take me back to the start

Chapter 25: Lost & Found

(moments later).

Rachel sat in the large waiting room of the imposing office building and stared out into the cloudy sky.

She was meeting with one of Baz Luhrmann's assistants and the music producer of Funny Girl to collect her official schedule and go over the song arrangements.

Her head was still scrambling with the conversation she had had with Bob on the airplane. For the past few hours she had been engrossed in a mental debate with herself. She was in Los Angeles. Finn was in Los Angeles. Should she go see him?

She didn't even know what she'd say if she did. 'Hey, just ignore everything I've been saying since our reunion, I actually still love you and always have and now I want to be with you, hope that's okay'. It sounded so blase and unfair to the point of cruelty, like his emotions were something to be toyed with. She had seen first hand how drastically they had each reacted to the other's departure, and it hadn't been pretty.

She jumped a little as the door opened suddenly, and a young professional looking woman with a short blonde haircut walked in.

"Hi! I'm Michelle, we spoke on the phone?"

Rachel got up and smiled, and put her arm out to shake hands with the taller woman.

Michelle immediately began some small talk while organizing folders and papers out on the big conference table in the middle of the room.

They went over the documents quickly, and soon they were waiting for Jake, the music producer together.

"So," Michelle began in a friendly fashion, "I don't know if it's my place, but I'm very curious.. How did you get Finn Hudson to pull all those strings for you to get this part?"

Rachel whitened and bore into the assistant's stare.

"What?"

The woman looked confused, "Wait, didn't you know? Baz had no idea who you were until he asked Finn to come in and audition for the Nicky Arnstein part, and then the boy randomly decided to send Baz all that stuff from your resume instead and op out of the audition offer.."

Rachel felt her stomach drop three miles and twist uncomfortably. Michelle stared at her uncertainly, not sure what to say, unaware that she had just blown a big secret.

"I mean," Michelle continued, trying to save face, "I just thought because you two were friends from shooting Wicked or something that you might have gotten a third party to wheedle your way into the audition process. Not that you don't deserve it, because damn, I've seen some of those tapes and you're an incredible singer and perfect for this role.. it's just surprising that they cast a virtual unknown."

"No.." Rachel responded quietly, her soft, even voice contrasting every erratically jumping nerve inside her, "I had no idea he did that."

"Oh well.." Michelle looked around the room awkwardly, "I still can't believe he's quitting the acting industry."

She had obviously just become aware that she had made an error and was trying to cover it up by changing the subject.

If it was possible, even more color drained from Rachel's face.

"I didn't know that either," she finally responded, "Did he give a reason for doing that?"

"Well," Michelle started (gossiping was obviously her element), "Apparently he's going off somewhere to write an album."

Rachel suddenly felt sick as her body began giving her the telltale warnings that she was on the verge of tears.

"Is he gone?" she asked, her voice cracking, "I mean, is he already in Ohio?"