Author's note: This is how Quinn & Rachel keep trying. Not as romantic or sweet as my other stories I suppose. Title from the song Work Song by Hozier. Mostly told through Quinn's perspective. I admit its jumpy because that's how my brain works. Trying to make this 2 chapters because long stories are a commitment & I need to work on my damn book. But if anyone wants to possibly be amused by random comments feel free to check out my twitter at PlaceForAnEcho
It was typical, almost pedestrian and mundane, she rationalized. Getting coffee with someone was a daily activity and she'd done it dozens of times with friends and even a few dates in the last month alone. She tilted her head and thought this wasn't like the blind dates she'd painfully tolerated and went on due to lost bets with Santana.
She took a sip of her "espresso with a splash of milk" the barista called it as she was handed her drink to the blonde with a smile. Quinn had raised her sunglasses to perch on her head, made brief eye contact and said thanks. It amused her she could make people halt a little or as Brittany called it-glitch.
Rachel used to get annoyed at people for it. Sometimes she'd make tense comments to Quinn until Puck sent her a text filled with typos that Quinn's appeal was out of her control, people had eyes, and Quinn was hers anyway, so knock it off Jew babe was the message more or less.
Now the college student was sitting at a table outside The Lima Bean wishing she could be at an ocean with her headphones and ipod enjoying Bon Iver because she desperately wanted to relax. And there were certain bands she felt were best appreciated in certain settings. Since being back in Lima she could handle 2 hours with her mother and then she had to recharge. It was going to be a long summer at this rate if she kept thinking about Rachel. To be honest, which she was to a fault these days, she was thinking about Rachel months before she knew she'd be in town. That led to overthinking, waiting, reworking hypothetical conversations and wondering.
It led her to the position of more waiting because Rachel was late. Even when they were dating the brunette was consistently 10 minutes behind. Quinn imagined she'd be waiting for Rachel as long as they stayed in one another's lives.
The clouds moved out of the sun's path and Quinn put her sunglasses back on, feeling more secure and less vulnerable. Rachel had said her hazel eyes told a story of her moods.
"Some people have said I'm mysterious," she replied easily as she stretched out in the bed. Rachel had taken her jaw into her palm, looked over her features slowly and reconnected to her eyes. "They aren't looking hard enough then," the singer said gently.
Quinn missed those moments. The peacefulness, the tranquility they had and gentleness Rachel had with her. At first with Rachel's drama and throw herself 110% into anything she was passionate about they were intense and crashing into each other like magnets or like 2 bolts of lightning meeting in one location. That made sense to Quinn. She'd considered that once when she was tipsy. The smaller girl in all her unbridled passion and attitude made her feel more than she had with anyone. With their history is was inevitably dramatic but she made her emotions seem other worldly and the ground unfamiliar because being with Rachel was unpredictable. Beautifully unexpected because there were moments of calmness that was just Rachel and her musings and honesty that made Quinn appreciate the maturing Rachel, though she still loved, and would outwardly admit she loved the opinionated, driven, glee obsessed girl too, but had expressed each layer of Rachel's layers was more beautiful than the last. As was the blushing that followed, but Quinn had kept that comment to herself.
They had ended equally painfully. The blonde almost flinched as she thought over their past conversations and having watched Rachel cry that wasn't brought on by a song or her own demand but by the feeling of disintegrating and falling apart. She imagined the act or sensation of falling was the most difficult because it was forced. They still cared about each other, still loved, but she once drunkenly questioned if souls had moods. If they would feel heavy or lighter depending on how life was playing out. When her mind would drift to philosophy, which was easier than approaching the emotional attachments and triggers linked to religion she had once said to Spencer after the study group had long dispersed that "maybe the universe was constantly expanding to fit all the souls. That made sense right?" She had asked through half open eyes.
The lithe brunette had said after a pause and consideration, "Maybe. Or it's like that slightly pretentious art movie you had me watch…" she trailed off, the alcohol hitting her too and getting sidetracked as they listened to Youth by Daughter because the music was too good to not give undivided attention to.
"I Origins.." Quinn offered. "I don't only like independent movies," she tried to defend herself.
"Yeah..your secret love of musicals too," Spencer said with a smirk as she sat further back in the chair, letting her law review book fall to the floor. "But really…reincarnation makes sense too, but in theory the universe could be expanding to fit everyone's souls..but that's all theory and faith sans facts." She said simply.
