Here's the next chapter! Thank you for being so patient with the update and thank you for the reviews.
I don't own the song used in this chapter.
"You are being completely unfair!"
Judy huffs and places down the flowers she was sorting out. She glares at her daughter across the counter and wipes her hands on her apron. "I don't see how."
"You won't let me go to my Senior Prom!"
"You made a promise, Quinn. You promised me you would help out with the florist shop. A Fabray never breaks their promise."
Quinn rubs a hand over her eye in frustration. She huffs angrily and places her hands on her hips. She was really hoping this didn't happen. She just wanted to have her Mum allow her to go to her Senior Prom with her girlfriend.
"I know! But this is the last ever High School Prom I will get Mum. And it's with my first serious girlfriend!"
Judy sighs and sits down on a nearby stool in exasperation. "I know that sweetheart. But you made a promise. When have your Father and I ever broken a promise made to you?"
Quinn deflates at Judy's words. She, too, also sits down. Her fingers lazily run over the daisy petals resting on the kitchen counter. "You haven't." She admits. She knew she lost this battle as soon as she brought it up. But Quinn's stubborn and wasn't going to back down without a fight.
"Exactly. Now, have you told Rachel yet?"
"No."
"Prom is a week away Quinn, you need to tell her."
Quinn rubs the back of her neck and nods. "I know, but I'm scared. What if she hates me for it? This would have been the first Prom she'll attend with an actual date."
"I'm sure Rachel will understand."
Quinn focuses her attention on the daisies sitting on the counter top. She gently pulls off one of the petals and sighs softly. "I hope so."
Quinn cowers into a corner as her girlfriend charges towards her, her face red with anger. She can see the hint of tears forming at the corner of Rachel's eyes and her heart breaks for her.
"You can't go!" Rachel shouts, pointing a finger in Quinn's face. "You're telling me one week before Prom that you can't go!"
Quinn whimpers and steps backwards. She trips on a stool and stumbles into the corner. She quickly catches herself. "I'm sorry."
"That's not good enough!" Rachel screams. "Why are you telling me now? Are you ashamed to be seen with me?"
Rachel's hands begin to scratch at her nose. Quinn's eyes widen at the action and she immediately stops being frightened. Rachel hasn't scratched at her face or hands in months, and now, because of Quinn, her insecurities are coming back.
Quinn rushes forward and grabs hold of Rachel's hands. "No of course I'm not!" She exclaims. "I love you so much Rachel, I can't believe you would even think that."
Rachel sniffs and removes her hands from Quinn's grip. "Can you blame me? You're the most beautiful girl in school, Quinn and I was so excited that I got to go to Prom with you, not the cheerleader, or the jocks but me. Boring old, obnoxious and loud Rachel Berry. And now you tell me you're telling me you can't go. It hurts, Quinn."
"I'm sorry." Quinn whispers. She steps towards Rachel cautiously. Happy that the girl didn't step away from her, Quinn pulls Rachel in her arms and places her chin on top of Rachel's head. She her feels Rachel's tears seep into her shirt and her heart only break further for her girlfriend.
"I want you to remember something, Rach. Never, ever will I be ashamed to be seen with you. I will proudly walk down this hallway and through these streets with your hand in mine. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, okay?"
She feels Rachel nod against her shirt.
"The reason I can't go is because I'm helping Mum out with her florist. It's her opening the next day and she needs me to help her sort through the shop."
Rachel pulls back from Quinn. "Are you telling the truth?"
"I am."
Rachel chuckles and wipes at her eyes. "I feel so stupid."
"You're not stupid. I was stupid by not telling you sooner. I'm so sad I won't get to see you in your surely beautiful dress."
"I'm sad I won't get to see you looking beautiful as ever." Rachel says, grabbing hold of Quinn's hands.
