AN: Ooh, I am liking this so far. But nonetheless I'm not completely sure where I'm going with this. I only have a vague idea, and would welcome suggestions. Please forgive any grammatical errors, or any other errors. Reviews and suggestions welcome. I own nothing. If I did Rachel would say no.
Changing
Fifteen minutes.
Thirty minutes.
An hour.
Rachel Berry wasn't sure how long it was she sat at the edge of the stage until she was kicked out of the auditorium, by Sue Sylvester no less. The cheer leading coach was apparently going to have her Cheerios use the space for one reason or another for her mandatory summer practices.
As she entered the parking lot a pang of guilt hit her once she remembered that they had taken her car to get here. Her fear for Quinn quickly dissipated though considering that they were no longer friends, again.
Absentmindedly she started up her car. Probably not the smartest thing to do, her mind was going at a mile a minute and apparently so was her car. For the past four years she had craved the acceptance of Quinn Fabray. And this moment was no different. Her entire body was shaking out of a mixture of anger, confusion and hurt.
She barely noticed the red light as she began to replay the event in her head. Finally noting how unstable her driving was at the current time, she decided to find someplace to park. She made her way to the Lima Bean, which was surprisingly close to where her erratic driving had taken her.
She ordered a small coffee, as she felt it to be rude to come by and wallow in her thoughts without buying anything. The place was fairly empty, and Rachel took a seat in as a secluded a place as she could. Once again she began to run through the events in the auditorium.
"I love you."
An admission of that caliber was definitely not something she had expected from her former tormentor. It had been so much of a shock that only now did she fully register that those words did in fact come out of Quinn Fabray's mouth. Normally Rachel would have appreciated the drama of the situation, but this time she didn't. She couldn't.
Not only would Quinn be boarding a plane the following day, but Rachel wasn't sure if she reciprocated the blonde's feelings. She went further back, to her first memory of Quinn.
They had homeroom together, and had been seated by table alphabetically. The blonde had sat across from her as they began some childish activity of getting to know your neighbor, and then introducing them.
Her initial hesitance changed though, once she saw the instant rapport that she had with the blonde. That memory had been burned into her. Everything to how Quinn blushed when Rachel complimented how her green baby doll dress brought out her eyes, to how the blonde would giggle at the divas long winded rants about herself.
She felt so good about herself, having made a friend at her first day of high school. Rachel next saw her in the hallways. She happily greeted her, but was met with a slushie facial. Quinn walked past her doing her best to keep her composure. Knowing that she'd regret it she turned her head to look back at the brunette over her shoulder. Said diva was now being ridiculed by a number of jocks and Cheerios. Quinn's heart sank and she ran off to her next period.
Rachel saw none of this. All she could focus on was the laughing and jeering from the crowd surrounding her. Tears formed in her eyes, and when she concluded that said tears were not caused by the icy beverage she began to cry even more.
She began to feel tears forming in her eyes and thus took a sip of her coffee to help clam her nerves. Typically she'd use a glass of water, but any beverage would work just as well. Surprisingly it had become slightly cold, and Rachel began to wonder how long she'd been sitting there.
The diva decided to look on the bright side. The longer she stayed out, the longer she could avoid all the questions everyone would throw at her upon seeing how she wasn't with Quinn. Her parents, and the entire Glee Club, along with the ones who had already left for college, and were all well aware that she and the blonde had planned to spend Quinn's last days in Lima together.
She took another sip of her drink, and found its decrease in temperature had become even more distasteful. She grasped her beverage and stood up bringing it to the nearest wastebasket. Her butt had gone numb, another sign that she had been here for too long.
She went back to her car and set off once again. Her driving was far more controlled this time. Even then though, Rachel's mind had more important things to focus on, and thus was driving on auto-pilot. She drifted back to thoughts of Quinn.
Rachel cared very deeply for the girl ever since that first encounter with her. She was inexplicably drawn to the blonde. In hindsight, her attraction to Finn now looked like some sort of sick revenge plot. The diva pondered this thought as she found herself pulling into Hummel Tires & Lube. She saw Finn directly inside working on a car.
