Hey guys. Before I say anything else, I want to apologise that its been so long since I posted anything. This has been for two reasons. One. I've been getting a little stressed out about something happening at my job and its been getting me a little depressed. Two. I've given up drinking alcohol for six months as a kinda health thing. Also I'm working out 4 times a week. Those things combined with the slight depression has meant that when I get home from work I've been not writing anything so I'm running out of material and fast. But have no fear. I am here and dedicated to finishing this fic. I have some brilliant ideas for it. Some suspense and some drama. So enjoy guys and let me know what you think.

Also I'd like to wish EmilyLauren a Happy 18th birthday! Thanks for all your support Em!

The alcohol had taken its toll on everyone and inhibitions had been thrown to the wind as Santana had gone round everyone asking if they wanted to play. The few people who had resisted had been smooth talked into joining in anyway. Everyone was sat on the floor which had been the dance floor only ten minutes earlier. James walked back into the room, shuffling a deck of cards in his hands, while Santana setup the board with the empty bottle in the middle of everyone.

"Ok guys," He said as he placed the cards beside the board. "We'll play this how we play Ring of fire back home,"

"Ring of fire?" Rachel asked innocently.

"Yeah," James said as he sat down between Sam and Mercedes. "Each card has a different rule in that game,"

"So the same will apply here?" Rachel said. "So which card means what?"

"Hold on," James said. "I'm making this up as I go along," He only seemed to need to think about it for a minute. "Alright, let say the numbers represent time, so you draw a card between 2 and 10 and that represents how long you have to hold the kiss for. Then you spin the bottle to find out who you're going to kiss,"

"What about the others?" Finn asked.

"Well, erm..." James seemed to think about it for a while before Santana spoke up.

"The Jacks will be full on make out with tongue," Funnily enough nobody rolled their eyes at her at all. That must of been because everyone's state of intoxication. "The Queens should be a body shot,"

"The Kings and the Aces?" James asked

"That's easy. Kings will be a hickie and Aces will be 7 minutes in heaven," She answered. James looked at her for a moment before shrugging his shoulder.

"Ok but I'm taking some of the Kings and Aces out to make it more interesting," He quickly looked through that full deck and took out two of the Aces and then two of the Kings. He placed them onto the sofa behind him and shuffled the deck again. "And besides everyone walking round with hickies on Monday might be a little suspicious as to what kind of party this was," He set the deck back on the floor next to the bottle. "Santana, why don't you start?" She simply smiled as she reached forward across the board and drew the first card. She turned it over to show it as the four of hearts. She then span the bottle and everyone cheered drunkenly as it quickly revolved on the board. Eventually it slowed and stopped with the neck pointing towards Mike. There was a loud cheering from everyone in the circle.

"Nice," Santana said as she crawled forward to him sexily on all fours. "Some fresh blood," She muttered. Everyone quickly glanced at Tina who with a drunken smile just shrugged her shoulders.

"Four seconds you two," James said. Mike met Santana in the middle over the board. They pressed their lips together and everyone counted down the four seconds. They broke apart when the count hit zero. Both Santana and Mike had a distinct smile on their face as the circle cheered and whooped the kiss.

"Alright," Mike said after a moment. He leaned forward and reached for the cards. "My turn,"

Everyone was laughing as Blaine licked the salt from Tina's abdomen. He then gulped down the shot of tequila. His face squirmed as the liquid burned his throat. He desperately reached his head down to Tina's lips and quickly removed the lime wedge from her teeth. He relaxed as soon as the lime touched his lips. Quinn watched as he sat back down next to Kurt, still gently nibbling on the lime.

"This is outstanding!" Kurt said his voice slightly slurring. His words we're genuine though. "Who's next?" Quinn had been in a world of her own since she'd sat down. She couldn't help but think about him. James was sat across from her, if not slightly to one side. He'd trusted her with his history. One that not many people would of easily of lived through. James had lost both his parents in a short time, kicked away from his family by his brother in law and then deciding to move away from everything he loved just so his family could stand a chance. How could he even smile like he is now or laugh for that matter? Quinn knew what it was like to be thrown out of her home and to give away a child. A single sacrifice, meant that her and baby Beth could have a normal life. James had done the same. He'd lost everything and then when someone had needed him to step up, this being his sister to save her marriage, he'd done it without question. Quinn knew after barely knowing them for just a few days, barely even a week, James would do the exact same for any of them. She looked at him again as he took a long swig from the bottle in his hand. A cider of some kind. He and Sam were laughing along with the others as everyone took turns on the bottle. Despite her current boyfriend being sat next to him, Quinn couldn't look away from James. A few moments later, she had to look away as James' eyes met hers. She looked towards the bottle in the middle hoping he'd think she'd just glanced at him and had not been staring at him for the last few minutes.