"Mmm. Did you know a woman discovered what the universe is mostly made of?" The blonde started and watched as Spencer smiled. Alcohol made Quinn have a touch of ADD. "Its bullshit they don't teach that in school," she finished. Spencer smiled more, her cheek bones becoming more prominent until she leaned over and gave the heady woman a kiss on the cheek.
"I know you obvious feminist." She said after she pulled back and smirked because Quinn cursed like a sailor with liquor in her.
It would be easy to fall in love with her...Quinn thought as she looked into similar brown eyes, though Spencer's had a dark, intense ring around them that made her look shrewd and a force to reckon with. It could be easy to fall, possibly freeing, because the Pennsylvania native challenged her verbally whenever she got the chance. Thee blonde always enjoyed her snarky comments because it seemed so uncharacteristic of someone who seemed so uptight and proper.
But she was sitting at a table, waiting for Rachel because Spencer wasn't Rachel. Simple as that. They were both unique, but gorgeous and beautiful were different things in her mind. Gorgeous seemed about outside presentation and aesthetics. The best way she had described it to Santana and why she hadn't tried to make it work with Spencer was… "the best analogy I can come up with," she said with a frown, followed by an eye roll from Santana because of freaking course Quinn had to make it all intellectual, "I think some models are gorgeous, outwardly, but I don't know them, it's just the surface, and beauty is deeper. Its personality, it's on some soul level, it's about character..and I'm sure Spencer is beautiful..but I'm I haven't moved past Rachel and I'm busy…and it takes time to learn someone."
"Your life Q," Santana said without judgment because Quinn was her own worst enemy and she was too tired to argue. She saved that for dealing with her own clients.
"I'm late, I know. I'm…" Rachel started but set her purse on the bench, stopping the word sorry from tumbling out of her lips. "You look..good," she settled on but wanted to say stunning. You're the most beautiful girl I know. She repeated in her head for what felt like the thousandth time since being around Quinn. Though she wished she'd take off her sunglasses but she wasn't about to ask her to. The blonde didn't owe her anything, it would feel strange to ask her to so she moved to the bench and turned her attention to her purse to get her wallet.
"Wouldn't want to break tradition would you?" Quinn tried to joke gently because she didn't want to start off with any bitter tone. She'd moved beyond that months ago. Her goal was to avoid drama and operate within the self-made boundaries and restrictions of being acquaintances. She knew this because she asked if Rachel considered her a friend.
The answer had shifted everything, forced her to reassess because 'not yet, friendship is a two way deal and I'm not there yet' was an emotional slap, honesty could be brutal and unapologetic like that. Her response had been a very short ok because really what else was there to say to that? Spencer had said, "that doesn't make sense," with one of her intense frowns. "there was plenty you COULD and SHOULD have said like yeah I don't consider you one either or whatever that means, I'm not the type of person you deserve to have as a friend anyway OR fuck you Rachel."
The last 1 had made Quinn half smile, half smirk because Spencer cursed more than she did. She smirked now thinking about the conversation and Rachel for a second wanted to ask Quinn what she was thinking about because she seemed far away. Their text conversation was out of the blue and brief. The singer didn't know why she was in town. She thought she'd stay at Yale and take more classes simply because she loved the atmosphere and learning. There wasn't a day that Quinn didn't have a book in her hands. It was endearing and Rachel loved that the books said a little and so much about the blonde's personality, gave some clues to the outside world about her internal workings. Books also provided a shield for Quinn. A blockade and an obvious physical wall for people to leave her alone, but Rachel loved that could once upon a time push her index finger against the binding to bring it away from the blonde's line of vision. She'd smile and Quinn would give her undivided attention which only made Rachel smile more that the book worm would drop the classics and her beloved literature to just sit with her. "You look like a little kid saying come play with me when you do that," Quinn said amused and Rachel loved that she could make Quinn seem lighter in some ways. The blonde always seemed more mature and advanced than her age with her mannerisms, hands that were strong but were so gentle with her.
"How have you been…since.." the last word stumbled out of her mouth, her teeth couldn't stop it, verbal vomit from nervousness. Her thoughts reminded her of a Florence and the Machine song Quinn had her listen to years ago. She remembered everything with Quinn.
