Quinn walked along the busy New York streets, and despite her fashionable clothes and hurried pace, she stood out in the swelling crowd. Unlike the people who surrounded her with their heads down, the blonde was looking up around her, marveling at the towers the seemed to touch the clouds themselves. She took the opportunity to dig her camera out of her bag and take a few shots at the towering structures around her, before turning the dense on the crowd that effortlessly moved past her. Eyes squinted, fingers poised, the blonde's keen eyes focused in and waited a few more seconds to capture the momentum of the busy streets before…
"Quinn!"
Bursting through the crowd right as the shutter closed, Rachel Berry stood before her. Bundled up in winter gear so unnecessary that it made her look like she was in danger of toppling over if she moved too quickly, the small brunet rushed forward to close the gap between them, extending a cup of coffee.
It had been only a week since Quinn had made the trip from her old dorm room to Rachel's apartment, now their apartment; and in that short time, the blonde had experienced such an emotional rollercoaster she feared she might soon fall off. The theatrical student certainly lived up to her stereotype: she was overwhelmingly loud, practiced her pitch over making breakfast, and perhaps worst of all, was increasingly believing that Quinn's business was, in fact, her own. The blonde had even considered that freshmen would be better to live with than this girl, and that was saying something. She reassured herself, however, that surely Rachel couldn't be this full on all the time, that it was merely overexcitement about having a new room mate (and, if Quinn was being honest, maybe the first friend the girl had ever had.)
"Hey, Rachel," Quinn mumbled, stuffing the camera back into her bag before accepting the drink and allowing the smaller girl to lead her over to the small red coffee table.
"So, how are your classes going? You seemed to have a lot on your plate last night… I've never seen anyone type that fast before!" Rachel began, taking a sip of coffee.
"Oh, it was nothing, just a paper," Quinn replied, her attention focused on the constant jostle of people.
"Great!" Rachel shot back immediately, as if she had already decided upon her reply regardless of Quinn's response.
"So, that means you're not busy, which is excellent. I've taken the liberty of scheduling our household meeting, and I was thinking tha-"
"Oh my god, Rachel?!"
The squeal of her roommate's name almost made Quinn drop her coffee cup. Emerging from the crowd, a tall, lean, black-haired beauty trotted over on stilted legs to sweep Rachel up into a hug. The two embraced with some comfort and familiarity that Quinn immediately felt awkward, dropping her eyes and finding extensive interest in the material her sweater was made from.
"Babe, it's been so long! How have you been?"
"I've been excellent, Jade! I've taken the lead role for this years musical, which was to be expected, but I'm happy none the less… and I've adopted a kitten, and, oh! I've moved in with Quinn! How rude of me, Jade, meet Quinn."
Quinn looked up and was immediately met with the coldest death glare she had ever received. Pale blue eyes stared out from underneath a straight cut fringe, and never before had the blonde witnessed a smile that seemed to cause someone so much effort. Regardless, Quinn rose to her feet and returned the smile, shaking the hand that was extended to her, which was released seconds later as Jade placed it on Rachel's hip.
"Well, I'd best be off. Nice seeing you!"
The two girls sat back down in sync, one noticeably more confused that the other. Rachel smiled to herself, while Quinn simply stared at her, shocked by the oblivious theater major. Was Rachel really that pathetic in dealing with people? Scolding herself for even thinking such a silly question, the blonde gave a light cough, which seemed to bring Rachel's head out of the clouds and back down to the coffee table.
"Oh, sorry. As I was saying, I was thinking we could-"
"Who was that?" Quinn interjected.
"Ohhh, Jade? She's my ex, but as you can see, we clearly ended on good terms. She's my friend."
Oh.
It was easy for Quinn to forget that Rachel was… that way inclined. Not that she had a problem with it. Not at all. Though if she was to be totally honest, Quinn was quite confused by the whole thing. After all, all her life she had been told certain things about 'lesbians', and Rachel didn't seem to fit any of them. Well, she did have a cat, but the tiny girl wasn't 'larger', didn't have a boys haircut, wasn't tattooed, and didn't do drugs. She didn't even wear that many vests! Needless to say, Quinn hadn't exactly thought about Rachel having girls over or anything like that; after all, the tiny supernova seemed to be constantly trying to keep up with herself, let alone have time for the dating world.
Another thought, however, suddenly dawned on Quinn.
