Rachel closed the loft door behind her. Quinn still stood gaping in the middle of the kitchen. Puck was already on the couch flipping through television channels.
"I'm going to bed." Rachel told them as she walked into Quinn's bedroom and shut the door like it was her apartment.
"What's up with her?" Puck asked, never taking his eyes from the tv.
"I can't believe you asked Rachel of all people to help you propose to me!" Quinn screamed, stepping in front of the television.
"Whoa whoa. What's the big deal, babe?" Puck rose both his hands in the air like he was trying to surrender. "I thought since senior year, you and Rachel have been good. I mean, you text her more than you talk to anyone else, Santana and Brittany combined. I thought Rachel would be the best person to ask because she knows you best." Puck's voice was shaking. It was like fuel to the fire for Quinn. She still had it. She could still make a grown man piss his pants if she really wanted to.
"You should have asked Santana. " Quinn began.
《《 Rachel
《《《 Rachel had clumsily changed into her pajamas, and now lay on Quinn's bed in darkness listening to Quinn still screaming at Noah outside the door. Every once in a while she would hear a stammering Noah try to reason with Quinn, just to be spoken over by her again almost immediately. Noah seemed to learn a little faster than what Rachel expected, and soon just kept his mouth shut.
《 It got quiet outside the bedroom. Rachel prayed the couple weren't out there making up. She was also afraid that Quinn might have decided to sleep with Puck instead. Or perhaps Rachel's door slamming had been a little too well performed and Quinn thought herself not welcome in her own bedroom. Just as Rachel was about to have a full fledged panic attack, she heard the door open. Rachel hurried to shut her eyes and lay unmoving before the sliver of light from the opening door could reach her. She hadn't planned to feign sleep beforehand, but it in the moment that's what happened. She could hear Quinn fumbling around, presumably changing from her bar dress. There was a loud thud.
"Oww. Shit." Quinn whispered. Rachel could listen and tell Quinn was hopping on one foot. So she must have stubbed her toe, probably on the small wooden chest just inside the door. Rachel felt a dip in the bed quickly followed by, "Rachel Berry, there is no way you are asleep right now".
"So?"
"So... You really think we don't have anything to talk about? "
"Maybe."
"Will you at least turn around and face me?" Quinn requested. Rachel released a dramatic huff of air and lazily rolled over.
"It isn't like you can see me." Rachel stated.
"As you put it just a minute ago: so?"
"Haha". Rachel mock laughed. "So youre good Quinn again now?" Rachel sounded bitter. Quinn's outburst earlier had really shaken Rachel. Seeing, hearing Quinn be so much like the sixteen year old Quinn in the cheerios uniform, it was frightening. Quinn could regress into the old HBIC so quickly, flawlessly.
"I deserve that. And.I'm sorry. But in all fairness, I did try to warn you to back off." Quinn reasoned.
"I know you did... I should have listened to you. I take my part of the blame. It was just... Startling, slightly, to see you stare so blankly at me like that again. So unfeeling."
"The ironic thing is, even though it seems like that's when I'm the most uncaring, it's actually when I'm hurting the most." Rachel couldn't see Quinn in the darkness, only a very faint outline, but she knew Quinn wasn't looking anywhere near Rachel's eyes. Although Rachel knew it made Quinn uncomfortable, and even through every curveball that had been thrown at them throughout the near decade they had known one another, Quinn continued to open up to Rachel. But what she was confessing now, Rachel already knew.
"I know."
"Really?"
"Really."
"How?" Quinn asked.
"You get to know a person after that long being around and paying attention. I'm highly observant and you've been a fixture in my life for nearly a decade." Rachel explained. "I just know things about you."
"Things like what kind of wedding ring I'd like?"
"Damn I walked right into that, didn't I?" Rachel tried to joke.
"Seriously, though, Rachel. What the hell?"
"What the hell what exactly?"
"Why did you do it?'"
"He asked. "
"And you couldn't say no?" Quinn questioned doubtfully.
