A/N - Just some good Halloween Fabrastings fluffiness.
Disclaimer - I don't own the characters only their thoughts and actions.
"Quinn, you have to. Britts and I are hanging on by a thread, and I needs this weekend to be awesome so I can prove to both of us that we can make this whole long distance thing work," Santana whispers harshly to me as I only half listen to what she is saying, my mind mostly focused on my reading assignment for Monday's class.
"I still don't see why I need to join," I reply thoughtlessly, my highlighter skimming over important dates from Russian history. The bed dips and my book slams shut as Santana lays next to me forcing my attention to be on her. She tosses the textbook to the floor, landing with a distinct thud. I'm fortunate enough to live on the first floor, so there will be no crazy rebellion from students living underneath me.
"Look Q, we've always had each others' backs." I lift my right eyebrow up at that statement thinking back to sophomore and junior year of high school when we would throw each other under the bus if it meant getting a leg up. Santana smirks at my facial expression, no doubt remembering the actual physical fight we got into, before she continues, "Well, when it really matters, we've been there for each other. And right now really matters. I promised B this weekend would be just like old times and old times include you."
I roll over and push myself up into a sitting position, back resting against the wall before responding, "I get that, it's just," I look down at her as she lays on her stomach on my bed her head titled up so she can see me, "this is more of a thing couples do. I hate feeling like the third wheel." That's a lie. I've always enjoyed when Santana and Brittany included me in their plans. It made me feel less, well lonely, not that I would admit that to them. But there was no way I would tell Santana the real reason behind my apprehension to taking part in tonight's activities.
"You know you can always join in," she replies with a wink and a cheesy grin. I lightly swat her arm nearest to me while shaking my head. She can be such a perv sometimes.
"No thank you."
"That's right, you're not that into that," Santana says with a smirk on her face. I will never be able to live that comment down. I'm about to smack her again when the door opens and Brittany re-enters my dorm room.
"Whatcha guys talking about?" Britt asks as she takes a seat at my desk chair.
"Nothing, did you find the restroom okay?" I respond, really hoping Santana will drop our previous conversation and think of something better to do tonight.
"Oh yeah, did you know even the bathrooms at Yale are smarter than other bathrooms?" Noticing the confused look on my face and the intrigued look on Santana's, Brittany continues, "I mean everything in there is automatic. The toilets, the sinks, the soap dispenser, the hand dryers, I even saw a robot that almost scared me."
"Speaking of being scared," Santana drawls out as she sits up on your bed, her feet resting on the floor, "Quinn was just telling me about this awesome Halloween festival being held on the outskirts of town. There's a haunted house, hayride, corn maze, the whole works." That is most definitely a lie. Well, part of it. There was a Halloween festival going on this weekend, but I was planning on steering clear of it until Santana had brought up going, right after Brittany left for the bathroom ten minutes ago.
"That sounds like fun!" Brittany replies bouncing out of the chair and onto her feet. "Just the three of us, the Unholy Trinity reunited just like old times?" She asks excitedly as she moves to grab her coat that is hanging on my bedpost. Brittany is looking at me to respond so I glance to Santana who is glaring at me with her you better not say no to my girlfriend look and I nod, finally giving in to the inevitable.
"Yup B, just like old times," I reply through a forced smile.
I pull into the parking lot, which is actually just an open field, and Brittany jumps out of my car before I even have it fully parked.
"What do you want to do first B?" Santana asks as she walks around the car to stand next to Brittany while I follow closely behind her. Brittany scans the festival for the best activity to start our evening. Her line of vision stops on a line of people outside an old wooden house nearest the entrance. Brittany turns to us with a wide smile on her face that immediately makes me feel queasy.
"Let's go to the haunted house!" Santana grins at the suggestion and grabs her girlfriend's hand intertwining their fingers. I feel my pulse increase as Brittany links her other arm in mine, and we begin our journey to what I'm sure will be our inescapable doom.
I will be the first to admit that Halloween is just not my holiday. I've never understood the fascination with being frightened half to death. Horror movies? No thank you. Spooky stories? I'll pass. Creepy guys dressed up as killers stalking you in the middle of nowhere? Um no. The problem is that Santana would never stop teasing me if she knew that most of my hatred for this particular holiday was due to irrational fears. For some reason, I legitimately believe that the things I see in scary movies will actually happen in real life. I know it is completely crazy and absolutely untrue, but even the simplest creepy clown will have me checking around every corner to make sure my house is safe.
Hiding my fear from my closest friends throughout high school was easier than I expected. I simply preached about the sins of scandalously dressed girls and was able to avoid any Halloween parties by maintaining my position of religious integrity. Of course said religious integrity was held in question when I got knocked up out of wedlock, but that is an entirely different issue. Anyway, I spent four years making sure Santana was clueless about this secret, and I intend to keep it that way.
