Same disclaimer as Chapter 1.
"What I Really Meant to Say"
Chapter 2: Jumping the Gun
Bright and early, Rachel bounced her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. She kissed both her fathers on the cheek before sitting down with a bowl of fruit salad.
"Someone's happy this morning." Her Daddy smirked.
"Yes, Daddy, I am." She smiled into her breakfast. She had a slice of apple halfway to her mouth when a thought struck her. "Oh. I forgot last night." She turned on the charm with her fathers. "Can one of you drive me to school today?" She bit her lip slightly. "Quinn is just going to drive me home after school before she comes over."
"Sure thing, honey." Her Dad smiled up at her. "But hurry up and get ready, because I have to leave soon. " Rachel quickly shoved the rest of the fruit in her mouth before running upstairs and throwing on clothes and grabbing her backpack.
"Ready!" She stood ready at the door. Her Dad peered out of the kitchen. He hadn't even finished his coffee yet. "Are you coming?" She asked exasperatedly, hands firmly on her hips.
He rolled his eyes, "Give me a minute." He downed what was left of his coffee and kissed his husband's cheek before grabbing his briefcase, his jacket, and his keys. "Alright. Get in the car." He directed at his daughter. She quickly bounded out the door. He turned back to his husband and just rolled his eyes and laughed before following the small girl out to the driveway.
XxoxX
Quinn slept rather soundly. She had been fairly restless for weeks, so when she awoke fresh and ready for the day, she was a tad bit surprised. Good surprised, but surprised nonetheless. She wore a slight smile as she took a shower and picked out an outfit for the day, a light pink dress and a white cardigan. She put her hair up in a loose bun and applied minimal make-up, then headed downstairs for a big bowl of Reese's Puffs. It was one of the things she loved about not being on the Cheerios anymore; she could eat whatever she wanted without worries of getting kicked out. Glee Club wouldn't snub her if she put on a pound or two.
She brushed her teeth, grabbed her bag, and headed out the door without a worry in the world. She threw her stuff in her black, vintage VW Beetle (swanky new sound system, of course!) and took off toward William McKinley High School.
XxoxX
The morning was quiet. Quinn made it to her locker and to her first class without seeing her boyfriend. It wasn't that she was avoiding him, except that she was and just refused to admit it. She almost ran into him in the hallway between first and second period, but conveniently decided she should use the bathroom seeing as how she could turn around and go down three hallways to get to one, instead of going to her next class which was two doors away from where she was standing. And then she just conveniently remembered she wanted to eat lunch with Santana and Brittany instead of Finn, even though they had planned to eat lunch together. She sent him an apology text, of course.
History was right after lunch. She usually sat at the other side of the room from Rachel, but her day was going well and she figured "what the heck!" and plopped down at the table with the girl. She seemed pleasantly surprised.
"Hello, Quinn." She beamed. "How was your morning?"
"Hey," She smiled back. "It was pleasant. Surprisingly." She chuckled lightly
"And why's that?"
"Why was it pleasant? Or why is it surprising?" the blonde countered.
"Both, of course!" Like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Quinn mentally rolled her eyes.
"Umm, I guess I just slept really well and I managed to not get annoyed by anything yet. That is the surprising part. I don't know why, but something about this school just annoys me." She smiled at the last part. It was partially a joke, but mainly the truth. Something about being in school just annoys her. Weekends and afternoons, away from school, are pleasant enough.
"Well, Miss Fabray, what was different about this morning than any other morning?" Quinn quirked an eyebrow at the use of "Miss Fabray" and smirked slightly. It was kind of cute.
"Well, Miss Berry, I'm not really sure." She knit her eyebrows together and bit her lip.
Just then their teacher walked into the room and called the class to attention.
Maybe it was because you are so super excited to hear my song choice for our mash-up/duet :P Rachel pushed the piece of paper toward the blonde so she could read what was written. They were at the middle table so it was impossible for the teacher to see what they were doing.
Maybe ;), but I'm thinking it has more to do with not seeing Finn at all this morning. She sighed under her breath before pushing the paper toward her tablemate.
Rachel scribbled furiously. I'm pretty sure that you are not supposed to get annoyed by your significant other, Quinn. Quinn saw what she was writing and leaned over her to write her response. Rachel seemed a little uncomfortable with the proximity, but she couldn't bring herself to move away.
Yeah, well, you know how he can be. As soon as Quinn moved back to sitting upright, Rachel missed the presence of the former cheerleader. It had been uncomfortable, but in a good way. If that makes any sense, whatsoever.
