Okay, so I don't think this story is that amazing, but I have had the need to write it for months so I finally got it out of my system. Um, I guess this is a songfic without really being a songfic… if that makes any sense at all. The story is pretty much based off of the song "Birds" by Kate Nash. A pretty amazing song that I do not own sadly, nor do I own anything pertaining to Glee, sadly. Um, the parts last couple of quotes at the end come directly from the song, so if they seem a little off, that is why. I guess this like an AU around sectionals, I only say that because in my mind Quinn's Eggo wasn't Preggo, but take it how you will. Anywho, if I haven't completely scared you off with my mindless ranting than please read and review my story. =^D
Oh, and just a thought but maybe reading the story while listening to the song will set the tone better. Some people like it, idk if you will though. Whatever floats your boat.
Birds
The sun started to rise over the small town of Lima, Ohio. The birds were rustling their feathers and spreading their wings ready to start the new day. The day to day blue collar workers were on their way to their factory jobs and the wind rustled the corn stalks, making a sweet earthy aroma fall over the town. It seemed as though Mother Nature was making the day's conditions perfect for the event that was to take place. Today was the big day, Sectionals.
The Glee students had been up at the crack of dawn on a bus leaving for their musical destination, everyone was accounted for, except, for one Gleek who over slept a bit.
Quinn Fabray pulled into the school's parking lot soon enough to see the yellow bus speeding down the street without her on it. She was certain that they would have waited for her, but she supposed she wasn't a big enough contribution to the team to be remembered. She sighed and slumped down into her seat and reached for her purse. She dug into the bag looking for her phone only to remember she left it on her nightstand in her haste. Annoyed with herself and the situation she just got into she let her head fall onto the steering wheel as she tried to collect herself. She focused on her breathing, in and out, in and out, she kept this steady mantra going while she tried to figure out what to do next, only to be interpreted by a gentle tap on her passenger door window.
She slowly raised her head only to see an equally annoyed Rachel Berry staring at her. Quinn's eyes quickly narrowed into thin slits at the sight of the girl, what did she want? More importantly, why was she here and not on the bus? She stared down the brunette for a good ten seconds before letting out a defeated sigh and breaking eye contact. She was not in the mood for this. She slowly rolled down the passenger window enough for words to be exchanged.
"What are you doing here Berry." It wasn't a question, it was more of a drawn out statement.
"Quinn, do you have something against Broadway?" the brunette stated while folding her arms, obviously a bit irritated.
Not expecting this question, but somehow not surprised Quinn shook her head and lamely said, "No".
"Well, do you have something against me perhaps-" Quinn started to open her mouth to let out her first sarcastic comment of the day only to be interrupted. "Being on Broadway?"
"Why would I give crap about you being on Broadway, Man Hands?"
"I don't know you tell me. Because this all seems like a well thought out plan on your part to jeopardize my future on Broadway, Quinn. And I will not stand for you crushing my dreams, you may call me names, slushy me at will but you will not-"
Quinn genuinely confused by what Rachel was saying cut the rant short, " What the hell are you talking about, Chewbacca?"
Caught off guard by being interrupted and the new nickname she earned, Rachel blinked dumbly at Quinn for a few moments. "Your being late. It is apparent that this was your attempt at crushing my dreams at stardom by risking the whole Glee Club by not being here at the appropriate time. I mean, without you our whole formation would have been thrown off and though we both very well know I can pick up the slack vocally, visually we need you. And if we look sloppy then my future possible employer may see me as sloppy and I can't have that." She finished in a matter-of-fact kind of way.
It was Quinn's turn to stare and blink. "Let me repeat and say what… the hell… are you talking about Rachel?" She didn't allow the other girl time to respond. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't go to bed last night and go, 'Hey, you know what sounds fun? Destroying Rachel Berry's hopes and dreams, I just hope I don't get stopped by those meddling kids!'" She finishes with false enthusiasm.
"You didn't?" Rachel actually seemed shocked by this news.
"No! Look, my alarm clock decided to break in the middle of the night so I overslept, okay? I had no intention of ruining your life. I think I have done a swell enough job of that already." She trailed off at the end, making the last part only audible to herself.
Though Quinn said the last part to herself, Rachel gave her a knowing look as though she knew exactly what was said, but she didn't comment on it. Instead she pried at another issue. "Would you mind?" Pointing to the cracked window. "As much as I love talking to a door, I rather not stand out here if necessary so…" Taking the hint Quinn unlocked the door and let the other girl inside the car. Rachel landed in the seat with a gentle plop and closed the door. An awkward silence fell over the two as they sat until Quinn finally had enough.