"Are you sure Britt? Maybe we should start off with something a little less…" I trail off trying to find the right word so I don't sound like a frightened five year old.
"Scary?" Brittany adds on curiously. Damn her for being spot on. Santana glances at me through her peripherals obviously interested in my response.
"No. Just, um you know, I think we should work our way up to it. Everything else will seem lame if we do the haunted house first." There. That definitely seems like an acceptable excuse. Maybe once we go to all the booths, I can sneak away in pretense of seeing someone from Yale that I know and get out of partaking in the creepier activities at this festival.
"There's still the hayride and the corn maze. Those should be pretty thrilling too," Santana interjects into the conversation. Her emphasis on the word thrilling and the tiny smirk she is giving me does not sit well in my gut. I ignore her cues for the moment, focusing my attention back on Brittany.
"What about the pumpkin carving or," I look around the nearest booths to find another tame activity, "face painting? I bet Santana would be adorable looking like a kitty." I smirk as Santana glares at me while Brittany seems to mull over my suggestion. She looks at the face painting booth longingly before glancing over her shoulder to the haunted house.
"Nah. We should get our faces painted before we leave, this way they will stay on longer," Brittany replies with a satisfied grin. Santana's eyes go wide; no doubt at the thought of leaving the festival with an animal covering her perfectly (and rather time consuming) dolled up face. I'm about to laugh at her expense when Brittany begins to drag us over to the end of the line for the haunted house and all thoughts of teasing my best friend go out the window.
The line is about fifteen people long, which means I don't have a lot of time to calm my furiously thumping heart. They are letting in groups of three to four at a time and each step we move closer to the entrance, I feel my skin crawling with an unending itch. I continuously wipe my clammy hands on my jeans trying to rid them of the accumulating sweat, but my actions are futile. A loud screech comes from the top floor of the house and echoes though the darkness putting me even further on edge.
Before I know it, there is only a group of four high school aged boys standing between me and my almost certain death. I have to think of an excuse and form one fast to get me out of this dire situation. I zone out as a list runs through my head: bathroom – they will either wait for me or tell me to wait until we are done, nausea – too obvious as a cover up to be believable, pretend I see someone I know – this one just might...
"AHHH!" I squeal and jump as a finger taps me on the shoulder. I turn to see a familiar tanned hand pulling away from me and back to its owner as Santana takes in my antics with furrowed eyebrows.
"Jesus, Q. Jumpy much?"
"What? No," I respond too fast. My heart rate has slowed down from its spike though its still a steady pace much higher than is considered normal. "You just startled me," I finish off coolly trying to stay composed.
"I'll say." Santana nods once before nudging me forward. "Come on, we're next."
Before I can spit out an excuse, the three of us are being ushered into the foyer of the house and the door slams soundly behind us. There is a long hallway in front of us lit by candles attached to the wall with multiple closed doors on the sides and a spiral staircase at the end of the hall. The candles all go out simultaneously, and I slide closer to Brittany as she stands between Santana and me. My senses are on high alert just waiting for something to pop out of a door and try to kill me. A spotlight flashes on, shinning on a sign that is hanging from the ceiling that reads, "Enter if you dare and we'll see you on the other side."
There's a cackling behind us and I whip my head around to see a man dressed up in a tuxedo, presumably the butler, staring and smiling creepily at us.
"You may begin your journey," he states with a gravelly voice. The spotlight cuts off and about half the candles come back on leaving the house is much darker than when we entered. As we move forward, I walk shoulder to shoulder with Brittany to get as much distance from the wall as possible.
There's a piercing scream that comes from the second floor, and my head snaps up on instinct at the noise. When I bring my attention back to the hallway, a door slowly opens on the right side of the hallway next to where Santana is. We all look into the doorway, but instead of a room, the door opens to a large mirror showing a reflection of ourselves. Brittany giggles and waves while I sigh in relief that a potential crisis has been adverted. We all turn back forward and come face to face with a hooded being dressed in black, yielding a chainsaw that roars as he turns it on and starts walking towards us. I scream, not caring how stupid I sound, and turn around booking my way out of the front door even though they specifically stated we weren't supposed to exit that way.
It takes ten minutes for my pulse to reach a humanly acceptable rate and another five minutes for everyone who saw me dashing out of the haunted house to either enter the house or move on to something more entertaining than a crazy college girl. By the time Brittany and Santana come walking over to me with huge smiles on their faces, I have decided that I would rather walk back to my dorm than endure anymore of this torture.
"Quinn, you're okay! I thought the vampire had taken you to the attic to suck your blood," Brittany says as she gives me a hug squeezing me a bit harder than necessary. Awesome, another lovely visual for my dreams tonight.
"No, I just really had to pee. Didn't think I could make it through the entire house without using the restroom," I reply confidently. It's a lame excuse, but pretty much the only plausible one to explain my actions.
