Rules:
1. Pick a character, fandom, or pairing you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.
1. Stop and Stare- One Republic
Stop and stare, I think I'm moving but I go nowhere, yeah I know that everyone gets scared, I've become what I can't be, do you see what I see?
Quinn was sitting on Puck's couch one afternoon, two weeks after she'd moved in, watching absentmindedly as he frantically pressed buttons on his controller, his animated persona jumping over fatal turtles and cannibalistic plants. She thought about how last year, she had been sitting with Finn on her porch one day, talking about how once they graduated, they would be out of here, on the first plane to New York City or Chicago or LA. She would be a journalist, an important reporter who talked about things that meant more than local lemonade stand profits on a Lima street corner.
She turned to Puck and his focus on the television screen, and whispered, "We're stuck."
"Hmm?" he glanced at her briefly.
"We're stuck here. We're never getting out, are we? This is our life from now on, isn't it? You and me on this couch, playing some stupid video game."
2. Ordinary People- John Legend
We're just ordinary people, we don't know which way to go. We're just ordinary people, maybe we should take it slow.
"I'm right, you're wrong! I'm smart, you're dumb!"
Her words rang in his ear and echoed in the hallway, and for a split second, he wanted to grab her, tell her to stop insulting him and realize that she wasn't as smart as she thought she was.
But the day that she'd been kicked off the Cheerios and he looked at her, sitting on that stool staring disappointedly into her slushie, he knew that somewhere in there was a girl that was scared of failing, scared of losing all of the reputation she had earned. A girl that had tried so hard to be what everyone expected at the cost of everyone around her. She was ordinary, for a moment, and just as hurt as everyone else.
A year later, he saw her sitting in Glee with that same angry, sad look on her face, watching Rachel perform "The Only Exception", and he realized that that ordinary girl was one he wanted to get to know again.
3. One Step at a Time- Jordin Sparks
One step at a time, there's no need to rush. It's like learning to fly, or falling in love. It's gonna happen, and it's supposed to happen, that we find reasons, one step at a time.
Quinn stepped into the halls of McKinley the Monday after Beth's birth, still not used to how empty her clothes felt around her. She kept her eyes downcast, pretending that she didn't hear what people were saying around her- making bets about how long it would take her to be skinny again, or who she would get with next- and ran straight into Finn Hudson in the process, startling her from her staring contest with the tiles of the floor.
"Sorry," She whispered, "I…didn't see you."
"It's okay."
The first two words he'd said to her since Sectionals, and she willed her throat to stop closing up.
"How are you?"
"Okay, I guess. Empty." She hadn't meant to add the last word out loud, but she saw his brow furrow at it.
"You'll be okay." He said, looking her in the eyes and nodding before walking past her without another word. She took a deep breath and kept moving towards her locker, this time with her head held a little higher.
4. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing
Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled…
Quinn sat in church on Christmas Eve, watching the choir singing on the altar in their crimson robes, the one she had always dreamed to wear once she got old enough to audition. Her mother sat next to her, buried in her hymnal, and Quinn closed her eyes, letting the voices echo around her.
She thought about how her father had always called her his angel. This had used to be her favorite song, but now it felt cold on her lips as she tried to join in on the third verse. She glanced up at the stained glass windows, beautiful in their complexity, and knew that in real life, her own complexity was far from beautiful.
She wondered if she even believed in God anymore. Looking at her life, it had become more and more of an effort.
5. My Favorite Mistake- Sheryl Crow
Did you know when you go, it's like the perfect ending to the bad day I was just beginning? When you go, all I know, is you're my favorite mistake…
"We shouldn't do this. We can't do this."
The pounding drumbeats of dance music were shaking the walls around them at Mike Chang's house during his end of summer party, and Finn could faintly hear Puck's voice yelling something about body shots. He never in a million years thought he'd be in this room, pressing Quinn up against Mike's dresser, threatening to knock over his breakables. She had pulled herself away from him in a rational moment to tell him that they couldn't be doing this, and the logical part of his brain knew she was right.
Rachel was in this house somewhere, and although he'd broken up with her a month ago, he still felt like she'd reprimand him for this. Quinn looked at him helplessly, whispering, "This is a mistake, Finn. We shouldn't put ourselves through this again."
He blamed it on the alcohol running through his veins, but knew it was the most sober thing he'd done all night when he said, "Fabray, you're always a mistake worth making."
6. Love on the Rocks- Sara Bareilles
Okay, we'll do it your way, but this is the last time. Love on the rocks…
"This is the last time," she said as he pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "We have to stop."
"Right."
He went back to kissing her and she gave his chest a shove. "I mean it. We promised after Mike's party that it would never happen again, and we lied, but this is it."
"Why, Quinn? Why are you trying so hard to fight this?"
"Because I don't want to hurt you again!" she exclaimed, turning away from him. "I'm like this psychotic tornado that destroys everyone around me! I hurt everyone I'm with, and I can't do that to you again."
