Rachel didn't know if she'd ever had butterflies this insistent in her stomach before.
The summer was drawing to a close, and she and Kurt had finally finished decorating their new, New York apartment. Just the thought of moving in permanently, with her best friend, in the city of her dreams, attending the school of her dreams, was enough to make her jump around like an excited puppy. Her dads laughed it off in good spirit, but she was sure they were ready to get her out of Lima too, no matter how bittersweet they pretended for it to be. She felt on top of the world. Like nothing could go wrong.
That is, until one Quinn Fabray called her up, crying at 4 am the day before Rachel's flight to New York. She surveyed the dark room as she was abruptly awaken by the shrill noise of her ringtone, and scurried out of bed. She stubbed her toe something awfully on her way to her beauty stand, where she had left her phone the night before.
"Hello?" she hissed, jumping on her non-injured foot and holding the other tightly to try and dull the throbbing.
"Rachel?" she heard a soft voice speak, followed by a heartbreaking sniffling.
"Quinn? Is that you?" Rachel finally let her other foot down, pushing her pain aside to focus on her obviously upset friend.
"Ye-yeah. I'm sorry if I woke you up," Quinn responded.
"No, no, no, it's fine. I have to get up in," Rachel glanced to the clock on her nightstand, "an hour, anyway."
"Okay, good. So uhm…" Quinn was obviously struggling with was she wanted to say, "I'm in New York."
"You're in New York?" Rachel frowned, "why?"
"I got into NYADA," Quinn said, nearly whispering.
Rachel was stunned. Quinn? New York? NYADA? Her NYADA? That couldn't be. She didn't even know Quinn had applied for NYADA. And why would she? She didn't care about arts nearly as much as Kurt and herself did. It seemed odd. Yet she figured she needed to be happy for her… friend? She was still unsure of the current relationship between the blonde and her. Things seemed good, but Quinn was unpredictable.
"Oh my god, Quinn! That's amazing!" Rachel nearly shouted, before remembering that her dads were still asleep in the other room, "but, why are you upset? And why are you calling me at this hour?"
"So, uhm, my mom got me an apartment on campus, but turns out it was rented out to someone else because of a mishap. So now I have nowhere to go," Quinn explained, sniffling once more.
"Oh god, Quinn, that's awful," Rachel was awake enough to tell where this was going, why else would Quinn be calling her of all people?
"And I know you and Kurt have that apartment…" Quinn seemed hesitant to ask what Rachel knew she wanted to ask.
"Look, I'll text you the address and call the landlord to let him know he can let you in," Rachel said patiently, her heart aching for her friend, "me and Kurt are flying in tomorrow, so we can figure something out then. Sound good?"
"Thank you so, so much Rachel!" Quinn hiccupped, "I owe you one."
"Yeah, you sure do," Rachel laughed, "see you tomorrow Quinn."
She hung up, and chuckled to herself. Lord knew it was impossible for her to just have one good thing, without any complications. Not that having Quinn staying for a bit would be an issue, but she wasn't sure if Kurt would agree to it. She didn't look forward to telling him in the morning, and could do no more than cross her fingers that he'd be okay with it.
By the time she had called the landlord and explained the whole ordeal, it was 4:45, and her alarm would go of in fifteen minutes anyways. So, she decided, why not wake her dads up one more time, before she'd be on her way to fulfill her dreams?
As expected, Kurt wasn't exactly thrilled. He had been hoping to arrive in their apartment and kick his feet up with a nice, cold virgin margarita (the ingredients for which had been bought on their last visit to the city – conveniently also the only thing in their fridge). But he obviously wasn't completely heartless, and he could see why Rachel acted as she did. He didn't tell her that Quinn could have just found a motel, or a cozy alley, as she had expected. No, the more he thought about it, the more excited he seemed to be about the fact that a fellow glee friend would be going to NYADA with them, and if that meant they had to help her find her footing again, so be it. Rachel had noticed how Kurt and Quinn had seemed to have formed a peculiar friendship during their last months of high school. They had connected over frustrations with her, which she had to admit, wasn't exactly ideal, but had also found a sense of understanding within each other. For that, she was grateful. She knew well enough that Kurt had resented Quinn for a long time, as had she. God, how they had grown in such short time.
