scene: lea & cory, cory’s house.

what upset her most about all of this was that she had given up just about everything for cory, because he had waited for her for so long and now she felt like she was alone. she didn’t blame him for that, but it was the truth. he wanted to be with her and she gave him exactly what he wanted. and when she pushed for something more, because it wasn’t really healthy for them to sneak around as much as they did, he pulled away and lea was left alone. she wasn’t the moping kind of person, because she believed in living every day to it’s best. but now she was moping and she was miserable and when she did go out, her fake smiles took over and hurt her face to a point where she couldn’t take it anymore. with the glee tour over and time off before they started working on glee again, lea was left to her own devices. she spent most of her time in new york, believing that being apart from cory would be good for her. knowing that he lived only a few minutes away drove her insane, so she packed up her things and went home. it wasn’t any easier, because jonathan was always spending time with theo john and she couldn’t be anywhere near theo given how things had gone a year ago. and now that she wasn’t with cory anymore, she was sure that theo would rub that in her face. just adding salt to the wound.

she was back in la and slowly getting back into the groove of not having her mother there to pamper her, or cory still fast asleep in her bed and it wasn’t easy, but she was pushing through. she spent the first few days cleaning out her house, doing laundry, throwing out old food, restocking the fridge and getting rid of old clothes. it was like a soul cleansing spree. in the process, she gathered up all the things that cory had ever given her, along with the things that defined them as a couple. a mckinley high t-shirt that lea wore the first time they snuck onto set and used the auditorium to their advantage. a collection of wine corks that reminded her of the time when cory let her get completely drunk while he just sat there and laughed and teased her. ticket stubs from broadway shows, concerts and hockey games. the worst of it was the photographs that she had collected over the past few months. random pictures from tour, adorable pictures from when they were completely head over heels in love that they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other and pictures that other people took when the two of them weren’t looking. and then there were the little post-it notes with cute messages of love accompanied by cory’s awkward sketches. it was destroying her just staring at those things, but she knew that she had to do it. get rid of everything cory if she wanted to really let him go. because as she saw it, he had moved on just fine. he had a different girl on his arm every day and he seemed happy about it. if he could be happy without her, she could be happy without him.

lea drove to cory’s house, fully aware that she was being followed by the paparazzi. they had gotten wind of something gone wrong between the two of them and insisted on following them wherever they went. she had grown immune to the flashing lights and the stupid questions, but it still bothered her when they suddenly showed up out of nowhere. sighing heavily as she parked her car behind his, lea got out and pulled the large cardboard box of things from the back and walked up to the front door. she rang the bell  and waited for a few minutes before realizing that cory was probably locked up in the rehearsal room. finding the hidden key was easy, and she was sure that anybody could have broken into his house if they wanted to, and she let herself into the house. she called out to the empty place, hoping that either cory or one of his roommates would suddenly show up. no such luck. she left the box in the living room and walked to the rehearsal room, knocked on the door and pried it open a little just to stick her head in. “cory,” she gave him a small smile and held the hidden key up, “sorry for letting myself in, but i just wanted to let you know that i was back in la and that there’s a carton in the living room with some of your stuff. i was cleaning out my house and found a lot of your things…” a dry chuckle escaped her lips and she shrugged, “i’ll leave the key on the kitchen counter. and umm.. i’ll see you later.”