Chapter 11: Little Touches
A/N: I'm nervous about this chapter because a lot of you are looking forward to a sexytime.
Previously: Cassandra was a bitch. The girls was in another form of trouble.
Brody shifts in his seat again because, man, this is uncomfortable. He shouldn't be this intimidated. He is a grown man, muscles to boot, confidence to the high heavens. He can handle this. Eating a burger hasn't been this hard before. Maybe not, he shifts in his seat again. "Oh for the love of God, Quinn. Stop glaring at me I'm trying to eat." Quinn had sat down opposite him and started glaring at him. He's just trying to eat dinner.
"Did you do it?" Quinn slides a crumpled piece of paper to him. "Better confess now Weston. I know this might be all funny and prank worthy to you but Rachel is taking this seriously. She's been jumpy since she's read this."
He picks the letter up, burger now abandoned. "Oh no no. I didn't do this. Just so you know if I have to choose between you guys and surviving alone after a shipwreck, I'd choose you." For added effect, he takes both of Quinn's hands and places them over his heart.
"Oh, cut the drama." Quinn snatches her hands away. "You sure this is not you? You're the only one that knows Brody."
"Positive. Though I'm curious too because I'm pretty sure nobody else overheard us." He's back to eating his burger. Who would really take the time to do this?
"It must be a prank. Damn it, this place is just like high school." Quinn smooths her skirt when she stands up.
"Life is like high school." He sees a familiar face enter the mess hall. He waves at Rod to join him. "I'll ask around." Quinn cuts him with a glare while picking the letter up again. "...or not. If it's a prank it'll just die down. You'll keep me posted? I'll gladly kick their ass."
Quinn nods and exits the hall, head full of thoughts.
The bed moves again. Nobody's really sleeping. "Rachel, quit tossing around."
"I can't sleep Quinn. Who could be behind this?" There are a million angles bothering Rachel at the moment. She turns to her side so she would be able to see Quinn. "I've been feeling like somebody's been watching me all the time. I don't want to be expelled."
"You are not gonna be expelled, ok? I can think of a few people." Quinn faces her roommate. It's hard to see in the semi darkness especially since she's already discarded her contacts for the night. "I'm pretty sure it's a prank. Even if it's not, nobody can prove anything. It's not like we told them that we're married... or not married" An idea flashed on Quinn's mind. She's out of the bed in a heartbeat.
"What is it Quinn?" Rachel sits up and turns on the lamp on her bedside table. Quinn's been walking blind and curses under her breath when her shin bumps on the side of the bed.
Rubbing her shin, she hands Rachel the letter. "Look at how it's addressed."
"Rachel Berry?" Then Rachel gets it. "It's Rachel Berry! Whoever did this knows we're not married. Everyone just calls me Fabray nowadays might as well just contact your Dad to adopt me." She sees a look of distaste appears on Quinn's face but it disappeared quickly.
"Yeah, I also wonder about that. Nobody calls me Mrs. Berry." Her shin still throbs. There's going to be a bruise the size of Quinn's doubts in her skin tomorrow. "But this might be a fluke. You've introduced yourself as Berry the first days of school you know. This might be nothing." She rubs at her shin again.
Eyes follow Quinn's hand as it went up and down the injured shin. "I...I have some arnica. We must take care of our skin Quinn. It's our canvas." Rachel is already taking out the cream. She crawls to examine the shin. No broken skin. Good. She moves in to give the red spot a tiny kiss before spreading cream. Quinn wiggles her toes.
"Why do you do that?" Quinn watches Rachel's fingers work the cream on her leg. Warmth sprouts where Rachel is touching her. The cream must have menthol.
"All creams are more effective when applied evenly Quinn." Steadily, Rachel evens out the arnica on the affected area.
"No. I mean, why do you uhm..." Color blooms on Quinn's pale cheeks like a raspberry juice stain on white cloth. "kiss...the uhm...my leg." She quickly finishes.
Rachel pauses and looks up. Their eyes remain on each other as time drags by. Rachel is also a bit flushed. Maybe, they should turn the heater down because the room is suddenly hot. "I heard they will heal faster that way." Rachel looks down cutting the tension. "Right, lemme just wash my hands because arnica is poisonous."