Quinn smiles. "I'm sure Puck will love to walk into that room with you on his arm. You'll be the prettiest girl there." Quinn pulls Rachel closer to her and releases their hands to place her own on Rachel's hips. "Though, to me, you are always the prettiest girl." She says, smiling sweetly at Rachel.
Rachel blushes and giggles shyly at Quinn's comments. She presses a soft kiss to Quinn's lips. "I'll go ask Puck." Rachel says, a smile gracing her features before she skips away from Quinn's arms.
Rachel pauses by the door and turns to Quinn. "Oh, I almost forgot." She skips back over to Quinn and kisses her again. "I love you too." She whispers before bouncing away once again.
"I've been thinking."
"That's new." Quinn says dryly as she flicks through the channels on their TV.
"Don't mouth off to me Young Lady, you're not too young to be grounded." Judy scolds.
"Sorry."
Judy nods and sits down. "As I was saying, I've been thinking about the whole Prom thing."
Quinn switches off the TV and gives Judy her full attention. "What about it?"
"I was a little harsh on you. It's not fair for me to keep you from having your senior prom."
"You're letting me go?" Quinn asks, becoming excited.
"No." Judy says, causing Quinn to deflate. "But, I you can still have your prom...here. In our backgarden. We can have fairy lights and music and punch and you and Rachel can have your first dance together as a proper couple at your own private prom."
There's silence.
Until Quinn lets out a loud squeal and jumps into her Mum's arms. "That's an amazing idea, Mum! Rachel's going to absolutely love it!"
"I don't think we should inform Rachel of this, we should leave it as a surprise. We'll leave the shop at ten and hopefully, together, we can set it all up in time for Rachel."
"How are we going to do this?" Quinn asks, her excitement coming back. She gets off Judy's lap and sits back down on the settee.
"Well, we're going to need a little help."
Quinn awkwardly approaches Puck's locker, her eyes fixed on the wall behind his head. He hasn't noticed yet, his eyes locked on his history book as he tries to figure out when he took History.
"Hey."
Puck looks up from his book and looks over at Quinn in shock. He slowly places his book back and shuts his locker. "Oh, Hey Quinn."
"I was wondering if I could ask you something."
"Sure."
"At Prom on Friday, I need you to distract Rachel until 11:55. If she becomes bored, get her to dance more, if she asks to come home, refuse. However, when it's 11:55, you have to take her away from Prom and give her strict instructions to knock on my door. Drag her out kicking and screaming if you have to."
"Okay."
Quinn looks at him in surprise. "You're not going to question it?"
Puck shrugs with a smile. "I figured if you're so hell-bent on getting her to your house at such a specific time, it must be for a good reason."
"Thank you. I couldn't ask Finn-I don't trust him to not try anything with her."
"Even after he apologised?"
Quinn nods, a small smile gracing her features. "He may have apologised, but I know he's not over Rachel. It's hard to try and fall out of love with her-trust me, I've been unintentionally trying for year." With that, Quinn saunters off to her lesson, leaving Puck standing with a soft, happy smile on his face.
Prom Night – Outside the Berry Residence - 8:00
Puck shifts awkwardly on the Berry doorstep. He holds a Gardenia corsage in his hand, an item Quinn told him to get specifically. His hand plays with his purple tie, loosening the tight hold it has on his neck a little. Satisfied with his now loosened tie, Puck knocks on the solid door in front of him.
The door swiftly opens, revealing the two Berry men. Leroy glares at Puck, his arms crossed tightly over his chest in an intimidating way. Puck gulps slightly, feeling slightly scared under the taller man's hard gaze.
"Hey Mr Berry and Mr Berry."
"Hello Noah, Rachel's just finishing." Hiram replies with a smile.
Judy informed both the Berry Men of her and Quinn's plan and quite frankly, he's ecstatic and extremely happy that Puck is helping out. He's also happy that her gets to help out as well. Both he and Leroy are under strict instructions from Judy to not allow Rachel in their home if she disobeys Puck and to direct her to the Fabray garden. Leroy's just as excited, but like every father, he just wants to intimidate Puck.
