Surprise had flitted across Quinn's face, as well, but the familiar hazel eyes were as cool and calculating as Rachel had ever seen them when her former classmate stuck out her hand.
"Wow. Hello, Rachel." Rachel shook her hand, feeling suddenly awkward. Quinn was dressed casually enough – in skinny jeans, boots, and a North Face, she looked like she was ready to sprawl out on a couch and do some reading for a graduate class. But her posture, the way she held herself…she was still very much the unreadable and icy young woman she had been in high school.
Rachel couldn't think of anything to say, so she just blurted, "Do you have change for a twenty?"
Quinn arched an eyebrow, but gave Rachel a half-smile. "Yeah. I should." She set down the Diet Coke she had just purchased, picking through a red and black wallet until she found some smaller bills.
"Thanks," Rachel said awkwardly, handing Quinn the twenty.
Quinn watched with the same half-smile as Rachel purchased a Diet Coke for herself and a Sprite for Michael…and then, as an afterthought, bought him some Starburst.
"Thank you," she said as her eyes met Quinn's again.
"No problem," Quinn said casually. Rachel continued to stand, gawking at her former classmate, until the blonde spoke again.
"Is there…something on my face?" Rachel started, nearly dropping her snacks.
"No, I'm…" she shook her head. "I'm sorry, this is just quite awkward. Here I am, we haven't seen each other since graduation in 2012, and I'm running into you in the Lima Memorial Hospital, of all places!"
"Well, you look good," Quinn said with another half-smile, and Rachel felt herself flush.
"Thank you… I… I'm here for my dad," she said. "He slipped in the kitchen and hit his head. I mean, he'll be okay," she said hurriedly as Quinn gasped. "My other father just thought it would be best to bring him in."
"That was smart of him," Quinn said.
"Yeah…he had a heart attack a few months ago, so you can never be too careful, right? He was cooking way too much – you know, the turkey and everything for him and for daddy, and the vegan things for me. It was just the three of us but it must have been a lot of stress, and he could have got a concussion or something!"
Quinn nodded, and Rachel flushed again because she realized how much she was rambling.
"…is everything all right your way?" she asked tentatively. Quinn nodded.
"One of my students was traveling along I-75 to go from his mom's in Dayton to his dad's in Toledo. He got in a wreck on the way and got hit pretty hard when his airbags deployed. He may have sprained a wrist, too, and they're not sure. He was close to Lima when it happened, and he knew I was here with my mom, so he called me up. He'll be all right."
"You teach now? I thought you were going to Yale for drama…"
"That was the plan, yes," Quinn said. "I'm teaching drama over near Columbus. College kids." Rachel nodded. "You've done well, right? Followed your dreams straight to Broadway."
"Yeah, I…" Rachel wasn't sure how impressed Quinn would be with a list of her accolades, so she kept it brief. "I've been in New York since graduation, but I think I'm going to take some time away from the big city and work on some smaller projects."
"You won a Grammy, right?"
"Well…yeah, the whole cast of Chicago did earlier this year."
Quinn shook her head. "Broadway must have been a little too much for you, Berry. Ten years ago you would have been announcing that to the world!"
Rachel laughed, feeling self-conscious. "I suppose I would have. I don't know. I guess it's hard to think about winning a Grammy when you've got a parent getting his brain poked at."
They stayed quiet for a bit. Quinn took a sip of her Diet Coke.
"Well, I'd better go see what the x-rays found," she said. "Gus's dad will be here to get him soon, and I want to meet him."
"I should check on my daddy before he thinks I hurt myself too," Rachel said.
"…how long are you in town?" Quinn asked. The question was startling, unexpected. Rachel even dropped her Starburst. What was Quinn…
"Just a few more days, but I may be back for a movie."
Quinn arched an eyebrow, again. "To see a movie with your dads, or…."
"Well, no. Like, to be in a movie. Filming around here, I think. Josh Radnor's from Ohio – I don't know if you know him, but…"
"And I'm an Ohio drama teacher," she said with a laugh. "We've crossed paths once or twice. I was at his Ohio premiere of Liberal Arts when I was just starting at Yale, and he came to give us a workshop at OSU when I did my doctoral work there."
Rachel's eyes widened. "You have a doctorate?"
That half-smile again. "I wanted to do everything I could in college. And then I realized…well." She turned and threw a glance over her shoulder. "That may be a conversation for another day." She bent and picked up the dropped candy. "Give me a call."
"I don't – "
"Look in your hand." Rachel stared down at the pack of Starburst. Quinn had, somehow, folded a business card and slipped it into Rachel's hand.
Rachel stared at it a moment. When she looked up, Quinn had already disappeared down the hall. She put the business card in her pocket and headed back to sit with her daddy.
That was…interesting.
