AN: Read. Enjoy. Review!
From then on things had gone relatively back to normal as far as their friendship was concerned. Granted it still stung whenever Quinn thought about the kiss but she wasn't about to hold it against Rachel for another minute longer because, despite the brunette's mistake, Rachel had proved to be far too good a friend for her to lose over a minor lapse in judgment.
Making mistakes were apart of being human. God only knew how many mistakes she had made in her lifetime. Besides Quinn really didn't want to go back to being alone, it was far too depressing - a sentiment she no doubt shared with the small brunette - and whenever she was with Rachel, things felt normal. She felt normal.
Taking another sip of her coffee, she patiently watched and waited for any sight of Rachel from the warmth of her car. It wasn't long before she spotted the girl scurrying across the student parking lot to get to her car. She chuckles mildly at the sight and turns the heater up another notch just as Rachel opens the passenger side door, thereby letting in the frigid January air, and clamors to get inside. "It's freezing out there." Rachel spoke with chattering teeth, her gloved hands rubbing together to emit more warmth.
She reaches over and lowers the volume of the radio, then picks up the other cup from her cup holder. "From the school to here, that's like what? A thirty second walk?" Rachel just shrugs, now holding her hands up against the vents. "And already your lips look as though they're about to fall off. Here." She passes over the brunette's usual chai tea latte from the Lima Bean to her.
Rachel first buckles herself in before gratefully taking the cup from her. "Thanks so much." Bringing the hot drink to her lips, she instantly sighs and all but melts into her seat.
Quinn laughs. She takes another sip of her coffee before setting it back down in the car's cup holder. "So how was glee?" Looking over her shoulder, she proceeds to back the car out of its parking space.
"Good." Rachel replies, her teeth no longer chattering. "Everyone was pleased to hear that you would be returning to McKinley next week. Mr. Schuester especially."
She nods. "I bet." Straightening up in her seat, she turns on the windshield wipers as the flurries of snow falling onto the window started to get thicker.
After taking another long sip of her latte, Rachel looks at her expectantly. "So how was your day? Did you get everything taken care of?"
"Yeah. Everything's good now." She'd spent the last week or so trying to get things back in order now that her and Jacob were no longer moving. She not only had to get back her house but get rid of the new one she had already paid a down payment on. It took a lot of convincing and even some flirting - she wasn't proud about that part - but now everything was finally settled. "Thankfully I can be a very persuasive person when I want to be otherwise I would probably still be stuck with that house in Wisconsin."
"See what happens when you act impetuously?" Rachel teases.
"Well at least I never sent a girl to a crack house." She was quick to tease back, effectively wiping that smile from the brunette's face.
"Hey cut me some slack!" Rachel exclaims indignantly. Clearly she didn't appreciate the reminder, which Quinn felt a pang of guilt for. The brunette's tendency to act on impulse - which stemmed from her own low self-esteem and flared up whenever she let her insecurities get the better of her - was nothing to tease her about. Especially when she felt so horrible about the mistakes she had made because of it.
"It wasn't like it was an active crack house!"
"How did you even know where to find one anyways?" she asks curiously, turning her head. It was hard to imagine Rachel Berry automatically knowing of a crack house near town off the top of her head. But then again it wasn't that hard to imagine…Rachel had been known to throw her for a loop on occasion.
"During freshman year," Rachel starts with a heavy sigh. "the graduating seniors decided it would be funny if they ambushed me, tied me up, and threw me into a then very active crack house as their senior prank. Luckily I had my mace and my rape whistle with me otherwise I might not have survived - Don't laugh!" The brunette snaps upon noticing her trying very hard to stifle her laughter.
"It's so not funny! It was very traumatic! I could have died!"
She knew it was no laughing matter but she just couldn't help herself. The mere image of Rachel fending off crack addicts with only her mace and rape whistle like a small Jewish ninja was too damn funny.
"Mean!" was all Rachel could exclaim before she turned her body away in a huff.
Once she calms down a little, she wipes the tears from her eyes and refocuses her attention on the road. "So do you want me to go to your house or mine?"
No response. Which, in regard to Rachel Berry, either meant the small diva had just suffered a stroke or was just pouting. Casting a sideways glance at the brunette and seeing that her companion was very much conscious, she shakes her head and rolls her eyes in silence, then reaches down into her purse and picks up the small paper bag also from the Lima Bean. Once it was in her grasp, she straightens back up and extends her right arm, dangling the small bag directly in front of Rachel's nose.
"Your house is fine." she eagerly answers, simultaneously snatching the vegan blueberry scone - her absolute favorite - out of her grasp.
Smiling triumphantly, Quinn stares back ahead and drives onward as Rachel resumes giving her the usual exhaustive rundown of her school day.
By the time they reached her house, Quinn really regretted giving the brunette that damn scone.
"You know at this rate we might just be fortunate enough to get ourselves a snow day tomorrow." Rachel comments, prompting Quinn to look up from the book currently in her lap. Shaking her head as Rachel went back to perusing through her records, she asks, "Don't you have homework you should be doing?"
"I'm taking a break." Rachel responds matter-of-factly, despite the fact that she hadn't even really started her homework to begin with. Quinn watches as she pulls out another record from its place and examines the cover quizzically. "Quinn, who are the Talking Heads?"
"A band Barbra never performed with." she responds dryly, sinking back into a comfortable position in her favorite reading chair, Jane Eyre shielding her face once more.
About a good five minutes passed before she dared to peer over the top of her book just to see what album Rachel was looking over now. Not surprisingly she instantly wished she hadn't. "Please tell me that you're frowning over that record because of your dislike of the album and not over the fact that you have no idea who Annie Lennox is."
Rachel smiles sheepishly as she meets her gaze, where then Quinn closes her book with a groan and reluctantly gets off her chair. "You know just when I think you couldn't get any more deprived, you reach an all new low. Honestly Rachel I'm starting to doubt your dads parenting skills. Did they teach you nothing about music outside of the world of Broadway and Top 40?"
"Well they tried but I wouldn't listen."
"I'm not surprised."
Rachel huffs and promptly pushes Annie Lennox's Diva back in its place. "Well not all of us have had the seventy plus years to expand our musical horizons as you have, Quinn." she remarks. "But you're right. I do need to broaden my horizons when it comes to music. It'll look better for future auditions if I'm well versed in a extensive range of musical genres than just a few."
"Which is why I'm here to help." Quinn replies, already digging through Rachel's bag until she comes across the thing she was looking for.
Rachel looks on curiously. "What are you doing?"
"Giving your Ipod a much needed upgrade." she replies, giving the brunette's little pink Ipod a shake as she walks back to her seat.