"For what reason, Quinn? What reason could I possibly give for not aiding a dear friend when he asked for help with my obvious best friend?" Rachel was thankful now that the lights remained off. She could feel tears rimming her eyes already. "Should I have told him I couldn't because, even though we always just seemed like enemies or close friends, it's more than that? Even though, at the time I wasnt a hundred percent that it was more? Until I came here, I didn't know you wanted anything but Noah".
"Yeah, but you did come here, and you didn't say a word about the engagement."
"Neither did you, and you weren't wearing the ring. That was my first clue."
"Your first clue to what, Rachel?"
"That maybe I wasn't too late." A silence fell over them. Rachel used the time to wipe her tear stained cheeks before she continued. "Like I told you in Napa, I had to know, I have to. I figured I would come here, get a feel for things, maybe something would happen between you and I, maybe it wouldn't. And if nothing did, if you choose Puck, I'll still always have that ring. Every time I have to see the two of you, I'll also see that ring on your finger. I'm sure it sounds insane, but as long as youre wearing that ring, and youre smiling, I'm still a part of your happily ever after." Rachel took a deep, steadying breath. "I just want you to be happy, even if I'm not the obvious cause for your happiness. The ring just gave me a way to be able to help contribute. Of course, I never thought you would find out that I'd helped Noah. I was counting on him to take all the credit." Quinn took everything Rachel had confessed in for a moment.
"Youre an idiot."
"Excuse me?" Rachel involuntarily jerked her foot as if to stomp.
"Youre an idiot. Everything you just said."
"I was being honest. That was actually really hard for me."
"I'm sure it was and while I do appreciate it, youre still an idiot." Quinn's tone wasn't harsh. That, at least comforted Rachel a little. "You say you didn't know for sure, and that you wanted me to be the one to show you that I wanted something out of this." Rachel felt Quinn move her hand between them. "But from the first day you got here, all you've done is flirt and be very forward. Sure maybe I kissed you first but you in every way made it happen. Changing in front of me, all of the cuddling and open conversation, getting me drunk... None of that was innocent." Quinn was right. All Rachel had wanted to do was be available. She hadn't come here to lead Quinn into anything. The goal had been to follow her into something, if she chose it. But Rachel had led her. She held Quinn's hand and walked her blindfolded straight into something between them.
"Youre right. I'm sorry." Rachel dropped her head.
"Don't be. Not for everything at least. I wish you would have went about things a different way, but I'm mostly happy with the results so I can't bitch too much." Rachel couldn't help but grin, but she knew it wasn't over yet.
"And the ring?" Rachel gulped.
"The ring I kind of understand honestly. I mean, I never wanted you to marry Finn, but I was in a wheelchair for months because I was so eager to put on a bridesmaid dress and support you if really made you happy. I wanted to be there, to be apart of it, even if I didn't want you to do it."
"You didn't get me drunk and almost lead me to third base to try and change my mind though, either."
"No, but I did flat out tell you that you shouldn't multiple times, and asked you all kinds of loaded questions before I finally agreed to come. Honestly, the fact that you picked out the ring just makes me want to wear it, but we both know I can't do that. No matter how warply romantic."
"If I'm being honest, I've kind of been doing stuff like that for as long as I've known you."
"Stuff like what?" Quinn asked, confused.
"Like giving Jacob Ben Israel a pair of my underwear so everyone wouldn't find out you were pregnant."
"I assumed you did that for Finn."
"Why? The only real reason he didn't want people to know was because you didnt."
"That's true I guess."
"And I picked out your corsage for junior prom." Rachel rushed out.
"Wait. What? Finn took me to prom that year."
"He did, and I told him what to get for you. Gardenias tied with a light green ribbon to match your eyes. Do you know what the gardenia flower means Quinn?"
"No."
"I wouldn't have thought so."
"Rude."
"I meant no offense."
"Well. What does it mean?"
"Look it up sometime." Rachel teased.
"Oh dont even. I will get up, get my phone, and pull Google up right now." Quinn rose off the bed to sit up, before Rachel's arm was thrust in front of her chest like a mom in a car at a sudden stop.
