Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of it's characters.

A/N: This is a story for Faberry week Day 3: Beth. The first two chapters are a lead in laying down the foundation for Rachel and Quinn's relationship before Shelby comes back into town. I hope everyone enjoys.

Surreal (Part I)

'Screw Finn and his big stupid face. Who does he think he is? Parading around with her at the mall of all places. Why did I have to see them?'

Quinn slams her bedroom door shut after stomping up the stairs. She had just gone out while her mother was at work to go shopping for a new bikini to wear to Santana's pool party on Saturday.

She had made her purchase and then she thought about getting herself a treat at the food court when she saw them. Finn holding hands with Rachel as they walked carefree through the crowd. She ran when she saw them and she hopes that they didn't see her, she didn't look back to check.

She drops the bag containing her new swimwear onto the floor before stripping off her dress and kicking off her heels. She is so tired of conforming and trying to be the perfect girl only to have things blow up in her face. If Rachel wants to take her spot, so be it, she can have it. Hell, she could even sign up for Cheerios if she wants to, see if she can take the constant pressure.

That's all behind Quinn now, she is going to start fresh for senior year. She rummages through the back of her closet and finds an old Flyleaf t-shirt that she had gotten free at a Christian rock concert a while ago. It's too big, so she takes out a large pair of scissors and starts to shear it down to fit. When she gets the right shape, she runs out to her mother's room and into her closet to get a box of safety pins to piece the garment back together again. She tries it on, and she likes the way a little of her stomach shows.

She completes her look with a pair of black skinny jeans and her black chucks that she has for glee club performances. She goes back to her mirror to check, much better, but it still needs something.

Her nose stings as she drives away from the piercing shop in the nicer side of town, she looks in the rear-view mirror to eye the silver ring hanging from her left nostril. She is now passing over actual railroad tracks into the sketchier part of town. All of the other liquor stores refuse to sell her cigarettes, and the Re-Up in Lima Heights Adjacent is her last resort.

She walks into the place and confidently strides up to the counter. There is a familiar looking girl working back there, she looks young and naive enough to talk her into selling her a pack.

"Hi, uh can I get a pack of Newport's?"

"I.D.?"

"I don't have my purse with me."

"Hmm," The girl's lips curl into a mischievous smile. She gets out a pack of Newport's and slams it onto the counter. "Don't I know you?"

Quinn knows the girl from somewhere, "Do you go to McKinley?"

"Yeah, I do. Wait, did you…weren't you pregnant before?"

Quinn tenses up, the girl definitely goes to McKinley. She tries to let it roll off her back.

"Yes. In tenth grade." She replies tensely.

"Me too! Don't you remember? I was in the unwed mothers club with you, Quinn Fabray."

So, that's where… "Right, um well I'll just take the pack and uh," She reaches for a lighter. "And this."

"It's on the house." The girl says sliding the pack and lighter combo towards Quinn.

"Thanks." Quinn lets a smile break through, even though she wanted to seem like she does this all the time.

"Seriously? You really don't remember me? Everybody calls me The Mack. You've had to have heard about me."

"Maybe, I guess I tried to erase that part of my life out of my brain for my own sanity. I knew that you looked familiar though."

"Well, nice seeing you again. Maybe we could hang out when school starts or something."

"Okay." Quinn turns after giving The Mack a small wave and walking past the shelves of junk food towards the exit.

"Hey, Quinn!"

She turns and looks back.

"If you want to pay me back for the smokes, come back around seven. This place'll be closed and we hang out in the parking lot after."

"Who's 'we'?" Quinn asks curiously. She doesn't know this girl, she could be trying to set up the rich kid or something.

"Me and my girls, and maybe a couple of guys, I guess. I promise they're harmless."

Quinn nods, she may be interested in a new atmosphere as well to compliment her new look. "Yeah, sure. I'll come back."

"Cool."

The Mack looks partially pleased yet surprised at her quick acceptance. Quinn walks out and gets into her car, tapping out her first cigarette and lighting up. She pulls away from the liquor store and then has to pull over half way down the street because she started to choke.

Seeing Quinn at the mall earlier has been plaguing Rachel's mind for the rest of the day. Finn trying to cop a feel right now is only serving to grate on her nerves.

