Across These City Streets

Author's note,

Summary: Four years after graduating from William McKinley High Quinn finds herself living a peaceful life in a small New York apartment. Her studies at Yale are coming to an end and she is getting ready to move into adulthood. Her quiet life takes an unexpected turn though when a familiar face re-enters her life.

Include Faberry-friendship and the Unholy Trinity.

Rated T for language, violence and sexual references. The story will contain spoilers from the first three seasons of Glee. Most of the main characters from the hit show will be mentioned in the story, but it focuses mainly on Quinn, Sam, Rachel, Finn and Santana.

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee nor do I own any of its characters.

End of author's note and now on to the story, but don't forget that reviews are highly appreciated!


Chapter 12

"Hurry up, Quinn! We're going to be late!" Rachel's voice came through the bathroom door followed by an additional few firm knocks. I could picture the petite brunette tapping her ballerina flat clad foot against the hardwood floor impatiently while one of her small hands rested on her hip and her head was tilted slightly upwards so she could stare at the roof while counting seconds that passed. It wouldn't surprise me if I found her like that when I exited the bathroom.

"Quinn, hurry!"

I sighed loudly and applied the last of the make-up; a light hint of pink lip gloss to match the black and white printed baby doll dress and Persian blue cardigan. I run my hands through my hair a couple of times to adjust the soft curls. It had to do, I thought. Rachel would kill me if I spent any longer in the bathroom.

Fingering the gold cross that hung around my neck I unlocked the bathroom door with my other hand. "Wow, Rachel, calm down. It's not like we're going to see Justin Bieber or One Direction," I mumbled quietly as I passed her, rolling my eyes. Growing up she had never been a big fan of any of those guys, but right about now she definitely acted like those girls waiting for hours outside a hotel just to get a glimpse of their idols.

The short brunette snorted. "You've been in there for forty minutes. Forty minutes, Quinn! We should have met Finn and Puck fifteen minutes ago. Besides, you don't even like One Direction."

Her heels clattered against the floor as she followed me out into the hallway. She grabbed her sunglow colored blazer that she had carelessly thrown over a chair just inside the front door.

"You got everything?" she queered as she pushed the door open. I nodded and motioned for her to move out of the way so that I could close the door behind us.

We we're unusually lucky flagging down an empty taxi once we had gotten out of the large building in which I live. Rachel gave the man driving the yellow vehicle the address to the bar while I fastened my seatbelt. The man—a Middle Eastern man in his late fifties with a neatly trimmed mustache—smiled kindly at us through the rearview mirror as he pulled off of the curb. "You young ladies planning on visiting Henry's?" he said in a deep warm voice that got me thinking about Santa Clause for some reason.

Beside me Rachel nodded and smiled at the driver through the rearview mirror. "Yes, sir. We are. Have you been there?"

The taxi driver nodded. "As a matter of fact, Gary Loman is a former colleague of mine. The man quit a few years back when his uncle, that is old Henry Walters, asked him to become part-owner of the bar. It is a very nice place."

Rachel and the Middle Eastern taxi driver continued to chat for a few minutes until her cell phone started to ring. After having dug through her seemingly bottomless purse she finally found the device and placed it to her ear. While she chatted with whom I assumed was her fiancé I turned my head to gaze out the window, lampposts, red hydrants and every now and then an ornamental tree in a bright color flashed by outside the window. For some reason the colorful trees got me thinking of the Disney movie Mulan, and from there my thoughts automatically wandered to a certain Asian girl I went to school with. I wondered what Tina were up to nowadays, I hadn't seen her in a while, but I had hear about Mike and her. It's such a shame; they're made for each other.

A light tap on my knee brought me out of my deep thoughts. Slowly I turned my head to glance at the brunette beside me. "Finn says Puck and he are headed inside to get us a table," she said and placed her iPhone back in her purse. "Also they said Artie and Tina will drop by—No, they are not dating, I think. Tina is still upset about the fact that Mike left her to open a dance studio in Los Angeles with Brittany," Rachel added before I managed to form any words, I suppose my furrowed eyebrows spoke clearly enough.

