Prologue

It's In Your Eyes

It was like a punch to the gut. Her breath decided to tear from her body and leave her still, frozen as hazel met brown. That mix, of a thousand greens and browns, colliding for the first time in years with those glowing mixes of every shade of brown that Quinn could never even wish to imagine. It was like coming home and meeting a stranger all at once. Her mind already tearing in two, who she had been, who she had become all because of those brown eyes. Warm brown eyes, wide and blinking, as she wished they were getting the same reaction to meeting her own, but she knew. She knew that those feelings, that mix of the girl she was in high school to the confusion of hatred and friendship that never had been clear, that had never been anything but mind twisting-those feelings weren't tearing through that still lithe figure before her.

These were all exclusively Quinn's emotions. Quinn's thoughts, years of thoughts and feelings. They were hers. Her guilt, her confusion and her memories of those stupid brown eyes.

They were wider. Wide and filled with confusion and a little hazy as they once again tilted up to meet her gaze. Quinn's gaze was...much different. Filled with desire and content, but only filled with that for a moment, for the moment it took for her to realize that the girl before her wasn't feeling the same, it wasn't written as clearly along that tan face beneath hers and Quinn was pushing away, pushing away and ignoring how bruised and plump those pink lips looked from the assault.

Running away. Running out of the bathroom, her legs much stronger than they had been a year ago. A year ago when they had been out of commission. Taken from her by a drunk driver as she tried to head towards a stupid party-a stupid party that meant more to her in that moment than her walking would a year later, taken from her by a football player by the name of Jake Turner, who had to transfer schools after her dad sued his family. The settlement was what had paid for the dress she was wearing now. The teal confection was perfect against her skin tone, perfect to wear wasting the night away with dancing and laughing at what should have been the senior prom to die for-she had escaped dying once, she could handle a night of carelessness, but instead of turning to the flask that Puckerman had snuck into the McKinley gym, she choose to be much more daring...much closer to death.

She must have had some wish, and this night...this night was much more fatal, she was much more likely to lose her life tonight. Air rushing from her lungs, her body stiff and shaking if she stood still for more than a few seconds, she had never been so scared, not even in the spilt second she realized that Jake's SUV was meeting the side of her car...not even then, had she been as scared as she was as she approached the girl with the brown eyes, wrapped up in a light pink dress and looking as if she was dancing on a cloud, lost to any emotion other than the bliss that came with music and freedom.

Dragging Rachel Berry into the bathroom, using an excuse of a make-up touch up. Even a year or so of being friendly to the girl didn't mean she couldn't throw out one mean comment that had the brunette easily in her hands and before a bathroom mirror. Even though...Quinn felt a moment of regret when she saw the flash of hurt, the little bit of insecurity that crossed in Rachel's eyes. Even after a year Quinn knew she scared Rachel, she never let her know where she stood, every time Rachel felt secure in their friendship, Quinn would drift away. At first she blamed it on the wheelchair, on the fact Quinn was withdrawn from everyone...and Quinn let it happen, it was easier-easier than the sweet death she was about to subject herself to.

The brunette didn't get to meet her reflection or attempt to find the non-existent flaw that Quinn had made up to bring her in...her fingers digging into the soft flesh of Rachel's bicep, her hips were meeting Rachel's, pushing into them, even through the material of both of their dresses...Quinn wanted contact, she'd find contact. Pinning the girl between the porcelain sink and her own frame, her lips crashing onto those all-so-tempting ones that could only belong to Rachel Berry. The taste of blackberries and honey, some kind of organic lip balm, Quinn could only guess reached her tongue as it transferred onto her own lips-erasing the taste of vanilla that came from her lipgloss, her lips pressing hard against the soft ones that belonged to her once enemy.

