Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"
A/N: So this one is long, about twice as long as most other chapters and just slightly shorter than the "Rachel' Birthday" chapter. I considered splitting it up but then I'd just be publishing two updates tonight instead of one. Didn't really see the point. Also, fair warning there is a whole bunch of angst in here, I promise my angstiness doesn't go on and on forever like some authors do, but it is there. As cute as they are together, Quartie can't be perfectly in synch all the time, and besides it's not all angst. Anyways, I'm just going on and on now. Thanks for reading/reviewing, hope you enjoy.
Chapter 21
Back to School
By the time Monday rolled around, Quinn was worried that she'd made a mistake. Artie had been distant and weird all weekend. It wasn't anything he did specifically, more like things he didn't do. Mostly it was a matter of him not talking much. Generally, Artie was considered the undisputed king of word vomit, but now everything he said was perfunctory, short, and to the point.
He also didn't call her 'beautiful' at any point over the weekend. He was back to calling her by her name. It had only been a week and a half since he started it, but Quinn missed it. She missed it more than she ever thought she'd miss a silly pet name, and probably that was because she thought she was losing him.
She tried not to panic. She tried not to assume the worst of things. Maybe he wasn't pulling away; maybe he was just trying to process his feelings. She had just kind of unloaded on him emotionally without a word or a warning. Maybe he just needed some time and a little bit of space... not too much, of course, but just a little so he had the room to work out how he felt and not be all awkward around her anymore.
So after the most tense and uncomfortable Pancake Day all summer, Quinn scooped up her stuff and she and Alexis went to the park for a couple of hours. They had a blast playing and taking pictures of each other. When time came to return the little girl, Quinn made up an excuse to just drop her off and run but she got roped into promising to take her and Artie to school on Monday. Quinn decided that telling Alexis Abrams no was every bit as hard as telling Brittany no, borderline impossible. She just hoped that Monday wasn't the last time she got to see Alexis and the Abrams Clan. It had only been two months but Quinn already thought of them as family.
Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday Quinn discovered that while being around Artie when she didn't know what was going on in his head was frustrating, it was nothing compared to not being around him when she didn't know what was going on in his head. Stuck at her house without him, she realized just exactly how much of their relationship was non-verbal. She learned in those 36 hours how much just looking at Artie and having him grin at her would make her feel all warm inside, how his hand on hers or vice versa would calm her worries and make the outside world melt away, or how just a waggle of his eyebrows could make her giggle uncontrollably. Now she had none of that.
Sunday evening she found herself sitting in front of her laptop staring at his Facebook wall trying to think of something she could do to break the tension between them without seeming needy, clingy, or desperate. That last one was particularly difficult because she kind of was desperate. She wound up just fixating on his profile picture. It was a picture of the two of them that Alexis had taken at Mercedes' pool party on the Fourth. She loved the picture. She was smiling, mid-laugh she recalled, and wrapped up in Artie's strong arms. Artie, of course, was smiling too. She clicked on the picture to see the full sized version. She looked the image of her boyfriend in his powerful blue eyes and said, "I can't lose you, Artie." A single tear escaped her eye and started to run down her cheek. She let it run while she took a deep breath to push her worries down. Sitting here worrying about it wasn't helping, she decided. It was time to come up with a plan to make sure she didn't lose him. "Who's online?" she asked no one in particular. "Mike, Tina, Brittany, Mercedes, Rachel, Sunshine, Blaine, and Puck."
Quinn: Cedes, I may need your help with something, but it can't end up as gossip.
Mercedes: What's up, girl?
Quinn: Mercedes, you know I love you, but I need you to promise me that this stays between us. If we were face to face, I'd make you pinky swear.
Mercedes: Honey, it's in the vault, I swear. We'll lock digits first thing tomorrow morning if it will make you feel better. Now what's up?
Quinn: Thursday night I told Artie I love him. Totally sprung it on him. He wasn't ready to say it back and I think he's freaking about it. He's quiet and withdrawn. Doesn't look at me as much as he did.
Mercedes: You want me to slap him? Cuz I will. Wheelchair or no. j / k What can I do?