She wishes she knew why Quinn would see them and run away like that. On the last day of school, everyone seemed okay with her being with Finn now. Maybe she didn't notice Quinn's subtle opposition that day, but her reaction in the mall earlier was nothing short of disapproval.

"Finn, stop!" Rachel pushes him off of her in order to sit up on his bed.

"What? I thought maybe we could at least get to second tonight."

"No, can't you tell I'm not in the mood right now."

"Wh-Why not?"

"I can't concentrate on doing anything with you right now. I keep thinking about Quinn."

"Really?" Finn's eyes are wide and his smirk is creepily in place.

"Not like that you weirdo! From earlier, when I saw her at the mall. I can't believe you didn't see her. She saw us and then she just looked so hurt and she ran away. I really would like to know why."

"Oh come on Rachel, how do you know she even saw us? And how could you be so sure that was really even her? You know what I think? I think you're just making up excuses so you don't have to do stuff with me."

Rachel is appalled at his accusation. "How dare you say that?"

"Look Rachel, we went further than this last year, and now you're never in the mood. We should be going all the way by now."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know that there was some sort of time frame for love making Finn. Don't you care if I'm ready and comfortable with you before we take that route?"

"You know I do, but I don't get why you aren't ready yet. I love you, and I want to show you how much, now come on." He reaches out to draw her closer to him but she stands from the bed.

"Oh my God! What is with you? I can't deal with this hot/cold routine anymore." He shouts.

"And what is that supposed to mean? Either I give it up, or…what?"

"I don't know."

His eyes tell a different story, and Rachel can tell he's trying to evade answering truthfully to avoid looking like a jerk.

"I cannot believe you Finn! How could you be so insensitive? Unlike you, this is my first time we're talking about here. Is it wrong of me if I want to feel a certain way before I let it go?"

"No, I just wish you would figure out your feelings for me sooner than later."

Rachel thinks about how she feels and she comes up short, she wonders what Quinn would do in this situation.

"Did you act like this with Quinn? Did she give in? If she did, then maybe you should go back to her. She seems to miss you a great deal, since she couldn't stand seeing us together today."

"What are you talking about? I never had sex with Quinn! And stop with that stuff about her at the mall! I broke up with her for you! Don't you see how much I love you?" Finn turns away from her and sits on the edge of his bed. "Or maybe you don't love me as much as I love you or something." He says morosely.

"I-I do love you Finn, but I don't think I'm going to be ready to take that step for a while."

"Well maybe we should take a break or something? For the rest of summer, we can get a chance to miss each other and you'll have time to figure things out. And on the Saturday before school starts, we come back together and hopefully you'll be ready then."

"You're… breaking up with me?"

"Uh, only for the summer. I mean, no, j-just a break. Look, I'm just giving you the space that you need to figure out whatever your problem is with sex."

"I do not have a problem with sex! I can't believe…ugh! What am I even doing here? You are a pig Finn Hudson! You're breaking up with me because I won't have sex with you! Admit it!"

He doesn't reply so Rachel grabs her purse and storms right out of his room and then the front door of his house. She forgot that he had picked her up earlier in his truck and she briefly thinks of turning back, but then she keeps on walking down the street. She rounds a corner into the more prominent section of the neighborhood. She'll see if Quinn could drive her home.

The sky is growing darker as Quinn travels in her little red beetle back across those railroad tracks to the more rustic part of town. She pulls into the Re-Up parking lot to see The Mack and a few other people hanging out of the back of a pickup truck.

The Mack hops down from the tailgate and rushes over to her car. She rolls down her window she approaches.

"Hey! I totally didn't think you would show, girl."

"I owe you don't I?"

"That you do." She stoops down and Quinn can smell the alcohol on her breath. "Hey, you wanna go to my house? Well, my apartment, you know what I mean. My car's broken down and Sheila over there usually takes me home."

Quinn looks over at the people sitting on the tailgate of the truck. Two girls that she's seen pushing around freshman last year along with two scrawny looking guys dressed in all black.

"Yeah, I'll drive you."

"Cool! Thanks Quinn, we could hang out better in my room anyway." The Mack waves goodbye to her friends before going around to the passenger side and hopping in.