"Fine." Rachel concedes with a heavy sigh, knowing she had no real choice in the matter. "But just don't get rid of the songs I already have on there."
"I wouldn't dare touch your Barbra, Liza, and Celine." She plops back down on her chair with her laptop in tow and opens it.
"You literally have every genre from every single decade." Rachel comments, back to perusing her records.
"Yeah, just a perk of being around for as long as Jacob and I have been, I guess." she responds with a shrug, her gaze more focused on the computer screen in front of her.
"Do you happen to have any Barbra?" She just snorts, prompting Rachel to add, "Right. Stupid question. So is there any genre you don't like?"
"Jacob and I never really cared for country." she answered easily. "Although these past couple of years Carrie Underwood's music has started to grow on me."
"Quinn, can I ask you another question?"
She lifted her gaze with the raise of one brow and smirked. "I don't know Rachel, can you?"
Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Rachel sits back down on the loveseat across from Quinn.
"If you could choose one song to describe your feelings for Jacob after you first met, which song would it be?"
For a moment she just blinked, not expecting that question. With a furrowed brow, she tears her gaze away from her computer screen again and asks, "Where did that question come from?"
Rachel leans back, her arms wrapped around one of the pillow cushions, and shrugs. "Just popped into my head."
Leaning back in her seat, she purses her lips together deep in thought. "Good question." she murmurs, now biting her bottom lip indecisively as she racked her brain for an answer.
Rachel perks up and smiles. "Thank you. Now which song?"
"Give me a minute to think, Rachel." she laughs, shaking her head as she turns her attention back to her computer screen. As she scrolls through her Itunes library, she thought about how she had felt the day she and Jacob met.
1936
A few hours after meeting Jacob Black for the first time, Quinn found herself walking through the forest, hand in hand, with said native young man. She wasn't sure who had initiated the hand holding or when exactly their hands came together, but either way she had no complaints. It felt right. It was one of the most comfortable feelings in the world, despite the fact that his hand was extremely warm - his high body temperature apparently a result of being a shape shifter.
A fact that a small part of her still couldn't quite wrap her head around.
Vampires, werewolves, those were all creatures found in fantasy novels, not in the real world. Or so she had thought. Now she held the hand of a man who had the ability to shape shift into a giant wolf and who used that gift to protect his land from blood sucking leeches. It was all very mystical and awe provoking though she truly believed every word that came from Jacob's lips, knowing them to be true however fantastic they sounded.
She didn't know how she was able to trust him so after only knowing him for a few hours but what she did know was earlier this morning she had felt a part of herself to be missing. Then once Jacob came into her life, the feeling completely disappeared. She was more than grateful that she had listened to her instincts and followed the pull that led her to him.
Not only was he handsome, well respected in his community - he was after all the future chief of his tribe and the Alpha of the Quileute wolf pack - but also kindhearted (a trait severely lacking in those her family associated themselves with back in Seattle).
Despite his intimidating exterior, she found Jacob to be an incredibly loving and considerate young man, not to mention a conscientious leader. He shouldered more responsibilities than anyone she knew, making him seem older than he actually was. Instead of being in his mid-twenties like she assumed him to be, she learned that in reality he was only two years older than she was.
She also found him very easy to talk to. For the first time she actually felt at ease during a conversation. Like the hand holding, talking to Jacob just felt right. Their time in the woods together was mainly spent conversing, getting to know one another, and laughing more than she ever remembered laughing in her life. They talked about everything and anything, from their home lives to their hobbies. He answered every question she asked and vise versa. She told him things she had never discussed with anyone, not even her older sister, Frannie, who was her closest friend, while he listened intently.
Suddenly hearing her name being said, she shakes herself out her reverie and glances back at her companion. "What are you thinking about?" he asks curiously.
"You." she replies honestly, smiling up at him, "And how wonderful you are."
"I don't know about that." Jacob half-laughs, slightly embarrassed. "If anyone's wonderful I'd say it's you."
She playfully bumps his arm, her cheeks flushed. "You're just saying that."
"Hey, I only speak the truth." Shaking her head, she releases her hand from his and moves it to wrap around his forearm while leaning into him. The heat he generated was phenomenal and she couldn't help but feel a little addicted to it. She giggles when he all but purrs his content.
"You really are an animal, aren't you?" she teases.
He nods. "Yes ma'am." He grins at her before throwing his head back with a howl.
"You sir are crazy!" she exclaims when he was done, smiling all the while. She drops her hand from his arm when he suddenly stops and turns to her, eyebrow arched. "Crazy you say?"
Suppressing a chuckle, she slowly begins backing away from him, not liking the way his eyes were narrowing or the mischievous smile playing across his lips. With a small shriek, she turns and bolts before he had the chance to grab her. Despite knowing that with Jacob's size and build it probably wouldn't be much of a challenge for him to catch her, she pushes her legs as hard as they would go, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of an easy victory.
She wasn't sure how long they had spent chasing each other through the trees, but it wasn't long before she found herself a little short of breath and subsequently getting captured. "C'mere you!" he laughs, his arms snaking around her waist and effortlessly picking her up off the ground in one swift movement.
Within the blink of an eye, he had her in his arms bridal style, their noses practically touching. Feeing her heart rate quicken at their closeness, she swiftly turned her head, now blushing furiously. He reluctantly set her back down on her feet, then put his hand under her chin so that she met his gaze again. His eyes twinkled. "I'll have you know that the only crazy I am is about you."
Her breath catches in her throat. "Really?"
When he nods his head earnestly, she suddenly felt a little giddy. "You seem surprised." he comments, his hand reaching up to push a few strands of hair behind her ear.
"Well I am!" she replies, before fumbling with her words, her heart back to racing at his sudden touch. "I mean I had hoped that maybe one day you would develop feelings like that, but I never dreamed you would feel that way about me so soon. Not that it's a bad thing, because it isn't, it's just we only met a few hours ago and…" She trails off bashfully after noticing his amused expression. "I usually never babble."
"You underestimate your charm, you know that?" Then, surprising her for a second time, he leans down and presses his lips to her cheek. He pulls back slowly, his smile faltering with slight apprehension. "Was that okay?"
She wordlessly nods, her legs feeling as though they might give out on her at any given moment. He certainly had a peculiar effect on her. Was this what being in love felt like?
They looked at one another and she honestly believed she could stay there forever, just gazing into his beautiful eyes for the rest of time. His eyes sparkled and he had the biggest grin plastered on his face, making her beam in return.
Surely this was love.
Her heart soars with this realization and she wanted nothing more than to grab his face and kiss him senseless, but of course she knew that wouldn't be proper so she refrained.
Taking his hand once more, she starts walking again, in the back of her mind remembering that her grandparents were liable to seek out the local police if she was gone for too long.