Slowly I nodded. I could see why Tina would dislike Mike leaving. They had been apart for one year when he went to college in Chicago and she was still at McKinley High. Then when she graduated she had moved to live with him in the Windy City and as soon as he finished his studies he left for Los Angeles, leaving Tina with the promise that he'd be back for every holiday. Sure, he held that promise, but living alone in a city where you know no one isn't exactly the funniest thing. Therefore Tina had packed her bags and headed to New York where she got a job as head of a local Glee Club.

"Oh, we're here!" Rachel squealed as the cab slowed down outside a two story brick building with a large neon sign above the door. She tipped the driver and wished him a nice weekend, before she hooked her arm with mine and started to pull me towards the entrance. "I am so excited. Aren't you, Quinnie?"

I shot her a sideways glance. "Woah, calm down, Rachel. People might think you're on something," I hissed in her ear. "And I don't feel like peeing in a cup and spending the night in detention."

The brunette chuckled and slapped my arm. "Oh, take a chill pill, Quinn. You're worrying way too much."

Finding Finn and Puck turned out to be much harder than Rachel and I had anticipated. The place was far more crowded than we could ever have imagined. I thought it was just another local bar with yet another local half-crappy band. Obviously my expectations had been very wrong.

Nevertheless we found the two young men seated by a table fairly close to the stage. A large glass of what appeared to be some kind of whiskey was placed on the table in front of each man. Noah Puckerman was the first one to spot us as we made our way through the already pretty busy local. He rose from the table and waved at us. "Baby Mama and my super-hot fellow Jew, how ya' doin' ladies?" he asked as we reached their table. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Finn's back stiffening slightly when Puck called his fiancée 'my super-hot fellow Jew'. It wasn't a secret that the man with the Mohawk had had a thing with Rachel during sophomore year, and even though Finn and Rachel had reconciled and was about to marry it was still a sensitive issue.

The brunette woman beamed at Puck. "We are good, thank you, Noah," she said before she pulled him into a friendly embrace. Meanwhile I took a seat to the left of Finn. The tall brunette was fingering the whiskey glass in front of him as if to distract himself from thinking about his fiancée's past relationship with his best friend. I placed a gentle hand on his forearm and he gave me a glance and a lopsided grin.

A short moment later all four of us were seated around the table nursing drinks Puck had bought us; the Mohawk man claimed he knew the bartender and therefore could get drinks for half price. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if it was the truth he told us; the man seemed to have contacts wherever he went. In some ways he reminded me of a character from a mob film I saw a few weeks earlier.

"So are you excited to see the performance, Quinn?" Puck queered when we were half-way through our drinks. The twinkle in his eye told me he knew more than he was letting on. I furrowed my brows and wrinkled my forehead, which caused him to chuckle. "Oh, come on, Q. Don't give me that look. Just prepare to get your mind blown," he said with a sly smirk on his face. I glanced at Rachel who was carefully stirring her Margarita. The ice cubes rattled as she moved them around in the hot pink drink. The brunette shrugged while a confused frown wrinkled her forehead.

"Well, if you say so," I mumbled and brought my drink to my lips. "Speaking about getting 'your mind blown', how did you interview go?" Puck had told me through Skype a few weeks ago about a job interview he was about to attend in New York, hence why he was here and not back home in Los Angeles.

"They were a bunch of fags," he grumbled with his stare plastered on the table top, but soon he quickly leveled his hazel eyes to glance at Finn. "Sorry, dude. You know what I mean though."

The ex-McKinley High quarterback nodded slowly.