"Why aren't you on that bus right now anyway?"
Startled by the sudden question, Rachel stuttered a bit as she responded. "W-well, I had thought that something may have happened, and when we tried calling you and you didn't pick up they assumed you were on your way." Rachel's attention was directed to her hands as she examined them as if her first time ever seeing them. "I was a bit afraid I guess." This barely came out as a whisper. "You're usually on time so I thought that there had to be a reason for it, but we had to check in at Sectionals by eleven and we wouldn't have made it if we tried waiting for you so, I volunteered to wait behind. Then, as time started to pass I guess my imagination go the best of me and I thought you were out to get me." By the end of her admission Rachel's checks had well reddened and her eyes still had yet to leave her hands.
Quinn's mouth hung slightly ajar for a few moments until she had collected some form of a coherent thought. She wouldn't have thought Rachel Berry of all people would be concerned about her well being. Granted, ever since she has started Glee she and the brunette have grown a little bit closer but nothing that she dubbed on a friendship level. They were civil at best, but the fact that she risked waiting for the her to show up on one of the most important days of her life was beyond Quinn's level of reasoning.
Quinn shook her head as if to clear away her mind's confusion and looked at Rachel, one question on her lips. "Why?"
Finally, Rachel's hands stopped moving and her examination of them had come to an end as she let her eyes rise to the blonde's. A weak smile played on her lips as she spoke. "I honestly don't know. I mean… I suppose we have grown a little bit closer over the months and… I don't know, I felt as though we were becoming friends you know? And it bothered me that no one else seemed that concerned with where you were, and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"B-but, what if I hadn't shown up?" Quinn's voice started to rise a bit much to both of their surprise. " I mean, you could have been waiting out here for hours Rachel! You know how important sectionals are to you, I mean just a few minutes ago you were about to sacrifice me to the Broadway Gods for possibly sabotaging your chances at stardom. What in the hell were you thinking about?" Quinn finished, still trying to grasp the brunette's reasoning.
"You." Rachel breathed quietly, her attention back onto her hands as she finds a reason to examine them further.
Quinn took in a large gulp of air as her heart started to pound faster in her chest. This was getting out of hand, whatever this was. She glanced at Rachel from the corner of her eye and felt her stomach leap. That can't be a good sign. She quickly drew her eyes away because what she saw, or in this case felt, scared the shadobie out of her. Whatever it was, she didn't want to address it right now.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Quinn breathed out, desperate for a subject change. "How are we going to get there?"
Rachel looked at her, eyes wide with an unreadable emotion, she was obviously tense. But she soon relaxed and held a playful expression on her face. "Well, you kind of have a car." She motions with her hands to the area around her as to prove her point. "I was thinking our mode of transportation was obvious."
Quinn shakes her head. "Not in this car were not. This car won't make it five miles out of city limits without breaking down, trust me. Besides, I kind of have no gas."
Rachel stares at Quinn as though she has sprouted to heads. "Are you serious?"
"Of course not, I just like to make up random lies to see if my nose will grow a few more inches."
This time Rachel looked at her as if she had just grown three more heads. "Are you using sarcasm?"
"Wha- yes I'm using sarcasm! Jeez, what is the deal with you Berry." Again, it wasn't a question, just a general statement. When Quinn noticed the slight hurt in the other girl eyes she mentally kicked her self and ran her fingers through her hair. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just on edge I guess. So, what do you suppose we do now?"
Rachel placed her hand on her chin as she attempted to think. Quinn couldn't help but smile as the aspiring star's brows creased in concentration and her lips pursed together in a thin line. If this was a cartoon she was sure she would have saw a dull light bulb floating above the girl's head. Then in a sudden movement she brought her hand from her chin and into the air as the imaginary light bulb clicked on. "I've got it!" Rachel said to no one in particular. She turned her head to Quinn with a triumphant smile on her face. "We can take the train."
Quinn quickly smiled back and turned the keys hanging out of the ignition. "Train it is."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
The two girls rushed to the ticket booth of the train station asking when the next train for their destination would be leaving. The lady on the other side of the glass typed something into her computer and then a few clicks here and there later she brightly answered, "You ladies are in luck. The next train is leaving in ten minutes and there are exactly two seats left." Both of the girl's gave large toothy grins at this news.
Rachel was taking money out for her ticket when she heard a barely audible, "shit", come from beside her. She turned to her left to see a distraught looking Quinn beside her. "What's wrong?"
The blonde continued to look through her purse as if whatever she was looking for was going to pop up at any moment. Soon after she let out a sigh of defeat as her shoulders dropped. "I forgot my wallet on my nightstand." She mummers under her breath.