Quinn: I need you to reach out into your network of gossips and subtly figure out if and how I need to damage control. I can't stress the subtle part enough. If he gets wind of me airing our laundry to our friends, he might just go ahead and break up with me, and I can't lose him.
Mercedes: I feel you, sistah. Lemme see what I can find out. I'll hit you back when I know something.
Quinn: Thank you, Mercedes.
Mercedes: Love you, Girl. We'll figure this out. Just hang in there.
Quinn: Love you. Just please tread lightly.
X X X X X
Quinn: Hey, Rach, I may need your help with something. Not sure yet.
Rachel: If it is within my power to give, I am at your service. Might I enquire at the specifics so that I can begin working on solutions?
Quinn: I told Artie I love him on Thursday. Sprung it on him when he wasn't ready to say it back and now he's freaking out about it… or at least I think he is.
Rachel: Okay. I'm not sure how I can help with that, but if you have an idea, I'll help in whatever capacity I can.
Quinn: I was thinking that I should do something for him in Glee Club. Something that says, you know that I'm happy with where we are please don't pull away from me. Can you maybe compile a short list.
Rachel: Of course!
Quinn: Something…
Rachel: Quinn?
Quinn: I don't want to do anything Top 40, bubble gum pop like I've always done in the past. Find me something that challenges me, something out of my wheelhouse. Hopefully, he'll see how hard I'm trying.
Rachel: That is an EXCELLENT idea Quinn. Although I wouldn't classify James Brown as either Top 40 or Bubble Gum, I do take your meaning. I think I may e-mail Mr. Schuester about making this the assignment of the week, giving due credit to you of course.
Quinn: Knock yourself out.
Rachel: May I point out something positive in this situation that may serve as a ray of sunshine amongst all the clouds?
Quinn: Uh, PLEASE!
Rachel: It's been four days and Artie's relationship status on Facebook still says "in a relationship with Quinn Fabray." He's not "single" nor has he opted for the ominous "It's Complicated." He's in a relationship with you.
Quinn: That actually helps quite a bit. Thanks, Rach.
Rachel: Of course, you're quite welcome.
Quinn: How's Finn dealing with being dumped?
Rachel: Suffice to say not well, and that I'd rather stick to helping you with your problems for the moment.
Quinn: Fair enough.
Rachel: I'll have you a list in the morning. We can work on it at lunch or after school, if you'd like. My dads have been after me to have you over anyway.
Quinn: Thank you, Rachel. I'll let you know.
X X X X X
Quinn: Hey Mike, so you probably know Artie and I have hit something of a rough patch and I know it would be a gross violation of the Bro Code for you to talk to me about anything that Artie may have told you, so I won't ask. I just wanted to ask you if he does talk to you about anything, if you would just tell him that I talked to you and that I want to do anything I can to make us be okay again. I really, really want us to work. Can you do that for me please?
Mike: Sure, Quinn.
Quinn: And if you don't mind too much could you make me sound less desperate than I did just then? I mean, I know I kind of am, but I just don't want to screw us up.
Mike: I got your back. : )
Quinn: Really?
Mike: Yeah. Artie's my best friend and I want him to be happy. You make him really happy, and that's not breaking the code because that's just something I see with my very own eyes. I'm totally Team Quartie.
Quinn: Thanks, Mike. That's really good to hear.
Mike: No problem, and don't worry about this thing too much, okay? I wish I could say more, but like you said Bro Code.
Quinn: I understand, thanks, Mike.
X X X X X
Mercedes: I ain't hearing a think, Q. If the boy's talkin it's to someone not in my network and you know that ain't many people.
Quinn: Thanks, Cedes. I appreciate you asking for me.
Mercedes: Please, Girl. That wasn't nothin.
Quinn: So Rachel's helping me with a song for him for Glee, making a list. You want to join us?
Mercedes: Just let me know what you need.
X X X X X
After all her networking, Quinn went to bed Sunday feeling okay about the situation, not as good as she would have liked, but with enough peace of mind to at least fall asleep. She woke up Monday with a smile...and a little sweaty. She didn't remember what she dreamed about but she knew it had to have been nice because she was smiling at 6 am even before her first cup of coffee and that never happened. She quickly showered and got dressed for school. Her mom had her travel mug full of coffee and ready for her on her way out the door. She grabbed her bag, keys, and coffee, said her goodbyes and was out the door.