This time she decided to lean over the blonde, eliciting a similar reaction. Yes, lol. That I do. Very well, indeed. Quinn smiled at the girl. This friends thing could definitely work out. Rachel then raised her hand to answer the teacher's question. Quinn hadn't even heard what was asked. She was too busy paying attention to Rachel and their conversation. You're zoning out :P. Quinn's attention was brought to the paper in front of her as Rachel's hand passed smoothly across it, spelling out the simple words.
I'm paying attention…just not to class. Quinn left it at that and turned to face toward the front of the room. She purposely stayed facing forward so she wouldn't have to look at the confused look on the brunette's face. The blonde then looked at her through her periphery and sent her a quick smile, but Rachel gratefully returned. They stayed like that for the rest of class.
Right before the bell was about to ring, Quinn snatched the note paper and scribbled something quickly. She covered it with her other hand so that Rachel couldn't read it over her shoulder. Right as the bell rang, she pushed it toward the diva, grabbed her bag, sent one last smile, and left the room to head to calculus.
See you in Glee, Rach (: same seats tomorrow? Rachel couldn't help the smile forming on her face. She liked being friends with Quinn. It seemed so sudden, but completely natural.
XxoxX
When Rachel entered the choir room, she noticed Quinn and Finn sitting together. She also noticed the annoyed look plastered to the blonde girl's face. So much for her pleasant day, free of annoyance. She caught the girl's eyes and they shared a quick smile before Rachel sat down next to Brittany and Artie.
"Hey, Brittany." Brittany smiled in response. "How's Lord Tubbington doing? He's not still smoking is he?"
Brittany and Rachel soon started talking softly about her overweight cat. Quinn watched the exchange, while pointedly ignoring her boyfriend sitting beside her telling what she assumed was some stupid football story. She smiled softly, watching the two girls. They seemed excited about something. She hadn't realized they were even friends. She'd have to ask Britt about it later. Right at that moment, Rachel turned in her chair slightly and flashed her a huge smile, then casually returned to her conversation with the dancer. Quinn's grin grew larger.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Finn was looking at her strangely. Oh, shit. He probably told you something super serious (or at least what he considers super serious) and here you are grinning like an idiot. Why are you smiling like that anyway? Quinn snapped out of it.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" He scoffed and turned away from her. She was still staring at Rachel. Mr. Schue entered the room at that moment, successfully breaking her trance.
Glee was uneventful. No one sang. No one was ready yet. Mr. Schue talked for a bit and then let everyone go early. Quinn leant down to grab her bag and felt a hand grasp onto her other wrist. She turned quickly to see Finn looking at her like a lost puppy.
"We're still hanging out with afternoon, right?" He pouted. "I've barely seen you all day."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Finn." She doesn't even feel bad. Why was she dating him again? Oh, right. Prom Queen. "I'm going over Rachel's after this. We're working on a song for the assignment." She didn't miss the look that crossed his face. This was why she didn't want him to know what they were doing.
"You're what?"
"I'm going to Rachel's. To work on a song. For the assignment that Mr. Schue gave us this week." She spoke slowly so he could grasp everything she was saying. He wasn't slow, but sometimes it felt like he was. "And I have to go. She's waiting for me." The blonde leaned around the tall boy and flashed Rachel a grin. She turned back to her boyfriend and pecked him on the cheek. Turning around to grab her bag, she missed the slight frown form on Rachel's face at the small form of PDA. By the time she turned back around, Rachel has affixed her smile again.
"Shall we?" Rachel held out her arm, which Quinn gladly accepted. They walked out to the parking lot, arms linked.
XxoxX
"You named your car Hans? Seriously?" Rachel was giggling.
"Yes, I did." Quinn stated matter-of-factly. "He is German and I couldn't think of any other German names at the time. Well, except Heinrich, which just made me think of Heimlich from A Bug's Life. A fat caterpillar, regardless of how cute he is, so does not fit a Volkswagen."
"You're kind of a dork." Rachel stuck her tongue out at Quinn. The blonde gladly reciprocated.
"A cute dork, thank you very much!" She grabbed her iPod and stuck it into the iPod jack. "You can pick the music. I should warn you though, there's no Barbra on there."
Rachel fake pouted. "Well, we're going to have to fix that eventually, but let's see if there's anything worth listening to…" The blonde stuck her tongue out again. "Oooh! Goo Goo Dolls!" Rachel clicked on shuffle and the girls enjoyed a medley of hits as they made their way to the other side of town, where the Berry household resided.
"So, Quinn, which is your favorite Goo Goo Dolls song?" Rachel turned in her seat so she could look at the blonde head on.
"Easy. 'Slide'." She turned quickly to see Rachel's reaction.
"What? But 'Iris' is so much better!" Seeing Rachel's indignant look, she giggled and turned back to watch the road.
