CELEBRATION
The party at Lemkau Woods was set to start at around five in order to give everyone enough time after graduation to get ready and drive down. As predicted, no one actually got there until around six. Park #4 was, well, a park that was really just a giant field surrounded by wooded area and a parking lot at its southern entrance. There was also a type of concrete outbuilding near the restrooms that housed three large picnic tables and a sound system. As of now, that's where some of the food was being kept while a couple of AV club members tried to figure out how to get the radio to play out of the large speakers on the front of the structure. So far, all that they could do was make announcements through a set of microphones.
Blaine wasn't losing faith, though. Sure, he'd like a little music as everyone probably would, but it was just getting started and nothing could ruin this day. They did it. They survived high school as ridiculous as that statement always sounded. He just…he felt like singing. Maybe they would let him sing if the AV guys didn't get everything worked out. Regardless, he wanted to make sure this night was memorable for him and his friends. It just required a bit a waiting. Six of their members, or as he liked to think of them, three of the couples (secret or otherwise) had yet to show up.
"Everything you dreamed of as a young boy?" Kurt teased from beside him. They were busy not mingling in the crowd full of minglers on the field. "The dense smell of grass and tree bark. The somewhat polluted Ohio sky. An array of students who have made your collective life in school hell."
Blaine chuckled. "That was it exactly."
"I don't even care about the setting." Kurt continued on seriously. "I'm just looking forward to our summer."
"Yeah, me too." Blaine nodded. "But you know that's not like the end of anything. We're not under a countdown."
"No, I know. But it will be the end to being within around, oh, 600 miles of each other."
"Nothing's going to change." Kurt sent him with a disbelieving look. "Well, I mean, a lot's going to change, but we're not. I love you, Kurt. That's all that matters."
"No, of course." Kurt spoke, voice somewhat constrained. He was sure to remove that, though, before he continued. "I love you too." Kurt only hoped what Blaine believed was true. The cynic in him felt as if they were moving into Finn and Rachel territory.
Speaking of which, the next batch of gleeks to arrive were (to Blaine's slight confusion) not a couple; completely anyway. Rachel arrived to the party with Sam and Mercedes because of Quinn's scheduled tardiness. Not that she was upset, though. Rachel was also someone viewing this to be too good of a day.
After the graduation ceremony was finished, Rachel went home and had a fabulous afternoon with her fathers. Being an only child, there was the benefit of being spoiled from time to time. As she was her fathers' only baby, her high school graduation was obviously one of the defining moments of her life so far. Therefore, she was showered with gifts over the last couple of hours. Truly, she was going to enjoy this summer and the profits of shopping to the fullest. However, as for tonight, after being doted upon by her parents, she was simply rushing to get ready. She had texted several teammates, and they assured her not to bring anything which she was mildly opposed to seeing as this was her first bring-your-own-everything party. Lack of tradition aside, she was still able to dress to impress. Mostly for Quinn but it wouldn't hurt to remind her now former classmates that they clearly missed out on something special and that she most certainly did deserve a pointless yearbook superlative.
"Hello." Kurt surprised her from behind. He linked arms with her, planning to lead her back over to where he and Blaine were previously. They didn't want her wandering aimlessly. "Dateless I see. How terribly unfortunate."
"Quinn will be arriving later." She explained.
"Ah, what a catch." He spoke sarcastically before holding up his free hand in mock-surrender. "Joke."
"You know, I have never insulted your relationship."
"Annnd it's been upped into a relationship." Kurt sighed.
"Is this what you plan on doing next year? Joining Jesse in poking fun at me and Quinn?"
"I don't see why we have to wait until next year when we have all summer as well." He joked again, earning a glare from Rachel. "You can relax. I'm just getting it out of my system now, and I will stop this rebellion unless Quinn decides to once again play cheater. It is a common role of hers after all." She opened her mouth to say something, but Kurt decided to talk right over her. Really, it's not like she had any winnable defense. "Besides, I have no desire to join Jesse St. Massacre in anything. I actually have no plans on even acknowledging his existence from here on out. We're equals now. I don't need to pretend to respect him."
"Personally, I think you two can get along if forced."
"Yes, but you're the constamment idealist."
"I'm still right, and whether you enjoy it or not, the four of us will be spending a lot of time together. I'm friends with both you and Jesse, and I'll be dating Quinn." She smiled proudly. "I'm the glue that holds us all together."
"Well, if we're all picking school supplies, I choose adhesive remover."
"Jesse can be the ruler because he's the only one who's technically 100% straight. Oh, oh and-"
"No, no. We're done now." He calmed her down as they finished their short walk over to where Blaine stood waiting.
"Rachel." Blaine greeted. "Where's Quinn?"
"Quinn will be joining us later." Kurt mocked Rachel briefly. She rolled her eyes before turning to Blaine.
"She's having a graduation dinner with her mom." Rachel explained properly.
"Hey guys," Finn's voice interrupted the trio, "Puck finally got everything in order. I guess Lauren stopped yelling at him or something."
Kurt, Rachel, and Blaine followed the short distance after Finn's lumbering form. They ended up back in the parking lot they arrived in. The early spots that were taken were turned into a mini tailgating party. Actually, a football was being flung around earlier, so it was somewhat fitting. Puck had his own pickup truck ready to go. It was just for the glee club and consisted of an array a drinks and a small snack variety.
"Help yourselves. We've got a little bit of everything." Puck told the group of gleeks.
"And only half of it was paid for." Lauren added.
"So if none of you twerps have anything mushy to say, it's time to start this party."