Quinn watches her look around the interior briefly, and then she giggles. "Your car is almost as cute as you are."

Quinn represses a smile and chooses to ignore that. "So, um The Mack, where do you live?"

"You can just call me Mack for short. Just go straight down the street here," Mack directs Quinn to her house a few streets down from the Re-Up.

It's an old apartment complex, the kind fashioned out of a once rundown motel, complete with an empty pool dead in the center of the courtyard.

"I know it looks pretty shitty out here, but my place is clean."

Quinn doesn't know how to respond to that aside from keeping silent and continuing on behind her up a rusty metal staircase to her apartment.

Mack was right, it is cleaner in here than the crummy exterior infers. She leads Quinn through a dim living room full of second-hand furniture and picture frames, then down a pallid hallway to a back bedroom.

"We have to be quiet, my aunt doesn't allow me to bring people in here."

Quinn narrows her eyes, she wonders why she invited her inside if she wasn't supposed to have people over. She doesn't know why, but thinking about following the rules made her think about her parents and that made her remember something about Mack. She had told her back in their club days that her mother had died of cancer the year prior.

It explains why she lives here with her aunt and why she probably doesn't listen to anything she tells her. She closes the door and Quinn stands in the middle of the floor, surveying her surroundings.

Mack's room is dark, painted that way, and the walls are covered with posters, pictures and other odd trinkets. A huge Led Zeppelin poster really stands out at her and directly under it sits an old turntable on a little table against the wall.

"You're really into a lot of different music. It's like Led Zeppelin, then Evanescence, and then Lil' Wayne up there."

"I like a lot of different things for different reasons. Like, Evanescence is one of the bands that really helped me cope with losing my mom."

Quinn shuts up as Mack puts on a record, she smiles when Elliott Smith begins to play. Mack then leads her to sit on her bed with her after removing a few stray items and tossing them aside. There is a little pile of discarded clothing sitting by the closet, but other than that, it is one of the cleanest rooms she's been in aside from her own and maybe Rachel's.

Now she's thinking about Rachel, and how much it hurt to see her with Finn at the mall earlier. Mack offers her a swig from a bottle of champagne cognac that she pulls out from somewhere and she gladly accepts. Between the Bars starts playing and she laughs internally.

They get to talking shortly after they've both ingested enough liquid courage to open up to one another. They trade stories of childbirth, giving up their babies, and how much it still hurts sometimes. Then the conversation veers off towards school and their plans for next year.

"So you're going to quit everything? What about college?"

"Oh I'm still going to college, my years as a cheerleader and show choir member as well as many other clubs will pad my application just fine."

"That's good, but why exactly are you giving it up now?"

"Well, I already quit cheer, and glee club…it's a complicated situation."

"This sounds juicy, tell me."

"It's not, I just don't want to sit there every day staring at my ex while he parades around with Rachel Berry in front of everyone."

"Damn, now I get it. I bet you hate that girl don't you?"

Quinn takes another swig of the strong liquor, she doesn't hate Rachel, lately she's been feeling quite the opposite. She does hate what her feelings are doing to her.

"Something like that. Anyway, like I said, I don't need glee just like I don't need him anymore."

"Don't guys just piss you off sometimes? I feel like one day I'm just going to give up and start macking on girls instead."

Quinn pauses, is that what this is? Was Mack hitting on her earlier? She has to admit that she is extremely flattered, Mack is a pretty girl.

"So, have you ever…" Quinn allows herself to trail off because she suddenly too nervous to ask.

"Hooked up with a girl? No, but recently I have been wondering what it would be like to, you know, go down on a girl." She averts her eyes. "I don't know why, I guess I just want to see, you know." Mack shrugs as she takes another sip from the bottle.

They're lounging now, Quinn is sitting up against Mack's headboard, and Mack is right next to her, looking up at her from her pillow.

Quinn can feel her face get warm at the way Mack looks at her curiously. She tilts her head back and clicks her tongue, the awkward silence is deafening.

For some insane reason, Quinn decides to throw all caution to the wind. She reaches down to grab the bottle from Mack's grip, allowing her hand to linger on the one she has wrapped around the neck of the bottle. She looks down at her, daring her to do something.

Mack hesitates slightly before reaching up and cupping Quinn's cheek. She swallows audibly before leaning forward and actually kissing her.