"Right," Santana drawls out. "And you just happened to have a bladder issue right when the crazy ass chainsaw guy popped out of nowhere and you screamed bloody murder before high tailing out of the house." She smirks at me knowing she has me cornered. "Seems like a pretty convenient time for a bathroom break." Santana keeps her gaze leveled at me, waiting for my comeback to deny her words. I inhale once, choosing to ignore her and hoping she will just let it drop.
"So where to next Britt?" I ask as I grab her arm and lead her further into the festival.
"I knew it!" Santana shouts from behind us, jogging the few paces to catch up. "I so knew it!" She says as she points at me while walking backwards, slightly in front of us, so she can look at me fully. "It all makes sense now. Skipping Halloween parties, never watching horror films. All these years I just thought you had a stick up your ass or were too repressed to hold yourself together in a room full of slutty dressed chicks, but oh no, that's not the case."
Brittany reaches forward to grab her girlfriend before she accidentally runs into someone as she pays no attention to where she is walking. Santana falls into line on the opposite side of Brittany, but she leans forward and puts her arm in front of Brittany pointing her finger again at me in accusation, "You're just scared." Santana says this with such a sense on finality that there is no point arguing, especially since what she said is the truth. Brittany turns to me for confirmation and I neither deny nor confirm Santana's statement, instead I keep my face firmly forward. Apparently Brittany takes the hint that I don't want to talk about it, and she leads us towards our next activity.
We arrive at a short line to the hayride, which we find out is actually just a transportation method to the corn maze. Figuring we can get all the scariest activities done and out of the way first, I bite back my opposition and get on the next carriage that arrives. The horse-drawn carriage meanders around the festival before taking us on a path through the woods that leads to an open field. The driver drops us off at the entrance to the corn maze with instructions that the correct exit will have a carriage waiting to transport us back to the festival.
It's a lot quieter in the field of corn since we have escaped the hustle and bustle of the festival, which really only adds to the creepiness factor.
"It's kinda spooky out here guys," Brittany says as she grabs Santana's hand. "There's like nobody out here."
"Well, there are still the people that rode the carriage…" I look around to see that all of our carriage companions have already entered the maze and can no longer be seen, "with us."
The three of us enter, Brittany solidly taking her place in the middle holding a single hand of both Santana and me. There are a couple of turns before we come upon our first decision: a fork in the path.
"Okay, so left, right, or straight?" Brittany asks.
"We could all split up and see which path works. I bet you'd love that wouldn't you Q?" Santana replies with a cheeky grin. I reach around with my free hand to smack her, but Brittany grabs it mid swing.
"Well I would say we go straight, but that obviously won't work for Santana," I quip back at her.
"Oh you're one to talk, why don't you just-" Brittany cuts her off with an elbow jab in the ribs. She shakes her head at her girlfriend while quietly saying, "San, stop." Santana huffs, but does as she's told and I'm once again thankful that my best friend is so whipped.
"Let's go left." Brittany decides since she gets no real help from Santana or me. We continue to go through the maze with Brittany making the decisions whenever there are multiple paths to choose. It isn't until about twenty minutes later when I swear we have reached the same fork in the road for the fourth time that I realize Brittany has chosen left every single time.
"I think we are going in circles guys," I state slowly, not wanting to upset Santana that I am questioning her girlfriend's navigational skills.
"I thought this looked familiar," Brittany agrees.
"Oh come on. We are surrounded by stalks of corn, everything looks familiar," Santana interjects. "You're doing a great job Britts." I raise my eyebrow at her comment, and Santana just glares at me, daring me to object her statement.
"Maybe we should go right this time," Brittany ponders aloud. Thank God, we might actually get out of here before sunrise. We start walking down the right path when a man with a wolf mask jumps out of the corn and starts howling at us. I screech in surprise and run back down the path rounding a corner too quickly and smacking straight into another body. I fall flat on my ass with a soft thump and can't contain my yelp convinced that another beast hidden within the corn stalks has jumped me. I get up quickly and see that the body I ran into was definitely not a beast, but a girl about my age nearly as tall as Brittany, with long brunette hair and piercing, calculating brown eyes.
"What the hell?" she asks, her tone and furrowed eyebrows alert me that she is not happy at all with my presence.
"Sorry," I mutter, stumbling over my words as I try to explain myself, "there was this- this thing, and it…the guy, and I- I just…"
"Quinn!" I turn my head to see Brittany jogging over to me with Santana closely behind, biting her lip no doubt to contain her laughter.
"Hi, who are you?" Brittany asks politely as she stops next to me. The girl gives my friend a once over before quickly glancing back at me and turning around walking away from us.
"What did you do to her Q?" Santana asks watching the mystery girl go down the middle path.