Kurt and Rachel said their tearful goodbyes with their parents and those few friends that hadn't left Lima yet (Sam, Blaine, Tina and Puck). Kurt and Blaine had broken up a while back, after they had both realized how toxic their relationship could be. Besides, Blaine didn't want to hold Kurt back, and Kurt respected that choice.
So, the duo got on their plane, content with the future that lay ahead of them, unaware of how different it would turn out to be, thanks to a certain blonde waiting in their future home.
When they finally arrived, tired and worn out from a day's worth of travel (their plane had been delayed and they had been forced to spent an extra 4 hours playing tic tac toe in the airport), Quinn was sleeping on the designer couch Kurt had picked out for their living room. At the foot of the couch stood two suitcases, which Rachel assumed contained Quinn's belongings. Rachel checked her watch, only to find that it was 7:56 pm. A tad early to be asleep, she figured, but then again, it was very likely that Quinn was emotionally exhausted. Arriving in a city like this, with no place to be, was sure to take a toll on you.
Kurt put his bags in his fully furnished room before returning to her side, watching the sleeping blonde.
"Should we wake her up?" Rachel whispered. Kurt shrugged.
"Seems creepy to just watch her, so I guess we probably should," he replied, uncertain.
"I kind of don't want to," Rachel admitted.
"Me neither. That's means we have to deal with it," Kurt sighed.
"I know. It sucks," Rachel crossed her arms, "you do it."
"What? Why me?" Kurt recoiled, looking offended.
"Cause," Rachel paused, thinking of an argument, "I was the one she woke up at four in the morning. So it's your turn to suffer."
"Hey, no," Kurt pointed at her to get his point across, "SHE woke you up, it's only fair YOU wake her up!"
"How about you both wake me up and you're both acting stupid?" Quinn groaned from the couch, stretching her arms as she looked at them pointedly.
"Oh. Hi Quinn," Rachel laughed sheepishly, "good morning, I guess."
Quinn rolled her eyes and sat up, walking to the kitchen, where she immediately started up the coffee maker, as if she had done it a thousand times before. Rachel and Kurt shared a look, both concerned with how at home the girl already seemed. This could become an issue.
"Look, Quinn," Kurt started, growing smaller as Quinn stared at him, "I know Rachel said you could stay for a while and all, but have you even looked at other options today?"
Quinn raised a brow at him, as she proceeded to pour coffee for all of them. Rachel didn't even remember buying coffee. Something told her they hadn't. Quinn took her sweet time as she sipped the steaming hot coffee slowly, unfazed by the scalding heat. The tension in the room seemed palpable.
"No, Kurt, I haven't gotten around to it yet. I was too consumed with being completely lost because the apartment I was supposed to be in right now apparently isn't mine, and I spent all of last night walking the streets, being groped and catcalled by all kinds of dirty bastards," Quinn said coolly, "so excuse me for not being in the mood to try again just yet."
Kurt fidgeted, looked to the ground and muttered a quick "sorry", before retreating to his room. He grabbed his cup of coffee on the way, shooting Quinn a look that was somehow thankful, apologetic and hurt all at the same time. Rachel could barely hold back her laughter. She grabbed her cup of coffee and led Quinn back to the couch, where the two sat down, drinking in silence.
"So," Rachel mused, "NYADA?"
"Yeah," Quinn nodded, "I'll major in theatrical dance, and minor in singing."
"Why didn't you tell anyone you were applying to NYADA? I mean, you knew Kurt and I were going to be there."
"I don't know. I guess I didn't think I'd get in. I mean, I know I'm not halfway as good as you guys," she shrugged, "I got lucky. And I didn't want anyone to know in case it didn't work out."
"I see," Rachel nodded in understanding. Quinn had always tried to hide how insecure she actually was, so it all made sense.
"Thanks for letting me stay," Quinn said quietly, "I know it's not what you hoped for, coming to New York and me being here, in your way."
"Oh, come on. It's no big deal Quinn," Rachel placed a hand around the blonde's shoulder, pulling her into a half hug, "we gleeks need to help each other out."