"Blaine actually has an announcement." Kurt interrupted all of them, stopping them from diving in to Puck's supplies.
"Yippy." Santana spoke dryly, nudging Karofsky because she knew where her target audience was in life.
Blaine nodded, completely ignoring the snickering pair. He and Kurt discussed doing this at the school earlier. "Right, so we didn't want to say anything before but-"
Santana grimaced. "Oh God, please tell us you're not eloping."
Blaine opted out of responding to her directly. "No, but I was kinda hired by a record producer at S.W.A.T. Records." He earned some frowns. "You know, Singing Without Auto-Tune. Anyway, he's trying to put a band together. So far it's just me and two other guys I haven't met yet, but they're still scouting."
"Dude, are you serious?" Sam asked what most of them were thinking. It sounded like a joke.
"Yes." Kurt answered for him. "Once the other members are acquired, from here on out Blaine will be regularly road-tripping to Cleveland in an attempt to make a record."
"Congrats, man." Finn told Blaine. "That's awesome."
"Yeah, we'll all be set and ready to buy your first CD." Artie grinned. "You know, once we know the name of your band and whatnot."
Mercedes looked over to Kurt and Blaine. "So what does this mean for you guys?"
"Nothing." Blaine informed. "We'll still be together. Just long-distance."
Blaine and Kurt were given some faux-smiles along with some helpful "ohs." Kurt sent out a glare.
"Well I'm totally sad that another one of us is leaving home, but I'm also totally happy for you." Brittany skipped over to give Blaine a quick hug.
"Thanks, Brittany."
"Drinks!" Santana announced, gaining everyone's attention. She wasn't thrilled by Brittany's words. "Clearly we need to celebrate Plaine's accomplishments." She excused.
They easily accepted this, and Santana rolled her eyes as certain members declined drinking on account of the fact they were playing designated driver or something. She stopped listening since it was all so damn boring. Besides, she was too busy trying to expel future thoughts. That would defeat the purpose of a party. So what if Blaine was also leaving. She should really be focused more on the fact that Quinn was being lame and happy by not showing up yet, and the Changs were clearly taking this time to declare their love for everything Asian one last time. Like they really needed to worry about their relationship now. Loser nerds. Well at least she felt better. Now she just needed a cure for her boredom.
Santana pulled her girlfriend aside. "You wanna go somewhere?"
"Totally." Brittany smiled.
She returned it before leading Brittany away. This would actually be fun. They had never fooled around in the woods before.
The actual party didn't end up starting until after the sun had officially set. The book-burning-bonfire was finally lit up, and by now, the music problem had been solved. It had also gotten exceptionally more crowded. The night no longer belonged solely to the senior class. There were now several students from the lower grades hanging around along with kids who didn't even attend McKinley. Word had obviously gotten out. Karofsky didn't really care about any of this. Most people there were too drunk or whatever they were to complain about anything. Likewise, Karofsky was just too happy for the end of it all. He wasn't even aware what he was laughing at tonight or who the hell he was talking to. It had just been a really good night. Or, you know, it was before a former friend was in front of his face.
"Where's the rest of Homo Explosion?" Azimio harassed.
"Probably out spreading their gayness." Karofsky shrugged casually. "Seriously, man. I'd watch out if I were you. Everyone knows it's contagious."
"Is that why you rejoined? Because you caught the gay?"
"Totally. Actually, I think I'm starting to like you." He overtly joked. Azimio scowled before deciding to walk away. Karofsky lost his smirk once the other football player was out of sight.
He really didn't want anything to do with Azimio and the guys. And while he didn't think their interest in him was going anywhere exactly, at least now he had a nice comeback. Every time they would insinuate he was gay, he would agree and be the complete opposite of defensive. It worked at prom, and as far they knew, he wasn't actually gay anyway. All they knew was that they were trying to be assholes. No one needed to tell them they were accurate. Dave liked it better this way. It made caring what they thought a little less important to him.
"I support this change in attitude." Kurt's voice cut through his thoughts, turning Dave around slightly. "It's refreshing seeing you not being influenced by them." Kurt finished his walk, coming to a stop next to him.
Karofsky shrugged. "Well high school's over."
"It is." Kurt agreed slowly.
"I'm also thinking about taking up sarcasm. It's great. You get to say all of your angry, hateful thoughts without actually having to say them so no one knows what the hell you're talking about but you."
"Oh. Whatever works, I guess." He nodded awkwardly before looking for a way to transition the conversation. Kurt wasn't exactly sure how often he'd talk to Dave Karofsky after tonight, therefore, he wanted to voice one last reminder. "So you're going to OSU a Lima next year, right?"
"Unfortunately."
"Okay, then look. I don't know if you are truly over high school or if you still plan on only being yourself in the privacy of your own future home, but you'll have friends next year, Dave. Finn and Artie and Mercedes and maybe even Puckerman will all be at school with you. Sam will still be around, and Santana's staying here with Brittany. Plus, Blaine won't exactly be too far away."
Karofsky glared briefly. "What's your point?"
"Well just that if you ever did want to be open and honest, you'll have plenty of people who will accept you."
"Yeah, no way that's happening." Dave snapped but then relented some. "At least anytime soon."
