"Did you mean it when you said you were proud of me last night?" Quinn asked me as she fidgeted with her hands.
Before I spoke, I looked at her and pushed her chin up so I could see her eyes. The last thing I did was take her soft hands in my rougher ones.
"Absolutely, 100 percent, Quinn. I was proud of you last night and I'm proud of you right now," I answered sincerely.
"Why?"
"Because you're fighting to get back to where you were before you were in that chair. Because I've never heard you say you didn't want to keep trying. Truthfully, Quinn, I am just proud of you because of who you are. Wheelchair or no wheelchair."
I noticed there were tears on her cheeks. I wiped them away with the pads of my thumbs. She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes for less than a second. I watched her curiously in anticipation.
"I love you," she barely whispered finally.
"I love you too," I said almost immediately which made us both laugh a little bit.
I heard that melodious laughter as I turned my truck into the Lima Bean's parking lot. Not sure what had caused her to laugh, I just turned my head and raised my eyebrow questioningly.
"We're going to have company if we go in there," Quinn said as she gestured to an oversized black SUV.
"Who?" I asked.
"Kurt."
"Really?! What is that kid's problem?"
"You."
"Ugh, fine, wanna get coffee some place else?"
"Baby, I would follow you to the moon if you asked me to."
I laughed as I backed out the space I had just pulled into seconds earlier. Every so often I noticed Quinn glancing behind us. I was sure she was doing the same thing I was. Making sure Kurt hadn't followed us. We just wanted to have a peaceful time together without anyone butting in where they weren't invited.
"We could go to Akron. My sister loved going there for coffee. She always told me it was the best stuff in Ohio without going to a major metropolitan area," Quinn suggested.
"Do you know what the name of the place your sister liked is called?" I asked her.
"Fran's Fresh Brew, ironically enough. I think she just liked them for their name."
Quinn and I laughed at that as she put the info into my phone's gps. A short while later I pulled into the parking lot of Fran's Fresh Brew. We both looked around and were pleased that we didn't find Kurt's SUV anywhere.
"If anyone would be here, it's my sister and that would be fine," Quinn said as I helped her from the truck into her chair.
"Yes it would since I'd really like to meet her," I replied.
Quinn turned and smiled at me. As I steered her chair I noticed there were lots of mothers with young children here. That got me thinking about what kind of mother Quinn was to Beth. Though I was sure a great one, I would still love to see that side of her. Hopefully sooner rather than later but I promised Quinn I would be patient about it.
"Aw man, we're not on familiar turf anymore," I teased.
"And?" Quinn questioned playfully.
"I don't know if you get the same drink here that you would at the Lima Bean."
"Baby, don't sweat it. I trust you. And besides, you know what I like. I'm gonna find us a table, you should get in line."
"Are you hungry, babe?"
"Yes. Definitely. Why don't you get a blueberry muffin and we can split it."
"Quinn, I can get two muffins, it's not a big deal."
"I know you can but trust me, my love, you'll only need one. The things are huge."
I just laughed as I watched her roll away in search of a table for us. I was pleased that she had found one quickly. I watched her from my spot in the line and even from far away I could see something was weighing heavily on her mind. What's wrong baby? I watched her after I hit send. She shook her head when she saw I had just texted her from across the coffee shop. Just thinking. I'll tell you what about when you and your cute butt have coffee and a muffin for me. I shot Quinn a wink when I read her text back. She proceeded to blow me a kiss.
A few minutes later I was carrying a tray with coffees. Iced, wild blueberry, skim milk only for Quinn and a hot coffee black for me. I also had the biggest blueberry muffin I'd ever seen in my life on a plate in my other hand.
"Your coffee, my girl," I said as I made a big deal about handing Quinn her coveted drink.
"Thanks, sweetheart," she said almost shyly. I watched her take a sip and thought it was the most adorable sight ever.
"Wow am I glad you set me straight about the muffin, babe," I laughed as I gestured toward the mound on the plate between us.