"When will I see you again?" Jacob asks just before they reach the break in the trees outside her house. She raises her head to look at him just as he adds in a hopeful tone, "Tomorrow? I can meet you here around nine - or is that too early for you?"
"Tomorrow at nine is perfect." she assures with a small nod, smiling at the fact that he was as eager to see her again as she was him. She then pushes herself up onto her toes and gently kissesd his cheek. "Until then, Jacob."
He walks with her until they reach the very edge of the woods, where he pulls her into a tight hug, holding her as though he wouldn't ever let go. She automatically wraps her arms around him in return, unbothered by his lack of a shirt, and closes her eyes. It was incredible how protected and safe she felt when he held her. She never wanted to leave his arms.
He places a chaste kiss to her temple before reluctantly releasing his hold on her. "Can it be tomorrow already?" he murmurs with a heavy sigh.
She nods. "It will be here before you know it." she pauses before adding seriously, "And just, do me a favor and be careful, alright?" She knew it was his job to protect his people from vampires and all but that didn't mean the idea of him risking his life sat well with her. She didn't know what she would do if something bad happened to him.
Jacob snorts. "I should be telling you that. You're the human after all."
"But I'm not the one who chases after vampires on a daily basis." She was quick to point out.
"Okay," he concedes with a slight chuckle, "I'll be careful. Not that any damn leech could ever hurt me."
Shaking her head at his smirk, she gives him another quick kiss to the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jacob."
She slowly makes her way back to the house, humming merrily to herself as she walks past the side of house and heads around front. She didn't want her grandparents to question why she came in through the back door so she figured it best to just use the front door.
"You sure were at the library a long time, sweetheart." her grandmother comments when Quinn walks into the kitchen, where the elder woman was already preparing dinner. "Your grandfather and I were starting to get worried."
"It's easy to lose track of time in there." she replies, setting her book down before she made her way to the sink to wash her hands. After inhaling the aroma of chicken being cooked, it suddenly occurs to her that she had completely skipped lunch in lieu of spending time with Jacob. "I guess I just got a little carried away with all the reading."
She comes up beside her grandmother and takes the knife she handed her, then proceeds to chop up a carrot on their cutting board.
"Must have been some books you were reading - you can't stop smiling."
Looking down bashfully, she just continues chopping, well aware of the knowing look her grandmother was undoubtedly giving her. "By the way your mother phoned when you were out."
"Oh?" She picks up the cutting board and pushes the chopped pieces into the pot on the stove. "Is everything okay?"
The last time she talked to her mother, or her father for that matter, was just before she left for Forks. And frankly, she hadn't expected to hear from either one of them for the duration of her stay.
"From how she sounded I'd say yes." Her grandmother replies. "She probably just wanted to check up on you, see how you are doing."
Though she didn't necessarily believe that, Quinn nods along for her grandmother's sake. Sometimes she wasn't aware of how different Judy Fabray was from the Judy she raised. But then again, maybe she was aware and just chose to see her daughter for how she once was.
"Any who she said she wanted you to call her back as soon as you got the chance."
"Right." Setting down her knife and board, she wipes her hands with a dish towel and heads into the hallway, where the telephone was.
Two minutes later she had her mother on the other line. "Quinnie, hello dear!"
Even on the telephone, Quinn found herself forcing a smile as she greeted her mother in return. "Grandma said you called earlier." She fiddles with the cord as she patiently awaited her mother's response - she sounded preoccupied at the moment. Pursing her lips together during the long pause, Quinn adds with a sigh, "I can call back later if you want."
"When are you coming home, honey?" her mother asks suddenly. "Surely you weren't serious about spending your entire summer in Forks."
"Actually I was." She could feel her brow furrow in confusion. "Is that a problem?"
As she inwardly hoped it wasn't, her mother answered, "Well you see, Jane and Jonathan Hansen - you remember them, don't you dear? They always attend our New Year's Eve party? Jonathan works with your father? Any who, their son Robert-"
Having an inkling of what her mother was getting at, she groans. "Mother…"
"Now, now, Quinn, what have I told you about doing that? It's very un-lady like. But any who, where was I? Oh yes, Robert. He just graduated from Yale and returned home a few days ago and I've met him at a few functions already - Quinnie, he is an absolute dream! You two would be a match made in heaven! I just know it!"
"Mother-" She really should have known that her mother had only called to try and set her up with one of her father's friend's sons.
"I'll have you know that I've told him a lot about you and I showed him your picture and he is very smitten! He is looking forward to seeing you at the Beckett's annual Fourth of July barbeque."
"But I'm not going to the Beckett's barbeque, mother." Nor do I want to. "I'm staying here - in Forks."
She could practically see her mother pouting on the other line. "Well it wouldn't kill you to at least visit for the weekend. It is a holiday, after all. You should be with family."
And what are grandma and grandpa? She almost asks. Instead she opted for the calmer response. "I will be, mother."
"Quinn, Robert could be the man of your dreams!"
Pretty sure I have already met him. But of course she couldn't say that aloud. As much as she would have loved to tell her mother about Jacob,it just couldn't be done.
"Mother, you say that about all the boys you try and set me up with." she replies, slightly exasperated. She attempts to change the subject by asking about her father and sister, but her mother wasn't having it.
"Just come back home for the Fourth of July weekend and if you're not absolutely enraptured with Robert as I know you will be, then you can go back to Forks."
She rolls her eyes. She had never been enraptured with any of the boys her mother attempted to push her with and she highly doubted there would be any difference with Robert. Besides, she had Jacob. He was all she wanted - and would ever want.
"Look, mother, I have to go." She had no desire to spend the rest of her evening arguing with her mother. "Grandma has dinner waiting on the table. I'll talk to you another time."
Her mother sighs. "Promise me you'll at least think it over. Robert is-"
"He's intelligent, handsome, and comes from a respectable family." she recites out of habit. " I know. Look, I really have to go now, mother. Give my love to Frannie and daddy. I love you. Bye." She hangs up the phone without another word and walks back into the kitchen.
Her grandmother was in the process of taking the food from the kitchen and into the dining room. She wordlessly picks up the salad bowl off the counter and started to do the same.
"You know your mother's just trying to help, sweetheart." Her grandmother speaks up once they reached the dining room. "She wants you to find love."
"No, what she wants is for me to find a husband." She sets down the salad bowl and follows her back into the kitchen. "She doesn't care if I love him or not."
Her grandmother sighs. "You should at least give that Robert boy a chance. He sounded nice."
"I'm sure he is, grandma, but I'm just not interested. I've already -" She was quick to stop herself before she said something she shouldn't. "Never mind."
"You've already found a special someone, haven't you?"