I knew Finn had long ago gotten used to that; people using the words 'gay', 'fag', 'queer' and 'homo' to then abruptly grow quiet before they begun apologizing. For the most time it pissed him off; first people were using derogatory words, then they were alerting the fact that those words often were used to insult his brother and then they would start apologizing to him when the person they should say their 'I'm sorry's to was Kurt. However, when any of us—his friends—accidently used any of those terms, especially the F-word, it didn't bother him that much, simply because he knew how much Kurt means to all of us. We would never intentionally say anything that could hurt him, but every now and then we would accidently drop an offensive word. It's like terms to define homosexual people have become swearwords in pretty much all languages. It is horrible really.

"Anyway, the dudes didn't want to give me the job. Fuckin' assholes. I guess they couldn't handle all the sexiness. I'm, like, on fire. That's how hot this badass Jew is and they didn't have a lot of emergency exits and fire-extinguishers – I checked."

"I'm sorry about that, Noah. But, surely, you will soon find a decent job somewhere. Meanwhile, don't you need any mechanics at the shop, Finn?" Rachel asked her fiancé.

The tall brunette scratched his neck. "Well, I wouldn't say we're in need of one. But, surely I can get you job there if you want. The salary won't be very good, but at least it's something."

"Wow, that'd be awesome, man! Look, I'm not in desperate need of money. I just want something to do, you know. You remember my deadbeat father? I kinda found out he passed away a few months ago, and his money is being split up between us kids. Apparently the dude had won the jackpot on one of those slot machines in Vegas. Can you believe that? Anyway, it turned out he had forgotten to erase Sarah's and my name from his will when he left us. Jake's name's in there too. But the point is; money's not gonna be a problem for me for quite some time to come," the man with the Mohawk said with a wide grin on his face.

Rachel and I exchanged confused glances. We were a little unsure of how to react to all that. Should we congratulate him over the unexpected emolument or should we tell him we're sorry for his loss? I decided to go with a mix of the two; it seemed like the safest option.

"I'm sorry to hear he's dead. He was quite young, wasn't he? But it's a good thing he left your name in the will. Maybe it was his way of apologizing..." I said and shrugged, even to me that sounded fairly unlikely.

"Thanks, Q," he mumbled and smiled at me.

Not long after Puck told us about his father's death and the money he had gotten Artie and Tina showed up by our table.

"Shh! The band's about to start playing," Rachel hissed excitedly as three men in their early to mid-twenties entered the stage. One of them, a tall slender man with light brown hair, carried an electric guitar in his hand while one of his band mates, a slightly shorter man with dark hair cropped short to the skull, carried a bass. The third man, the one with shoulder length dirty blonde hair, clutched only a water bottle in his hands. It was soon revealed that he was the drummer as he sat down behind the drum kit. He reminded me of Kurt Cobain with that unruly hair and the old beige cardigan and the worn jeans. The style suited him and I would lie if I said I didn't find it attractive.

Not many people know this about me, but I actually had a crush on Kurt Cobain while in high school. The inappropriateness of that celebrity crush made me keep quiet about it. I was the head cheerleader at the time, how would it look if I kept posters of a drug abusing Grunge band front man in my locker? A dead guy nevertheless. Sue Sylvester would have kicked me off the squad! Or at least put me at the bottom of the pyramid. And don't even get me started on my parents. If they found out, they would have sent me to a convent.

I was so busy picturing Kurt Cobain entering the stage that I didn't pay attention to the fourth man that stepped out from behind the heavy curtain. In his hand he clutched an old semi acoustic guitar. Causally the tall man, dressed in a light blue hoodie over a pale gray T-shirt and worn stone-washed Levi's with rips on his knees, walked up to the microphone stand at the front center of the stage. A grey beanie covered his hair except from the blonde bangs that fell across his forehead.

Everybody in the bar turned their attention towards the stage as the front man strummed the first few notes on his guitar. It didn't take long before everybody started cheering. Obviously, they recognized the song. I think I would have too if I hadn't been so busy staring at the blonde singer. It sure looked a lot like Sam Evans . . .

When he opened his mouth there was no doubt in my mind that the man standing before us at that stage was my Sam, I mean our Sam. His singing voice sounded huskier and rawer than I remembered though, but nevertheless, it suited him.

