beautiful stranger
668 words | pg
glee ; mike & rachel"i haven't seen you at one of kurt's parties before," it occurs to her suddenly. "have you not been before? or is this purely because i haven't been looking?"
She's leaning against the wall of the rooftop, looking down at the busy streets below. Traffic under the veil of the empty night sky looks inviting, she realizes. It's the lights, she decides, the reds and the whites and the hints of tinted, peachy oranges that disappear and reappear in a messy yet beautiful dance, cued and directed by the traffic lights.
There's a slight wind that hits her bare shoulder that shakes her out of her trace, and she looks down at the not moving contents of the glass in her hand before looking up and meeting the eyes of her personal space's intruder.
They're chocolate colored and warm and seem to be as inviting as the city lights below.
"Hi," he says, sucking in a small breath, with both hands stuffed awkwardly in his trouser's pockets. The greeting draws her eyes away from his, giving them the permission to subtly venture down the rest of him.
She doesn't take note of any of his other features, nothing strikes her like the slight glow in his eyes, illuminated by the fairy lights dangling down from thin wires lined around them.
"I'm sorry, for disturbing you, I was just...a friend sort of pushed me in your direction and I couldn't leave before apologizing."
His words spark curiosity in her but she keeps herself from asking any questions. Giving him a polite smile, she steps away from the wall and holds her hand out for him to shake. He shifts his weight between his feet as he pulls a hand out of one of his pockets, returning her smile once his hand encased hers. His hold was firm, yet gentle. It felt new, his touch, but a sense of unwelcome familiarity lingered around her thoughts, prompting her to take her hand back from him.
"It's perfectly alright, mister...?"
"Mike." He tells her with a lighter air carrying his words than before, though his hand still returns to its previous place in the pocket of his black dress pants. "Michael, actually, Michael Chang."
"Rachel Berry, it's a pleasure."
His slight nod is followed by a silence neither can fully describe.
She finds it strange that she has spoken more than he has. She had seen him around that evening, one or twice when she was still cooped up inside, standing between two or more of his friends with his lips pursed together and his head bobbing up and down in a subtle manner; as if to show he had chosen not to speak to indicate that he had been listening and was perfectly content with his input being silent and purely physical with the chance that not all eyes would have noticed he was there at all.
At the other end of the room, she would be what many would have described as the life of the party. Conversing with one corner one second and making small talk with a group lingering around the middle of the room the next.
"I haven't seen you at one of Kurt's parties before," it occurs to her suddenly. "Have you not been before? Or is this purely because I haven't been looking?"
"It's my first time, one of the dancers at my studio required a plus one tonight, and I just happened to be free." His shoulders visibly tensed and his eyes darted away from hers for moment, as if scanning the crowd for the partner that had brought him along. It was a quick and swift procedure, and she probably wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been doing that herself a half hour before. "I haven't seen her for a good hour or so, though."
She would have joked about how she was in the same predicament, but that would require her to take note of the fact that her date for the night had disappeared and apparently wasn't bothered to find her, which was why she was currently taking to a stranger named Michael that apparently was capable of dancing.