Part 25

They went out to explore the city. First stop was Times Square. Rachel almost bought tickets to see Cats because, for some reason, her over-excitement of being in New York City made her completely forgot that Cats was no longer showing in Broadway. Luckily Quinn was there to stop her from giving her credit card to the sleazy looking guy. Later, they went to Washington Square Park and sat around the central fountain. Brittany had been taking pictures the whole day, and unbeknownst to them, they were some of her favorite subjects, apart from Santana. There was a picture of Rachel lying next to the fountain and Quinn was looking at her lovingly. They walked all the way to Central Park, which was about an hour walk. When they were walking through Central Park, Brittany took a picture of Quinn with her arm around Rachel. That was the first time that all the Glee Club members saw them being touchy-feely with each other. Puck looked like he just won the lottery, Finn looked sullen, Mercedes and Kurt smiled happily, and Santana just looked annoyed. Brittany was excitedly taking pictures and the rest were mostly amused to see Quinn acting so gentle with Rachel while Rachel looking so smitten with Quinn. It was a bit of getting used to, but they were all accepting in the end. Quinn bought some flowers for Rachel to cheer her up because she was unhappy to see all the horse carriages, but she loved the police horses. She approached one of them and even got Quinn to also talk to the horse.

They were just hanging around at the park when Quinn told her that she had to leave.

"Hey, I have to go off somewhere."

"Where?" Rachel looked at her incredulously.

"Somewhere," Quinn got defensive.

"What's with the secretive?"

"I'm not being secretive. There's just something that I have to do."

"Go ahead," Rachel's tone was a bit venomous, "You don't owe it to me to tell me everything anyway. It's not like we're … whatever."

"Yeah," Quinn looked guilty for a bit, but she shook it off. "Sorry, but I'll see you later."

Quinn exchanged looks with Mercedes and Kurt and they quickly took over the spots next to Rachel on the bench. Rachel glared at Quinn's retreating back, but she decided to put Quinn out of her mind; she still had a lot to explore.

They were on their way back to the hotel. Rachel had a lot of fun exploring the city with the others. Finn's mood lifted when he saw Quinn left and he had been spending most of the time walking next to Rachel. But Kurt and Mercedes were always nearby.

"Hey, I was thinking that, you know, maybe we can have dinner tonight or something?"

Rachel didn't know what to say, but then she thought that she had no dinner plan anyway and Quinn had left her to do who knows what. She was about to say 'yes' when Mercedes answered for her, "Sorry Finn, she already has dinner plan tonight."

"I do?" Rachel was confused.

Mercedes nodded and pulled her away from Finn. They were already at the hotel anyway. When they walked into the room, there was a dress on the bed with a note to Rachel.

'Your ride will be waiting at the lobby at 7:30.'

Kurt had followed them into the girls' room and he was looking at Rachel's reaction the whole time.

She turned to Kurt, "Is this …?" She was speechless.

"Yep," Kurt answered.

He knew that Rachel was asking if that was the dress that she showed to Kurt the last time they went to the mall. She wanted to buy it but it was a bit pricey and she wasn't sure if her dads would be okay with it. She thought of asking them to buy it in their next mall trip. But she didn't need that anymore, the dress she had been eyeing for almost a year was right in front of her.

"Come on! We don't have much time. Mercedes will do your hair and I will do your make up. Go, take a shower!" Kurt was pushing her into the bathroom. Rachel was still confused with the whole thing.

Twenty minutes later, she got out of the shower and put on the dress. Mercedes started working on her hair and Kurt took out the make-up kit that Tina had brought. Only a few minutes left before 7:30 and Kurt was putting the finishing touch.

"I can't believe that she got you guys to do this."

"You know how Quinn can be persuasive. Besides she only asked us to keep you preoccupied, but I volunteered to do your make up," Kurt said.

"And I volunteered to do your hair," Mercedes said.

"When did she buy this dress?"

"One day after school, she approached me, asking if I have any idea of what kind of dress that you would like and …" Kurt didn't need to finish the sentence.