Kurt didn't fully know how to respond since he didn't even know exactly what he was looking for from Karofsky, but he eventually smiled because when in doubt, smiling was generally a good bet. Karofsky didn't seem fazed either way. Of course, he could've just been distracted by yet another newly, semi-closeted gay, and clearly they grew on trees in Western Ohio. A Fabray had finally arrived, and at first, Quinn seemed to be coming over to them but then she found what she'd view as the better option. Kurt watched as Quinn walked over to Rachel and greeted her with a hand-graze to the back. Rachel turned around and gave out one of her Berry branded hugs. He shook his head at all of this. Kurt had no plans other than minding his own business, but he just didn't understand how they could even attempt to date each other after their uneven history. Certainly never something he'd try.
Rachel pulled out of their hug with a smile. "I was starting to worry you weren't going to show."
Quinn bit her lip. Dinner had taken longer than expected, and then she had to go home and pick something out to wear that went with jeans seeing as they'd be in a damn forest. This would not have been her first choice for where to have a party. "And miss all this?" She joked.
"It has been fairly rousing. There are some men here," Rachel pointed out somewhere behind them before lowering her voice, "I don't even think they're from Ohio." She informed, getting a frown in return.
Yeah, okay, so Rachel wasn't going anywhere alone for the rest of the night. Especially considering the girl was a little…Well, she certainly wasn't drunk by any means, but she was buzzed in a way that seemed to make her adorably enthused. "Can we maybe take a walk?"
She nodded before reaching out to hold Quinn's hand. "Sure."
As they began their walk, Rachel took notice of Quinn's somewhat somber mood. It was pretty far off from where she had left Quinn earlier. "How was dinner?"
"As good as it could've been." She watched Rachel frown at the vague response. "It was just the usual parent chat." Quinn explained further as she eventually stopped them near the edge of some trees. It was darker as they were now farther away from the center bonfire, but at least they were secluded.
"Ah, but there are so many kinds of parent chats. For instance, there's the annual talk my fathers give me about what I am and am not allowed to purchase with their holiday credit card. They don't want me to spend too much on them which of course I find ridiculous. It's why holiday bonuses were created."
Quinn laughed lightly but decided to cut in before Rachel could begin listing all the other types of parent chats she was aware of. "My mom blindsided me with her expectations for my future."
Dinner consisted of forgettable small talk and a stunning gifted bracelet before her mother began to use that skill of subtle hinting she still had. Judy Fabray had always been very good at saying just enough to get her point across but not saying too much where she would seem overbearing. It ensured that there were never any emotional arguments in their house. Tonight's subtle topics were what Quinn should try majoring in, what careers she should look into, what type of college boy she should look out for, and what type of college boy she should try and pursue. It was great. Not at all awkward.
"I'm not sure why I thought that was over with." Really, just because she was moving to New York didn't mean her mother still doesn't envision certain things for her. She had mistakenly thought their relationship had grown more than that over the last year.
"All parents have some type of expectations for their children." Rachel shrugged. "It's entirely normal. And then we, as the children, have the luxury of growing up and following our own paths instead. Hopefully in ways that only lead to humorous, anecdotal tales at family gatherings." She grinned.
"Not when it's all conditional." Quinn didn't return the smile. "My mother's giving me a pass on moving away probably only because Jesse's going to be there with me. But stuff like this," she gestured between them, "not that I plan on telling her anytime soon or ever, but she's not going to be okay with it. It won't go over well."
"Oh Quinn, you don't know that."
"Yeah I do, Rachel."
Rachel tilted her head forlornly. She wanted to believe that Quinn couldn't know these things for sure, but portions of the Fabray family's past were not a secret. Who's to say having a girlfriend would result in anything different than being pregnant had? But Quinn didn't need to worry about that tonight of all nights. This needed rescuing.
Rachel grabbed on to Quinn's free hand and slowly walked them backwards. "Since I'm currently and officially," she paused here to smile as she dropped Quinn's hands and instead latched onto her shirt in order to pull the girl closer, "dating her daughter, not that she knows of course, I would very much like to respect your mother." Once her back hit a tree, she was happy to curl her hands behind Quinn's neck. "That being said, I think it's of great importance that you meet my expectations first. Our relationship might falter if you don't."
"And what are these expectations of yours that are so important?" She chortled, resting her forehead against Rachel's.
"Well first of all…" Rachel smiled as Quinn momentarily nuzzled into her hair. "First of all, you must always acknowledge that I'm right."
"Always, huh?" Quinn brushed over to drop a deliberate kiss to the corner of Rachel's mouth. She was rewarded by feeling Rachel's smile grow against her.
"Mmm-hmm. And you must constantly reaffirm the fact that my talent is greater than those that fall under the category of my competition even if you happen to believe otherwise which of course you won't."
"Easy enough." She mumbled, moving down to Rachel's neck
Rachel stopped her thoughts and swallowed at these new sensations before pushing herself to continue. "Secondly, though I understand that this isn't exactly something you can promise me given possible, future circumstances that may arise, it would be greatly appreciated if you tried not to cause me any heartache." Quinn moved back and away at these words, Rachel's arms falling down. "So far I've been quite selfless, for me, by focusing more on your fears, but I have my own pressure points that result in fragile areas to attack."
Quinn narrowed her eyes because did Rachel really think she'd use her insecurities against her? Then she cringed over the fact that that's exactly what she used to do. She made a mental note to assure Rachel that she was never going to 'attack' her.
"Lastly," Rachel's voice brought her back, "I expect you to ignore all expectations other than the previous three I have just given you." She smiled as Quinn frowned slightly at what Rachel was saying. Quinn wasn't sure she ever appreciated a talking-Rachel more. "I firmly believe that one should always follow their dreams even if they may not know what they are yet. It's your life, Quinn, not anyone else's. You shouldn't let anyone dictate what you want to do."