It lasts a few seconds before Mack pulls back, "Are you sure about this? I'm just curious you know, it doesn't mean I'm gay or anything, um maybe I'm bi-curious?"

Mack takes a breath and Quinn brings the cool bottle to her lips once more swallowing a few gulps before nodding.

"Yeah, so, what if I am too?"

Mack nods as she moves her hands lower to begin unfastening Quinn's belt buckle. Quinn holds in a breath as she watches her shoes and pants come off of her body.

Mack gets into position between Quinn's legs. "You smell really good, um I'm sorry, was that weird?" She winces.

Quinn chuckles lightly before taking another huge gulp of alcohol. "No, just…maybe we shouldn't talk."

"Okay," Mack hooks her thumbs underneath the hem of Quinn's panties. She reaches up and places a kiss right below Quinn's bellybutton.

Quinn shivers at the sudden contact so near to her private area. She's pretty sure no one has ever kissed her there before.

There go her panties, she can feel her face burning. No one has ever seen her like this before and now she's just letting someone she barely knows she her. It's liberating and fitting, seeing how just earlier today she was a totally different person.

Mack makes first contact and she gasps, a wave of something electrifying goes through her entire body. It's awakening, how open she feels in this moment. She starts to hyperventilate when Mack finds her clit. Nothing should feel this good.

She opens her eyes to stare down at the mess of dark locks writhing between her thighs. If she wants, she could probably imagine that…that it's Rachel doing this to her right now. It's not like she hasn't before, but this is far better than anything she could do to herself while thinking of her.

She's close, she can feel it building up the it always does. She holds her breath at times to speed up the process, not that she wants it over so soon, she just needs to come.

Her head presses into the pillow, "God Rachel!" she chokes out as she comes down.

Mack sits straight up after hearing that and Quinn snaps her legs shut. She gets up and starts to get her clothes back on.

"I-I'm sorry, I have to go."

She feels like she can't breathe, and she cannot get out of Mack's apartment quickly enough. She's glad Mack didn't say anything. She probably thinks that she's a freak now or something.

It's chilly for summer, Rachel thinks as she rings the doorbell of the Fabray residence. She wraps her arms around herself as she checks out the empty driveway. She hopes Quinn's home.

"Hello dear," Mrs. Fabray says as she opens the front door, smiling at Rachel.

"Hello Mrs. Fabray, I'm looking for Quinn, is she here by any chance?"

"No, I'm sorry Rachel, but you just missed her. I didn't see her before she left, so I have no idea when she'll be back."

"Okay then, can I come inside? I apologize if I'm intruding, but I walked here and it's kind of cold out here."

"Oh sure honey, you are very welcome to come in. You can wait here until Quinnie comes home."

Rachel gives Mrs. Fabray a bright smile, she is definitely more friendlier than her daughter. She steps through the foyer into one of the most beautifully decorated living rooms Rachel's ever seen. It looks like it belongs on HGTV.

"You can sit on one of the couches while you wait if you like. I'm sorry but we don't have a television down here, you can go up to Quinn's room and wait there, she has a TV."

Rachel knows full well that Quinn wouldn't want her snooping around in her room without her consent.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I'll just wait down here." She says quietly.

"Okay, would you like something to drink? We have water and Quinnie likes those low-calorie drinks, we have those. Would you like that?"

"Um, I think water's fine. I'll have that thank you." Rachel finishes with a nod and Mrs. Fabray disappears into the kitchen.

She takes out her phone to see a text from Finn asking if she's alright. He says he called her house and her dad told him that she wasn't home. She contemplates texting him to tell him she's safe but she decides to let him worry a while.

She dials Quinn's number and it rings for a long time before going to message.

"H-hello Quinn, it's Rachel Berry, um, I'm at your house right now. I was wondering if you'd be coming home soon? Your mother is very sweet, um okay, just call me back when you get this, okay? Bye." Rachel shakes her head as she presses the button to send that atrocious message to Quinn. She knows if she tries to record another one, it will probably be worse.

Mrs. Fabray comes back with a bottle of water along with a glass to pour it in. She has her own glass as well and Rachel watches as she goes over to the bar to pour herself a glass of dark liquor.

