four: why are you doing this anyway
Unfortunately, reality doesn't come with a manual.
The first thing that Rachel hears this morning, unlike yesterday's loud music, are some really loud knock on her door.
"Hey, wake up!" Quinn shouts as possibly loud as she can, thinking of how deep of a sleeper Rachel is and how it should be annoying instead of cute.
Rachel, however, doesn't find Quinn's morning interruptions anything close to being cute. She tries to ignore the loud banging and relentless shouts coming from the other side of the door. But Quinn is nothing but determined to wake the tiny brunette.
Only half awake, Rachel stands up from her bed and then walks to open the door while mumbling grumpily, "Is there a fire? Because I'm fire-proof, I can go back to sleep now."
Words gets caught up in Quinn's throat once she's able to fully take in what Rachel's wearing. Correction: barely wearing. A tank top and some really short shorts barely covering her petite body. And she's not even wearing a bra. Great.
Quinn slowly pulls her gaze away from Rachel's chest, to her eyes, and then tries to speak as collectedly as she can, "Hey. Good morning."
"What's going on?" Rachel mumbles as she rubs her eyes, hardly trying to wake herself up.
"Get dressed." Quinn instructs.
"What?" Rachel asks, suddenly conscious. "Why?
"You'll see." Quinn just smirks, not giving off any hint. "Oh, and try not to wear anything that says I Love New York or something, okay?"
A handful minutes of stumbling, trying to get properly dressed, and Rachel's standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room as she waits for Quinn to actually tell her what the hell is happening. She calls for the blonde who appears to be inside her room. She tries to be patient so she waits some more, finally deciding to sit on the dark leather couch that is very much comfortable. No wonder Quinn sleeps in here, she thought. Okay, maybe she's not the most patient person in the world. A couple more minutes passed, a few rumblings inside Quinn's room, and she's this close to barging in that door to ask what is going on. That is before she hears a ringing of a phone.
It's not hers.
She tries to track down where the phone is. She follows the sound and it leads her to the coat rack near the apartment's door. There's only one coat hanging in there and it's not hers. She's nothing but curious on who's calling Quinn, so she sticks her hand in the coat's pocket, and then grasps the phone, only letting her take a glimpse of the flashing number for a few seconds.
A very familiar number, but Rachel can't fully recognize whose it is at the moment. Quinn seems to have come out of nowhere as she worriedly grabs the phone and the coat away from Rachel who's now looking guilty and bewildered.
"Sorry. It's ringing, and I assumed that it's important so – " Rachel tries to explain, but all she receives is the distant look that Quinn gave her yesterday. She's shutting her out. Not again, no, Rachel thought, not when things seems to getting better. "Quinn." She calls out, almost sounding like she's crying.
The girl standing in front of her takes in a deep breathe, then says, "No, it's fine. It wasn't important anyway." Quinn flashes a smile towards her, and suddenly, everything feels like it's going to be okay. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Rachel says in a voice that's close to resignation – like she's ready for whatever is to come.
"Great. Let's go!" Quinn enthusiastically says, dragging Rachel outside of their apartment and out into the streets in no time. And all that Rachel can do is laugh along.
"Seriously, where are you taking me?" Rachel asks as she tries to catch her breathe from the brisk walking they did that started from the inside of the apartment until – well, it hasn't actually ended yet. The pace of their walk is a tad bit faster than what she's used to, but she tries to match Quinn's pace so she doesn't slow down. Quinn slows down though when she notices Rachel's shallow breathing and she heartily laughs.
"Okay, sorry – sorry." Quinn says, starting to walk much slower as she tries to explain. "How To Survive on New York City. First things first, walk at a brisk pace. See all these people?" She asks, pointing to the people walking fastly, going and passing them by. "Many prefer to travel by foot since the traffic in here is just.. it's chaotic. And let me tell you a big don't: Don't ever stop in the middle of the sidewalks. Whatever you need to do, walk over to a shop first. Or just stay away from the crowd for a moment. What are you – are you – is that a notepad?" Quinn says with a humourless chuckle, then stops abruptly. Rachel's got a pen and notepad in her hands, and she seems to have taken down everything Quinn has said.
"What happened to rule #3 – never stop in the middle of the sidewalks?" Rachel says judgingly, earning herself a laugh from the blonde. Then they started walking again, briskly this time. "There are really a lot of changes that I need to get used to, huh?"
"Don't worry. With a teacher like me, I say you'll get used to all these in a week tops." Quinn replies with confidence, but then adds, "But there's just some that you might not get used to at all."
"Like what?" The brunette asks as she keeps whatever she's holding inside her bag. She wants to know what's behind Quinn's words.
