A/N: I know I haven't updated "Love, Finally" yet but this one came to me fast and strong. This is three-part story and I just had to write it down. : ) I hope you like it. x
The Bucket List, 1 of 3
One, be bad at singing.
Two, expose myself.
She took a deep breath and then scribbled.
Three, get a life…
A pause and then she added, again.
Three, get a life again.
Rachel stared at the piece of paper and rolled her eyes at how pathetic it seemed.
"Rachel, we're leaving in five."
Someone called her name and just like most days, she barely registered who called her. She usually just understands the message because frankly, her life had been a routine for the past… seven years.
Sure, getting into NYADA after high school and breaking into Broadway after graduation was fulfilling and all but after three years of being in the spotlight, everything just seemed boring. The hype was good for the early years but when she was finally done proving Lima wrong, her fame seemed meaningless.
Perhaps, she took her dreams on the right direction but unfortunately took it there with the wrong reasons.
She wanted to prove her bullies and Mercedes and Kurt and Glee Club that she was just more than the girl who wore grandma outfits. She wanted them to eat their words, worship at her feet and beg her for forgiveness for everything they'd done to her.
But after shutting everyone out, after fulfilling the task of proving them wrong, Rachel found her life empty.
That's why she sat there in silence – inside her personal dressing room trying to note what else she wanted in her life thus, a bucket list. But after a few funny ones and after a pile of scratch papers, nothing came to her.
She has everything in her life.
A career and… well, her career is everything to her.
She sighed as she stood and gathered her stuff. She knew she only wanted one thing in her life and that's the one thing she never dared to put in the list.
Love.
She didn't put it in the list because she doesn't want to admit that she doesn't have that in her life.
It's all she ever wanted but it's all she never had.
#####
If anyone heard that Quinn Fabray followed her inner painter voice, they would have been surprised – especially when they see her now.
After she graduated from McKinley and after her remarkable stint at the LSU College of Art and Design, Quinn Fabray travelled to different places to master the art she had been in love with since the first time she got hold of a pencil.
"It's going to be alright, Quinn," she tells herself.
It's the opening day of her first ever painting exhibition. She just landed from Las Vegas to visit Brittany and the very pregnant Santana and she was still a little too tired (because Santana's one hell of a pregnant woman) but no one is going to ruin her day.
Hannah, one her best friends in LSU, helped her organize this painting exhibition. After Quinn won the New York Street Mural Festival for three straight years, some art enthusiast have started following her move, hoping they'd see more of the material she presented.
She can never label herself as an artist, yet. Her murals were made out of emotions. They vary. Unlike many artists who has their way of making their work a signature, hers is just a feeling… an expression of something in her gut.
Nonetheless, Hannah was able to gather people who were actually interested in seeing her create something out of… a nude woman.
Quinn rolled her eyes.
This was Hannah's idea.
"Quinn, you're like Michael Bay," Hannah said.
"He's a film director," Quinn shot back.
"That is not my point," Hannah said in frustration. She always hated it when Quinn wanted an explanation. "You see, in every Michael Bay film, there would always be a chase scene – long shot, intense and adrenaline-triggering."
Quinn looked at Hannah trying to decipher what she meant by "adrenaline-triggering".
Hannah rolled her eyes. Years of friendship with Quinn taught her that the blonde didn't exactly understand what she just said.
"Okay, Quinn. Listen to me," Hannah said seriously. "Your paintings and drawings are always full of emotions. If Bay can trigger adrenaline by long-shot intense chase scenes, you can draw stuff and make people feel something. In every art class we had in college, that's what our professors told you. Your work is vulnerable in such a way that when a person looks at it, the person will feel an instant connection."
Quinn nodded, impressed with her friend's explanation, "But I still don't understand the nude woman I'll be painting."
Hannah rolled her eyes, "Really, Quinn? Where's the Quinn I know? The one who nailed a one in Philosophy?"
Quinn just shrugged.
"Come on, Mr. Bates said a woman is most vulnerable when she's bare-naked."
"Oh," she just nodded and agreed anyway.
It wasn't much of big deal, though. She had seen a lot of naked women – in her bed – for the past few years.
#####
The moment came, finally.
She was already setting up her stuff around her while she sat in front of the canvas she picked personally from the art shop the other day.
