"I'm screwed." I heard Finn say after Quinn showed him the past due notice and my mind went into overdrive.
"Not necessarily." I replied looking at his wheelchair. I remembered a place that Finn could work at and if he convinces them that he's in a wheelchair he could get it so we left and I helped him get the job.
"Thank you, Rachel." He said dropping me off at my house.
"It was no problem." I said smiling and getting out of his car. It wasn't until hours later that I really thought of my reasoning for helping Finn. If I wanted Finn to be with me why did I help Quinn stay with him? I thought I was helping Finn, but giving it a lot of contemplation I realized I was trying to help Quinn. I then started to think why I even wanted to help Quinn. She'd always been rude to me and hates me so why did I care enough to help Finn which would ultimately help her? I ended up not sleeping more than two hours that night and when I finally fell asleep I dreamed of the girl who starred in my thoughts.
I couldn't stop thinking about her and every night after that she was in my dreams. In the beginning they were innocent where all we would do is talk, but then they escalated into us admitting love for each other and making out until I woke up sweating and wishing that I'd slept longer to see how far it would go. Luckily I didn't have to avoid her at school because we never saw each other except in one class and Glee and even then we didn't talk so nothing changed there, but pretty soon the dreams got worse and the more I had them the more I couldn't be in the same room as her without getting flustered and having to go to the bathroom.
About two weeks after all of this started while I was studying on a Wednesday night I got a call from a number I didn't know. I thought of not answering, but did anyways thinking it could be someone from Glee whose number I didn't have yet.
"Hello?"
I heard a few voices before a bubbly voice say, "Hi, Rachel!"
I tried to determine who the voice belonged to but couldn't so I asked, "I'm sorry, but who is this?"
I heard a giggle then, "It's Brittany." I felt myself smile.
"Hi Brittany."
"Hi Rachel."
"What are you calling about?" I asked trying to not sound impatient, but also needing to finish my homework.
"I'm at Santana's with Santana and Quinn and we were wondering if you wanted to join us." My heart constricted at the mention of her name. "Rachel? You still there?" I heard Brittany ask pulling me out of my daze.
"Yeah, I'm just surprised you guys would ask." I answered honestly before mentally slapping myself.
"Well, you shouldn't be we're your friends." Brittany answered and I heard a laugh that I'm assumed was Santana's 'cause I knew it wasn't Quinn's.
I heard a slap and Santana's yelling, "B, don't hit me!"
I heard muffled yells before Quinn's voice came over the line and said, "Santana's chasing Brittany."
"Oh." I said feeling my stomach start to churn and my cheeks growing hot.
"Do you want to hang out with us?" I felt hope fill my whole body.
"You want me to?" I asked quietly giving not away my eagerness.
"Yeah." She said sounding nervous.
"Ok." I said quickly before my mind could object.
"Really?" Quinn asked happily.
"Yeah, I'll go tell my dad's and I'll be there soon."
"Ok, see you soon." Her voice sounded like she was smiling and as I hung up and walked to the living room I realized I was smiling too. "I'm going to my friend's house." I said quickly putting on my jacket.
"Be back at 9:30." My dad said and my daddy added,
"Bye Rachy." As he came behind me with a bowl of popcorn. I left and drove to where I knew Santana lived because Finn had told me where it was for a party. I felt nervous again as I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Quinn answered dressed in a baggy t-shirt and jeans wearing a smile on her face.
"Santana caught Brittany and they locked me out of her room while she makes Brittany pay." She explained putting quotation marks around makes Brittany pay. "I'm really glad you're here." She added closing the door behind me as I stepped inside.
"You are?" I asked feeling my stomach turn even more than it was.
"I know it's hard to believe, but since I joined Glee I've seen you in a different light." I smiled as she led me to the couch in Santana's living room. "We could probably leave and they wouldn't notice." Quinn added sadly looking up the stairs. I stood up again and held out my hand.
"Well then it's their loss let's go do something without them."
She took my hand with a smile and I felt a shiver course through my veins, but hid it as she stood and said, "Ok, what do you want to do?"
I led her outside to my car and said, "We could get some ice cream." She nodded and I thought I saw her cheek turns red. We let go as we parted to get in the car and I noticed the instant cold without her hand in mine.
