A/N: Thank you for not giving up on this little thing here. =) The next part will be up soon. I promise. ;p
Still not mine; still unbeta'd.
Thanks for reading; please let me know what you think.
XOXO
*o*o*o*
She's not.
Right?
Is she?
"Am I?" Rachel was spread-eagle on her bed, her head tipped back as she stared at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling above her.
"My—my sexuality was making you uncomfortable?"
"What?"
"My being gay-"
"So you—you are-?"
"… No—no I'm not."
"Oh. Alright then- I'm glad that's sorted out."
"Yeah- yeah, me too."
That last bit with Quinn Fabray had been playing on repeat in her head ever since she hopped back into her Jeep over an hour ago. It was, she knew, far from being sorted out.
She had never really entertained the notion before- that she could actually be gay.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
It just never popped up in any conversation she had ever had with anybody before.
Not like anybody would just come right out and ask me if I was gay or anything.
Yet, considering whom she had been in regular contact with- Finn, Sam, Noah-, it was highly doubtful they even had the capacity to ascertain if she had, indeed, been sending off gay vibes.
Gay vibes- is that what you call them?
Was she sending off gay vibes tonight?
Did Quinn pick up on those vibes?
She tried to recount her actions earlier: She had arrived at her house, opened the Jeep's door for her-
Ok... a little out of the ordinary, but not entirely gayish-
She gave her the flower-
Right... but girls give other girls flowers, don't they? Like on birthdays, and such. And celebrities- people on Broadway give each other flowers all the time, don't they?
She introduced her to her parents, aunt, and uncle as her "date"—
Well, of course! That was the whole point of the charade, wasn't it?
She held out her chair, got her drinks-
Might as well discount the whole of dinner. She groaned. I was merely being in character-
Then she met Blake-
That- she felt herself blush a little. Now, that was a little interesting-
Now, she had to admit, she probably had as much social panache as a tennis ball. But she had to have been a tree stump to not notice that the tall blonde was flirting all the while with her.
She was, at first, a little taken aback by how blatant it all was—what with all the little hand grazes and hair flips and Oh dear, the girl was laughing at all her silly quips.
It was nice, if not a little bizarre and unexpected. She had never had another girl express that kind of interest in her before—let alone flirt quite openly with her. How did the girl even know she wouldn't be thwarting her advances?
Which brought her back to the gay vibe question: Had she been spouting rainbows out of her ears all this time? Was that why Quinn assumed she had been interested in pursuing some, what was it— 'lady loving'— with Blake?
Was she repulsed by it?
No she couldn't have been. She agreed to take part in the charade after all.
And then there was that dance…
Five blocks away, Quinn laid sideways on her bed, staring at the sunflower on her dresser.
She had received flowers before, sure. But none of those had ever intrigued her as much. The yellow petals fluttered slightly as a gentle breeze wafted through her open window. A slow smile played on her lips; she wouldn't put it past Rachel Berry to actually research on the meaning of sunflowers before presenting it to her. Half-tempted to get up and Google it herself, Quinn chuckled as she pictured the tiny brunette hunched over a laptop, with ten tabs open on her screen, scrolling through websites for "flowers and meanings".
Then again, her brows furrowed suddenly, maybe it could've just been the first flower she saw when she walked into the flower shop.
She mentally shrugged. Not that it matters, anyway.
But it did.
Every single thing Rachel Berry had done had indeed mattered. She wouldn't be in bed, still in her dress, recounting every single thing that happened that day, if they hadn't.
She touched her fingertips to her cheek as she felt another blush creep in. Yet again. And then there was that odd fluttering in her stomach as her thoughts moved on to that dance.
Her breath hitched as she recalled the way Rachel felt in her arms as they swayed gently on the dance floor… and as the brunette tilted her head just a little bit closer…
"UGH!"
She couldn't have just been imagining that… that… thing between them as they danced, could she?
Rachel's heart raced as she relived that almost-kiss.
Quinn had been looking at her from beneath lowered lashes, her soft breath mingling with hers. Her lips had never looked more inviting and she was this close to dipping in for a taste…
"You're doing a remarkably believable job-"
"Your efforts are quite commendable..."
Quinn sighed heavily as she tried to tamp down the feeling of embarrassment bubbling within her chest.
They had gone through this already. It was all for show; Rachel had been very clear about that. It was not the brunette's fault she had inadvertently taken things the wrong way. It was neither her fault though, that the romantic setting- the dramatic lighting, the soft music—had gotten to her.
It definitely had nothing to do with me wanting to kiss Berry—
-or her wanting to kiss me…
…
…
Wait.
Frowning, Quinn glared at the sunflower.
WHY wouldn't she wanna kiss me?
Groaning, Rachel pulled the pillow from beneath her head to cover her face as she screamed, "GAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!"
She heard a soft knock on her door. Lifting her pillow an inch away from her mouth, she called out, "Come in!"
"Rachel, honey?" she recognized her dad Leroy's voice. She let the pillow drop back on her face.
"Yurgh, dardh?"
She felt the mattress dip at the foot of her bed. It dipped again further up, a little closer to her left knee.
"Go-" she heard her dad hiss.
"No, you do it-" a deeper voice, her daddy hissed back.
"No. You go-"
"Why me?"
"Coz I already did the birds and the bees thing-"
She rolled her eyes "Yurh doo wealyzh I cunh hur yurh, ruyt?"
When neither of them replied, she huffed and flung the pillow away to glare at her fathers who smiled sheepishly back at her.
"Ok, you wanna tell me what's going on?"
"Well," Hiram, after being poked at the back by Leroy, cleared his throat. "We were hoping you'd tell us, baby girl."
