Quinn and Rachel had a beautiful morning before school; they took a nice long shower together and had a beautiful breakfast, enjoying the fact that it was just the two of them without anyone to stop them from talking and joking with each other just like they did in Barcelona. Not all jokes were appropriate but it was still a good morning and they enjoyed each athers company.

They arrived at the school together and went to the library to work on their project for English class. The library was deserted, which meant Rachel and Quinn could talk freely for a little bit longer before they went back to pretending nothing happened that summer. Things would be going back to normal now, Rachel would be back with Finn and Quinn would go back to her life. It was a sad reality but it was moments like this that reminded Rachel that what they had had in fact been real and not an over sexualized dream.

They both agreed that them being together wasn't exactly a good idea for several reasons; the first of which being they were straight and the second being Lima was hardly a place for them to be in such a relationship. Besides, there wasn't a relationship. They were two straight girls who liked to experiment; end of story. So why would they go through the process of coming out when they were obviously just experimenting. Girls did it all the time. They had sex, they snuggled, they talked... It was just what girls did... right? Rachel thought as one glance into Quinn's eyes made her stomach swim with a flurry of butterflies.

Sure, the sex was great but it's not like Rachel had anything to compare it to and wouldn't because she didn't intend to sleep with Finn for a very long time.

"Hey, Rachel! I brought you some cupcakes," Finn said presenting a plate of colourful cupcakes to Rachel who smiled before frowning at them.

"Are they vegan?"

"There's no meat in the cupcakes," Finn said slowly as he frowned in Rachel's direction. Rachel frowned slightly while Quinn just outright snorted at Finn's comment.

"Thank you, Finn but I maintain a vegan diet and cannot eat anything with eggs, Finn. But thank you very much for the gesture."

Actually, Rachel had been contemplating breaking this diet for a while, bacon smelt good and she found herself drooling over the smell recently and a few of her dreams recently even involved it raining bacon from heaven into her mouth. And she may have already bought some over the weekend and hidden it under the fruit cake in the freezer to consumed at a later date. But Finn didn't need to know that, especially since she had yet to make any decisions regarding this choice. Besides, her regular doctors appointments had become nothing more than him informing Rachel her B12 and iron were getting far too low.

Rachel smiled as she took Finn's hand and allowed him to walk her to class. She smiled as he leaned in to kiss her and when his lips touched hers, she barely noticed because there were no fireworks just like the last time. In fact, she didn't enjoy the kiss at all. It was awkward. His lips felt rough. But he was her boyfriend. But instead, his kisses filled her with annoyance and that face he and the other boys made when they bent to kiss her... Ugh... no! It was just weird. Quinn's face however when they kissed was...

Hm, she was going to have to work harder with this. She'd clear her mind, calm down and everything would be back to normal. Then she'd remember why she wanted to be with him from the beginning.

By the time the weekend rolled around, Rachel was beyond ready to relax on the couch and do nothing but watch reruns of Vampire Diaries or musicals while Santana helped her with her science work or helped her with her Spanish. Santana made a habit of tutoring Brittany and Rachel in Spanish together because they were both at the same level with the language. In writing. Rachel was decent with spoken Spanish but when it came to writing it down, she needed improvement. Regardless, working on the science work had been fun. Santana was enthusiastic about Science and she made it interesting for Rachel to learn. It helped that she was still really relaxed from Friday night.

Rachel was once again standing awkwardly beside Quinn while Santana and Brittany made out in her kitchen. The two cheerios were so distracted that they didn't notice Rachel and Quinn share longing glances to one another and they didn't notice when Rachel and Quinn snuck off into the living room, holding hands. Quinn's hand fit perfectly. It was like they were made for each other.

Quinn and Rachel hadn't been together since the last time Quinn snuck into her room a few nights ago and Rachel found herself missing the blonde more each night. Not waking up next to her felt almost wrong but it was something she was going to have to get used to because whatever they had in Barcelona was over and their 'relationship' had to be purely platonic. Friends. It was supposed to be. But that didn't stop her heart from aching when she looked at the empty half of her bed where Quinn had slept. And it didn't stop her heart from beating happily when she saw Quinn and it didn't stop her from wanting to run her hands along Quinn's face and pepper kisses everywhere.

