I know that it's been a while since I've written anything. I'm working on it now. I sort of lost touch with my muse, but it's all starting to fall back into place. (As long as college doesn't get in the way, then I suspect no problems here.)
Also, I just gave Samuel, the Glee Project Samuel, a badass / biblical name, Luke. Just to clear everything up.
One last thing, this has been sitting unfinished in my computer for ages. I quickly typed out the last three parts and posted it because after tonight, this won't even make sense in canon.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Glee, who rightfully belong to RIB.
Quinn parked her car in her church's parking lot, getting ready for her normal Wednesday evening Youth Group meetings. The summer heat was waning as the sun settled behind the trees, marking that autumn was well on its way to take over. It just meant that she was this much closer to starting her senior year, and the uphill trek out of this town.
"Hello Quinnie," a few of the older Youth Group kids greeted her as she walked into the room.
"Hi there," Quinn easily replied, sinking in her seat at the head of the semi-circle, "Did everyone have a good weekend?"
An ambush of answers were rushed out as the kids excitedly gushed about the events they did this weekend. Quinn did her best to absorb all of the answers, feeling perfectly content among the children. It was something that comforted her since Beth.
"Good, I'm glad that you enjoyed your weekends," Quinn happily said as the chatter died down, before returning to her previous lesson on community service, "Now, did anyone think of any community service project we could do?"
There were a few sheepish looks at Quinn from kids who hadn't even thought about it while they were soaking up the last of their summer before school. Quinn looked around at the ashamed faces, before catching a few students whose eyes shot to the door. She whipped around in her chair.
"Hi, are you lost?" Quinn asked the man standing in the doorway with dreadlocks that were longer than her hair has ever been.
"I'm not sure," The man started off, before stepping into the light of the room as Quinn noticed that this man was probably around her age, "Is this the Youth Group meeting?"
"Yes," Quinn easily answered, "And, who are you?"
"I'm Luke," He said, as Quinn got up to usher this conversation out of the room.
"Why don't you all brainstorm some community service projects while I talk to our visitor?" Quinn said, closing the door behind them as they stepped into the hallway.
"I used to run the Youth Group at my old church back in Tucson, and I got forced into at least joining this one," Luke confessed with honest eyes.
"You can sit in on today's meeting, but don't even think about taking my job," Quinn benignly warned.
"I wouldn't dare," Luke said, flashing a bright smile as Quinn turned on her heel to walk back into the room.
"Alright, Luke is joining us today, so everyone say hello," Quinn said, introducing Luke to the group of kids as they obediently greeted the strangers, before directly asking Luke, "Now, since you're just dropping in, what kind of community service projects have you done?"
"Fancy seeing you here," Luke jokingly greeted Quinn the following Sunday, slipping into the pew next to her, "You know, I never caught your name."
Quinn told him her name and offered her hand.
"Nice to meet you Quinn," Luke cheekily said, slipping his hand in hers for a firm handshake, "Well, I better be getting back to my folks, but I just had to find out your name."
"Will I be seeing you on Wednesday?" Quinn asked as he stood in the aisle of the church.
"Of course," Luke said with a smile before walking to the back pews of the church.
"Who was that, honey?" Judy Fabray asked her daughter in the fifth pew from the front who looked like she was suffering from a schoolgirl crush.
"Oh, that was Luke," Quinn said, snapping out of her little haze, "He's from Tucson, and helped out in Youth Group last week."
"Why is this the first I'm hearing of him?" Judy coyly asked, resting her hands on her daughter's.
"Because he's nothing of importance in my life," Quinn easily said, as she could barely hear her mother finishing the sentence with not yet.
It was the last Wednesday before school started up, which meant that the summer heat should have been slipping into cooler fall nights. However, this particular Wednesday was not the case when temperatures hit almost record breaking highs. And, Quinn took it upon herself to get to the Youth Group room early to plug in the rustic air conditioner.
She was expecting another half an hour alone, which is why when the door creaked opened she nearly jumped for her can of mace.
"I didn't mean to startle you," Luke said, holding his arms up in front of him in a stereotypical innocent pose.
"It's okay. I'm surprised that I heard the door over the air conditioner," Quinn confessed, getting momentarily distracted by the fact that this boy was standing in loose tank top that showcased an array of tattoos.
"I just figured that you'd like some help getting ready," Luke jumped topics, suddenly deciding that he should have gone for a more conservative shirt even though it was hot enough to bake cookies on the sidewalk.