"Nothing," I respond thoughtlessly, my mind still focused on the look in her eyes as she glared at me. "Maybe we should follow her," I say softly not intending to actually say it out loud.
"Seriously?" Santana scoffs.
"I agree with Quinn," Brittany answers as she starts off down the path the girl was on. "She looks like she might know where she is going." That's not exactly my reasoning for wanting to follow her, but I can't think of a logical reason as to why I find the need to follow this girl, so I nod my head in agreement. Santana shrugs and we jog down the path to catch up with the brunette staying behind her enough so that we can see her, but not too close to be considered stalkerish.
As we round the next corner in which the girl turned, she is standing there staring at us, her jaw locked in annoyance.
"Stop following me," she states coolly.
"We didn't want you to get stolen by the corn creatures," Brittany replies easily. The girl focuses her gaze on Brittany, probably trying to comprehend if the blonde is being serious or not. "Plus you looked lonely," she adds on as an afterthought.
"I'm not," the girl bites back. "I'm here with my roommate." Brittany looks around in an effort to find said roommate while Santana responds, "You look pretty alone right now."
The girl turns her glare to Santana before replying, "We got separated."
"Well then you can stay with us," Brittany says with a smile. The girl opens her mouth to protest, but Brittany cuts her off, "I'm Brittany. What's your name?" She looks at each of us in turn, her gaze staying on me longer than I feel comfortable with, before she gazes over her shoulder to the empty path ahead of us. She exhales slowly before looking back at us and responding, "Spencer."
"Spencer," Brittany says slowly as if she's thinking it over. I do the same, but mentally instead of out loud, and decide I definitely like the name. "Cool. This is my girlfriend Santana," Brittany states as holds up their intertwined hands and Santana nods in acknowledgement, "and our friend Quinn." I feel my lips curl up in an involuntary smile as Spencer barely nods her head at me.
Brittany moves forward and locks her arm in the crook of Spencer's elbow, turning her so they can walk up the path. "So Spencer, do you go to Yale? Quinn is a freshman there, but San and I are just visiting for the weekend." Spencer glances over her shoulder at me with an eyebrow raised questioningly. I nod once in confirmation as Santana and I follow along a good ten yards behind the blonde and her new friend, listening in on their conversation.
By the time we exit the corn maze, mostly thanks to Spencer's navigational skills, Brittany has gotten quite a lot of information out of the girl. Like myself, Spencer is in her first year at Yale and incidentally she lives in the same dorm as me, but on the third floor instead of the first. She is majoring in architecture with a minor in economics and already has enough credits from AP classes in high school to be considered a sophomore. I'm surprised at Brittany's ability to get the sullen girl to open up, but my blonde friend did always have a way with people. As the carriage pulls up to take us back to the festival, I realize that I have not spoken a full sentence to Spencer except for my mumbled attempt of an apology after running into her. Brittany and Santana sit next to each other on the left side of the cart, making Spencer and I plop down across from them.
I can feel the tension rising between us as our legs graze each other's from the closeness of our seating arrangement. I don't want to seem like an eavesdropper and bring up something she and Brittany talked about, but I don't want to sit the entire ride in silence, especially if Spencer darts off to find her roommate once we get back to the festival. I will feel like a complete moron if I don't have at least some semblance of a normal conversation with the stunning girl sitting next to me.
"I'm really sorry about running into," I start and hear Santana cough 'literally.' I shoot her my patented head bitch glare before continuing, "I was just a bit startled and then smacking into you added into the anxiety." Spencer turns her head so she is looking at me full on, but I can't quite meet her eyes focusing my gaze on my lap instead.
"Don't worry about it," she replies. I look to see her gazing at me with eyes much softer than when we first made eye contact in the maze. "Halloween not really your thing?" she asks with a kind smile playing on her lips.
I shake my head, "That obvious?" Santana lets out a laugh that dies when Brittany elbows her in the side. Spencer shrugs before answering, "When you come barreling into me with a look of horror on your face muttering about some guy popping out of the field kind of gave you away." She says it with no malice and I end up letting out a soft laugh just thinking about how the situation must have looked to Spencer.
"Yeah, I guess that would do it," I reply as the carriage slows down to a halt at the drop off location on the outskirts of the festival. The four of us hop off the back and onto solid ground. I know that the end of the ride signals the end of my time with Spencer, but I feel like our acclamation period is over before it even began. Spencer is fiddling with her phone and I know I should say something, anything to possibly extend our time together so I can learn more about this intriguing girl, but my mind is blank.
"Do you want us to help you find your roommate?" Brittany asks. Thank God for my blonde friend. That's the perfect excuse to spend more time with Spencer. I glance over at the brunette who looks up from her phone noticing all eyes on her.
"What?" she asks as her eyebrows scrunch together.
"Your roommate," Brittany responds. "The one you lost in the corn maze." Spencer's eyes widen slightly before she controls her facial features and rolls her eyes.