"I feel really bad for being angry at her. I thought she just left me to do something else without me," Rachel pouted.

"I'm sure you can find some ways to apologize," Kurt teased and made Rachel blushed.

"So are you two dating? Girlfriends?" Mercedes asked curiously.

"I guess we are dating, but we haven't declared anything yet."

"What are you waiting for? She's clearly in love with you. I didn't see it before; you two were pretty good at hiding it in school. But today, it's like I'm seeing a whole new Quinn."

"Yeah Rachel, even though Quinn didn't tell me before, I did notice little things. She's happier; I could see it in her eyes, even if she looked conflicted at times. At least now I understood why. And seeing you two today, I feel like you've brought out the best in her for everyone else to see. I think you two are good for each other," Mercedes added.

Rachel's eyes were brimming with tears. "Hey, no time for that, besides you're going to ruin your make-up. It's almost 7:30. Come on, put on your shoes."

Rachel put on her shoes and grabbed her handbag.

"Good luck!"

"Have fun!"

She quickly made her way to the lobby. She thought that Quinn would be waiting there, but instead she saw a guy holding out a sign that said 'Rachel Berry'. She approached him.

"Hi, I'm Rachel Berry."

He looked at his phone to check if the picture matched the person. Once it's confirmed, he said, "Please follow me."

He took her out to a waiting limo and opened the door for her.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know. You're supposed to tell me. Here's a note for you."

He took out a note from his pocket and gave it to her.

'Meet me at the top of Empire State Building.'

Rachel chuckled at Quinn's reference to one of their chat sessions.

"So where are we going miss?"

"Empire State Building please."

She entered the limo and looked at the note again, and realized that Quinn had also left a ticket to get to the main deck in the envelope. Rachel felt like she was living the life of a New York socialite. Quinn was pampering her too much, she needed to remind Quinn about this, because she might get too use to it.

It was a very short drive from the hotel. The driver opened her door and she felt very anxious as she stepped out of the limo. She looked up to see the grandeur of Empire State Building. Her ticket took her straight to the main deck. She walked out of the elevator and looked around but Quinn wasn't there. There were quite a few people as it was a Friday night. She walked out into the outdoor observatory area and turned right. She walked slowly, trying to find that familiar face, and Quinn wasn't hard to spot, she was wearing a red coat after all.

She walked over to Quinn who was looking at something in the distance.

"Hi," Rachel said shyly.

Quinn turned around and Rachel's sight caught her breath.

"Hi," she said breathlessly.

Quinn was wearing a little black dress. She let her wavy hair flowed around her face, and she had just a touch of make-up, just enough to accentuate her feature. Rachel was completely enamored by Quinn's beauty. Quinn was holding a red rose and she handed it to Rachel. Rachel took hold of it and she was so overwhelmed with emotions that she grabbed Quinn's neck and pulled her down for a passionate kiss, which Quinn returned for a few seconds but she quickly pulled away because they were surrounded by people.

"Sorry, I can't help myself. You're just too perfect," Rachel gushed.

Quinn smiled shyly, "I'm not, but thank you anyway."

They tried to avoid strangers' eyes, some were confused that two beautiful girls were kissing each other, some were amused and some were smiling proudly at them. They held hand while they watched the sunset.

"It's so beautiful. Can we stay here?"

"Well, they're closing at 2. So we can stay until then. But at 2, we'll probably have fast food for dinner," Quinn joked.

"At this moment, we can have McDonald and I don't care."

"Really? Because I do have this restaurant booking at 8.30. Let me cancel then."

"What? No!"

Quinn laughed and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Come on. You'll see more of this in a year's time."

The limo took them to East 79th Street and Lexington Avenue. Rachel got out and looked at the restaurant.

"Well, according to PETA, this is the best vegan restaurant in the city," Quinn pointed to Candle 79.

"Quinn, you have to stop pampering me. It might go to my head and I'll be too demanding later," Rachel almost whined. "Besides, how am I supposed to top this date with you?"