"Yeah, I'd like that," Quinn said with a sweet smile that invited Luke to walk across the room to join her at the horseshoe table in the back corner.
They sat across from each other as Quinn went over the ideas that they had all brainstormed for a community service project to do in September. She was weighing which one would be the easiest and most effective, but another perspective was already helpful.
"I'm sorry," Quinn interrupted her rambling on about the projects, "But, what does that –" she pointed to his chest "– tattoo say?"
"I will love thee, O Lord, my strength," Luke recited from heart before going to site the verse, "It's from –"
"Psalm 18," Quinn cut him off with a slight blush.
"I also have a Michael Jackson tattoo," Luke said, holding up his wrist to show off his homage to the late MJ and his song Man in the Mirror.
"And a paper clip?" Quinn said with a bemused tone.
"My friend back in Tucson and I got them before I left," Luke said, before shyly dropping his head, "Sort of like those silly best friends charms that girls had in elementary school."
"That's cute," Quinn laughed at the visual she got from his little story.
"And, I have Jesus Christ written on the back of my neck," Luke said, recalling all of his tattoos for Quinn. He would tell anyone who would listen about his inking because he was proud of every single one.
"I have a sort of personal question that you don't have to answer," Quinn gave a disclaimer, as Luke told her to just 'go for it'; she took in a deep breath before asking, "How can you believe in God and still have tattoos and dreadlocks?"
"I'm sure that you know that God loves all, no matter how they look. Back in Tucson, the craziest people I knew, the coolest guys who party and go crazy and play rock shows and have tons of tattoos, they always went to church on Sunday and did their best to live that kind of a life," Luke simply said with a shrug, having absolutely no difficulty answering her question.
He paused for a moment as she let it all sink in, "After all, we can't all be perfect church girls."
Quinn's face heated up with her secret of Beth as a few children stumbled into the air conditioned room. The story of Beth would just have to wait another day.
"Thank God that this room isn't suffering from global warming," one of the kids exclaimed, embracing the cold air coming from the loud air conditioner.
It was the Friday before school started up. It meant that the rest of her friends were out partying, just trying to get the last drops out of their summer before they were institutionalized again. Instead, Quinn spent the night with a family dinner and thinking about Luke's rationalization about his looks and beliefs.
I need a change. Quinn wrote as a quick status on Facebook, before toying around with the contents of her closet. She tore through her clothing as a little plinking noise told her that she had a message.
Text me. I've got a few ideas. Luke wrote along with his phone number. Quinn giddily copied the number from her computer screen into her phone before sending him message about his proposition.
Quinn looked at her reflection in the mirror as she waited for a reply from Luke. She knew that her hair would be the easiest to change, but she had already gone and chopped it all off in New York. If she cut anymore off, she'd have a pixie cut and she wasn't sure that she would be able to pull that off.
Address? I'll be over in ten minutes. Luke sent as Quinn replied with her address as fast as she could.
It was the ten longest minutes of her life as she paced around her living room. She was just waiting to catch him before he knocked or rang the doorbell because she knew that her parents were getting ready for bed, if not already sleeping. Finally, she saw his silhouette form in the frosted panes next to her front door.
"Waiting for me?" Luke audaciously asked, grasping a brown paper bag that had a folded top reminiscent to a bagged lunch.
"I didn't want you to wake up my parents," Quinn said, ushering her new friend into her house before softly clicking the door shut behind them.
"Nice house," Luke remarked, looking around him.
"Thanks," Quinn said, deciding that she could tour him around another time; there was business to be attended to right now, "What kind of change did you have in mind?"
"It's right in here," Luke said, pointing to the brown paper bag with a sneaky smile, "We just need a bathroom before I can continue."
"We'll use my en suite one," Quinn thought out loud, leading Luke up the stairs through her room to her bathroom.
"Here," Luke said, passing the bag to Quinn. She quickly dumped the contents onto her messy countertop.
"Hair dye? Pink hair dye?" Quinn asked in disbelief, wondering what kind of trick this kid was trying to pull.
"You said that you wanted a change, well, here it is," Luke explained, opening the box as Quinn reflexively backed away.
"I meant something small, not pink hair!" Quinn freaked out at his interpretation of change.
"I wasn't planning on doing your entire head, just the tips more or less," Luke rushed out, trying to console Quinn, "Besides, I grabbed the kind that washes out after one shampoo in case you hated it."
