loud, but I think they're always quite surprised that I seem to have friends." Not because she wasn't friendly, she was, but Rachel had always had trouble making friends since she was little. She could only imagine how much harder it had to be with his family situation, especially in a small place like Lima where gossip spread like wildfire. She smiled at the offer of ordering vegan food simply for her, something that most people didn't take too seriously. Normally she got scoffs and laughs when she said she didn't eat any animal byproducts, but there were few like Sam and her parents didn't even really bat an eye at her limited diet. "I wouldn't want you guys to go to any trouble," she started, even though there was a smile still on her face, "But I suppose we'll see. I'm happy enough with vegetables." She paused and took a sip of her drink before returning his smile once more. "What's your family like?" she asked curiously. She'd never actually met Sam's parents, and had only met his siblings very briefly when she and Finn had gone over to give him his guitar back and when he brought the little kids into Glee the next time.

She watched as he seemed to contemplate her question, taking a couple of sips of her drink in the silence. She knew how it went. Football season, while it was good for the players, it meant living hell for the Glee kids as well as some of the other not-so-popular kids. It's how it had been for the past three years, and didn't seem like things were likely to change any time soon. The only thing that seemed to have change much was the fact that it wasn't Puck throwing slushies in their face anymore. Now it was just the rest of the players, and like he said, the guys could be jerks. "Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much of a way to get around that," Rachel said with a small frown as she thought about it. "But yes, things definitely seem to be worse during the start of the season." She played with the cup sleeve absentmindedly for a minute before sighing. It wasn't something they could easily change, so it didn't really do any good to dwell on it. She was relieved, however, when he changed the subject slightly. "No, it's not." she said in a stern tone, though another smile was fighting it's way over her lips. After a few seconds, she gave up the fight and laughed at the over dramatized tone he had used, letting the smile cross her face.

The brunette nodded in agreement, though she'd actually never read a sci-fi novel in her life. "I can't imagine they would. Alien abduction doesn't seem like something to be taken lightly." Her tone was serious, though her eyes showed a hint of mischief. Obviously her face held a hint of confusion, because he started explaining it a bit more in depth. She was kind of grateful, actually, since she hated not knowing about things, even if they were something like alien abductions. Rachel made a face and scrunched up her nose, "I never dissected a frog in biology. I refused to, and after a long meeting between dad, daddy and my teacher, I was finally allowed to simply write a paper instead." she informed him with the same look of disgust on her face. But it soon turned into a bright grin at his promise, and Rachel let out an excited sound from the back of her throat and clapped her hands together. "Great!"

Eager to hear some of his thoughts about what the glee club should do for Nationals, Rachel leaned forward a bit and rested her arms on the table in front of her, nodding in agreement. "I agree, we've done some wonderful classic rock songs, but we can't continue with them if we want to impress the judges. And like you said, we can't really continue with original songs for too long either, since that'll get boring and tedious as well," she paused, thinking back to the songs they had performed for Nationals. "If we write more original songs, we definitely need more than three days to make them perfect, or at least better than the ones we did for Nationals."

TAGGED ! [/color]Sam!
LYRICS ! -
WORDS ! 796
NOTES ! Um...that's a lot of words... xD
OUTFIT ! click me!
CREDIT ! MEELA! on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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Sam's expression shifted into one that was slightly concerned, slightly disbelieving when Rachel mentioned that her fathers, too, were surprised that she had many friends. "Huh. I can't really imagine that; you've always seemed so....social, I guess." he said, cracking a friendly smile. The blond had never known a Rachel Berry who wasn't a friendly, take-charge type of person. She may have been bossy at times, but he'd always thought of it as impossible not to be charmed by her wit and talkative personality. Yet again, most people probably didn't feel the same way. You had to know someone really well before learning these things about them, anyways, and he doubted that many people would give a big-mouthed diva like Rachel a chance. Luckily, Sam had taken that chance, since he sympathized with her. After all, the whole of glee club had taken a chance on him, during both his best and worst moments. If someone takes a chance like that on you, you have to be willing to do the same for other people....or at least, that was the way Sam had always looked at it.