"Apparently she left already," Spencer replies as she sticks her phone in her back pocket. "Wanted to go to some party or something." Her eyes dart from Santana to Brittany before landing on me. "It was nice to meet you all," she says while scratching the back of her neck, "but I think I'm going to head out." She shoots a small smile at me before nodding once and heading off towards the festival.
Talk about an awkward departure. I stand rooted to the ground with my brain screaming at me to go after her, but my feet refusing to move. What would I say to her anyway? Oh hey, you're pretty cute and interesting so you should hang out with us so I care stare at you and listen to your voice. That's not the least bit creepy.
Spencer has almost made it to the gate back into the festival when I feel a nudge in my side. Brittany is smiling at me while nodding her head in the direction Spencer went. I glance at Santana who gives me a smirk and a wink.
"Hey, wait!" I shout before I can rethink my actions and jog towards the gate where Spencer is. She slowly pivots on one foot to face me.
"Yes?"
"Oh, um…" I turn my head to my friends for help, but realize they are still a good twenty yards behind us, watching the scene unfold.
"I'm starving," I blurt out. Shit, that sounded stupid.
"I'm sorry?" Spencer replies as if it is her fault that I'm hungry. She bites her lip, but I can't tell if it's out of nerves or if she is just trying not to laugh at me.
"No, well um I am hungry, but," I glance down to my feet and take a deep breath to start over. When I look back up, she is patiently watching me, waiting for me to continue.
"We are going to grab some dinner," I state confidently. "You should join us." I don't phrase it as a question this way she doesn't have the option to reject me, or well us, since she will be dining with the three us of, not just me. Spencer's gaze shifts to over my shoulder and I turn my head to see my friends walking towards us.
"Do I even have a choice?" Spencer asks curiously as she turns her attention back to me.
"Not really," I reply. "Brittany will be really upset if you don't come." Spencer eyes me thoughtfully before nodding.
"Well, I certainly don't want Brittany upset with me," she responds playfully as if she knows something I don't know.
"So you'll join us then?" I ask this time. "For Brittany?"
Spencer rolls her eyes and full out grins at me, "Sure… for Brittany." I've decided that I love that smile on Spencer and am determined to see it as many times as possible for the remainder of the time I have with her.
"What's for me?" Brittany asks as she and her girlfriend join us at the gate. Spencer and I turn to see our company as I answer, "Dinner. You get to pick where we are going."
"Perfect," the blonde responds enthusiastically. "We should go to that Italian place you are always taking about Quinn. You know how San loves her breadsticks."
Santana lets out a short laugh, "Damn straight."
"Vito's?" Spencer asks. It's pretty much the best restaurant in town, so it's not surprising she has heard of it.
"Yeah, is that okay with you?" I'm not sure if Spencer is a picky eater, but Vito's has a lot of options no matter what your food preferences are.
"Definitely. I love their stuffed ravioli," she replies with a whimsical smile. I've yet to try their ravioli, but the look on Spencer's face alone is enough to make me think it must taste heavenly.
"Alright, Vito's it is," I state as we begin to make our way through the festival to the parking lot on the opposite side.
Since Spencer also drove to the festival, she decided to just meet us at Vito's. We get seated at a booth table near the back of the restaurant, and all I can think of is that this might be the most awkward non double-date that I have ever been on. Of course Brittany and Santana slide into one side of the booth leaving me with no option but to sit next to Spencer. Not that I am complaining, but as if I'm not nervous enough already, her elbow keeps grazing mine as we look through our menus. Of course I already know what I am ordering, but I have to do something to keep my mind off of how close I am to Spencer and the lovely smell of lavender that comes with her presence.
"What can I get you ladies to drink?" the waitress asks as she arrives at our table not a moment too soon. I literally slide closer to the wall of the booth to keep myself from inadvertently sniffing Spencer's hair.
"I think we are ready to order," Santana replies quickly with her menu unopened in front of her.
"Okay what can I get you?" the waitress asks Santana.
"I'd like your spaghetti without the meatballs," I snicker at Santana's dislike of meatballs, but she ignores me, "and this sexy lady would like your lasagna." Santana looks at Brittany who nods in approval at the order. "Oh and keep them breadsticks coming," she adds with a grin.
"Alright, and for you two ladies?" the waitress asks turning her attention to Spencer and me.
"I'll have the stuffed ravioli with chicken," Spencer answers as she folds up her menu.
"Um, I'll also have the stuffed ravioli," I say nonchalantly. Santana scrunches her face obviously confused at my straying from the typical chicken alfredo order.
"What kind of meat would you like that stuffed with?" asks the waitress.
"Oh Quinn doesn't like meat," Brittany adds in. I can literally feel the heat rising to my cheeks at her seemingly innocent comment as Santana lets out a short laugh before whispering into Brittany's ear. Brittany's mouth opens into an 'o' and she mouths 'sorry' to me.