"Yes. Do that. I wouldn't want you dying." The words are spoken so slow and so sincere that Rachel pauses as she's going out. She turns to look at the now prone Quinn and nods. Once out the door, her hands fly to her heart in an attempt to ease the rapid beating of her heart.
Quinn sits up fast as soon as Rachel is out the door. The warmth from the cream has spread all over her body. The menthol must be strong. She grabs the box and reads the labels. The cream doesn't have any menthol. Quinn is not quite comfortable of thinking where the heat might have come from so she lays down and wills sleep.
"There is another one Quinn! Come see this!" Rachel hollers from the study hall door. Seeing that her fiancée doesn't move to follow her out Rachel decides to go in. Some pair of eyes at the study hall falls on Rachel's charging form. Her tiny figure so energized one can almost hear a hum she emanates. Rachel looks around for a vacant chair. There's none. Who knew NYADA students are this studious. "Scoot." She orders and motions for her blonde fiancée to scoot.
Quinn only leans back but doesn't move an inch more. Her raised eyebrow poses a challenge for Rachel. With a huff Rachel plops down across her lap. Then instantly regrets her decision because her heart starts running a marathon the moment she's settled.
How dare her order me around? Quinn thinks. More importantly, how dare her bring the heat from outside. She is much more comfortable in the quiet coldness of the study area. Then, Rachel comes in and in an instant Quinn is thawing, melting on the inside. Quinn wants to push Rachel away, she wants to shout at her, call her 'Rupaul' and to tell her not to touch her again. She does nothing of the sort and just looks at Rachel menacingly. "Can't you see I'm studying? Can't this wait?" She's whispering now but her jaw's so tense she thinks it's going to lock.
Rachel shifts a bit so that she's looking at Quinn. Face to face with the Captain of the Cheerios now, Rachel realizes the peril that she's in. This is not her Quinn. She attempts to stand but Quinn clamps her down again. "Qu...Quinn?" She's whispering now too. A thing she might have employed earlier, then Quinn might not have gone Cheerio.
"What do you have?"
"Another letter. I found it slipped under our door. It's addressed to me again. I didn't open it." Rachel produces the letter from an inside pocket of her coat. Sheepishly, she hands it to Quinn. Quinn looks at the letter but didn't make a move to take it. Instead the arms around Rachel tighten to pull her closer. Sighing, Rachel tears the letter open. Pictures, they contain pictures. Images of Quinn and Brody talking, with Brody behind Quinn as they look at some paper. They were both smiling. Then there are photos of Brody holding Quinn's hands to his heart. There's also a letter telling Rachel that Quinn is a two timing slut. That she, Rachel, is better off without her.
The arms around Rachel slack because Quinn is no longer angry. At least, now Quinn is also no longer melting. The temperature in the room suddenly drops to icy levels.
Quinn is shaking her head when Rachel looks up. She slips the letter and photos back to her pocket. Rachel then holds Quinn's head to steady it. "You are not a slut, ok?"
Leave it to Rachel to pinpoint what Quinn is shaking her head about. When she got pregnant, somebody slipped a card that reads 'Congratulations SLUT!' in her locker. She suspected Santana but she just let it pass that time because she had felt that she is. She believed that she's a slut.
"You are a beautiful, smart woman and a loyal friend. This person is just jealous because you are engaged to one Rachel Berry." Quinn's brows smooths over at the last murmured statement and she smiles. Rachel leans in and kisses Quinn on both cheeks because she feels that it's the right thing to do. "Also, I'm sorry for being bossy-pants earlier. Please accept my apology and don't get mad."
"I'm not mad." She fully releases Rachel. "Let's go home. I don't wanna study here anymore."
Rachel nods and starts putting away Quinn's books, neatly slipping them to the blonde's bag.
"That's hot." Rod blurts out to the moment the couple was out the door. A few heads bops in agreement.
Cassandra waits for signs. For signs of a deteriorating relationship. She gets none. Instead she gets a more hard-headed Rachel. This week the girl performed another sexy number, a burlesque themed one using 'Caramel' by Suzanne Vega. Cassandra had to admit that Rachel has improved. Admit to herself but not to little Barbra. She told Rachel that the performance was as sexy as a hippo taking a bath. She thought that would do it because Rachel's eyes went misty. Her efforts are for naught because a blushing Quinn Fabray tells Rachel that her performance was -'Ok. No, not ok. It was spectacular.'- the moment Rachel steps out of class. In an instant, Cassandra's words are forgotten and Rachel is haughty again.
