Rachel caught Quinn just as the blonde was walking out of her second period class. It took her some effort to keep up with the taller girl, but she managed. As Quinn saw her, she did a double take and blushed a bit, her eyes slightly widening.

"Hi Quinn I- actually, could you slow down a little bit please? It's hard for me to keep up." The other girl nodded and slowed her pace so that Rachel could keep up without too much effort. "As I was saying, I wanted to thank you for Wednesday. It was very nice of you to defend me the way you did."

"It's no problem Rachel. Santana shouldn't have done that, and somebody needed to make sure she knew she was wrong."

"And that somebody was you. I had to thank you for that. Also, I was wondering if you wanted to stop by for dinner tonight. We're having a vegan casserole, and we would love for you to stop by. The two of us could play board games after or whatever you would like to do."

"T-tonight? I um.. well tonight I have something with Sam. I could try to stop by after though. I shouldn't be long with Sam; he's just showing me how to do something. So yeah, I would love to stop by. Board games sound great." Rachel smiled at Quinn and nodded quickly.

"Great! So I'll see you tonight." The brunette turned around to walk to her class, which they had just passed. She gave Quinn another quick smile before slipping into the room. It was rare for her to have peers at her house, so she was both excited and nervous. Everything would have to be perfect.

/

The last smile that Rachel had flashed Quinn made tonight's plans really hit her; she was going to the Berry's household for dinner. The blonde was both excited and terrified. What if Rachel's fathers didn't like her? What if she accidently said something offensive? What in the world would she wear? For the entire day, every possible scenario played out in her head. Before she knew it, the day was over and it was time for Glee club. Nothing interesting happened; Mercedes sang before Mr. Schue discussed more tactics they should use to win sectionals, which was fast approaching. When it was time to go, Rachel stopped Quinn just outside the door.

"Can you be at my house for six?" Quinn nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I can't wait." Getting into her car, she stopped home to get her guitar before driving to Sam's house. She knocked on the door, and his father opened it. He looked different than the last time Quinn had seen him. There were dark circles around his eyes and he hadn't shaved in a while. His blonde hair was graying a little, and in general he just looked tired. Despite that, though, he was still just as enthusiastic as usual. His blue eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Quinn! We haven't seen you in a while! Come on in. How have you been?"

"I've been great Mr. Evans, thanks. How have you been?"

"Pretty good. The kids missed you." Sam stuck his out of the room and gave his father a disapproving look.

"Dad, leave her alone. Come on in Quinn." She smiled at Mr. Evans before walking into Sam's room. The walls were a soft yet masculine green, and the floor was a plush, off-white carpet. Everything was very neat and there were a lot of pictures about the room. Some of Sam and his siblings, some of him and his mother, and one of the entire family in Disney world. They sat on the carpeted floor across from each other, both with acoustic guitars resting on their laps. Sam laughed, causing Quinn to look around confused.

"What? What are you laughing at? Is there something on my shirt? Samuel! Cut it out!" The girl grabbed a pillow off of Sam's bed and threw it at him in an attempt to make him stop laughing at her.

"You're holding it backwards." Quinn looked down and realized that she was indeed holding the guitar backwards.

"Oops.. now teach me how to play."

"Not yet. First you have to tell me why you want to learn so badly. You told me that you would, so you have to." Quinn cursed under her breath. She had really hoped that he would forget about it, but he hadn't. This would be the first person she would be coming out to, and she wasn't sure it was a very good idea. Sam had always been supportive of Kurt, but he and Quinn had once dated. What if he was offended? She had to tell him though, because it was very clear that he wasn't teaching her anything unless she told him.

"You have to promise not to tell anybody. If you tell anyone, I will tell the entire school about Mr. Meowzer." She pulled an old, ratty stuffed lion off of Sam's bed and laughed at it. "Sam, his eye fell off"

"Yeah I know.. but I swear I won't tell anyone. Hey what're you doing?"

"Taking a picture just in case. Okay, so I'm gay and I sort of really like Rachel. I was hoping that maybe, if I knew how to play guitar, I could play a song for her and she would give me a chance."

"That's why you defended her in Glee club the other day? Santana was right?"

"Yes, but I never told Santana. She doesn't know that she's right."

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm gay too. I like Kurt."

"Really? I mean, obviously there are rumors but I never thought that they were true. Go for it, I bet he likes you too." Sam shook his head.

"No, I'm not his type. But let's get going." For the next hour he taught her how to hold the guitar and where to put her fingers. They laughed when she did something terribly wrong and even had a pillow fight. Quinn looked at her phone and realized that it was already 5:25.

