A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update. But here is the chapter I promised, filled with Quinn and Ryan. Its a little on the longer side of my writing.
Chapter 13- Movies and Confessions
The car ride to the Fabray residence was spent in quiet tension. Ryan didn't know what to say and Quinn didn't really feel like talking. The brunette male glanced over at Quinn nervously noticing the way she was cradling her injured hand.
"D-" Ryan clears throat before continuing "Does your hand hurt?"
Quinn barks out a short and humorless laugh. "What do you think?"
"Right..sorry. Is it uh swelling any."
The blonde looks at her hand, inspecting it. The limb was slightly swollen. "Yeah a little."
"It should go down once you put ice on it." Ryan replies as he parks on the street in front of Quinn's home. The brunette glances at the house wondering if the rest of the house was as pristine as the kitchen was. "I can grab your bag and walk you to the door if you want me to."
"Its fine." Quinn mumbles softly as she unbuckles herself.
"Its the least I can do." The brunette replies unbuckling himself as well.
The cheerleader sighs but lets Ryan grab her book-bag anyway. The two make their way to the front door in awkward silence.
Quinn unlocks the door and turns around to face Ryan. The brunette nervously thrusts the bag out. Quinn grabs the bag but Ryan doesn't let go.
"Look Quinn I don't know what happened between you and Finn but I'm here if you want to talk about it-"
Quinn fixes him with a soft glare.
"Or not. We can just hang out and take your mind off it if you want. What I'm trying to say is I'm here for you." Ryan releases the bag and waits for Quinn's response.
The blonde just blinks remaining quiet. Quinn doesn't know what to think right now. Having Ryan around to distract her sounds like a really appealing option but she doesn't think she's in the right head space to be around him right now. She's afraid of lashing out at him or closing herself off altogether. She doubts that she would be good company.
The geeky boy sighs, disappointment flashing in his eyes as he turns to leave.
"Wait." Quinn murmurs quietly but Ryan hears it loud and clear. He turns around so he's facing the cheerleader again. "Maybe we could watch a movie or something."
Ryan smiles and shrugs slightly "okay." Quinn nods and leads him inside her home.
Ryan quickly learns that yes, the rest of the house is pristine. The hbic had given him a quick but thorough tour, showing him the living room, dining room, family room (where they'll be watching the movie at), various bathrooms just in case he needed to use one. They stopped in the kitchen briefly so Quinn could grab an ice pack for her hand before leading him to her room upstairs.
Ryan admits that he didn't think Quinn's room would be so homey. The room is a soft warm yellow with her bed pushed against a wall. On the wall opposite the bed is a impressive book case filled with books. Despite the book case there are still stacks of books neatly placed around the room. The wall adjacent the book case housed her desk. On the wall above the desk had shelves filled with cheer leading trophies, and a pair of pom poms.
The brunette walks over to the collage on the same wall as the bed and inspects the pictures fondly, a few of them are the unholy trinity, Quinn when she was a baby, Judy and who Ryan assumes is her father.
"So what do you think?"
Ryan faces Quinn a small smile on his lips. "It's nice. I feel like I'm getting an insight on a Quinn that no else sees."
"That's because you are."
"Well then I'm truly and honestly honored." The brunette says quite seriously.
Quinn shakes her head "Gosh you're such a geek."
Ryan shrugs and makes his way over to a stack of books picking up the first one on the stack. "Basic Writing of Existentialism" he murmurs quietly then looks at cheerleader who's staring at him nervously. "Have you read all of these books."
Quinn nods. "Most of them at least. Some more than once."
"I wouldn't have pegged you for a book worm."
The hbic shrugs. "One of my many hidden traits."
Ryan chuckles lightly and puts the book back.
"I'm going to change. You can wait in the family room and see if there's a movie you wanna watch."
The brunette concedes to the request and leaves the room closing the door behind him.
Quinn releases a breath she didn't know she was holding once her bedroom door clicks close. She drops the ice pack onto her beside table and goes to her walk-in closet. She had been extremely nervous about Ryan's thought of her room. It was one of the few things that reflected her true self perfectly. She felt as if she was on display as she waited for the brunette to voice his opinion.
Quinn didn't like to admit it but she cared about others opinion of her and Ryan's was one of the few that she really valued. She shook her head slightly trying to clear her brain of thoughts. Quinn peruses her clothes before decided on a pair of black drawstring Nike gym shorts and a white v-neck. She puts her hair in a messy bun and wraps the ice pack in a thin towel, bandaging it to her hand before padding downstairs bare foot.