The place is teeming. 'Callbacks' is having the Adam's Apples tonight. For a deadbeat club, the Adam's Apples sure have a decent number of followers. Rachel misses the Glee club but there's no way she's joining this show choir club. They are just horrendous. "I don't understand the pull of this club. They just perform every song slower. The choreography is awful. Look at that one." She points to a club member who's basically standing still while everybody else is moving their body to the music. Quinn swats at her hand then picks it up to play with it. "Quinn! I'm merely pointing out discrepancies." Rachel sips her drink unaffectedly when the said member glares at them. Meanwhile, Quinn just gurgles with laughter beside her. She can't seem to look away from Rachel's captivated but, at the same time, disgusted face.
"Virgin strawberry daiquiri for you and a tonic water with cherry for you." The bartender slides up to them and places drinks. He winks as he moves away.
"I'm sorry." Quinn points at the drinks. She doesn't even like strawberry daiquiris. The bartender's pin says 'Order away, I'm RAFA by the way'. "Rafa, excuse me. We didn't order this."
"Yep, I know. The guys from that table did." Quinn follows his pointer finger to a group of collegiate guys sitting near the window.
"We can't really accept this, Rafa." Rachel gestures at the drinks. "We don't wanna give them ideas."
"It's alright girls. It's non-alcoholic, if that's what you are worried about."
"It's not that." Quinn tilts her head a few times to the direction of the boys.
Rafa leans in, fully understanding. He smiles at the young couple. The blonde is especially smitten. Three years of manning the bar tunes a person in on body language. "You know what? You can choose just leave the drinks alone or drink them. If they approach you and you feel uncomfortable, you can just call me and I'll sic Dante, the bouncer, on them. Cool?"
"Well, I do wanna try the strawberry daiquiri. So it's, as you say, cool." Rachel grins at Quinn. Quinn pushes the drink towards her and presses her lips together in an attempt to suppress her smile. "Akkk, too sweet! I like that it's blended though. It's like a smoothie. I think I'll have another sip."
Rachel alternates between sipping and balking at the drink to Quinn's utter delight. How could she have thought that Rachel was terrible before?
"That daiquiri was meant for you." Two of the boys from the window seat is now crowding them at the bar. The taller boy's eyes rake Quinn's entirety. He smiles in appreciation. "You, ladies, are even more captivating up close." He pulls his hand from his jean pocket and offers it to Quinn. "I'm Charles and this is my buddy, Tony." Rachel looks up at the mention of a Tony and beams at the newcomers. Tony, not the award, instantly colors.
Debating internally whether to completely snub Charles or to punch shy Tony, Quinn just raises a freshly trimmed brow. Rachel shakes Charles' hand instead, giving Quinn a disapproving look for being a bit rude. Quinn merely huffs.
"Nice meeting you, Charles, Tony." Rachel nods at them but never gave their names back.
"Hmmm... You go to NYADA too? We don't believe we've seen you around." Charles is still zooming in on Quinn. "Because I'll really remember it if I've seen you." He's smiling easily now, dimples showing. Tony is also beginning to chat up Rachel about her time on NYADA, after knowing that she is a freshman. Chairs were dragged to form a tiny circle. Topics fly back and forth. The boys were great conversationalist. It's not a surprise since they're from NYADA. Thanks to the sleepy performances of Adam's Apples, they can actually hear each other.
"You guys with anyone? Waiting for boyfriends to arrive?" Shy Tony is suddenly not so shy anymore.
"I'm with her." A megawatt smile stretches Rachel's face as she gestures to Quinn palms up.
"Yes, and Tony is with me. You are not waiting for somebody else?" Charles drawls out slowly, his hand already perched at the bar behind Quinn.
"What she meant is that we came here together and we'll probably leave together because this is a date." Quinn deadpans. This is not really a date. Is it? Does she want it to be?
"I love friendly dates!" Enthuses dark eyed Tony. Quinn throws him a look that that can only be interpreted as -Are you a moron?-.
"We're engaged." Blurts out Rachel. "To each other."