"I think its Quinn's turn," She heard Santana say before Quinn looked up. "She and James are the only ones who haven't done anything yet," Quinn slightly blushed at the hidden meaning behind the Latino's words. She nodded her head and as she looked up met James' eyes again. He had a slight smile on his face. Quinn bit her lip before she spoke.

"Ok, my turn," Quinn said. She leaned forward on her knees and lifted the top card on the deck. She momentarily closed her eyes as she turned over the card and placed it on the floor. Everyone around her started cheering and laughing. She opened her eyes and looked down to see the six of diamonds. She smiled but she became very aware of the butterflies suddenly cascading around her stomach. She knew who in this circle she wanted to kiss. As she reached for the bottle in the middle of the circle, her rapidly increased heartbeat became the only sound she could hear. As she touched the glass, her mind jumped to the dreams she'd been having over the past few nights. This could be her chance to kiss him in real life. She closed her eyes again and spun the bottle, quickly praying that luck would be on her side. She opened them again as she leaned back and watched the bottle spin. Time itself seemed to taunt her as it appeared to slow down delaying the inevitable as long as it could. As the bottle began to slow, everyone around her matched her by holding their breath. The bottle slow came to a stop. The neck of it pointed towards…Sam. The bottle had landed just one person away from who she'd wanted and also on her boyfriend even if they were on a break. Sam looked up at her, looking unsure of what to do. Quinn had decided straight away to make the kiss as short as possible. She leaned forward, prompting Sam to do the same. His lips were slightly aggressive but he didn't push. It was mainly because of the roughness of his lips. There was very little emotion shown as the six seconds ended. Once they split apart, they both smiled awkwardly as a slight silence filled the room.

"Right, James," Quinn said. "Your turn," He just smiled as he leaned forward. Quinn felt the butterflies rise again in her stomach as she realised with some luck James may land on her. As he reached for the cards Quinn went to take another sip from her cup only to realise it was empty. She needed a refill but it could wait. She tried to count how many she'd drank already but she struggled to remember after the fifth. But she was not alone; the others were all in a similar state. However the room was still filled with anticipation as the newbie to the group reached for the top card. James turned over the top card to reveal the Ace of Hearts. As he did the people around him began to either laugh or cheer.

"Finally," They heard Santana say. James smiled and didn't hesitate before spinning the bottle. The butterflies in Quinn's stomach hit overdrive as realised if the bottle landed on her, she would be spending seven minutes alone with James where they could do whatever they wanted. As the bottle slowed, Quinn once again held her breath. In her mind she was begging the bottle to stop on her. Over the faint music in the background, she could hear the bottle slowing. A few more seconds passed before she heard a small amount of giggles and laughter from the people around her. Quinn opened her eyes and looked down at the bottle. It was pointing to the person next to her. A certain petite brunette.

"Rachel?" Quinn thought to herself "Of all the people in this circle, why did it have to land of Rachel?" Quinn felt a burning sensation in her gut from this little bit of envy that was swelling into massive jealousy. Quinn could barely watch as James looked over at her rival with a soft smile. Everyone knew from Santana's uncontrolled burst at glee the other day that Rachel and Finn were having trouble. Finn had lied to Rachel about Santana and now Rachel was going to be spending time alone with James. However before Quinn could think of anything else, Rachel was stood up and pulling James towards the stairs. Rachel gave a quick glance in Finn's direction before they vanished altogether. It was only a few seconds before they heard a door close upstairs before they could hear small amounts of Rachel's little giggles. This is when Quinn decided she needed something stronger to drink.

The faint hint of sun gushed through the partially closed curtains, shining onto her bare shoulder. Instantly the pounding in her head began as the warm ray of light woke her from her sleep. Quinn opened a single eye lid and tried to focus on where she was. She was laid facing the door with her back to the window. The door was closed, a bright shade of white which matched the frame with a black tie hanging around the door knob. The wall next to the door was a light blue that matched the bed sheets she was currently laid under. However there was little space left on the walls as most of it had been covered by band posters or picture frames containing smiling faces. She could hear faint sounds of music coming from somewhere but couldn't see a radio anywhere. As her thumping hangover began to work its way through her mind, she attempted to roll over to try and find the source of the music as even in this small amount, it was annoying to her. As she went to move however she found there was a body laid behind her with an arm draped over Quinn's side. She hadn't noticed it because it was so light. She inhaled a deep breath and the instant smell of alcohol hit her senses. However in the alcohol was a hint of strawberry shampoo. She knew immediately that it was Brittany that was spooned up behind her. Quinn quickly looked over her shoulder and saw Brittany sleepily looking back at her, smiling.