Sally called when she got the word,
She said: "I suppose you've heard –
About Alice".
Well I rushed to the window,
And I looked outside,
But I could hardly believe my eyes –
As a big limousine rolled slowly
Into Alice's drive...

The other three men in the band joined Sam for the chorus, and they sounded really good together. However, they sounded nothing like Smokie, but that couldn't be expected either. But nevertheless they sounded awesome.

The song, the clean version, of course, got me thinking about bubble baths. I remember how my mother always used to put that song on whenever I got to take a bath as a small child. That was one of the really good memories I have of my family.

The version that was played at our house when I was young was, as already pointed out, of course the clean version. I believe the song is called Living Next Door to Alice, but the title Who the Fuck Is Alice? better represent the song since that is the line everyone seem to remember from the uncensored version. And the people in the bar proved that as they all, in tune, shouted 'Alice, who the fuck is Alice?' after Sam finished singing 'I've been living next door to Alice'.

Oh, I don't know why she's leaving,
Or where she's gonna go,
I guess she's got her reasons,
But I just don't want to know,
'Cos for twenty-four years
I've been living next door to Alice.
Alice, who the fuck is Alice?

The second part of the chorus was as catchy first part and now a couple of people were singing along to more than just the famous last line of the chorus. But of course even more people joined in for said last line, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Twenty-four years just waiting for a chance,
To tell her how I'm feeling, maybe get a second glance,
Now I've got to get used to not living next door to Alice...
Alice, who the fuck is Alice?

I watched the rest of the song unable to wipe the smile off of my face. It had been so long since I last heard Sam sing. Sure, I heard him sing karaoke at his party a few months ago, but that was just for fun, a game, nothing serious.

He looked so happy, so comfortable up on the small stage, and I can hardly recall seeing him beaming like this since before all the drama in high school.

Now I'll never get used to not living next door to Alice...

Sam full lips parted into a wide toothy grin as everyone applauded his band and him. Judging by the expression on his face it had been quite some time since he last experienced something like this. Perhaps, the last time was during his senior year at McKinley, I didn't know. But without a doubt he was enjoying every second up on that stage even though the number of people in this bar was nothing compared to the large audiences we used to perform in front of when in Glee Club.

Speaking of Glee Club, I hadn't noticed it earlier, but towards the very end of Living Next Door to Alice Puck, Finn and Artie and disappeared. I gazed around the local, in an attempt to maybe catch a glimpse of one of them, but I ended up combing zero. None of them were to be seen.

"Where did the boys go?" I queered confused as I turned my head to face Rachel and Tina. The two women looked equally confused.

"I don't know," Tina said after a short moment. Out of the corner of my eye I could see movement on the stage and I assumed the band together with Sam was getting ready to play another song. "One by one they got up and walked away. They didn't say anything to me. Did Finn say something to you, Rachel?" The otherwise very talkative brunette just shook her head.

Loudly I drew a deep breath, before I reached out and gripped my tequila glass. The ice cubes that had once floated around in the pink liquid had long ago melted and left behind only a single slice of grape fruit that clung to the rim of the tall glass.

Suddenly I felt Rachel tap my shoulder, and I let my eyes travel to the corner of my eyes. The petite brunette was staring at something behind me with twinkling eyes and her mouth slightly ajar. Pretending like I hadn't noticed her tapping my shoulder I returned my attention to the colorful drink in front of me.

That was when I heard it, Artie's very unique voice coming through the speakers and filling the large room.

Everybody
Rock your body
Everybody
Rock your body right

Quickly I spun around, towards the stage, almost knocking the tequila glass over with my abrupt movement. My ears hadn't fooled me; our wheelchair bound, former Glee Club team mate was up on the stage, a headset microphone fastened on his head. A single spotlight was focusing on him while the rest of the stage bathed in darkness.

