So much encouragement to develop the story! Thank you, I didn't expect that after just the short hint I gave you in the first chapter. And since I appreciate that you took your time to encourage me to continue, the weather is bad and there is never enough procrastination from work and school, here's another chapter.
"I'll go to the shower now, Quinn, is that alright with you? I mean, you're still unpacking your bag and I'm done with mine so we can switch in the bathroom before going to the bed."
Quinn doesn't really focus on the conversation and walks to the wardrobe to put her stuff there.
"Mmm…," she mumbles.
Rachel doesn't notice Quinn's lack of interest and continues:
"But I have to warn you, Quinn, these next few days you will see some of my routines including my preparations before going to the bed right now. And although I would call them the determination to get to my goals, someone can misinterpret it as craziness."
Rachel finishes her ramble just when Quinn opens the doors to the wardrobe and there she sees the precisely put clothes sorted by the colour.
"Eh, Rachel, are you sure, I will see you craziness?" she asks and arches one eyebrow.
"What?" Rachel asks and walks to Quinn.
"I mean this," Quinn giggles and points at the wardrobe. "I get it that it's sorted by the colour but why are there more piles of the same colour? Does it mean like different size of the shirt?"
Rachel blushes and plays with her fingers.
"No, it's not the size."
And although Rachel feels embarrassed because of being embarrassed, yeah, what an irony, Quinn is on the other hand mesmerized by the deep red on Rachel's cheeks.
She has never seen the girl in such state and she loves it immediately.
Okay, maybe she doesn't love it like love it but she admires such look on the shorter brunette.
And she wants to see the girl nervously shivering on the spot for a little bit longer that's why she continues in her teasing.
"So what is it? Is it sorted by different material?"
Rachel shakes her head as no.
"Am I close, at least?" Quinn asks. "I guess, you sort it by how many percents of polyester the shirts are made of.
And Quinn laughs at such thought because that would be so Rachel to do anything like that and she arches her eyebrow in her typical smirk again.
"No, it's not because of that although I think, this idea is worth contemplating for the future."
"Rachel," Quinn stops the girl.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you then. But you have to stop smirking like that because it's rather...intimidating," Rachel confesses and thinks that her cheeks will burn with the heat, she feels right now.
Hmm, intimidating, that sounds good and sort of powerful...in a friendly way, of course!
"I sort my shirts according to the day when I wear them. I don't mean that I take this one on Wednesday. It's according to the mood and occasion. This pile represents my lucky shirts if I feel in need for some luck. Of course, everything is about hard work but you never know. The next one represents shirts that I wear when I need to shine on the stage. That one is for my dates. Well, since Finn is the only one I have been really dating then it's more like Finn's pile but-"
"I get it, Rachel, you're just 'determined' to get the right shirt for right occasion," Quinn makes the air quotes on the word 'determined'.
And it's a double win because firstly she stops the girl talking about Finn and Quinn is not in a mood to talk about boys today plus she has to laugh when she sees the pout on the other girl's face which is just adorable.
"Oh, come on, I'm just teasing you," she playfully slaps Rachel's arm. "Although I have to confess that I would probably consider your order in the wardrobe a little crazy but as your new roommate now, I will pretend that I didn't see it and you can secretly disarrange it to get back into the normal world."
"Quinn Fabray," Rachel crosses her arms over her chest, "I will certainly not do such a thing! And as your new roommate, I have to ask you for not slapping my arm again."
And Rachel fakes the pain in her arm caused by Quinn's slap.
"Okay, I won't slap you again...well, unless you don't want me to," Quinn smirks again.
Rachel seems lost in such comment.
"You know what I mean, Rachel, right? There are some kinks that people have..."
"You did not just talk about-" Rachel squeaks with wide eyes realizing what Quinn implied because she can't believe what she just heard.
Is it really the same Quinn that was member of the Celibacy Club who told her to wait for the right person to have sex with? And now the very same person is telling her such thing.
"Relax, Rachel, I was joking," Quinn smiles and walks back to her bag.
"I-I'm," Rachel stutters, "just really surprised that you are the one talking like that. I wouldn't have guessed that you use or actually know the word 'kink'."
Quinn nonchalantly rummages in her bag and says.
"Yeah, well...I found out that it's nice to loosen up sometimes. You should try it as well, Rach, it's really nice change not to be uptight all the time."