"If you need anything I'll be upstairs. It's the last room down the hall, okay sweetie." Mrs. Fabray gives her a small smile before leaving the living room once again.

"O-okay,"

Rachel has never been inside of Quinn's house before, she doesn't even know where the staircase even is from here. She decides not to dwell on it because Quinn should come home soon after she gets her message.

After an hour of playing games on her phone, the battery id going dead. She looks over at an outlet next to the couch. She plugs her phone charger in over there and she sits in the nearby chair in order to continue using her phone while it charges.

Her eyes begin to sting a little and then she yawns, 'Why am I so sleepy?' She wonders. She curls up in the chair and sits her phone on the table right next to her so that she could be awakened by it when Quinn calls. She falls asleep right away.

"Rachel, Rachel sweetie, wake up."

"Hmm?" She rubs at her eyes to see Mrs. Fabray leaning down looking at her. "I'm sorry, I fell asleep. Is Quinn back?"

"No, and I've tried calling her but she never answers my calls when she's out, maybe if you try. Anyway, it's late, did you want to maybe go up to a room and lie down on a bed?"

"Um, I don't want to impose, I'll try to call her again, then I'll just call my dad to come and get me."

"Okay, whatever you choose is fine with me. Quinn never has anyone over anymore. The last person she had over was her boyfriend and now he doesn't come around anymore either."

Rachel swallows down the lump in her throat. If Mrs. Fabray had known that she was the reason for that, she'd probably change her mind about her staying the night. She'll probably want to know what she wants with Quinn, and Rachel doesn't know if she would have a clear answer for her. She just knows that Quinn can surely empathize with how she feels right now.

She unplugs her phone and sends Quinn a text reiterating her earlier message. Then she sends a text to Finn and her dads telling them she's somewhere safe.

'My God, I'm an idiot. This is why you shouldn't take chances and do risky things like that. Didn't you learn from the first time? You should have stuck to the cigarettes Quinn, only the cigarettes. She could tell everyone at school about this and then they will all know.'

Quinn shakes her head as she taps out another cigarette and puts it into her mouth. She reaches into the center console for her lighter and then she sees that she has several missed calls on her cell phone. She flicks the lighter and lights up her cigarette as she unlocks her phone. There are like ten missed calls from her mom and there's one from Rachel. She wonders why the hell Rachel would be calling her, the time says it was only a few hours ago and knowing Rachel, she probably left a message.

She dials in her number to check her voicemail, she skips through to today's messages. There is one from Rachel and she listens to it.

"What? Why the hell was she at my house?" Quinn cannot believe she was out doing what she just did, when Rachel was at her house tonight. And on top of it, the thoughts going through her mind during it that led to her name slipping out, Quinn cringes.

She makes her way back towards Lima Heights, crossing the railroad track for the fourth time today. She doesn't plan on crossing that line again for a while.

Her phone beeps, meaning she has a text. She stops at a red light and finally picks it up, it's from Rachel so she reads it.

'Hi, Quinn, I am still at your house. Call me if you're not going to come home tonight. Thanks, bye.' –Rachel

Quinn tosses her phone down to take off when the light turns green again. She wonders what is wrong that had Rachel waiting at her house all this time. Did something happen at home? All sorts of questions flow through Quinn's mind and she speeds up a little in order to get to Rachel faster.

The minute she pulls into her driveway, she looks up into her vanity mirror. "Shoot! My nose ring." For some reason, she doesn't want Rachel to see her like this. She'll only ask stupid questions about what brought this about and whatever.

She reaches into her backseat, grabs her long tan coat, and wraps herself up in it. It covers her enough to hide her actual attire, now the nose ring, that's going to be harder to shield from view.

Rachel can hear keys jingle in the front door, so she stands up, hoping that it's Quinn. She walks into the foyer to see her there, a sigh of relief exits her lungs without her expecting it.

"Quinn, thank goodness you came home. I've been waiting for hours."

"Hey, um what are you doing here in the first place? Why didn't you call before you came?" Quinn appreciates the darkness in the foyer, hopefully Rachel cannot see her piercing from where she's standing.

"I walked here from Finn's house, um," She looks down at her hands, "He kind of broke up with me."