It was Friday night and Quinn and Brittany were there to sleep over as they would be doing every Friday. Or that was the plan, however that week, Santana was more preoccupied eating Brittany's face than participating in their usual activities.

"They were like this last September too... And um... throughout the rest of the year," Quinn said rolling her eyes as she and Rachel flipped through movies they could watch; neither girl took a second to bother figuring out what Santana or Brittany wanted to watch, especially after the Latina went up the stairs clutching Brittany's hand. "Can I sleep in your room tonight? They probably won't stop until really late."

Rachel nodded and upon hearing the door to Santana's room click, Quinn curled up beside Rachel who immediately wrapped her arms around the blonde and began cuddling to the movie Descendants. By the time they went to bed, they had watched three movies and from inside Santana's room, they could still hear the pair giggling and moaning. Once again, it wasn't something Rachel minded hearing and once again, she felt like some kind of perve for enjoying listening to the sounds from next door.

"I'll put on a movie while we sleep so we don't have to hear that," Rachel said, turning on a musical before she turned to face Quinn who was actually in the midst of changing into her pyjamas. Rachel found herself unable to turn her eyes away from Quinn's milky skin or her boobs just waiting to be released from the confines of her bra.

Free them! Free the puppies! Ugh, Rachel couldn't believe her mind had just referred to Quinn's perfect breasts as puppies... But she did want to pet them...

Quinn seemed to read the look in Rachel's eyes before she smirked wickedly.

"One more time couldn't hurt, could it, Rachel?"

"What if they come in here?"

"Oh please!" Quinn snorted aloud with humour visible in her eyes at the idea that the two girls would stop having sex before they passed out in each other's arms. "We have nothing to worry about but if you're worried, lock your door. We'll hear the knob jiggle and that'll be enough notice to cover up before they find a way to unlock the door, if they're concerned enough to bother, of course."

"Okay," Rachel said, feeling her eyes glaze over as she stepped to lock her door with what she hoped wasn't too loud a click. If the busy occupants heard, they made no notice and continues their moans which seemed to grow in volume with each passing second. Turning up the volume on the TV, Rachel soon found herself being tackled onto her bed by a still very topless Quinn Fabray.

The next few hours were full of passion until they found themselves almost unable to keep their eyes open. They had done what they could to be quiet, making sure their noises didn't surpass the movie. Rachel turned off the musical, pleased to hear snores coming from the room next door. That night, they decided to be safe and throw on Pyjamas, open the door and Rachel curled up at the head of the bed while Quinn curled up a the foot of the bed both on top of the blankets to look like they had passed out. They every threw some playing cards over the bed to make it look like they had been keeping busy with something other than their own naked bodies. After all, there was no point telling Santana about their sexy little experiments with each other.

"Hey, wake up! Wake up! Breakfast is ready!"

Rachel opened her eyes and registered two things immediately, at some point throughout the night one of the two girls had thrown a blanket on top of them and closed the window. The next thing she registered was Brittany bouncing on her bed with enthusiasm and joy. Still riding a bit of a buzz from what Quinn had done to her, Rachel found herself grinning at Brittany who giggled and grabbed both Rachel and Quinn's hands and pulled them from the bed.

She was shockingly strong and Rachel found herself blushing when she realised Quinn's legs had crossed with hers throughout the night. The managed to uncross them before Brittany got them out of the bed but Rache was sure one of Quinn's toenails had scratched her leg.

"Did you two sleep well last night? Of all the things you could have done, you decided to play cards until you fell asleep? You bother looked cold though, so I picked up your cards and put a blanket over you guys," Brittany explained happily as they joined Santana in the kitchen. The smell of bacon made Rachel's stomach ache hungrily as she stared at the bacon. "Did you know your door was locked? It was easy to pick. Lord Tubbington taught me how."

"I think Rachel wants some bacon," Brittany said pointing to Rachel who realised she was drooling over the smell of the bacon. Last night had been intense and she had worked up an appetite and the night before, she had dreamed of Quinn naked with bacon covering her while she ate it off of her...