"Morning B" Quinn said softly as she turned over still with Brittany's arm over her so they were face to face. Quinn glanced around and saw a slightly darker arm hanging over Brittany waist. Santana was spooning behind her. "Is she asleep?" Brittney was about to answer when a voice came from behind her.

"No she's awake," The voice sounded a little rough compared to Santana's normal voice causing the two blondes to smile at each other.

"Morning San," Brittany and Quinn said at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah," Santana said with a slight movement of her hand. It was no surprise that the fiery Latino was no morning person.

"Did you have fun last night Quinn?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah from what I remember," Quinn said vaguely trying to recall much of what happened last night. She remembered them playing spin the bottle and then switching to the shots of tequila but she couldn't remember anything after that. "I remember us playing spin the bottle but that's it," She said as she gently rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again, she could see that Santana had propped herself up and was looking at her over Brittany body and they both looked surprised.

"You don't remember?" Brittany asked innocently. Santana's shocked look slowly turned into a smirk. Quinn knew from that smirk that Santana was enjoying this.

"Why?" Quinn asked. "I didn't do anything bad did I?" Brittany and Santana both looked at each other, both smiling.

"Nothing that bad but you may want to talk to James," Brittany said with a giggle.

"Oh crap," Quinn said as she flopped back against the pillow. "What happened?"

"Well you started hitting the shots," Santana said as she sat up in the bed pushing back the covers to reveal that she and Brittany were wearing baggy t-shirts. "You were a mess pretty quickly. When James came down from being dragged upstairs by the hobbit, you couldn't leave him alone,"

"I remember the bottle landing on Rachael and them going upstairs," Quinn said softly still trying to piece everything together. "I wonder if anything happened?"

"Apparently," Santana said. "Man-hands can't handle her drink. She told James she wanted to make Finn jealous and then passed out on the bed. James made sure she was comfortable and came back down here," Quinn breathed a mental sigh of relief. At least Rachel hadn't got her claws into James before Quinn could.

"Well at least James won't be mentally scared by her," Quinn said with a slight laugh. "So what did I do to James?" She asked with last night antics still evading her memory.

"Dancing with him, drinking with him, I think at one point you were sat in his lap," Brittany added as she looked between Quinn and Santana.

"What?" Quinn asked as she shot up to a sitting position. Why could she not remember this?

"Yeah you were, looked like you trying to decide whether to kiss him or not," Brittany said. "You two actually looked really cute together,"

"Problem is Britt, I'm supposed to be dating Sam, and he was there,"

"He wasn't," Santana said. "He took Artie home with Finn before that. He said goodbye to you but I'm guessing you don't remember that either," Quinn tried to search her memory but couldn't remember Sam leaving at all.

"What else happened?" Quinn asked as the sleepy haze began to lift from her eyes.

"Well we were all dancing again," Brittany said looking at them both.

"Oh then we did a few more body shots," Santana added.

"After Rachael came back downstairs, she fell asleep on the sofa and we were gonna draw a moustache on her," Brittany said with a giggle. Quinn smiled too at the thought of Rachel waking up with a pencil moustache drawn on her upper lip. "But you stopped us from doing it, saying it was mean and she had won fair and square or something,"

"That sounds strange," Quinn said slightly confused as to why she would have stopped that kind of thing especially as it would of be hilarious to just hear Rachel scream from the first time she looked into the bathroom mirror and realised what they'd done to her.

"Then we decided it was time for bed so James sorted everyone out with a place to sleep," Quinn tried once more to search her mind for these events but once again she drew a blank. She fell back against the pillow once again and looked up at the white ceiling.

"I can't believe I can't remember anything," Quinn said softly. "I'm never drinking again,"

"You said that the last time," Brittany said with a giggle. Quinn and Santana both laughed also as the faint music seemed to switch to another song. "So Quinn?" She waited till Quinn was looking at her again before continuing. "You do like James don't you?" Quinn looked between her and Santana for just a moment before she answered with a simple nod of her head. Brittany began jumping up and down on the bed while Santana simply shook her head.

"I knew it," She said. "I knew you had it hot for Phoenix when we saw you outside with him,"

"Oh my god yeah," Brittany said as she continued to jump up and down between them. "Like I said, you two are super cute together," Quinn however didn't match the other blonde's enthusiasm.