And there is the silence in the room and Quinn is not sure if it's because of what she said or it's the nickname 'Rach' that she used when Rachel speaks again.
"Maybe I can get rid of the pile for my successful days then?"
Quinn turns to face the girl and smiles.
"That can be the start, I would say."
Rachel returns her the wide smile and grabs her towel.
"Good. So, I'll go to the bathroom...or do you want to go first, Quinn, now when you saw what my determination means?"
Before Quinn has the chance to open her mouth Rachel continues.
"Or maybe we can use the bathroom at the same time? I can prepare the bubble bath for us as Santana and Brittany have?"
And Quinn is caught completely off guard.
She didn't expect that.
"Well...I-I'm...if...you," she stutters when she is distracted by the laugh.
"Was that 'not uptight' enough?" Rachel asks still laughing but when she sees Quinn's confused expression she walks to her and slaps her arm as a revenge for before. "Don't worry, Quinn, I don't expect you, the Quinn Fabray to go to the bubble bath with me. Just mentioning it is funny."
"Yeah...me and you in the bath together? Hilarious," Quinn forces a laugh but she knows how bad actress she is.
Fortunately, it seems that Rachel doesn't find anything weird about her reaction and vanishes in the bathroom.
Quinn stares blankly at the wall in front of her while she's focusing on her fast beating heart that feels like suffocating her in her throat.
"Yeah, hilarious," she mumbles for herself and lays on the bed with heavy sigh.
And with her mind completely blank and not at all full of images of Rachel and her in the bath together she slowly falls asleep.
She opens her eyes few minutes later when loud knocking on the doors wakes her up.
"Calm down, I'm coming. Is there a fire somewhere or what?" she growls.
When she opens the doors, she just sees the flash of dark long hair passing her.
"Santana! What are you doing here again?" Quinn asks.
"We went out of the soap, I have to hurry till my girl is still hot for-" Santana says while hurrying across the room and grabs the handle of the bathroom doors.
"Santana, wait, Rachel's-" Quinn tries to stop her but she moves too slowly since her brain is still on its sleeping mode.
And next five seconds seem like forever for Quinn to realize what is happening.
Santana vanishes behind the bathroom doors and then Quinn hears a squeak and lots of shouting.
After that Santana walks out of the bathroom backwards.
Quinn finally gets there and looks into the bathroom.
She can see Rachel wrapping the towel around her body and shutting down the shower.
"What?" she asks confused.
"I...I...didn't know," Santana stutters and keeps looking into the bathroom.
And then Quinn's brain eventually switches from its sleeping mode to its active and angry, very angry mode.
She puts two and two together and realizes what just happened in the bathroom noticing the water dropping from Rachel's hair and her embarrassed expression.
"You!" she fumes and points her finger in Santana's chest. "Out! Get out!"
But Santana doesn't probably hear or she is too transfixed that she doesn't move.
And Quinn is too aware what Santana is focused on and since it's Rachel's towel-clad body, she doesn't hesitate and pushes Santana out of the room herself.
Santana is still frozen with a shock and she doesn't even fight the blonde girl handling her like that.
When she is more like thrown into the corridor by Quinn, she only manages to call:
"Breakfast? Tomorrow?"
But Quinn already shuts the doors and locks them just to be sure that there is no way how Santana can get back into the room and see Rachel...naked again.
She doesn't turn around before she can be sure that she is calmed down enough when she hears the brunette speaking.
"I can't even tell how much I appreciate your help, Quinn. Thank you. I don't know how Santana got into the bathroom or what she was doing there but I think that I can't look her in the eyes again, god, that is so embarrassing."
Then Quinn turns around and her knees almost betray her.
Rachel is still in the towel while the drops of water are covering her bare shoulders.
Such delicate shoulders.
And then there is much more skin that Quinn has ever seen on Rachel.
And in next two seconds Quinn is pretty sure that she turned into being masochist and likes torturing herself because she finds another revealed skin for her eyes that is Rachel's thighs.
She backs into the doors to have something to hold onto and gulps audibly.
"And what is the worst thing is that she didn't have enough and she just stayed here gawking at me like she wanted me to die of my embarrassment. You know, what I mean, Quinn?" Rachel asks. "Quinn? Don't you think that her staring at me was really awkward and unacceptable?"