"Just cheese is fine," I answer the waitress so she can go put in our orders. Spencer looks quizzically at the two across the table before turning her attention to me, obviously knowing she's missing out on something.
"Are you a vegetarian?" she asks. Santana doesn't hold back on her laughter this time while I try to kick her under the table but end up colliding with a table support beam.
"More like va-" my second kick hits it mark and shuts Santana up immediately. Spencer glances from Santana back to me, waiting for an answer or explanation.
"No, I'm not a vegetarian," I answer slowly trying to determine how much I should tell Spencer about what Brittany meant. It's clear that she won't care about my preferences seeing as she has no qualms with Santana and Brittany who are currently cuddling across the table from us. However, I don't really like opening up to people especially someone I just met an hour ago.
"I simply prefer some types of…" I try to think of the best word because 'people' would be too obvious, "food, to be without meat." Spencer's eyebrows furrow in concentration as she tries to understand what I am saying. I can almost see the gears turning behind her eyes, but my vague statement is just not clicking.
"I believe my lovely girlfriend was referring to Quinn's gender preference," Santana states smoothly. I surprised she didn't just outright say something along the lines of, 'Lesbe-honest, Quinn likes girls.' Spencer's eyes widen a fraction as she finally grasps the conversation at hand.
"Well in that case, I should have gotten my ravioli stuffed with mushrooms instead," Spencer says before taking a sip of her water. I glance to my best friends to see if they know what she is implying, but the looks on their faces show they are just as confused as I am. Spencer sets her glass down before continuing, "I also prefer some types of," she catches my eye with a smirk on her lips, "food without meat."
My heart skips a beat at her confession, and my anxiety level has shot through the roof. Now that I know I actually have a feasible chance with the beautiful girl sitting next to me, I'm even more nervous that she's going to think I'm a bumbling idiot. Santana reaches across the table with her hand up for a high-five, which Spencer hesitantly slaps.
"So Quinn," Spencer states and I turn my head slightly to look at her, "Brittany says you go to Yale too?"
"Yeah," my voice cracks unpleasantly so I take a drink of water and start over. "It's my first year."
"So she said. And you're a theatre major?" Spencer looks to Brittany who smiles while nodding before both girls turn their attention back to me.
"Right, with a minor in English," I answer quickly, not enjoying being the center of attention at the moment.
"Really?" She seems genuinely surprised at this information, and since I've not spoken very eloquently nor much at all since we've met, I can understand why. "I bet you're a writer," Spencer states confidently.
"You should read her poems," Brittany adds in. "I don't understand half of what she's saying, but they really make you feel."
"Especially the dirty ones, you'll definitely feel those," Santana interjects. I aim another kick under the table, but she was expecting it this time and curls her feet up onto the booth seat, leaning even further into her girlfriend. Spencer lets out a soft laugh at our antics, and I quickly put us back on track.
"She's joking," I say staring at Santana, "and they're not that good. It's all just a bunch of nonsense and rambling, nothing of importance." I gaze down at the table, telepathically willing the waitress to bring our food; this way I can focus on eating instead of the churning in my stomach and the God damn smell of lavender that is making it hard for me to concentrate let alone carry on an intelligent conversation. I can practically feel Spencer's eyes on me, so I take a chance to peak at her through my peripherals. She leans in closer to me, forcing my senses to be filled with lavender and the hairs on my neck stand in anticipation. Her mouth is so close to my ear, I can feel her breath tickle my skin there.
"I highly doubt anything you do qualifies as nothing of importance," she whispers just loudly enough for me to hear. Spencer sits up straight, returning to her original position and I let out a breath that I was unaware I was even holding.
"Finally," Santana says and my eyes shoot towards her thinking she was in some way referring to Spencer and I, but her gaze is on our waitress who is bringing us our meal and of course, more breadsticks for my best friend.
The rest of the meal is rather uneventful except for my unexpected spikes in pulse every time Spencer's arm accidentally grazes mine or she leans into my personal space to ask me how my ravioli is. She even offers me a bite of hers, but I politely refuse knowing my brain will probably short circuit if she tries to feed me some of her meal.
The most awkward part is when the waitress comes back with two bills; one she sets in front of Santana and one she sets in front of Spencer. Even the waitress thought we were on a double date. Spencer easily slips a credit card into the holder and hands it back to the waitress before I can even reach into my purse to get out my wallet. I fumble with the latch on my wallet and pull out enough cash to cover my part of the bill, handing the money over to Spencer. She glances down at the cash then looks up to me and opens her mouth before letting out nothing but air and taking the money.
