Sorry I haven't updated for a while, hopefully with the calming down of a very hectic schedule the updates will be more often. Oh and I hope you enjoy this fast paced chapter, and as always feedback is much appreciated. Thank you for reading!
"So it's this one here?"
"Yeah this one"
"On the right?"
"Of course on the right, where else? You think that's my house?" Quinn's eyes flickered to the house on the left side of the street which was a predominantly smaller and run down bungalow. It didn't look like somewhere anyone would exactly want to live, but at the same time it wasn't bad enough for the council to knock down. The ivy tangled up the walls of it in a restless way, almost suffocating the 60's style catastrophe. Even through the windows Rachel was able to tell that the house was broken and messy, she couldn't imagine anyone living there – actually she could, and that person was sitting right next to her. That place was exactly the sort of home that Rachel imagined Quinn would have, or at least would like to have. However Quinn shot her a fierce look and Rachel's head swiftly produced a series of denying nods. Rachel was no coward, but Quinn was no person. She was almost an animal, and Rachel felt like a piece of meat.
Pulling into the now established home of the weird and not-so-wonderful Quinn Fabray, Rachel produced a silent sigh of relief in knowing that her journey had finally come to a safe end. That is, if you call it a journey. The first ten of the twenty minute ride was driven in complete and utter silence. After that Quinn pulled out a stick of gum which was rhythmically chewed until Rachel couldn't stand the noise anymore. However, she managed to block it out until Quinn tried to turn on the radio. She tried and tried but it wouldn't budge, and Rachel felt very content in the fact that her dads had disabled the music device, even though they couldn't have known about the crazed blond she would have to drive home. Since the radio was a dud Quinn just spent the rest of the journey staring at Rachel with an unnerving bluntness. Rachel wasn't sure what it felt like to be a stuffed animal in a museum, but she was sure it had to feel something like this. To be honest she wouldn't have been surprised if Quinn just reached out and poked her face or something, it was as if the girl was completely inconsiderate of other human emotions – she was downright crazy. The whole scenario made Rachel crave the sanctuary of her room, even if her dads were home. She wanted to be under her covers and enclosed in the safe cocoon that was her bed. There she didn't have to talk to any therapists or lie about what she was thinking, or worry about what other people were thinking – there she could just be present in the moment, moments that Rachel liked to spend writing in her recovery journal. Even though she knew deep down it was more like a tribute to Finn, the journal did essentially help. It made her thoughts more coherent, and somehow made them more real when they were written down on paper. Because no matter how sad or angry Rachel felt, she was never completely sure that was the emotion she was feeling. The hospital had made her doubt her emotions as the doctors repeatedly convinced her she didn't love Finn, they just said it was a fixated obsession. But having the words written down in front of her, having her handwriting read the words 'today I am sad', seemed to help just a little bit.
She supposed she should write down the series of events that had occurred recently, especially since in comparison to her life in the ward they were pretty eventful. But Rachel didn't really want to admit to herself that Santana had changed, or that her husband was a douche, and she definitely didn't want to waste a single page on explaining to her book what a psycho Quinn Fabray was. All her thoughts eventually lead back to Finn, so maybe there wasn't any point to noting down today after all. It wasn't eventful, it didn't matter, and the sooner she forgot about it the better. Rachel pulled the keys out and the engine haulted to a silent stop. Quinn did not leave the car.
Slowly the brunette inhaled a calming breath and counted to ten just as her therapist had told her to do in situations that caused her anxiety (would she constantly be counting to ten with Quinn Fabray? Could she keep it continuous or would she have to start over? Would she reach a billion?). She turned round to look at Quinn out of the corner of her and prompted her to leave with a clearing of her throat and a slight raise of both her eyebrows. Take a hint, Quinn.
"You're not going to walk me to the door?" Quinn asked, almost taken back. Instantly the blonde leaned further back into her seat as if to say that if Rachel didn't then she wouldn't be going anywhere. Rachel's eyebrows furrowed and her head spun with confusion, how could one person be so misleading? She was annoying, and complicated, and impossible to read. Being around her was like trying to give directions to a person who spoke a different language, they just wouldn't make sense no matter how much they tried and you can't understand them even if you got a dictionary out. They were just too different, but compromising was a theory that Finn Hudson approved of. However, Finn Hudson certainly wasn't here. With a frown Rachel shook her head in reply.
"Why should I? It's not a date, plus it's like ten steps away and if anyone did attack you as if I could fight them off." Rachel's eyes flickered down the length of her short frame, the girl had always suffered from body image and being short was never something she enjoyed, but she'd began to come to terms with it, and definitely wasn't about to pretend she could fight someone taller than her – which indirectly meant she couldn't fight anyone.
"True. You're like a dwarf" the blonde snorted, but Rachel didn't have time to retaliate since Quinn was out of the car before she could even find a good insult. Instead of walking to her house, which unlike the bungalow looked pretty much just like everyone else's, Quinn just stood in the middle of the street with her hands by her side and staring up at the dark night sky. Not doing anything, just staring. Rachel knew she could drive away now and never hear from this strange girl again. All she had to do was reverse her car and drive off, it would be that simple. But what if she got run over? It was dark and she was dressed as dull as you could. As much as she wanted to talk herself out of it the door handle was already in her clasp and slowly Rachel got out of the car and walked hesitantly towards Quinn through the dark night air.
