A/N: Sorry. I am a terrible updater mostly because I had no idea where to go with this and partly because I like to read all of your stuff more than write mine. But! Here it is..chapter 3

I promise they'll be coming quicker this time. Like for real.

Oh and I own nothing..yada yada

Once again Quinn stood outside of the apartment building steeling herself for what awaited her inside. God I hope I don't make a habit out of this. She climbed the stairs reluctantly going over what she was going to tell Rachel. She figured she could get a pretty good sense of the comfort level when she came face to face with the girl but with all honesty, this was Rachel Berry. No one could actually be prepared for any type of encounter with her. Quinn let herself back into the apartment and dropped her keys on the counter as she walked through the kitchen into the living room. Rachel was perched on the end of the couch completely immersed in whatever she was reading. Quinn took a second to observe her new roommate.

Rachel's brow was furrowed in the most endearing way. Her lips sported a small frown and her eyes, ever wild, darted back and forth across the page with a quickness that seemed so fitting. Her flair for the dramatic poured out of her expression even in silence. Quinn bit back a laugh when Rachel audibly gasped at something she just read. The blonde cleared her throat, signaling her presence, and Rachel's eyes jumped from the page to meet Quinn's across the room.

"I didn't hear you come in," she said, slowly closing her book and setting it down on the coffee table.

"Obviously. Does your head hurt?" Quinn asked moving to sit on the opposite end of the couch.

Rachel looked at the girl for a second before saying, "And why exactly would my head hurt?"

"You just concentrate so hard. It looked like you were trying to etch the words into your brain," Quinn said with a smirk.

"Well Quinn, I truly believe that when you find something that you are passionate about, one hundred percent concentration is most of the time, unavoidable. I, for one, happen to be extremely passionate about Mr. Nicholas Sparks and his lovely, albeit slightly predictable, love stories. I mean his characters are just too adorable and the way he seems to know everything a girl wants to hear..," Rachel's eyes looked past Quinn and into the distance while a small smile played out on her lips. "Passion," she stated flicking her eyes back to the blonde, "is ever so important in everything we do."

Quinn wanted to give herself a pat on the back. Really. This was the first time ever that she let Rachel Berry go off on a tangent about something unimportant without snapping at her insulting her in any way. And she even listened! Well, kind of. "Yea, I do love Nicholas Sparks."

Silence stretched between them again and Rachel bristled in her seat. "Just say it Berry."

"Why are you here? I thought you went to Ohio State to cheer?"

"I transferred," Quinn said nonchalantly as she examined her nails.

Rachel hesitated for a moment, expecting Quinn to elaborate. When she didn't, the brunette huffed. She never could make anything easy. "Okay. Now that we have stated the obvious, would you care to tell me why?"

"I don't really understand why you care Berry. I know you're about as happy with this situation as I am but there's no need to pretend that you want to know me or that you even like me. I transferred because OSU didn't have what I needed and NYU did. End of story."

Quinn made to move to get off the couch when Rachel said, "That's not true you know." The blonde stood and looked down at her roommate with a question in her eyes, "That I don't like you. That's not true." When Quinn didn't bite her head off, Rachel continued, "I always thought we could be great friends. Mercedes told me repeatedly what a wonderful person you could be and Brittany continuously raved about you. I saw, on more than one occasion, how you came to the defense of anyone in glee club and your efforts were and still are truly appreciated." Rachel faltered a little when she finally met Quinn's eyes and saw them visibly soften. "I-I'm not saying we have to be the best of friends but I just want you to know that I don't hate you." When she finished, the brunette fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Silence always made her uncomfortable. Especially with Quinn Fabray.

Quinn sighed and her body sagged a little. It was so much effort being on the defense all the time. "I don't hate you either Rachel," was all she said. The brunette eyes snapped up to meet hazel and a smile began to spread across her face. Rachel knew that those words meant A LOT coming from the girl across from her. And she called her Rachel. Barrier number one? Broken.

"I'm going to go unpack." With that, Quinn turned and waltzed into the bedroom where she would stay for the next two hours mulling things over while she settled in.

Rachel tried as hard as she could to get back into her book but something about Quinn threw her off. It was if she was almost..nice. Granted they didn't leave high school at each other's throats. Senior year especially saw the girls find some sort of mutual respect for one another, but in no way did that mean that they liked each other. Something had changed Quinn and Rachel's insane curiosity would not let it go, which was always recipe for disaster.