She was daring. Choosing to jump headfirst into this death, into this sweet blackberry and honey swirl of a girl, of a death. Her lips were forceful and Rachel was-Rachel was giving in, her lips parting and Quinn's greedily muffling the happy sigh that came as she did, it was hers. These sounds were hers, this taste was hers, all this death by Rachel Berry was hers. She was pressing closer, her heartbeat was slowing down, speeding up and it was all so dizzy, all so addicting. An addiction she had prepared for, one she had tried to prevent, but she couldn't-not even Quinn Fabray could prevent the fact that one day her lips would met Rachel Berry's and she'd be strung out from then on.

Except she couldn't-

It was only a few seconds, a few seconds that had her dizzy and happy. Dizzy and spinning and surrounded by the taste of blackberries and honey-a taste that she'd seek out, finding the lip balm and still wearing it years later, years after she ran away...ran away, back out into the gym after meeting a shocked expression and silence. For the first time silence met Rachel Berry and it was too much for Quinn. So, she did what she did best, Quinn Fabray hid and ran and denied the things she knew to be all too true about herself and her feelings and all those icky feelings that came with finally doing something only to have that girl-the girl whose taste was still on your tongue, the girl whose lack of heat, lack of body heat radiating against yours from basically covering her with your body for those few deadly seconds...that heat, the lack of-it was noticed as Quinn took her retreating steps.

On legs shaky not only because she had spent the last year or so, relearning something that one didn't originally right for the first couple years, only instead of falling on her ass with a giggle, Quinn had shamed herself into succeeding into walking again.

All so she could walk again. All so she could walk into prom. All so that Quinn Fabray could meet with the death that had been awaiting her since she had first realized that Rachel Berry was someone she wanted to be around. All so that she could realize that kissing her was-it was a mistake.

It was a mistake.

One that was all too real. Eight years later. Eight years and just meeting those wide brown eyes made her feel just as stupid as she had escaping from McKinley's girl's bathroom the night of her senior prom. She couldn't run now. She couldn't escape, this was a death-one that didn't taste so much like honey or blackberries, except for the swipe of balm she had made across her lips as she had entered the building. The brand had almost quit making it-and after wearing it for eight years, Quinn had grown attached, even if she made herself mentally deny the origin of how she had even gotten into wearing it...there was a lot she denied, especially when it came to Rachel...and even more that she'd have to deny now.

Now that Rachel Berry was her leading lady.

The one cast as the lead in her musical, that was. And it wasn't like she was about to fire the most sought after new actress in New York, especially considering that she was ninety percent sure by the look of surprise on Rachel's face that the girl hadn't known she was the writer/producer/everything-else that 2052 needed to run as effectively and correctly as possible. They were off-Broadway and under-budget and Quinn had a few more meetings with possible investors and having Rachel's name attached to the Playbill would only make the money come in more, and she could finally have a night off and maybe even get to enjoy it.

Besides, if she told Rachel to hit the road, Heather would-Heather would probably kill her and then just recast both Rachel and find a new writer/producer/everything to do Quinn's job to make this musical work-though Eric, the composer, would easily be able to fill her shoes on the writer front if anything needed to be changed. But, Quinn wasn't going to dwell on the fact that for her production, she was more easily replaced than the talent was.

There was no escaping Rachel Berry's gaze. Not anymore, not right now. Because Quinn was stiffening, forgetting that kiss ever happened-forcing herself to forget the girl she had been for two years of her life, the one part of her who actually enjoyed Rachel Berry's presence. She moved her focus away from those stupid knowing eyes and instead shot a look down the brunette's frame. "Whoever did casting either deserves a promotion or to be fired." That's all she said. Eleven words. Eleven words in eight years. Another instance, another chance meeting-a few years ago, she had barred it from her memory and it wasn't counting, it wasn't counting right now as she sent a more menacing look towards Rachel. Before breaking any connection between Rachel Berry and her eyes and walking past the girl-no, the woman.

Quinn had a job to do. A show to put to the stage, and she wasn't going to waste her day thinking about a mistake she had made for a couple seconds when she was eighteen.


AN: It's a little on the short side, sorry, but it'll get longer, this was more of a teasing chapter to pull one in and the rest will definitely carry better results!