When we leave the restaurant, I'm left with the same feeling I got in my stomach when the hayride dropped us off back at the festival; I'm not ready for my time with Spencer to be up. Unfortunately, I can't quite tell if she's enjoying herself as much as I am. I'd like to invite her to hang out with us, but I'm not sure what the other two planned to do tonight and if they would be bothered by the extra company. Besides, for all I know Spencer has her own friends she wants to hang out with.
"Q can I see your purse?" Santana asks as she exits the doorway. I take it off my shoulder and hand it to her.
"Why?" She starts digging through it and knowing her she probably just wants a piece of gum or to use my lip gloss. I hear a clinking of metal as she pulls out my keychain with my car keys on it.
"Hey, what are you-" I stop mid-sentence as she tosses my purse back at me and makes a break to my car with Brittany in tow.
"Hope you can find a ride back Quinn," Santana yells over her shoulder, "I hear Spencer lives in your dorm. See you there for some scary movie watching." My friends jump into the front seats of my vehicle and the engine turns on. I'm stuck on the sidewalk completely dumb-founded by the scene that is taking place. Santana has the window rolled down as she drives by.
"After all, we've got 18 years worth of good horror films to catch you up on," she says as Brittany waves at us and my car exits the parking lot without me in it.
"Some friends you have," Spencer states lightly as she watches my car pull onto the main road.
"You're one to talk. At least my friends ditched me after dinner. You're roommate called it quits after some trouble in a corn maze." I try to say it teasingly, but I'm not sure if Spencer and I have built up enough of a rapport yet to poke fun at one another.
"Touché," she replies and I let out a sigh of relief knowing I didn't offend her. Spencer pulls the keys to her vehicle out of her purse before looking at me. "Well good luck getting a ride back. At least campus isn't too far of a walk if you are opposed to hitch-hiking," she states seriously and my jaw drops.
Spencer steps off the curb and makes her way over to her car, and I can't believe she is just going to leave me at a restaurant that's a good seven miles from campus. Her car beeps as she unlocks it and Spencer opens the driver side door, but doesn't get in. She turns her neck to see me, rooted on the sidewalk outside the entrance to the restaurant, staring at her. Her eyebrows raise simultaneously and her top teeth bite into the corner of her lower lip. Slowly her teeth release the lip and she is grinning at me with a full smile before laughter takes over and her head falls back as if she is laughing to the stars. Once Spencer composes herself, she waves an arm gesturing me to join her.
"Come on," she says before getting into the car. I hurry over to her car and slide into the passenger side before she can change her mind.
"You should have seen your face," she states as she puts the keys in the ignition. "It was even better than when the grim reaper jumped out at us near the end of the maze." I shiver just thinking about that incident, knowing my screech was louder than usual as Santana cursed at me in Spanish for my reaction.
"Did you seriously think I was going to leave you?" Spencer asks, but I'm not sure if it is a rhetorical question or not. I didn't think she would, but my first impressions about people have been proven wrong before, so I stay silent. Spencer pulls out of the parking lot before glancing over at me.
"I know I come off as a bit," she licks her lips as she finds the right word, "abrasive. Sometimes it's just hard to put yourself out there and meet new people." I nod though I doubt she can see me as her eyes are focused on the road. "I'm just not very good at…" she trails off but I can almost imagine what she was going to say, or at least what I would say.
"Letting people in," I finish for her. Spencer's eyes are still forward as she maneuvers us into a turn lane.
"Yeah," she replies softly. The rest of the car ride passes in silence, but not the kind where I'm constantly wondering if it's weird that we aren't talking and wondering if she thinks it's awkward at all. In fact, I spend the time thinking about what Spencer said and how most of the time, I feel exactly the same way.
Spencer pulls into the freshmen parking lot by our dorm and finds an open spot. I see my car parked a few spaces over and know that my friends have made it back without getting lost.
"Brittany said you live here too," Spencer states as she gets out of her vehicle.
"Yeah, first floor," I reply. We begin walking on the sidewalk that leads to the entrance of the building.
"She also said that you used to be a cheerleader," she states with a smirk. Oh dear Lord, I hope that Brittany did not make any reference to how flexible cheerleaders are.
"Did you guys talk about anything besides me?" I ask as we reach the doorway. I hold the door open for Spencer as she enters the building.
"Not really," she says while shaking her head. "She talked you up pretty good. Former captain of a national champion cheerleading team, member of a national champion show choir- which you'll have to explain to me what the hell that is, class valedictorian, rightful winner of prom queen your senior year…that's quite the resume you got there. No wonder you got into Yale." It's weird hearing Spencer list out my high school accomplishments especially since she doesn't know about all the not so great things I did during that time too.
"Brittany failed to mention all the other stuff I went through during high school that might change your mind," I respond softly as we cross through the lobby of the dorm.
"Everyone makes mistakes while their young," Spencer replies. "It's learning from and moving past those mistakes that build us into who we are."
