Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. I do not own any of the characters from the show that are mentioned in this story. Also, I forgot to mention this last chapter but this story will be following the plot of Nicholas Sparks' novel A Message In A Bottle very faintly. There are going to be major switches and differences but if you look hard enough, you'll see some similarities!

Chapter 2

Quinn had no idea when Sam's shift was as a lifeguard, or which part of the beach he supervised. So instead of trying to look for him the next day, she decided to take a walk along the shore. Quinn walked about half a mile when a volleyball rolled towards her and stopped near her feet. Looking up to find the owner, she was pleasantly surprised when she saw Sam jogging over to her. He looked great and Quinn noticed that he was wearing red swim-trunks that were labeled "LIFEGUARD" on the side, along with a red armband that expanded whenever he flexed his biceps. When he met her gaze, he waved. A yell from the other volleyball players reminded Sam that they still needed to finish their game.

"Hey, Quinn! I didn't know you were still in the area- Oh, uh, do you want to come play volleyball with us? The winning team gets to dine at a nice restaurant while the losing team has to pay", he asked, silently begging his heart to stop beating so fast from simply making eye contact with the hazel-eyed beauty in front of him.

Quinn looked back at the people who had been playing the game with Sam before hesitating and then shaking her head slowly. She already felt herself falling for him, and she reminded herself that he was still in love with his ex-wife. "I don't think I can…"

Frowning, Sam pressed his lips together, "Why not?"

"Because… I heard that there's a, uh, fair going on and I wanted to check it out."

"You want to drive twenty-seven miles just to go to a fair and ride on some ferris wheel?"

Quinn raised a brow and looked up, confused, "What? No."

"Well, that's where the nearest fair is…", Sam replied slowly, as if he was talking to a child who was just learning how to string words together into a sentence.

A bright shade of pink filled Quinn's face as she realized that she was caught. He had seen right through her lie. And now, here she was… standing in front of him like an idiot. For a moment, she thought about just turning on her heels and walking away. But instead, she decided to make it look like she knew what she was doing and she took the volleyball from Sam's grasp.

"Do you have your wallet?", she asked suddenly, as she inspected the worn-out ball in her hands.

"Not right now, why?", Sam furrowed his eyebrows together, completely lost as to why she would ask such a random question.

"Because when I lead the other team to victory, I'm going to order the most expensive things on the menu and you're going to have to pay for it!"

Sam could only shake his head and chuckle softly to himself as he watched the blonde girl run away from him, towards the volleyball net. He was so interested in learning more about the fantastic young woman who had just been in front of him, that he was finally able to ignore the red warning lights that were shining in the back of his mind.

Unfortunately, however, Quinn's team eventually ended up losing the game by a few points. Despite that, the group of young adults got along fairly well and all decided to go to Breadstix, the nearest restaurant with a menu filled with a variety of fancy food. The group was large and it wasn't until they arrived there, when they all realized that they wouldn't have enough seats for all of them.

"Oh, that's fine. I can just head back to my hotel room and grab a bite to eat from McDonalds or something.", Quinn volunteered, already starting to back up. Immediately, a few people protested and pleaded for Quinn to stay with them just a bit longer. Tina, one of the friends that she had made from the volleyball game, took the blonde's hand and smiled. Quinn smiled back at the Asian girl.

"Please stay! We never get a lot of new people around here, and you're so much fun to be around. I'd hate to send you home for something small like this. You and Sam can eat in the booth right behind us!", Tina offered, shooting a look towards Sam that Quinn couldn't quite understand. A couple of heads nod in agreement as they supported Tina's idea and then, before either of them knew it, they were being nudged into a small booth in the right-hand corner of the dimly-lit building.

They ordered their food and then there was a slight, awkward silence between the two and the corners of Sam's mouth seemed to have their own minds as they rose higher and higher, just from watching Quinn look down at her lap across the table. He just couldn't help it. The lights casted faint shadows across her face and revealed her lovely cheekbones along with the soft curls in her hair. The gentle rising and falling of her chest reminded Sam to breathe, and he was exhaling just as Quinn's hazel orbs flickered up to meet his green ones.

"What?"

Sam blinked twice, before he was fully aware that Quinn had asked him a question. He cleared his throat, "What do you mean?"

"Why were you staring at me like that?", her mesmerizing eyes held his gaze and wouldn't let him look away.

"I wasn't staring at you."

"Yes, you were. Do I have something on my face?"

"No, not at all. You look great, actually. I was just going to tell you that."