Raising her gaze as her grandmother handed her the bowl of steamed vegetables, her eyes widen. "What? I don't…I mean…"
Her grandmother smiles knowingly and chuckles. "Honey, you walked into this house with the stars in your eyes and smile so bright that even the sun would be envious." Quinn blushes crimson. "Now I may be getting on in my years but I still know a girl in love when I see it." She watches as her grandmother's brow slowly furrows. "So why didn't you just explain that to your mother?"
She gives a small shrug. "I guess because I knew she, and daddy, would never approve of him. His family isn't like ours. Actually far from it." she mumbles.
"It doesn't matter if he has money or not." She wasn't talking about money, but she knew she couldn't just come out and say Jacob was from the reservation or a shape shifting wolf so she let her grandmother continue. "What matters is that he treats you like you ought to be treated - with respect - and loves you for who you are, and not for the size of your trust fund. Never forget that."
"I won't." Not that she needed to, she knew Jacob wasn't that kind of a guy.
"Quinn?"
"Quinn?"
"Hmm?" She had gotten a little lost in her own internal musings and forgotten she hadn't answered Rachel's question. "Oh, right. Um, I would probably say I knew I Loved You by Savage Garden." she answers with a nod. "The lyrics pretty much express how I felt after meeting him." She starts to sing a verse of the song:
There's just no rhyme or reason
Only this sense of completion
And in your eyes
I see the missing pieces
I'm searching for
I think I've found my way home
"Hmm. I don't think I know that song." Rachel says, the frown evident in her voice. She looks back at the brunette and could tell she was making a mental note of it to look up later.
"It came out not too long ago." she continues. "Like early 2000, maybe?" Maybe Rachel was too young to remember it.
"Anyways it's kind of a guilty pleasure song of mine." she says rather sheepishly, unplugging Rachel's Ipod from her laptop. As she waits for her computer to shut down, she notices how much worse the weather had gotten outside.
"You should probably call your dads and tell them you're sleeping over here." She pushes herself out of her chair and hands Rachel her newly upgraded Ipod. She had to of at least put two hundred new songs in there. Glancing back at the small window behind Rachel, she nods once more, more definitely. "Cause there's no way I'll be able to drive you home in that weather."
"Really?" Rachel sounds surprised. Quinn glances back at her and found both of the brunette's brows to be raised.
"Well, unless you'd like to attempt trekking home on foot, yes."
She may have forgiven Rachel but it was still too soon for her to be completely comfortable with the girl spending time with Jacob. That being said she didn't exactly relish the idea of the two of them being alone together, which was why she had kindly asked the brunette to not hang out with Jacob, at least for the time being, but now…well she couldn't very well just throw Rachel out in the storm just because she was still a little uneasy.
Rachel smiles gratefully and automatically reaches for her cell phone. As she contacted her dads, Quinn walks out of the room and heads downstairs. There wasn't much light out for her to see that it was in fact almost sundown, but she always got a tingling sensation in her bones whenever it was close to that time. Like right now.
She walks out into the main hallway and stops when she reaches the coat rack by the front door. She wouldn't need the clothes for long but she wasn't about to go out in the middle of a snowstorm just in the clothes she was currently wearing. As she was putting on her snow boots, she heard Rachel come down the stairs.
"Don't tell me it's time already." Quinn looks up and chuckles, the disappointment clearly written all over the brunette's face.
"Days get shorter in winter. Sorry." She flashes her a sympathetic smile before slipping on her other boot. "Now there's plenty of food in the cupboards and the refrigerator. Help yourself to any of it." Quinn pushes herself upright and grabs her coat. "As for clothes, what's mine is yours. Pajamas are in the second drawer in the dresser. There are extra toothbrushes under the sink. You can sleep in any one of the guest rooms and you're free to listen to our records but if you break or scratch any one of them, you will feel my wrath. Of course the level of wrath will depend on which record you damage so handle them with care."
Rachel just laughs.
She stops and looks at her. "I'm serious, Rachel."
Laughter subsiding, the brunette nods her head understandingly. "Anything else I'm sure you can ask Jacob about." she continues. She leans forward and gives Rachel a quick hug.
"I will see you tomorrow morning and please tell Jacob that I love him." Rachel nods, crossing her arms as she opens the door and subsequently lets the cold air in. "And be sure to keep your lips to yourself!"
"And you be sure to keep your little owl self away from me!" Rachel calls after her. "I will not stand for being bitten again!"
"Can't make any promises!" she grins, turning around and snapping her teeth before continuing through the snow.
"I'll throw you in a cage!" She heard Rachel threaten.
"You do and tomorrow morning you'll wake up with your hair a la Barbra in Yentl!"
There was a long pause before Rachel replies, "I'm okay with that!"
Rachel was halfway finished with her homework when the front door burst open, mildly startling her. Knowing who it was bound to be, she straightens up in her seat and waits patiently for Jacob to cross into the living room.
"Rachel?" She watches as he stops in his tracks, a look of confusion on his face. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Jacob." She greets with a rather timid wave. Seeing as how the last time they spoke was the day - technically night - she had apologized to him for the whole kissing incident, she wasn't quite sure where exactly they stood. Quinn may have forgiven her, but did Jacob?
"The snowstorm outside made it impossible for Quinn to take me home and seeing as how it doesn't look to be lightening up any time soon," she casts a sideways glance at snow whipping around outside the window, "We figured I would be forced to stay the night. But don't worry," she adds upon noticing his hesitation. "Quinn is well aware of my being here and is okay with it."
He still seemed a little uncertain with her presence, but nods his head regardless. "Just keep your hands and your lips to yourself, short stack." He smirks. "Otherwise I will tie you to a tree out back."
Relaxing at his teasing tone, she turns back to her English homework as he disappears into the kitchen. No less than a minute later did she hear him yell, "You know all your vegan crap has taken over my kitchen again!"
Smiling to herself, she retorts, "It's good for your health!"
"Not too worried about my health, Rachel." Jacob calls back. He returns to living room and holds up a small container she instantly recognized. "Now what the hell is this?"
"It's hummus."
He looks back at it and grimaces. "It looks disgusting."
"For your information it is very delicious." She raises her gaze from her textbook to look at him. "And since when are you so picky with your food, Mr. human garbage disposal?"
"I've been around for a very long time. I know what food is. And this," He lifts the container and gives it a minor shake. "this is not meant for human consumption. This is cat food mixed with…glue."
She snorts, then returns to her homework. "And people say I overly dramatize."
"Whatever. Have you eaten dinner yet?" She shakes her head. "Well if you want food you're gonna have to help me out because you know I suck at making your weird vegan meals."
Closing her textbook, she pushes herself off the sofa. "If you only bothered to listen to me when I was explaining to you what to do then you wouldn't suck."