The diva tentatively approached him. He was too distracted with engine of the automobile to notice her. She poked him lightly on the side. Finn jolted upright, smashing his head on the hood. Rachel clasped her hands over her mouth as the tall boy began rubbing the spot he hit. "Oh, Finn. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" she asked through her fingers.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Finn turned to her, still rubbing his head. Rachel got up on her tippy-toes, brought her hands to his chest for support, and gave him a chaste kiss. "And now I'm better." He had that dopey, lopsided smile on his face. The brunette beamed at him. Right now she didn't really need to know why she first pursued him.
He made her feel special, wanted, needed.
"Where's Quinn?" he quickly asked. He scanned the garage, and then when he found no sign of the blond her brought his eyes back to his girlfriend. Her smile had contorted into a pout and her eyes were looking down at their feet.
"We had a fight," Rachel replied as indifferently as she could.
"Oh," the diva's eyes shot up for a second before dropping back down. She had hoped he would have given more of a reaction. When nothing else was said, Rachel began to straighten out her clothes. The silence was ended when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Finn, do you think you could- Rachel, hey! It's good to see you." Blaine was dressed far differently than Rachel had ever seen him. He had on a pair of jeans, boots, and a dirt gray tee.
"Blaine!" Rachel quickly switched to actress mode. "It's good to see you too," she replied with false giddiness. "But what are you doing here?" Her brow furrowed.
"I'm working here now," he answered. "Thanks to my dad I know a thing or two about cars, and being a senior now I'm going to need to save some money if I plan to going to NYA-" a guilty look fell upon his face as he backtracked. "to a good college, that is. But why are you here? Shouldn't you be with-" he cut himself off as he saw Finn fervently shake his head back and forth.
"We had a fight," she answered again.
"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Rachel politely nodded her head even though she knew she wasn't.
"Well if you want to talk about it you can come to me," he offered. Through Kurt, Blaine knew of the history the two girls shared. He knew full well that it was a sensitive subject, and proceeded cautiously. They topic was not brought up often, but the two boys had agreed that Quinn and Rachel were happier and better off when they were friends. Interestingly neither of them had ever concluded that either girl might potentially be gay.
Rachel gave Blaine a weak smile before answering. "Thanks you, Blaine." He gave a smile in return before returning to his original intention.
"Anyway, Finn do you think you could look at something over here?" he asked already heading deeper into the garage.
"Yeah, sure. I'll be right there." Rachel had Finn's rapt attention. He glanced at Blaine, who nodded at him understandingly. "Hey, don't worry about this. Quinn's… Quinn. You know how she is." He was entirely clueless, but Rachel nodded her head in agreement. "She'll come around, she did decide to go to Yale to be close to you, right?" he tried to reassure her.
"If he asked you to stay you would have, wouldn't you?"
"Would you have followed me?" Rachel blurted out. Finn looked confused, but the brunette was certain that he knew exactly what she was asking. "Would you? If I went to New York? If I did get into NYADA? Would you have come with me?"
The tall boy brought his eyes away from Rachel's for the first time since Blaine had left. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know." He knew Rachel was disappointed in his answer, but at the same time felt that lying to her would make her feel just as upset. "I mean someone has to take over the garage," he explained. "It doesn't really matter now, does it?" He was desperate to get out this situation.
"No, I suppose not." He noted the melancholy in her voice, but didn't dare to broach the subject again.
"I should go help out Blaine." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you later, Rach." He disappeared into the garage and Rachel turned back to her car. She felt very weary and it took far too much effort to just enter the vehicle. Ever the drama queen, she was certain that she might pass out behind the wheel if she attempted to drive.
Regardless she pulled out of the garage and made her way home. It was still early, or at least it was earlier than she would usually get home after spending the day with Quinn. Therefore it came as no surprise to Rachel when her father's questioned the whereabouts of said blonde. They both dropped the subject upon closer inspection of their daughter, though. They both knew the look she had for she had worn it before, but only once before.
It had been the first day she was slushied.
The first day she had become friends with Quinn Fabray.
The first day she was rejected by Quinn Fabray.
AN: Reviews and suggestions, please. And also what characters would you like to see? So far I'm certain to have Finn, Kurt, Blaine, Sam, and maybe Puck be around. I might add Santana and Brittany, but I'd need some help when it comes to what college they're attending.