"Quinn-"
"No. This is it. This is the last time."
He sighed, giving her an unconvincing nod, and she felt like she had finally succeeded. But as his fingers ran through her hair and his lips pressed more violently into hers, she lost all semblance of fighting it.
Last time, my ass.
7. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)- The Proclaimers
Now I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who'd walk a thousand miles to fall down at your door…
May 25th rolled around, and every senior at McKinley got a sticker with "I'm going to…" written on it, where they could fill in their college to display proudly to everyone. Quinn had taken until the last day to decide, and she laughed when she saw Finn's goofy grin as he stuck his sticker on, Ohio State University! written on it in his kindergarten printing, exclamation point added for extra Finn-like emphasis.
"You're really excited, aren't you?"
He nodded eagerly, and she couldn't help but smile, even with the worry rising inside her.
"Aren't you? We're going to college! Come on, put on your sticker! I've been waiting way too long to find out."
Her boyfriend looked like a kid on Christmas, and she felt extra guilty placing the "New York University" sticker on her chest.
"NYU? Quinn, oh my God! You got in! I'm so proud of you!"
He scooped her into a hug, and she tried to put on the smile he had.
"Hey, why aren't you happy?"
"Because I thought I was going to OU, and now I'm going across the country from you. Finn, I'm sorry-"
"Don't be sorry! This is your dream, Quinn. Did you really think I would be upset about it?"
"But this means I'll hardly ever get to see you except on breaks."
"Listen," he said, slinging an arm around her shoulders as he led her to their Spanish class, "I would drive across continents to get to you."
She smiled and resisted from telling him that cars couldn't drive across the ocean, and rolled her eyes a little at him when he yelled, "Mr. Schuester! Look who's going to NYU!"
8. All in My Head- Nick Lachey
She says, she says, says she wants to marry me, it's all in my head, that's just not reality, it's over, it's over…
The night after Quinn's confession, Finn sat on his bed, staring blankly at the wall. He still wanted to punch something- someone, really- and what he hated most is that as much as he tried, he couldn't hate her. He was angry at her, but more than that, he felt like someone had taken out his heart and ripped it into pieces in front of him. He would never stop wondering why she'd chosen Puck, of all people, to cheat on him with, and he wondered if any of their relationship had been real. Had they really been living a lie this whole time?
He flashed back to the night before school started that year, a little after their one year anniversary.
"You know that…I love you, right?"
She had smiled at him as wide as he had ever seen, and whispered back, "I love you, too, you big dork."
She snuggled into his chest and he ran his hand through her hair. He barely heard her, but could tell she had spoken when she said, softly, "I think I might even marry you someday."
It had been real, hadn't it? He wasn't having some cosmic dream, or in a coma for two years as some vegetable in a hospital, right? He glanced to his dresser, where she'd left the promise ring she had been wearing for a year now, and knew that it was definitely not in his head.
9. Sort Of- Ingrid Michaelson
And if I was stronger then I would tell you know, and if I was stronger then I would leave this show, and if I was stronger then I would up and go, but here I am, and here we go again…
The first thing Quinn had noticed about Finn was his smile. It was too wide and clumsy, and she loved that it matched him. He was giving her that same smile in the examination room when the doctor told her that it would be a girl, and she almost jumped from the seat and told him everything. But she looked at his eyes, with all the excitement and absolute awe that filled them, and guilt began eating at her. It would destroy him, and as strong as she was, she couldn't crush him like that. She would lie to him forever if she had to.
It would be so much easier if she didn't love him. If he had been some tool to build up her reputation or just a boyfriend because that was what was expected of her. If she didn't love him, she would have spared him of all of this from the start. But as hard as she tried, she would never be strong enough to tell him no, to push him away, to end it before she could hurt him anymore.
My love's too big for you, my love. But here I am, and here we go again…
10. Inevitable- Anberlin
We could stay in this moment for the rest of our lives, I wanna be the last first kiss that you ever have…
They were Christmas shopping in town, and her arm was linked with his as she admired the lit up displays in the windows at Macy's. They had both gotten home for winter break the night before, and had spent the ride back from the airport talking about they couldn't believe they were graduating in May already, and how much they had missed each other in their four months apart.
She stopped abruptly and he noticed a glint in her eyes as she looked up.
"It's snowing, Finn."
A dusty flake hit the shoulder of her coat and she grinned, looking for a minute like the ten year old girl he'd seen for the first time on the playground in fifth grade, during the first snow of the year.
He pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers, dragging her out of her snow-filled awe.
"What was that for?" she asked, still smiling and eyes wide.
"I just…I love you, and I can't wait anymore."
The Christmas lights in the store windows reflected on the diamond in the ring that he held out to her. He noticed first, the tears filling her eyes, second, the snow that was now seeping through the knee of his pants on the pavement, and third, the fact that he'd just made her smile even more than the snowflakes that sprinkled her jacket.