When she arrived at the Abrams house a few minutes later, she was met with a surprise, a pair of them, actually. The first was that instead of her usual dress or other little kid clothes, Alexis was dressed in a Beatles t-shirt, jeans, and dress shoes. She had in a pair of small hoop earrings and she was wearing the charm bracelet Quinn bought her in Columbus. In short, she was dressed like Quinn. The other surprise was that Artie had already gone to football practice.
The plans made Saturday were that Quinn would pick up Artie and Alexis, they would drop Artie off at the field house for football and the girls would go get doughnuts for breakfast before they had to be at school, but for reasons he'd kept to himself, Artie went to football practice with Mike who had departed about ten minutes before Quinn arrived. Artie was now officially avoiding her and her good morning was officially ruined.
She tried not to let it show in front of Alexis. Quinn really did love spending time with the little girl, and she worried what would become of the two of them if she and Artie wound up splitting up. Quinn remembered the sadness in the girl's voice when she told Quinn that she and Brittany "use to be friends" and she didn't want to be someone else this girl, who clearly idolized her, use to be friends with.
Rachel texted her just as they were getting into Quinn's car to ask if she wanted to meet up before school to go over the list Rachel had made for her. Quinn asked if Alexis minded if Rachel joined them. Alexis, a lover of all things Glee Club, thought that was awesome. A short ten minutes later Quinn and Alexis were at the bakery waiting on Rachel.
They weren't waiting long when the tiny diva made her entrance. "Hello, girls," Rachel said, "I commend you on your choice of breakfast eateries. This place has the most delicious scones in town. I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long. I attempted to do something different with my hair this morning to go with my more fashionable clothes but I didn't like it, so I opted to braid it rather than trying to straighten it. You both look lovely today…"
"What's wrong with her?" asked Alexis while Rachel was still chattering away. "She's not always like this, is she? She wasn't like this at the pool party."
"No, this is ridiculously hyper even for her. Rachel," Quinn called but it didn't stop or even slow her chattering. "Rachel!" She barked, calling on her years of yelling over cheerleaders to her advantage.
"Yes, Quinn?" Rachel snapped to attention.
"How many cups of coffee have you already had today?"
"Only one," she said, but completely failing at hiding her restlessness, "Okay, so that one cup might have been a double shot of espresso."
"Oh dear God," Quinn groaned.
"That's bad?" Alexis asked for clarification.
"Yeah, Lexi, imagine Artie made his special Kool Aid and then you drank the entire picture all at once," Quinn explained. "Plus she's really energetic to begin with."
"Oh, wow!"
"Yeah," Quinn agreed. "Okay, you're having chamomile tea we're stopping on the way to school to get you a banana. If you're banging off the walls like this, then you're going to crash and you'll be dragging come Glee."
"They have fruit for sale here," Rachel informed them, now trying to reign herself in.
They ordered, Alexis managed to talk Quinn into letting her get chocolate milk, Quinn started on her second cup of coffee, and they found a table. Rachel handed over the assembled list and Quinn could only shake her head. "Rachel, I said a short list. This is five pages long."
"Yes, but look at it," Rachel said pointing Quinn's attention back at the booklet. "It isn't just five pages of song titles. It also lists their relative merits at sending the message you want to send as well as the difficultly I think you'd have in successfully performing each song on a scale of one to five."
Once again Quinn couldn't help but shake her head as she flipped through the list which actually only listed eight songs. "Rachel, it's a good thing you're a good person. If you ever used your powers for evil, the world would be in great danger. I find it interesting that you think Mary J. Blige is on a difficulty of 3."
"I mention again that you rock a James Brown song," Rachel said, "I mean, yes, the chorus line of dancing pregnant girls was… odd, but the vocals were superlative. You are capable of much more than you give yourself credit for."
"So what's the message you want to send?" asked Alexis.
"I'm singing to your brother. We're kind of in a weird place right now, so I just want to make sure he understands that I really want to be with him and I'll do whatever I need to fix thing between us."
"I don't want you guys to break up," Alexis said softly, "Besides Stacy, you're like my best friend."