"It's not like I can do anything about it B, I'm with Sam," Quinn said back. "Besides I think he might have feelings for Rachel," Quinn sighed as a slight wave of sorrow washed across her chest. Seeing the hurt in Quinn's eyes, Santana placed a hand on Brittany's shoulder to gently stop her from bouncing.

"You don't just have it hot for this guy, do you?" Santana asked. "You really like him," Quinn gently bit her lip before she nodded her head.

"I don't know what it is," She said softly.

"I do," Brittany said with a squeal. "You love him,"

"Calm down Britt," Quinn said with a motion of her hand. "We haven't even kissed yet. We probably never will,"

"What the hell is wrong with you," Santana said with a stern but still quiet voice. Both Quinn and Brittany looked at her, surprised at the sudden strictness in her voice. "If you want to kiss him, just kiss him,"

"It's not that simple Santana," Quinn said still softly.

"Oh yeah the Sam situation," Santana answered, still with the same stern voice while using her fingers to make quote marks in the air as she said his name. "Or are you forgetting that you and Sam are technically on a break," It took a second for Quinn to realise what Santana was saying. As the proverbial penny dropped, the sad look on her face changed to a gleaming smile. "Think about it," Santana continued to speak. "The whole point of being on a break is to see if you're better off without Sam so it's a perfect excuse for you to try things with James,"

"Yeah you can ask him out on a date," Brittany added. "You two are doing your challenge tomorrow so that's a perfect time to ask him," and that's when Quinn realised.

"Crap!" She said as she threw the covers off herself. "We haven't practiced at all for tomorrow. We haven't even picked out a song,"

"Relax Quinn," Brittany said as she gently grabbed Quinn's arm. "I know James is working on it. I even know he's picked out a song,"

"What?" Quinn asked looking confused at her friend. "How do you know?"

"He asked me for my opinion on a few songs," Brittany answered.

"Well why did he ask you and not me?" Quinn wondered to herself but before she could think, Brittany spoke again.

"Why don't you ask him, he's right here," She said while she pointed to the bottom of the bed. Quinn looked at where she was pointing thinking that she missed someone else sleeping on the bed before she realised she meant on the floor at the foot of the bed. Quinn crawled down the bed and looked over the metal frame to the floor below. James was laid on his back with a pillow below his head and a set of headphones blaring music into his ears. He was obviously asleep as his eyes were closed and his breathing was regular and soft. As Brittany and Santana joined her at the end of the bed, she was glad that the music that James was listening too would have blocked out the conversation the girls had just had about him. As the three girls looked down at him, his eyes slowly opened as he seemed to wake up. He seemed to take a moment to adjust to the light before he saw the three girls smiling down at him. He groaned slightly before smiling and laid his forearm across his eyes to block out the bright light. With his other hand, he pushed off the headphones from his ears and they gently hit the floor beside him. Then after a few seconds, he moved his arm from his eyes and looked up at the three girls once again.

"Three beautiful girls sleeping in my bed and I'm on the floor," He said as he slowly sat up, leaning back on his hands. As he did his bones slightly cracked as they adjusted to the weight. "Where's the justice in that," He said with a laugh. Brittany and Santana both chuckled back but Quinn just smiled. James stood up and revealed he was still wearing his black jeans from the night before. He wasn't wearing a shirt but he picked one up as he walked away from them saying something about grabbing a shower as he closed the bathroom door behind him. The girls used this time to get dressed and sort out their hair and makeup. Once they were ready Santana and Brittany left Quinn on her own in the room as she finished off her hair. James came out of the bathroom a few seconds later, and smiled when he saw Quinn sat on the bed using the large mirror on the wall to adjust her hair.

"Hey," She said as she slightly moved on the bed.

"Hey," He said back as he walked towards her. "So how you feeling?"

"Little headache, nothing to worry about though," She answered. "How about you?"

"Me?" He answered with a chuckle. "I'm alright. Just an upset stomach but food will solve that no doubt,"

"I think I owe you an apology," Quinn said as she struggled to get her hair how it was the night before.

"What for?" He asked as he sat beside her on the bed. Quinn could feel her cheeks turn red just from the thought of what had happened.

"Brittany and Santana said I was following you around and generally embarrassing myself,"

"Ahh yes but do you regret doing it?" James asked. Quinn looked at him in the mirror and James met her eyes in the reflection. They both smiled and Quinn was the first to look away.

"No," Quinn said after a few seconds.

"Then don't worry about it. You had fun right?" James asked to which she simply nodded. "I did too," He placed his arm around her shoulder and gave her a gently hug from the side. "You got any plans for today Quinn?" He asked as he stood up and straightened his jeans, pulling the waistband up slightly.