"Other than yourself?" She teased.
"Of course." Rachel giggled.
Quinn moved closer once more. "And what if my dream is to randomly become someone who goes around painting designs onto people's shoes?"
"Well, if that's truly what you wanted, then I would support your decision."
"Really?" She challenged skeptically.
"I'd even let you raid my closet."
Quinn chuckled. "No, you wouldn't."
"No, but I'd help you break into other people's."
"And how would your famous, on stage costars feel about this?"
"They'd think it was art so I imagine it'd be fine with them. They may even request your services. It can be added income."
"No, I don't think that'd be the best idea. You know me. I've never been able to get along with those crazy, Broadway types too well."
"How unfortunate for you." Rachel whispered, leaning forward.
As soon as their lips touched, Rachel's hands were right back up to where they were previously. Their movements were tentative, and all Quinn could think of was that one week was too long to go without this. Seriously. Never again. Rachel was probably thinking something completely different, or perhaps it was the exact same thought, either way it was made clear that she simply wasn't alright with this pace. Rachel gripped tighter, forcefully holding Quinn closer. The kiss deepened as they explored each other's mouths. Quinn was pretty sure she moaned at one point. Quinn has never before in her life moaned.
Rachel moved her hands over Quinn's shoulders and then down her arms. Quinn, forever a step behind, reached out to do some clutching of her own in response. She moved her hand back and forth from Rachel's tiny waist and hips. She really didn't know where she wanted them to settle. The mind her hands had of their own had an idea, but it was ridiculously too soon for those thoughts. Given this fact, Quinn removed her hands entirely and braced them against the tree. She hoped –but not enough to stop and check– Rachel was okay with being trapped against a tree. (Rachel was.) Quinn didn't exactly have any competent form of thought right now so she didn't have a better word, but she'd go with labeling this as amazing. Really. If kissing her boyfriends would've felt like this, trying to be intimate with Finn and Sam probably would've been a lot easier.
Rachel pulled away first, dropping her head to the side and against the tree. Their breathing was labored as they tried to get it under control. Quinn moved back gently as a slight pain shot through her hands. She could already feel the indentations of the bark on each one of her palms.
"Are you okay?" She asked quietly.
Rachel smiled lazily. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because you're up against a tree. It can't be comfortable."
"Oh." She hadn't actually noticed, but now that it had been brought to her attention, it wasn't exactly comfortable. And she was beginning to wonder if possible insects enjoyed living on it. "Good point." She moved them both forward and away from the possible, living ant farm. "But everywhere that would be more comfortable isn't exactly private."
Quinn watched with a frown as Rachel separated herself and hastily began wiping at her back and combing her fingers through her hair. "My car says otherwise."
Rachel immediately paused in her movements. She could continue making out with Quinn Fabray. In Quinn Fabray's car. Alone. Without any distractions. Surely this was a something several people currently at this party had daydreamed about at one point. Suddenly missing out on a stupid superlative didn't seem all that detrimental and, hey, wasn't she worried about something?
"Is there anything on me?" She went back to wiping herself off. "I feel like there's something on me."
Quinn looked her over once. "Not yet." She muttered.
"Quinn."
"Sorry."
She blinked away her latest reverie and helped brush Rachel off to ensure that there was not in fact anything on her. Then they were off on their mission to get to Quinn's car. They weaved their way through bodies but were eventually stopped by the small group of Sam, Mercedes, and Santana. One looked a little worse for wear. Immature or not, Quinn really wanted to stomp her foot.
"Finally. People we know. You have to do something." Sam implored.
"No, we have nothing to do." Quinn told him easily as she pulled Rachel along but got nowhere since Rachel stayed rooted.
"What's going on?" Rachel questioned her friends sincerely. Quinn sighed but didn't make any protests.
"Satan's doing that thing." Mercedes rolled her eyes offhandedly.
"What thing?" Quinn asked curtly.
"You know," Sam began, "where she randomly cries every couple of minutes over something no one should be crying about."
"She found us, like, twenty minutes ago." Mercedes continued facetiously. "She's been whining about Brittany between her random cry sessions."
Santana came forward, sure to step between Spam and Gravy in order to give them both shoulder bumps. "Lie much, Team Urkel?" She glared at the couple as she finished getting past them and stopped next to Quinn. "I am not whining. That's what you do in life as I'm sure Berry has figured out by now." She Santana-smirked. "Wait, I meant groaning."
Sam stepped up some as he wanted to distract Quinn from whatever it was that had her giving Santana that look of hers that could kill if that sort of thing was possible. "Yeah, so uh…me and Mercedes kinda wanted to go have some alone time." His girlfriend smacked him on the arm. "Do you think you guys could take over Santana-sitting? We'd leave her alone, but there are, like, meth dealers here."
"Please…Please, please." Mercedes begged with a friendly grin.
"But Quinn and I were going to-" Rachel stopped herself and sighed. She glanced at the blonde who didn't look much happier. Well, there's one point against semi-secret relationships.
"Go." Quinn snapped at the couple, causing them to scatter away. Quinn looked over to the quandary that held them there. "What's your problem?"
"Chill." Santana advised plainly. "Ebony and Ivory are losers who are exaggerating. I'm not even that drunk." This would have been more convincing to the other two girls if her face wasn't such a mess.
"Santana, you're clearly going through some sort of emotional turmoil. There's no need to deny it. We're all…teammates here." Rachel gave her a smile.
Santana looked back to Quinn. "Why? Just…her? You're damaged, like, in the head."
"I could say the same thing about you and Brittany."
