The light footsteps interrupt your thoughts as they approached you slowly. You know those steps; you know who it is very well. The way that the white sneakers move across the hard ground make you want to escape what you know for sure is coming. Make you want to escape the goodbye.
"Sweetie, is everything okay?" Her light voice asks you and you cannot stand the strong façade as a tear slides down your face and you hurry to wipe it away.
"Y- yes." You manage to stutter out and now she knows something is definitely wrong.
"Let me in." The three words, which she's been saying too much in the last few weeks because you have a tendency to close yourself to everyone in situations like this, make your tears run quietly down your cheeks again.
The soft movement of the water gives away a sense of false security and you try to say something but nothing comes out when you open your mouth. You try a few more times before you succeed and she is sitting by you at that time, her hand is lingering around your waist and you shiver from the warm touch.
"What if it doesn't last?" You ask in a whisper and feel the cold air running down your spine; the only thing that's keeping you warm at that moment is her hand.
"Ray, we're going home tomorrow; you knew this trip wouldn't last forever." Her obliviousness distracts you from your thoughts for just a second and you know then that you have to make it clearer for her.
"You and I; what if we don't last?" Your voice breaks near the end but she can understand what you wanted to say.
She sighs loudly and you know you've hit her insecurities. Since the day one of your relationship, she doubted it was ever going to last. But you've lasted through that summer and then through your senior year. This summer though, you feel the end coming and you don't like it at all but you love her, you'll let her go.
"What if we do, though?" She asks you uncertainly and you can hear hesitation in her voice. She fought for this relationship too much to just give up on it and you are sure, even if you cannot see her face, that she is crying by now; you've witnessed only a handful of times she cried and it has never been good.
"I won't let you give up your dream school." You slowly manage to get out of your mouth after a couple of moments of blissful silence.
"You've been my dream much longer that the stupid school." She chokes out and you recognize the truth in her words; she's told you that too many times for you to just ignore it.
"Quinn, please…" You start but don't know what to say next and it scares you. The water is the only thing you hear now and you momentarily decide to speak once again when she doesn't say a word. "New York is my dream. Los Angeles is yours. Don't give it up because of me. Maybe we can, somewhere in the fu…" You don't get to finish your sentence when she interrupts you.
"Don't. Don't say it." She says and swiftly stands up, letting go of you. "I'll go to freaking Los Angeles, happy? Well, I'm not." The last words hurry out of her mouth as she walks away in the direction of the camp but you know her too well to think that's her destination.
You stay sitting by lake a few more minutes but then rapidly get up and head towards the camp fire you know your classmates have set by now. True to your thoughts, Noah and Sam are already playing a song that you immediately recognize. You cast a glance in Santana and Brittany's direction and see the blonde burying her head in the Latina's neck; you smile at the irony of how pure they look together when Santana is… well, not so pure. She's not there yet, you notice when your look parts away from the couple.
The time passed rather quickly and she never showed. Not when you did your rendition of your and hers song nor when your teacher gave a speech about going your own ways, making your pain much larger and forcing you into tears again. At the end of the night, when you had to go to your cabin, she still wasn't there.
You were a little surprised when you saw her inside, laying on her bed, which you moved by yours so you can be close. She stared at the ceiling, not even noticing all the girls come in and make their ways to their beds. She was lost in her own thoughts like she always was when you made a surprise visit to her house. You never knew what she was thinking of but now you think you figured it out.
When all of the girls were in the bed, you made sure to slow down with your nightly routine, hoping she would fall asleep by the time you came back; she didn't. However, you laid down on your side of the bed with your back turned to her even though you knew she would know you're not sleeping.
Her breathing is the only thing you can now hear. You used to love falling asleep to that sound; now, you find yourself unable to doze off and forget everything. She's still awake, laying on her back and you can't help but speak.
"Let me in." You say, copying what was usually her line.
"I won't let you go." She says and you sigh, turning to her. "NYU has great arts program, I'll go there. I'm going to fight for our happy ending."
"Honey…" The usual term of endearment rolls off your tongue as you had the right to say it now.
"No, I love you. You know I haven't said that to anyone?" She says the words for the first time, both of you being afraid to say it before exactly because you knew this situation will come. "Not even my mother, for heaven's sake!" She continues. "I'm coming with you, so deal with it."
"Quinn, don't give up on your dream because of me. If it's meant to be, we'll find each other again." You refused to give in, knowing really well that UCLA was her first choice for colleges. Yes, she got the scholarship to many other schools too but you know that, deep inside, she wants to go to Los Angeles and New York was made for you.
"You, Rachel, you are my only dream. Always were, always will be." She made a pause to wipe away a tear from her face and you leaned your elbow on the bed to get a better look at her. "God, I love you." She exclaimed a little too loudly. "I'll do anything for you. I could get down on my knee right this moment and know that it wouldn't be a mistake but the best thing I did in my whole life. I don't deserve you but you keep on trying to make me believe the opposite. You're my dream." She repeated for who knows what time this night. Somehow, you believe her, even though you still think going to the pacific shore would be better for her. But, hey, who are you to argue with the stubborn blonde when she has her mind set on what she needs and wants?
"I love you, too." You silently surrender and move closer to her, letting her put her hands around you and place a soft kiss on top of your head.
"Now that you two love birds have it all worked out, could you let us all sleep? Thank you." Santana chimes in and both Quinn and you blush because now you realize that everyone in the room has been listening to you but still smile at the fact that everything worked out alright.