"We aren't going to break up, Lexi. I'm going to fix it, but no matter what happens between Artie and me, it won't affect me and you, okay?" Quinn offered up her right pinky to the girl. "I swear," she said firmly. Alexis smiled brightly and hooked her pinky with Quinn's and they locked fingers.
X X X X X
Breakfast was fun but passed far too quickly and soon it was time to drop Alexis off at her school and for Quinn to make her way to McKinley and all the drama therein. The normal first day stuff kept most everyone too busy to pay much attention to harassing anyone. Quinn had found her locker and was shoving all but the basic requirements into it, the basic requirements being one binder, her cell phone, and Rachel's list. She studied the girl's notes as she made her way to homeroom. Inside there were several students were already seated including Rachel and right behind her was Sam, who had seemingly miraculously lost the Bieber-cut some time in the last four days. Quinn made her way over and sat to Rachel's left and noticed the brunette smiling to herself. "What?" Quinn asked as she settled into her chair.
"What are you asking?" Rachel replied.
"I saw that little smile when I sat down, what are you smirking at?
"Nothing…" Rachel said softly shaking her head before speaking up, "it's nothing."
"You weren't sure if I was going to acknowledge you in school were you? Even after all the time we spent together this summer," Quinn said, holding up Rachel's list, "After this, you still thought there was a chance that I was going to go back to being the Old Quinn. Admit it." She kept her tone playful because she knew she had no right to blame Rachel, she had done it before last year.
"Perhaps a little," Rachel said, "Only a tiny fraction of a percent of me had lingering doubts, a tiny fraction of a percent that has now been proven conclusively wrong. I'll not doubt you again."
"I wonder if that's what's on Artie's mind," Quinn said, mostly to herself.
"What about Artie?" asked Sam. Quinn looked back at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to butt in. I'll shut up."
"It's not a big deal, Sam. We're going through a rough patch the last few days. I'm trying to figure out if there's something I can do to smooth it over. Planning on singing him a song."
"Um, does he know about this rough patch? Because we were over there yesterday and he seemed fine to me. You know, big smiles, laughing, having fun," Sam said. "Seemed fine at football practice this morning."
Quinn buried her face in her hands and growled. "Quinn, what's wrong?" asked Rachel.
"Please tell me I'm not that girl," Quinn said raising her head again, "Tell me that I haven't imagined some dire crisis in my relationship where none exists."
"Quinn, I'm certain you're not that girl."
Quinn sighed, "I guess we'll see."
X X X X X
First period was terrible, Mrs. Higgins' AP Calculus class and as was typical of the first day there wasn't a lesson, just fifty minutes to sit around. The problem was that Calculus wasn't required in to graduate, so nearly no one took it and fewer still took AP, so none of Quinn's friends were there to keep her out of her head. Second was a little bit better. It was AP Chemistry which she had with Mike, Tina and Artie. He apologized for taking off earlier and said that Mike was wanting to see what they had of the video so far which required them to leave earlier to watch it in the computer lab before football practice. Quinn wanted to take him at his word since he'd never given her reason to doubt him, but something about it still felt like an excuse. This doubt wasn't helped by Artie choosing to partner with Mike, but Quinn at least had Tina to talk to, and Tina who had seen very little of Quinn over the summer and was naturally nosey had many questions. Third and fourth period were much better. Third was AP Government with Blaine whom Quinn found she got along with rather well. Fourth was English with Brittany, Santana, and Rachel, and the look on Santana's face when Rachel finally got sick of Santana's attitude and told the Latina to back off in flawless Spanish was priceless.
Quinn, Rachel, and Mercedes spent their lunch period in the auditorium working on the number for Glee. When Quinn had finally decided which song to do Mercedes had one thing to say, "You are nuts."
"You say nuts, I say in love," Quinn countered confidently, adding, "Maybe there's no difference." The girls ran through the song as much as time would allow but by the time the bell rang for fifth period, all three of them agreed that the song still needed work so they would meet at Rachel's after school. Fifth period was Miss Runyon's Computer Science class which managed to keep her well distracted with her photography, the website, and actually meeting Haaroon and Chuck the webmasters that she'd been e-mailing and texting for a month now. Sixth was Quinn's Independent Study period so she went back the auditorium to practice a bit more but had trouble getting motivated so she snuck off campus to get a cup of coffee and made it back just in time for Seventh, which was Glee.
