Have had this one in my files for a long time. Think I intended for it to take place in around march of their junior year, so I'll stick with that.

The lies are delivered from her mouth with ease; like kisses, like speaking her own name. Often she becomes tired with the effort of it all. Of the thought process, the construction, then speaking. But, Brittany is not stupid. She can easily comprehend how much more work it would be to start speaking truths.

Besides the obvious increase in intellect, no one who matters would be able to tell the difference anyway. She just got beyond tired of pretending to be an idiot. Either way, the life she leads now and the one she speaks of are not the same.

The beginnings of the lies catch up with her when she finds herself dropping hints to certain people. If only to no longer be alone when she collapses into her bed at the end of a ten hour shift at the motorcycle shop she took on after her dad died.

"When are you going to stop lying to us?" Quinn asks, features hard, angry. Hazel eyes soft with obvious hurt. Contradiction from her isn't exactly something new. She stormed up to Brittany's locker after Rachel and Santana had already left, obviously frustrated and standing in that HBIC pose that never worked on Brittany.

"I'll stop lying to them when they give enough of a shit to even begin to ask the questions you're asking. You though, for you the answer is right about now. Come with me?" The shorter blonde nods the affirmative and Britt grabs her hand, leading her out the double front doors of the school and over to her Harley custom super glide. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a second helmet, handing it over to a mildly shocked Quinn.

"How'd you know you would need this? Have you been carrying it around all week?" Brittany slipped on her own helmet and mounted her bike, letting up the kickstand and starting her up.

"No. Just been watching you last couple days in glee and class. I know what you look like when you've had enough bullshit. Hop on." Quinn did, slipping warm hands around a slim waist and leaning in close.

"You cold back there?" Quinn squeezed the other girl tight and shook her head no.

"Warm." Britt rolled out of the spot and then out of the parking lot, turning right instead of the left she used to take. The blonde behind her snuggled in closer, breathing in the cranberry of long blonde hair as they turned another unfamiliar corner. It took them just under five minutes to reach their destination, Brittany hitting a button on her handlebar to open her garage. She turned off her bike, flipped out the kickstand and felt Quinn slide off behind her before she did the same.

"I didn't know you lived in these apartments. Mac lives here. When did you move out of the old house on deer trail?" Britt opened her door, sweeping her arm for Quinn to go in. The shorter girl did, looking around at the apartment that already seemed to be bigger than Mr. Shues.

"When my dad died, my mom just left. He left me the house and some money. I got emancipated and sold it and all the newer cars. Kept the 67 Impala. So i'm renting this place until graduation. Until I can get the fuck outta here. You hungry?" Quinn nodded about being hungry and watches as her friend got on the phone an ordered a bacon pizza.

"I remember about your dad. I was at the funeral, but I never heard about your mom leaving." Brittany shrugged sitting down on her couch and patting the seat next to her as she picked up her ps3 controller and turned it on, opening up netflix. She handed it over to Quinn, who sat down and folded her legs under her, falling into the familiarity of sitting and cuddling with Britt, watching tv. It had been a while, but it was just as comfortable as it had always been.

"What're we watching?"

"Luther. I only ever caught those two episodes with you. Didn't feel right watching it by myself."

"Ditto." They settled in, getting into only ten minutes of the episode before someone knocked at the door.

"Can't be the pizza this early right?" Brittany hopped up and grabbed ten dollars from her wallet, handing it over an taking the pizza when she opened the door.

" Yea, it's the pizza. I work over there sometimes, and it's just across the street, so they run it over really quick when they're not busy. She pulled plates from the cabinet and tossed three slices on each before pulling two beers from the fridge and settling back down on the couch. She handed half the stuff to Quinn and unpaused the show, digging in.

"Mmm really good." The taller girl pulled off her brown leather jacket and boots and pushed them away, relaxing again when she was done.

"You stayin' here, Quinn?" She asked, having long since learned to keep that yearning tone from her voice.

"Yea. Not like Judy gives a shit anyway. Besides, I missed you." The shorter blonde leaned up and pressed a kiss to the taller girl's cheek, relaxing back down to finish her second slice of pizza and taking another swig of her beer. She's glad she asked about Brittany. Well, more like demanded. But she had missed her. With Rachel and Santana off finally spending all their time together after pretending they weren't interested in each other for so long, Quinn found herself alone far too often, and it was then that she realized that Brittany was too.

"Missed you too." They watched through the whole episode and the whole pizza and then Britt hopped up and took their plates and emptys and headed back to the kitchen and tossed the bottles, grabbing a beer for her then poking her head up. "Another?"

"Yea." Quinn said, selecting the next episode then hitting play when Britt came back and sat next to her, handing her an open beer. Hazel eyes shut while she swallowed down some of the golden liquid, the other girl watching as she licked her lips.

Quitt-Quitt-Quitt

"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Britt asked wrapping her arms around the warm-skinned and vanilla-apple scented girl as she snuggled into her. Quinn had drowned around four beers to her two and had asked if she could have the last beer in what had been a 12 pack.

"She's letting him move back in. She's been drinking too much and I know how lonely she is. We're so similar in those two ways. I used to love him so much...but now it's just hate and resentment and fear. I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't...I won't live with him anymore. I'll...I'll figure it out. He won't be back for a week anyway so I have some time." Brittany nodded, rubbing her thumb over Quinn's tight abs to calm her down.

"You're moving in here." Quinn turned and shook her head.

"No. No, I'm not." The taller girl's thin blonde eyebrow rose in question. "Because I don't want to be a burden to someone else I care about...and...your garage only has space for one car, I don't want you to hate me...and many other very valid reasons I can't remember." Brittany put away everything in her kitchen then came back to the couch, laying down, her head in Quinn's lap.

"That's because they aren't valid. You're not a burden Quinn. If it will make you feel better, i'm tired of being alone with all my secrets. I feel like no one knows me anymore. And seriously, I would love to have you here. Besides, Q... If he hurts you again like he used to, I'll remember that you made Santana promise not to hurt him and not me and break his fucking fingers."

"Okay...Okay. I'll stay." Quinn ran her fingers through Britt's hair, relaxing against the back of the couch. She was honestly exhausted. She was always uncomfortable at home these days. her mother drank way more than was healthy, And Quinn was sad to admit she had taken up the same habit.

"Ready to head to bed?" Brittany reached up to stroke a pale cheek, a tired, lazy smile on her face. Quinn leaned into her palm, nodding. She was tired but not exactly willing to break the moment she'd been caught in. After a few moments, Brittany stood and reached for Quinn's hand to tug her towards her bedroom. They both pulled off their clothes, too tired to even waste time on shorts or tank tops. When down to her bra and boyshorts, the shorter girl slid beneath cool cotton sheets. Britt crawled in behind her, minus the bra. She wrapped her arms around Quinn, placing a simple kiss against her head before she relaxed enough to close her eyes.

"I'll figure out the thing about where to put your car tomorrow after we go get your stuff. I could just go and reserve one of the parking spots by the front door."

"Okay. Goodnight, Britt." She burrowed back into Brittany's arms a bit more before she closed her eyes.

"Night, Quinn."