"Don't." Rachel pleaded.
"That's what I thought." Quinn said with obvious chagrin as she lay back down. Rachel didn't remove her arm. She only moved it down slightly lower to rest on Quinn's abdomen. "So, tell me what it means then." Quinn demanded.
"Okay but you can't be weird about it."
"Why would I be weird about it?" Quinn was confused again.
"Just... Promise me."
"I promise."
"They mean secret love."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Rachel began to pull her arm away, but Quinn rose her own hand and placed it over Rachel's to stop her. Once Rachel had lay her arm back down across Quinn's stomach again, Quinn laced their fingers together.
"We're both idiots." Quinn laughed lightly, making Rachel giggle, too.
"So it would certainly seem." The girls laughed together for a moment before reality started to set in again.
"I have to do something about Puck." Quinn stated.
"Don't feel pressure from me to make a decision about him now. I understand that even though you want to see where the next week takes us, that you also have a good thing with Puck. You should still get to have that if you decide to when I go back to New York. Of course I do want you all to myself, but you should really take time in making that decision. I don't want us going into this unless we're both completely sure."
"I at least need to find a way to get rid of him. I don't want to waste two more of my days with you with him here. If we're really going to give us this sort of trial run for the next six days, you shouldn't have to see me put on the show that is my relationship. He's gotta go."
"I'm definitely not going to argue with you." Rachel responded. "But how are we going to get rid of him?"
"Leave that to me. I'll take care of Puckerman."
"Nothing sexual." Rachel commanded, squeezing Quinn's side lightly.
"As if." Quinn deadpanned. "He and I... We don't... We aren't as intimate as you probably think."
"Whaaattt? No way." Rachel was shocked. "You guys have been together for years. You havent slept together that whole time?"
"We havent. I explained to Puck that I want to wait for marriage, and he mostly respects that. It is the biggest reason our relationship has always been so off and on, though. I'm sure that he has his own life and his own other women around the air force base, but it keeps him off my back so much so I don't care much."
"Wow." Rachel could barely believe it. "Has there been anyone else?" Rachel wasn't sure if it was okay to ask
"Not in a really long time, since before Finn died, like freshman year of college." Quinn told Rachel.
"Me too."
"You too what?" Rachel kept confusing Quinn tonight.
"My last time being... Intimate with someone, it's been a couple years, since around the time Finn died." Rachel could tell Quinn hadn't expected this by the girl's stunned silence. Seemed they both had reason to be surprised tonight, in many more ways than one.
《《 About half an hour passed as the girls continued to chat. Eventually they could hear Puck snoring from the living room.
"I'm sorry about him, and for how I was with him." Quinn apologized.
"We're past that."
"Really?"
"Really." Rachel confirmed. "Quinn?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sleepy."
"You want me to hold you, don't you?" Quinn laughed.
"Maybe."
"Come here." Quinn lay her arm out so Rachel could lay on her chest. "Let's sleep."
《《《,Quinn let herself sleep for about three hours, then was up again. She wasn't quite sure how to get rid of Puck, short of just telling him to leave, hurting his feelings, and making him suspicious. She could, however, get her and Rachel away from Puck. Maybe. So, she started making phone calls.
《《 Rachel awoke to the sound of Quinn's voice floating in from the next room. Once she had begun to get her bearings, Rachel listened intently.
"I'm sorry, Puck, but I can't help it. I had no idea you were coming this weekend. Plans had already been made." Rachel heard Quinn say.
"I still don't see why I can't just..."
"No," Quinn interrupted him. "This was a planned girls' weekend. You do not have a uterus so you weren't invited." Rachel was confused. What plans? A girls' weekend? Rachel certainly knew of nothing of the sort.
"Why didn't you mention it yesterday?" Rachel heard Puck ask.
"It would have made the whole day we did have sour if I'd told you." Quinn reasoned. The bedroom door opened to a fully dressed Quinn Fabray.
