If she thinks I'm gonna be gone by the time she gets out, then she really doesn't know me like she claims to. It's so frustrating, that she won't listen to me. Just take ten seconds for me to explain, but she wouldn't be Quinn if she weren't stubborn.
The shower turns off and suddenly, I'm nervous. The door opens and she makes eye contact with me, and it is evident that she is not surprised at all that I am still here. She's wrapped in a towel and her hair is wet and gathered to the side of her shoulder. She sits down next to me. I steal a glance at her and she isn't looking at me. Good, that makes me less nervous.
"You're right, I did have sex with Molly." She doesn't speak; she doesn't flinch. Thank God she's going to finally let me fucking talk. "It was like six months after us, it happened one time when we were drunk and after we did it, I started fucking crying." Now she looks at me, half smirk, half confused, "She was the first person I had sex with after you, I was hammered it just all came out." She laughs and so do I. "I told her everything, she told me I was a dumbass for walking out and that was the end of hooking up. I couldn't after that, I didn't even fucking want to." I study her face, but I can't tell what she's feeling, typical. She is the best at hiding her emotions. "We're just friends, that's it. I promise."
"Okay." I let out a deep breath I didn't even realize I was holding in. She stands up and puts clothes on, completely avoiding the fact that I'm still here, but hey, I don't mind at all.
"So are we gonna talk about what just happened?" She's dressed in yoga pants, my favorite, and her red alumni Cheerios shirt. She leans against her dresser.
"I'm sorry I slapped you." I laugh because she seems pretty serious, and it looks like she felt guilty for doing it.
"Was that okay? Do you regret it?" I ask because the way she stormed off, she seemed really angry and I'm having flashbacks to sophomore year. She gives me a closed mouth smile and walks over to sit on the bed. She puts her hand on my cheek,
"No, I don't regret it." She smiles again and so do I because this has to mean something, she may finally admit her feelings. "But you forgot…again." I look at her confused and start going through important dates in my mind. Did I miss a birthday? Is it a holiday? "Puck, the condom" My eyes go wide because fuck, what was I thinking? I'll tell you what I was thinking, nothing. I was literally not thinking at all.
"Are you on the pill?"
"Yeah, but those aren't 100% effective" The fact that I'm not at all mad, or concerned is probably not a good sign.
"So what do you wanna do? Plan B?" It hurts to even say those words.
"I don't know, I mean are you ready for a kid?" She doesn't seem mad at my reaction, more like confused that I'm not mad.
"I was ready for Beth." And I didn't even think before I said it, because the look on Quinn's face is heart breaking. She looks betrayed, devastated, hurt and I know better than to throw Beth's name around like that. "I'm sorry" She just nods.
"I want to have a baby with you, Puck. Someday. We're 22 years old; I'm nowhere near ready for that yet." She grabs my hand, which I'm happy about because I think we both need some comfort. Talking about babies and pregnancy is different for us than it is for most. Senior year of high school was enough to show us all how broken Quinn was. Quinn deserves to be a mom when she's ready. She'll be a great mom and giving up Beth was enough to prove that. No matter how much I wanted her, she wouldn't have had a good life with us. Two broken families, Quinn kicked out of her house, both of us dirt broke. Beth deserved better. "How about we leave it to fate and then figure it out." I hug her because I know she needs it. I hate dredging up the past, a past that was so hard on both of us. We've been through so much, Quinn and I, but if I had to go through any of that, I'm happy it was with her. So, I get down on my knee and she looks at me extremely fearful. I take her hand and kiss the back of it.
"Lucy Quinn Fabray, will you go out on a date with me?" She laughs and nudges me. I fall to the floor and laugh too. I stand up and she starts brushing her hair, "But seriously will you?" She snorts and puts her brush down.
"When? Where? What time? Damn Puckerman, you're a little rusty"
"Hey, leave me alone it's been awhile." She rolls her eyes and I can't wipe the smile off my face, it's as if it's painted on.
"Tomorrow night, Breadstix say 8 o'clock?"
"Okay." I'm shocked.
"Okay?"
"Leave before I change my mind." I pick up my jacket from the floor quickly and turn to walk out, but then I turn back and peck her on the lips and then run out the door.
I toss and turn all night; I'm excited, nervous, and anxious. I know it's dumb, I mean Quinn and I dated for over three years, we know everything about each other, we've basically lived together, yet, still nervous.
I wake up at the ass crack of dawn. It's mostly an Air Force thing, but I also can't stop thinking about tonight. I go for a run, like I do every morning. I run a couple miles and then I take Sarah to school. I make myself a bowl of oatmeal and glance at the time. It's only 11 in the morning and tonight can't come any sooner.
I get to Quinn's at exactly 8 o'clock. I don't care if I look to eager, I'm excited and I don't care if she knows it. I ring the bell and she answers right away. She must be excited too. As soon as I get a full look at her, my mind goes blank. She's wearing a black skirt, a little below the knee and a white short-sleeved crop top that shows a glimpse of her tan stomach. He hair is pulled back in a low ponytail and her bangs frame both sides of her face. She's wearing purple eye shadow that completely brings out the hazel in her eyes. She looks fucking amazing. "You look amazing" I hand her the flowers I picked up earlier; red roses, cliché, but safe.
"Thank you." She steps out and shuts the door behind her, "And you clean up nicely as well." I look down at what I'm wearing, because her beauty wiped any recent memory clean. Nothing special, a light grey dress shirt, black tie and black slacks.
The car ride there is pretty quiet, we both sing to the radio without even realizing it and it feels like old times instantly. People think silence is a bad thing, and find a need to fill it. The thing is, that isn't always the case. There is nothing better than a comfortable silence, and I have yet to find that with anyone except Quinn. We can sit in the same room for hours, and not say a word to each other, not because we want to but because we don't have to. I'll read the paper and she'll eat breakfast and we don't pollute the air with meaningless conversation, we just sit there and enjoy each other's company.
We walk arm in arm into Breadstix. I made a reservation because on a Friday night, this is the place to be; well at least it was in high school. We get seated right away, which is a relief and at this point we don't even need a menu, in fact I know what I'm getting and what Quinn's getting. So when the waiter comes over to ask what we want to drink we order everything at once. Then he walks away and it's just us, "So tell me everything I've missed these last few years." She thinks for a moment,
"Honestly, not much has happened. I got the lead in a play at school, that was pretty exciting."
"Oh yeah? What play?"
"Mamma Mia"
"Damn, I'm sad I missed it."
"Yeah, the next play I do, I do not want it to be a musical. You know how I feel about my voice."
"I hate when you say that"
"It's true though." Quinn put on a good act in high school. Everyone thought she was the self-assured, popular, beautiful ice queen, but in actuality, she is so insecure and sensitive.
"Babe, you have a beautiful voice" And I realize I just called her babe, out of habit I guess. I'm sure she noticed it, but she doesn't seem to mind. Instead she rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her water the waiter just brought to the table.
"So what about you, what have I missed from your life?" I wish I had something excited to tell her, but my life has been pretty uneventful.
"I was in Iraq for a year, had some scary moments but nothing too major. I came back two weeks ago, so literally nothing besides that.
"Are you going to be deployed again anytime soon?" Shit. This isn't how I wanted to tell her, I mean it's not for a year this time, thank God, but still.
"Uh, yeah. But only for four months. I made sure it was after you graduated though. Even though we weren't speaking, I wasn't going to miss that for anything." She smiles and grabs my hand, but the moment is short lived when our food arrives. We eat in that comfortable silence I was talking about and I look at her and smile and she does the same.
