forever fades away

chapter 1

~Six Years Later~ 

Rachel berry grabbed the last of her personal things off her desk and walked out of her office, thankful that it was a Friday. After a long, grueling week of working her ass off, worrying about last minute details and making sure everything was absolutely perfect, she had finally finished with her first high-profile client. As soon as she’d been positive that she was going to finish everything that week, she’d called her friends and demanded they go out on Friday for a big celebration... and thankfully, Friday had finally arrived. 

As one of the newest interior designers at Castle’s Interior Designs in Atlanta, Georgia, she knew that how she performed on that account would mean the difference between preparing herself for all the high-profile cases, and packing up her desk to leave after being fired. Thankfully, it wasn’t the latter that she needed to prepare for, because her client loved every little detail, promising to tell everyone they knew all about her. 

She hurried into the parking garage, disengaging the locks on her sporty, red, Mazda RX-8. She hopped in, putting her briefcase in the backseat, and her purse in the passenger seat before slipping the key into the ignition and taking off.

She left the parking garage, flipping through the radio stations as she made her way through Atlanta. As she drove, she sang along with the radio, giggling at the guys she passed who couldn’t help but take notice of the beautiful woman driving the hot red car. 

Half an hour later, due to the ridiculous traffic jams everywhere, she finally made it to her apartment, deciding she needed to change before she went out. She quickly grabbed her things out of the car and hurried to her door. 

She unlocked the door and walked in. No matter how many times she walked in the front door, her apartment always made her smile. She still couldn’t believe she could actually afford it, it was absolutely amazing. It was a loft apartment, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and about fifteen hundred square feet. It was extremely modern, with all black appliances, white brick walls, eighteen foot high ceilings, and polished cement floors. It was actually an old factory, which had been converted into loft apartments, and she loved it. 

She dropped her briefcase in her extra bedroom, which she had made her office away from the office, ecstatic that tomorrow would be the first Saturday in almost four months that she wouldn’t have to spend all day cooped up in there. After that, she made her way to her master bedroom, checking the answering machine for messages before going into her closet to change. 

She slipped into a simple, short black skirt and a deep red shirt with a plunging v-neck and three-quarter length sleeves. She threw on her knee high black boots before scurrying into the bathroom and taking her hair out of the bun she wore it in to work, her long hair falling in a cascade of soft waves around her shoulders. She applied the tiniest bit of lip gloss before grabbing her purse and running back out the door. 

Another thirty minutes later, she finally made it to Scruffy’s, making her way through the crowd and over to the table where her friends were already seated. “Hey!” She greeted, plopping down into the empty chair. 

“Hey!” Steph, Chelsea, Crystal and Renae yelled back, even though it wasn’t that loud in there and she was right in front of them. 

“What’d I miss?” Rachel asked, setting her purse on her lap and signaling the waitress over. She ordered a margarita before turning back to the table. 

“Nothing at all.” Chelsea informed her, taking a drag off her cigarette. “We were just wondering if you’d gotten lost or something.” 

“Nope, just running a little late.” rachel replied, handing her credit card to the waitress and telling her to start a tab.