She got to the choir room to find it mostly filled already. Kurt sat in the middle of the back row flanked by Blaine and Mercedes. Tina and Mike sat in front of them in the middle row with Santana and Brittany to their left on the far end of the room. Rachel and Sunshine sat on the near end of the front row. Quinn was contemplating where to sit, her instincts tell her to retreat to the safety of Santana and Brittany but she didn't want to look stand-offish by being off the bottom row where Artie had to sit. A moment later her decision was negated when Artie rolled up behind her and said, "Hey, woman. Looking for me?"
"I was," she replied, "how did you know?"
"All the beautiful girls are," he said, his trademark bravado on display.
Quinn took a chance and settled herself onto his lap wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "You are pretty awesome," she said then leaned it give him a brief peck on the lips. It was all still there, all the emotion, the desire, the caring was still there. A mental sigh of relief discharged a great deal of the tension in Quinn's mind.
As if on cue, Finn entered the room and yelled, "WHAT THE HELL?" Sam, who'd entered the room with him quickly and quietly divorced himself from the situation and went up to greet his girlfriend. Artie turned his chair so they were facing the tall boy. "Artie, man, what the hell?"
"Finn, you broke up with her… twice. The last time was months ago," Artie said.
"That's not what I mean," Finn said, "She… she turned Rachel against me."
Quinn stood up as Artie said, "Dude…"
"She did no such thing," Rachel cut him off quickly stomping quickly across the room. "Finn Hudson, you immature jackass don't you dare make a scene because you're jealous that Quinn is happy without you. And as for me, I broke up with you for the reasons I told you. Quinn put considerable effort into not saying anything bad about you because she knew she wouldn't be able to be objective."
"I'm sure she wanted to," Finn said staring hard at the pink haired girl.
"You're probably right, Finn," Rachel fired back, "but wanting to say something mean and stopping yourself is a good thing. It's called impulse control and it's something this group is in rather short supply of, myself included."
"Fine," Finn said, then again a little louder, "Fine, you want to be friends with her," he said to Rachel, "You want to date her," he said to Artie. "She's gonna hurt both of you. That's all she ever does to anyone. She's nothing but a huge bitch!"
No sooner had the last word escaped his lips as Finn was sudden yanked downward. Artie had two handfuls of his shirt and had managed to drag the tall boy down to one knee. Everyone else standing nearby was shocked at the sudden turn of events. "You don't call her that," Artie said fury evident in his voice. "I know you were raised better than to call anyone that but I am putting you on notice right now, you absolutely are not allowed to call my girlfriend that word. If you do and I find out about it, I don't know how, Finn, but I will make sorry, and trust me, I'll find out. I'm friends with Tina, Mercedes, and Santana and between them they know everything that goes on around here. Don't piss me off, Finn." Artie let go of him and Finn staggered back to his feet and away from Artie.
"And for the record, Finn," Rachel said, pointing at Artie, "that is what a good boyfriend does when someone insults their girlfriend." With that Rachel turned on her heel and marched back to her seat.
"That's my A.B!" Puck hollered. Apparently, he and Lauren had made their way into the room during the commotion.
Artie and Quinn sat next Rachel in the front row, and after they were settled in Quinn looked at him and said, "A.B?"
"Ass-istant Badass."
Quinn sniggered and said, "He's such a dork."
Late as usual, Mr. Schuester finally made his way into the room, set down his gear. "Okay, guys, welcome back," said Mr. Schuester, "As you can see we have some new, but not unfamiliar faces. Now normally we have new prospective members sing a song to audition, however I don't imagine there's anyone here that doubts Sunshine and Blaine's singing abilities, so I thought that we'd forego their auditions in lieu of them participating in this week's assignment. Anyone have an issue with that?" The question was met with silence, a couple of people shaking their heads. "Okay, then this week's assignment comes to us from Rachel and Quinn," he crossed the room to the white board and wrote Breaking Out on it. "We have a tendency, not just as a club, but as people to stick to what is familiar. You guys have your favorite styles of music and you like to do them, and there's nothing wrong with that, but occasionally it's good to break out of your routines and try something new. You may surprise yourself with what you find. So that's the assignment, getting out of your routines. You can do whatever song you want so long as it's of a genre or style that isn't typical for you. Rachel, Kurt no show tunes. Mercedes, Santana no R&B, no Motown. Finn, it's time to come out of the 80's bud. Puck, gentiles have made many great musical contributions to the world. Mike, I want you to sing something, even if you're bad at it. Tina…"
"Get through a song without breaking out into tears?" the Asian girl prompted, "Got it." The rest of the club chuckled at her dig at herself.