"Hey. My girlfriend is hot and blonde and innocent yet experienced and awesome. What's your excuse?"
"Santana, I'm still standing here." Rachel interjected.
"Yes, again, why?"
"Why are you crying about Brittany?" Quinn tried pulling Santana's focus back to her. She really wasn't in the mood for any sort of a fight.
"I'm not crying about Brittany." Santana ran a hand over her face tiredly.
Rachel frowned, observing Quinn's concerned look. "Maybe I should give you a minute."
Quinn snapped her attention back over to her. "No."
"Quinn, its fine, really."
She just yanked Rachel closer by the hand before turning back to Santana. "No." She was serious earlier. Rachel wasn't leaving her sight. "Where is Brittany?" Quinn tried asking Santana instead.
Santana shrugged, purposefully dropping her plastic cup to the ground. "Last I saw, she lost her shirt and was dancing with Mike."
"And where was that?"
She looked back up from the ground and glared. "In the grass." Because how obvious was that?
Quinn rolled her eyes before addressing the real problem here that seemingly wasn't going to be leaving Santana any time soon. "You've got all summer. Get over it."
"I don't want all summer." Santana barked. "You two are going off to start your own lesbian version of The Facts of Life which really only means your own version of The Facts of Life. Asia's going to school together, and now Bland's finally got a life. Why do I need to be the one who gets stuck here?"
"Santana, no one says you need to be resigned into staying at home." Rachel tried to assure her. "I don't actually know what your academics are, but I'm sure you have plenty of opportunity. You've always struck me as being rather resourceful. In that inhumane way like lawyers are."
Santana stepped forward in attack mode, prompting Quinn to glare and tuck Rachel behind her. Santana scoffed in reply.
"You can't spend the next three months being burdened about this." Quinn warned. "You'll make everyone else's life hell." Because, really, that's what was important here.
"So?" Santana argued. "You know what? I think I should just find Brittany and tell her what I want."
"Yeah, that's not a good idea."
"You're hooking up with Rachel Berry. Your advice is no longer worth anything." She informed frostily before strutting off to go find Brittany.
Quinn sighed, wondering if they should attempt to follow after her or not. To be fair, Santana was right. Sam and Mercedes were exaggerating. She's seen Santana way more intoxicated than that. "Sorry." She looked over her shoulder to the girl behind her.
Rachel shrugged. "It's Santana." She was more than accustomed to those insults.
"Still."
"Do you really think her telling Brittany what she wants is the wrong thing to do?"
"Santana wants Brittany, and she wants to leave. Right now, she can't have both. What good can come out of that?"
"Maybe you're underestimating them." She leaned up to rest her chin on Quinn's shoulder.
Quinn, oddly, did not mind this action. "Car." She smiled, and Rachel happily began to lead them away once more. They got about four feet.
"Hey, there you guys are." Finn turned them around with Puck. "We've been looking all over for you. Someone set up a shot put ring."
The girls shared a look because who in their right mind, or any mind really, would care about shot put?
"My Zizes is putting everyone to shame. We need cheerios. Where are the other two?" Puck looked around them.
"Busy." Quinn answered bluntly.
Puck shrugged with a grin and grabbed onto Rachel's hand. "Jew Berry will have to do." He yanked her away much to Quinn's chagrin. Finn sent her his I-know-absolutely-nothing smile as they followed after them.
Santana continued on in her own direction, walking through people when they got in her way. She didn't care what Quinn thought. She never should've talked to her about any of this anyway. It's not like they were even that close of friends to begin with. Quinn was a selfish bitch just like she was. It wasn't a great combination. Quinn probably wasn't even listening to her. She was most likely thinking up ways to make Berry into a more acceptable version of a person that was actually tolerable. It was all gross, and Santana really didn't need that in her life.
What Santana needed was to talk to Brittany about her thoughts and fears. Doing so right now was perfect. She was drunk enough to push herself to do this, but not drunk enough for it to be embarrassing. The reality was she was afraid of staying here indefinitely. It didn't seem fair that half the glee club was getting out of here when she wanted that too. Not necessarily forever, but Lima, Ohio wasn't the only place in the world she wanted to experience. She had dreams. Because yeah, Santana Lopez was allowed to dream too.
The problem was that she had no idea how Brittany was going to respond to any of this. It was no secret that Brittany came first. There wasn't even much competition with everything else in Santana's life. Brittany was it for her. So she'd stay here if that's what the girl wanted, she just hoped Brittany could put those desires off for a while.
"Brittany." Santana called out sternly once she found the girl. She was going to be strong here. She was going to stick to her guns, be honest, and not stare at her bra-clad girlfriend's body at all…much.
"San, guess what?" She skipped over. "Some guys just dared me that I couldn't put my leg behind my neck. Proved them wrong." She cheered.
"That's great, B. Can we talk?"
"Okay. What about?"
"Not here." She moved them a few yards away where random bodies weren't suffocating them. "We need to talk about summer."
"What about it? Do you not want to go to the waterpark either because I get why Artie may be a little afraid of rolling his chair down a slide but-"
"No. That's not it."
"Then what?"
Santana sighed at Brittany's innocence. This was going to be one of those conversations where she ended up feeling like an asshole. "You know how you said you wouldn't mind staying in Lima?"
"Sure." Brittany answered easily.
"Well I don't want that. Like, I really don't want that. It scares me. Almost more than anything."
Brittany titled her head quizzically. "Why? We've lived here since forever."
"Because I don't want their lives. I see people here all the time like my mom and dad, and no one is really happy."