We stop at the bottom of the stairs that signifies our departure for the evening; Spencer going up to her room on the third floor and me going down the hall to the fourth door on the right.
"Did you want to come watch some scary movies with us?" I ask trying once more to prolong our time together. "Knowing Santana it will be all blood and gore as opposed to those creepy psychological thrillers."
"You're going to watch a horror film?" Spencer asks skeptically.
"I'm hoping that they will be too busy making out on my futon by the time I get back that they will just forget about the idea entirely," I reply, which gets a short laugh from the brunette.
"I would like to," she states, "but I have to meet with a study group tomorrow morning, so I should probably be heading to bed."
"Someone at Yale taking their studies seriously?" I ask jestingly. "Shocker!"
"I know. Crazy right?" She closes her eyes smiling to herself, "My friends in high school would always say I studied too much, but whenever they had a question or problem they couldn't figure out, I was always their first call." I feel myself grinning inadvertently at Spencer's reminiscing.
"Well, if you change your mind or need a study break tomorrow, we will probably be just hanging out in my room and you're welcome to join us." I'm rather impressed with how much my communication abilities with Spencer have improved throughout the night. That offer was clear, concise, and friendly. I give myself a mental pat on the back. "I'm just down the hall in room-"
"109," Spencer finishes for me. I gape at her stupidly wondering how she could possible know what my room number is.
"Brittany told me," she answers the question before I can even get it out.
"Seriously? Was there anything about me she didn't tell you?" I ask in astonishment. I don't know if I'm more shocked about everything Brittany told a practical (at the time) stranger about me or that Spencer had the ability and motivation to remember it all.
"Actually yes," Spencer answers as she takes a step closer to me. "She never did tell me if you are seeing anyone."
"Not at the moment," I reply simply, "you?"
Her lips turn slightly upwards at my answer before she responds, "Currently unattached." Now it's my turn to be giddy inside, but I try to control my facial features to not let my enthusiasm show too much.
"Good to know," I state firmly.
"Definitely good to know," Spencer adds with a single nod in affirmation. "Speaking of Brittany," she continues, "do you think she had a good time at dinner?" I'm slightly thrown by the change of subject and why Spencer would care if my friend had a good time, but I answer nonetheless.
"Um, I would guess so."
"Well you said that she would be upset if I didn't join," she states clearly, "So was Brittany happy that I came with?" Then it clicks. Of course neither of us were really talking about Brittany at the time, but I could definitely play along.
"Yeah, she was definitely happy," I reply. Spencer seems appeased for the moment, but then she takes another step closer to me leaving less than a foot of space between our bodies.
"What about Quinn?" She asks gently. Her eyes dart between mine as if they are searching for the answer that is hidden there. This no doubt is one of those situations Spencer referred to in the car where it is hard for her to let people in. I should answer her truthfully, but what fun would that be. I compose my facial features and respond.
"She could have cared less," I say with a straight face. Spencer's features fall subtly as her shoulders and eyes drop while her smile fades. She takes a step back distancing herself from me, but I won't have any of it. I step forward to keep the space between us close, and I shove her shoulder lightly as a grin appears on my face, unable to keep up the façade for very long. "That's what you get to pretending to leave me at Vito's." Spencer rolls her eyes before focusing her attention fully on me, eyes hopeful as she waits for me to give an honest answer. I know that I may not get Spencer to open up again if I'm not truthful with her now so I steel my own nerves and answer.
"Quinn was very glad you came too," I reply softly. Spencer gives me the full grin that I saw when she decided to join us for dinner and I know that she is pleased with my response. I'm about to ask her if she had a good time as well, but I am stopped prematurely by a pair of soft lips on my own. The kiss is over before it even begins, but the action itself leaves me pretty confident about the answer to the question I haven't asked.
"I had a really good time tonight," Spencer says answering the question for me anyway. "We should hang out sometime when you're free." I'm still processing the feeling of her lips on mine and it's all I can do to nod in agreement. Spencer begins climbing up the staircase, throwing a wave at me over her shoulder. She's at the top of the first flight when I realize I have no way to contact her and don't even know what her room number is.
"Hey, wait!" I shout at her for the second time tonight. She pauses on the landing, looking down at me.
"How am I supposed to find you?"
"Look for the door that says Spencer on it," she states like it's the most obvious answer. "Are you sure you're qualified to attend Yale?" she asks. I shake my head and choose to ignore her quip.
"Goodnight Spencer," I say as I make my back down the few stairs I climbed.
"Sweet dreams Quinn," I hear her call down the stairway.
I meander back to my room to find my best friends passed out on my futon, their bodies tangled together, thankfully still dressed. My heart yearns for what they have, and the thought of Spencer's lips on mine gives me hope for the possibility of that kind of love in my future. I crawl into bed thinking that maybe I've misjudged Halloween and that the holiday may have some merit after all.