Quinn blushed, and bit her bottom lip as she grinned. Sam's eyes flickered down to her plump lips and he wondered for a moment about what it would be like to kiss her. Immediately, he felt a sharp pain in his chest as the image of Rachel, his ex-wife, appeared in his head. Rachel Berry, the girl he had loved for over three years. And he had spent the last two years grieving over the fact that they were no longer together, and that she didn't love him anymore. Now, Rachel was famous. She landed a few roles on Broadway along with a couple roles in TV shows, so now she was all over the tabloids and advertisements. Sam couldn't go a few days without seeing her face pop up somewhere with a guy that the paparazzi caught her with, and Sam was haunted with the thought of what their relationship might have been like if they were still together.

He blinked, and all of a sudden he was sitting across the booth from Rachel. She was just sitting there, smiling up at him, with a light pink casual dress on and with her long hair straightened. Sam's eyebrows furrowed together, in confusion.

"Wh-What are you doing here, Rach?"

A large grin formed on the girl's mouth, and Sam was instantly reminded of their marriage and how much he loved her. "I'm here to eat dinner with you, silly!", she replied, reaching over the table and taking his hand softly in hers.

"But…", Sam trailed off as he looked around the restaurant. His friends were still in the booth in front of them, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The whole restaurant seemed normal, just a little busy as the waiters rushed around to get everyone's orders. "But, where's Quinn?"

Instantly, he knew that he had said the wrong thing as Sam watched the girl's face darken. He felt her let go of his hand.

"Who's Quinn?", her voice snapped, cold and unfriendly. Rachel's eyes narrowed as she studied Sam's face.

"The girl that I'm supposed to be having dinner with.."

"You're cheating on me?"

"What? No! You're the one who wanted us to get a divorce years ago!"

"So? You were the one who used to send me hundreds of letters saying that you still loved me! I thought it'd be nice to come back and spend some more time with you! I can't believe I came all this way to find out that you were seeing someone else.", Rachel pressed her hands into tight balls.

Sam didn't know how to respond, so he just sat there looking more puzzled than ever.

"It's either me, or her, Sammy. You pick.", the brunette said, putting emphasis on the word 'her' so that it made Quinn seem like some sort of monster.

"Sam!", she repeated, when he still didn't answer her.

"Sam!"

"Sam!"

Slowly, the voice seemed to melt away. And then Rachel's voice was replaced with the gentle voice of Quinn's.

"Sam?"

The blonde boy flinched, and blinked a few times before realizing that it was Quinn who was now across from him.

"Sam? Are you okay?", she asked him, leaning forward with a worried expression on her face.

"What? Yeah, yeah. I think so. Why?"

"You just zoned out for a few seconds.", Quinn answered, with a look on her face that gave Sam the impression that she didn't believe him when he said he was fine.

"Oh. Sorry", was all Sam could say in response. He was faced with a bucket load of guilt, for thinking of Rachel while he was with Quinn. And Sam couldn't help but feel like he was cheating on Rachel. What he didn't know was that Quinn's mind was overflowing with thoughts as well.

Their food finally arrived, and the blonde girl thought a moment about when she was going to tell Sam about her real reason for coming to this part of California: the letters. But just as she opened her mouth to say something, she was interrupted and the two spent the rest of the evening talking about themselves and what they liked to do. And, surprisingly, Sam felt a little sad when he learned that Quinn was leaving in five days to go back to school. Both of them were so caught up in their conversation that neither realized that their friends had silently left an hour ago.

As the waiter dropped by their table with the check, Quinn smiled, "Sam's paying". And with that, she shot him a mischievous smirk and started walking towards the restaurant front doors.

After Sam quickly paid for their meal, he caught up with the girl outside and swung his arm onto her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. They shared a few laughs and Quinn jokingly scolded him for messing up her hair.

"If my memory serves me correctly, Miss Fabray, you were the one who was supposed to pay tonight.", Sam chuckled.

"Ah, but Mister Evans,", Quinn's gaze met his and she smiled sweetly, "A gentleman always pays on the first date."

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! And I'm extremely sorry for the delay in this chapter. I lost interest in this story for a little while but I was suddenly hit with a lot of inspiration a week ago! 3

To mandorac: Thanks for checking this story out! You're one of my favorite writers on this site, and I got really excited when I saw that you read this story! And, to answer your question, you'll see in the future chapters. (: Sam's just not comfortable talking about it with Quinn yet!

To fabrevansgleek: Thank you! Unfortunately, Linda didn't make an appearance in this chapter but she'll be very involved in the future! (:

To the anonymous reviewers: Thank you guys so much!