"Nuh-uh. 'Slide' is better. I mean, don't get me wrong, 'Iris' is definitely second, but it's just got nothing on 'Slide'. It just speaks to me." At this point she grabbed the iPod and skipped to the song in question and started to loudly sing along. "Could you whisper in my ear, the things you wanna feel. I'll give you anything to feel it coming. Do you wake up on your own and wonder where you are? You live with all your faults." She sang these directly at Rachel, making sure to keep her eyes on the road at the same time. Rachel found herself smiling incessantly while she watched the girl belt out the lyrics that quite obviously held a lot of meaning for her. She joined in at the chorus and before they knew it, they were pulling into Rachel's driveway.
"Welcome to my humble abode." Rachel swept her arm out as she opened the front door and led Quinn inside.
"I've been here before, hon," Rachel faltered slightly at the name. "And I'm pretty sure nothing belonging to you could ever be considered 'humble'." The small diva stuck her tongue out at this and led her up to her room.
"So are you going to tell me this wonderful song idea yet? 'Cause I'm getting a little antsy," Quinn teased as she sat herself down on Rachel's bed.
Rachel turned toward her, arms raised, palms facing the blonde. "Wait for it! It's perfect! Ready?" She waited for the blonde to nod. "'I Feel Pretty'."
Quinn sat there a moment, not comprehending, and then it dawned on her. "From West Side Story?"
"Yes." Rachel was still waiting for a specific reaction. One that screamed "Oh, my God! Rachel, you are a genius!" She was not getting this reaction and it bothered her.
Quinn nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting."
Rachel knit her brow. "Good interesting or bad interesting?"
"Oh! Good interesting!" Quinn chuckled lightly. "Very good. I like it."
"Good." Rachel smiled. "I mean, honestly, I wasn't going to give you much of a choice; especially because I already started mashing the two together. I spent a few hours on it last night because I wanted to have some of it ready in case I needed to convince you of how truly amazing this is going to be." The blonde just sat there with an amused smirk on her face.
Rachel dove at her desk and grabbed the sheet music. "I managed to find this on some obscure Japanese website. I swear they put everything online. I could probably Google all of their military secrets. I'm sure there's someone on that island that has hacked into the government computers and posted a download link for anyone to find."
Quinn looked over what the girl had already accomplished. It looked amazing. It was basically the music of "Unpretty", but tweaked slightly so that the school band could play it. Rachel had written 'acoustic guitars' in the top corner and she tried to imagine how it was going to sound. It was mostly "Unpretty", with "I Feel Pretty" thrown in during the chorus. The brunette had even started to figure out who would sing which parts. The blonde was slightly surprised that she was given so much to sing. She almost expected to just sing back-up. She had truly arranged a duet.
"Rach, this is amazing." She was awe-struck. "You did all this last night?" Hazel eyes met brown. Rachel was standing, watching Quinn and biting her lip, awaiting a reaction. She nodded slightly.
"I didn't sleep much last night." She said simply. Quinn looked it over once more and just smiled.
"Alright. Let's get started!" She clapped her hands and stood from the bed.
XxoxX
The two girls had been rehearsing for close to an hour, when Quinn suggested a break for some snacks and water.
"My dads have to work late tonight, so they won't be home for dinner." Rachel looked shyly at Quinn. This friendship was still new. "I was wondering if you wanted to eat with me. I figured we could get Chinese or something."
Quinn smiled into her water bottle. "I'd love to." They shared a smile and continued upstairs to finish up the song. They were hoping to perform it the next day. After another hour, they were confident that they could pull this off.
They headed back down to the kitchen to get the take-out menu and figure out what they were going to order. They chatted lightly while they waited for the delivery guy, and then grabbed their food and headed back up to Rachel's bedroom to watch a movie while they ate their dinner.
"We are not watching Funny Girl." Quinn was adamant.
"Why not?" Rachel pouted. It was rather adorable. Quinn shook her head.
"I refuse to let that be the first movie we watch together."
"That makes no sense." The diva deadpanned.
"You make no sense." Rachel simply raised her eyebrows.
"Wow. You are the Comeback Master, Fabray."
"Oh hush." Quinn turned around to look at the DVD collection. Rachel found herself unable to look away from the sight in front of her. Quinn really was the most attractive girl at their high school. "How about X-Men?" As Quinn turned, she noticed Rachel look away quickly and saw the light blush creeping up the girl's face. She quirked an eyebrow.
"You like X-Men?" Rachel was slightly surprised.
"I do. Do you?" Quinn was still watching the slightly squirming girl.
"Yes, I do."
"Well, then. Let's watch it!" and she popped it into the DVD player and joined Rachel on the bed. Quinn found that she was enjoying herself. She'd seen the movie a dozen times, but it was just so much better with Rachel's witty commentary. She was almost sad to see that the movie was coming to an end.