"Mr. Shue," Santana said, standing up "I've got something for this. I don't have sheet music or anything but Brad may know it."
"Alright, way to step up, Santana," he said gesturing for her to take the floor as he took a seat.
Santana talked quietly with the ever silent piano player. He nodded to whatever she said. Santana dragged a stool in front of the piano, sat on it, and pulled her hair down, fluffing it out. "You guys aren't gonna tell Coach I took my hair down, right? Oh, speaking of that, you guys probably have questions. Yes, Britt and I are back on Cheerios, but we already talked about this and if Sylvester starts any of her shit this year with Cheerios versus Glee, then she can go to hell."
"That's good to hear," Mr. Schuester said, "Thank you, Santana."
"Yeah, no worries," she said, "Okay, now that that's out of the way. Maestro, music!" Brad began playing the piano softly and slowly. This was definitely outside of Santana's usual style. He played unaccompanied for about thirty seconds before Santana began to sing much more softly than any other song anyone had heard her sing.
She's got a way about her
Don't know what it is
But I know that I can't live without her
Santana started off looking at the club in general but even before the end of first verse her eyes had drifted over to Brittany who smiled at her girlfriend.
She's got a way of pleasin'
Don't know why it is
But there doesn't have to be a reason
Anyway
The smile that graced Santana's mouth wasn't the sinister, sarcastic smirk that most of the club was use to seeing. Most of them didn't know what to make of it.
She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know what it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me
At this point Santana had pretty much given up any pretense that she was singing this song to anyone one but Brittany as she wiped away a tear that had escaped her left eye.
She's got a way of talkin'
I don't know what it is
But it lifts me up when we are walkin'
Anywhere
Santana wasn't the only one that was moved by the song. Brittany was positively beaming; shaking in her seat she was so happy that Santana had finally mustered the courage to sing to her in front of the group.
She comes to me when I'm feelin' down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get tuuuuuurned around
She's got a way of showin'
How I make her feel
And I find the strength to keep on goin'
Santana was beginning to have some serious trouble maintaining her composure. Her voice was shaky and her eyes were welling up big time.
She's got a liiiiiight around her
And everywhere she goes
A million dreams of love surround her
Everywhere
The group was pretty much all floored at the emotion Santana was putting into the song, and even more so because Santana had tears running down both cheeks and made no motion to wipe them or conceal them.
She comes to me when I'm feelin' down
Inspires me without a sound
She touches me and I get tuuuuurned arooooound
Brittany clutched her hands to her chest, tears also running down her cheeks.
She's got a smile that heals me
I don't know what it is
But I have to laugh when she reveals me
Santana's voice was threatening to break on her at any second. It took all of her considerable willpower to keep the last little shred of her composure through the last verse.
She's got a way about her
D-don't know what it is
But I know that I-I can't live without her
Santana made it through but not without breaking a couple of times. Before she was done, Brittany was up out of her seat and down to Santana just as the Latina's knees started to wobble, her whole body overcome with emotion. Brittany wrapped her up in an enormous hug and whispered, "I'm so proud of you, Santana. I love you so much."
"I love you, too," Santana said, not whispering.
The rest of the club was applauding the performance but when Santana spoke a couple of them stopped. "Did she just admit it?" Kurt looked first to Mercedes, then to Tina.
"Damn right I did," Santana answered for them. "I am in love with Brittany and she loves me back and anyone that doesn't like that can suck it." Brittany giggled at her.
"Thank God," Kurt said, "You're denial was getting to be a little old. I'm very happy for you guys."
"Whatever," Santana shot back, "you're just tired of being the only openly gay kid in the school."
"Um, he's not," Blaine pointed out.