Leroy doesn't give Puck a greeting. IN fact, his gaze seems to deepen at Hiram's greeting towards the mohawked boy.
"Daddy, you've known Noah since we were in first grade, no need to intimidate him." Rachel says, moving her Daddy away from the scared Puck. She silently scolds her larger father and finally turns to Puck with a smile.
Puck's mouth falls open at Rachel's elegant, strapless pink dress. "Whoa." He breathes out. "If you weren't with Q, I would so be jumping-" Puck stops his sentence at the glare Leroy sends over Rachel's shoulder.
Rachel only giggles. "Thank you, Noah. You don't look to bad yourself."
Puck's fear evaporates at Rachel's words and his trademark smug smile pulls up onto his face. "Babe, I look smoking." He says with a teasing smile.
He glances down at the corsage in his hand and holds it out to Rachel. "A little 'I'm sorry' present from Quinn." He says, placing the corsage on Rachel's hand.
Rachel grins and steps out onto the porch. "Thank you."
Puck smiles and holds out his arm to Rachel. "Shall we?" He asks, sweeping his free arm out dramatically.
"Have fun!" Hiram calls out, whilst Leroy stays silent. Rachel waves goodbye to her fathers as Puck takes her over to a Limo that Quinn had hired out.
As soon as the duo are out of sight, Leroy breaks his stance and instantly brightens. He closes the door and turns to his husband with a beaming smile that rivals that of his daughter's.
"Rachel is going to love tonight!" He says excitedly, following Hiram into the living room.
Hiram chuckles. "Indeed she will. If she doesn't, then we'll slap some sense into her. Quinn definitely knows how to woo a woman."
Judy's Florist Shop – 9:00
Quinn groans as she turns another page of the large stack of paper work that Judy placed in front of her. She rubs tiredly at her eyes and begins to sign the bottom of the page. She can feel her hand slowly start to cramp up, but doesn't stop. They need to finish this all by 10:00 and Quinn's only gotten a quarter of the way through.
"I don't understand why I need to sign this." Quinn calls out to Judy who's in the back room, sorting through their stock.
Judy sits crossed legged on the floor, frowning at the box sat in front of her. A price sticker machine rests loosely in her hand as she examines the box with the many vases they will have to sale along with the flowers.
"This is not the right box." Judy mutters to herself. She pushes the box away with her feet and tugs over another.
"Mum!"
"What?" Judy grins when she opens up the box and finds the correct vases in there. She begins to remove them from the box and place them carefully on the floor.
"I don't understand why I have to sign all of this."
"It's just in case something happens to me." She calls back.
With a excited grin, Judy begins to place the price stickers on the vases. She soon figures out that she can make her own little tune with the sticker machine. Before she knows it, she's placed stickers on stock boxes she has yet to open.
"What would happen if that does...happen?"
Judy jumps at how close Quinn is to her, not having noticed Quinn huffing and getting up from her place at the table. She spins round on her bum to face her daughter. At Quinn's questioning looks as her hazel eyes dart over the wrongly priced boxes, Judy grins sheepishly.
"I got carried away..."
"I can see that."
"What the papers say is that if anything does happen to me then you'll get full ownership of the shop. However, if you wish to, you can higher whoever you like to care for the shop whilst you're having fun in New York with Rachel and excelling in your dream."
Judy gets up from the floor, wincing at the pin and needles tingling in her foot. She twists her hip, sighing when she hears a satisfying click of her back.
"You really think I'll go to New York with Rachel?" Quinn asks, feeling slightly insecure.
Judy grins. "I know so. I also know that even if you didn't - which wouldn't happen – you would follow that girl to the edge of the earth and back."
Quinn grins sheepishly. "That's true."
"Of course it is, I said it. I only ever speak of the truth."
Quinn rolls her eyes at her Mum and follows her out of the stock room. "Oh how can I forget."