"Go home, Quinn." Rachel ordered, putting her hands on her hips. It didn't look too convincing but it would have to do. Quinn didn't reply and Rachel thought she'd have to stomp her foot down or something. The idea of leaving Quinn here began to sound more and more tempting. Just as she was about to turn around and make her way back to the car Quinn's voice broke through the silence.
"Jeez, you really need to relax, you know that? I am home. I'm just outside, it's not like I'm trying to kill my boyfriend or anything" the blonde snorted again and Rachel's eyes focused in on her with a snarl of a look.
"You can't say things like that!" the shorter girl exclaimed, demanding Quinn's attention. Luckily the mysterious hazel eyes drifted their way to reach Rachel's whilst a smirk still played up on her lips. It was infuriating to have someone look at you like that when you felt so angry. How could someone be happy or take your anger as a joke? That just made it worse, it just fuelled a fire inside of Rachel that she didn't even know she had.
"Why not? You did try to kill him right?" she pointed out with that same blank expression that was so different from everyone else's. It's not that Quinn Fabray didn't think before she spoke, it was that she spoke exactly what she thought. She had the remarkable ability to have full confidence to ask the questions no one else did, an ability that she only attributed from years of torment, guilt and suffering. Rachel was once again found speechless; it seemed as if Quinn was the only person that could make her silent. She hated that, she hated this girl - how dare a stranger say things like that to her? Anger boiled up inside her but Rachel knew that if she was ever going to get better she couldn't get angry anymore. She couldn't let people get in the way of her recovery, especially weird people like Quinn. She had to cut them out of her life and focus on the good. She had to get a job and start trying out new hair styles and go back to Santana's house and try to explain to her that she didn't really want to leave with Quinn at all - which made her question why she did in the first place. It was stupid, it was stupid to let this girl threaten the life ahead of her. Quinn Fabray would not be getting in Rachel's way of a happily ever after, she just wouldn't let her. And there was no way that when Rachel turned around and left this girl that she could ever try to contact her again. Just as Rachel was about to leave her for the final time she was met with the oddest sensation of her life, which now belonged to the most life changing moment of her existence so far, even if she didn't know it.
Right there in the middle of a street she didn't know the name of, with a girl who she didn't know anything about, Rachel Berry stood with her lips pressed to Quinn's - well, it was more Quinn's pressed to hers. The kiss came out of nowhere, Quinn bolted so fiercely at her that Rachel thought she was simply going to attack her or something, but definitely not kiss her. She couldn't get her thoughts together, why was Quinn doing this? Why would she want to kiss a stranger? A girl? Rachel of all people? Why did her lips taste like a fresh crushed a strawberry ice-lolly on a hot summers day? And why was she faced with the unbelievable desire to hungrily kiss her back? Rachel pushed her off immediately.
"What the hell was that!?" the brunette screamed, staggering back. Quinn only came forward once again, almost clasping Rachel's face in her hands.
"I've got an annex at the back of my house, my parents are out, we could totally have sex and no one would even hear"
"have sex!?" Rachel screamed, her eyes widening in a mixture of curiosity and horror as if she had just endured the most shocking statement of her life, and in hindsight, she probably did. "What the hell are you talking about? You're crazy I like guys."
"So do I!"
"I'm practically engaged"
"So am I!" Quinn screamed back holding up her left hand revealing a small silver band that Rachel hadn't seen before. Her pale hand was almost shaking in the darkness and it made her look both dangerous yet vulnerable. Through the bad lighting Rachel was only able to see glimpse of Quinn – maybe a shine in her teeth, or the white's of her eyes as her crazy stare bore into her, but she could tell one thing for sure – Quinn Fabray's emotions had erupted.
In the darkness of the night sky with Quinn's manic forest green eyes staring back at her Rachel felt the as if the whole situation was some sort of nightmare. But as Rachel's expression stayed still as stone, Quinn's developed into a much darker one of betrayal. "I saw the way you were looking at me when I came in, don't pretend you weren't thinking of kissing me the whole night, and then you play all straight on me?" There was so much anger in Quinn's voice that Rachel's throat grew dry in the anxiety in that moment. She needed to get away. "That's what's crazy, this whole fucking world is so fucked up that everyone just fucking lies to each other" Quinn continued with venom in her voice and passion in her eyes. Once again Rachel's ability to speak was stolen by the force that was Quinn Fabray, followed swiftly by the loss of sensation on the left side of her face. Quinn's hand left a sharp and painful red mark on Rachel before it followed with the rest of her body straight into the house. Rachel was left with a ringing in her ear, the echo of a slammed door, a kiss on her lips and a slap on her face. In just over an hour Quinn Fabray had managed to turn her life upside down, and Rachel hated her more than anything in that moment.