"I'm happy."
She smiled a little. "Yeah, but you're special. And everyone should be happy like you, but they're not."
"Does this mean you're not either? Do I not make you happy?" Brittany frowned sadly.
"No, of course you do. But you're the only thing that does. And that's not fair."
"I don't mind." She smiled politely.
Santana reached out to link hands with the blonde. "You know I want to be with you more than anything, right?" Brittany nodded, losing her smile because this was totally starting to sound like one of those serious talks. "And I'm willing to work on being more open. Especially now that this is over with." Santana gestured at the party of drunken losers.
"But you don't want to do it here." Brittany concluded slowly. She felt very lost in this conversation which was weird. She hardly ever felt that way talking to Santana.
"No, that's…If it means us staying together, then I'll go anywhere with you; including staying right here."
"Then I don't understand."
Santana looked for a different approach. "Okay, remember when we were kids and I used to talk about driving down to Mardi Gras after school finished because my dad went to a conference during St. Louis's lame version?"
"Yeah, and then in sixth grade Mrs. Callaway yelled at you when you complained that Hurricane Katrina ruined your plans."
"God, she was such a bitch." Santana sneered at the memory.
"Well she was a hurricane."
"No-" Santana paused in her correction. That wasn't important at the moment, and she didn't want Brittany to get sidetracked further. "Look, I still want to do that. Maybe not Mardi Gras, but I still want to see things. And if I don't do it now, then I never will. That's what happens here."
"That's not true. You can leave whenever you want. Anyone can. It's not a prison."
Santana sighed because that's as sure as hell what it felt like to her most of the time. "I think that's what I want to do this summer. Drive around, go places, and then I'll come back home to you, and we can do whatever you want. It'll be like getting it out of my system or whatever."
"But you'll be missing the last summer with all of our friends."
"Brittany, I don't care about them. I care about you. If I don't leave, then I'm scared you might not even always be able to make me happy."
Brittany waited and thought about all of this for a moment. She never wanted Santana to be scared of anything, but summer was, like, a super long time, and she'd miss her. "So then you really want to do this."
"Yeah, I really do." She paused. "Do you not want me to?"
Brittany shrugged. "I don't want to tell you what to do." That wasn't their relationship. They were cooler than that. "I kinda don't want you to go alone, though."
"Oh, I won't be alone."
Brittany frowned once again. "You know I can't come, right? I've still got school."
Santana smiled, reaching up to twirl Brittany's hair. She loved the fact that Brittany thought she was the confused one for once. "I know." She informed. Santana had plans to threaten Artie, Quinn, and the lesser dumb gleeks into making sure Brittany passes her summer classes.
"Would we be on a break or something?"
Santana squinted at that train of thought. "What? No. We'd talk every day and-"
"Okay." Brittany suddenly smiled. That was the only assurance she really needed. "But we should talk more about this tomorrow. And I want postcards."
"Postcards?"
"Uh-huh. You can send me a postcard from every place you go to, and it will be like I'm there too."
Santana smiled softly. "Deal."
"You should come dance with me."
"I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Cool." Brittany bounced forward to place a kiss on Santana's cheek, and then she was off, heading back over to where a large group had taken up dancing, grinding, whatever.
Santana turned to the opposite direction and walked around for a few minutes in the less active sections of the party. She eventually found who she was looking for sitting on a log in front of the large fire. She sat down next to him, stealing his drink in the process.
Karofsky just gave her a nod. He wouldn't win the argument anyway. "Hey."
"So what are you doing this summer?" She opened her pitch, earning a small frown in return.
Hours later, there was still a setting to describe, but no one could probably do so. And if they could, they definitely didn't want to. Rachel was not one of them. She and Quinn were currently laying down in what Rachel was calling the "music circle." They were still close enough to the bonfire that they weren't in the dark but could no longer necessarily feel the heat. Similarly, they could still hear the beat of the overplayed pop song coming from the speakers, but it wasn't interfering with the natural music coming from their circle.
Their circle was a small group of around fifteen to twenty people with one of the boys playing an acoustic guitar. Given that he was actually talented, upon first seeing him, Rachel wanted to approach him and find out just why he didn't join glee club over the course of high school. He should know that one shouldn't waste talent and that it should be showcased. However, after getting a better look at him, she had realized it was just one of their band members.
"They're butchering 'Bittersweet Symphony'." Rachel quietly spoke to the girl beside her, not wanting to offend anyone.
Quinn giggled. "Maybe you should join them."
"If it could be mine alone, I might consider it."
"The police." A girl's voice in their vicinity suddenly spoke out.
"Oh do you think we can make a request for 'Message in a Bottle'?" Rachel asked excitedly but received no immediate response. She turned her head to the right and found that Quinn was now in a sitting position. "Quinn?" Rachel also sat up slowly to avoid a head rush when she saw Quinn begin standing.
She yanked her completely up. "Come on."
Once Rachel got a better look, it was obvious the police comment had nothing to do with Sting and the other members no one knew the names of. These police were the real ones. The set of flashing lights coming from the distant parking lot told her that. It was clear by the fact that there were only two squad cars that no one was being arrested. Unless the officers had a fetish for being greatly outnumbered, they were only here to scare everyone away. In that respect, they had won. Once "cops" calls were made, everyone had scattered like moths to a flame…or the opposite of that. Rachel did feel bad that all their litter was being left behind, though.
"Blaine!" Rachel stopped, causing Quinn to jerk back as she saw her friend.
He jogged over to them. "I don't know where Kurt went."
