Rachel never intended to fall in love when she took the job working at the country club. She just thought it would be an easy way to get out of Lima for the summer, stare at hot girls in bikinis all day (and maybe rescue one if she was lucky), and then later have sex with the same girls at night.
So when she met Quinn Fabray on the first day, she thought she had found herself an easy lay. After all, the girl did have that quiet, innocent schoolgirl act that Rachel knew from experience was all a lie.
But for the first few weeks, Quinn wouldn't even look her way; content to just swim her laps early in the morning and then again late at night when no one was there. This didn't keep Rachel from exploring other options during the day, however. In fact, she was very close to running out of new girls to sleep with when something with Quinn finally did happen.
For a while she was convinced that Quinn was straight, because she never even looked at her, much less talked to her, which wasn't really a problem that she hadn't overcome before. Santana had been straight as a pole before Rachel went down the "date your straight best friend" path that all lesbians ventured down and now look at her: having meaningless sex with guys just because Brittany couldn't take a hint. Of course it had completely broken apart their friendship when Rachel decided she was bored, but that didn't apply here. She and this Quinn girl would never be friends, so there was nothing to lose.
Rachel had been convinced that Quinn didn't even notice she was there during those swims, until she missed her night shift because there was a fancy dinner party she had to serve at. She saw the Fabrays there, but their youngest daughter was missing. She figured Quinn was just sitting somewhere else with friends, and it didn't even pass through her mind that she might have skipped the party in favor of swimming.
She didn't think anything of it until the next morning when Quinn walked up to her lifeguard chair instead of just jumping in the pool as usual.
"You weren't here last night."
Rachel took her sunglasses off to make sure it wasn't just a trick. Nope, Quinn was still there. This was unexpected. "You didn't go to the party?"
"I'm not much of one for parties."
"Oh. Well that's where I was. I had to serve," Rachel explained. "I'm Rachel, by the way. Rachel Berry." She thought it best to introduce herself before Quinn had a chance to forget about her.
"Quinn Fabray."
"Oh I know," Rachel replied without thinking. She did that a lot; let her mouth move before her mind could catch up.
"What?" She looked taken aback, and Rachel knew she had to move quickly to correct her slip up.
"It's just, I'm supposed to know all the country club members, especially the ones who frequent my pool twice a day every day," she explained. This wasn't necessarily true, but Quinn didn't have to know that.
She arched an eyebrow, which Rachel took to mean she didn't buy the story. Not wanting to screw up what might be her only chance with Quinn, she told the truth. "Okay, maybe I only bother to learn the names of the cute girls."
"Don't forget the part where you only bother to learn their names if you think you have a chance of sleeping with them," Quinn added.
"There is no 'chance' in it, only will-" Her mind only just then processed what Quinn said. "Wait what?"
Quinn smirked at her. "Your reputation precedes you, Rachel Berry, and if you think for one second I'm going to become just another number for you then you're in denial." With that, she shed her t-shirt, making sure to make it a show to torture Rachel, and dove into the the water to finally begin her morning laps.
"We'll see," Rachel muttered, putting her sunglasses back on.
By the end, both of them would look back on this conversation and laugh because Quinn would become so much more than just a number to her.
Quinn didn't speak to Rachel for another week. Though she definitely didn't forget about her, that's for sure. Every day she would make sure to slowly take off her clothes right in front of the lifeguard chair before perfectly diving in. It was as if Quinn was saying to her, "You can look but you can't touch."
Rachel was perfectly fine with this. She got a show of Quinn's perfectly sculpted body and the satisfaction of knowing that Quinn had definitely not forgotten about her.
Exactly one week after they first spoke, Quinn approached her again.
"Are you serving the party tonight?" she asked, arms crossed over her stomach, almost daring Rachel to say she was and see what happened.
"No, we're not understaffed tonight. I'll be here," Rachel explained, masking her excitement over Quinn talking to her with a layer of boredom.
"Good." She pulled her shirt off, readying to jump in the pool.
"Why do you care?" Rachel questioned, wanting to draw out their conversation, even if it made her too eager.
"I could drown, and someone needs to be here to save me," she replied simply.
"I honestly don't think I'll ever be lucky enough for you to need saving," Rachel muttered, not intending for Quinn to hear.
A small smile appeared on her face. "Anything could happen."
