Umm, okay. Here's the thing. I won't be able to update so soon after this. At my school, we have this amazing thing called May-June rush. It will be incredibly stressful for the next two months, so I hope you understand.

Quinn admires how it's as if nothing occurred between her and Rachel, with the way the shorter girl rants about the past two days. This is what Quinn needs, not one of those arguments that are blown out of proportion because she ran. Rachel somehow understands that, and Quinn is grateful.

"Hey Rachel?" Quinn says in the midst of the cold shadows of the night. They are walking along the street where the lamps are lit with an orange spark. "Remember that time in your apartment?"

Rachel looks up at Quinn and the temperature surrounding the two of them increases. "What about it, Quinn? It's not like you just up and left without reason or anything."

"I want to apologize."

The innocent expression of Rachel's face tugs at Quinn's chest. "Whatever for?"

"For running away," Quinn says. "For not returning your calls." For being scared out of my wits.

"Well, Quinn. If you tell me why you did a five-hundred metre dash out of my apartment—while concussed, might I add—I just might forgive you." Rachel hums, smirking.

"I like you," Quinn blurts out, looking up at the sky rather than at Rachel, for she knows that with one look, the glass wall that filters the words from her brain to her mouth will shatter.

"Oh, I like you as we—"

"No, no, no." Quinn chuckles, her golden locks shaking to and fro. "Not in the 'we're best friends so we'll have sleepovers in the same bed and all will be fine and dandy' type of like!" She is clutching at straws, and it is evident in the rise and dips of her vocal chords. "It's the insane kind of like, w-where I want to send you flowers with poetry after every show you do or-or hold your hand while we're walking down the street. Sleep on the same bed, your head under my chin. Waking up and seeing the universe in your eyes and—" Quinn attempts to rein in her staggering heartbeat. "…kiss you 'till you're wide awake."

Silence. It suffocates Quinn in its glacial radiation. She hides her hands that are trembling due to fear, and she trudges forth, leaving Rachel a few paces behind.

Look at it this way, Quinn. She says in another bout of lonely conversation. You've only known her for what, five days? There's not much to lose, so I guess your stupidity is acceptable. She scoffs and kicks a lone pebble down the drain. Yeah, right! If only Rachel wasn't the galaxy in the dark matter of your heart…

"—inn! Quinn!" Rachel stomps her foot against the pavement, hands splayed on her hips. "I've been calling your name for the past two minutes and forty-seven seconds! Get back here!"

Quinn mumbles something but does as she is told. She drags her feet and stands before Rachel who is tapping her toes in a consistent rhythm, while she sends a stern glare Quinn's way.

"You didn't give me enough time to digest and respond to your speech." Rachel says. Her hands drop to her sides, only to reach for Quinn's fisted hand. "It is quite a lot to take in, you know."

"What's there to take in?" Quinn asks while her in-born pessimism and loneliness kicks into high gear, making her head reel with frustration. "You're straight, Finn's back for you… What else is there to think about, other than how to let me down?"

"Please don't talk about thinks you know nothing about." Rachel retorts, her small smile faltering. "And who said I was straight?"

"I thought—"

"No, you didn't think, Quinn! You assumed that just because I have a boyfriend, it means I'm straight! For all you know, I could be bisexual, which I am! In fact, I am more drawn to girls. It's just, living in a small town like Lima, Ohio places a limit on the way we get to express ourselves, which is why I never had a girlfriend."

"Wait—"

"And so, Quinn Fabray, you have no right to kick yourself over something so insubstantial! You didn't even consider how I feel about this sudden confession! I actually had a speech prepared too—"

"Rachel."

"—and to think that you were at the Looking Glass! I should've sung a better song from my vast repertoire like—"

Quinn, realizing that cutting off the diva mid-rant is a near impossible task, decides to silence the brunette the best way she knows how.

She grabs both sides of the shocked girl's face, and presses them together.

"—mph! Kinn! Wut aryu-?"

"Stop, breathe, and listen." The blonde says slowly. She waits for Rachel to take two deep inhalations before letting her cheeks go. "Care to paraphrase your essay?"

"Quinn! You of all people should appreciate the quality of verbose and coherent speech!"

"Hey, don't get me wrong," Quinn holds up her hands in defense. "I do like concise and flowery prose every now and then, but not at this moment, okay? Not when my heart is dangling off a cliff with a rusty copper wire. And you're the only one holding it up."

Rachel blinks and nods. "I like you too."

"Say what?"

The brunette giggles and brushes Quinn's cheek with the pad of her thumb. "I like you too, Quinn. Not in the 'we're best friends so we'll have sleepovers in the same bed and all will be fine and dandy' type of like." Quinn chuckles at this. "But more of a romantic kind of like, where I leap into your arms after every show, kiss you in front of the crowd and introduce you to my family and friends as my girlfriend."

"Is that what you want?" Quinn asks, her voice masked with apprehension, dropping into a soft breeze that is carried in by the midnight air.