"What?" Quinn finally finds the strength to stop her own staring contest between her eyes and Rachel's thighs and focuses on the conversation.
"Wasn't it rude of Santana to enjoy my embarrassment and stay here gawking at me?"
And Rachel opens the wardrobe and bends down to grab some clothes there.
And god, was it the round of her butt?
"Yes!" Quinn hisses.
But when Rachel turns around abruptly, Quinn realizes that is was probably more like a moan then real word and she tries to cover it up.
"I mean, yes, that was so rude of Santana. So rude."
Rachel smiles at her with satisfied nod.
"Thankfully, I have such hero as my new roommate who can take care of me, right? So if I can do for you anything in exchange, just let me know."
"So many things that you don't want to know," Quinn sighs.
"What was that?" Rachel asks.
Oh, she heard?
"Eh, nothing?"
"Quinn, if this friendship is supposed to work then you can't do things like that because I feel hurt. I mean, you told me something and now you don't want me to know. Why?"
Because if this friendship is supposed to work then I shouldn't say things like I did? Or I shouldn't ogle your thighs right now? Okay, conversation, real conversation, Quinn, make your mouth move and say something!
"I said that there are so many thing I don't know about you," Quinn tries the first thing that comes on her mind.
And it works!
Rachel's face lightens in her widest smile and she claps her hands.
"I have so much to tell, Quinn! I've always wanted to have someone to share my life story with and to talk for hours in the night. Of course, talking for hours in the night limited by serious considerations to get enough sleep. So I'll get into my pyjamas here and you can hurry up to have a shower and get here soon so we can do the girl talk?" Rachel says last two words like some sort of secret.
Quinn weakly nods and walks into the bathroom.
More than thirty minutes later the shower is running to give the brunette in the other room impression of Quinn being still there but the blonde is actually standing in front of the mirror watching her own reflection.
She looks at herself and shakes her head in disbelief.
How did that happen?
How did she get from 'maybe gay, more like bisexual or rather straight with bi-curious thoughts with some possible inclination to Rachel' to 'more like gay with strong possessive feelings for Rachel and her thighs'?
Her head is complete mess and her body feels like being in pain although Quinn is not sure if it's really the pain.
Little she knows or wants to know that the feeling in her chest is the joy of being around the brunette while her allegedly sick stomach actually means butterflies and arousal that she feels from watching the same girl in her more naked form.
But Quinn is sure of one thing.
She can't do anything about it.
Not now, not in next few months, years, maybe not even in this life.
Because she can't do that to herself, her mum, her family.
And then it's decided.
She doesn't trust herself to act sensibly and that's why she has to get out of the room shared with Rachel as soon as possible.
She is even willing to go to ask Santana to let her stay on the floor in her room with Brittany although she is pretty sure that she will have to listen to the bed cracking the whole night.
And if Rachel wants to hear a reason of her moving to Santana and Brittany, she is even willing to snap some really bad stuff at diva although she promised herself not to do that ever again.
But it's like Rachel could hear her thoughts in the bathroom because when Quinn walks back into the room, Rachel is in probably the worst grandma's pyjamas and green mask put on her face.
"Quinn! You're finally here, I can't wait for our girl night, I almost went to the bed without you," Rachel says and hides under the blanket in her bed watching the blonde with her big eyes.
And Quinn can't stop herself from smiling because she can close the doors from the bathroom where she just left this big stone that fell from her heart.
If Rachel keeps being...Rachel like that then she can do that and she is so relieved that she doesn't have to go to Brittany and Santana's room or hurt Rachel with some stupid insult that she would hate herself for.
She jumps into her bed that is luckily on different side of the room.
"So...where do you want to start?" Rachel asks.
"You go first, whatever's on your mind, Rachel."
"Okay. Well, I've always wanted to know...Quinn, what is it?" Rachel sits up on her bed and listens.
Loud thuds are echoing in the room and it seems that the wall near Rachel's bed will break soon.
"Quinn, the wall's collapsing!" Rachel shrieks and jumps out of her bed.
But Quinn knows these noises better than anything.
She has spent last few years listening to them.
"Calm down, Rach, the wall's not collapsing...yet."
"So what is it?"
"I guess, the bubble bath is over."
"What...ah so!" Rachel's eyes widen when the realization hits her. "How long do you think it will last?"
"I'm afraid that my statistical and involuntary observation can tell that it will be for hours."