"I'm sorry were you saying something?"
She turns and shoves at his arm on their way to the kitchen. "Jerk."
"Jacob! Jacob! JACOB!"
Startled by the sudden screaming that rang in the ears, Jacob drops the dish he had been in the process of washing in the sink. He swears under his breath when he saw that a piece chipped off upon impact. "What?" he yells irritably, promptly picking up the dish towel and drying his hands with it. He crosses the hallway and walks back into the living room where he jumps back with a start at the sight of the wild-eyed brunette he sadly considered a friend racing down the staircase.
"I need a computer stat!"
Now he'd heard of guys bringing magazines to read while using the bathroom, but a girl using a computer? Now that was a little too unsanitary if you asked him.
Though mildly disturbed, he swings the dish towel over his shoulder and calmly asks, "What for?"
"There's no time for that! Computer, Jacob!" she shrieks, taking a hold of him by the front of his shirt and shaking him with surprising strength for someone so small. "I need a damn computer!"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." he responds, easily prying her small hands from his shirt with a slight chuckle. "I'm sure Quinn has her laptop upstairs somewhere."
"Right!" Shaking his head as she bounds back up the stairs two at a time, he turns around and heads back to the kitchen. One day that girl was seriously going to hurt herself.
He finishes the dishes a few minutes later and despite his better judgment, returns to the living room where he finds Rachel sitting on the armchair with Quinn's laptop. He couldn't help but smirk when he noticed her feet dangling off the edge, just a few inches shy of the ground.
"How'd you know the password?" he asks curiously, noticing that she had already successfully accessed the internet.
"Being Quinn's best friend it was pretty easy to figure out." she replies, her eyes never wavering from the screen in front of her. "It's your name if you didn't already know."
"I did." he replies with a smile.
"Although I will admit my first guess had been bacon. For obvious reasons." He snorts.
"You make fun but I'm almost positive that she loves bacon more than she loves you. She's scary obsessed. You might want to consider speaking to her about receiving some kind of professional help."
"You are not one to talk, Rachel." he scoffs, plopping himself down on the sofa and reaching across the coffee table for the television remote. "So why do you need her computer anyways?"
"I have just got word that a never-opened Barbra Streisand doll in mint condition signed by the woman herself has just been put on EBay!" she exclaims, bouncing in her seat slightly, before turning to him in a very serious way. "I must have it."
Rolling his eyes, he leans back against the cushions and sighs. "Of course." He should have known her new surge of crazy had something to do with the 'almighty' Barbra Streisand.
As he begins idly flipping through the channels, he mentally prays that nothing Barbra related was currently playing. Rachel had this uncanny ability of picking up on such programs from just a snippet of audio. He could never change the channel fast enough.
"My, my, my…" He kept scrolling through the channels, keeping in mind that Rachel had a tendency to talk to herself out loud. "Quinn certainly has an interesting search history."
He immediately perks up at that and turns his head toward her, brow furrowed. "What?"
"Yeah. Beefcakes of the Midwest, sexiest firefighters, oh my, men built like a…"
"What!" He bounds out of his seat so fast he accidentally knocks over the coffee table. He scowls when Rachel burst out into laughter.
"Just kidding, Jacob." she teases, smiling cheekily.
"I'm no optometrist but I'm pretty sure staring at a computer screen like that isn't good for your eyes." Jacob comments, descending down the staircase. Rachel was still sitting where he left her, Quinn's computer still propped up on her lap. She had been on that computer for over six hours now. "And don't you have a bedtime or something?"
"What am I eight? I'm seventeen, Jacob. I'm perfectly capable of determining the proper time for me to settle down for the night. Besides I still have another three hours to go until the bid is closed and that Barbra doll is mine!"
"Okay, then." He walks back into the kitchen for a moment and comes out with a Hershey's chocolate bar, a Twix, two Almond Joy's, and a can of Dr. Pepper, also a package of Sour Patch Kids. He figured he was going to need some sugar in his system if he was gonna have to last another three hours with Rachel's company. "Head's up!"
He tosses the package of Sour Patch Kids her way and effectively hits her in the head with them. She scowls at him. "Hey, I said head's up."
"Do I look like I have the reflexes of a ninja?" Rachel picks the package off the keyboard and frowns. "And why are you throwing candy children at my head?"
"It's for you to eat. You know, consume?" He smirks. "I checked the pantry and it's the only 'vegan friendly' candy we've got."
"Oh, well thank you, Jacob." Smiling appreciatively, Rachel opens the package and pops one of the candies into her mouth. "I usually try and stay away from sugar such as this but what the hey! A little candy never hurt anybody, right?"
"Are you seriously just going to stay right there, Rachel?" Quinn inquires the next day, looking back at the front porch where the brunette was sitting, her hands resting on her hips.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." Rachel calls back with a stubborn cross of her arms. Quinn rolls her eyes. "For the last time, Berry." She only went by Rachel's last name when the girl was being annoyingly impossible. "He's not going to hurt you."
She glances back at her russet wolf currently padding through the fresh layer of snow that coated the front yard, then turns to Rachel. "He's used to you now."
"Quinn, it's one thing to get bitten by you and your fluffy little owl self but to get bitten by him -" Rachel firmly extends her left arm and points her index fingerdirectly at Jacob. "and his sharp and deadly canine teeth is a whole other thing. I am staying as far away from that mongrel as possible."
"So you're not even going to come out here and enjoy all this snow?" She spins around in a circle, arms outstretched, then drops them with a pout. "You're no fun."
"What's no fun is having to get a tetanus shot." Rachel remarks with a scowl.
She rolls her eyes as her hands settle back on her hips, exasperated. "You know if you keep throwing the fact that I bit you in my face every three seconds, Rachel, I will do the same with the fact that you kissed my husband."
Rachel's head automatically ducks down guiltily. She inwardly groans. Here she was wanting nothing more than to move past the whole incident and get on with her life, and yet she had to bring it up again.
"Rachel, just do me a favor and get your little diva ass over here," she reaches down and scoops up a handful of snow, then begins patting it into ball form. She straightens up. "before I start mercilessly pelting you with snowballs. I will not have you ruining this snow day just because you have an irrational fear of a harmless animal."
Rachel raises her gaze and scoffs, begrudgingly standing up after she chucked a snowball that barely skimmed past the side of the brunette's head. "He is hardly what I call harmless!"
Watching as Rachel stomps through the snow, all the while eyeing Jacob cautiously as if she expected him to pounce on her, Quinn smiles despite herself and kicks a bunch of snow the brunette's way. "Just get over here you."
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Rachel grumbles, hugging her red coat closer to her chest. "You know we really shouldn't stay out here for too long. Cold air is just brutal on one's vocal cords."