She dove into the pool then, and Rachel was left to wonder if the tables actually just turned.
"So tell me about yourself, Rachel Berry," Quinn called out while leisurely doing backstroke laps that night. "The only thing I know is that you're a player."
"What do you want to know?"
"Aren't you supposed to be trying to charm me?" she questioned lightly.
"Normally I don't have to try."
"Oh, so girls just fall over themselves to get in your pants? I know the boys here aren't very attractive, but you're not much better and you're a girl." Quinn stopped at the edge of the pool so she could face Rachel when talking.
"So you're straight," Rachel stated, sighing internally at the challenge presented before her. "I knew it."
"I never said that."
"So you're gay?" A hint of hope made its way into Rachel's voice.
"Never said that either." Quinn was being playful, and Rachel had no idea what to make of it.
"Bi? Please don't tell me you're bi because I don't believe in that."
"Stop guessing."
"It doesn't matter anyway." Rachel shrugged. This was a tactic she used on all the straight girls. They ask why and then she tells them she's going to win them over, no matter their sexuality. This usually served as the end of the conversation as the girl would storm away. She always got them in the end though, just like she promised.
Except she never got to say it that night because Quinn wasn't just some average girl.
"You're right, because I wouldn't date you if I was gay as the Fourth of July," Quinn smirked and then completely switched the gears of conversation. "Come swim with me."
"What?" Rachel was still processing the fact that she didn't get to use her line.
"You heard me. I'm bored and tired of talking."
This was new. "I can't. I'm only allowed in the pool if someone needs help." She really couldn't afford to risk losing her job, even if it meant getting closer to Quinn.
"Oh come on. No one else is here."
"Sorry. If you want to swim with me, you have to come back in an hour when I'm off. And that'll be a date." Rachel smirked at her because she had turned the tables back in her favor.
She arched an eyebrow, and when Rachel didn't respond, she pushed off the wall into the middle of the pool. "Help. Please. I'm drowning," she said in a monotone voice.
Rachel shook her head, laughing quietly. She dove into the water from her chair. If only Quinn knew that this move had been used by girls many times in the course of the past few weeks.
"I'm fine now," Quinn said when Rachel reached her. "Thanks, Lifeguard Berry."
"Now I'm going to be cold for the rest of my shift," she muttered.
"Aw, poor baby," Quinn mock-sympathized. "You could just stay in here with me."
"I could," Rachel agreed. "If you go on a date with me."
"Doesn't this count as one?"
"No."
"When do you even have time for dating? You're always here."
"How would you know?" Quinn knew her schedule. This was a good sign.
"I…" Quinn was stuck. Finally. "So when would we go on this hypothetical date?"
She was trapped and Rachel couldn't be happier. "How's tomorrow night? After the pool closes?"
"Aren't you usually busy deflowering some girl at that time?" Quinn questioned.
"I can clear my schedule," Rachel assured her. Quinn wasn't getting out of it that easy.
"Fine. I'll meet you in front of the pool house 30 minutes after your shift ends."
Rachel would have to race back to her room and take a very quick shower, but she was confident she could make it. "What? You don't want me to go through the typical date procedure and meet your parents?"
"Do you normally meet the parents of the girls whose hearts you plan on breaking?" she countered.
"No, but I don't plan on breaking your heart." And she meant it. Rachel felt something different with Quinn, and it wasn't because of her unattainability because she had faced plenty of that before without feeling anything but a challenge.
"I'm sure you say that to all the girls," Quinn smiled coldly, and Rachel realized she was right. "But it doesn't matter. You won't have a chance to break mine."
She would.
Rachel was late. A girl (Robin? Sarah? Emily? She wasn't sure) had stopped her on her way back from work to tell her that the girl's parents were out of the night and her house was empty, should Rachel want to come over. She had to repeatedly deny the offer, because the girl just would not take no for an answer.
When she did get there, it was to find Quinn waiting with a smirk.
"Only three minutes late, Berry," she said, checking the time on her phone. "Can you really have sex that quick?"
"I- what?" Rachel had absolutely no idea what Quinn was talking about, and therefore didn't have a witty comeback.
"I got Hayley (so that was her name! Rachel thought), basically the hottest girl here, to have sex with you again. I hoped it would get me out of this, but clearly you're so good you could get it done in less than 33 minutes," Quinn explained.