"Shit! I'm going to be late!"

"Late for what?"

"Dinner. I'm supposed to be at her house for six and it's already nearly half past five." She let loose a spate of cuss words while gathering her things. "Thank you so much Sam. I'll be here again next Friday, right? Remember, don't tell anyone." As she walked out the door, she showed him the picture of Mr. Meowzer.

/

"Daddy, she'll be here. It just turned six; she probably is just running late."

"Baby, this has happened with other people, remember? I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"She will be here. Just give her 10 minutes."

/

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck! It's six. I am so late. Should I bring a gift? No, no I am already late." Quinn rushed to her car and sped to the Berry household. As she waited at the door, she smoothed her baby blue dress out. A tall black man opened the door, and he looked slightly smug.

"Uh.. hello Mr. Berry. Rachel invited me to dinner."

"Of course. Come on in Ms. Fabray. You can call me Zander, and this is my husband, Nicholas." He motioned to a short, pale man with glasses who looked less than amused. Rachel stood next to him, looking just as smug as Zander.

"I told you she would come."

"I am so sorry for being late. I was at Sam's and lost track of time. It took me forever to get ready, but I wanted to look nice."

"It's really no trouble, Quinn. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Zander walked into the kitchen with Nicholas close behind. Quinn looked around the house. She had been here once before, but never really took a good look around. There were pictures of Rachel from when she was a baby to last year's school picture. Quinn was astonished at how she had always been beautiful. Even as a child it was obvious that she would grow up to be stunning.

"Quinn, did you want to sit?" She spun around to see that Rachel was sitting at the table now, looking very amused at how intrigued Quinn was by the photos. The blonde nodded and sat down across from Rachel. Just moments later the Berry men walked in with food in tow. The four of them ate and talked. Zander told a few embarrassing stories about things Rachel had done when she was young, and Nicholas asked Quinn a few questions about school and her plans for the future. Quinn was surprised at how delicious the food was, and ate until she couldn't any longer. When they were done eating, the girls took the plates into the kitchen.

"There's not really much to do inside. Want to go for a walk?" Quinn nodded and Rachel led her outside. The sun was slowly lowering in the sky, but it was still quite warm out. They walked in silence for a while before Rachel spoke up.

"Why have you been so nice to me lately? You were never like this before. Finn said you're faking it to be even meaner."

"Finn has no idea what he is talking about. Over the summer I realized that I was being cruel for all the wrong reasons. You're an amazing person, and of all the people in that school, you deserve respect the most. I will continue to defend you until people realize that they're wrong."

"That's very nice of you, thank you. I'm glad that we can be friends."

"Me too." She smiled.

"And it's about time that you realize how amazing I am." Quinn looked at the brunette, shocked, and saw that she was joking. Laughing, she pushed the smaller girl. Rachel screamed and almost fell over. With a joking glare, she pushed Quinn back, who then fell onto someone's lawn. Rachel laughed at her, then looked up and stopped laughing.

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"We're about a mile and a half away from my house and uh.." She pointed toward the sky, which was now one big black cloud. Quinn swore, but the sound was muffled by a loud crash of thunder.

"Well get up Quinn! We have to get home!"

"Nope. I have come to terms with the fact that we will be soaked before we get there. I see no point in getting up if it's going to rain on us regardless."

"It might not if we go n-," Before Rachel could finish her sentence, the sky opened up above them. She opened her mouth in shock as the rain drenched her. Looking over, she saw that Quinn was still sitting on the grass, now laughing hysterically.

"This isn't funny!" Rachel had to yell over the sound of the pouring rain and thunder.

"Yes it is!" Rachel grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up, but Quinn was not about to be moved. Instead, the brunette fell onto the blonde. Quinn gasped and blushed, her eyes locked on Rachel's. The brunette made a dissatisfied noise and stood up.

"Come on Quinn! If I get sick I won't be able to sing!"

"Fine, fine. Let's go," She stood up and began walking back towards Rachel's house. For some reason, though, Rachel wasn't following her. Looking back, she noticed that Rachel had actually backed up and had one hand over her mouth. Her eyes gave away that she was laughing, but Quinn couldn't figure out why. The blonde heard a noise that caused her to look back in the direction that she was walking. There was a car coming. She looked down at the street and saw that right next to where she was standing, a huge puddle had formed. Rachel looked horrified as Quinn grabbed her hand and pulled her so that they were standing next to each other just in time for the car to hit the puddle. Rachel pushed Quinn again, who laughed and ran away. They ran the whole way home, laughing at their predicament.