Rachel closed her eyes as she sat in the car with Kyle on their way to Burn. They had gone to dinner earlier at a nice restaurant where Rachel picked at her food, and gulped down wine while she listened to Kyle talk about many of his sporting accomplishments. It was the first time she had ever allowed herself to be in the presence of Kyle Valenti by choice and she was questioning that decision now. Rachel knew she had only called Kyle, who had chased her non stop for close to ten years to get back at Finn, she also knew that if Kyle was aware of her reason he wouldn't care either. His own motivation to date her was fairly similar.

She couldn't help but let her mind wander to things they shouldn't, like how she had ended up in the car on a date with Kyle Valenti, her soul mates worst enemy. If you had asked Rachel Berry three and half years ago where she thought she would be today she would have told you either engaged or married to the man of her dreams, Finn Hudson.

When she had agreed to the 'postponing forever' agreement with Finn she never dreamed it would still be in play now. When she had arrived in New York and started classes, she had made it her business to date as many guys as often as she could hoping that it would drive Finn crazy. Unfortunately he had gritted and bared it, sure she could tell that he didn't like it, in fact he had even asked her why she felt the need to rub it in his face when she started showing up for lunch with him bringing along her latest date.

So they had introduced the rules. Eventually Rachel had to admit the agreement worked. It had given her the time to be selfish and concentrate on her schooling, which ensured she was at the top of her class now. When she realised that dating all the time wasn't going to get Finn to back out of the agreement she settled down completely and most of the time it worked out fairly well, that was until 12 months ago when Rachel just tired of the entire thing. Now her world was crashing down around her.

Once they reached Burn Rachel marched straight up to the bar and ordered herself another couple of drinks, she had also been lucky enough to avoid being served by either Finn or Michael. So far she had managed to be in the club without drawing any attention to herself.

So now sitting at a table slightly drunk she felt a lot better about her date with Kyle, at least he was fun. 'Want to dance?' he asked her.

'Sure' Rachel smiled. Despite the fact he liked to talk about himself a lot, Kyle was an all right guy, very good looking and his body showed that he played a lot of sport.

'Hey sweetie' Serena grinned when she finally reached the bar.

'Um hey' Finn replied scratching his ear nervously. He knew he couldn't avoid her forever and that he needed to talk to her. To tell her what, he wasn't really sure. Yeah sorry Serena I never should have got involved with you because I've already met the women I love and am going to marry, I just postponed it it even sounds ridiculous to him, so how could he expect Serena to understand it.

The worst part was is that Finn couldn't believe that Rachel had actually put up with him for the past three years. I mean realistically he hadn't dated that many girls, in fact Rachel had been the one to do a considerable lot of dating when they had first arrived in New York it was one of the main reasons they had decided to put the rules into place. But thinking about it now the whole concept had been selfish and ridiculous on his part but at the time he hadn't know what else to do, and even if he could get Rachel to forgive him eventually he knew he probably didn't deserve it considering how he had treated her during this entire situation.

'What can I get you?' he asked her then realizing that he had zoned out.

'My usual' she requested with a smile.

'Um' Finn's mind went blank he had no idea what her usual was, just another one of the things he didn't know a bout Serena.

'Vodka and red bull, Finn' she frowned. He was acting very peculiar tonight.

Finn couldn't help but keep returning his eyes to the girl in front of him and for the first time since he had met Serena Michaels three months earlier, he finally saw what Michael was talking about. Standing in front of him was a very good copy of Rachel, the way she wore her hair, her eyes but then there was also obvious things that made them look so different like the way Serena dressed and the fact that she wore twice as much makeup.

Could it be possible that the reason he was attracted to her in the first place because she reminded him of Rachel? He wondered

'What time do you finish?' she asked then. Luckily the lines had thinned out and there was no one waiting behind Serena to be served.

'Oh around one or so' Finn shrugged. He looked up then and almost gasped when he caught sight of the dance floor. There was his Rachel in the arms of Kyle Valenti and every muscle in his body flinched in jealousy. He curled his hands into fists unconsciously in an effort to stop himself from marching over there and ripping her out of Kyle's arms and back into his own where she belonged.

'Finn are you alright?' Serena asked worriedly turning her head to see what it was that Finn was looking at. All she could see was people on the dance floor.