"I actually do, I'm really hungry today," Rachel said quickly before her body could react to the very naughty thoughts, watching as Quinn nodded deeply as she sat down at the table and helped themselves to bacon, pancakes and cereal. She did her best to ignore the look Santana was giving her; it was clear the Latina was surprised, slightly worried and a bit confused about Rachel's sudden dietary change. Rachel had given Santana the Vegan Lecture and now, seeing her eat meat... It was shocking.

"This is the 'I'm sorry we ditched you to bang' breakfast. Its the reason I come to there sleepovers," Quinn whispered to Rachel who chuckled and laughed even harder when she saw the Latina flipping Quinn off. Rachel smiled giddily as she bit into the bacon and found herself wondering why she ever gave this up. The taste was amazing and it only added to her bliss from the night before.

"Mm, I think I want to marry bacon," Rachel sighed as she took another bite.

"Is that legal?" Quinn joked.

"Anything is legal over international waters," Rachel shot back, just as lightly. "The trick is finding someone to conduct the ceremony. Remember the guy we read about last night who married his pillow?"

They had actually read about it in Barcelona but they didn't feel like mentioning their time together in Barcelona in case during the questions, one of them slipped up and mentioned something that could reveal their summer fling.

"Ugh, he even drew a face on it and named it," Quinn said with a frown.

"What else did you do last night besides reading about illegal 'marriages' and play cards?" Santana asked, sitting down and smirking at the look of joy on Rachel's face as she tucked into her bacon and pancakes.

"We watched a few movies and that's it really. We talked about school and summer. We ran into each other in Barcelona before Berry came home, so we talked about how we drank and hung out that night and our favourite drinks," Quinn said, going through the parts of the story that wouldn't leave them with any indication that they had been friends with benefits over the summer.

"Yeah, Quinn mentioned seeing you. I didn't know you two hung out," Santana said with a chuckle. "At least you didn't kill each other."

"There's a picture of them drinking together," Brittany said holding up a picture of Rachel and Quinn at the bar table. Quinn was sipping her drink and Rachel was laughing about something. She remembered when that picture was taken and if it had have been taken a minute later, she'd be explaining to her friends why she was kissing Quinn.

"You both look so nice in that picture!" Brittany said happily.

"Well, we were both on our way to a dance the hotel was holding. We ended up hanging out at the dance and got a little tipsy..."

"A little tipsy!" Quinn interrupted. "You could barely walk by the end of the night!"

"Says the girl who slept on the bathroom floor of my hotel room!" Rachel shot back laughing.

"Um, you slept in the bathtub right beside me so you can hardly speak little miss 'I'm going do a drunk backflip!'"

"Oh! And who was the standing there cheering me on?" Rachel responded with a smirk.

"Oh please! I wasn't cheering you on, I was waving you away from the dresser!" Quinn replied rolling her eyes as Rachel laughed at the memory. She remembered Quinn waving her arms but she didn't really remember what the sexy blonde had actually been saying. They were both naked and she felt it necessary to show the blonde just how flexible she could be.

Santana and Brittany watched the exchange with curious expressions as Rachel and Quinn went back and forth, not missing a beat; but there was no malice in either girl's eyes. Only amusement and humour.

"I take it you had fun," Santana said laughing.

"Yes, we took turns vomiting, ate saltines and drank water." And had sex. Lots of sex. Amazing, mind blowing sex. The last part was left unsaid but both Rachel and Quinn thought it.

"Yeah, she's not totally intolerable," Quinn said with a teasing voice.

"What are you drinking? In the picture?" Brittany asked curiously, raising her eyebrow as Quinn and Rachel both blushed furiously.

"Sex on the Beach," Rachel said flushing brighter. "The drink was Sex on the Beach."

"Your face is so red!" Santana said laughing.

"Not as red as when she ordered it," Quinn said laughing.

"You couldn't even say it! You stammered and then told him you were 'having what she's having!'" Rachel laughed and found herself blushing as Quinn turned a little bit pinker. And it was sooo sexy to see.

"You ordered it so fast that you had to repeat it because he didn't understand what you said the first time," Quinn said laughing, tears rolling down her face at the memory. "The bartender smirked every time you ordered it."

"and took great joy in making me say it every single time!"

