Chapter 54
Considering the month both women had been experiencing it was no wonder that the morning, following the party at Rachel's, they were each completely distracted by their own stuff instead of having a normally chatty breakfast. Santana had skipped her morning workout and was staring at the television like it held the answers to the universe and Quinn was dealing with her nerves about lunch with Rachel.
It had been two days since their night of brutal honesty. When added to the restrictions they put on themselves at the party, Quinn was actually pretty nervous to spend alone time with the actress especially because the lunch was essentially their first date.
With a morning of meetings with some of the other attorney's at her firm and two clients, one of who was Samantha, Quinn needed to be on her game. There was work to be done but she was pretty sure she was going to be distracted until she and Rachel were face to face again.
"How is it the Mayor's party can't recognize when they act this way it only makes my job harder?" Santana grumbled as she turned off the television and walked to the kitchen to refill her coffee mug.
"Did you not sleep last night?" Quinn asked reaching over with the pot and pouring Santana's mug for her.
"Nope. Am I more irritable then normal?"
"Yes."
Santana shrugged. "Sorry."
Quinn smiled at the thought that her and her oldest friend were back on track. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Is it what I think it is?" Quinn asked without using Brittany's name.
"Yes."
"Well, if you want to talk I'm here."
"I know. And thanks."
With everything they had been through it was understandable that Santana wanted her space with what was going on with her. Once again the one thing Santana wanted more then anything was the one thing she couldn't have. As far as Quinn knew the only other time her friend had been in that position was when Brittany had left her. One thing Quinn knew about Santana she hated not getting what she wanted.
It was pretty remarkable how the household had gone from nothing but work drama to nothing but romantic drama, both the out in the open and the secret kind, in such a short period of time.
...
Still at the point where she could be out in public with no one blinking an eye Mercedes waited outside the diner for Brittany. It was nice to still have some anonymity but she was also excited to be starting the next phase in her ascension to pop stardom. The label was very pleased by the strong buzz around the first single and the proof was in her signing as the opening act with the biggest artist of the last five years. It was going to be nice broadening her fan base on their coattails.
In the meantime Mercedes would continue to do her thing and lay the groundwork for her successes right after she enjoyed a casual breakfast with her old friend. Mercedes was looking forward to the one on one time with Brittany since the group dynamic had dominated the previous evening. If they were going to spend all day dancing first they needed to spend the morning gossiping.
Coming up the stairs from the subway Brittany almost skipped towards Mercedes the second she caught sight of her. When they were within three feet of each other Brittany closed the distance with a flourish and gave Mercedes a giant hug.
"Good morning." Mercedes laughed as she returned the gesture. "Someone is in a happy mood."
"How can I not be?" Brittany asked as she released Mercedes from the hug but gripped her hands as she bounced on her feet. "I can't wait to get in the studio and make you look fabulous for TV."
"Aren't I already looking fabulous?" Mercedes teased.
"Oh course but the moves will soon match the look."
"First order of business is breakfast."
Brittany put her arm around Mercedes and turned them both towards the diner. "Follow me. They have the best stuff."
...
Rachel was half way through her morning tea and reading of the web when her day took a turn. She had managed all morning to avoid one site in particular that featured mostly people outside the theatre world trying to dissect the industry. The online community focused on giving opinions on the quality of the shows and performers in a variety of articulate and in some cases inarticulate ways. Rachel didn't might critical opinions her reason for attempted avoidance of the site was because some times the posts delved into personal attacks and inaccurate information regarding insider information.
She had avoided it since the news of her departure from the show was announced but now days later, alone in her apartment, she had to peek. Immediately after reading she had wished she had resisted, as people could be so mean and uninformed. She was especially disappointed to read one of the posts, which claimed to be from someone on the show. They had described Rachel as what one would politely call difficult, in actuality the person had used some descriptive words that should never be used to describe anyone.
Now in a completely horrible mood, Rachel closed her tablet, picked up her tea and went outside to clear her head.
"Why was it people could be so mean?" she thought as she took a seat and tried not to let the anonymous attacks effect her. Instead she tried to focus on her lunch plans with Quinn; which of course didn't help at all. Rachel had only managed to add anxious to the feelings she was already having from reading the web.
...
