Thanks for sticking with it, folks! Hope you have all been well. :)
Rachel woke up the next morning, with her bladder threatening to explode.
That's the last damn time I drink beer, she thought, feeling the inside of her extremely dry mouth with a wince.
Quinn was curled up on her side, blonde hair across her face, and Rachel's chest gave a funny twist as she padded out of the room and up the stairs to the bathroom.
The twins were sprawled out on the pull-out couch, and she was careful not to step too heavily as she headed upstairs.
She rubbed her temples as she sat down in the bathroom, the rush of what had happened before bed last night consuming her brain for a moment.
Quinn had kissed her - that was surprising in and of itself, but what was more surprising was that Rachel had found herself wanting to do the exact same thing, right before the blonde swooped in and -
-she was thinking stopped my heart, but that sounded cheesy.
Even if it was true.
There was no doubt their relationship had been changing in the past few weeks. That Rachel had been relying on Quinn, physically and emotionally, to get her through the most exhausting experience of her life.
That was over now. Thank God.
But where did that leave their friendship?
When she thought about that a few weeks ago, Rachel figured their interactions would be awkward, and eventually peter off again. Yet here they were, she thought as she washed her hands, hanging out in Columbus and apparently addressing some sort of unsolved sexual tension.
There were paper cups by the sink, so she filled one up and chugged it, then did it again for good measure.
She dried her hands and opened the door. Cris was standing there, rubbing her eyes, and gave Rachel a small smile before she entered the restroom.
Bobby was propped up on an elbow, checking his phone. He waved as she got down the stairs. She smiled and knelt down next to the bed.
"I'm sorry if I woke you two up," she whispered.
"Nah," he said softly. "Cristina had to pee, she just didn't want to get up. And when she gets up, I usually get up. I think it's a twin thing." He glanced down at his phone. "It's wicked early though. I might try to get some more sleep. You sleep okay last night?"
"Mmhmm. I'm usually an early riser, anyhow."
"So is Quinn," Cristina whispered, appearing behind her and sitting down next to her brother. " Well, she gets up before I do, anyhow. I'm surprised she's not out here right now making breakfast or something."
The mention of Quinn made Rachel's face hot, and her gaze dropped to her hands.
"Well," Cris amended with a smirk, "Unless she has Santana over." She scooted back under the covers and laid down. "Then she sleeps till noon."
Bobby whacked her. "Shh, don't talk about her like that. Wait until she's up so we can torture her!"
They giggled. Rachel forced a smile, still lost in her own thoughts.
Bobby sat up. "Tell you what, Rach. In the interest of full disclosure? And I hope you take this as a compliment."
"Uh..."
"I mean, we've known you for like 16 hours but I've got to say. And I think Cris would agree. I have never seen Quinn look at Santana the way she looks at you. And I know they just mess around, but..."
Cristina sat back up. "She's never looked at anyone the way she looks at you. I mean, even before I knew who you were really, I could tell that when she talked about you, it was something different."
Rachel was still looking down. "Well...we have a...complicated friendship."
The twins nodded.
"Yeah, but...I dunno girl, I think there may be something more there," said Cris.
The little brunette looked up, tentatively, at these two strangers who had nothing but honesty and friendliness in their eyes.
She thought of everything she and Quinn had been through together.
Or had brought upon each other.
And thought of the times when the frustration, anger, hurt or jealousy in the pit of her stomach felt like something more, felt like a very illogical and very confusing attraction.
"I...I think there is, too," she said quietly. "Maybe there's something more there."
Both pairs of brown eyes crinkled.
"Hell, that's good," Bobby whispered. "Complicated, I guess, but it's good."
She smiled back, tentatively.
"What time is it?" Cristina asked her twin, stretching.
"It's like 9:30, dude."
"Are you gonna go back to sleep?"
"Nah, probably not, not unless you are."
Cris shrugged. "Nah, I was thinking of making coffee or whatever."She looked at Rachel. "Want any?"
Rachel smiled. "I think I'm awake for now, definitely."
"Cool." the Italian girl swung her legs over the side of the bed and headed into the kitchen. Bobby and Rachel followed her in, and they sat around the little table, drinking coffee and playing with a deck of cards for a little while before they heard footsteps upstairs and the guest bedroom open downstairs.
Rachel tried to be as nonchalant as possible when she saw Quinn walk into the room, but one glance at the beautiful blonde made the coffee in her stomach feel like dead weight.
Cris and Bobby didn't know about the kiss, unless they had some sort of mind-reading twin power, and they seemed to be concentrating on looking at the now-abandoned card game instead of at Rachel or Quinn.