"I didn't have sex with Hayley," she stated seriously. "At least not today."
"You didn't?" Quinn asked, shocked. She quickly hid her emotions again. "Why? She beautiful, and you clearly had no problem sleeping with her before."
"I'm on a date with you. I may sleep around a lot, but I'm not Puck." She really missed Puck. She thought about calling him, but he was probably busy scheming their next prank or hooking up with a girl. Hopefully he was keeping Finn out of trouble because God knows what Finn would do without someone watching him.
"Who?" Of course. Quinn had never met Puck.
"Oh don't worry about it. He's just this total badass from back home who has a habit of cheating on all the girls he dates," Rachel explained casually.
"Sounds horrible."
"And he's my best friend," she finished.
"So that's where you get it from."
"Let me assure you, I didn't get it from him," Rachel amended, and decided it was time to start trying to woo Quinn. "By the way, you're a hundred times prettier than Hayley, and way more unforgettable." It was hard to tell, what with the darkness and the fact that Quinn turned away, but Rachel could swear she was blushing. Mission accomplished. She held out her hand to Quinn. "Shall we go?
Quinn hesitated for a moment, starting at Rachel's hand, before taking it with a sigh. "Let's get this over with, Berry."
Even though Rachel asked Quinn on the date, Quinn was the one who chose where they went. Rachel had wanted to go out to eat at a restaurant, having not had anything to eat since noon, but she let Quinn lead her to the ice cream shop because food was food and since it was a country club she could thankfully find vegan ice cream there.
"So where are you from, Berry?" Quinn asked as they sat down in their booth with their ice creams.
"Lima," she replied after swallowing a mouthful of ice cream.
Quinn almost dropped her vanilla cone. "No you're not."
"Yeah, I am. Born and raised in the most boring town in the world."
"With the off-brand Olive Garden," she murmured.
"So you've been there?" Rachel questioned. It wasn't often she met someone there who had ventured to Lima.
"I live there," Quinn admitted softly.
"No." She was completely caught off guard. Quinn, the beautiful unobtainable Quinn sitting before her eating ice cream, lived in Lima?
"Yeah."
"But I've never seen you, and trust me, I would remember," Rachel insisted.
This brought about half of a smile. "I go to an out of state Catholic school during the school year and come here during the summer," Quinn shrugged. "There's a reason we haven't seen each other before now."
"Oh. No wonder. But damn I wish you'd gone to McKinley." Rachel could just imagine Quinn ruling the school in a way she and Santana had only tried (and failed) to do.
"I don't. Then I would've had to endure you and that Puck kid and the rest of the delinquents there."
Rachel frowned. Did Quinn really hate her that much? If she did, why was she on this date? "The school's not entirely made up of delinquents."
"Of course it is. That's why my parents made sure I didn't go there," she replied.
"So you've never been to public school?"
Quinn hesitated. "Well, there was one year in middle school…"
"And did you go to Lima Middle? Because like I said, I would remember you."
"You wouldn't remember me…"
Rachel's eyes widened. "So you did go to Lima Middle! What year? Were we in any of the same classes?"
But Rachel couldn't get anymore out of her about her past. "So you're a vegan?" she asked, indicating the ice cream Rachel had gotten which was just about gone by then.
"Yeah. I realize that it takes away from my badass appearance, but I simply cannot tolerate the cruel treatment of animals."
Quinn giggled. "Typical lesbian."
Rachel realized then that she really liked Quinn's laugh. It wasn't something she heard often. "Maybe I am, but it takes one to know one."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah okay, Berry. You keep thinking that."
They talked for a while, mainly about nothing. Neither of them were very willing to share information about their pasts or lives at school, so they settled for casually flirting. They stayed until closing, by which time Rachel was sure of two things: one, she felt something with Quinn that she hadn't felt with any other girl, whether it be love or something else she couldn't determine; and two, Quinn didn't think she was complete scum anymore.
"Where to now?" Rachel asked, taking Quinn's hand in hers as they exited the ice cream shop.
"I think we've had enough of each other for one night," Quinn answered. "But you can walk me home."
"For one night? Does this mean you want to do this again?" Rachel grinned at her.