Rachel groaned and lifted an arm to cover her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Her daddy's voice took on a softer tone. "Rachie, sweetheart-"
She peered at them from under her arm. They were both watching her with expectant looks on their faces.
"Do you, maybe, want to talk about it?"
"But if you're not ready-"
She sighed inwardly. "I do… I mean—I want to… I just…" Averting her eyes, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. "I… I don't really know what's going on-."
Hiram patted her knee encouragingly. "How about you start from the beginning?"
"There—I don't know if there's a beginning…"
"Ok," Leroy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as his brows furrowed in confusion.
"Let's try this: how about you tell us more about that little curve ball you threw us earlier today?"
"Oh. That, uhm—Quinn is…" Rachel frowned a little. "Quinn is my friend."
She is, isn't she? I'm sure we shook on it... Did we shake on it?
"A friend that you go out on dates with-?"
"No. Not like that-"
"I'm not sure I'm following-"
"We're friends. Actually," she smiled a little. "We just became friends today."
Hiram squinted his eyes in an attempt to understand. "So you brought her to the party—as your date— and you only just became friends today?"
"We've known each other for a while-" Rachel tried to clarify. "She was Finn's girlfriend."
"Hudson? The one you dated?"
"Yes. But we barely really interact in school or anything—"
"So, Quinn-" Leroy started ticking things off with his fingers. "She was Hudson's girlfriend, you barely know each other, you took her to the party as your date—I'm assuming she was your date date because that was how you introduced her—and you only really became friends today-"
"—Yes. After the party."
Leroy stared at his fingers, wriggling them as he mumbled softly to himself. Finally, he turned to Rachel with a perplexed look. "I'm sorry baby girl, but I can't seem to add things up."
Her shoulders slumped. "Neither can I."
Hiram, who had been silent for a while, nodded slightly. "So you girls aren't really dating."
Rachel felt warmth spread to her cheeks. There was no point in denying any further.
"No," she admitted softly. She stared down at her comforter. "No, we're not."
"Rachel-"
"I'm sorry." She glanced at them imploringly. "I'm so sorry I lied to you about dating her. I just didn't want to have to go through another blind set up."
"Oh, sweetie-" Hiram leaned over to envelop her in a hug, which she gladly returned. "We're sorry too."
"It was all really just in good fun," her dad explained.
"I'll make sure it never happens again."
"Especially now that you've finally found someone-"
Whoah. Wait. Hold up—
"Dad," she pulled back from the embrace. "I thought I made it clear that Quinn and I are not dating-"
"But oh, you'd like to, wouldn't you?"
What?
No…
I don't…
Would I?
Oh look, she's back to square one.
"I haven't really decided if I…if I'm-"
Leroy stood. "Well, whatever it is you decide to do," he kissed her forehead, "we're here for you, Rachel."
Smiling gratefully, she threw her arms around his shoulders. "I know," she murmured. "Thank you. I love you."
"We love you too, sweetie." Hiram squeezed her knee. "And, oh, you better decide soon. Your Aunt Mary wanted to invite both of you to a barbecue next week."
Crap.
*o*o*o*
On Monday morning, Rachel adjusted the strap of her book bag before slinging it over her shoulder. The school parking lot was beginning to fill up and she looked around for a familiar face.
"Yo, Berry!"
She turned at the sound Noah's voice and grinned.
"Hey, Noah," she greeted as soon as he was within (speaking) hearing distance. "What a pleasant surprise. I've always thought Monday was still a part of your self-imposed three-day weekend."
"Nah. My weekends begin on Fridays." He smirked as they walked through McKinley's main door. "How was yours?"
"Fine…" her voice trailed off as her eyes fell on Quinn leaning against one of the lockers. "Uneventful."
Quinn had stopped paying attention to the playful banter between Santana and Brittany five minutes ago; her mind had wandered back to Rachel Berry.
As if it wasn't enough that she practically spent the whole day yesterday doing just that. She had actually made a bit of progress from Saturday night. She decided, after debating with herself well into the early hours of Sunday morning, since Rachel had cleared things up that she wasn't actually, you know, gay— she should best move on from the almost-kiss fiasco, filing it away as nothing more than a fluke. A rather unfortunate, ridiculous fluke.
She should instead be focusing on working on this friendship they had agreed to.
Whatever that entails, she hadn't the slightest idea.
How we'll manage that, I don't fucking know...
She leaned against the row of lockers, lazily glancing around the hallway. She raised an eyebrow at a freshman who dared hold her gaze. Rolling her eyes as the boy scurried away, she then turned her head towards the main entrance.
She could've sworn she had seen this on a dozen teen flicks before, but it was like the sea of students suddenly, magically parted.
To reveal Rachel Berry sauntering through.
Her right hand was grasping the strap of her book bag on her shoulder, while the other was tucked into the front pocket of her jeans. Her eyes- Oh god, her eyes- seemed to have found hers at the exact same moment she did hers.
There was a beat when Quinn thought she might choke on her heart which had apparently lodged itself in her throat. Her mouth fell open slightly as she watched Rachel lower her eyes a little bit before catching her gaze again.
The corner of the brunette's lips turned up slightly into a shy smile...
And then...
In a sort of blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment...
Rachel winked at her...
And teen flick cliches be damned...
She maybe, sorta, kinda swooned.
Just like that first time in Rachel's Jeep.
Quinn clutched her binder a little closer to her chest, as she tried not to stare at the shorter girl as she turned the corner.
This Rachel Berry Way of Subtly Greeting Friends in the Hallways kinda thing definitely needed a little bit of getting used to.
*o*o*o*