Of course, they were all waiting for a mural version but since Hannah wanted this event as a function, she settled for canvas painting and other guest painters who will be painting the same woman for the next few hours. The other guests will be free to roam around, chat, eat some food or they can come back later when the painters were done with their job.
Quinn was clad in her age old LSU letterman jacket, a plain white v-neck shirt, a simple pair of jeans and then a pair of sneakers as everyone got a little excited when she stood for a speech.
"Thank you, really, for coming here. I almost thought no one would come but you all did. So, today, we'll be starting with a canvas and after a few weeks, you may all come back to see this mural inside this very room," she gestured her hand toward the empty white wall behind her. "That's where the woman we'll be drawing today will end up."
Everyone exchanged nods and smiles.
Quinn sat back to her chair as Hannah went to get the model. She took out her iPod and put her headphones on. She actually enjoyed painting and listening to music at the same time.
Then, she grabbed her brush just in time when Quinn felt everyone turn their attention to the model that Hannah came in with. She didn't look yet.
She giggled to herself when she realized that she actually wanted it to come as a surprise. She looked at all the other painters and they were just waiting for the model to strip down or something.
Then, Quinn finally looked up and saw –
"Holy mother of God," she shrieked.
Rachel Berry of all people was walking towards the center without anything on – oh my God.
Quinn didn't know what she was doing anymore. She wasn't aware that Rachel was going to be the model or whatever… And she wasn't supposed to feel warm about the situation but the next thing she knew, she was running towards a very surprised Rachel Berry while she was taking her LSU letterman jacket off.
"What the fuck?" she asked Rachel as she wrapped her letterman around her.
"Qui –"
"Hannah! The blanket!" Quinn shouted furiously as Hannah moved as fast as she can to gather the blanket that Rachel covered herself with earlier.
"What are you doing?" Hannah said as she gave Quinn the blanket and Quinn immediately wrapped it around Rachel.
Quinn wasn't thinking anymore, she turned to her audience and smiled apologetically, "She wasn't the model. There had been a mistake. Please, stick around and we'll start in a few minutes after we get the right model here. Thanks."
Then, she was dragging Rachel towards an empty room in the gallery.
"How am I going to find a new model?" Hannah asked furiously.
"I don't know, okay. Just go and get another one."
"But –"
"Leave us alone!"
That and she shut the door behind them pushing Rachel gently away from her, "What the hell, Berry?"
Quinn looked at Rachel and noticed that the girl was blushing.
"What the hell?" she repeated.
"Stop saying hell."
"Rachel? Really?"
"I saw the ad and I wanted to try…"
"Try?" Quinn yelled.
Really, she didn't know what upsets her.
They haven't seen each other in years and this is definitely not Quinn's idea of meeting an old friend, let alone Rachel Berry with nothing on but a smile on her face.
"I didn't know that it was going to be your art show."
"You're lucky that this is my art show!"
"Why are you so mad?"
"Rachel! You were naked in the middle of the room with more than 25 guys."
"And you care because?"
Quinn's eyes grew wide.
"I wanted to do it, Quinn. I am very sure you won't understand but trust me, this is my own sane decision."
Quinn chuckled, "Sane? There's nothing sane about posing naked, Rachel."
"Then why would anyone do it?"
"You don't understand. This is not what you do, okay?"
"That's exactly why I wanted to do it."
Quinn rolled her eyes, "Go home, Rachel."
"It was nice seeing you again, Quinn."
Quinn looked at Rachel.
Rachel looked at Quinn.
They looked at each other but none of them understood why their hearts were beating fast.
"Yeah, whatever. Just get dressed and go home safely. Please, whatever insane thing you're in, don't ever consider being a nude model again."
"Can I call you?"
This took Quinn by surprise but still, she tried to act as if it didn't excite her.
"Sure," she replied.
"May I get your number from Hannah?"
Quinn took out a pen from the nearby table and took Rachel's hand that wasn't clutching the blanket wrapped around her.
"Although I don't understand why you would want anything to do with me, call me if you need someone to talk to or something. You look unhappy."
That and Quinn went back to her gallery.
Rachel just smiled.
She didn't know but there was something so new about Quinn and it excited her.
Thoughts?