Getting into the office Santana had managed to get though ten emails before she got distracted. Thankfully, just as she picked up her phone to leave a message for the object of her distraction, another call came in. The caller id on her cell told her it was probably as big of a mistake to take that call but at least the incoming call would only be annoying and not put her in knots. "Morning Kurt."
"Hey, what do you usually do for lunch?"
"Eat. Same as everyone else on the planet."
"You know what I mean smart ass."
Santana could almost hear Kurt's eyes roll through the phone. "Why?"
"Because I have to be down by your offices today for an audition for some indie film and should be done around noon. We could have lunch."
"And if I say no?"
"Then I will turn up at your office and make a pest of myself."
"Figures." Santana said as her own eyes rolled. "Give me a twenty minute heads up and then call me when you get here. If I can't get away we can order in."
"Oh, lunch in your fancy office. Even better."
Hanging up the call Santana glanced again at the phone and then stopped herself from calling Brittany by throwing her cell into the top draw of her desk.
...
Brittany hadn't been exaggerating, the diner made a great breakfast and some of the best coffee Mercedes had ever enjoyed. As the meal had gone on Mercedes had updated her old friend about the things happening in LA that she only shared with close friends including the details about a guy she had been dating.
Brittany on the other hand seemed to want to avoid anything having to do with the personal, which Mercedes blamed herself for after her harsh reaction to Santana's presence the previous evening. "Hey Brit, I'm sorry if being so critical of 'you know who' has made you think you can't talk to me about stuff in your life."
"I know you have my back Mercedes. There just isn't much to say other then I'm happy and in a real good place."
"It's nice to see the smile back."
"It had been gone for a while. You were right when you urged me to take the job out here. The change of scene was what I needed."
"So when do I get to meet one of the reasons that smile is back?"
A large smile came to Brittany's face at the reference. "Samantha and I were wondering if maybe you wanted to catch Rachel's show with us Thursday night. I know you have TV in the morning so we couldn't make it too late but..."
"That would be perfect because I won't sleep and better to be occupied with stuff then pacing my hotel freaked out about the live TV in the morning."
"Maybe grab dinner before the show?" Brittany suggested.
Mercedes picked up the bill from the table. "Perfect. Now in the meantime, let's get this check paid and start getting down to work."
"And I will text Samantha and tell her we are on for Thursday. Maybe Quinn can join us too?"
...
Quinn took a seat back behind her desk. "So the official depositions are starting next week. I managed to get you moved to the number three spot, which will probably be next Wednesday. The one upside of my other case still being in court is that they let me make the change."
"Why is moving third so important?" Samantha asked.
"Lawyers can't help but telegraph strategy at these things. So having the writers before you means I can review the kinds of things they are asked and get a feel for what you can expect when you get in front of his attorney."
"Makes sense."
"I have an appointment this Thursday with the firm's investigator to go over everything they've managed to collect on him so far. I'm hoping we might come up with something that shuts this down before it starts. The good news is they pieced together the necessary information regarding what you brought up to me. I still think we might want to open the door first to all of that but I need to know you're on board."
"I'm assuming that might mean dragging some people in?"
"Yes." Quinn answered.
"Do what you have to do."
"Okay. Have you talked to Brittany about it all?" It wasn't really Quinn's place as Samantha's attorney to be asking such a personal question but as Brittany's friend, and she hoped Samantha's, Quinn couldn't help but ask.
"She's coming over tonight after her and Mercedes finish up."
"I wouldn't be too worried. Brittany understands dealing with the past."
Samantha looked at Quinn and smiled but before she could say more her phone buzzed. "One second." Pulling out the phone she glanced at the screen and her smile grew wider. "Any interest in joining Brittany, Mercedes and I for dinner and Rachel's show on Thursday night?"
"Can't be too late cause I have court early Friday morning."
"We have to make it an early night anyway cause Mercedes has her TV stuff in the morning and Brittany has to be there." Samantha said indicating her phone.
"Sounds good." Quinn said and then kind of regretted it. It would mean their would probably have to be more hiding after the show because Quinn couldn't imagine she and Rachel would be ready to let everyone in on everything by then.
…
Freshly showered and changed for her date Rachel was trying her best to keep her wits about her. So what if lunch today amounted to her first date with Quinn Fabray, Rachel was one hundred percent ready for it.
Who was she kidding? No she wasn't, after all, this lunch was many years in the making.
