I've just found this on my computer today. I wrote this really, really short one-shot (or more like a drabble...) after 'Original Song' aired, posted it on Tumblr, and then forgot about it. It's not that great, just something that came to my mind after the infamous piano scene, but after reading it again today, I thought that I could post it here.
So, as always, neither Quinn or Rachel are mine (if only), or any other character on Glee for that matter. Also, this isn't beta'd, so all the spelling and grammar mistakes are mine.
Also, I don't think anyone is going to ask, but just in case... This is a one-shot and will remain like that.
Thank you for reading.
On songs and how she came to realize
Quinn still couldn't understand what happened. She was pretty sure that twenty minutes of her life had been spent sitting all alone in a piano bench, at least. She had been unable to move from that spot, her legs shaking, her lungs still trying to catch some air and her hazel eyes still fixed on the spot where Rachel disappeared.
"You don't belong here, Rachel, and you can't hate me for helping to send you on your way."
Where that came from? Why had she been in the verge of tears? Rachel Berry was frustrating in so many ways… and so damn stubborn. There she's been, a Fabray, admitting blatantly in front of her worst enemy that she was going to be a Lima loser (a slip of tongue that she would be sure to deny later on) and the only thing the other girl did was try to fight for a boy that didn't even deserve neither of them. Why was the diva so blind? Why can't Berry see that she was so much more that just a little girl with a crush on the high school quarterback? Why can't the damn smurfette look at her the way she looked at Finn?
Oook, Frabray, that was new.
Suddenly, she felt something wet fall on the hand that's been resting on the keys of the piano all the time. The blonde finally diverted her eyes from the exit of the stage and stared at the water on her skin, when another tear fell on the ivory.
Well, maybe she had something to write a song about, after all.
That day at the auditorum, Quinn Fabray had an epiphany, a really scary one, but that didn't mean that she was going to act on it. Those things that she might be feeling weren't something that the blonde was ready to tell the world. So, what if she had wrote it all down in the form of the saddest song ever done? She would still follow the plan and settle for the perfect husband, with the perfect family, the perfect house, even the perfect dog, in the perfect hellhole that was that town. Why would she ruin all that just for a girl?
But that's the thing. Rachel Berry wasn't just a girl.
That's why there, standing behind Finn in the backstage of an auditorium packed with people, watching as her boyfriend stared at Rachel, captivated by her performance, Quinn was torn between keeping appearances and the desire to follow her heart.
Rachel was fire on stage. She was a bolt of energy, a hurricane sweeping it all away with each word of her song. Words that she couldn't help but feel like hers, too, not just because she knew that the lyrics were born after their argument (and well, maybe Quinn is kind of a little proud to be part of the reason why the song exist in the first place), but because every sentence is like a reminder of the many times that her life went wrong.
How many times? How many mistakes would it take for her to get it right? Could she ever be brave and stop pretending?
Then Rachel turned her head to her left and, for a split of a second, she stared at the blonde's hazel eyes, before diverting her gaze to Finn and finally returning her attention to the audience in front of her, to belt out the final part of the song. But that little moment was all that Quinn needed, it was the last push to take that step into the light and try to make things right (and by that, she didn't mean to jump the girl as soon as they left the stage. After all, Quinn knew she had to work things slowly between them). So, maybe she'd stay with Finn for a while, just to carry on with the plan until Prom, or she could dump him without caring about the repercussion that it would have on her reputation and try to start a friendship, a real one, with Rachel and maybe wait for further developments in a near future…
Her head was still a mess but, as she took her place with the other girls behind their leader to start their song, Quinn had a flash of a distant future, filled with long walks at Central Park with a tiny brunette holding her hand and nights spent in bed with candle lights, writing songs in each other skin, and she felt her heart start to beat with a renewed strength.
Yeah, they were going to win and maybe, that would be the start for them to finally get things right.