Quinn scoffs in disbelief, is God trying to punish her even more for what she's done?

"He what?" Quinn reaches up to grip the back of her neck, her arm effectively blocks the left side of her nose she thinks.

"Wait, I mean, I heard what you said. Are you okay?" She asks Rachel.

"I'm not sure how I feel just yet. I just wanted to talk to you about it, but now it's late and you're probably tired."

"N-no, I've just been drinking." She doesn't know why she just told her that. "Um, I need to go take a shower, uh you can stay tonight if you want to."

Rachel nods as she looks into Quinn's eyes the best she can in the dark. She was out partying, she never would have expected that. She's also acting shifty, could she be high as well?

"Well come on, I'll show you to the guest room." Quinn walks out of the foyer and rushes up one of the staircases.

Rachel feels her mouth drop open, there are two sets of stairs leading to the second floor. She has to ask Quinn for a tour of this place tomorrow.

"Here it is. There's stuff in the bathroom if you want to shower. I might have something for you to wear," Quinn walks in to show her around quickly before ducking her head and leaving her in there alone.

She hurries off to her room to search for something for Rachel to sleep in. She grabs a pair of pajamas, rushes back to the guest room and tosses them to Rachel.

"Here you go, I'm going to go shower, we can talk after if you want. Alright," Quinn leaves her again and closes herself into her own room before stripping out of her outfit for today.

She turns on the shower and allows the warm water to wash away the scum she feels on her skin that really isn't there. But she feels it, she feels like scum for doing what she did to Rachel tonight, even though Rachel knows nothing of it.

'Finn dumped her and you were off fucking someone else while she sat in your living room for hours. You should feel like shit, idiot.'

Quinn punches at the stone wall of her shower repeatedly as she cries. There is no way she could tell Rachel what happened, but if she doesn't she's no better than Finn. That is if Rachel is even willing to see past all of her flaws to give her a chance. Maybe this is their year? It's most likely not, but she can pretend to hope every once in a while.

'What was all that? Quinn is acting extremely weird. Is she angry that I came over here? And she's probably just being as polite as she can by letting me spend the night. How could I expect her to let me in after everything we've been through?'

Rachel takes the clothes that Quinn threw at her to the bathroom. She flicks on the light switch and she is thrown with how wonderful it is in there. There is a nice granite shower, what looks like mahogany cabinetry, and an overall apothecary theme to the bathroom.

After her shower, Quinn looks in the mirror for a long time. Her eyes are really red and puffy, she searches the medicine cabinet for eyedrops. She finishes dressing and then she goes back into her room to plop down on her bed.

Rachel knocks on Quinn's bedroom door, it's the only one cracked open a little and she can see Quinn on her bed through the sliver.

"Come in." Quinn lies on her left side, facing away from the door. She doesn't get up, she just hopes Rachel comes in on her own.

Rachel pushes the door open, only to stand timidly near the doorframe. The room is decorated in wallpaper, striped with flowers. The floor is covered with the softest looking fluffy white carpet and in the center of the room is a sure to be queen sized four-post bed with lots of pillows on top of a pretty pink comforter.

"Your room is beautiful. It has such a classic feel, it really suits you. Your whole house looks great as well." Rachel adds, fumbling with her hands.

"Thanks, I'll tell my mom you appreciate her décor, maybe she'll keep it around longer than six months." Quinn snorts.

Rachel has no clue why she's suddenly feeling this anxious right now.

Quinn lifts her head and glances over to see Rachel standing in the doorway, picking at her hands.

"I said come in Rachel. Don't just stand there, you came to talk, come and talk."

"Um, okay." Rachel swallows before closing Quinn's door and walking towards Quinn's bed. "Can I sit here?" She says gesturing to the bed even though Quinn has her back to her.

"Yeah," Quinn slightly lifts her head just enough to not show her left side.

Rachel takes a seat next to her, she clears her throat, it's suddenly tight for some reason. She has no idea why talking alone with Quinn like this is making her so nervous.

'Well there's your answer, you're about to talk to Quinn Fabray, alone, in her bedroom, about the boy that recently dumped her for you.' It's times like this that makes Rachel understand why she doesn't have many good friends. She can be very insensitive sometimes.

"I guess I should apologize beforehand for subjecting you to this. I just don't know anyone else who would understand how I feel."