McKinley Gymnasium – 9:30
Puck, along with the rest of the student body, claps loudly when Rachel finishes her song and leaves the stage. She's positively buzzing with excitement...or alcohol. Puck's not entirely sure because he doesn't know exactly when Santana spiked the punch bowl. He grins from his seat at their table as he watches Rachel make her way over to him. She sits down in the seat beside him and sighs happily.
"Having fun Jewbabe?" Puck asks, turning to look at the tiny Diva.
"I am." After a second, Rachel's smile falls. She traces her finger over the pattern on the table cloth. "I wish Quinn was here."
"I know." Puck replies. He looks out to the dancing teenagers, chuckling at Sam attempting to do the robot whilst Joe headbangs, his dreads swishing about everywhere and hitting a few girls in the face. Just as Puck is about to ask Rachel to dance with, a figre looms over the small girl.
"Hey Rach."
Rachel looks up from the table top. She smiles weakly. "Hi Finn."
Puck watches closely as Finn seems to glance around the gym, as if he's looking for someone. He hasn't seemed to have noticed Puck sitting right beside Rachel.
"Is Quinn not here?" The tall boy asks.
"No, unfortunately. Judy needed help with the floral shop."
Finn's features seem to light up at Rachel's words. "Oh, that's too bad." He says, don't he looks far from sympathetic.
Puck's eyes narrow up at the large boy. What is he playing at?
"So I was wondering if you uh wanted to have a dance with me?" Finn asks. "Just as friends, of course." He says, placing a hand on Rachel's shoulder.
Puck notices the way Rachel eyes Finn's hand uncomfortably and how she subtly shifts to try and shake his hand off. Puck also notices the hopeful look in Finn's eyes and just knows that Finn's intentions are far from innocent. He quickly glances down at his watch and sighs.
9:35
He still needs to keep her here.
Getting out of his seat, Puck situates himself between Finn and Rachel, causing Finn's hand to fall from Rachel's shoulder.
"Sorry man, Rachel's dancing with me."
"How about the next song then?" Finn asks Rachel as he looks around Puck's body.
"Sorry again Dude, she's still going to be dancing with me. In fact, Rachel and I will be dancing together all night, won't we Rach?"
"Uh-"
"You can't control her." Finn interrupts Rachel, glaring at Puck.
Puck grins. "But I can. I have strict instructions from her girlfriend to keep Rachel entertained all night and in my books, that includes dancing.
"Come on Man, I'm only asking for one dance."
"You said to Quinn that you will back off. This isn't backing off." Puck says slowly. "Go dance with someone else."
Finn looks between Puck and Rachel before growling in frustration and moving away from the two of them.
Rachel stares at Puck and sighs. "It wouldn't have hurt to let him have one dance." Rachel says.
"Yes it would. That would make him think that he has a shot of getting back together with you. It's best to just ignore him, Rach." He holds out his hand to Rachel. "Now, how about we dance."
The Fabray House – 10:00
As soon as Judy pulls into the driveway, Quinn is out of the car and at the trunk. She quickly removes the fairy lights they brought earlier and rushes into the house after her mother. Judy rushes around the home, trying to make it tidy whilst Quinn runs to the back garden.
"Mum, stop cleaning and come help me!" Quinn calls out. Quinn begins to remove the fiary lights from the box. However, they are all tangled up like a bitch and Quinn ends up getting herself tangled up in them.
"Mum!" She calls out again, hearing the faint clutter of pots and pans.
Judy rushes out, saying fast apologies before getting to work on helping Quinn. Together, they both manage to untangle the fairy lights and lie them out across the grass.
"Where are they going to go?" Quinn asks.
"Where we planned. We'll just have to hook them onto something to keep them from falling."
Quinn nods and the both get to work on picking up the fairy lights without tangling them again. Slowly, they move to the first corner of the garden and hook the lights through a wall mounted plant pot. Grabbing one end, Quinn begins to walk backwards, threading the fairy lights through the gap of the plant pot.
