Cooper's master classes for Glee Club finished a week after Quinn's return.
They were sorry to see him go. Nothing against Mr Schue, but it was nice to have someone else in once and a while to shake up their routine. During that time, Quinn would always find herself trailing behind after rehearsals, just to speak to Cooper alone. Most of her time afterschool was spent between making up for lost time with Mercedes and the other girls, and just being with Cooper.
With him, she'd also found that she could sit in silence, studying or reading or just lying on his bed, and not have a need to talk to him. They were comfortable to just be together and not talk. Of course, the silence was nearly always broken by little whimpers or moans when Cooper couldn't resist pressing his mouth to hers. More than often, they were sweet, soft kisses but, as the weeks slipped by, Quinn noticed the increase in needy, desperate sucking of lips. Given her past, she had a feeling she knew where it could lead. But that wasn't what made her pull away.
"Cooper," she reproached, pouting.
He smirked, leaning in to press one last kiss to her puckered lips. "Is there a problem?"
"You're the problem," Quinn told him, turning back to her book. "As always."
"Studying?"
Quinn rolled her eyes as she looked up again to find him wriggling closer to her on the bed. "Pretty sure I told you repeatedly before you came over that I need to keep my GPAs up if I want to get into Yale."
"Hmmmm," was all Cooper replied, his hands sneaking around to rest across her back so his hand could tuck into the waistband of her skirt.
"Cooper! My parents are downstairs," she hissed, shifting away on the narrow bed.
"So? I closed the door."
To escape his still wandering hands, Quinn slipped off of the bed and stood over him, crossing her arms. "Cooper."
He pouted, but didn't move to protest. Instead, he sat up with a sigh. "I've been thinking about that, actually."
"About what?"
"Yale," he reminded, swinging himself around so he was sat cross-legged on her bed. "LA is over two thousand miles away. That's too far."
Quinn pulled a face, sitting beside him and slipping her hand into his. She watched as he laced their fingers together as she said, "But that's how it's going to be. I'm going to Yale and you're going to live in LA. With over two thousand miles between us. Again."
"But that's the thing... I don't have to be in LA anymore," Cooper pointed out, lifting his gaze to meet hers. "I went to LA because I thought it was the best place for me. And it was. But now... Now, New York is looking good."
Quinn stared at him, disbelieving. "No... No way. You're not - "
"Maybe," he corrected, shrugging. "I don't see why not. LA isn't exactly the sunny Heaven I'd imagined."
"Not because of me. I won't let you move because of me," she told him.
Cooper laughed. "Oh, Quinnie. Not just because of you. New York's closer to Lima than LA, and I've sworn to keep in contract with my parents - I owe them that, after everything. But you are the main reason. New Haven will be less than a hundred miles away. It's a considerable distance."
"You..." she began, not sure what to say.
Quinn had known Cooper was leaving soon; she didn't expect him to stick around in Lima until she graduated and moved off, letting him go too. But she'd expected him to return to his life in LA, across the country to her. She'd expected it and begun preparing himself for it. She didn't know what to think, how to feel, about knowing Cooper would be closer, nearer, but still so far away until September.
If she was honest, Quinn was hoping for September to come quickly. Although she'd made an amends with her friends and sorted her life out, putting it back on track, she wanted to be rid of the horrid high school memories and get away to a new place, where no one knew her name or her history. At Yale, she could be Quinn Fabray without people commenting on her pregnancy, or her mess-ups.
And yet, whenever she thought about what was coming, about graduation and Yale, that familiar sensation of butterflies hit her like a force field. She was scared; scared of getting away, scared of the freedom and scared of the chances. The whole world was opening up in front of her, and it was both amazing and terrifying at the same time. But there was one thing she was sure of now, and that was being scared was not something to worry about. It was a natural reaction and everyone felt it once in a while. It was a good feeling, because it meant something - or, as it had been for Cooper, someone - was coming that could potentially tip her world upside down and change it for the better.
The only problem Quinn had now was that nothing and no one could make her world as glorious as Cooper had.
But even so, she wasn't going to hide from the butterflies anymore.