The time Quinn raised her voice, though she hated to because she grew up in a house with a lot of yelling or silence that was equally as affective. It was always two extremes Quinn had explained when one of their mutual friends said Quinn was the calm one while Rachel had all the fire. In the privacy of Quinn's apartment she explained she never wanted to be like her parents. Most days it was difficult for her to admit she was related to them after she was kicked out and to an extent abandoned because that cut wasn't about to heal over completely. But the "since" was their "break up" when Quinn said she couldn't keep giving and feeling unbalanced that she kept asking herself why was she trying. Rachel was frustrated that Quinn couldn't wait until she made it onto the stage and received professional recognition. They both knew Rachel loved the stage and belonged there in the way that was inevitable, undeniable and Quinn felt it had to happen because Rachel's talent shouldn't be denied to an audience. But they hadn't seen each other in months and she was losing reasons to keep up the effort. Rachel had tried the occasional text after Quinn was resolute on needing space and to "focus on herself" but in the heat of the moment the smaller girl had stated that was selfish of Quinn and the blonde quickly replied back, "you're doing the exact same thing. Maybe its self-care, its needed. I have to do well in school or I don't have anything," she finished with a raised tone. To Rachel it was clear this was Quinn yelling because her hands were trembling while the rest of her was stone and composed.
Quinn looked softer now. Yale was good for her. She looked more mature and less marble than she had a year ago.
"I've been okay," she said honestly because Spencer once said she was honest to a damn fault. But she didn't want to go through small talk. Time didn't seem to be on their side. Summer lasted so long and then they'd be back at their respective schools, trains away from each other, and she wanted this conversation so she could have set restrictions and a limit on how much hope and emotional investment she could put into Rachel. "Listen…" she said gently but with command because she didn't want to know everything about Rachel. The singer said they weren't friends and in turn Quinn felt she didn't need to know every other detail in her life. And Rachel didn't need to know everything about her. That she had moments of depression where she was content to sleep til 11, didn't feel like eating, wanted to watch movie after movie of scripted drama because life didn't always hold happy endings. How although she was intellectually challenged and enjoying college she felt isolated because she rarely spoke with her mother and sister. The summer was her attempt at mending that. Fixing wasn't possible, she knew, but healing held potential. Abandonment doesn't wash away in years, it stayed in the back of her mind, knocking on her emotional bam until it cracked and was shown in being withdrawn and depressed. "I want to have a conversation about how we can work on ourselves, but not be together while growing towards friendship."
Rachel frowned slowly. "What?"
The blonde admitted she should be blunt and not be so wordy. It was counter-productive to her previous thought of not having time. She squared her shoulders. "We're not friends and I accept that's your feeling"..as best I can.."so how do you feel about casual sex?" She tried to ask nonchalantly as though it was a common discussion for her.
Brown eyes widened comically, followed by her mouth falling open. And if Quinn wasn't so focused on being on the same page and having a concrete result to the conversation she would have laughed.
Rachel blinked once and frowned deeper. "…excuse me..what?"
"We're not friends…but we were always good at physically connecting," she worded since they were in public. "I'm here for a while and I miss that with you but I don't want to go on dates." She paused to give Rachel a moment. "Because that's the same dynamic as before and I have to avoid that." She finished and avoided saying we have to avoid that because they weren't a we. They were Rachel and Quinn, they weren't a unit and over the last year she questioned if they ever were.
"Let me get this right…" Rachel started slowly and refused to say the word straight, as the expression goes because she didn't want to joke through this… "you want to have sex with me, but not be friends?" She frowned and looked at the table. "Well if that doesn't make me feel cheap and insignificant I don't know what would…"
"Rachel…" Quinn started slowly and wanted to avoid an accusatory tone. She took a much needed deep breath and let the moment pass of saying YOU said WE WEREN'T friends! "If we aren't friends it can't be considered friends with benefits." Her tone was factual. "Which I'm sure is easier to accept, but that leaves casual sex." She didn't add more because she wanted Rachel to digest that. She was throwing a lot at her.
"…you're serious?" Rachel asked just to make sure she wasn't in a Twilight Zone or that she'd fallen through the trap door during a Broadway show, hit her head and was having the strangest dream she'd ever had involving Quinn. She didn't really like this dream. Dream Quinn was usually kissing her, whispering in her ear she was disgustingly talented and was proud of her. Sometimes she was pushed up against her dressing room desk but this was not what her subconscious usually came up with.
The blonde gave a small nod and took a sip of her coffee. Rachel watched and noticed she didn't have her usual latte and thankfully saw an excuse for a break from the strangest conversation she'd ever had with Quinn. This was the girl who was once the president of the celibacy club…bringing up casual sex…with her…
"I'm going to get my coffee…" she said too enthusiastically as she got up and didn't care whatsoever that she was incredibly transparent. She wanted to shake Quinn and yell "stop with your eyebrow raising. This isn't amusing and I hate that you have a signature expression that has always been appealing!" Instead she quickly got up and went into the coffee shop. So quickly that she forget her purse. She missed Quinn's head tilt and small smirk. Rattling Rachel was one of her favorite things to do once upon a time. Once upon a time was beginning to be the phrase that played in her head on repeat.