Once done with that corner, they begin to work their way around the rest of the garden. When the lights are threaded through the final plant pot, Judy goes to plug the lights in, only to have come up short. The plug won't go as far as five feet.
As soon as Judy lets go of the plug, they are presented with another dilemma.
The fairy lights fall from their places and hit the ground with a soft 'thump'. Both Quinn and Judy groan and rub the back of their necks.
"We're going to need a new plan."
"Yup."
McKinley gymnasium – 11:50
Puck looks down at his phone as it vibrates in his hand. He smiles when it lights up with a text message from Quinn. With growing excitement, Puck opens up the message.
We're finished – Q
Puck quickly types out a message and then pockets his phone. He looks for Rachel within the crowd of dancing students and spots her dancing with Brittany. Puck catches movement in the corner of his eyes and spots Finn sitting at a table with the date he brought with him, scowling whilst watching Rachel dance with her friends.
Puck walks over to Rachel, ignoring Finn's glares and taps the girl on the shoulder. Rachel stops her dancing to turn to look at Puck.
"We've got to go." He says.
"Why?"
"Your curfew is in Ten minutes." He lies.
Rachel's eyes widen and she nods. She says goodbye to Brittany and follows him through the crowd and out the door. She's shocked to see the limo still there and quickly follows him. Puck doesn't say anything to her and instead, places his hand inside his dinner jacket, fishing around for something.
"Oh no!" Rachel gasps suddenly, cuasing Puck to quickly drop his hand from his pocket and turn to Rachel in alarm.
"What?"
"We're going to miss who won Prom King and Queen."
Puck chuckles and goes back to searching through his pocket. He grins when his hand latches on the letter. "Trust me Rach, you won't care about that in a few minutes." He says, gaining a strange look from Rachel. He holds out the letter to Rachel as they limo pulls to a stop in front of...Quinn's house?
Rachel looks from the letter to Puck's face. "What's this?"
"Just take it." She does as he says. " Don't read it until you get to Quinn's front door."
"Why are we at Quinn's-"
"Don't ask questions. Just do."
Rachel nods, a grin pulling onto her face. There's something turning in her gut and she can't help but feel that it's a positive feeling. She quickly gets out of the limo and walks over to Quinn's front door. She looks behind her and watches the limo pull away from the house and away to Puck's house.
Rachel turns back to the door and looks down at the letter in her hands. Biting her lip, she folds open the letter and begins to read it eagerly, giggling when she recognises the handwriting.
Dear Rachel,
As you have probably guessed, this night is not ending just yet. If you wish for the night to continue, turn to your left and take three steps forward to the gate to my backyard. Once at the gate, open the gate and walk forward. I will be waiting.
Always yours,
Quinn
P.S You look beautiful.
Giggling in excitement, Rachel practically runs into the garden. She stops at the sight before her.
Fairy lights hang up around the garden, wrapping around any obstacle they come to and light up the grass with a soft golden glow. On a table by the tree house sits a stereo playing soft music with two cups filled with what Rachel assumes to be punch. The porch has been completely cleared of the tables and chairs to give room for dancing. Lanterns hang from various branches of various trees, giving them an extra glow.
Then she finally spots her girlfriend.
She was hidden from sight when Rachel first rushed into the garden, but now she can clearly see her. Light perfectly by the fairy lights, Quinn stands by the stereo dressed in a very dashing suit. Rachel didn't know this before, but now that she's seen her in one, Rachel really like the way a suit looks on Quinn. She's sexy, elegant and yet still feminine. Her hair has been styled to sweep over her right shoulder and her makeup is light and natural.
Quinn grins at Rachel, causing butterflies to erupt in the diva's stomach.
"Did you do this?" Rachel asks, gesturing to the garden.
Quinn chuckles. "Maybe."
"It's beautiful, Quinn."