The blond replied honestly, when asked about his family, "Complicated." It was the truth. His mom and dad fought constantly, yet still managed to love each other. The situation they were in sucked, yet made them stronger at the same time. Stevie and Stacy hated each other, yet were best friends at the same time. So basically, his family made no sense at all unless you were welcomed into the circle as one of them. And, originating down South, where that famous hospitality was no myth, anyone who Sam brought home was immediately inducted. "My parents are still in love even though they've both screwed up so much in their relationship - I do not get love at all, by the way - and my brother and sister are crazy, but hey, they're all family," he further explained with a grin. "So I'm stuck with them, I guess...."

Sam nodded in agreement with himself, knowing that this was true. He wasn't sure if Rachel would understand where he was coming from or not, but it was all he had. Talking about his family made him rather curious about her own. Sam's parents were a heterosexual couple, so he wondered if it was any different having two gay dads instead of one dad and one mom. Plus, what about her biological mom? Was she still in her life? "You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but what's it like having two dads?" he couldn't help but ask. "And have you talked to Shelby lately?" Although he'd moved here after all of Rachel's drama with her real Mom, he was very aware of what had happened between the two.

Sam shook his head when the subject was changed back to alien abduction. "Oh, no; you don't mess with aliens. You just don't do it. If they want to abduct you, they abduct you, and you sure as Hell don't do anything about it," he said jokingly. A smile had found its way back onto his face again. Sam was a generally happy guy, so this probably wasn't surprising. Even after his hard night at home, he was cheering up fast with Rachel around. Sam frowned, jealous when the brunette mentioned that she'd never had to dissect a frog before. "It was an experience I happily would have skipped out on - but it's also one of those things where its like, 'Okay, I did this; now I can say I did this.' Y'know?" He hoped she would know. There were a lot of things in life that people do just so they can claim that they've really done them - like skydiving. One of Sam's uncles had gone skydiving, and although he said it was terrifying as terrifying gets, the almost-seventeen year-old had a feeling that he never would have regretted it....and that he'd probably picked up a lot of girls with that story, too.

Sam was happy to add some more of his own imput into the topic of Nationals - in truth, he had a lot of ideas, but never really talked about them because he didn't think people would go for them. "We did all originals at Nationals last time, so it might be cool to mix one or two with one or two other songs. Something famous and then maybe something indie or something else people never would have heard before, just as a surprise or something. But if the judges haven't heard the song, I don't know if that would be bad or not." He waited patiently to hear Rachel's reponse.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 783
NOTES - SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT!! D: Oh, my God, Izzie, I'm so sorry!!!!!!! Extra-long post to make up for it!!! XD
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}

[rachelberry]

people change and promises are broken
clouds can move and skies will be wide open

[/size][/center][/color][/i]

Rachel raised a shoulder in a shrug, shaking her head slightly. It had bothered her a bit growing up, and even some once she reached high school, but now she just brushed it off. While she may not have many people she considered friends outside of Glee, but it definitely bothered her less now than it did before. She didn't need a large group of friends to be happy, only really a few that understood her and accepted all of her. "I try, but I think my overbearing personality and the fact that I tend to be quite talkative seems to be something not many people want to deal with." Rachel smiled over at him, returning his own. It had been nice, in a way, that Sam had joined the glee club as the New Kid. He didn't know anything about her before he moved, and while she didn't try to act like someone she wasn't around him, he had simply taken her diva attitude in stride and never once complained about it.

A puzzled expression crossed over Rachel's face at the one word, though it turned more understanding when further explained. She didn't know how heterosexual couples worked and interacted together, but she was pretty sure that relationship troubles was something that was pretty universal to any couple. Old, young, heterosexual, homosexual. Her own parents, while it was rare, fought from time to time, but it tended to be about small things. Living in a motel with three kids could certainly take a toll on a couple, she was sure - not that it Sam or his siblings, or even his parent's fault at all. Sometimes just being that cramped together with more than one person could start making someone feel a bit crazy. "I think some people just love each other unconditionally," she mused, a bit in reply to his statement of not understanding it, "But of course they're still going to have arguments and everything that makes a couple, well, a couple." Rachel smiled over at him once more. She couldn't say she understood it much, since she didn't think she could quite say that she'd had a relationship like the one his parents or even her own seemed to have. "I'm sure they're not all bad," she teased with a small laugh, "I'm actually slightly envious at you since you have siblings." It wasn't any secret Rachel was an only child - she wrote a song about it, terrible as it was - and she was curious about what it would be like. She had always wanted to be an older sibling, and begged her father's countless times to adopt another child when she was growing up.