As the credits started to roll, she got up to turn off the movie and check her phone. She groaned when she saw that she had about twelve text messages. All from Finn.
"If you dislike him so much, why don't you just break up with him?" Rachel sounded small still sitting on the bed. She was looking at her hands.
"Excuse me?" She raised her eyebrows as she looked at the girl. This was none of her business.
"You heard me. It doesn't seem worth it. He just makes you unhappy." She shrugged slightly.
"You have no idea what you are talking about." Quinn's voice got low. She didn't want to talk about this.
"Fine. You're right. You totally weren't the happiest I've seen you in a while this morning because you hadn't seen him or talked to him at all. Definitely not the reason." Rachel scoffed and looked Quinn right in the eye.
"Just stop."
"You're settling, Quinn. You basically said so yourself weeks ago!" Rachel raised her voice slightly. "I don't see why you think I can leave this town, but you're stuck here. I've heard you sing. You're amazing. I mean you could use more practice, but that's what Glee is for. I mean, you aren't going to get the solos, because those are mine, but there are plenty of opportunities to shine. You're more than you think you are."
Quinn was running her hands through her hair. She couldn't take this. She was going to snap. "You just want me to break up with him because you want to date him! This has nothing to do with me or being unhappy! You just want him back!"
Rachel was taken aback. That wasn't it at all. Quinn was totally misinterpreting. "No! No, not at all! I've realized that you're right. I do need to leave this town and Finn would only hold me back. Just like he's holding you back."
"No. No, this is what I want." Quinn was pacing. "I want to settle down and have a family with him. Here. In Lima."
"You're being ridiculous. No one would willingly want that."
"Just became you live in some fantasy world, doesn't mean we all do, Rachel! Some of us just want a normal life. Some of us just want to fit in."
"I feel like this isn't about Finn anymore, Quinn." Rachel looked into Quinn's eyes. She saw the hurt and fear swimming in them. Rachel didn't know what it was about, but it sure as hell wasn't about Finn.
"Just shut up! You don't know anything about me!" Quinn was close to tears.
"I think I know more than you think." Rachel wasn't giving up that easy. They had just started this friendship and she was not about to give it up that easy.
"You don't know anything! You just want me to break up with him, because you want him. I'm not stupid. I know you wrote that song for him! The one for regionals."
"Oh, come on, Quinn." Rachel sighed exasperatedly. "I think it's pretty obvious I didn't write that for Finn."
Quinn crossed the room to where the small girl was seated on the bed in a matter of seconds. She grasped her face with both hands and smiled briefly upon seeing the momentary flash of fear that crossed Rachel's face, reassurance that she didn't want to hurt her. The kiss was hard, but not rough and after a second or two, turned quite gentle. Rachel slowly leant backwards, bringing Quinn with her.
Rachel pulled back slightly, "Quinn – " That's all she got out before Quinn's lips were once again pressed to hers. "Are you – " again she was cut off "sure you- " again "want this?"
Quinn pushed the small girl further onto the bed and turned her attention to the tanned skin of the girl's neck. Rachel moaned lightly in response. "I can't believe this is happening. I never in a million years thought this would happen. I do appreciate the drama of it all, of course. And honestly, how many girls can say they've experienced making out with the most attractive girl in their high school? Oh, my God! Can you imagine what this is going to do for my acting career? The experience alone – "
"God, Rachel, just shut up." The blonde growled before capturing her lips once more. Rachel felt her torso being lifted and before she knew it, her sweater was lifted up over her head and discarded on the floor. She shivered slightly out of excitement. Quinn's lips once again returned to hers, her body pressing flush against her. The blonde unhooked her bra and moaned lightly when she looked at the girl below her. It was definitely heating up in the room. She gently picked up the diva and scooted her higher on the bed before straddling her body. She then quickly cast off her dress. Rachel noted that the former cheerleader had not been wearing a bra. Her mind raced thinking about it.
Quinn stopped briefly to look deep into Rachel's eyes. She found herself nodding to the blonde and before she knew it, her skirt found its way next to her forgotten sweater, followed shortly by her underwear.
XxoxX
Rachel felt like she was in a daze as she watched Quinn dress quickly and grab her things before leaving. What just happened? It was amazing whatever it was. "Song-writing gold" slipped out of her mouth as she heard the door downstairs open. As she heard it close, she came back to focus. "Wait. Why'd she leave?" She asked to the room. "We have to talk about this…"
She threw her clothing back on and ran down the stairs hoping to catch the blonde before she drove off. She was too late.
Quinn, we have to talk about this. - *Rachel*
No response.