"Not as beautiful as you." Quinn softly declares, her eyes never leaving her girlfriend. Rachel goes to talk more, but Quinn puts her hand up, stopping Rachel in her tracks. With her soft gaze still locked on Rachel, Quinn presses a button the stereo and the track changes. A very familiar piano riff begins to play.
Quinn walks over to Rachel and takes hold of her hand. Rachel's eyes widen when she hears her own voice play through the stereo. A gasp escapes her lips at the realisation that this is the song she recorded.
"I hung up the phone tonight
Something happened for the first time
Deep inside it was a rush, what a rush
'Cause the possibility
That you would ever feel the same way
About me, is just too much, just too much"
Without saying a word, Quinn pulls Rachel close to her and places her left hand on Rachel's waist and Rachel's right hand on her shoulder. She begins to softly sway the two of them side to side, singing the lyrics that she wrote for Rachel, the lyrics to the song she gave to Rachel, into Rachel's ear.
"Why do I keep running from the truth?
All I ever think about is you
You got me hypnotized, so mesmerized
And I just got to know"
Quinn suddenly begins to move the two of them into a waltz. Rachel quickly catches on and begins to sing with Quinn, along with her own voice as they dance around the garden under the golden lighting.
"Do you ever think when you're all alone
All that we can be, where this thing can go?
Am I crazy or falling in love?
Is it really just another crush?"
Quinn spins Rachel out of her arms, causing a giggle to fall from Rachel's mouth. Quinn then pulls Rachel back to her, this time she presses her front against Rachel's back and wraps her arms around Rachel's waist and sways them side to side before moving them into the same positions from before.
"Do you catch a breath when I look at you?
Are you holding back like the way I do?
'Cause I've tried and tried to walk away
But I know this crush ain't going away-ay-ay
Going away-ay-ay"
As the song continues to play, the two girls just hold each other and sway. Rachel rests her head on Quinn's shoulder and sighs contently. She could spend the rest of her life like this with Quinn, here dancing in her girlfriend's arms, during their Senior Prom in a beautifully lit garden and their song playing. It's perfect.
"Quinn?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we just stay here together forever?"
Rachel feels Quinn chuckle against her ear. "We have to get to New York first, baby."
"We will. I can feel it."
Quinn smiles and presses a kiss to Rachel's head. The song ends and goes onto the next track that Quinn burned onto the CD.
"Quinn?" Rachel says softly.
"Yeah?"
"When did you right that song?"
Quinn pulls back from Rachel to look at her face as they continue to sway together. "I started writing it after the first Soccer Game I won for McKinley. I had noticed you sat in the stands with your Dad's as they screamed and clapped along with the crowd. But you, you were just sat there, quietly watching me."
"Whilst I watched you watch me, I felt this feeling of butterflies in my stomach. When I got home, the first thing I did was grab my song book and write. I thoughts nothing of it at the time, I was just writing, but looking back...I guess deep down I always knew my true feeling for you but I was just too afraid to admit it."
Rachel smiles softly at Quinn, her eyes screaming her love for the blonde girl. She doesn't say anything, she only studies the beautiful girl in front of her. She realises in this moment why she fell in love with Quinn. Not only is she the most beautiful girl she has ever seen, but she is also kind, caring, loving, funny, thoughtful and lots of other positive attributes. How can someone listen to what Quinn has just told her and not fall in love with her? This girl is perfect in so many ways and Rachel feels like such an idiot for not realising earlier on just how much she loves her. She feels like an idiot for running away from her feelings for Quinn, for being scared about these feelings. For so long she ran and for so long she went without receiving and giving love to this wonderful human being.
"What's got you so smiley?" Quinn asks.
"You." Rachel whispers. She leans up and slowly connects their lips. She lets Quinn's tongue battle with her own for a while before pulling away and placing her head back on Quinn's shoulder.
"I love you, Quinn."
"I love you too, Rachel."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter guys and thank you for reading. Song used is 'Crush' by David Archuleta.
xx