"You might need this," she said to Rachel as she stood next to her in line and handed her purse to the smaller woman. The height difference was more pronounced now that she had heels on, but her eyes still went to her lips.
"Thanks," Rachel sad slightly above a whisper. Still wrapped in her thoughts, still wondering if she was dreaming, but she had pinched herself to make sure and it hurt so…she was staring at the menu feeling déjà vu when she'd stand close as the blonde ordered their drinks, knowing her drink by heart.
Quinn remained silent, letting Rachel have her space without the distraction of more conversation. But she refused to order, let alone buy Rachel's coffee because they weren't friends, she repeated for whatever countless time. She'd lost track. And she was certain she once spent 300 dollars on coffee for Rachel in a year. A small part of her was confused that Rachel moved closer to her, too close for just friends, but thought it was out of familiarity more than anything. The reason seemed valid and she was busy rationalizing it that she didn't catch Rachel order her drink, pay, and politely excuse herself when her phone rang.
The barista gave a small smile and started to steam the soy milk. When the machine stopped she looked over to Quinn and said, "For the sake of honesty I'm glad I didn't flirt with you earlier. You and your girlfriend are cute together." She smiled and put the lid on.
"She's not my…" Quinn started and took the cup that was handed to her, but ended with the clichéd "its complicated," she almost cringed but was content Jackie and Wilson was playing through the speakers. Music was always a nice escape and she hoped that wasn't going to change because she had just bought Hozier's album last week to go with her record player splurge. She walked away with a small smile and almost bumped into Rachel.
"Thank you," Rachel beat her to talking and was careful not to touch. She was still thrown by Quinn's previous question. Her mind had been screaming casual sex! Casual sex…what the hell! Just because I live in New York City doesn't mean I have casual freaking sex! And she had to end her thoughts because she couldn't think about sex while talking to her dad. Now she was back to internally freaking out. Quinn could see it-all of Rachel's tells that she was nervous. She was trying to conceal it but the Hand that wasn't holding her caffeine fix was twitching.
"Want to sit down?" The taller woman offered.
"Yes. Outside please," she added because she needed air. Also she had thought about having sex with Quinn since she planted the seed in her head. The blonde only nodded and Rachel frowned further because this was a quiet Quinn. More so than usual. And she wondered if that was new or if it was because the topic of conversation was bizarre. Maybe she was in a world that was the cousin of The Twilight Zone.
Once she was seated again she tapped her finger against the lid, wanted Quinn to start talking and waiting. But apparently Quinn had more patience than her. Which was always the case.
"You're serious about this?" She felt like double checking and intensely looked the blonde over who seemed at ease except for her shoulder muscles that were strained. Quinn's one tell that it wasn't an easy as she was making it seem.
"Yes." A single word. Rachel felt she deserved more than a word.
"You don't want to work on being friends and but you want to fuck me when you can?" she said raising her voice a little. New York City had made her a bit more brazen, the fast paced, tense, ever changing city rubbed off on her but she still cared they were in public. She watched as Quinn took a controlled breath through her nose repeatedly. How Quinn was getting annoyed was beyond her thinking because she was still floored and her anger was rising. "You realize how cheap that is?" She asked but more demanded.
"That's understandable. I'd likely feel the same way. Though you said you weren't there yet with friendship because it's a 2 way street and I know how to be a friend. I think you know that," she said with narrowed eyes but didn't hold a tense tone, though it would have been incredibly easy to give into a defensive tone because Rachel was insinuating she was intentionally trying to make Rachel feel cheap.
They both knew Quinn had been supportive, had loved her as best she could. Made her laugh, made her cry, made her feel, made her believe what they had touched something that was other worldly…once upon a time.
"This is messy….you don't like messy." Rachel said accusatory that Quinn was being unrealistic or that this wasn't Quinn and how dare an alien pod person her…where was her Quinn? Where is my Quinn?
"That's true," Quinn stated calmly. "But we're conveniently in the same town and correct me if I'm wrong..we both still care for each other," she said tentatively because it was really an assumption intertwined with hope.
"Yes…I do still care about you," still love you she thought. However Quinn took the hesitancy as giving in and an offering of those words as a courtesy.