Quinn doesn't immediately announce her presence when she makes it back to the family room. She was perfectly content to lean against the door frame and watch Ryan inspect their vast movie collection. The blonde stands there for a few minutes before she makes herself known.
"Find anything interesting?"
Ryan jumps at the suddenness of Quinn's voice dropping the DVD case he was holding. He whips around and glares at the laughing blonde. "That's not funny Quinn, I could've broke something."
The cheerleader tames her laughter, her smile bright on her face. "But you didn't."
"But I could've."
Quinn waves a dismissive hand as she straightens up. "I would rather not spend my time questioning what if's."
"It's called probabilities Quinn." Ryan fired back, arms crossed, and a petulant pout playing on his lips.
Must he be so cute. Quinn stops her thoughts before they start, a light blush dusting her cheeks.
Ryan picks up the discarded case and looks at the cheerleader. He takes note of the blush and eyes her curiously. "Why-"
"Nothing" Quinn clears her throat awkwardly. "Do you want a snack? Chips, popcorn? Yeah popcorn...I'll get us popcorn." She rushed out before turning abruptly on her heels, practically speed walking out of the room.
Ryan has a small crooked amused smile as he lets the display he just witnessed register. I'm not touching that one with a 20 foot pole. Nope. He turns back to the movies and pulls out a few he likes.
When Quinn gets back with a bowl full of popcorn and other various snacks in her hands; Ryan is sitting on the couch the movie menu already up and waiting for her.
"I-uh grabbed everything I saw. I didn't know what you were allowed to eat you know since you keep kosher." The blonde rambled as she dropped the snacks on the coffee table in front of the couch.
Ryan unfortunately had finally taken notice of Quinn's outfit. His eyes were roaming the body in front of him. Brown orbs landing on the pale skin and sharp lines of the blondes collarbone before slowly dipping lower until he's met with her shirt. Ryan tries to avert his gaze but the amount of skin being shown makes it difficult for him. He takes in the smooth milky skin that adorn long taut legs. Stop it, she didn't change so you can perv on her. Just look at the TV screen act as if you didn't just commit this heavenly image of Quinn to memory.
"It's okay Quinn, thank you for even considering me."
The blonde shrugs nonchalantly before she flops down at the opposite end of the couch. "What movie did you chose?"
"X-Men, I saw it in on the shelf labeled Quinn. Interestingly I found a lot of superhero geek movies."
"What can I say? I have a penchant for superhero movies."
Ryan nods his head slowly and suspiciously. The blonde glances over and notices, rolling her eyes with a sigh.
"Omg Ryan just play the movie." A little laugh accompanying her words.
The geeky boy does as told and the two settle into the couch.
By the time the movie is over Quinn is spread out on the couch, a thin blanket thrown over her legs, and her feet resting on Ryan's thigh. The blonde was cautious about putting her feet on the geeky boy but after a few moments of Ryan reassuring her it was okay, she finally stretched her legs out. It had taken a little while for either of them to get used to the new position.
Quinn flipped over on her back stretching appreciatively before pulling her body up until her back was against the arm of the couch tucking her legs beneath her.
"Sorry."
Ryan shrugged. "It's quite alright. Plus your feet keep me warm."
"Why didn't you say you were cold?! I have a million blankets."
The brunette pushed his glasses up nervously. "I-I don't know. I wasn't freezing so don't beat yourself up over it."
Quinn eyes him still a little unsure. "If you say so." She grabs a small bag of chips from the table and begins to eat. "Do you want to work on homework?"
"Sure even though I'd much rather talk about today-" Ryan earns himself another glare. "But homework sounds fun too. Lets go crack open a book." He stands and pats Quinn's knee before exiting the room.
Not even a minute later Ryan pokes his head back in. "I'm going to get my bag out of the car."
"I'll be in my room after I clean up down here."
Ryan disappears again and Quinn sets to cleaning their combined mess.
After finishing their homework they somehow end up laying Quinn's bed side by side staring up at ceiling. Ryan had been itching to ask his blonde companion about what happened in the choir room but was afraid that if he pushed one more time that Quinn would surely blow up on him. So he kept his lips sealed no matter how much it killed him, deciding to hum random tunes.
