Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 56th cycle. Now cycle 57!

This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"Fell In Love With A Girl"
Rachel/Quinn
Runaway Bride series
(no listing yet; sequel to "What do you say to")

When Rachel's fathers had returned shortly before dinner time, they had invited her to stay over to eat, but she had told them she had to go. She could have stayed, for so many reasons, but for just about as many reasons, she just couldn't, so she had taken a rain check. As Rachel had led her out, Quinn had told her that she'd had a great time, which was true, and that she'd love to do it again sometime, which was also true. Rachel had promised her that they would, and that was the end of it, for that day at least.

Quinn had gone back home, and alone in her room she had laid back on her bed, thinking. She could still remember what it felt like, when they had stood so close that one more step forward would have been all it took in order to bring them together, and it still had her heart in a mess. She knew the thrill before a kiss. She'd felt it before, but up until that day she had only felt it once at a level that was even remotely close to what it had felt like on that day. That time had been her first kiss though… so it had to be special, all by itself, regardless of the person.

This was the first time this reaction had been caused by a person, one specific person, and it had been Rachel. If she still needed convincing that what she'd been feeling was real, that ship had now sailed, and it wasn't coming back.

She would have thought she would feel more… scared, troubled, but instead it was more like everything was finally as it should be, like she had been working up to this all along, both of them had. And maybe they hadn't gotten anywhere, because Rachel hadn't been ready, but still in the long run this would count as a good day, a day that had seen progress, and she could be happy for it.

Back at the Berry home, after Quinn had gone, Rachel had gone to her room and changed, before dinner would be ready. She had stopped to look at the dress, laid out on her bed, touched it for a moment. She could still remember the way Quinn had looked at her when she was wearing it. As far as she was concerned, this dress would always make her think of Quinn now, and she was okay with that.

"Oh, you changed?" Hiram had commented when she returned down to join them for dinner.

"Yeah, I didn't want to risk getting anything on it," Rachel had explained, sitting down at the table.

"Good call," Leroy had agreed. Rachel didn't hear him, her mind somewhere else already, still with the blonde who had been here less than an hour ago.

She knew what had been about to happen, she wasn't completely deluded. And for a moment she had been very nearly ready to let it happen, but then she had worried that they might be going too fast, and she didn't want to risk that happening. It was better that they wait, until she really knew… more.

It hadn't felt wrong though. She had listened to her instincts all this time, and there had not been one moment where she'd thought that she was doing something she wasn't supposed to, or that she didn't want to. She wanted Quinn in her house, wanted her close, maybe even wanted to see what it would feel like if she kissed her, let their lips press together, and open them so that…

Her fork scratched the bottom of her plate and she jumped, just as her fathers did. "Hey, easy there, you'll leave a scratch," Leroy told her.

"S-sorry…" she breathed, keeping her head down as she swore she could feel a flush rush to her cheeks.

"Are you feeling alright?" Hiram asked.

"I'm fine, I just got distracted," she told him, gathering a bite and bringing it to her mouth so she would have something to do.

As soon as dinner had been over, she had gone back to her room. The dress was still on the bed, and she sat on the space next to it, touching it, breathing… She leaned down, bringing up the fabric so she could take a breath… It was on it, Quinn's scent… Had they been that close, that long, that it would have gotten into her dress?

What if people found out? The thought occurred to her now, thinking that people might pick up on the smell on her clothes if this ever happened again, and they connected it to Quinn, understanding that something was possibly going on between them. What was she so worried about? It wasn't like she was afraid at the thought of homosexuality, not in her house, but… In the week or so since the wedding-that-wasn't, she had suffered enough backlash from people at school. If she were to add to that the idea that the reason she had broken her engagement with Finn was so she could take up with Quinn… It would open up a whole new mess of talk. The two of them, they were still figuring things out for themselves, and she didn't want something like that to end up getting in the way before they really knew what they wanted to do.

They had to be careful, that much was sure, but it wouldn't mean by any means that they would stop whatever they had done so far and stop following the natural course of events.

Later that night, Quinn would receive a text from Rachel, and she read it.

Next Saturday, movies again, your house?

Quinn had replied with Sure, sounds great. A few moments more had gone by before she got another message from Rachel.

Got any roman movies?

Quinn smiled to herself. Yes I do.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!