"Get up." Quinn commanded when she saw Rachel was awake.
"Good morning to you, too."
"Good morning, Rachel. Now get up." Quinn threw clothes at Rachel. "I already packed your bag."
"Where are we going?" Rachel questioned while she changed her clothes.
"Uhh..." Quinn stammered, staring at Rachel.
"Perv." Rachel said and threw a pillow at Quinn.
"Your fault." Quinn threw the pillow back on the bed. "We're meeting Brittany and Santana in San Fran for a girls' weekend."
"Was this really already planned?"
"No, but I had to find a way to get us away from Puck. And I genuinely miss the rest of the unholy trinity. "
"Do they know, Santana and Brittany, about you and I?"
"They don't know that anything has changed between us. I just told Santana that Puck crashed your vacation and we needed an excuse to get away from him. She made some snarky comment about how I just miss her and you can't go a week without her, and said her and Britt would book a flight."
"She's ridiculous. I went over a week without her. Her and Brittany had been gone before I even came to LA." Rachel defended, walking around to double check Quinn had packed all her things. "I do miss her, but don't ever tell her that."
"I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me."
"Deal."
《《 Once Rachel was ready, the girls waited for Puck to pack.
"I'd let you finish your weekend here, Puck, but I know there'd be a different girl in my bed every night."
"Come on, babe. You know I wouldn't do that."
"I know you would, and you do."
"Not in your bed." Puck muttered. Quinn pretended not to hear. They said their goodbyes, put Puck in a cab, and started their drive.
《《 A few hours later, they were at the hotel's front desk getting their room keys, when Rachel pulled out her credit card to pay their bill.
The clerk looked at Rachel confused, "The bill has already been taken care of ma'am". Rachel looked to Quinn.
"You aren't the only one doing pretty well for herself. Come on." Rachel could only smile and nod. She caught up to Quinn, walking behind the bell boy, and laced their fingers together. Quinn didn't say anything, but gave Rachel's hand a gentle squeeze.
《《 Immediately upon entering the room, Rachel felt a heavy weight jump on her. She released a small scream before she realized it was Brittany hugging her.
"Sorry, Rach. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just been so long."
"No, it's okay. I missed you too, Brittany." Rachel hugged Brittany back now. "How did you guys beat us here?"
"Are you kidding?" Santana spoke and Rachel saw her for the first time since entering the room. "Quinn called us at five this morning. We caught the first flight out at her insistence. We've been here a while"
"Sorry, it took us longer to leave than I anticipated." Quinn explained.
"Puckerman put up a fight?" Santana asked.
"A little." Quinn answered, and then Brittany had jumped on her, too.
"Quinn, it's been even longer since we've seen you." Brittany squeezed her tight. "Santana doesn't do hugs so I have to hold you extra tight for both of us."
"So what do you have planned for this weekend, preggers? Cause I know you didn't drag us down here for nothing." Quinn rolled her eyes.
"Keep pretending you aren't happy to see us." Quinn stated sarcastically, making Santana roll her eyes back. "I actually do have some things planned. We have a spa appointment in thirty minutes." All the girls agreed that this sounded like a perfect way to start their spontaneous trip.
《《 Rachel wasn't expecting it when they got to the spa and Quinn had signed them up for two separate couples massages. She was really shocked, however, when, after removing her clothes and putting her cottony soft robe on in her private dressing area, she stepped into the massage room to find an identically robed Brittany waiting for her.
"Did I go into the wrong room?" Rachel looked around.
"No, you were right." Brittany answered innocently.
"Did you go into the wrong room?" Rachel asked, confused. Brittany laughed at her.
"No, silly." Brittany said like it was obvious. "Santana wanted time to talk to just Quinn, and I like having alone time with you, too." Rachel felt her stomach turn hearing that Santana wanted to talk to Quinn alone. That probably only meant one thing, trouble. "Besides, just because San and I are a couple that doesn't mean you and Quinn have to be stuck together like one, too. That wouldn't be very fair since you guys aren't a couple." Again, Rachel felt her stomach do some aerodynamic exercise. Brittany was right. Rachel and Quinn weren't a couple. To Brittany and Santana they weren't anything but old friends. "I'm thinking we should start the massage, cause you kind of look like youre going to puke." Brittany finished with a quirked eyebrow.
