Title: Friends
Rating: PG
Fandom: Glee
Words: 1,420
Characters: Rachel, Quinn, Judy Fabray, Rachel's dad.
Summary: Despite the fact that everyone in their circle of friends is smart enough to keep them apart (Quinn (-Finn/+Puck) + Rachel (+Finn/-Puck) = nuclear detonation), the entire rest of the world seems to have other plans.
Notes: This is the first one-shot in a mini-series that seems to be developing in my mind. They'll be circling around a non-canon summer series of moments. The first few in the series will be of the Rachel and Quinn run into each other every which place persuasion.
They keep seeing each other everywhere.
Despite the fact that everyone in their circle of friends is smart enough to keep them apart (Quinn (-Finn/+Puck) + Rachel (+Finn/-Puck) = nuclear detonation), the entire rest of the world seems to have other plans. Quinn and her mother are visiting the Anthropologie at a mall in Chicago when Judy spots Rachel and one of her dads sharing a soft pretzel on a bench. "Let's go," Quinn mutters, pretending not to see Rachel's ecstatic look at spotting her. "H&M is right down this way."
"Isn't that your friend from Glee though?" Judy smiles widely.
Ever since asking Quinn to come home with her at Regionals, her mom seems to think Glee is the most divine thing on the planet. She even wrote Principal Figgins a fat check so they could have a bigger costume budget when school started again. As she put it "Quinny, you and your friends were obviously more talented than both those other schools, but who was going to take you seriously in those dresses? They looked like something Grandma would wear to a wedding. Honestly! And that hair…I have half a mind to pay Rose to give you a nice updo next year." She keeps quiet about the fact that she agrees on the dresses, because she knows if her mother has it her way she'll be in one of her sister's old debutant gowns. At least she's trying now though.
"Her name's Rachel and-" She's about to explain that there's a slight love triangle or square or rhombus between them that's only just been tentatively resolved so far, that she'd rather not push it. Her mother is already dragging her over.
"Hi Rachel!" Her mother beams, waving a little. "Isn't that kitty t-shirt precious?" Quinn stares at the brunette's pink tee of a tiny white ball of fur playing with yarn and bites her lip. It might be precious, if it was on a six-year-old.
"Thank you!" Rachel beams. "Daddy made it for me," She squeezes her father's arm. "He has his own graphic design company."
"I'm sorry," Judy pastes on the smile that got her elected president of her book club, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Mid-Western Ohio MAD chapter. "I'm Judy Fabray, and this is my daughter Quinn. She and Rachel are friends from Glee club." At the word friends Rachel looks like she might jump up and squeeze her to death with a hug.
"Robert Berry," Rachel's Dad 1 greets her, raising an eyebrow at Quinn. She wonders whether the eyebrow has to do with her pregnancy or whether he knows that she used to date Finn, or worse, that she used to terrorize Rachel. "We saw you last semester at the academic awards ceremony, you got the award for highest GPA, right?"
Judy looks relieved and squeezes her daughter by the shoulders, "I'm very proud of her." She actually hadn't mentioned that to her mother, she'd forgotten about it until now.
"I clapped for you," Rachel beams at her, as if they're very best friends.
"Isn't that sweet," Judy touches her heart. Clearly Rachel, while annoying to her classmates, is very successful when dealing with their parents. "Quinny, I've got an idea!" Quinn doesn't like this idea, she just can feel it being a bad one in her gut already. "Why don't you and Rachel shop together for a while? I'm sure Robert could use a break and I'm absolutely starving."
Quinn half expects Robert to chime in with some comment about he could shop forever, like Kurt would, but he just grins. "You read my mind. Do you like the Cheesecake Factory?"
"I adore it!" Judy exclaims, and hands Quinn a wad of money. "Now you girls have fun!" She watches as Rachel's father counts out a hundred for her. "And don't spend all that money in one place!"
"We won't!" Rachel smiles so hard, Quinn wonders if she slept with a coat hanger in her mouth. Rachel pulls Quinn's arm under hers as they turn in the opposite direction. As soon as they're a safe distance away from their parents, the brunette whispers, "I cannot wait to hear about your mom's reaction when she finds out that Daddy's gay."
Quinn can't help but laugh at the thought of her mother. She can see her mother ordering seven cocktails by the time her lunch ends.
"You cannot buy that," They're in Forever 21 and Rachel has just picked up a Spongebob shirt with the words 'Talk Nerdy to Me' emblazoned on the front.
"Finn likes Spongebob though," she frowns, pointing to the face on the shirt. "And look, he has glasses."
Quinn shakes her head and puts it back on the rack, Rachel's eyes follow it all the way, "I know but, is Finn a nerd?"
Rachel sighs wistfully, "No, just a dreamboat." She can't quite respond to this, she would have used the words Complete Moron.
She shakes it off though. "You have to dress to attract the level of boy you plan on dating. I know you already have Finn, but that means dressing to keep him." Quinn pulls a sleeveless, turquoise blouse off a nearby hanger. "See this?" She runs her hand along the place where it meets to conceal cleavage. "It will create a little more curve where you have less, and flow down any unflattering lines."
"It's a little short," Rachel mutters, unconvinced. "Won't it make me look like a slut?"
"You're short, it will hit right above your knees," Rachel still looks terrified of it. "You can wear a skirt under it," Quinn pulls out a faded jean one from her pile, but the brunette is still staring at the shirt. "Just try it, you don't have to buy it. Right?"
Rachel nods, "That's true," She mutters, before meeting Quinn's gaze. "Does this mean I shouldn't buy the tank top with Garfield and Odie on it either?"
She ends up buying the shirt, the jean skirt, and a necklace Quinn suggests. She's running out of money by the time they get to Icing. So she focuses on Quinn instead of her. She picks out two bracelets, a pair of dangly earrings, and so many headbands that Rachel looses count.
That's when they pass the tights rack. Rachel squeals, Quinn makes a face. "They have the blue ones in my size!" She practically shouts, snagging a pair almost-sheer royal blue colored ones off the shelf. "They are always, always out!"
Quinn nods slowly, examining the rack, "That's lucky."
She looks at her, eyes wide with joy. "It is!" She nods enthusiastically. "You should get some too, now, while they're in stock." Quinn looks at her like she's gone completely insane. "Oh, come on! I tried the blouse you picked for me and I loved it!" The blonde still eyes the tights skeptically. "No? Maybe the purple ones? You could wear them with that navy blue dress you showed me."
Showed is the wrong word, Quinn thinks. Rachel ripped her bags from Anthropologie out of her hands and eagerly examined the content before she could even say a word. "Come on," Rachel whines, tugging on her wrist. "I'll even buy them off you if you don't like them."
She sighs, pulling a pair off the thin metal pole and adding them to her pile, mostly to shut Rachel up. It works, Rachel is practically glowing with joy. "I just know you'll love them," She claps a little. "I'm so glad we got this chance to hang out today."
Quinn just nods.
Later, in her bedroom, after her mother is done pumping her for information about her 'girl bonding experience', Quinn tries on her purchases again. The navy dress from Anthropologie doesn't fit a hundred percent right. She can see her stomach just a little more than she'd like, just a little more than she would have before Beth.
She spies the bag from Icing, and on a whim, rips open the bright purple tights and pulls them on under the dress.
She sighs at herself, just looking at the color, before turning to face her mirror again. Surprisingly though, she looks perfect. Just like Quinn Fabray, president of the Celibacy Club and Head Cheerleader, would have. The dress is so neutral, the tights become no more noticeable than a brightly colored bracelet or a pair of heels. She smiles to herself, the top of the tights even conceals the little bump the dress didn't.