"I'm the only one that's recently been dumped, it's understandable."

Her words hit Rachel in the chest, she sounds so sad. "I'm so sorry Quinn." She reaches out and puts a hand on Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn tenses under such an unexpected gesture. "Could you not? Just tell me what you want to tell me already."

Rachel pulls her hand back as if she'd been burned. She can't say it doesn't hurt that Quinn hates her so much now that she doesn't want her to touch her. It's not like she ever allowed her to before, but her tone says it all, she wants nothing to do with her now. She wouldn't blame Quinn for laughing in her face about Finn breaking up with her, she deserves it.

"Um, he wanted to have…he wanted to go all the way, and I said no, so he wanted to go on a break for the rest of the summer. I couldn't believe it, Finn isn't usually that pig-headed, or at least I didn't think so."

Quinn turns over after hearing that, she knows all too well what it feels like having to say no to her boyfriends asking for sex. She looks up at Rachel's profile, the girl is beautiful, and Finn is an ass for breaking up with her over sex. Rachel deserves someone that will wait a thousand years for her.

"From my experience, even the nicest boys can be asses when it comes to sex. Finn was an ass today, he'll realize that though, he'll probably call you tomorrow to apologize. If he really loves you, he'll continue to wait like before."

"That's the problem, I know he loves me. I'm just not ready yet."

"And that's okay." Quinn sits up and scoots back against her headboard.

Rachel looks back at Quinn, her eyes are slightly red as if she'd been crying, or is she high like she suspected? And what-she has a nose ring! That's what she was hiding?

Judging by Rachel's face, she notices the nose ring, but Quinn cannot dwell on it now, she wants to be here for Rachel.

"Is it? Is it really okay for me to tell him I love him and only feel it sometimes?" She covers her mouth with her hand, she didn't mean to say that. Now Quinn knows how horrible she is.

She had loved Finn before when they were together, or she thought so. But after the whole Santana/Puck cheating thing, she felt herself fall further and further away from him over time. She only took him back because he tried so hard to get her back, she even dismissed his asinine behavior while he was with Quinn.

Quinn stares at Rachel with her hand over her mouth. She cannot take this, she wants to tell Rachel so much, but she can't because she's an idiot, and she doesn't deserve the chance right now.

"Rachel- Are you okay?"

Rachel lets her hand fall and she looks back at Quinn to catch her staring intently at her. They lock eyes, and Rachel doesn't know what this is exactly that she's feeling here.

Quinn knows that she's been drinking, but either Rachel's moving forward or she's getting a delayed reaction to the booze she consumed over two hours ago.

She looks down and sees Rachel's hand come up to rest on the headboard next to her head. No, she couldn't be doing this. This is so wrong, she has to move, Rachel doesn't want to do this, she just doesn't know it right now.

Rachel pauses, then she surges forward, connecting their lips. The kiss is soft, gentle and it sends a chill down Quinn's spine, she jumps up off the bed.

"Whoa! Hey! W-what are you doing? Y-you can't…We can't. Uh, you don't know what you're doing Rachel." Quinn is shaking, that kiss was amazing, but she cannot do this right now. It's too weird. Rachel just broke up with her boyfriend, and she…she just did something so heinous she fears Rachel will never forgive her if she finds out.

Rachel takes a breath with her face buried in Quinn's pillow. She knows that was a mistake but she doesn't regret it. This night will probably remain unforgettable for many unpleasant and pleasant reasons. She lifts her head from the pillow.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Rachel doesn't even know why she just tried to kiss Quinn. It was as if she couldn't help herself, Quinn looked so sympathetic for her.

"It's okay, it was a mistake. You're feeling vulnerable from Finn, and y-you made a simple mistake, right?"

Rachel swallows thickly before she nods minutely. That has to be it, Quinn's right, she's just vulnerable right now. It's probably why she feels so hurt by the rejection as well.

"I-I should probably go to bed now."

"Okay," Quinn replies quickly as she watches Rachel walk out of her room before letting out a heavy sigh. Did that really just happen?

She slowly lifts up her comforter before slipping underneath her sheet. Her mind is reeling, Rachel can't be into her. It had to be a fluke of some kind.