"You promise it washes out?" Quinn asked, as Luke fervently nodded, "Like if I don't like it, I can wash it out tonight?"
"Precisely," Luke said, as Quinn's body language eased a bit into the idea.
He watched as she flipped the box around in her hands, before boldly adding, "And, if you like it, we can get some semi-permanent."
"Let's start with this, okay?" Quinn compromised to appease Luke.
"Sounds good," Luke said with a smile, "Now, let's get started."
Sunday started out as a typical day for Quinn, who was donning her regular blonde hair with no traces of pink. She promptly washed it out Saturday morning much to Luke's surprise when she told him. However, she mentioned that they needed to talk after Sunday mass. This is when her day went from normal to something entirely abnormal.
"I want that semi-permanent dye," Quinn walked up to Luke, skipping all of the greetings and small talk.
"I knew that you'd warm up to the idea," Luke smiled, before excusing himself from his parents, "Tell me why you want such a change on the drive to the drug store."
"That's a tall order," Quinn beat around the bush of the topic at hand.
"We have a lot of time," Luke opened the car door for Quinn before he slide into the driver seat.
"I guess it would start back with Beth," Quinn softly spoke as a classic rock station hummed in the background.
"Who's Beth?" Luke asked, like any curious person would.
"My daughter," Quinn quietly said, even quieter than her original reference to Beth.
"Go on," Luke urged Quinn, who seemed to pause expecting some kind of remark.
"Nothing about that I have a daughter? I'm a good church girl who was President of the Chastity Club. Nothing?" Quinn asked, a bit offended by his nonchalance.
"I've seen worse," Luke simply replied, before adding, "I told you that God loves all, even those who mess up and have babies in high school."
"Thank you for that," Quinn said as Luke eased the car into the drug store parking lot.
"For what exactly?" Luke asked, walking into the drug store with Quinn trailing not far behind.
"For not berating me," Quinn honestly said, grabbing semi-permanent pink hair dye from the shelves of hair dye.
"You're welcome," Luke said, following Quinn to the register, "Any other reasons to change?"
"I think so," Quinn said, paying for her dye as they walked out of the store; she gave a more affirmative, "Yes."
"Well, continue," Luke said, as they got back into his car.
"I'll let some of the story wait until we get back to my place," Quinn coyly said, turning up the radio dial before promptly singing along to Animal by Neon Trees.
The duet melted right into Teenage Dream. The two songs lasted the trip straight up Quinn's driveway. A Rachel Berry-esque light bulb went off over Quinn's head as Luke took the keys out of the ignition.
"You should join Glee Club," Quinn hastily said, mentally smacking herself for being so overeager, "It's just... you have a really good voice."
"Thank you," Luke accepted the compliment, before facing reality, "Isn't Glee Club kind of lame?"
"It is," Quinn confessed, letting them into her empty house because her parents were talking about a Sunday lunch to themselves, "But, we're all lame together."
Quinn took a second to realize how absolutely lame she sounded, adding, "You should at least give it a shot."
"I'll do it if you finish telling me why you need a change," Luke propositioned, as Quinn led them back up to her en suite bathroom.
"Finn and Puck," Quinn spoke two names before giving back story as to why they were her reasons for change.
By the time she finished her longwinded story, her hair had lovely streaks of semi-permanent pink all throughout the blonde. She swished her hair around, watching as the pink danced around her face.
"I love it!" Quinn exclaimed, whipping around and throwing her arms around Luke's neck.
"Good," Luke happily said, "I'm glad that I could help you change and rid of your past."
"Me too," Quinn softly said, not letting of the embrace that she created seconds ago.
It took a whole beat for Luke to dip his head down to gently touch Quinn's lips. And, it took another beat for them to fall from cloud nine to realize that her parents were shuffling through the front door.
"Uhm... I should get going," Luke bashfully said, backing out Quinn's bedroom, "I'll see you on school on Tuesday."
"Bye," Quinn shortly said, tentatively touching her fingertips to her lips.
"Oh, goodbye Luke," Judy said as Luke left Fabray house. He mumbled something incomprehensible in return, as Quinn descended down the staircase.
There would never be a better time than now to debut her new hairstyle.
"Quinnie, your hair!" Judy exclaimed, rushing over to her daughter's pink accented hair. She toyed with it for a bit, before motherly instincts kicked in, "Something happened between you two. I can tell."
