"I can't, Artie. I'm busy."
He sat there, chewing on his lip. "But, we've had this planned for a week," he said into the phone.
"I'm sorry, but something unexpected came up. I should have known about it, but I must have missed something, and...I'm sorry," she responded. "Artie, I have to go. Call you later?"
"Ok. Just tell me...is everything ok?"
"Yes, Artie, everything's fine," she said, her voice sounding slightly rushed. "Oh. I have to go. I'll call you later! Love you!"
"I love you too," he said, hanging up the phone and wondering what was going on.
BREAK
"Hey Quinn, it's me...call me back when you have a minute. Ok, bye."
After he hung up the phone, having left his third message in three days, he was starting to get worried. She had sporadically responded to his text messages, but never in great detail, and usually a couple of hours after he sent them, and that was completely unlike her. And she hadn't called him at all.
He was about to go find something to distract himself, so that he didn't start obsessing over the situation, when his phone lit up with a text message.
Hey! Got your message! Call you later! :D
He stared at his phone. He hoped he hadn't sounded desperate on his messages, but he was really getting concerned. He resolved to find something to keep him occupied, and stop calling her so frequently.
BREAK
He hadn't heard from Quinn at all in almost a day, and decided that something had to be wrong. He thought about calling her several times, but stopped himself before he cold dial, just to make sure that she didn't think he was obsessing over her, or anything like that. He told himself that he would call one more time, and if she didn't answer he'd go over to her house and make sure everything was ok.
BREAK
She heard the knocking on the door, and jumped up from the couch, hurrying to answer it.
"Artie..." she said, when she spied her boyfriend sitting on her doorstep. "What are you doing here?"
"I had to come see and make sure everything is ok," he said, as she let him in. "You've been acting strange the last few days, and I'm worried!"
She grinned at his obvious concern. "Everything is fine! You don't have to be worried," she said. "Now that you're here, you might as well stay."
"Are you ever going to tell me what's going on?" he said, wheeling himself into the living room.
She shook her head. "No, it's nothing. I just had a few things I had to do..."
He looked at her, his blue eyes piercing into her facade. "Quinn, spill it."
"Ok, fine. It's Shark Week, and I needed to watch," she muttered, a faint blush staining her cheeks. "I didn't want you to think I was a huge nerd."
He grinned.
"I don't think you're a huge nerd, and I only have one question: You blew me off for Shark Week? How did I not know it was Shark Week? Why was I not here watching it with you? That would have been awesome!"
She grinned. "Technically that was three questions and a statement."
"Sorry, let me rephrase that. You blew me off for Shark Week? I don't know if I should be annoyed or incredibly turned on," he said , grinning back at her.
"If it's any consolation, I DVRed the highlights for you," she said, sitting down and grinning at him. "And how about next year we watch together? In retrospect, I probably should have just told you what was going on."
He burst out laughing. "Well, don't let it happen again, woman!"
She giggled. "I should have known better than to hide it from you in the first place. Now...want to watch the highlights?"
He grinned. "Obviously."
A/N: QUARTIE FICATHON NOW IN PROGRESS! All the fics that have been posted so far are AMAZING, and anyone reading this should go read them all!
Or...better yet...join us and write some! Details can be found in the Quinn/Artie Forum, or you can PM me!