"What?" Rachel obviously missing whatever the girl had said.
"I said don't have the money for the ticket."
Rachel looked at Quinn for a second then back to her wallet as in thought, "Well, Daddy did give me extra money for-"
"No!" The other girl snapped quickly. "I am not letting you pay for me Berry. So get that idea out of your head right now."
"It's not a problem Quinn, you don't even have to pay me back if you don't want too."
"I said no Rachel. I refuse to let you pay for me, and that is the end of it."
"Well what do you propose we do Quinn?"
"I don't know." The answer is quite and soft. Quinn's eyes drifted to the window beside her as she watched a small sparrow glide out of a tree and into the morning traffic. Then she saw it, she grabbed Rachel's hand as she ran towards the exit of the building.
"Quinn where are we going?"
"To catch a bus."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
They reached the bus station five minutes before it was about to leave. Both girls were out of breath by the time they had arrived there.
"Do you mind telling me why we just ran all the way to the bus station!?" Rachel half yelled half panted.
"I told you I didn't have any gas." The blonde breathed out. "Besides running makes good singing, you should know that, Berry."
The brunette narrowed her eyes as she handed the ticket carrier her ticket and the blonde did the same. "Where did you get these tickets from anyway?" She asked once they were seated on the bus.
"You see, that is a funny story." Quinn awkwardly laughed. "They are tickets from a few months ago-"
"What!?" Rachel shouted, drawing more attention than attended on them.
"Shhhh, will you keep it down?" The blonde harshly whispered as she covered her friend's mouth. Rachel however squirmed under the other girl's hand trying to break free. "Stop moving around! I am not letting go unless you promise me you won't yell." The girl stopped moving under her hand and instantly calmed. Quinn slowly removed her hand from the other girls mouth.
"How dare you sneak me on a bus with invalid tickets!! Are you-"
"You promised you weren't going to yell!"
"It is hard to make a promise when someone's hand is covering your mouth!" Rachel grunts at the blonde.
"Will you just calm down? They don't even check the tickets, okay? Me, Britney, and Santana used to do this all the time before we got licenses." Before the other girl could say anything else the bus started moving out of the station and onto the road. However, Rachel was still tense and jittery, even after Lima was well behind them. Quinn leaned over her seat and touched the other girl's arm. "Relax will you?" She almost purred in the other girl's ear. "Your shaking my seat." And with that she backs away and starts to look out of the window.
Somehow, twenty minutes later Quinn and Rachel were laughing and giggling like the school girl's they were. They were knee deep in a conversation about who would most likely fall into Kurt's sexual advances Finn or Puck.
"What if Puck and Finn got together?" Rachel giggled to herself.
"That would be hilarious. What if they end up getting married? Then they end up adopting kids or something like that."
"Could you imaging what they would name their baby? Knowing Finn he would want to name it something silly like Rain or Drizzle."
"And knowing Puck he would want to combine his and Finn's names together so their child would be named Fuc-" Before Quinn could even finish her statement the bus driver announced over the intercom that they would be slowing down for traffic in the next town but it was nothing to worry about. Rachel had her eyes closed as she chuckled to herself about Quinn's earlier comment. The blonde unknowingly started to smile at the girl next her as she watched her fit of laughter finally cease. When Rachel opened her eyes however, the Quinn was left speechless.
That feeling hit her again, the same one she felt in the car. Her heart started to beat faster as she took a few gulps of needed air. Her hazel eyes were drawn to the dark brown ones in front of her. She couldn't break contact with them because she was afraid this feeling would go away. And she wasn't really sure if she wanted it too. She saw so much in the eyes she hadn't really taken the time out to look in before. She saw a mystery, a riddle of a girl that had so much more to offer other than an angelic singing voice and a closet full of argyle. She also saw a girl who captivated her to an extent, so much so it scared her, she was fascinated by everything that made Rachel Berry, well, Rachel Berry. But mostly, she saw a beautiful girl she had wronged, who she had hurt multiple times to make herself feel better about God knows what, a girl she wasn't sure she deserved to be friends with, let alone anything else.
"Quinn?" Rachel's concerned eyes and tone was what brought Quinn out of her daze. "Quinn, what's wrong?"
Quinn blinked and let the red tint color her cheeks. "Sorry, I just… I never noticed you had brown eyes."