"Nothing happened, mother," Quinn denied, even though the truth was written on her face that something had indeed happened.
"Will we be seeing him for Friday night dinner?" Judy inquired, still in disbelief over her daughter's rebellious pink hair.
Quinn didn't even respond as she walked back up to her room.
Tuesday was Luke's first day of school, which Quinn knew might make him feel uncomfortable. She went a bit out of her way to look for him, which made her feel like a total stalker. The only condolence she got was the fact that she didn't find him until he walked into the Glee Club room.
Luke walked into the room, instantly gaining the looks from everyone in the room. The chatter turned to a thick silence that could have been sliced with a spoon. Luke fixed a smile before hastily walking towards Quinn, who was speaking up with her bright pink splattered hair.
"Guys, this is Luke, he's new and trying this Glee thing," Quinn announced, her cheeks flushing to match her hair as Luke slid into the seat next to her.
"Is it always this tense?" Luke whispered to Quinn, who bit back on a giggle because the room was still relatively silent.
"Only when someone new joins," Quinn said as Mr. Schuester walked in the room, ten minutes late as per usual.
"Welcome back to Glee Club!" Mr. Schuester's voice floated across the room, surveying the turnout of returning student, minus Pizes and adding a dreadlocked guy; he address the boy sitting next to Quinn, "Are you here to audition?"
"Am I?" Luke quickly asked Quinn, who nodded fervently. Luke shifted uncomfortably in his seat, facing the teacher in front of the room, ignoring the stares of the others, "My name is Luke. I'm from Tucson. And, I'm here to audition."
"Do you have a piece prepared?" Mr. Schuester asked, as Luke stood up.
"I can make something work," Luke said, walking down the risers, surveying the array of instruments available to him.
He exchanged a few words with Brad, who quickly situated himself behind the piano keys, as Luke grabbed an acoustic guitar for himself. He tried to shake the nerves, since he never formally sang in front of a group of people. It was more or less playing around with his friends every now and then.
"Slow down, lie down," Luke started singing, as Quinn was wrapped up in the magic of his voice. It sounded even better like this than it did singing with the radio.
He seemed to sweep everyone up with his simple song, even if his voice shook at the beginning. He cleared them out of his mind, focusing solely on Quinn, who was smiling contentedly with his song selection.
"Grant my last request, and just let me hold you," Luke drifted off with the last note, just now realizing that this was a breakup kind of song.
"That was fantastic, Luke," Mr. Schuester said, as Luke returned the guitar to its holder, "Welcome to Glee Club!"
"I'm so proud of you," Quinn gushed as Luke took his seat next to her, before precariously placing her hand on his knee. And, didn't move her hand until the end of rehearsal.
Quinn absentmindedly glanced to the clock on the wall that was ticking closer and closer to the start of Youth Group. She checked her phone for a message. Nothing. She was waiting for Luke because they had agreed to a pre-Youth Group meeting about the agenda for the day, perhaps starting to plan the service project.
"Hi," Luke quietly said, pushing the Youth Group room door open, causing Quinn to look up from where she was toying around with her phones applications.
"What happened to you?" Quinn thoughtlessly exclaimed, even though she didn't need to ask because she recognized the blue dye that stained his shirt and seemed to leave a sticky residue to his face, "Slushied. One of the perks of being in Glee Club. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," Luke said, watching as Quinn looked completely anguished by the situation at hand.
"I should have warned you. I should have told you to bring a change of clothes. I should –" Quinn prattled on, getting cut off by Luke placing a hand on her shoulder. It suddenly grounded her thoughts.
"It's not your fault," Luke reiterated, his voice much softer than before causing an ambient air around them.
"I know, but –" Quinn started up again, this time getting an index finger placed over her lips to silence her, "At least let me help you get cleaned up."
"Deal," Luke said, allowing Quinn to walk him over to the small bathroom tucked off in a corner of the room.
Quinn pulled one of the extra Youth Group shirts off the shelf for Luke to change into once he was free of the sticky residue. She was going through the motions that she had done more times than she could, or would like to, remember because her mind was somewhere else.
"Is something on your mind?" Luke asked, as Quinn formulated the perfect soap to water ratio for riding of slushie stickiness.
"Well, no, yes, it's something," Quinn stumbled with a short laugh at the end, before awkwardly mumbling, "You need to take your shirt off."