Ana was pulling boxes of cereal off of the top of the fridge, as Rob appeared from upstairs with the stool from the bathroom. He set it by the table and sat down, smiling sleepily.
There was really only room for four chairs at the table, but with Rob's stool and an extra folding chair on the side, there were seats for all of them. Quinn sat in the folding chair, directly across from Rachel, which left the seat right next to her open for Ana to squeeze in.
Rachel was suddenly torn between staring at the cereal and milk on the table, and trying to catch Quinn's eye. So, she ended up almost spilling a spoonful of Special K Red Berries all over the front of her shirt when her eyes briefly locked with the hazel ones.
Bobby and Cristina tried not to stare.
Quinn gave her the ghost of a smile, which Rachel happily returned, her heart soaring and pounding at the same time.
Bobby and Cris had a flight to catch at three. It wasn't even 11 yet, so they excused themselves to go fold up the couch and laze around. Ana took the bowls with a smile as Rob drained his coffee and went to bother the twins.
This left Rachel to sip her own coffee, which was now cold, as she tried to figure out what to do with the girl across from her.
"You need to be back at any time?"
Rachel put down her mug. "No, I don't think so. Dads are just expecting me sometime today."
"Same with my mom." Quinn stretched casually.
"We can go whenever you wish," said Rachel, not really wanting the weekend to be over.
The hazel eyes studied her.
"Maybe…we can do something later this week?" Rachel offered, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the bright gaze.
"Sure," said the blonde girl, smiling. "What would you like to do?"
The brunette shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, it would just probably be nice to hang out without my uterus's problems being the sole deciding factor for us hanging out.
Quinn laughed appreciatively. "Fair enough." She stood. "Well, I'm going to put some real clothes on and I guess we can head back north."
Rachel nodded. "Sounds good to me."
They packed up, rolled up the sleeping bag, Rachel made the bed and tried not to think too much about how she was sleeping with Quinn two hours ago and probably kissing her about eight and a half hours ago.
The Marchetti siblings and Rob gave them huge hugs and sent them on their way. Ana and the twins tried to give Rachel and Quinn snacks, pop, and food for their way home.
"It's not a far drive, really," said Quinn as Ana tried to foist a box of granola bars on them.
Another round of hugs, which was made awkward by their luggage, and they were back in the car and on the road.
Rachel now faced the daunting task of riding in the car with Quinn on the way back to Lima without putting her foot in her mouth or scaring her away by wanting to talk about her relationship. But now, she was curious about this relationship. And when Rachel Berry was curious about something, she tended to nag about things.
But, surprisingly, Quinn spoke up first.
"So, about last night."
Rachel was bobbing her head to a Lana Del Rey song, and this caught her off guard.
"Hm?"
"You know."
"Oh. Yeah."
Quinn folded her hands. "It, ah…well…it surprised me."
"Surprised you? You're the one who kissed me."
"And you kissed me back."
"Well…yeah."
"So, you're happy I kissed you?" Rachel could feel those eyes on her.
"Um…yes? I think so?"
Quinn was quiet.
"Are you happy you kissed me?" the brunette fired back.
"Um…yes? I think so?" said the blonde, trying (and failing) to mimic Rachel's voice.
Rachel snorted.
"Insightful, Ms. Fabray."
"How about this question," said Quinn lightly. "Would you like me to kiss you again?"
The initial, internal result was a resounding yes, which surprised her because she had never really thought of kissing Quinn Fabray before. I mean, she had thought about it, somewhere along the lines, but…
She knew those eyes were on her again, so she countered with, "well, would you let me kiss you instead?"
Quinn laughed. "Sure."
"Good," said Rachel. She looked over, and they locked eyes briefly. Rachel flushed and snapped her eyes back to the road.
She had – well, she didn't know how to quite describe it, was it a crush? How did she even define it? But she definitely did want to kiss Quinn again, and spend more time together outside of Rachel needing to go to Columbus. She had enjoyed their time together so far, and felt that they were getting closer as friends – now, it seemed to be going down quite a different road. Especially since Bobby and Cristina seemed to think that Quinn had a crush on her, and possibly had for some time.
Every now and then, she found herself thinking about what the old Rachel Berry, the sophomore who wanted nothing more than to be a star, would think about her now. She wore more makeup, she was living in NYC with Kurt and Santana, she had gotten pregnant and then gotten an abortion, and now she was quite possibly on the verge of a romantic relationship with Quinn Fabray, who had basically tormented her throughout high school.
It was crazy, really, when she thought about it.
But what was life without a few surprises thrown in?