Now it was Rachel's turn to blush as a light red colored her tanned cheeks. Both girl's now sat in a shy silence. Not awkward but not exactly comfortable either. Rachel started to fiddle with her skirt and Quinn quietly watched from the corner of her eye. Her stomach started doing tricks as her eyes drifted from the Rachel's hands to her skirt to the girl's thighs as the short skirt barely covered the smooth flesh. Not sure what came over her, Quinn quickly brought her eyes back up only to see Rachel starting at her with a confused look. Quinn couldn't really blame her though. How would you react if your friend was staring at your legs?
The blonde let out a cough to try and distract the other girl, but when that didn't do anything she started to blush a deep red that would have put a tomato to shame. "Um, I like your skirt." Quinn croaked out. Since when had she become so afraid of Rachel Berry? Quinn swallowed. "It looks good on you."
Rachel stared at Quinn for a long moment before she smiled a confident smile. "Thanks. I was hoping you would like it."
Quinn looked at the other girl confused. "You were hoping I would like it?"
Rachel simply nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I mean, kind of. I wanted to look nice today period because of what it meant for me. But I get tired of you and Santana always talking about my clothes… so I just wanted to, I don't know, impress you?" All Rachel got in response was Quinn getting a very serious expression on her face. She watched as the other girl's lips narrowed and thinned. Quinn's eyes were looking in her direction but she wasn't really looking at her. It was almost like she was looking through her or past her. The brunette cocked an eyebrow in the Quinn's direction. "What are you thinking about Quinn? You can tell me." She said quietly, almost as if she was afraid she was interrupting something very important.
Quinn visibly jumped as if she forgot the other girl was sitting next to her. Her mouth opened as if she was about to respond but it closed as quickly as it opened. Quinn started rubbing newly sweaty palms on her sundress as she said, "alright, I'll try." Quinn wanted to say what she was feeling with out actually saying it. It was scary enough to have something like this come to your attention, but then to actually say it out loud, that was a whole other thing within itself. She swallowed and attempted to say what she was feeling.
"All the stars up in the sky and the leaves in the trees, all the broken bits that make you jump up and grassy bits in between. All the matter in the world that's how much I like you." Quinn listened as the words came out of her mouth and she was positive that it made sense in her head. But the confused look on Rachel's face proved that wasn't the case outside of her head.
Rachel's head tilted to the side as she tried to make some sense out of what Quinn just said, but all she came up with was, "what?"
Quinn's eyebrows creased once again as she tried to find away to express herself. "Let me try and explain again." She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes they drifted out of the window as she saw the same little sparrow from earlier flying next to the bus. It almost looked like it was going to run into the window but as soon as it got close enough it swooped back up. A small smile graced her lips as a sudden realization hit her. She knew how she could explain her feelings, or at least what she was going to use to get her point across.
Quinn looked into Rachel's eyes and then at the little guy flying outside the window. "Right, so birds can fly so high and they can shit on your head, and they can almost fly into your eye and make you feel so scared. But when you look at them, and you see that they're beautiful… that's how I feel about you." That wasn't as romantic as Quinn thought it was going to be but it got the point across. As the bird flew away she finally brought her eyes to Rachel as it finally dawned on her. "Yeah, that's how I feel about you." She said quietly, softer than a whisper, but still loud enough for Rachel to hear.
The shorter girl's mouth hung open, she wanted to say something but she was lost for words. She blinked several times, mouth still wide open when she finally said, "what?"
Quinn said, "you."
Rachel, finally able to form sentences said, "what are you talking about?"
Quinn smiled a soft smile and once again said, "you."
Rachel Berry wasn't one for romance, but when she imagined one of the most romantic moments of her life this isn't what she would have thought of, but at the same time, she couldn't picture it done or said any other way. She smiled back at Quinn and slowly slid her hand into the other girl's. "Thanks," she said as she laced their fingers together, "I like you too."
If at all possible the smile on Quinn's face had doubled in size. She gave the hand in her own a light squeeze as she brought it to her lips and planted a small kiss on it. Then, as if trying to contain her happiness Quinn lamely said, "cool." Rachel grinned back and rested her head on Quinn's shoulder. Before Quinn rested her head on Rachel's she looked outside to see the sparrow, only this time he had a friend with him. Quinn watched as they flied on the outside of the bus in close proximity and let a lazy grin fall onto her face before she started to drift off into sleep.
Maybe her admission wasn't the most romantic, but that didn't matter because she still got the girl. And besides, romance is for the birds anyway.
Well, that is it. I hope there was something about that the story you liked. If there was anything wrong with it or hard to understand I would appreciate it if you told me so I could fix it. I don't have a beta so if anyone would be interested let me know. Anyway, thank you for reading, reviews are always nice… just throwing that tidbit of info out there.
* Ashley *