Luke complied, as Quinn dropped it in the sink for him. She couldn't bring herself to look at him.
"So, what's on your mind?" Luke asked, bringing them right back to the topic as Quinn made bubbly water in the sink for his shirt to soak in.
"I was thinking, if you weren't doing anything tomorrow night..." Quinn drifted off, her voice growing small as her face heated up.
"Yeah?" Luke prompted Quinn to get her thoughts back on track as she ran some damp paper towel over his face and neck.
"Would you want to join me for a family dinner with my mom?" Quinn finished off, peering up through her eyelashes to catch his reply.
"Is it because I'm half-naked right now?" Luke joked, causing Quinn to blush an obscene shade or red as she sucked in her lower lip.
"No," Quinn managed to laugh out through her embarrassment.
"I was just kidding," Luke quietly said, brushing his hand against hers, "I'd love to join you."
"Okay," Quinn tried to nonchalantly say as her face positively lit up, "Now, let's get you cleaned up before the other kids start arriving."
It was the usual Fabray Friday night dinner with a new guest added to the mix. Usually Judy would cook, while Quinn would clean. However, Judy took on both of the responsibilities because Quinn had company.
"Thank you for dinner," Luke said, as Quinn ushered them into the main living room.
"Thank you for coming," Quinn rebutted, making the both of them chuckle for a second.
A silence fell that was full of words begging to be said.
"But honestly," Quinn said, stopping their walk to the couch by catching his arm with her hand, "Thank you for helping me change and realize the person that I want to be."
"You're welcome," Luke said, as Quinn hand slid down her forearm and into her hand, "And, you're very smooth, Quinn."
"How so?" Quinn coyly asked with a small smirk.
"This," Luke held up their intertwined fingers that was her doing, before leaning into her personal bubble to whisper, "And, I don't think you would have gone for the hair dye if it was anyone else suggesting it."
"Well, maybe not, but it doesn't mean that I don't like it," Quinn carefully picked her words.
"I like you," Luke dorkily said as a smile grew across his face.
"I like you, too," Quinn happily said with an unadulterated smile.
It had taken a second for them to realize proper procedure in a situation like this, which was to slowly start leaning forward.
"Quinnie –" Judy walked into the living room, intend on asking if they had wanted their apple pie warmed or not, only to ruin the moment, "I'm sorry."
"What did you want?" Quinn asked, doing her best to keep her composure because her lips were a millimeter away from Luke's when her mom walked in the door and their hands were still dangling together between them.
"I was just wondering if you two wanted your apple pie warmed or not," Judy said, before thinking of a more extravagant dessert in apology for messing up her daughter's moment, "And, if you wanted it ala mode."
"You're the guest, so you can decide," Quinn said, looking towards Luke for the dessert decision.
"Can it be warmed and ala mode?" Luke asked, as Judy nodded her head, "I'll have that, if you don't mind."
"It's no problem," Judy said, disappearing back into the kitchen. Quinn buried her head in her free hand out of embarrassment.
"What's wrong?" Luke said, tilting her chin up with a hook of his index finger.
"She just has the worst timing," Quinn honestly said with a slight laugh.
"Why? What was she messing up?" Luke feigned innocence with his questions.
"Just, you know, this," Quinn said, leaning into Luke on her tippy toes to press her lips up against his.
"Oh that," Luke said, before licking his lips in anticipation tossing around the idea that was burning a hole in his brain since the pink dye debacle, "But, I would be able to kiss my girlfriend like that all the time."
"Is that what I am to you?" Quinn asked, keeping her face and tone void of emotion.
"Is that what you want to be?" Luke retorted, a bit confused by her tone and inability to read her face.
"I would be more than honored to be your girlfriend," Quinn said with a growing smile that matched Luke's.
"Dessert is ready!" Judy yelled from the kitchen, afraid to invade another moment.
"Well, let's go boyfriend," Quinn goofily said, enjoying the butterflies that she got from having a boyfriend.
"Okay, girlfriend," Luke said, reveling in the way that it made him feel to call her that.
They walked hand-in-hand into the dining room for their warmed apple pie ala mode, fully ready to brag about their relationship for the first time.
I'll be honest, I didn't proofread much, so I'm sorry if it's full of mistakes. Otherwise, reviews are always lovely. I appreciate praise and constructive criticism. Have a lovely Glee Day because it's T-minus one hour until the new episode!