Quinn only smiled. We sat drinking our coffee and eating the muffin in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before I decided to ask what she had been thinking about while I had been in line. Judging by the way she tensed, I knew it was really serious. I grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it gently.
"You can tell me. Whatever it is," I encouraged.
"I was thinking about graduation. It's not that far away. We haven't even talked about what that's gonna mean for us. Are we gonna stay together no matter where we are? Don you know where you're going?' Quinn spat out hurriedly.
"Honestly, I wanted to talk about this too. I love you and would rather stay in this relationship even if we're thousands of miles apart. That kind of hurt would be better than hurting because we broke up," I replied, "I haven't heard back from all the schools I applied to so I don't where I'll be yet. But I do know if you go to Yale, my heart will be with you."
"Seb, I don't want to be away from you. I won't be able to take any sort of hurt. And not having you there, wherever I am, will hurt too much. I already know I'm going to be without Beth everyday wherever I go. And that alone might kill me. The only positive there being she'll be here, in Lima with Puck. At least for a little while."
"Didn't you apply to Ohio State though, baby?"
Quinn nodded. She hadn't really wanted to but since the application was free and it was a state school, her mom convinced her to do it anyway.
"I should have applied there too."
"But what about Michigan? You love that school."
"Not half as much as I love you, Q."
"It doesn't matter. I don't even want to go to Ohio State anyway."
I could see that the conversation was really getting to her. I quickly racked my brain for anything else we could talk about. Nationals I thought excitedly yeah, there we go. I should get her talking about that.
"Are you ready for Nationals?" I asked.
"Mentally, absolutely! I can't wait to see Chicago. Oh, Sebastian, I wish you could come. I'll miss you so much. I'm so nervous I won't be physically ready and I promised everyone would be out of this damn chair and dancing for Nationals. So I have to make myself physically ready," Quinn answered, her tone a mixture of bubbly and nervous.
"You'll be ready. And I'll help you."
"Thanks honey."
"Anything for my girl."
Quinn was about to say something when she heard her phone make noise. After all the texts full of crap early that morning, she was hesitant to look. Quinn breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a text from Puck:
You'll let me know before B meets him? - Puckzilla
Of course, you have my absolute word that they don't meet without your knowing about it ahead of time
Awesome. Give her a kiss for me – Puckzilla
"Sorry, Puck was just getting back to me from earlier," Quinn apologized as she put her phone away.
"It's not a problem. He is always gonna be in your life. You daughter is his daughter. I'll never stand in the way of that bond you guys share," I said nonchalantly.
"I love you. You're too good to me."
"I love you."
"As much as I love you and being here with you right now, there's an adorable little girl back in Lima that this momma is missing terribly right now."
I nodded in understanding. I was surprised when I looked at my phone we had been together for close to four hours.
As soon as we were back in Lima and on Dudley Road, I could see Quinn bouncing excitedly in the passenger seat. I hadn't even considered how long she had been away from Beth in the past two days. If her excitement was any indication I knew it had to be a lot.
When I put the truck in park Quinn kissed me before I jumped out to help her get in the chair. I was surprised when she shook her head no.
"Walk me to the door?" she asked sweetly.
"I'd love to," I replied before offering her my arm. I smiled when I felt Quinn's weight, just barely, but enough to know she was there. I slowly walked us up the path so she wouldn't fall down.
"I'm so proud of you, baby," I whispered when we reached the front door.
Seconds later, Judy opened the door. She had her finger up to her mouth. Quinn nodded, knowing that meant her mom must have just gotten Beth down for a nap. I waved at Judy before I turned to go back down the pathway for Quinn's wheelchair. She was leaning against Judy tiredly and flopped carefully into the chair when it was behind her. As soon as she was situated properly, Quinn pushed herself into the house before turning the chair to face me.
"I'll call you later, baby," I said before I kissed her softly on her gorgeous lips.
"Thanks for being so understanding about today. I love you," she said before she returned the kiss.
"I love you too. Bye, Quinn. Bye, Judy," I said before turning back to my truck.