She rolls her eyes yet again and nods. "Yes, mother."
Rachel huffs. "Honestly if I had a dime for every time you rolled your eyes at me-"
"You'd be richer than Bill Gates." Quinn answers promptly, leaning down to gather more snow. She smiles wickedly when Rachel flinched. "Now help me build a snowman, Gizmo."
"Do I even want to know what that name means?" Rachel asks warily, reluctantly leaning down to help her with the base of their snowman.
She immediately stops and stares at her. "Don't tell me you've never seen Gremlins."
"I could but then that would be a lie and you know how horrible I am at lying." Rachel answers with a small shrug. "But please, enlighten me on this Gremlins and what it has to do with you calling me Gizmo."
"Gremlins is a movie made back in the '80's about this cute little furry creature named Gizmo." she explains as she worked on the middle of their snowman. "There are three very important rules when it comes to taking care of him. One, you don't expose him to sunlight or he'll die, two, you don't get him wet otherwise he'll multiply, and three, you don't feed him after midnight unless you want him to turn into a scary reptilian looking gremlin."
Rachel's brow furrows in confusion as she rolls together a head for their snowman. "So you called me Gizmo because you think I'm cute and furry?"
Quinn shakes her head with a laugh. "No. I called you Gizmo because apparently, according to Jacob you should not be fed after midnight."
Rachel straightens up with their snowman's head and frowns. "Why would he say that?"
"He says you get all kinds of hyper." she chuckles, carefully taking the ball of snow from her and placing it on top of the other two. "Like more so than you usually are, which frankly I didn't think humanely possible."
Rachel rolls her eyes. "I do not get 'all kinds of hyper' simply because I indulge in an after midnight snack or two."
"Jacob says he gave you Sour Patch kids and the next thing he knew, you had raided our kitchen of all the sugar we had." she retorts. "And yes, I checked this morning to ensure he wasn't exaggerating and you know what did I found? My entire stash of Kit-Kat bars completely gone! Don't think that I'm not expecting reimbursement."
Rachel crosses her arms with a scoff. "I recall no such thing. And for your information, I would never do such a thing because Kit-Kats are not vegan friendly. Jacob was probably the one who ate your precious candy."
"He said it was all you. And you probably don't remember last night because he had to slip you some Nyquil when you weren't paying attention just so you'd go to sleep-"
"What?" Rachel shrieks, utterly horrified. "He drugged me?"
Quinn walks back over to the brunette after grabbing two sticks by the trees and nods. "He said you were so hopped up on sugar that he had to do something. I would have done the same thing if I had been in his shoes - no offense."
"Offense taken." Rachel scowls. "He could have killed me!"
"I highly doubt Jacob would have given you a lethal dose." she replies with a roll of her eyes. "You're annoying but not that annoying."
"Gee thanks."
"Just keepin' it real, Rach." she grins, innocently shrugging. Her brow furrows for a second. "Wait do kids still say that?"
Rolling her eyes playfully, Rachel turns around and begins digging through the layers of snow for some pebbles or rocks for their snowman.
"You know can't remember the last time I build a snowman." she casually brings up, sticking two sticks into each side of their snowman.
"Was it before or after Hoover was president?" Rachel snickers, pressing pebbles into the head to make facial features.
Glowering, Quinn removes her fuchsia scarf from around her neck and wraps it around the snowman. "Oh shut up, Gizmo and give me your beret."
"Use your own hat!" Rachel cries, her own hands flying to her head.
"I'm wearing a beanie, Rachel." She points to the matching fuchsia hand-knitted beanie she was wearing. "You can't put a beanie on a snowman."
Quinn beckons to the brunette to hand over her beret once more. "But it's white." Rachel argues, removing her hat despite that and handing it over. "It'll clash with the overall color of the snow."
She snorts. "You sound like Kurt." She snatches Rachel's hat and placed it on top of their snowman. "And technically your beret is off-white. It's fine. See?"
Taking a few steps back, they admire their completed snowman together for a moment before whipping out their phones to take a picture.
After pocketing her phone, Rachel looks to her expectantly. "Can I take my hat back now?"
She sighs dramatically and gestures to it with a flick of her wrist. "If you must."
Rachel laughs and with a smile swipes her hat back. After it was perfectly situated on her head, she glances back at Quinn. "Now what do you want to do?"
She examines the snow for a few seconds before intentionally falling on her back. "Make snow angels." she replies, already moving her hands and legs to make one.
"Okay." Rachel plops down next to her and begins mimicking her movements.
"You know Kurt told me that it's impossible for Santana to make a snow angel. Somehow it always ends up looking like a snow devil."
Rachel laughs. "I bet."
"Oh no! Jacob stop!" she cries with laughter, quickly trying to cover her face when she was suddenly ambushed by sloppy kisses from her wolf. "Rachel help!"
"No way he drugged me."
"Crazy dog." she giggles after successfully moving away from the onslaught. She pushes herself upright and scratches behind her wolf's ears. "You're luck you're cute." Kissing the top of his head, she stands up and helps her other companion to her feet.
"Thanks for nothing, Rachel."
"That is highly unsanitary." Rachel comments, wrinkling her nose slightly as Quinn wiped her wet cheek with the back of her gloved hand. "You should go and wash your face immediately."
She just shrugs. "They say dogs have cleaner tongues that people's."
"I highly doubt that. Remember that time he brought you a dead rabbit? Gross. Not to mention disturbing."
Quinn sighs heavily. "He's an animal, Rachel. He doesn't know any better." She looks at the brunette's nose and laughs.
Rachel immediately frowns self-consciously. "What?"
"Your nose is redder than Rudolph's." she chuckles. "We should probably get inside."
"Agreed." Rachel swiftly turns on her heel and together they trudge back to the house. "At least now we can finally start that movie marathon you promised me! Hello Dolly! here we come!"
Quinn internally groans. There was no way she would be able to sit through another Barbra film without wanting to shoot herself in the foot. "No way, Rachel." she pleads. "No more Barbra."
She could have sworn Rachel emitted a small puppy like whimper just then. "Why not?"
"Because she's overrated."
Rachel stops, then smacks her arm - with surprising force - and looks at her, completely aghast. "Take that back this instant!"
"I will not." she retorts, now gingerly rubbing her left arm with a scowl. "It's the truth."
"If anyone is overrated it's Audrey Hepburn."
She chokes back her own gasp and looks back at Rachel with equal horror. "She is not!"
"Completely overrated." Rachel emphasizes with a smug smile. "She's nothing compared to Barbra."
She could feel her cheeks flush angrily at that remark, seeing as how Audrey was to her what Barbra Streisand was to Rachel. "Take that back."