The rest of the morning went by quickly and once Brittany and Quinn left, Rachel and Santana pulled out Rachel's science work and got her work finished. By the end of it, Santana promised to work with her on Science every weekend as long as Rachel agreed to help her with her history work because she was struggling with that class.

"You know, it's good you and Quinn are on friendly terms. You could always use friends. I mean, Finnept is fine but he's your boyfriend, not your friend," Santana said, causing Rachel's stomach to cramp with guilt as she remembered how she had cheated on her boyfriend with his ex just that night but she was unable to resist the blonde. Even though they were just friends.

"Yeah, she could make a good friend when she's not bullying me," Rachel said, emphasizing the word 'friend' in her mind. "But I suppose you both have matured since those days."

"I am sorry for putting you through that."

"It's history. Just don't cry... or puke on me like Quinn did when she apologized and I'll be happy," Rachel said laughing at the memory.

"She puked on you? Well, I don't feel like puking at the moment, so I think you're good."

"It was my turn with the toilet and she tried to get in while I was still... there and um, let's just say I preferred it when she threw big gulps at me. I'm pretty sure that's how I wound up sleeping in the tub... I decided to wash my hair under the tap of the tub instead of the sink," Rachel said thoughtfully. She'd washed her hair under the faucet before turning off the water and proceeding to pass out. At least the water had been turned off before she fell asleep.

"Next year, the four of us need to go to Barcelona! I want to see the two of you party!"

Rachel fought the urge to cringe. She and Quinn had decided that if they had time, they were going to go back to Barcelona the following summer under the same agreement as they had last year. If Santana came, it would be harder for them to get away with their arrangement. Perhaps Brittany would keep the Latina occupied at night long enough for them to... Who was she kidding? Quinn would probably have a boyfriend who she wouldn't want to cheat on by then.

"How are things with Finnept? You don't seem to talk about him as much as you used to?" Santana said curiously. Rachel managed to stop herself from showing the guilt and apprehension that went through her body at her friend's words. She remembered how much she had talked about him last year. How much he flattered her and how happy she was that someone had taken a romantic interest in her.

"Things are fine. He's taking me to see a play next Sunday," Rachel said bringing a smile to her face as she thought about how sweet it was that Finn had listened to her and was taking her to her favourite play but it also made her feel guilty.

"Rachel?"

"Mmhmm."

"Nice hickey."

Rachel felt her face pale drastically as she stood up and ran to the mirror in the downstairs bathroom.

Surely Santana was joking but sure enough, there was the mark, right beneath her ear; she had felt Quinn spend a lot of time sucking and licking while they were... occupied... but she hadn't given it much thoughts, too busy trying not to cry out Quinn's name and whatnot.

Damn you, Quinn!

She wasn't mad, in fact, seeing the mark made her feel warm and tingly but now she was going to have to explain to Finn how she got it unless...

"Santana! You need to help me cover this up!"

The Latina laughed, already holding a makeup bag in hand.

"I'll show you how to cover it and you can take care of it Monday... Unless you want to show it off to the school? Show them Finnept finally took a step towards manhood. Or should we say thrust?"

"No, actually, I'm good. In fact, could you not mention this to anyone? In fact, let's pretend this never happened," Rachel said, hoping the Latina wouldn't say anything, especially to Finn because she would no doubt become suspicious when he had no idea Rachel had a hickey let alone where it came from. Rachel barely kissed his lips anymore so he'd most likely be aware that he'd not given her a hickey. But then again, he'd believed he'd knocked up Quinn without sleeping with her...

"Ookaayy, sure thing. Look, if there's something going on, I'll listen."

"Okay," Rachel said, nervous about what Santana had concluded. There's no way she could figure out Quinn gave her the hickey; at least that's what she was hoping.

"Now, I hope you and Finn are using protection. Because I don't want to deal with your pregnant, sobbing ass."

"You don't have to worry about that," Rachel said, smirking internally at how true it was. She and Finn had never had sex. In fact, the only person she'd ever had sex with was Quinn and unless Quinn had something special with her fingers and tongue, she wasn't worried about becoming pregnant.

"Alright. Let's make supper. Are you back to vegan or..."