"Ermm," Quinn answered as she thought more about his waistline than the question he'd asked. "Nothing major," She said back once her mind was more focused.

"Well if you're not too hungover, I thought we could work on our challenge for tomorrow. I know it's a bit last minute, but I've got a song picked out," James said as he walked up to his dresser. Quinn stopped playing with her hair and thought about what Brittany had said earlier. She thought for just a moment before she spoke.

"How come you went to Brittany for advice? Why didn't you come to me?"

"What?" James asked.

"Brittany said you went to her to ask for help," Quinn said as James slid on a light green t-shirt.

"Well I only wanted to know what she thought about a few songs and I passed her in the hallway at school so I asked," James said. He turned to look at her. "Besides I knew you'd got your own problems at the minute so I just thought asking the others would be better. You know, so you wouldn't have to worry about it as much," James had tried to avoid eye contact with her as much as he could during the last sentence. Quinn smiled at his apprehension and she patted the bed next to her. James took only a second to sit down next to her.

"We're doing this together," She said as she rested her hand on his knee. "This is your chance to prove to the rest of the Glee club that you can do this. We've all seen you perform on stage but that was in your natural place. This is outside those boundaries so I want to help you. Even if you'd not picked my name out of that box, I would have been asking you by now if you needed any help,"

"I'm sorry Quinn," James said quickly. He was about to say something else before Quinn interrupted him.

"It's ok. Now let's hear this song you've picked out," She said softly.

An hour or so later and everyone had left, leaving Quinn and James alone to practice their song. Quinn had quickly admitted that the song that James had picked was perfect. It wasn't a normally a duet but James had found a YouTube video where two separate artists singing their own versions had been mixed together. Quinn also agreed for this song that no choreography was needed. This was a calm song which needed you to just sing, not dance. However James had just wanted to sing but Quinn was adamant that James should play a simple acoustic guitar and they could just get the drummer from the Jazz band to provide them with the beat. As they worked, Quinn was practicing the chorus as well as some of the high notes while James worked on the more complicated guitar parts. Every time Quinn would sing a particularly long or high note, James would stop playing just to listen to her before saying it sounded perfect and then starting to play again. Quinn would do the same when he began singing and strumming the gentle tune of the song along with it. After a few hours, the song was done and Quinn was on her way home in James' car as he dropped her before he went to band practice with The Crystals. He'd dropped her off with a smile and Quinn spent the rest of the day delirious. She found herself watching the video of their song on YouTube. What she didn't realise until her mother mentioned it, was that she'd been singing the same song to herself since she'd got home from her supposed sleepover at Brittney's house

"It's for a challenge in Glee Club," Quinn told Judy from the small island of counters in the middle of their kitchen. "Mr. Schue partnered me and James together for tomorrow,"

"The new boy?" Judy asked with a sideways glance as she prepared a light salad for their evening meal. "Is he any good?" Quinn looked up at her mother slightly confused at what Judy was insinuating. The older women instantly picked up on her look her daughter was giving her. "Is he good at singing?" She asked more clearly this time as she shook the lettuce over the sink.

"He's good," Quinn answered simply. She played with the folk her mother had set out for her. "Maybe with some lessons from , he'd be a great singer,"

"What about his personality?" Judy asked causing Quinn to think for a moment.

"He's a great guy," She said. "James is smart, charming and one of the sweetest guy's I've ever met,"

"It sounds like he's a really nice young man," Judy said as she placed the freshly plated salad in front of her daughter. "What about you and Sam? How's that going?" Quinn knew that question was coming and she felt complied to answer the same thing she had for the last three days.

"I don't know Mom," Quinn she said as she gently prodded the meal in front of her. "I guess we're kind of taking a break from each other,"

"Ahh well," Judy sighed as she placed her own plate down at the table. "Things will work out but you should really talk to Sam,"

"I know Mom, thanks," Quinn said with a smile which her mother returned before they both began eating. As they did, Quinn thought about her mother's advice and Quinn knew that it wasn't right to keep dragging Sam on like this. Her relationship with Sam had started simply as a publicity stunt but now it was something different. When she looked at Sam she saw a close friend and James was the same. In just the few short days that she'd known him, James had become someone she knew she could trust and someone amazing to be around. But when she saw James, there was a little tingle down her skin and a light headedness that echoed as her heart pounded in her chest that showed her that she wanted more. As she glanced at her Mother, she knew that Judy was right. She needed to talk to Sam.

Thanks for reading guys. Let me know what you think. Also just to let you know, I'm gonna be going through some rough work stuff the next few weeks but I will try my best to update as soon as I can.

Bunnyboy