"Well, it's different for every people. Some would say the noise, or constantly being around too many people all the time. It may also be hard to get used to the idea that you will run into people on bad days that are assholes. Or that you'll possibly completely lose touch with friends or loved ones." Quinn vehemently explains, and Rachel attentively listens. But she can't help her thoughts to run off to where it really wants to go.
"Yeah? But what about you? What's the hardest thing you've needed to get used to?" She really needs to ask it, like there's a part of her that needs to be fed with answers.
If Quinn is startled by the question, she doesn't show it.
"I guess – I – what made everything harder to get used to is the fact that I needed to move on. And it's the mere thought of moving on that made the process much harder." Quinn says coldly, "I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, huh?" Her words are bitter and are pointed towards Rachel who has no idea of what it really meant.
"No – actually, I do." She tries to defend herself, "I called off my wedding during the actual ceremony before I headed here in New York. I –" And she doesn't really know how to continue with that one. She doesn't even feel like she's moving on from that incident; it feels like she's trying to move past something else. She barely remembers Finn: What he looks like, what his voice sounds like, what he makes her feel. It's like she's not moving on from anything at all.
But she doesn't want to say that to Quinn, or at least not right now. She feels like the streets are not really the ideal place to talk about things like these. But – where is, really? It's not like a completely different ambiance would change the meaning of words. A few bottles of alcohol, maybe. But words are words, no matter how or when or where you say it.
Before Rachel could even say something else, she is suddenly being dragged by Quinn inside a bookstore. She didn't even know that they have a bookstore in the neighbourhood. She hears Quinn greet the bookkeeper and she can't help but notice how they seem to know each other quite well. A girl stacking some books greets Quinn as well.
"Look around. I need to buy something first." Quinn says before disappearing into the aisles of books.
Rachel looks around, as Quinn instructs. She's not gone far from the cashier when there's this particular book that catches her attention. It's in the section of donated books, books that once belonged to someone and are now looking for a new home. She takes it in her hands and just stares at its cover. The edges are ragged, the pages are tainted in tan brown signifying its age, and oddly enough, written on the very first page of the book are the words: To the girl I love. When she sees that Quinn seems to have found what she's looking for, she goes to the other cashier and buys the book without any second thoughts.
"I bought a map of the city." Quinn says as soon as they're outside. "It's a necessity and I've learned that the hard way. What did you buy?"
"It's a book." Rachel says, there's nothing much she can add to that since that's all she knows.
"Why did you buy another one? You already have so much you haven't read yet." Quinn says in instinct, before she realizes that she shouldn't have.
"How did you know that?" Rachel says as she laughs, looking like she completely missed what should have been suspicious. "And I don't know what's with this book. I don't usually buy books. This.. intrigues me."
"Well, I hope you enjoy it." Quinn just shrugs.
"Where are we going now?" Rachel asks.
"I don't know. Here's the map." Quinn says as she gives Rachel the map of New York City. They stop in the middle of the sidewalk, completely ignoring the third rule, as they look at each other with untainted smiles. "Now, where are you taking me?"
Rachel spreads out the map in front of her, and there's nothing else that Quinn would rather do this very moment than just stare at this girl in awe. Because she's so beautiful like this, her smile reaching up to her ears, looking like she's about to explode in excitement. Because this moment, right here and right now, is exactly what they've pictured them to be five months ago. But here they are, on that very same picture, but in a completely different situation. And Quinn thinks that it's probably that one thing she won't ever get used to.
It's Rachel's turn to drag Quinn to the nearing taxi she thought she hailed but didn't stop in front of them.
"What are you doing?" Quinn asks.
"What do you think it looks like I'm doing? I'm hailing us a cab!" Rachel says as she flails her hands in the air, desperately trying to call for a cab.
"No. Stop. Don't do it like that –" Quinn flails her arms to show Rachel what she looks right now. "You look crazy. Just wave a little bit like this." And just like that, a cab stops in front of them seconds later.
Rachel does her best to look totally unimpressed. She opens the door and they both sit at the back, not giving the taxi driver any chance to refuse.
"To Queens Center, please." Rachel instructs, then says directed to Quinn, "We are going grocery shopping."
Author's Note: I am very sorry that it took me so long to update a new chapter. I also apologize for it being so short. Tell me what you think of this chapter. As I can see from some of the reviews, you guys have noticed how it's quite obvious that there's something between Quinn and Rachel from the past. Yes, there is something, but I'm not planning on revealing the truth to Rachel sometime soon, though. Be patient and bear with me, please. Thank you!