"Oh, yeah," Santana replied, "Thanks."
"Uh, I have a question," Mercedes raised her hand, "Who in the hell are you and what did you do with Santana Lopez?"
Santana replied, "You mean that closet case that had the hottest girl in school chasing after her and couldn't accept herself out of fear of what some pathetic mouth breather might say behind her back? I couldn't deal with her crap anymore so I shanked that bitch in the shower."
"Are you okay with all this, Artie?" asked Mr. Schuester, the oft clueless teacher apparently missing the fact that he was currently holding another girl's hand.
"Mr. Shue, how about I show you how okay with this I am?" He released Quinn's hand and rolled his way across the room to a guitar stand against the back wall. He retrieved the guitar and quickly made his way back to the near side of the room, parking himself unmistakably in front of Quinn.
"That's a weird looking guitar, bro," Puck said.
"Yeah, kinda. It's called a resonator guitar. I'll show you what it does." Artie began to strum the guitar in a slow, steady blues riff for a full minute without singing. Quinn was now officially lost. First she thought he was being distant and weird and she thought they had a problem and that she might be losing him, then his friends say not to worry about them so she tried to relax about it. Then he seemingly had a good reason for being gone this morning, so she tried to let it all go, and he shows up to Glee like the same old amazing Artie and she finally does relax and assumed it was all in her head but then he picked up this guitar and started playing the blues, a musical genre not typically associated with a happy relationship. That tired cliché of an emotional rollercoaster suddenly seemed apropos. Finally, Artie started to sing in what Quinn could only describe as an amazingly sexy blues voice. Artie left long gaps in between each line to draw the song out for dramatic effect. He held the vowel sounds in at least one word in almost every line
Eeeevery mornin',
Eveeeeery evenin',
Every day IIIII,
IIII think of you
The way I love yooooou,
Through… and… through
When IIII'm with you,
It feels liiiiike heaven
You're aaaan angel,
Hoooooldin' me
Your sweet, sweet loviiiiiin',
It sets me free
And in myyyyy wildest,
I-mag-i-na-tion,
I coooould never,
I-mag-ine you
Loviiiin' me as much as,
As… I… do… you
Artie jammed out here as the whole club sat quiet and still. For all Artie knew, though, he and Quinn were the only ones in the room. He was looking dead at her and her back at him. Quinn wanted to attack Artie with kisses, and Artie could tell just by looking at her. However, she wouldn't interrupt the song to do it, so Artie drew out his improvised jam just a little bit longer before getting back to the second half of the song.
And it may be winter,
It maaaay be fall
I might have plenty,
Or nothin' at all
But baby I'll be theeeere,
Whenever you call,
Whenever you call
'Cause eeeevery mornin',
And eveeeery evenin',
Every day IIII,
IIII think of you
The way I love yoooou,
Through and through
The way I love yoooou,
Through… and… Through
When the song was over and the guitar was out of Artie's hands, Quinn pounced on him, almost tipping his chair over backwards, lips mashed hard together, her hands on his face, his hands around her waist, pulling them closer together. After a minute or so of this, Mr. Schuester called for them to knock it off. Quinn wrapped one arm around his neck resting her forehead against his. "Hey, Quinn," he said quietly, "I'm sorry if I've been kinda distant and weird the last couple of days. When you told me the other day, I already knew that this was how I wanted to tell you, but I knew if we got into one of our big long all-night talks I wouldn't be able to hold off telling you."
Quinn slapped him on the arm playfully. "Jerk," she said, though she couldn't harness any anger to go behind it, "You had me freaking the hell out, thinking I'd said it too soon and that I was going to lose you over it. Then your stupid friends had me thinking that I was imagining which made me think I was a stupid crazy bitch trying sabotage the best thing that's ever happened to me. I would be seriously mad as hell at you right now… y'know, if that wasn't the most romantic thing possibly ever."
Artie's only reply, "I love you."
Quinn sighed and let go of whatever hostility she had in her. "Say it again."
"I love you, Beautiful."
"I love you, too, My Prince."
A/N: Santana's song is "She's Got A Way" by Billy Joel, Artie's is a slightly reworked version of "Every Morning" by blues legend Keb' Mo'