Quinn had been content to just lie beside the geeky boy in silence. She knew he still wanted to talk about the choir incident and maybe she would later on when repaying Finn's words doesn't make her wanna punch the nearest thing. But then Ryan started to hum, which was okay at first until he started to hum louder and more ridiculous.
"Okay fine we can talk about it." The blonde gives in with an exasperated sigh.
Ryan perks up before getting his bearings and relaxing into the bed again. "So what did Finn say?"
"Dumb stuff that I probably shouldn't have gotten so pissed about."
The brunette can sense the un-easiness in Quinn's vague answer but continues to push. "Dumb stuff about you?"
The blonde cheerleader nods. "And about you and Santana."
Ryan eyes widen at Quinn's words. "Me and Santana? Why?"
Quinn sits up resting against the head board. "I don't know, probably because you two basically professed your love for each other." She spat out the words like they physically made her sick, sarcasm oozing out of her response.
Ryan scoffed and sat up too turning his body so he was facing Quinn. "Are you serious?" At the girls responding glare he continues to speak. "Like your one to talk."
The blonde crosses her arm as her eyebrow quirks a sign of her growing anger. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"You and Sam. You literally said that you were in love with him." Ryan voice rises slightly toward the end.
Quinn rolls her eyes. "I barely know him. You and Santana on the other hand..."The blonde trails off to take a steadying breath. This wasn't how the conversation was supposed to go. They were supposed to be bashing Finn not jumping down each other throat. She didn't want to let Ryan know how much his performance with Santana actually affected her.
Ryan looks at Quinn for a few moments taking in her demeanor. Her body was tense with how much she was holding back. The brunette know that continuing on with their disagreement wouldn't help diffuse the situation.
His anger quickly dissipates. "Look Quinn I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just I..." It's now or never "I kind of like you a little or whatever. So seeing you and Sam perform a love song together, kind of got under my skin. I don't know what Finn said but it's not true. I don't like Santana, nothings going on between us."
Quinn looks up and makes contact with vulnerable brown eyes. "I know that." She gets look of disbelief from Ryan, leading to an answering eye roll from the blonde.
"Honestly Ryan I know that there's nothing between Santana and you except for maybe a friendship that I still don't understand but that's not the point here. What I'm trying to say is, when I saw you two singing with so much chemistry and emotion...then here comes dumb ass Finn telling me that you two were hooking up and how shouldn't waste my time on you and how I should take him back because apparently he's the only guy who wants me. I just kind of lost control and lashed out. I mean I don't feel bad about punching Finn. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I just, wish I hadn't let my anger get the best of me."
By the end of her rant Quinn was no longer looking at the boy across from her having chosen the option of staring at her comforter and picking at thread nervously.
Ryan doesn't respond immediately choosing to let Quinn's monologue truly sink in before talking. A bright cheeky smile takes over his features as he speaks. "So you like me too?"
The cheerleader rolls her eyes. "Really Ryan that's what you pick up on?"
"Oh...Finn's a dumb ass. Is that better?"
A small laugh escapes both of them. "Much better."
"So back to more important things. You like me?" Ryan asked his smile still big.
Quinn mirrors his smile happy to be back on lighter subjects. "No you like me. I merely think you're cute."
The brunette takes the small victory. "Does this mean that you would accompany me to Breadstix, since I have a free dinner for two and no one to go with?"
Quinn makes it look as if she's thinking deeply about it. "Maybe."
"Well if you settle on an answer come and find me. I'll be at Breadstix tomorrow night at 8 waiting for your answer." Ryan replied as he stood up collecting his belongings.
"Where are you going?"
"Home, it's almost dinner time and kind of mandatory for me to be there."
"I'll walk you out."
The two teens walk downstairs to the front door. Ryan turns around standing on the porch.
"I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Maybe." Quinn replied with a mischievous smile.
"Right...maybe. Have nice night Quinn." With that Ryan walks to his car. He gives the blonde one last wave before getting in, only taking a few minutes to buckle up and start the engine before peeling away from the curb.
Quinn watched as the car disappeared from her sight before closing the door. She didn't know what she was going to do tomorrow night. The blonde only let herself dwell on it for a second before going to the kitchen to start on dinner knowing her mom would be home in an hour.
A/N: So I had the chapter wrote for a while now but I wasn't really feeling great about it. But I hope you all like it.