Both girls lay down and began their massage in silence. Rachel felt like an idiot for just assuming it would be Quinn in this room. Anything that they might be was a complete secret. Why, though, did Santana want to speak to Quinn privately? You could chalk it up to just friends catching up, but Rachel knew Santana better than that.
"Brittany?"
"Yeah, Rach?"
"I know that youre a lot smarter than most people think, and I know you usually know a lot more about what's going on with people than you usually let on."
"Thanks, but I'm pretty sure you want to ask me something so you should just ask. No flattery necessary."
"See? That's what I mean. You pick up on things that maybe aren't always so obvious."
"It's true. I always know when people are lying, too. San says it's a gift and a curse. But I'm still waiting for your question."
"What do you know?" Rachel finally asked point blank.
"I know lots of things. Please be more specific."
"What do you know about Quinn and I?"
"Youre my best friends in the whole world after Santana?"
"You know what I mean?"
"Well, I don't know anything for sure."
"Okay, what do you think then?"
"You won't be mad? And you won't tell Quinn?"
"No and no."
"Santana found the letter."
"That's what I was afraid of"
"She read it, but I didn't. I wouldn't let her tell me anything about it. If Quinn took the time to write you a letter, I figure it's personal."
"I can't believe her." If the soft hands kneading into her back didn't feel so good Rachel would have gotten up and given Santana a piece of her mind. "I can't believe she read it."
"In all fairness it was just laying out on your bed."
"What was she even doing in my room?!"
"Ohh... No comment."
"You didn't. Brittany, you didn't have sex in my bed."
"I never said that."
"Ugh. I hope you at least washed the sheets."
"Uhhh..."
"I'm going to kill Santana."
Quinn
Quinn lay perfectly still face down on a massage table as a pretty blonde middle aged woman worked Quinn's tense leg muscles. She did her best to relax but Santana only lay a couple feet away and Quinn knew there was going to be a barrage of questions sent her way any minute.
"So, preggers..."
"You do realize I haven't actually been pregnant for a long time right? My daughter is almost six years old."
"Woah, seriously? It doesn't at all seem like it's already been that long. Obviously I know you aren't still pregnant. But you'll always be pregnant to me. Just like no matter how disturbingly provocative Berry's wardrobe gets, to me she's forever wearing argyll animal sweaters and tights."
"Hey I liked the sweaters and tights." As soon as she'd said it, Quinn knew she had stepped in it. Word vomit that gave Santana a direct line to nosey-ville.
"Oh I know you did." Quinn could practically see Santana's smug face.
"Santana, I swea..."
"Let me stop you." Santana interrupted. Quinn wouldn't be surprised if the Latina still raised her finger in the air as if to wave it in Quinn's face. She was tempted to check, but stayed still and allowed Santana to continue. "I'm just giving you a hard time, which I can't promise won't happen, a lot. That's just what I do, make a joke out of everything to make it easier. What I can promise you, though, is that I'm not here to pressure you, in anyway. I'm dying to know all the sordid little secrets of why Rachel Berry suddenly demanded a vacation after three years barely even taking a day off, just to come to LA to spend two weeks with you. But I figure once youre ready and the two of you get whatever's going on figured out, you'll tell me. And if you don't, Rachel will tell Britt and Britts will tell me." Santana giggled snidely. Santana couldn't say something nice without also throwing something completely contradictory in at the end of it. She was telling Quinn that she would find out somehow, eventually. Which was probably absolutely true, Quinn was sure. "In all seriousness, if youre calling Britts and me down here, I figure youre pretty desperate. Like maybe youre afraid youre gonna screw something up for yourself in that awful self deprecating way you do. Obviously I know youre into chicks, and honestly I knew a long time before our inevitable hook ups, but I get that there's totally a difference in acting on it and actually accepting it. So I'm here for you, whatever you need. This is all a long time coming if you ask me." Quinn was stunned. When Santana had said she had something to discuss with her, this wasn't at all what Quinn had expected. She was prepared for Santana to ask her a battery of questions lined with ill hidden insults. Quinn knew Santana had a good heart, deep down, but it was easy to forget about when you weren't in the moment. Quinn still felt like there was something more that Santana wasn't sharing, but it was hard to tell from voice alone. She couldn't be sure. Quinn realized something puzzling Santana had said.