"No, I don't mind at all." Rachel smiled at his question before continuing, "Growing up I actually thought it was the same as anyone else's family, really. I just happened to have two dads instead of a mom and a dad," she smiled and shrugged once more. "I was definitely spoiled growing up, by both my dads, but Dad was always the one who was a bit stricter than Daddy. I'm assuming like most parents, one was the more lenient one and one was the stricter one. I've never thought of it as odd, having two dads versus a mother and a father." Rachel paused briefly, taking a small sip of her drink before shrugging once more. "I can't say that I have," she said, answering his question about Shelby. While they didn't leave things on the most terrible of terms, she still missed the idea of having a mother figure in her life. "I don't think my dads have either, but I'm pretty sure she's living a couple towns over?" She left her answer as a question since she actually had no idea what Shelby was doing lately, or where she was living. She had adopted Beth, she knew, but that's the last bit of news she'd heard of her biological mother.

The subject turned back around towards alien abduction once more, and Rachel laughed. It had to be one of the most random conversations she'd ever had, but the brunette couldn't help but find it interesting. Maybe it was because Sam seemed pretty passionate about the topic, it seemed more enjoyable. "Well hopefully no aliens will try to abduct me, I can't promise I won't try to fight them off or resist against anything they try to do," she joked, shaking her head slightly. While she was pretty sure alien abduction was something she didn't need to worry about, she knew if anything like that were to happen to her, her independent and fight back instinct would kick in almost automatically. Her father had made sure she had taken a couple self-defense classes back in middle school so she could be prepared if anyone tried anything. "Oh, it's a milestone in life, then?" she teased, wrinkling her nose slightly at the thought. It was one milestone she'd happily pass on, if that were the case, since she couldn't imagine cutting open a poor frog in the name of science.

She leaned forward in her seat slightly, curious about his input and ideas for the glee club. While she was more than happy to toss out plenty of ideas that they normally ended up going with, she definitely wanted to see what everyone else thought. They needed something new and exciting for this year, and hearing everyone's ideas could be the way to get that plan to wow the judges. "I don't think many of the judges look at popularity of a song while judging, so I think we might be okay if we happen to cover a lesser known song," she mused, thinking over the idea. "I like the idea of mixing a popular song with a more obscure one, though, it could certainly work in our favor depending how we present it." she continued with a grin before adding, "Maybe we should have an original song prepared for Nationals, however. It seemed to work quite well for us for Regionals, and unless some of the other teams have decided to try their hands at song writing, it could give us another wow factor; does that make sense?"

TAGGED ! [/color]Sam!
LYRICS ! 90's pop music
WORDS ! 1041
NOTES ! It normally doesn't take me this long to reply! I'm so sorry for taking about a week to reply!! D: AND IT'S SO GIANT, OMG.
OUTFIT ! click me!
CREDIT ! MEELA! on CAUTION 2.0![/font][/size]

[SAMUEL GRYFFIN EVANS]

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Sam furrowed his brow. Despite what Rachel was saying about having an overbearing personality turning potential friends away, he didn't quite believe it. It was just hard to imagine her, of all people, as someone who would have trouble making friends. After all, she had gone out of her way to be nice to him when he often didn't even deserve it, like when he had completely blown her off after she had asked him to prom with a pack of Chap-stick- something that still made him laugh whenever he thought about it. Still, he hadn't been very understanding with her, and even though he had been going through rough times (and still was), he didn't look at it as an excuse to be a jerk to people who had always been the opposite to him. "I'm still not getting it. You're just way too friendly not to have a ton of friends," he complimented, his slight smile broadening into a grin. Sam meant what he said, but even if he hadn't, he still probably would have said it just to see her face light up. Rachel was one of his best friends and he didn't know if he could deal with himself if he ever blew her off again. If he'd learned anything over the past year, it was that you can't just brush people off your shoulder if you're trying to deal with your own problems; you have to let them in, and if they want to help, there's nothing wrong with it. The blond was still kind of stubborn about accepting help from people once they learned about his situation, however, because he had always hammered into his mind that he could take care of himself no matter what happened.