Charles' eyes went wide and then narrow then wide again. "You? Engaged?" Then he was full on laughing. "You..." He points at Quinn. "Engaged to her?" The wheezing starts as he's pointing at Rachel.
Is it really that funny? Sure, Rachel knows that Quinn is really the most beautiful girl that one has ever seen but is she really that hideous that this man would be out of breath laughing at the mere thought of Quinn being with Rachel?
"What's so funny?" Quinn stands up dislodging Charles' hand from the bar when she moves backwards.
"Yeah Charlie. What's funny?" Tony's brows furrow as he looks at Rachel's scrunched up face.
"I can't... I can't." It's all that Charles can sputter out. He's instantly sobered by the cold drink that Rachel dumps to his head. She storms out the bar with no other word. Charles sputters a fresh kind of sputter. The strawberry red liquid quickly seeps to his baby blue shirt. "Whoa. What is up with your lady?" He looks at Quinn with a perfect hurt expression, what an actor.
The answer came in form of two cherry cokes that Charles' shirt also readily soaks up. He's only laughing because it wasn't the first time he found himself attracted to a lesbian. He was laughing at himself actually. But the blonde is already catching up with the brunette outside.
The onslaught on Rachel's ego never let up. It is just a note this time and not a letter. She finds it between her dance clothes and her Theater History book. 'You are not even a convincing couple. Nobody could love you.' A frown mars Rachel's face. The stupid stalker is probably right. Just look at Finn, he lasted four months, maybe more without communicating with Rachel. Jesse only vies for her attention because he had plans on destroying the glee club. It's true nobody could love her but... but she could work on making people believe that she's already loved. She could convince the world that Quinn Fabray is hers.
If there is one thing that Cassandra can't live without, it's her dance music. She's already on a taxi home when she remembers that she left her iPod at Madam Vavilov's ballet studio. Hurrying, she's about to enter the room when she hears voices from within. Who could still be dancing at this hour? "Hey. You ready to go?" says one of the voices.
"Not quite. Can you help me stretch? I wanna do it properly." Cassandra knows that squeaky voice anywhere, it's Schwimmer. "Please put your weight on me."
Cassandra flattens herself on the wall before taking a peek at the classroom. She can't see them. Their reflection; however, is clear on one of the mirrors. Of course, Fabray is the owner of the other voice. She and Schwimmer are both in their dance outfits. The blonde is currently on top of a prone Schwimmer, pushing the other girl's leg closer to her body. The position is so intimate Cassandra won't be surprised if they just forgo any stretching and just do the dirty right there. If they do that, it would be just great for Cassie because then she'd record everything and have the two of them punished for canoodling at the school premises. Just as she was punished for doing it in public. She can put in a good word for Schwimmer and just have Fabray suspended or worse expelled. Perfect. A low chuckle quickly escapes her lips as she pulls out her phone. Her original plan doesn't seem to be working but if anything happens tonight. Bingo!
She trains in the camera to fully capture the scene before her. Fabray is now stretching Schwimmer's other leg, talking about music choices. Yawn, yawn. What a boring couple. Cassie wrinkles her nose in disgust. As always, Schwimmer is the one who gives Cassie a satisfactory development, the girl caresses Fabray's face which causes the blonde to look her. Alright, here goes the blushes. Cassandra watches like a hawk as Fabray lowers Schwimmer's leg to a normal position but she doesn't move to get up. Instead, she straddles the girl beneath her. Still nobody's making the next move. Cassandra wants to throw something at them to give it a go. Finally, Schwimmer reaches out and tugs at Fabray's tank top. The tug might be hard because a tiny 'ahhhh' comes out of the blonde's mouth while hands fly to steady her as she pitches forward. Schwimmer laughs. A high 'Ak ak ak', Cassandra is convinced nothing is going to happen now. That laugh is a mood killer. Clearly, Fabray is a little freak because she swoops in and catches the laughing mouth in a heated kiss. A bit sloppy, a bit frantic but hot, nonetheless. Schwimmer is proving to be an impatient one; she already has her hand inside Fabray's shirt trying to grab a boob. This should be enough. She retracts her phone and saves the video. She doesn't want to see how they end anyway. Better yet, how about not letting them have a happy ending? Cassandra tips a chair outside on her way out. That should startle them.
disclaimer: Glee is not mine. I swear.
To come: Well this is awkward.