'Fine' he told her through gritted teeth. Michael also must have caught sight of the dance floor because Finn heard him sigh and mumble something about it never-ending under his breath.

'Well maybe you can come back to my house when you're done here?' she suggested then.

'Um no I'm just going to head home' Finn replied.

'Oh' Serena sighed. What was up with him lately? She wondered once again.

'But I need to talk to you about something tomorrow so do you think we could meet up?' he asked her.

Serena watched the look on his face and was curious as to what he wanted to talk about, 'well I'm kind of busy but I'll be at the coffee house at around three' let Finn come to her for a change, she thought. She was a little sick of all the chasing she had to do to score Finn Hudson. Sure they hadn't spent that much time together but Serena loved him, she had never been with anyone as truly amazing and sweet as Finn and she had no intention of ending the relationship regardless of his behavior over the past three days, but letting him suffer and chase her around couldn't hurt for a little while.

'Yeah that's fine' he answered absentmindedly his eyes still drifting to the dance floor, only now Rachel was headed their way and to Finn's disgust he realised that Kyle had gotten her drunk. Her hips were swaying seductively as she approached and every couple of steps she would stumble in her heels, Finn knew from experience that Rachel didn't handle alcohol very well, which is why she didn't drink very often.

'Ok, I can see your pre-occupied' Serena snapped 'so I'll just see you tomorrow if you remember to show up' she told him before taking her drink and storming off still oblivious to what had Finn so distracted.

'Another drink please Mikey' Rachel smiled when she approached the bar and saw Michael's face. Finn took a few steps so that he was standing next to next to Michael.

'Don't you think you've had enough El?' he asked gently.

Rachel turned her head and glared at him 'why don't you mind your own business Finn' she snapped.

'Well I consider you my business El' he told her sincerely and the loving way he said the words almost caused Rachel to crumble.

Kyle joined her at the bar then and to Finn's relief he seemed to be a little better than Rachel. 'Sorry Rach' Michael apologised, he completely agreed with Finn she had already had too much and he could loose his job if he served her. 'I'm not allowed to serve intoxicated people' he informed her with a smile and a wink.

'Hey sexy' Kyle greeted her 'I was wondering where you went too'

Rachel turned and pouted 'they wont give me another drink' she whined.

'Yeah probably a good idea' he laughed 'how about we get out of here?' he suggested.

Rachel thought about it for a moment and with one last look shook her head.

'Wait a second' Finn objected 'El, why don't you go to the bathroom before you leave or you'll need Kyle to stop'

Finn could tell that Rachel was about to tell him to go jump but she seemed to realise he was right and made a beeline towards the ladies. 'Listen up Valenti' Finn seethed, leaning over the bar so he could get as close to Kyle as possible. Michael stood beside him with his arms crossed over his chest 'It's no secret that I don't like you and that I hate the fact that Rachel is out with you even more, but I swear to god if you take advantage of her while she is drunk I will hunt you down and kill you' he declared.

'That goes for me as well' Michael added.

Finn could tell that his threat had been received from the look on Kyle face and with one last nod he took off to wait for Rachel.

Rachel was almost asleep in the cab on the ride back to her apartment when Kyle's voice broke through the thick fog 'How come Finn calls you El?' he asked. It had always annoyed him how everyone would always call her Rachel or Berry except for Finn, he couldn't understand where he had gotten El from in the first place anyway.

'Oh I guess it started when we were little it just happened and just sorta stuck' she explained, but her explanation was lost on Kyle.

'Why would He call you that?' he asked confused. 'I mean how do you get El from Rachel?' he asked.

His question caused Rachel to laugh then. Rachel had been in school with Kyle since kindergarten and she couldn't believe that Kyle didn't know her name.

'Well My Name is Rachel, Kyle, Think about It.

'So can I call you El?' he asked then.

'Um I'd rather you didn't' she told him.

'How come?' he asked.

'Because like you said, only Finn calls me El' she answered sadly.

'Right' he replied annoyed.

When the taxi pulled up out the front of Rachel's apartment Kyle paid the driver and walked her to the door.

'Do you want to come in?' Rachel asked him then. It was against the rules even she remembered that in her intoxicated state but that was also the point.

'Sure' Kyle smiled a little surprised.