"Ok." She replied bluntly because she needed to reformat her approach and remind herself to not react emotionally. Her refusal to be bare and display her emotions openly was from pure self-preservation. Rachel frowned again, Quinn said ok a lot in their previous conversations and thought it was a substitution for fine and that she was closing herself off. Part of her had hoped that meeting today was about becoming friends. She didn't want to have her heart broken again. The dramatic part of her thought…more so felt her heart could only be hurt so much before it stopped healing and was too damaged for repair. I mean how much can the heart really take?
"You really want to booty call me because it's convenient?" Anger still present, its claws still holding onto Rachel's emotions because it was easier than sadness.
"No. I thought if we met twice a week or once a week…kind of like how it was in high school…but we don't have to talk about our families or our lives because that's what friends do right?" She wasn't looking for a fight so she refrained from matching Rachel's anger.
"Holy broadway, Jesus and Moses…"Rachel mumbled. "What's the point of this?" She asked narrowing her eyes at hazel ones.
"I don't trust easily. I trust you..in bed," not with anything connected to my heart but I've made worse decisions. "It might be good to release tension. Health wise. I miss you," she added the last part which was really what all this was about.
"Health wise? You're the one with the bad back and heart issue…" Rachel said with less anger because Quinn post-accident always worried her. She seemed impervious and so strong before it, thought she could handle anything. After all she'd seen her carry a life inside her, had unfortunately missed the delivery of Beth, but Quinn always was strong beneath the refined, old fashioned attitude. It was simple to slip into caring about Quinn and part of Rachel was upset with the blonde's family for not supporting her as much as she wanted them to. Franny hadn't even visited Quinn after the accident.
"Also true. Like I said before we've always connected sexually. I don't see the issue if there's an agreement and understanding of when and honesty." The Yale student said flatly like she was creating a contract.
"Honestly I want to ask if you're on drugs…" Rachel slipped out in another mumble.
"The occasional cigarette. Glass of wine. Those are considered drugs." She countered factually.
"Quinn, I thought you were done smoking!" she watched Quinn shrug which only bothered her more because it said Quinn didn't care about herself when she did. It said she was depressed and feeling nihilistic as she explained to Rachel when she was tipsy. She also added she was in a really good place and it worried the singer that harming herself in a small way made Quinn feel content to some degree.
If they were going to do this…odd friends with benefits…casual sex they had to discuss it more because she had said months ago she didn't consider Quinn a friend she put them in this position. It was a two way street but she was trying so hard to go one way-towards her career. Months ago she felt guilty that she likely made Quinn feel unimportant in her life when she would push back facetiming, dates, having their bi weekly weekend get togethers…but she couldn't just send out an apology text and say she'd change because she was sure she was so close to getting the role of a lifetime.
"So….you'd text me and if I'm not busy I come over to your place and we have sex then I leave? I mean…" she tried and blew out a puff of air because she hadn't wrapped her mind around it all. "This is complicated."
"When have we been uncomplicated?" Quinn asked gently but it was more a statement.
"Fair enough," Rachel resigned herself and sat back in her chair and felt herself calming on account of Quinn's honesty and slightly joking tone.
"We're both adults, but if you don't want this we can simply stick to trying to be friends and nothing else." The blonde offered and wanted to make that clear. Quinn always admired how driven Rachel was, how independent until it was to the point she didn't feel like she fit in her life.
"I need details…so…what were you thinking...I mean…how is this going to work?" The cringe couldn't be hidden, she was usually eloquent and she didn't expect Quinn to do this to her.
"You can stay the night if you want. When you come over, but I was thinking 2 nights a week. I don't need to know if you're seeing someone unless you have a random because I refuse to ever have an std in my life."
Well that was blunt…
"And if you want to tell me about your life feel free but I'm not going to ask. If I knew you at all…I think when you get passionate you have to tell someone and share it.." Rachel watched Quinn give a small smile at that and then become a bit more stoic again but she remembered the blonde is the same way about new music she finds and falls in love with.
While Quinn paused in her rules she played a flashback of when Quinn had taken her into a record store a town over and said to a worker who had asked if she needed help, "No, I'm just looking for something to fall in love with." And she had smiled beautifully which charmed the guy to no end. Rachel saw it happen almost instantaneously. The worker gave a wide, genuine smile and had said in awe, "that's the best answer I've ever gotten." The blonde with little makeup, red scarf that made her cheeks look pink and sweet had easily said back, "we're all trying to fall in love with something daily aren't we?" Rachel watched on, as though she were invisible at the interaction of the poor guy being hooked. Quinn didn't even have to try. That was her trouble and beauty.