'Maybe she was just trying to get a closer look at her nose ring, yeah, that's probably it!'

That wasn't it at all. Rachel just kissed her and she ran away from her. What does this mean for them?

Rachel tugs at the bottom of her hair nervously, she cannot believe she just did that. Her eyes tear up as she approaches the bed. Is it inappropriate to cry over this and not over the fact that Finn broke up with her today?

She lies her head down on the pillow as the tears flow freely from her eyes.

Quinn rolls over, grabs the pill bottle from her nightstand, and tries to open it, but her head hurts, and she ends up dropping it on the floor.

"Shit!" She reaches for it, but it must have rolled under her bed. She lets herself slide off of the bed onto the floor to look for the bottle of pain killers.

When she finds them, she remembers that she has to go downstairs to get a bottle of water to take them with. She reluctantly pulls herself to her feet and heads downstairs.

Rachel stretches after she wakes up from her few hours of sleep. She is too afraid to face Quinn today, she kissed her last night for heaven's sake! Add the fact that Quinn was a little under the influence when she rejected her, and she is more than embarrassed, she's hurt.

Rachel goes to get dressed, she could go downstairs and call her daddy to pick her up. She'll call Quinn later to tell her she had to go to her singing lessons or something.

She pads softly down the stairs after wandering around a little, checking out the beautiful landing and lingering on pictures of Quinn as a child with her family. She goes from frame to frame, every picture of Quinn, she looks much like she does now. That's weird.

"Hey, you're up early."

Rachel almost jumps out of her skin, "Quinn, you scared me. What are you doing up this early yourself?" She cannot even bring herself to look at Quinn directly.

"I came down to get some water," Quinn looks at Rachel, she's fully dressed and she has her phone out. "Were you about to go? I could take you home right now if you'd like."

"Oh, um, that's alright Quinn. I don't want to have you going out of your way for me."

"No, it's okay. I want to." Quinn hopes Rachel isn't angry at her for last night. She just couldn't bring herself to let Rachel kiss her after what she had just done. Also, Rachel had just broken up with Finn. Sure, she basically said she didn't love him all that much, but she herself felt the same when she was with him and they stayed together for a while.

"Okay," Rachel is surprised by how weak her voice is right now, she might actually need to go to her vocal coach today after all.

Quinn swallows down one pill with a few sips of water. She goes to get her keys as well as her coat before leading Rachel out to her car.

The minute the doors are shut, Rachel shifts uncomfortably in the passenger seat as the distinct smell of cigarette smoke overcomes her. "Do you…smoke?"

"Sometimes," Quinn replies offhandedly.

Rachel frowns, there is so much about Quinn that she doesn't know. She doesn't know why some people smoke, but Quinn must have her reasons. She's puzzled at the fact that she feels she's entitled to know those reasons. Especially after her little discovery in those picture frames in there.

Quinn turns onto the main street heading towards Rachel's house. She glances over at her once, and she is facing the window.

"Rachel,"

"Yes,"

"Hey, about last night…"

Rachel can feel her heart begin to race, she wishes she could melt into a puddle right now. "Wh-what about it?"

"I…just want to say, that I-I'm sorry if I made you feel bad or anything. It was late, I had been drinking,"

"You make it seem as if you were the one that kissed me. Quinn, you had every right to reject me. I wasn't thinking, I must have gotten caught up in a moment of…I don't know. But I should be the one apologizing, you were inebriated and I would have been taking advantage of you."

She wouldn't have, but Quinn can't tell her that right now. She turns onto Rachel's street and parks her car next to the curb in front of her house.

"So I guess there's no hard feelings?"

"Right, no hard feelings, yeah." Rachel nods her agreement to ensure Quinn that she will forget about this whole thing. Even though she probably won't.

Quinn smiles a somber smile, she has to remind herself to time things right. She has to let Rachel figure out things with Finn first before even hinting at wanting to be with her.

"Well, maybe we can hang out sometime this summer? If not, I guess I'll see you at school in September." Quinn wonders why she sounds so empty to herself. Rachel doesn't seem to notice, so she smiles before opening the car door and stepping out.

"Yeah, maybe we can sometime." Rachel gives her a cheerful smile, even though she doesn't feel Quinn will follow through with it.