"No." Rachel says determinedly, a smirk playing across her lips.
She was quick to wipe that stupid smirk off the brunette's face.
"You did not just do that." The diva exclaims, stunned that Quinn had the audacity to throw a snowball right at her.
"Oh I just did." she replies, sticking out her tongue and quickly preparing another snowball. "And there's more to come if you don't…" Her words were lost as soon as Rachel pelted her in the face with a ball of snow. She stares at the brunette disbelievingly, one eyebrow raised, as Rachel doubled over with laughter.
Shaking the snow out of her hair, she grabs an armful of snow and unleashed it on Rachel, who shrieks in surprise.
"You got snow down my jacket!" The brunette whines, reaching behind her neck with a uncomfortable grimace as snow slid down the inside of her shirt. She did a little dance to try and get it out but to no avail. "If I get hyperthermia and die, I will come back as a ghost and haunt you until you go mad, Quinn Fabray!"
"Keep talking and you'll just be giving me more incentive to lock you out." she replies off her shoulder, chuckling to herself as she scurried up the front porch.
"Don't you dare! I'm small which means I have a smaller body mass which means I'll freeze faster and subsequently die quicker!" Rachel calls out, immediately bounding after her before she had the chance to close the door on her.
She closes the front door behind Rachel and then began pulling off her gloves. "You know you are lucky we're friends otherwise you would not still be standing here on this earth after saying such a heinous thing against my Audrey."
"Ditto, Quinn." Rachel says curtly. She shrugs off her coat and hangs it up on the coat rack before going to work on her boots.
"I'm going to make us some hot chocolate." she announces, taking a second to flip her hair out from under the collar of her thermal long sleeved before she made her way toward the kitchen. "And yes, Rachel," she adds before the brunette interrupted her like she always did. "it will be vegan."
"Thank you gorgeous." Rachel responds in her best Barbra impersonation, flashing her a beaming smile over her shoulder.
Shaking her head, Quinn turns back on her heel. "You pick out a movie. And no Barbra!"
"There is seriously something wrong with you!" Rachel calls after her before walking into the kitchen.
"You're one to talk!" She calls back, smiling to herself as she grabs the organic vegan sugar and cocoa from the pantry. She then pulls the almond milk out of the refrigerator and sets it down on the counter. "How about Meet the Fockers?" Comes Rachel's suggestion from the living room.
"No Barbra at all, Rachel!"
As she pulls out a saucepan from the oven and sets it on the stove, she figures she would throw in her own suggestion. "Put on My Fair Lady!"
Unsurprisingly, Rachel was quick to refuse. "No way! If I can't have Barbra. You can't have Audrey!" Oh well, it was worth a shot. Gently stirring in the milk into the saucepan, she throws out another "Mean!" before Rachel walked into the kitchen.
"How about Annie?"
She stares back at the brunette disbelievingly, her shoulders deflating. They'd had to have watched that movie at least a dozen times already. "Again?"
Rachel rolls her eyes and sighs. "Fine. No Annie." She walks up to the counter next to the stove and pushes herself upward - or at least tried to. Quinn noticed her struggle out of the corner of her eye but didn't say anything for fear of just bursting into laughter if she as much as opened her mouth. Though when Rachel finally gave up, she couldn't help but say, "Need a stepping stool, short stuff?"
Rachel scowls and slaps the back of her arm. "Don't make fun. It's not like you're that much taller than I am."
"But at least I'm considered average height." She was quick to point out as Rachel settled to lean against the counter instead. "Anyways," She whisks the milk together until the cocoa powder and sugar completely dissolved, then lowered the heat a tad as she continued stirring. "How about The Long, Long Trailer? You can't go wrong with Lucy."
"Which Lucy?"
Laughing mildly, she replies, "The Lucy, Rachel." She turns her head and her smile instantly fades at the blank expression Rachel was giving her. "Please tell me you do know who Lucille Ball is, Rachel."
"I've definitely heard of her….I think."
"You think?" She could not believe her ears. "You mean you've never heard of I Love Lucy?"
"Of course I've heard of it." Rachel replies with a roll of her eyes. Quinn breathes out a sigh of relief and turns back to their hot chocolate.
"I've just never seen it."
In all her years on this earth, Quinn had never felt so close to having a heart attack. "You mean," she swallows hard, doing her best to keep calm as she met Rachel's gaze again. "you have never seen a single episode?"
Rachel grabs two mugs out of the cupboard with a shake of her head. "Nope."
"How did I not know this?" She swiftly turns off the heat and snatches one of the mugs out the brunette's grasp and fills it. Rachel just shrugs, handing over the other empty mug in exchange for the filled one. "It never came up."
"Okay, that's it." She begins shooing Rachel out of the kitchen. "I'm changing our movie marathon to an I Love Lucy marathon."
"And you call me bossy!" Rachel exclaims over her shoulder, scampering back into the living room, hot chocolate in hand and Quinn pushing at her back.
"You have not truly laughed until you have seen the comedic genius that is Lucille Ball." She promptly informs her as she plucks the first season out of her and Jacob's collection. "You'll be thanking me later. Preferably with bacon."
Rachel tucks her feet underneath her legs as she situates herself on the sofa, shaking her head with a short laugh. "Your obsession with bacon is not only deeply disturbing but also very unhealthy."
Quinn quickly puts in the first dvd into the player and then walks back to the sofa, remote in hand. "You have Barbra. I have bacon. Leave me alone."
"Well at least my obsession doesn't involve the consumption of a poor defenseless animal."
Quinn takes a quick sip of her hot chocolate - which surprisingly wasn't that bad for being vegan - before replying in a sing-song voice, "True but yours does make you super annoying!"
"Does not!"
"Does so." she retorts with a laugh. "It also makes you super crazy! Don't think Jacob forgot to tell me about your little EBay bid on a freakin' Barbra Streisand doll last night."
"It was in mint condition and signed by Barbra herself!" Rachel exclaims. "Of course, thanks to my determination and copious EBay knowledge, I will possess said doll in six to ten business days."
"Don't you have enough Barbra memorabilia as it is?" she sighs, leaning back against the sofa cushions. "Your room is practically a shrine devoted to her."
"One can never have too much Barbra memorabilia."
Quinn snorts, then presses play on the remote when the main menu appeared on the television screen. "That's what a Barbra hoarder would say."
"Would not!"
"Would so." she murmurs against the rim of her mug, taking another sip. "Now shush, Lucy's on."
Rachel was sitting in the cafeteria, patiently waiting for Quinn to join her, when the blonde approaches their usual table with a cake in hand. Her brow furrows immediately at this. "What's that for?"