I drove to the nearest Baskin Robbins in silence, but after we ordered and sat down with our ice cream cones Quinn looked at me and asked, "What were you doing before Brittany called?"
"Homework." I answered with a lick to my strawberry ice cream.
"I thought you'd be working on your MySpace video." She smiled at me making my insides burn.
"I was gonna do that after I finished my homework." I explained not showing what this conversation was doing to me.
"Well, we can go if you want to go work on it." She sounded disappointed and it confused me.
"It's okay. I want to be here." I answered quietly and she smiled even wider. The silence seemed to edge on because I couldn't think of anything to say. We had almost finished before Quinn spoke again.
"Can I ask you something, Rachel?"
"Of course you can, Quinn." She paused to take another lick of her vanilla ice cream.
"I heard you got Finn the job." I felt myself blush.
"He told you?' she nodded.
"Why'd you do it?"
"To help you." I answered simply.
"Why do you want to help me? I mean, I've been horrible to you." I thought for a minute of a way I can answer her question without giving my true motivations away. I could tell she was nervous of my silence 'cause she bit her lip and added, "It's okay if it's cause of Finn. I'd understand."
"It's not 'cause of Finn." I said before I could help myself, but quickly added, "I mean it wasn't just cause of Finn it was 'cause both of you are in Glee and you're my friends." She smiled again but this time it had less of a sparkle to it. I shook it off as my imagination and silence fell around us again. "How are you and Finn?" I asked casually not wanting to seem nosy but also not wanting the silence to drag on. She looked deep into my eyes and I felt naked.
After what felt like an eternity she looked out the window and answered, "It's okay. He's great and sweet and everything. He's just not that smart you know what I mean?" I nodded and she continued. "Like yesterday I asked him if he did the Spanish homework for Shue's class and you know what he said?" I shook my head. "He said Brittany did it for him. Brittany! The only reason she passes Shue is cause of Santana." She finished her mini rant and I found myself laughing as I noticed how cute she looked.
"Wow."
"Yeah." She sighed and a thought hit me.
"Did you need help with Spanish?" she looked at me with a glint in her eye then she looked down nervous.
"Yeah I do. I'm not very good at other languages and I tried getting help from Santana, but she just tells me the answers and I do want to learn it; I just can't." I looked at her surprised.
"You're Quinn Fabray; you can do anything." She scoffed then must have realized I was serious 'cause she blushed and her voice softened.
"Thank you, but I can't get Spanish."
"Come on." I stood up and headed to the door.
"Where are we going?" she asked but still followed me to the car.
"We're gonna go work on Spanish and I'm going to prove to you that you can do it." She smiled at me as I pulled out and headed toward my house. I quickly introduced my dad's to Quinn before pulling her up to my room. "Okay what about Spanish confuses you the most?" For the next hour I explained the conjugations of verbs before a light bulb seemed to go on over Quinn's head.
"I get it!" she exclaimed and the look on her face was so adorable that I felt like kissing her and before I could stop myself I found my head leaning in and lightly placing my lips on hers. The kiss was over in a second and I felt my whole body on edge as I waited for a reaction. She stood up and walked out the door without a word or a look toward me. I didn't sleep much that night and couldn't pay attention at school. Quinn was avoiding me and I could tell because every time I'd come down the same hall she'd head in the opposite direction. I left her alone, not even looking at her in Glee knowing it would make her angrier. A week went by and guilt overcame me further with each day. As I was trying desperately to do homework and not think about Quinn one Sunday night I got another call from another number I didn't know.
"Hello." I answered hoping it was Quinn.
"You need to come to my house right now." The voice said and I felt disappointment fill my heart.
"Who is this?' I asked not hiding my annoyance.
"Don't play around Man-hands just get over here. It's Quinn." I recognized the voice and hung up without another word.
"Going to a friends." I yelled to my parents before running out the door and getting into my car. I drove as fast as I could and ended up at Santana's five minutes later. I knocked on the door rapidly and Brittany answered with a smile on her face.