"Wait. You said Rachel demanded time off? She told me she just got a vacation."
"Oh girl, no. She threw a full blown diva fit. Told the producers either they could find her a decent understudy and give her the time off or she could quit and take it anyway. I figured something was happening with her dads or there was some medical emergency. I knew something was really up when I found out she was here."
"I wonder why she lied to me?"
"Please, like you would have told the truth."
"True."
Rachel
Rachel redressed after her massage more stressed out than she had been when she was first in the small room alone. She had no idea what she was walking out to. Had Santana told Quinn about reading the letter? When she finally arrived back in the spa lobby where the other girls were waiting, Quinn was laughing along with Santana and Brittany. Rachel was pretty sure if Santana had told Quinn anything, she wouldn't be cracking jokes. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she approached the girls. Brittany must have noticed Rachel's trepidation because when Rachel stood between her and Quinn, Brittany took Rachel's hand in her own.
"I'm starving. Can we eat now?" Brittany suggested.
"I'm about to eat a little hobbit alive, and not in the fun, wanky way we all know she wishes, if she doesn't drop my girl's hand." Santana threatened. Rachel immediately tried to untangle her fingers from the blonde's, but Brittany only squeezed Rachel's hand tighter.
"Actually San, I'm holding Rachel's hand, and in a completely non threatening way. I could totally understand how you'd be threatened by Rachel, she is really hot. But we're just friendly I promise. Our hearts both belong to other people." Rachel looked up awkwardly at Quinn, in awe that Brittany had actually said that aloud. Rachel could feel her cheeks burning.
"Gag me." Santana responded, rolling her eyes at Rachel and Quinn's reaction to Brittany's statement. Brittany apparently didn't get the joke, though, and thought Santana had something very different in mind.
"But, San I'm sooo hungry. And if I'm going to gag you, Im sure Ill be tying you up, too. That's what you usually ask for, anyway. So I really need to get my energy up. Can we eat first?" Brittany sounded so innocent, even when talking so dirty. Santana hid her reddening face in her hands.
"Oh... My... God." Santana shook her head back and forth in her hands while she spoke. "Can we please get this girl some food while I still have a little dignity left?"Rachel and Quinn were both doubled over with laughter.
"I don't get it." Brittany said sadly.
"It's okay, baby." Santana assured Brittany, kissing her cheek. "These two idiots are just jealous that they don't have our sex life." This seemed to make some sense to Brittany. Both Rachel and Quinn almost instantly stopped laughing and shared some more awkward eye contact.
"That's actually pretty smart, though. I'd totally be jealous, too if it weren't me." Brittany replied.
"Exactly." Santana smiled. Quinn cleared her throat.
"Let's go get dinner." Quinn insisted, making Brittany hop up and down in place with glee. "Preferably somewhere with a bar."
"Amen." Rachel agreed. After Quinn placed the car in park and pulled out, she reached over to take Rachel's hand in her own, and lay their joined hands high on her own thigh.
"Awww." The girls heard come from the backseat.
"How freaking char..."
"Shut the hell up, Santana." Quinn interrupted her, gave Rachel's hand a squeeze, and turned the radio up from her steering wheel. Rachel looked down at their joined hands, and couldn't help but smile. Quinn was holding her hand in front of their two best friends, and she hadn't even had a drink yet. This might turn into a good night after all, Rachel thought to herself.
Alcohol, four loose lipped girls, who are all attracted to one another, and filled with secrets. Safe enough. Right?