Chapter 11

Quinn's POV

We kept silent after that, and a few minutes later, Rachel's dad entered the room.

He went straight to Rachel and gave her a tight embrace as if he hadn't seen her in weeks, quite different from my mom's awkward hugs.

"You okay sweetie?" He asked still holding on to her forearms, examining her from head to toe.

"I'm fine Dad, I promise, it's just my ankle." she replied, trying to calm him down a bit, that's when he noticed me, and much to my surprise gave me a real smile.

"Oh I'm sorry you must be Quinn, I'm Leroy Berry." He offered his hand which I took, it was a light handshake, not the crushing one I was expecting.

"Yes, nice to meet you." I said shyly, a tone that I use once in a blue moon.

"Thank you for taking care of Rachel." he said with sincerity before turning to his daughter " I already got you an appointment to the doctor this morning at 11 and your daddy called the dance teacher. Oh and I also called a mechanic for your car Quinn." It took me a second to realise he was talking to me.

Wait, What?

"Euh…thank you very much, you really didn't have to do that." He really, really didn't have to, it only made me feel guiltier.

"Oh it's nothing sweety." he said with a smile.

I was trying to look as composed as possible but this was just weird, weird and highly unexpected. If this was an act then it was really well played, somehow I knew it wasn't, Leroy Berry seemed to be a very nice and caring man, not the kind to yell at a 17 year old, but who would actually help her.

"I"m going to get your stuff, you two can go in the car." he said already hopping on the stage.

"Come on." I said putting my jacket on before taking Rachel's arm around my neck once more, and walking outside.

We got to the car and I helped her in the back seat, then went to sit next to her, letting out a sigh.

"You're okay?" Rachel asked with a worried look.

No.

Of course not, this whole situation just made me uncomfortable, I felt like a murderer who decides to surrender because his remorse is too unbearable but once he gets to the police, they don't give a fuck.

"Yeah I'm fine, it's just…is your dad always like this?" I asked hesitantly.

"Like what?" Maybe this was normal Berry behavior but still, there must be more to it, right?

"Like...super nice and...why hasn't he say anything yet! Or give me the death look, or making allusions on what an horrible person I am ? " I snapped, this was way too much stress and it was way too early for me to be rationate and calm.

She laughted lightly and the sound made me calmed down a bit.

"Do you have some kind of kamikaze tendencies that we don't know about?" she asked with a smile.

"No...it's just...I don't understand!" I said with frustration.

"Look, first of all, like you said, my dad is a very nice man, as well as a very understanding one, he's not gonna be mean to you, he just...he can't. Second of all, the way I related our...encounters is quite moderate, they don't know the whole truth, I didn't want to worry them more than necessary. And finally, my dad knows that I would never forgive him if he was to yell at one of my frie...teamates, because it could be a direct threat to the glee club and we certainly don't need arguing and awkwardness with regionals coming."

Just when she was finishing her little speech, which actually made me feel better, the car trunk opened and Mr Berry loaded our bags, then went behind the wheel.

"Okay we're ready to go! What's your address Quinn?"

"I live on Wildbrook Lane, near the Bresler Lake."

"Oh yeah, that's a very nice neighborhood, one of our friends live there, maybe you know him, his name's Alan Lovett." He was talking with the same dynamism as Rachel and seemed to be really good at small talk just like her, much to my dismay.

"No, I don't think I know him." Of course I didn't know him, my parents never really talked to people except at work, church and their private clubs. Let's just say that one of my dad's moto is "stick to your own kind.", the truth is, I'm not even sure who I am anymore, so finding my kind has become a pretty difficult task.

"Well it might take longer that usual, a lot of roads have been closed because of the storm, but lucky for you I'm an extremely talented driver." he said before winking at me in the rearview mirror, I gave him a smile in return, he started the engine and drove out of the parking.

Rachel was looking out the window, I could tell she was in deep thought and for a second I felt closer to her. Maybe we weren't so different after all, it's just that she has the need to say everything when I have the need to keep it, but it seems that when we're together, we kinda balance each other out.

I never thought Rachel and I could be friends, or even good teamates like she says, mainly because I don't think she will ever really be able to forgive me for the past two years, but also because we just have nothing in common. I'm not saying you need to be in 100% symbiosis with your friends but still, reading the same books, having similar taste in music, matching favorite movies or sports, can help a lot, and I know enough about Rachel to say that we definitely don't match.

My thoughts were cut by Mr Berry's voice.

"So Quinn, what are your plans for the week-end?" he asked.

"Humm… I think I'm just gonna stay home, my mom is coming back tonight." I replied, looking at the broken trees on the side of the road. I miss her when she's away but still find it difficult to be around her too much when she's home. I guess I have yet to get used to the new family arrangement.

"Oh yes Judy, lovely woman. We talked quite a bit last night, she actually invited us for dinner next week."

Both mine and Rachel's head snapped to the man's back.

What the hell?

I never talked about homosexuality with my mom but I'm pretty sure it's not her favorite lifestyle, why on earth would she invite the Berry's?

Maybe she doesn't know their gay..., of course she knows, everybody knows!

"She did?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I might write an article on her catering business." he said with a smile, they obviously talked more than a bit. I was glad that my mom tried to go outside of her circle and meet new people but if she was to become friend with the Berry's things could get ugly, especially since my dad is still around.

"Really? That's great dad." Rachel was giving me side glances to see my reaction but all she would get was my famous poker face.

Mr Berry kept light conversation after that, talking about the storm and how he and his husband spend the night in the living room because they seriously thought the roof was going to be ripped off by the wind, he really knew how to tale, making it an epic story. I found myself laughting with Rachel for the second time in less than 24 hours, but I felt okay about it, I really don't laugh much lately.

We arrived to my house and around was the same chaotic scene, the big front tree that I used to climb to when I was a kid was bearly holding. I won't miss it, I wasn't doing it for fun, I was going up there to escape the house, and also because I used to believe that if I prayed closer to the sky then maybe God would hear me a little bit better.

"Thank you very much for the ride, and for calling the mechanic as well." I said before unfastening my seat belt.

"No problem sweetie. I guess I'll see you next week, have a great week-end!" he said with the dynamic smile that I was now seeing as his signature.

"Thanks, you too." I turned a bit on my seat to face Rachel.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday." she said with an hesitant voice. For some reason I wanted to hug her but quickly push the thought in a far, far away corner of my head and just nodded.

"Yeah, see you." It's all I said before getting out of the car.

I entered the house and let out the loudest sigh. I was finally home, away from Rachel Berry, and will soon regain all my mental abilities.

I decided to call my mom and realised I had 5 missed calls from Finn and 7 from Sam.

Mental abilities, who needs them?