ND boys are back

The last line of the chorus wasn't sung by Artie alone. In fact he was accompanied by at least two of three other men. Then suddenly three more spotlight turned on and casted light on the four men: Puck, Sam, Artie and Finn, arrayed in that order, with the band dimly seen in the shadowed background.

Oh my God, we're back again
Brothers, sisters, everybody sing
We're gonna bring the flavor, show you how
I've gotta question for you, better answer now (yeah)

As Noah Puckerman's voice filled my ears, I could barely contain myself from shooting up from my seat; throw my hands in the air and cheer. God, had I missed seeing these guys perform together. Rachel and Tina were of the same opinion judging by the thrilled expressions on their faces.

Furthermore, the choreography was amazing! Sure, it wasn't super advanced – nothing like the one we used for the mash-up of Thriller (Heads Will Roll). But it was still pretty challenging, and I guess it was pretty much the same degree of difficulty as the dance Puck, Sam, Mike and Artie did for their cover of Somebody to Love during the short lived existence of the Justin Bieber Experience or the one they did for Let Me Love You. Nevertheless, they must have worked on the choreography for quite some time considering how well Finn executed it, and, let's just say the tall lanky ex-football player is not a natural dancer.

Am I original? (Yeah)
Am I the only one? (Yeah)
Am I sexual? (Yeah)
Am I everything you need?
You better rock your body now

Sam sang us the first line, letting his hands slide down his well-toned body, while the remaining three young men nodded their heads as they in chorus answered with a 'yeah'.

Finn did the second line at the same time as he proved to Rachel, Tina and I, as well as everyone else in the room, that he definitely could learn how to dance if he really wanted to.

The look on Rachel's face was one of pure joy as she watched her husband-to-be move his body in sync to the catchy music.

The third line belonged to Sam and I'm being completely honest when I say that I though one of the girls at the table beside us were going to faint when he did his famous body roll. Frankly, I can't blame her, the blonde has surely learned how to perfect that move over the years.

Puck and Sam ended the pre-chorus together. I've always loved their voices together.

Everybody (Yeah)
Rock your body (Yeah)
Everybody
Rock your body right
ND boys are back
Alright

The second chorus all four boys sang together.

Now throw your hands up in the air
And wave 'em around like you just don't care
If you wanna party let me hear you yell
'Cause we got it goin' on again

I almost though Rachel was going to explode when Finn, alone, sang the second verse. The petite brunette had been sitting at the edge of her chair, her hands placed at either side of her, clutching the seat so hard I was fairly sure there would be indentations left after her nails. She was biting her bottom lip to keep from letting her smile reach from ear to ear while she excitedly watched Finn sing and dance in front of a crowd for the first time in several years.

The second pre-chorus and chorus were practically identical to the previous one, the only difference being Artie taking Finn's part in the pre-chorus. But then after a short instrumental break the music slowed down and Puck, Finn and Artie took a few steps back—actually, Artie rolled—leaving Sam alone at the front of the stage. The blonde let his gaze sweep over the heads of the people in the crowd, resting his eyes only a few second longer on our table than the others. Unintentionally, I felt my heart skip a beat as his eyes met mine and a small smile appeared on his lips as he sang.

So everybody, everywhere
Don't be afraid, don't have no fear
I'm gonna tell the world, make you understand
As long as there'll be music, we'll be coming back again

The quartet finished the popular Backstreet Boys track with a double repetition of the chorus while almost everyone in the bar had risen from their seats to give a round of applause to the four young men. A few cat whistles were heard and someone screamed that they wanted to hear the song again. Up on the stage, bathing in yellow and orange, stood Finn, Sam, Artie and Puck all smiles and twinkling eyes as they took in the crowd. It was obvious they had missed performing.

The applause eventually died out and the four men left the stage through the back door. It was probably a wise decision to lay low for a few minutes until all the young single females in the bar had calmed down a little.

Rachel just shook her head, a lopsided grin on her face, as we watched a tall redhead woman in perhaps her late twenties look totally beat down as the boys left the scene without acknowledging her. I snickered quietly. They had done one song and they already had a groupie. That's freaking unbelievable!