"I'm sure you can think of something," she whispered to Rachel's ear seductively.

Rachel was in vegan heaven. She even thought the food was as good or might be even better than her dads' cooking, but of course she won't tell them that.

Quinn had been very nervous the whole night, even though she tried not to show it. From the moment she left Rachel at the park, she was worried that something would go wrong, but so far, everything had been perfect. That dreaded feeling that she felt from the morning had ebb away. At the moment, she was having a romantic dinner with Rachel in one of the posh restaurants in New York City. She wanted to impress Rachel so much. She knew she would be in trouble once she's back in Lima. Her mother had given her a credit card for emergency use, and she had used almost $500 for tonight alone. She would make it up during summer. She would convince her mom that she would work at Dairy Queen or something to pay back for all this. But right now, she didn't want to think about all that. Rachel was excitedly talking about her last visit to New York, which happened to be when she was 12. Her dads took her to see The Lion King on Broadway. Quinn wished that they have enough time to see a Broadway show but their schedule was pretty tight.

Suddenly Rachel was panicking, "Oh My God Quinn! Bernadette Peters is here." Quinn wanted to turn around. "No don't turn around. What should I do? Oh no, she's walking this way. Quinn, what should I do?"

Quinn wanted to laugh and frown at Rachel's mild panic attack. She turned around just as Bernadette Peters was about to pass them. She stood up, "Hi Ms Bernadette. Sorry to bother you, but my …" Quinn looked at Rachel and wondered how she should introduce her, "umm, friend here really admire you. She's an aspiring Broadway actress."

Rachel stood up shakily and shook her hand, "Hi, it's an honor to shake hand with you."

"Oh darling, you're so sweet. Thank you. I hope I'll be around long enough to meet you again on the Broadway stage."

Rachel smiled broadly. After Bernadette Peters left, Quinn looked at her, "Is this how you're going to be every time you meet someone famous."

Rachel winced, "Maybe. Sorry, I must have embarrassed you."

"No, not at all, I think it's cute."

"You only said that because you like me."

Quinn chuckled, "Maybe."

After dinner, they got back into the limo for a ride around the city.

"How long do we have this limo?"

"Until 11:30."

"It's only 10:15. So where are we going next?"

"We'll drive around the city, then he'll drop us off at Central Park and we can walk back to the hotel."

"Ooh, that's perfect."

Rachel linked her arm with Quinn and scooted closer. The both enjoyed the view quietly. The view of New York City at night was really breathtaking. Then Rachel got distracted with all the buttons in the limo. She found the button to open the roof of the limo. She pulled Quinn with her and they both had half their bodies out of the car. To onlookers, it looked like two girls having a fun night out, which was true. After about 15 minutes, they felt a bit chilly. So they closed the roof and settled back down in the limo.

"You really know a way to a girl's heart," Rachel teased. "But Quinn, all of this must have cost a fortune."

"Don't worry about it. It's once in a while thing anyway. But just so you know, I might have no time for you this summer; I might have to do some slave labor," Quinn joked.

Rachel pouted and leaned her head on Quinn's shoulder. She looked at the divider between the driver and the passenger part of the limo. The divider was up.

"Can he see or hear us?"

"No."

"What's the time?"

"We have 15 minutes left." Rachel turned to look at Quinn deviously. "What's that look for?"

Rachel didn't answer; instead she straddled Quinn and kissed her roughly. Their passions ignited so easily. Quinn was wearing her coat and it felt rather hot. Rachel helped her got out the coat and Quinn got rid of Rachel's scarf. Rachel's hand lingered on the zipper of the back of Quinn's dress. She felt bold and slowly unzipped it. She didn't unzip it all the way, but enough to sneak her hand in. Quinn had also unzipped the back of Rachel's dress and sneaked her hand in while the other hand was slowly massaging Rachel's back. It took them a while to realize that the driver was knocking on the window. They quickly zipped back up, and then Quinn pushed the button to lower the window.

"We're at Central Park."

"Oh, okay. Thank you Zed."