"I think some people love each other unconditionally," Rachel had said when he had shared his musings to her about his parents' troubled relationship. He nodded, starting to understand slightly. Sam supposed love wasn't something that could be explained, so that he would always be confused about any relationship, whether it was his, his parents', or someone else's entirely. He couldn't agree more when Rachel explained that arguments were part of what made a couple a couple, and sort of wished he would have understood that before now. It would've helped him a lot in past flings to know that arguing wasn't the end of everything; that it was completely natural. Sam always assumed that one fight meant that a couple wasn't meant to be together - that if you're right for someone, you always get along with them - but when he looked at his parents, he knew this couldn't be as true as he had always assumed it to be. But yet again, if you fought 24/7, that couldn't be a good sign either. He took a deep breath and sighed, still not understanding. Love sure was complicated.

Sam started to laugh once Rachel had said that she was jealous of him for having siblings. "Yeah, that was pretty obvious from that bad song you wrote last year..." he snickered, not trying to be mean, but not being able to help from poking fun at it. It had been pretty bad, but he thought that all of her struggles with songwriting were probably helpful to her later on. There was no way she could have written the amazing song that helped them win Regionals on the first try, after all. "Feel free to come and hang out with Stevie and Stacy whenever. They'd be psyched to see you again. It would be like having a brother and sister, but only part-time. Way better than the real thing," he rambled, hoping to make her feel a little better about not having siblings. Besides, the kids really would be excited to have Rachel over again - Stacy especially, who never got much girl time with their mom gone all day - and it would be a huge help to him if he had some assistance babysitting. Stacy had always loved when Quinn came over to help watch her, after all.

Sam snapped out of his thoughts and nodded when Rachel started to answer his question about what it was like to have two dads. "So it's basically the same," he mused, "except both parents are guys instead of having one be a girl. I mean, I know my dad is way more strict than my mom; I think there's that difference in everyone's family." Not referring to his dad being more strict than his mom, but referring to the mom and dad having obviously different parenting styles. He didn't know a family that wasn't like that. Sam frowned when Rachel said that she hadn't talked to her mom in awhile, knowing that it must've been hard not knowing your biological parent. "Oh," he said bluntly, and left it at that.

"You'd be screwed if you did, so I hope not," Sam laughed, brightening up when they got back into talking about alien abduction. From all the movies that he'd seen, bad things always happened to the characters who tried to fight off the aliens. It was the characters who just went with the flow of things who usually were returned back to Earth, unharmed but scarred by the experimental process. "But I don't think you'd get abducted by aliens," he decided, saying this a bit fondly because he wasn't sure he liked the idea of Rachel disappearing at the hands of three-toed extraterrestrial slimy things. Rachel then started to tease him about the whole frog-dissecting thing, but Sam could tell from the look on her face that she was obviously ready to stop thinking about having to see the insides of a frog. "Not a milestone, really; just something everyone goes through. Unless you have awesome parents who talk the teacher into letting you write a report," he said with a grin, but then amended, "But wouldn't it still be just as gross? I mean, someone had to cut open a frog to learn all that stuff anyways." He didn't see how it was much different if you had to do it yourself, though he was very aware of Rachel's vegan lifestyle. He just didn't see how the two were connected - it wasn't like she was eating the frog.

"Well, I just thought people are more likely to do a popular song, so it would be kinda different for the judges if they'd never heard it before," Sam explained. "Plus, if one of them hates a certain song, or loves it, they have to judge us on our performance instead of the actual song if they don't know it. If that makes any sense." He was hardly making sense to himself, but he knew what he was trying to say. Getting the right words and fitting them together was the hard part about trying to explain anything, for Sam at least. His vocabulary was kind of limited, since he didn't like to read much, and sometimes there just wasn't an easy or clear way to explain something. The blond grinned when Rachel said she liked his idea; since her ideas were often the ones that won them competitions, he thought her approval was probably a good sign. "Thanks," he said proudly, still grinning, but then went on to address the rest of her statement: "And yeah, it makes sense. 'Cause unless someone tries to copy us by writing a song, it's still the same surprise because songs are really different from each other. So maybe what we need to do is step out of the same pop/R&B genre that we're kinda stuck in when we write." He wasn't sure if that made any sense or not, but he hoped it did.

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^{TAG - Rachel
WORDS - 1293
NOTES - How did we get from four-hundred-something word posts to writing each other mini novels? LOL
TUNES - two birds stoned at once , chiodos.
CREDIT - template by MUNZTAR * of caution 2.0}