"I'm going to the lady's room. If I'm not back within ten minutes one of the groupies over there might have figured out I have connections to the guys and kidnapped me for ransom," I said and rose from the table, grabbing my purse as I went. Rachel and Tina nodded with matching smirks on their faces, before they went back to discussing some new Broadway production I didn't catch the name of.

Fifteen minutes later, when I got back to our table Finn, Puck, Artie and Sam had found Rachel and Tina and the six of them where laughing heartedly as I reached the table.

Puck was the first one to notice me. "Baby Mama," he said, "how'd ya like the show?"

I smirked and placed a hand on Artie's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. The wheelchair bound young man glanced up at me and smiled. "It was bearable," I teased and Puck scoffed.

"We rocked this place!"

"Hell yeah!" Sam smirked.

Finn nodded in agreement. "You got that one right, man!"

"Drinks on me!" Artie chimed in and the other three boys cheered loudly.

Artie managed to flag down a tall red-haired waitress and ordered drinks to all of us while Rachel and Tina fell back into the conversation they had been carrying earlier. Meanwhile Puck was telling Finn about some 'kickass ride' his new neighbor was selling.

The sound of Sam's deep timbre and the feeling of his hand on my forearm brought me out of my thoughts. "I think I took you seat," he said and began to rise from his seat. "I'll go get another chair."

"No," I said, probably a little too fast, because he looked up at me from under long blonde bangs with a frown on his face. "It's okay," I said, my left hand on his shoulder gently pushed him back into his seat.

I don't know what made me do it, but seconds later I found myself sitting in his lap, one arm thrown casually around his neck while I used my other hand to bring my drink to my lips. His chest was rising and falling with an even rhythm against my side and I could feel his chest vibrating as he spoke. "How'd I do tonight?" he asked quietly, his eyes glued on the empty stage as he spoke.

Absentmindedly I let the fingers of my left hand twirl the soft blonde curls at the nape of his neck. The sand colored wisps of hair felt like silk between my petite fingers. "You did great," I responded in a voice only audible to him.

His eyes left the stage and fell on me. Piercing blue-green met hazel and his soft pink lips parted into a smile. "I've missed this," he murmured and his left hand found mine where it rested in my lap. Effortlessly he slid his fingers in between mine as if they had been created for that purpose alone.

Author's note,

I feel horrible for not having updated this fanfic since early May, but I just lost my motivation and inspiration. I guess I've got too many different plots to upcoming stories in my head to be able to focus on one. Funny thing is I can't seem to get any of them down on paper…

So a huge Thank You goes out to all of you out there who have decided to stay with me on this story. It means a lot!

Moving on to talk about Chapter 12, I thought since the reason all these people in this fanfic know each other is music and Glee Club I thought it was about time I include some singing in this story, don't you agree?

The first song performed is Living Next Door to Alice (Who the F*** Is Alice?) by Smokie. (That song brings back so many good memories from my childhood!)

The second song is Backstreet Boys' Everybody (Backstreet's Back). If you'd like to see the choreography for Everybody just click on the link below.

watch?v=b-NHyzF23yA

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you perhaps recognized and liked the songs. I spent quite some time looking for tracks that I thought would fit (and even more time figuring out who would sing what part in Everybody) ;)

Thank you for reading and please review and let me know what you think of the chapter.

Ashley: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing this story! :)

First of all, you won't have to wait long for their kiss. Both next chapter and the one after that will be full of moments that will have great importance for Sam and Quinn's relationship. With the risk of revealing too much, I can tell you that Santana and Rachel will play quite important roles in pushing Sam and Quinn towards each other.

To be honest, I've never really considered writing an Overgron story before. I own the Glee in Concert Movie though and Dianna Agron and Chord Overstreet have such a great chemistry!

I truly appreciate your suggestion and I'll think about it. If I decide to write an Overgron story I'll let you know, either I'll write about it here, in the author's note, or on my writer's page.