"Since when do you do second dates?" Of course Quinn was referring to the fact that Rachel normally went out with a girl one night, had sex with her, and then never spoke to her again.
"Since you," she admitted.
Quinn looked away, but Rachel noticed a small smile on her face. "You're impossible."
"Well, it is my middle name after all."
"Really?"
Rachel laughed quietly. "No. It's Barbra, after the Broadway legend Barbra Streisand. My dads are kind of Broadway junkies."
"Dads?" The subject of Rachel's dads hadn't come up before when they were talking.
"Um, yeah. I have two dads. And please don't imply that's why I'm gay or anything. Because it's not." This was obviously a sore spot for Rachel.
"I wasn't going to."
"Yes you were. Everybody does," she sighed. "But it doesn't matter. We're here." It took her a second to realize she wasn't supposed to know where Quinn lived just yet. "This is your place, right?"
Quinn arched an eyebrow. "Yes. I'm not going to ask how you know that."
"Well that's a relief."
"I had a nice time tonight, Rachel," Quinn said as they walked onto the porch.
"Me too. I'll see you tomorrow?"
She smiled. "When have I missed a swim?"
"You're right. Stupid question."
For about a minute, they just stood there in silence, staring at each other. Rachel was trying to decide whether or not to kiss Quinn. There was no telling what kept Quinn rooted to the spot.
Eventually she decided to just go for it because Quinn was looking at her in a way that said she wanted to be kissed but couldn't make the first move. So Rachel quickly kissed her, knowing it would leave her wanting more.
Well, that was her plan. Instead it worked on her too. Rachel was left wanting more, which had never happened before.
"Good night, Quinn," she said before walking away. Each step made her heart ache, and she knew she was completely screwed.
Summer flew by after that.
They went on date after date, eager to spend as much time with each other as they could, though neither would admit this in the beginning. Rachel realized somewhere around the fifth date that she had somehow fallen in love with Quinn. And she made sure Quinn knew this. Quinn wrote her off as crazy and said that she would be over it before the week was over. A month passed and Quinn stopped calling her crazy every time Rachel said "I love you" to her and instead started saying it back.
Rachel stopped paying the least bit of attention to other girls, mostly because none of them held her attention anymore, but partially because Quinn would sit all day with a book by the pool to keep an eye on her. She learned after the first girl that flirted with her when Quinn was there that it was not a good idea, and the girls learned too, Quinn made sure of that.
The last day for both of them at the country club arrived sooner than either of them wanted.
Rachel woke up that morning feeling dread. It was the first day of summer that she did not want to experience. She would much rather continue spending her days with Quinn than go back to Lima for her senior year of high school. Sure, it would be nice to see Puck and the rest of the guys for the first five minutes, but then she would just miss Quinn.
Quinn met Rachel in the kitchen for breakfast like they normally did.
"Hey," Quinn greeted her, kissing her on the cheek when Rachel came in the door.
"Morning," Rachel replied, picking up their breakfast from one of the cooks. "Thought it would be nice if we had a picnic this morning since… you know…"
"Yeah," she nodded, taking hold of Rachel's hand. She was aware of what day it was too. "That sounds great. Lead the way."
Rachel took them around to the lake, which normally was highly populated, but since it was early morning and the last day, it was deserted.
They sat on the shores, silently eating breakfast for a while. Neither of them really wanted to talk, even though they knew this was it.
Rachel broke the silence first. "What time do you leave?" They had avoided this topic for the last week, but the time was here to ask about it.
"Right after lunch. Daddy wanted to get in one last early morning golf game before we hit the road."
She nodded in understanding. "I have to stay and clean up, so I'm driving back to Lima tomorrow. When do you leave for school? Will we have time to see each other in Lima?"
Quinn shook her head. "They're driving me to school tomorrow."
Rachel sighed, running a hand through her own hair in frustration. "Will you at least be back for holidays?"
"Of course. Plan on spending every second of them with me."
She smiled weakly. "Okay."
All morning, Quinn had worn a happy expression, but one look at Rachel's face and she broke. "Rachel, do you think we'll make it? I feel like this is the end."
Rachel pulled her into a hug. "Quinn, it's only the beginning."
A/N: Yet another one of my NaNoWriMo projects from this year. Not near as strange as Jacob's Maze, but just as fun to write and get me away from OGAC for a while. Hope you enjoyed!