"I told you she'd come!" she yelled and I looked toward the living room to see Santana with an annoyed expression on her face and Quinn standing by her with tears running down her cheeks. I walked past Brittany and pulled Quinn into my arms. At first she fought me, but soon I felt her melt into me. I barely noticed Santana and Brittany walk away as I lead her to the couch and sat down. When I heard her crying stop I softly pushed her away so I could see her face, but still kept my arm around her.
"What's wrong Quinn?" I asked quietly not looking away from her.
"Finn told my parents that I was pregnant and they kicked me out." I felt my heart break as another sob escaped her lips.
I pulled her close to me again and rocked her as I said, "I'm sorry Quinn. You can stay at my house." I offered knowing my parents had an extra room we could clean out. She pulled away.
"I'm living with Finn." She said quietly sounding ashamed.
"That makes sense." I replied hoping I didn't sound hurt.
"Can I tell you something I've never told anyone?" I nodded. "The baby is Puck's not Finn's." I felt my whole body go numb as I let the information sink in.
"I plan on telling him. I just wanted to know first 'cause I don't want to lie to you." I looked into her hazel eyes and saw the vulnerability that made my heart break again.
"Why? Don't you usually hate me?" she shook her head.
"I've never hated you. I just never realized it." I felt my stomach warm and a smile form on my face.
"Well, thank you for being honest with me, but there's something I must say." She nodded and I sighed before saying, "I'm sorry." She looked at me confused then it seemed to make sense 'cause she nodded solemnly.
"It's okay. I'd forgotten about it."
"Then why did you avoid me?'" I asked accusingly.
"Ok, I've been thinking about it, but not because of the way you think."
"What do I think?" I asked trying to push away the hope that made my heart feel light.
"You think I was disgusted by it." She answered looking me straight in the eyes.
"What other reason would you be thinking about it for?" I asked knowing the answer, but needing her to say it.
"I liked it and now every time Finn kisses me I can't help but wish it was you." I felt my heartbeat like an orchestra during the end of "Point of No Return" from Phantom of the Opera. I felt her inch closer then we already were and felt her warm breath on my lips.
"I'm sorry for every mean thing I've ever done to you." She mumbled and I placed my hands softly on the back of her neck.
"I don't care anymore." I replied before pulling her head so our lips were touching. I felt sparks radiate from every cell in my body as her lips moved against mine. Her left hand grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer. We broke apart to catch our breath. "I've been waiting to do that for a long time." I said with my forehead against hers. She giggled and I pulled her into another kiss. We broke apart a second time because of Brittany's voice.
"You owe me fifty buck's, S!" we looked at Brittany standing in the entryway.
Santana followed behind her and looking at us still sitting close said, "Damn it! I already owe you from the last time."
I laughed as Quinn said, "I told you not to bet with Brittany. She's always right."
"Shut it, Fabray." Santana shot back vengefully.
"Hey, don't be pissed off at me because your girlfriend is more perceptive than you." Quinn retorted without losing a step. Brittany and I listened to their banter with a smile.
"Don't worry, Rach. They don't mean what they say. They do this all the time." Brittany explained and Santana and Quinn looked at her but she didn't stop. "It's kinda stupid."
"Brittany!" they said at the same time and I laughed again.
"What you laughing at Treasure Trail?" Santana asked and I instantly stopped laughing, but before I could say anything Quinn had stood up.
"Be nice to Rachel." Santana and I looked at her surprised and I felt my heartbeat pick up again.
"You really should be nicer, S." Brittany whispered.
They shared a look before taking a step closer to me and saying, "I'm sorry for calling you Treasure Trail." I felt like I'd fallen into an alternate universe. I nodded and she walked away to stand by the blonde who rewarded her with a kiss on the cheek. Quinn sat back down.
"That was weird. Santana's never apologized to anyone except Brittany." She explained with a dazed look on her face. I looked at the two girls then back to Quinn who was now smiling at me.
"This whole situation is weird." I said feeling her hand grab mine. As she interlocked our fingers I realized that was what I'd always waited for. The love in story books and songs and I knew that whatever life threw our way all I'd ever need was Quinn by my side and it would be all right. I looked into Quinn's eyes and seeing only love knew she knew too.