"We need to go." Quinn reminded because with their stationary position, they could end up being trampled or something. She looked to Blaine. "Are you coming?"
He nodded, and they took off with the rest of the guests heading for the parking lot. Well, for the moment at least.
"No." Quinn stopped them again, pulling Rachel and, by default, Blaine in another direction. "I didn't park there."
By the time she had arrived, parking was filled so Quinn had to park much farther away on open grass that was actually a designed space for when there were no more spots available. Along with her car, there were only about eight total cars in the section. The only problem was it was basically pitch black.
"Oh this would've been private." Rachel noted as they finally found their way to Quinn's car.
"You're thinking about that now?" Quinn asked teasingly, unlocking the doors.
"Right. Priorities. We should be focused on running from the law."
The three entered the car and got situated. Seatbelts clicked on as Rachel reminded them. Then Quinn was starting the engine, and as Rachel pointed out, they were off.
"Blaine, text Kurt and find out where he is." Rachel ordered over her shoulder. "We should know if everyone got out okay." She looked back over at Quinn. "This is exciting. We should do this more often."
Quinn laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure there's a nice liquor store we can knock over somewhere."
"Only if you feel confident in your getaway skills."
"Of course. They're mad skills." She joked.
"Kurt's fine. He's with Finn and Brittany." Blaine informed from behind them. "They wanna go to Wendy's."
Quinn shot Rachel a questioning look and then was given her answer.
"To Wendy's." Rachel announced, causing Quinn to shake her head playfully.
Blaine and Rachel got in contact with everyone else mostly to find out if anyone got left behind but also to find out what Wendy's Kurt had texted about. None of them had spent much time in this part of town. Anyway, Mercedes somehow got both Mike and Artie in her car while Tina escaped with Sam in hers. Karofsky left with Santana, and Puck and Lauren left certain items back at the park but were safely speeding away on the road as Lauren supposedly once moonlighted as a stunt woman. After they all drove in circle for a while, Finn eventually found a Wendy's in the area on his phone that was open until 2:00am.
The Wendy's was mostly empty. Aside from whoever was working in the drive-thru and back in the "kitchens", there were only two employees to be seen. A single cashier about their age who was busy doing something on her phone and a custodian mopping up the floor. Neither seemed to appreciate the sudden increase in customers probably because half of them were still loudly under the influence, but who cares about them. It was one of the nicer Wendy's in the world and had a (now empty) salad bar along with actual booths to sit in. They filled up one of the party booths in front of three tables, a couple of them doubling up. Brittany sat in Artie's lap while Santana took residence on Karofsky. Rachel seemed to take a liking to this approach and unnecessarily sat on Quinn's lap seeing as there was an extra chair. Rachel still had her adorably hyper buzz on, and Quinn was honestly too tired to care much. Besides, no one else was saying anything anyway.
"Can someone please explain to me why Wendy's was the place of choice?" Mercedes asked once she was comfortable in the plastic chair she got stuck sitting in.
"Why do you care?" Santana shot back across the tables. "Isn't fast food like your diet of choice?"
"Because Frostys and French fries are the greatest combination ever." Finn defended the decision he and Brittany had made in the car.
"Yeah." Brittany nodded in agreement. "Two things that you wouldn't think would go together but are actually perfect when they do. I think we can all get that." She shrugged. "It's like all of us together in glee."
"That was nice, B." Santana sent a smile down to the girl.
"Yeah." Artie agreed with the Brittany-sentiment. "Frostys and fries for everyone."
"Well, actually, I don't believe I can consume anything on their menu so I think-" Rachel began but was interrupted.
"Do you think you'll learn how to talk like a normal person in college?" Santana asked her plainly.
"Not likely. She will be in the theatre department after all." Kurt reminded.
"Santana, you've been known to add an S onto words that do not require them." Rachel chided. "You're in no position to judge the fact that I'm articulate. Besides, Kurt," she looked purposely at her friend, "I'll need that skill once on stage."
Kurt just shifted his eyes down to the girl she was sitting on. "I'm blaming this on you. From now on, every time she does something I don't like, it's your fault."
Quinn ignored him and instead looked back up, nudging Rachel for her attention. "You really don't want anything?"
Rachel smiled, resulting in two of the knowing members to roll their eyes. "I'll have an iced tea."
Finn leaned over to talk quietly with Puck. "I think someone's had a little too much to drink." Rachel was a really touchy-feely drunk. It was still cute not to mention creepily imposing. He kinda wondered why Quinn didn't seem madder.
Puck laughed, patting Finn on the arm. "I don't think that's it, man."
Those who actually ended up going in on the Frosty and fries combinations passed their money over to Mike and Sam so the two could make the orders. The boys waited as their lovely cashier took twice as long as it should; as did whoever it was who was getting their day-old fries. Once Mike had the cardboard trays holding all the Frostys and Sam had the plastic trays with all the fries, they proved not to have a future career in waitressing and very carefully (slowly) brought everything back over to their tables. Those who had never had the odd combination frowned and split their opinion on if it actually tasted good or not. Before it was all said and done, they were all –unfortunately– privy to witnessing an eating race between Puck and Finn. While most were grossed out, Lauren just laughed at the "amateurs."
"No, I'm serious. Let me finish." Santana calmed them down as she continued the story she had been trying to tell since the group discussion had started about ten minutes ago now. "So I walk into the teacher's lounge, right, and no one was supposed to be there because it was in the middle of a morning period."
"Why were you there to begin with?" Sam interrupted.
"To add food coloring to Miss Pillsbury's lunch."