Quinn finished unpacking her things and began working at making her side of the room her own. She left the boxes in the living room and kitchen for later. That's the kind of stuff that good roommates do together and she and Rachel were not good roommates. Yet at least. Quinn sighed and fell back onto her bed staring at the ceiling. How in the hell did this happen.

"Well Quinn. Even though the possibilities were one in a million, quite literally, it seems as though the universe is telling us we need to reconnect," Rachel said as she made her way into the bedroom. Quinn was baffled. Her brain took a second to kick in and realize that she must have just said her comment out loud but only after her stomach did backflips unnecessarily at the thought of Rachel being a mind-reader. The blonde shook her head at her own weirdness and looked to the brunette who was clearly waiting for a response.

"Yeah. I guess so. Still pretty crazy though, right?" she quickly added to the conversation.

"Yes," Rachel said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "So I had made a few friends in the building before you got here. Other Julliard students. We were going to go out a grab a few drinks tonight if you wanted to come?"

Quinn let the girl's words sink in. Rachel Berry. Made friends. (Sure it was other Julliard divas but still.) And was going out tonight with them? And inviting her? And wait, did she just speak normally without the giant vocabulary? Who is this girl?

Rachel wasn't really sure what to do with Quinn's silence so, naturally, she filled it. "Then again I could fully understand your lack of desire to go out with me or anyone I befriend. Silly of me. And plus you must be exhausted. And with school starting on Monday I completely understand your need to catch up on some sleep so I'll just leave you to your thoughts then." The brunette sighed as she moved to get her bag and Quinn snapped out of whatever trance she was in.

"Sorry," Quinn said. Rachel stopped at the door and looked back at the girl with something akin to hope in her eyes. "Your right about the sleep. I should probably just stay in tonight. Thanks for the invite though." Rachel's eyes narrowed as she studied the other girl. Quinn felt immediately uncomfortable. Sitting up a bit on her bed, she raised her eyebrows and asked, "What?"

Rachel shook her head. "Nothing. I just-" she stopped for a second to collect her thoughts and fought with herself to not rush over and feel the blonde's head to see if she had a fever because there was no way Quinn Fabray would talk to her so nicely without her being on her death bed. "And even then…" Rachel thought. "You're just different," was the best she could muster before she turned and made her way through the apartment to meet her classmates in the hallway.

"You are too," Quinn muttered to the empty room. She laid back down on her bed and continued staring at the ceiling. To keep her mind from wandering to things she didn't want to think about, she allowed a pint-sized brunette to pop up in her brain. Rachel Berry. Quinn would have never guessed that she would ever see the girl again. She was different. Two years at college and living in New York City seemed to have taken the edge off a little bit. Sure she was definitely the same girl but with slightly less..something. Her words didn't jumble together as much from the constant need to speak too much and too fast. She seemed to have no problem sitting on the couch and passing a few hours with a book which showed she had learned to breathe a little. Her clothes were so much better. She seemed to lack the animal print sweaters and penny loafers but those sinfully short skirts were still present. Quinn quirked a smile as she thought about what anyone would say to her thoughts on how good Rachel Berry's legs looked in the particular skirt she just had on. Yea, Rachel seemed to have realized just how great she could look. And the fact that the brunette seemed to master her eye makeup because her deep brown eyes sparkled with that little something extra tonight added to this new look. Her hair, as always, was perfect and seemed to fall just right around the tiny girl's face. Quinn sighed as she rolled onto her side and stared at the other girl's bed. How in the world am I supposed to introduce Berry to that side of me. Without perving on her.

Quinn knew that she needed to open up to her roommate eventually. If you had asked her two days ago if she would ever feel comfortable talking freely to Rachel she would have laughed in your face. But now? Being in the girl's presence had done something to the blonde. She felt safe with the brunette. It had only been a few hours but the fact that she was immediately at-ease in their shared space said something about the other girl. Rachel was always great like that. She never expected too much out of people. Out of their voices, yes, but never too much out of an actual person. She was happy with anyone who tried their hardest and acted their sincerest. And considering they were two things that Quinn had vowed to work on before she made the trip to the city, she knew fate had played a part. This time, Quinn was going to embrace what she was dealt. Fighting it was just not worth the effort. Especially when you were fighting with someone as stubborn as Manhands.