Quinn sits down opposite her and shrugs. "Santana just gave it to me on my way here and I have no idea why."
"Oh." It suddenly clicked. Quinn looks at her expectantly. "It's Santana's gift to you for slapping me." she explains with a sigh.
Quinn sets her brown lunch bag on the table and frowns. "Wait, how did she even know?"
"Apparently Brittany was in one of the bathroom's stall when we had our little confrontation." she replies, as Quinn empties out the contents of her lunch bag.
Quinn nods. "And of course she told Santana, who probably told everyone else in glee, am I right?"
She smiles sheepishly. "No actually I did that."
Quinn shoots her a disbelieving look, prompting Rachel to exclaim, "Hey, they were all on your side! You should have seen the girls, they were literally seconds away from jumping me!"
Rolling her eyes, Quinn turns back to her sandwich and starts to eat it.
She glances back at Quinn's cake, with its chocolate frosting and random candy decorations, and chuckles. "You know that cake looks like a five year-old decorated it."
"I'm assuming Brittany helped Santana with it." Quinn replies, also taking another glance at the cake. She looks to her expectantly. "Do you want some?"
Rachel shakes her head politely. "I highly doubt it's vegan, so no thank you."
"Right. So," Quinn says, in a blatant subject-changing move. "When exactly are you going to tell everyone in glee that we are missing out on regionals?"
"Wait why do I have to tell them?"
"Because this whole Washington road trip thing is your idea."
Rachel continues to push her salad around with her fork, her head downcast while she says quietly, "I'll tell them…soon. When the timing is right."
Quinn raises her eyebrows. "Which will be?"
She mumbles something unintelligible before shoving a forkful of lettuce in her mouth, gaze still averted.
Quinn sighs heavily. "Rachel, they have to know. We can't just say we're ditching them at the last minute. They need to know right away so that they'll have time to find two replacements."
Rachel snorts at the very idea of the group finding a replacement for her. "That's impossible."
"It's not impossible. Didn't you guys get Jacob Ben Israel to be your guys' twelfth member for sectionals last year before I came to McKinley?"
"Well, yeah….but still….the team will murder me when I tell them." she whines. "And you know how I feel about dying before I've reached the Broadway stage."
Quinn rolls her eyes. "Like I would ever let that happen, Rachel."
Her eyes narrow skeptically. "Promise?"
She could tell the blonde was fighting back the urge to roll her eyes again, something Quinn frequently did in her presence. "Yes, Rachel, I promise!"
Chaos.
Complete and utter chaos.
"GUYS!" Mr. Schuester bellows over the commotion, forcing everyone in the choir room into silence. "Everyone calm down now! Especially you, Santana!" He points directly at the hot-headed Latina who, up until now, had been ranting in Spanish unlike ever before. Santana lets out a small growl before yanking herself out of Sam, Mike, and Mercedes' restraints and sitting back down next to Brittany, arms folded.
"Now, everyone take your seats." Mr. Schuester orders in a much calmer tone. The group complies reluctantly and returns to their seats. Turning his head toward Quinn and Rachel, who remained in the center of the room, Mr. Schuester breathes out another heavy sigh. "If you girls don't mind explaining, why exactly will you two be unable to participate in regionals?"
Rachel, who had been the one to bring up the subject in the first place, looks to Quinn this time around. She hadn't even gotten past the whole 'Quinn and I will be unable to join you at regionals' before pandemonium erupted and Santana pounced like a jungle cat.
There was no way she was going to attempt speaking to them again. Besides, they all liked Quinn more anyways.
Quinn, whose hair was slightly tousled from the near scuffle she had with Santana, ran a hand through her locks as she bit down on her bottom lip. She couldn't very well tell them the real reason she and Rachel were ditching regionals and while she liked to think of herself as playing it cool even while under pressure - the same could not be said for Rachel, who was currently half-hiding behind her - she was kind of at a loss on what to tell them.
"Uh, well you see it's kind of a personal family matter that I can't really go into detail about. There's something important I need to take care of and Rachel, well, I need her help."
"Don't tell me you two are planning on running off and getting married." Santana interjects dryly. "Cause I'mma tell you right now - it'll never work out. My psychic Mexican third eye is never wrong."
Finn pushes himself out of his chair and stands up, completely ignoring Santana's comment. "We need you two for regionals. Not only will we not have enough members to compete but we won't even stand a chance of placing without Rachel." He turns to Quinn. "Whatever it is you need to do, can't it wait until after regionals or something?"
Quinn shakes her head, looking at him sympathetically, as well to the rest of the group. "I'm sorry but it can't."
"Lets, uh, talk about this some other time, shall we?" Mr. Schuester speaks up, his voice cutting through the sudden silence like a knife. It was obvious he was trying very hard not to seem disappointed, unlike the rest of the New Directions.
"Well that was about the tensest rehearsal in the history of glee." Quinn sighs as she and Rachel make their way to her car.
"Well at least they know now." Rachel replies, sighing also as she walks around to the passenger side and opens the door. "Though you do realize that they aren't going to leave us alone until they succeed in getting us to compete with them, right? Mr. Schuester included."
"Yeah, I figured." Quinn straps on her seatbelt and starts the ignition. As she pulls out of the student parking lot and starts to drive, she adds, "Hey, what are you going to tell your dads? I highly doubt they'll let you go on a cross country road trip with as vague of an explanation as the one we gave glee."
"Don't worry about it. I'll think of something." Rachel suddenly shrieks in delight. "Ooh! I've got it! I'll tell them that a Barbra Streisand convention is taking place in Washington! It's the perfect alibi! My god why didn't I think of it before? It's genius! I'm a genius!"
"No you're insane."
Rachel scoffs. "Says the girl who practically has a love affair going on with bacon! You know, one of these days you are going to leave me no choice but to throw you into a psychiatric institution. Honestly who in the world talks to their bacon-"
"It was one time, Rachel!" she huffs, slightly mortified. "One time! And you know, Mercedes is as obsessed with tater tots as I am with bacon and yet I don't see you trying to get her psychiatric help!"
"I beg to differ! I tried staging a totvention - a tater tot intervention - for Mercedes when Coach Sylvester banned tater tots a few months ago! It failed, obviously, but I tried to help her. And how does she repay me? By nearly giving me a black eye!" Rachel shudders at the memory.
"That's the last time I will ever try and stop Mercedes from shoving tater tots into the tail pipe of Coach Sylvester's LeCar, let me tell you."
Quinn's brow furrows. "Wait, where was I when all this happened?"
"Presumably at home where you able to talk to your bacon in the privacy of your own household, you know without the judgment of sane people there."
Quinn stares back at her pointedly, brow raised. "Do you want to walk home?"
AN: Reviews are greatly appreciated!