"So you have rules…" Rachel said with furrowed eyebrows.
"It's a way to try to make this black and white." Quinn said with a nod.
"But you said the world was grey," Rachel challenged and watched as Quinn gave a small smile for whatever reason.
Still challenging. I missed this….fuck. As a nice distraction she took a long sip of her coffee. "But I trust you. I just…" she didn't want to be that honest.
"What Quinn?" Rachel asked softly, searching her face over, pleading for a reason why they were in this position, how they got here. But all she got was the blonde shaking her head, eyes closed, momentarily closing her out.
I'm not ready to fall in love with you again.
She was honest but some things would always be unsaid with Quinn. Hidden. Purposefully blocked out from the rest of the world. Rachel sighed and thought it over more.
"What days works best for you?" She asked and knew that that question was agreeing to this insanity. Because it set them up to hurt each other again.
Quinn tilted her head. "Mondays and Thursdays."
"Why those days?" She countered curiously.
"Beginning of the week and close to the end..why not?" She shrugged as though of course that made sense.
"No other reason?" Rachel wanted to know if Quinn wanted to leave her weekends open in case she wanted to date someone. Jealousy still hit her when it came to the older girl.
Quinn narrowed her eyes, knowing Rachel's train of thought. "I'm nannying my cousins Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Saturdays are with my mother. Sundays I read, study and do classwork." She didn't want to tell Rachel that after years of Sunday being the day of rest she pushed against it and worked herself mentally, cramming knowledge in as much as she could until she felt heavier.
Should have known. The day Borders closed I thought Quinn was going to cry.
"…alright…Mondays and Thursdays then?" Rachel asked but also showed she was agreeing to this further. "And you're not going to tell me how you are during any of this?" she realized Quinn avoided talking about herself because it was safer she assumed. Quinn used to do this. Deflect like it was her job.
"If you ask, sure, but if you're working towards a friendship I need to know in the moment if that's your intent instead of asking due to societal norms and expectations." She shrugged again and Rachel was starting to really hate the gesture.
"I always want to know how you're doing." Sincerity in her voice.
Could have fooled me. "Ok." Quinn expressed instead. The brunette took in another breath. She missed Quinn and she missed her at night, during the day, holding her hand, kissing her in the car at every stop light on the way to the movies…she wouldn't have that with the no dates clause. A small headache was forming and Rachel brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. The blonde remained in her sit, sitting as still as possible as to not get up and kiss her temple, an act she knew made Rachel's headaches lessen.
"And we won't do anything in public…kissing…holding hands?" She ended on something innocent because it was still Lima and she missed the city that she viewed as The City in the world because it gave people so much freedom and liberties..such as something as innocuous as holding someone's hand.
The taller woman shook her head. She knew the answer was going to be no but she wanted to make sure. Quinn was cold, but not as cruel as she was during the first couple years of high school and she felt compelled to take what she could get. "You can't call me babe and I won't either," she added what seemed to be an afterthought but to Quinn was an important standard.
"…Alright…since its Friday I suppose I'll see you Monday then?" Rachel asked with her eyes closed and didn't catch Quinn's widen slightly in shock that the conversation lacked yelling. Or that Rachel hadn't slapped her which would have been more than fair on account of the slap she had given her during prom. Luckily that was far in the past…practically a lifetime ago.
"Yes, 7 o'clock work for you?" Quinn questioned as though she were setting up an appointment. All she's missing is her old fashioned planner to go with her old soul Rachel thought.
To the blonde it worked that Rachel would have dinner, come over, possibly leave in the morning. Making her dinner seemed like a date and she'd done that enough. Had spent hours looking up vegetarian and vegan recipes so she could eat something and Rachel would be content. It wasn't her job to make sure Rachel was content anymore. Cold as it may be Quinn was hell bent on not repeating and feeling like a fool for giving to someone who didn't treat balance like a goal or even attempt it.
"Yeah…I'll see you…at your mom's?" for a second she felt stupid for asking but assuming in the past with Quinn proved she was wrong most of the time.
"See you then," she said and got up from the table.
This was fast…she's leaving..? I..what else do we have to talk about? If I hadn't said we weren't friends…damn it..I see her point.
"Enjoy the rest of your week Rachel," Quinn offered sincerely and with the first smile that reached up to her eyes a little as she walked away.
Thanks for reading. Most of the ending is worked out in notes. Have to get over writing sex scenes to finish this. Hopefully 1 more chapter.