"Yes, Quinn." Rachel beams up at her, and Quinn imagines that smile, waking her up, like the crack of dawn against the heat of her skin. She imagines that smile during her moments of silence, when the words cannot help but travel from her heart to the surface of her fingertips, assuring her that she has something worth saying.

Quinn says nothing. She reaches into her pocket and flips to the first page of her fresh journal. She sits on the curb and uncapping her pen, she draws in the colours of emotions that she is feeling right now. Quinn blankets herself with Rachel's scent and her warmth that is pressing against her left arm. Her wrist flourishes and sways in tune with the river of her thoughts, until she reaches the calm hum of the crystal lake.

Where Rachel is waiting.

But before Quinn closes the journal, she flips to the flyleaf and scribbles down her intents and purposes for this new horcrux of hers.

These are the words for the world that I will build for you.

"Hey," Quinn finally looks up at Rachel. Her arm is tired but it doesn't matter, not when the depths of those eyes are reflecting her.

"Hey back."

Quinn stands, pulling Rachel with her. Truth be told, Quinn still can't believe it. She is standing in front of a record store, the moon half above their heads. The night whispers its congratulations, the stars dance their applause. Rachel's body pressed against Quinn, and she is hers, with the title of girlfriend.

"Take me home?" Rachel asks, and Quinn complies.

They walk with a renewed air of vigour and appreciation for life, or at least Quinn does. A spring in her step, a cheek-splitting smile, and a buzzing in her chest that refuses to be still. Her fingers vibrate with an itch she longs to scratch, but Quinn knows, that while the softest hand in the entire universe is in hers, that itch will never vanish.

Rachel's apartment comes into view and Quinn feels as if the clock just struck twelve, and the night has finally come into conclusion.

"Please don't let this be a dream." Quinn whispers.

"It's not." Rachel states, simple as that, and Quinn believes her.

"Goodnight Rachel."

"W-would you like to come up? Spend the night?" Rachel asks softly, her grip never loosening. Quinn nods and allows Rachel to lead her up the stairs and into the brunette's room. The atmosphere is electric, but not sexually-charged. It is heavy, clinging on to their skin, the passion, the love. Quinn breathes in deep as she watches Rachel unbutton her shirt with the delicacy that promises the vast stretch of skin.

"Wow," Quinn gasps, admiring the vague outline of Rachel's abs. Her eyes travel upwards, grazing the flesh spilling out of her black brassiere, then to the girl's lips, swollen due to nibbling too much. "You're sculpted by the hand of God, aren't you?"

"I just have a very specific workout regimen." Rachel says, pulling on a giant shirt above her head. She reaches behind her then pulls her hands into the sleeves. She tugs something down, and from the hem of her shirt, Rachel slowly pulls her bra out.

Oh, snap.

Quinn changes into the clothes that Rachel laid out for her, singing random songs in her head to prevent herself from imagining Rachel and her lack of chest restrictions. Rachel and her chiselled thighs, surrounding Quinn's waist as she plunges—

Fuck! QUINN FABRAY YOU WILL REFRAIN FROM THINKING SUCH THOUGHTS!

"Mother of Buddha, help me." Quinn mumbles into her palms.

"Come here, Quinn."

The blonde licks her lips, stepping forward to where Rachel is standing. Quinn's arms gravitate around the brunette's hips as the air they are breathing becomes intermixed with one another.

"Kiss me?"

Quinn smiles despite the rapid echoes that her heartbeat is making. She dips her head and Rachel lifts her chin. They fall, in time, in tune, fitting so wonderfully together that Quinn's heart overflows.

There is no tongue, but for the present moment, it is enough. No war for dominance, no exploring of mouths. It is pure lips, pure softness, and pure love—at least for Quinn.

Rachel pulls away, a tinge of rose covering her cheek. "You're intoxicating."

"You should kiss yourself then."

She laughs and pulls the blonde towards the bed. "We're not going to have sex yet, but I would love to sleep in the same bed with you."

"I would love that too." Quinn says, lying down beside Rachel who is pulling the duvet over their bodies. "Come here and snuggle with me."

Quinn pulls Rachel, her chest against the smaller girl's back. Quinn can't help but smile and nuzzle her nose against the curve of the brunette's neck. Here they are, cuddled against one another; her back meeting her front, her heart pressing up against her spine. To be one yet separate, that is what they are now.

"Made to measure," Quinn murmurs against the Rachel-scented skin brushing against her lips. "And smells so good."

"Quinn, I smell like cigarette smoke and sweat." Rachel huffs against Quinn's hold on her. She squirms, her bottom half dragging across Quinn's, making her tighten her grip around the warm body in her arms. "You are so biased, darling."

"Turn around?"

Rachel does so, and as soon as their eyes meet, Quinn pulls her on top, their lips liquefying, fusing together like melting candy. Two different flavours but tastes like sweet heaven all the same.

Fatigue creeps up into the pair's consciousness and a fleeting thought makes Quinn smile.

I almost forgot what it feels like, and then you came along.

Finally, I can write about love again.

I'll try to continue writing scenes so this story won't run stale. Please don't give up on me.