He opened the door to let them out.

"Thank you for your service tonight," Rachel said politely.

He smiled sheepishly. Quinn gave him the tips; he kind of bowed his head, "Have fun girls!"

Rachel interlinked their fingers and they walked slowly through Central Park back to the hotel, which was about 30 minutes walking distance. They didn't say much, just enjoying each other's company.

They were now standing in front of their room but both not wanting to go in and end the date. Quinn leaned on the wall and Rachel wrapped her hands around Quinn's neck. It was after midnight, so the hallway was empty.

"Quinn, I had the best night of my life. Seriously, this is now in the top spot," Rachel stressed the 'top'.

"So where does Cedar Point stand now?"

Rachel thought, "Probably third spot."

"What's in the second spot?"

"Well it can't all be about you," Rachel smirked and Quinn laughed.

"I had the best time of my life too. I just wish that we would walk into an empty room."

"And then what?" Rachel smiled playfully.

Quinn blushed and looked at the floor, "I don't know. Danger zone, I suppose." She looked back at Rachel and played with her hair. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?"

"No, but please continue."

Quinn laughed but then her tone became serious, "Rachel, I think you're an angel. You're my angel. You save me, time and time again." Then Quinn looked at her sadly, "I am so sorry."

"Quinn it's okay. I've forgiven you."

"No, not that. Wait, you've forgiven me?"

Rachel nodded lightly.

Quinn smiled, "Thank you. But what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry I didn't realize this sooner. It feels like we've wasted too much time and energy hating, or not liking each other. You're the most beautiful person I know and I'm sorry for taking this long to say this to you."

She leaned down to kiss Rachel, slowly and passionately. This time the kiss wasn't about uncontrollable hormones, but to convey their feelings for each other. Unfortunately, that was also the time that Finn decided to get some ice. The boys' room was opposite the girls' room. When he opened the door, he was too shocked to move after seeing the sight of his two ex-girlfriends kissing each other. They instantly stopped and looked at him.

He didn't know where to look. "Sorry." Then he hastily got back inside the room.

Rachel and Quinn both sighed. Then Quinn opened the door to their room and they walked into the sight of all of them watching an R-rated movie.

"Hey girls! We want to hear all about your date, but after this movie," Mercedes was too engrossed with the movie that she only gave them a glance.

"What movie is this?"

"Basic Instinct."

"Oookay, I'm going to bed," Quinn said.

Both Quinn and Rachel got ready for bed, separately of course. The movie ended not that long afterwards.

"I'm too sleepy now," Mercedes said while yawning, "So you have to tell us tomorrow."

They wanted to say no but kept quiet and hoped that they would forget about it tomorrow. Everybody had lied down on their beds. Rachel and Quinn looked at Lauren who was already lying in the middle of the bed.

"Can you move to the side?" Quinn asked annoyed.

"No."

"Well, where are we going to sleep then?"

"On either side of me. You don't think I'm going to let you two sleep next to each other, are you? I need my beauty sleep," Lauren closed her eyes.

Quinn wanted to protest but Rachel softly touched her arm. "Okay, I'll take the right side," and she lied down on the bed.

"Quinn, you're the last one standing, turn off the lights," Santana ordered.

Quinn glared at her and saw that Santana and Brittany were cuddling. Santana looked at her triumphantly. She took a deep breath to calm herself, turned off the lights and made her way to her left side of the bed. She turned to her side and grumbled. Then Rachel leaned over Lauren and said, "Good night Quinn."

"Hey, stay on your side," Lauren barked.

Rachel lied back down on the bed. "Good night Rachel," Quinn almost whispered.

The room was quiet for a few minutes, but then they heard the sound of lips smacking.

"Rachel, Quinn, stop making out. We need some sleep," Mercedes said loudly.

"It wasn't us. How can we with Lauren in the middle?" Rachel said annoyed.

Then they heard giggling from the other bed.

"Brittany, Santana, quit it."

"Hush Wheezy. Go to sleep."

Finally the room went quiet.