"But I can't sleep next to this wall," Rachel whines.
Quinn is already standing next to Rachel contemplating possible solutions.
"Shall we move your bed somewhere else?"
But she regrets her proposition in instant because she looks at the room and knows that inbuilt wardrobes can't be moved and the only place where to move bed will be close, really close to her own bed.
And she tries to save it with another proposition.
"Or we can just switch beds. I don't mind, I've listened to Santana and Brittany for years that I'm immune now."
"Nonsense, Quinn," Rachel opposes and already pushes the bed from the wall. "You need proper sleep as well. So...I think that we move my bed next to yours? Or we can put them together so we have one big bed!"
Quinn shakes her head and wants to say resolutely no.
But Rachel squeaks with excitement:
"Yes, let's do it! Then it will be like real sleepover just right for our girl talk! Please, Quinn!"
And the blonde is already halfway persuaded to give up.
"I've never had a sleepover," Rachel mumbles and that's the last thing Quinn needs to hear before she pushes Rachel's bed to hers, too.
The pout on brunette's face and sad confession about never having a sleepover are just enough for her to give the other girl whatever she wants.
And she assures herself, it will be okay as long as Rachel keeps the pyjamas and green mask.
They both jump into their beds, Quinn staying securely on further edge of her bed.
The loud thuds are still echoing in the room and Rachel giggles.
"What is it?" Quinn asks turning on the side facing the brunette.
"Nothing. It's just...are they always so loud?" Rachel chuckles and hides her face in the pillow after another loud thud.
"Well, unfortunately for us, yes, they are always like that. I listened to this for three weeks at Cheerios summer camps every year which I still don't understand. I mean, after our work out from early morning to evening they still had the energy to...you know what. And trust me, this is actually quiet," Quinn chuckles, too.
"Have you ever...joined them?" Rachel asks and can't hide her laugh.
"Rachel!" Quinn gasps.
"What?" Rachel pretends being all serious. "We have a not uptight girl talk and girl talk is about sharing secrets, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Quinn says, "but it's not about making one of us puke."
"So you haven't?" Rachel giggles.
"Of course, I haven't! There is no way how I would get any near to Santana's...you know what."
"Okay, I believe you," Rachel soothes Quinn.
After a short pause the brunette speaks again.
"Do you ever call it a real name?"
"Hm?" Quinn asks.
"You referred to sex few times and never said the word actually. Instead you just said 'you know what' which is weird when you were so sure about saying kink before," Rachel explained.
Quinn doesn't respond because she doesn't really know what to answer.
Maybe that's because they are now so close to each other and Quinn doesn't feel so sure about herself anymore.
"Maybe we should repay them sometimes," Rachel breaks the silence again.
"What?"
"The loud thuds. We should do the same to them so they have to listen to this for hours."
Quinn's eyes almost pop out when she realizes what Rachel is speaking about.
"I'm not sure what you're ref-," Quinn mumbles.
"We can just jump into the wall, of course," Rachel clarifies, "or we can buy the ball and play basketball against the wall."
"Oh...yeah...yeah, sure," Quinn nods and hopes that her breath gets to its normal again.
Then Quinn notices Rachel's yawn and proposes to go to sleep.
"Rach, maybe we should have a girl talk tomorrow and we will go to sleep now?"
Rachel sleepily nods and hides more under her blanket but then she sticks her head out again and says fully awake:
"But you won't get out of our promised proper girl talk, Fabray, don't even think about it."
Quinn laughs and shakes her head.
"Rachel, Rachel...good night."
"Good night, Quinn," the brunette mumbles and falls asleep in next few seconds.
Quinn closes her eyes in contentment.
She can do that after all.
Thank god.
Then she opens her eyes and looks at the sleeping brunette for the last time and sees her peaceful face with her eyes smiling although being closed.
God, now Quinn can see it. The girl is beautiful even with the green mask on her face.
And Quinn's heart melts.
This time she is not tempted to do something (which she isn't sure what it's supposed to be, yet) because of revealed skin but because her insides feel so warm from watching the girl in her peacful state.
Plus this amazing not uptight version of Rachel?
Okay, maybe Quinn isn't able to do that...sharing the room with the brunette. Or it won't be as easy as she assumed.
Thank you for reading and next chapter is outlined quite clearly in my head so it's just the question of putting in on pc soon...if you want me to, of course ;)