Date Night in a Jar
Once all of their popsicle sticks had been decorated, Rachel shuffled them around a bit and stuck them in the jar. "I figured we'd pick the week before, and whoever picks keeps it a surprise while they plan." She didn't miss the looks of fiendish glee from her girlfriends. She'd figured that part would go over well—competition and surprise were Quinn and Santana's middle names. "Santana, if you'd do the honors…."
"How come Santana gets to go first?" Quinn asked.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I came up with the idea, and between the two of you, her birthday is closest."
Shooting a smirk at Quinn, Santana closed her eyes and pulled a popsicle stick from the jar. She smiled when she read it. "Got it. Light pink, so we're staying in next week."
As the days rolled on, Quinn would have forgotten about their upcoming date night, had it not been for Rachel's unstoppable excitement, and Santana's cryptic hints.
That Friday afternoon, they each got a text from Santana.
Be home by six! Xo, S
Quinn hopped on the subway at five, and picked a seat near the doors. As always, she dropped her bag in the seat next to her and ignored the death stares for three stops until Rachel got on. "Hey, baby."
"Evening, love," Rachel said, kissing her cheek. "What do you think Santana has planned for tonight?"
"I have no idea. I hope it involves food, whatever it is. I'm starving."
"How was your day?"
"Fine. Finally got reviews back on that last paper I wrote. Managed a B, so I'm not complaining. What about you? How were rehearsals?"
"It's coming together quite nicely now. Chicago is a bit ambitious, but we are the top class. I think Sarah's really falling into her role as Roxie, and I'm finally comfortable with all of Velma's songs. Brody's doing an amazing job as Billy. I think we're going to give a very competitive performance at Showcase."
"Good," Quinn said, hugging her. "I know how stressful it was in the beginning."
Rachel nodded. "Surprisingly enough, I think it was when our directors told us to go off and get drunk together three weeks ago that things started coming together."
"Eurgh…don't remind me. I had to keep Santana from killing at least three people that night when we were out looking for you. You guys are shit at planning pub crawls."
"In our defense, we were already a few sheets to the wind by the time anyone started planning anything."
They spent the rest of the short ride in a comfortable silence. When they stepped into the cool night air again, Quinn took Rachel's hand and led her toward the building at the far end of the block. "Think nosy Mrs. Mason will be down checking her mail?"
"I still don't think it's so much that she's nosy," Rachel said with a sly smile. "I think she's got a crush on you."
"Don't even go there!" Quinn groaned. Ever since they'd moved to New York, Quinn had found that she was, apparently, cougar bait. "I'm still traumatized from our visit to Candy Bar."
Rachel laughed as they entered their building. "Good thing Santana was there to rescue you, right?"
"Don't pretend you weren't about to go Lima Heights Adjacent on that dashing accounting exec too."
"True. She was quite…persistent."
"Alright, moment of truth," Quinn said as they climbed the two flights to their apartment. "Time to see what Santana's got up her sleeve."
When they reached the door, Rachel paused. "She said be home by six. It's only five-forty."
"So?"
"So, what if she's not ready yet?"
"She said 'by six'. As in 'no later than'. She's probably ready."
"Should we text her first just in case?"
"Just go in."
"Quinn, she's spent a week planning this! We don't want to ruin it by—"
The door opened. Santana was in her Hunger Games footie pajamas. She'd borrowed Kurt's "privacy partitions" for the evening, so the other two couldn't see into the living room. "Everything's set up," she said, giving each of them a kiss. "Go change into your pajamas, then come into the living room."
"Sushi!" Rachel squealed as she and Quinn walked into the room ten minutes later.
"And Scrabble."
"Oh yay! That one was mine!" Quinn said, taking a seat.
"I figured, since our table is small, we can eat first and then play."
"Sounds good to me!"
They recapped their days as they dug into their dinner. Santana, in the spirit of the evening, even tried a bit of Rachel's salmon nigiri—something she'd been adamantly avoiding up until that point.
"It's…squishy. But not bad. Still, I think I'll stick to my spicy crab rolls."
By the time they pulled out Scrabble, all three were in their "Gaming Zone". It's hard doing board games with two other fiercely competitive girls, but Quinn happened to love the drama. Which started right away, of course….
"Santana! You can't use 'herpes' as a word!"
"It is a word, thanks! Just ask Puck…."
"Quinn, stop going all English/Writing major on us! Use words we don't have to look up."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"I'm making a call right now. No using characters from books or Broadway shows. Take 'Elphaba' off the board, Rach."
By the time Santana called it an hour later, there were more Broadway characters, medical conditions, and references to 19th century literature on the board than they knew what to do with.
"I think…Quinn won?" Rachel said, staring at the board.
"Santana had longer words."
"We'll call it a tie," Santana said, helping Quinn put the board away.
Rachel grabbed the Date Night Jar of Destiny (Santana had named it that week), and held it out to Quinn. "Your turn."
Quinn closed her eyes and picked one of the popsicle sticks. The look on her face when she read it could only be described as delightfully evil. "Oh god…best idea ever."
"What is it?" Santana asked.
"Now, now, S… you know the rules," Quinn said, tucking the stick into her purse.
"This is going to be a long week," Rachel groaned.
Quinn just chuckled and grabbed her cell phone. "Be right back." She walked into their guest bedroom/office and hit number five on speed dial.
"Kurt Hummel's Fashion Advice Hotline, how may I assist you today?"
"Meet me for lunch tomorrow?" Quinn asked quietly. "I need your help with a little…project."
"Oooh, you've got your devious voice on! The Workshop at noon?"
"I'll be there. Thanks, Kurt!"
LbN: A new Glee poll is up on my profile, if you want to vote! :)