"I feel like steak," Rachel said grinning, after having bacon, she wanted to go all the way; perhaps it was a bit extreme going vegan. Besides, her dance classes required her to have protein and gymnastics would be easier as well if she upped her iron and protein levels. And the doctors had been complaining about her vitamin B intake.

"Alright. But seriously, the look, eating meat, whatever it is you're doing with Finn and drinking? I meant it when I said I'm here if you need to talk," Santana said sincerely, a bit of worry shining through her eyes. Rachel was tempted to spill her guts right then and there but she didn't know how the cheerio would feel about the fact that she was banging her best friend while she had a boyfriend. Actually, she was sure Santana wouldn't mind the cheating on Finn part but she could possibly have something to say about the best friend part... And the fact that it had happened all summer and neither of them had said anything sooner.

"I'll keep that in mind," Rachel said, smiling, glad that Santana actually seemed to care and guilty at the same time. Oh, she was suffocating in guilt but she still couldn't bring herself to be guilty enough to regret or even want to stop what she was doing with Quinn. She knew it had to stop but she didn't want it to. Besides, there was nothing to tell. They were just experimenting; innocent high school experimenting. Well, maybe not innocent.

"Alright, let's get some steak for Amerca's newest omnivore," Santana said, smiling. "But just so you know, if Finn hurts you, I'll rip his balls off and bury them in the backyard."

But he's the one who's likely to get hurt.

"Look, is Finn pressuring you to do anything you're not into or to change your appearance?" Santana blurted, as though it was something she'd been meaning to say for a while and finally got the guts to say it. "Dpes Auntie Snix need to come out and play?"

Oh, that's what this is about.

"Look, I know he can be persistent, Quinn told me as much; you need to know if you don't want to do something, that's it. He has no right to guilt you into anything," Santana said firmly.

"Finn hasn't pressured me into anything, Santana; everything I've done was of my own free will. There was no pressure or force," Rachel said, intentionally leaving Finn out of the last part so she felt a little less like a liar.

Great. I'm lying to another person. More importantly, I'm lying to someone who's basically becoming my friend. She's worried about me.

But, there wasn't anything to feel guilty about. She and Quinn were merely experimenting; they were curious and nothing else. There was nothing to tell. End of story. Case closed. It's not like they were in love like Brittany and Santana were. Though Rachel kind of wished Quinn was there, it was because they had funny memories and a lot of homework to tackle for English class that week.

"Okay. But if he does..."

"You'll be the first to know."

"It's all I ask. Now, about that steak you want... I don't actually know if there's steak here, would you settle for chicken?"

"Fine by me," Rachel said with a smile as she followed Santana downstairs.

That night, Santana went over to Brittany's house stating she'd be back in the morning and like the last time, Quinn crawled in the window with the same look on her face as the last time. This time she grabbed Rachel's shirt and pulled the girl as close as possible before kissing her deeply and passionately, immediately going for the buttons to Rachel's pyjama top.

"Just one more time."

"No complaints here," Rachel sighed, letting herself be pulled down onto her bed, thankful Santana was out of the house. She wasn't even going to pretend she was going to resist because they both knew how this discussion was going to end and it was pointless to even pretend she was going to resist. She wanted this. Quinn was clearly on board as well... Otherwise, she'd be at home.

Later that night, Quinn and Rachel lay in her bed, covered only by her blankets their bodies pressed together and the fell of Quinn's heart beating so close to hers... It was heaven. Quinn ran her hands through Rachel's hair and Rachel laid on her chest, drawing little circles on the blonde's shoulders

"You marked me last night and Santana saw. She thinks I'm sleeping with Finn now. What if she says something to him?" Rachel said suddenly.

"Wait, you haven't slept with him?"

"Well... No... Not yet. The timing hasn't been right," Rachel said.

"That's... that's good. I mean... good to know," Quinn said, causing Rachel to nod as she traced her finger along Quinn's bare belly button.

Rachel sighed happily as she pulled her damp bangs from her face and snuggled closer to Quinn. Because it was moments like this that she forgot she was guilty about having moments like this. Because it was moments like this that they held each other that Rachel truly felt at peace.

Hey guys. I hope you enjoyed that. Next chapter things are going to get interesting for the the 'platonic pair'.