"So then you've always been like the devil?" Blaine joked.
"Shut up. She kept scheduling me for sessions that whole month to work on my 'attitude'." Santana air-quoted.
"Clearly it worked." Quinn whispered to Rachel, earning a small laugh.
"She thought San was getting into too many fights, but Santana wouldn't have kept punching people in the face if they didn't keep calling me stupid." Brittany explained to the table.
"Yeah, and anyway," Santana continued, "I go in there, and what do I find?"
"What?" Puck asked, fully enthralled.
"Coach Tanaka in the fridge basically rubbing himself with the Tupperware containers of the very lunch I was going to attack." She snickered. "I left 'cause I figured that was more than enough punishment."
Tina shuddered under Mike's arm. "That's gross."
"Seriously." He agreed. "I'm gonna have to rethink my first two years of football."
"Where was he rubbing himself?" Puck stopped himself, grimacing. "Wait, you know what, I don't want to know."
"Relax, it wasn't X-rated." Santana informed.
"Still gross." Tina repeated.
"That's your greatest high school memory?" Karofsky asked Santana.
She looked down over her shoulder. "No, I said it was the funniest. And only for that year. Especially after I figured out Pillhead had some psycho school girl crush on Schuester a few weeks later. But that's another story."
"That wasn't funny. It wasn't great either." Finn complained.
"Then what's your funniest, greatest, stupidest memory?" Artie asked him lightheartedly.
Santana rolled her eyes and cut in. "Well his funniest was when Rachel's face did something that one time and stuff happened. His greatest was obviously yours truly. And his stupidest was every morning he woke up to live another day. On second thought, that last one might be mine."
"Funny, I thought it would've been that time you were actually likeable. Oh, wait." Mercedes frowned mockingly.
Santana opened her mouth to retort with an insult, but Lauren was cutting her off. "Actually, her dumbest moment was probably trying to challenge me to a fight."
Kurt sighed. "I missed so much while away at Dalton." He looked to Blaine next to him. "That may have very well qualified as my own funniest memory."
Blaine shrugged. "At least we heard about it in great detail."
"Whatever. Human Tubbington aside, I could take any one of you. Right, Q?" Santana smirked.
"Why does she always attack me in these situations?" Quinn complained.
"Easy target?" Puck offered as an explanation. "What? You're like the girliest chick in the history of ever. The only one who might give you a challenge for that title is sitting on your lap. And even if she's smaller, I'd totally take Rachel in a fight over you."
"She is spunky." Mike observed.
"Yeah, but Quinn's scarier in a threatening way." Artie reminded them. "Rachel's scary in an annoying, I-wanna-get-away-from-you way."
"Well, unfortunately for all of you, Quinn and I are a team now." Rachel lifted her chin. "With her unwavering glare and my admittedly delectable tenacity, we'd conquer every one of you save for Lauren of course."
"You just made that sound sexual." Puck leered at the pair. "I like it."
"You'll think everything they say from now on is sexual." Santana told him, earning quite a lot of frowns as everyone tried to work that out in their mind.
Quinn sent the girl one of those supposed unwavering glares before swiftly kicking Finn in the shin.
"Ouch."
"Did you think of anything yet?" Quinn asked him, hoping for a distraction.
He shrugged. "Um…Probably doing 'Don't Stop Believin' the first time. That was when everything changed for me and stuff, ya know? It'd definitely be my greatest."
Santana shook her head. Spying on that the first time was bad enough. At least the Regionals performance gave her a few lines to make it worth listening to. "I swear to God, if you start singing-"
"Just a small town girl." Finn began clearly in spite of Santana, singing it extra poorly. This did three things: Confuse and annoy the Wendy's employees further, cause crumpled napkins and fry containers to be thrown at the boy singing, and make Rachel to sit up straighter in Quinn's lap. "Living in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going anywhere."
"Just a city boy." Rachel (not at all poorly) joined in for her part that she had been waiting for, getting groans from just about everyone who wasn't Finn. "Born and raised in South Detroit. He took midnight train going anywhere." She quickly pointed at who she wanted to be the next in line. "Mercedes!"
"Yeah, no." The girl chuckled, putting a halt to this mess. "You guys can kill that song in a fiery death yourselves. What we should be singing is 'And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going'."
"We should do 'Run, Joey, Run'." Rachel said eagerly. She was given a few looks because that was seriously the worst thing they've ever done, and her obsession was still weird.
"The best thing we ever did was 'Don't Stop'." Sam continued the discussion.
"That's just your favorite." Mike told him "You weren't even here for our first year."
"You didn't even talk our first year." Santana replied before sitting back with a smile. "'Valerie' is clearly where it's at."
"Guys, you're all wrong." Artie interrupted. "It's totally 'Somebody to Love'."
After a few more cut-ups –not to mention pieces of trash– were thrown around, New Directions' former (and only) members began singing songs from their past performances over the last three years to prove their points. There was also several arguments coming up in the middle of lyrics on what was wrong with the song whether it be at the moment or originally. In some ways it was a microcosm of what glee had always been. Now all they needed was a declaration of love and a couple of breakups on the side. Quinn chuckled for a moment. She honestly wouldn't be surprised if any of that happened by night's end.
"You okay?" Rachel pulled Quinn's attention back up to her. She didn't want to worry why Quinn wasn't joining in their fun discussion.
Quinn smiled slowly as she nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."
Odd part? There were no denials. She was pretty sure she actually meant it. Quinn wouldn't mind the rest of her time in Lima being exactly like and as carefree as this.