"Um, Rachel. I think Jade thought I was your, ah, girlfriend," Quinn hissed, feeling her ears heat up.
Rachel, on the other hand, broke into her large, award-winning smile, and casually flipped her hand through the air.
"Don't be silly! I'm sure she was happy to meet you," the brunette dismissed.
Quinn nodded along passively, feeling the heat spread to her cheeks. She wasn't sure what mas making her feel this embarrassed, but there was no talking herself out of accepting the fact that she was. She had never considered herself homophobic, but the mere thought of even a stranger thinking that she was gay was enough to make her want to chase after that Jade girl and explain that she wasn't. And the more Quinn realized how badly she didn't want someone to think she was, the more embarrassed for feeling that way she became.
"Aw, your little nose is turning red. Let's go home and get you out of the cold, okay?"
Rachel's words brought Quinn out of her self-imposed paralyzing embarrassment, allowing the blonde to rise to her feet. She followed the smaller girl through the swarming movement of bodies, and before she knew it they had returned home.
Quinn instantly mumbled something to do with feeling a bit ill, and retreated to the safety of her room.
The second her roommate's door was closed, Rachel's phone sprang to life with the tune to 'Because I Knew You'. After taking a moment to sing along, Rachel answered as she kicked off her shoes and entered her own room.
"So, how's the new roommate?"
"Please tell me you haven't scared this one away already."
The voices of her two best friends, Blaine and Kurt, immediately warmed Rachel's heart. She had been friends with the two boys since high school, and when they all found their dreams come true in New York, Rachel was beyond appreciative to have them there with her for support.
"She's lovely. And I never 'scare them away', Kurt," Rachel replied promptly, as she allowed herself to fall back onto her bed.
"Oh sweetheart, of course not. So, tell us about her."
"Well, she's really sweet. She's studying Drama and English Literature at NYU, absolutely stunning, can cook a fabulous lasagna, and she smells like vanilla and strawberries."
The brunette could practically hear the eyeroll down the phone.
"Rach, please do not tell this poor Quinn girl that you know what she smells like."
"I really like her. I hope we can be friends. Or more…"
"Awesome. Well, you know we're cheering for you."
"Thanks, boys. Dinner is summoning me. Talk to you later!"
Hanging up the phone, Rachel allowed her legs to dangle in the air as she pondered the conversation. She wasn't naïve enough to think that her previous four roommates had left without any relation to her behavior, although the third girl was undoubtedly simply threatened by her talent. Simply put, she wasn't willing to forgo her standard of living to please anyone, even if they were a blonde haired angelic girl with legs for days and smelt like vanilla and strawberries. With this resolve in mind, Rachel rolled off the bed and on to her feet, fixed up her ruffled hair, and took pen to paper.
Quinn was relaxing in her room, music playing loud enough to allow her to work on her paper, which, in Quinn's case, was loud. So perhaps that explained why, in her essay-writing haze, she failed to hear a persistent tapping on her door. It wasn't until Rachel had entered the room, and turned the volume of the stereo down to a quiet whisper, that Quinn sprang to life.
"Whoa, Rachel, you really need to knock before-"
"I did, Quinn, several times in fact; but moving on, we have a household to discuss."
Blinking away her confusion, Quinn settled back down into her bed, folding her legs up.
"Okay… everything seems cool?"
The piece of paper that suddenly appeared in Rachel's hand, however, wasn't exactly the sign she was hoping for. Rachel straightened up, tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat.
Here we go.
"I, on the most part, agree. You're a good companion, but I do have a few small issues I'd like to point out. If you could pick up after yourself more often, do the laundry before it becomes a pile, I do prefer color coded closets but I can help you there, if you could…"
Rachel's voice slowly turned into a low, dull void to Quinn's ears. Resigning herself to simply nod along as Rachel passionately paced back and forth, relentlessly continuing to list all the things that she required of Quinn, the blonde once again found herself what in the world she'd gotten herself in to. It wasn't as if she hated the girl… Rachel was kindhearted, and meant well- but all that still didn't prevent her from giving off that 'kill you in your sleep because you left a dish out' kind of vibe.
As Rachel continued to read off the list of tasks from the piece of paper she clutched tightly in her hands, Quinn couldn't help but hear the song playing in the background, whispering the iconic sounds of Queen.
"You're missing that one final screw
You're simply not in the pink my dear
To be honest you haven't got a clue
I'm going slightly mad
I'm going slightly mad"
Oh, you have no idea.
