A/N: Okay, found a way to deal with both ways. This story is more from Quinn's POV, and that's probably why some of you feel like Rachel's emotions are not shown as strong as Quinn's. Glad to see you all like it!
Glee soon became one of her favorite or least favorite things at school. The good side of this club was obvious that she got to hear the future Broadway star sing her heart out.
The bad side came along with the benefit was that the annoying giant, Finn Hudson, kept stepping in Quinn's way. Literally and figuratively.
Finn became the new golden boy after Ryan Webster transferred to a private school in New York City, and the only reason why Quinn knew it was that Rachel talked nonstop about New York and anything related to that city.
Quinn was kinda jealous of that Ryan boy too. Ryan actually sent her postcards when he arrived in New York and invited her to come to visit him in New York. Quinn was not interested in going to New York to visit him, but she did admit that Ryan was gentle, sweet, and cute if you were into this type.
Now they were Facebook friends, and she was jealous when she saw his posts. Freedom, liberty, and girls holding hands and kissing while nobody would judge.
She couldn't wait to go to New York with Rachel, and maybe they could share a little apartment in their second year of college.
Quinn knew her parents were planning something with Rachel's dads and had argued for weeks to find the best spot in Manhattan for both girls to commute. Clearly, with constant traffic breakdowns in Manhattan, it might be hard for them to find a spot with a nice little apartment with an express subway line to both Columbia and NYU.
Hell, maybe she was the selfish one.
Now, Rachel and Quinn seldom spent weekends together. Quinn had cheerleading practice for Nationals, and she was also working towards National merit-based scholarships. Well, her family was rich, but she would like to have more savings to bring Rachel out for fancy dinners or weekend movies. Besides, she wanted to be independent, and NYC was expensive.
Meanwhile, Rachel was busying with Glee as the captain. Well, co-captain, but, who she was kidding, the giant was never the leader material. If Finn Hudson could be the quarterback of the football team of this school, it was not a mystery why they never made it outside the State.
Rachel kept giving them credits that Ohio was a strong state in general for football, but Quinn only rolled her eyes and then was given a speech on how rolling eyes might compromise her health in the future from the diva.
School works were harder, and they needed to start preparing for SAT, SAT subject tests, and different AP courses. They grew and shined in different circles and only had time to exchange some smiles in the hallway before waking to different classrooms.
Not to mention, they were paired up with different people to finish their glee duet assignments.
The possibly worst practice for Quinn would be the one that she paired up with Kurt. They barely tolerant each other due to their mutual friendship with Rachel.
The weekend before the duet assignment was due, Quinn was preparing for the AP Literature Test and knew well that Rachel might be preparing her audition for Tisch in the coming weekend.
When the doorbell rang, Quinn was both disappointed and surprised to see Kurt. "Hi, I thought we went over this. We just gonna practice individually and…"
Kurt rolled his eyes dramatically and held up one hand to stop her. "Save it. Trust me, the last thing I want at this moment is to come to your house. But my step-brother, aka Finn, was inviting Rachel over to our home, and I just cannot bear it. He begged me to leave to give them some space."
"He what?!"
Kurt shrugged.
Quinn couldn't believe the brunette never mentioned about going over to the giant's place.
"Explain it, Porcelain Doll. Or I will end you right here."
Kurt rolled his eyes again dramatically. "For a million times, I wonder what Rachel sees in you."
Quinn raised an eyebrow in demand. "I am a bitch and get over it. Now spill it."
"Okay, okay." Kurt held up his hands in surrender. "Finn invited Rachel to tutor him AP calculus. He was trying to win the scholarship from Ohio State. If he failed the test or was kicked out of the team, he would never make it to college."
Quinn rolled her eyes. Of course, the giant baby would never make it anywhere, and, of course, there was only Rachel who was kind enough to tutor the retarded and not suspicious about his extended intention.
"Well, to be fair, he did come to you at first, but you turned him down," said Kurt.
"He asked me out," said Quinn with a disgusted face through gritted teeth.
Rachel was genuinely surprised and glad to see the blonde showed up at her door later that night.
She invited Quinn in and pulled her a glass of water in her cup with her signature beam. The beam was different from the one she used at the end of her performance in Glee or in front of other people. It was more sincere and reserved only for Quinn.
Quinn stared at those chocolate eyes carefully, trying to figure out certain emotions behind it. All she could see in those orbs was her, the girl who fell for her best friend and was too blind to realize it.
The emotion became too strong, and Quinn was desperate to let out.
When she searched crazily in her friend's chocolate eyes with understanding and patience, Quinn hesitated: what if they didn't work out?
Would Quinn lose her forever? Hell, what if she scared her? Would Quinn lose her instantaneously?
The fear of losing Rachel became so powerful that Quinn swore that she wanted to eliminate that possibility to zero.
Absolute zero.
Quinn smirked. A nerdy joke indeed, but Quinn would laugh and Rachel would laugh too.
Rachel broke the silence first. "I was tutoring Finn earlier today, and he asked me out…"
Quinn's heart dropped.
The brunette studied the blonde's reaction carefully. "I said no."
Quinn let out the breath that she was holding.
"But this incidence makes me wonder that I might add dating to my list."
Quinn knew well that Rachel had a list with all the things she planned to do before she reached 25 years old. She was planning on finishing every single one of them with Rachel, but maybe this time… she couldn't.
"I know I am not as perfect as you," said Rachel, playing with her fingers in her lap, which Quinn knew was a nervous sign of Rachel.
No, no, no, you are perfect.
"And I was too ideal. I talk in paragraphs with big words and can be too bold and capricious. You are probably the only one that truly listens to me and understands me."
That is adorable.
If Quinn was in her right mind, she would see the clue Rachel was giving her. However, she was not even close to her rightful status. She was in fact not only nervous but panicked for the first time in her life.
"So I am wondering… I am just saying that maybe…"
Quinn closed her eyes, feeling her hands go numb.
"Quinn, are you okay?" Rachel's voice started to fade away.
Put yourself together, Fabray. You need to be there for her. If you love her, you need to make sure she is happy no matter what.
"Yes, of course," said Quinn with a tight smile, no better than making a face.
Rachel stopped talking, and she frowned. She was silent for a moment before she looked into Quinn's eyes again and flashed a smile toward her. "Never mind, Quinn. I can see how uncomfortable that is going to make you."
Quinn didn't know what to feel, so she just nodded. She sneaked a peek at Rachel and saw nothing unusual on her face, but there seems to be an ounce of sadness hidden behind that smile.
Monday came quickly, and the giant kept approaching Rachel between classes. There was nothing Quinn could do as Rachel expressed her interest in dating someone as a part of her life experience that would in the future become valuable to her career.
Later that day, Puck sang a song to Rachel and asked her to be his hot Jew, which Quinn nearly puked. Glee became the worst time of her life as she had to tolerate all these happened right in front of her.
When Rachel started to pin down the tallest boy or probably the slowest boy (maybe the fastest if you count other things) the next day in the hallway, Quinn made Finn her boyfriend and became the president of the Celibacy Club.
"Did you remember the question you asked yesterday?"
Finn looked confused. Quinn rolled her eyes. Of course, he didn't. For a moment, Quinn wondered how this boy became the golden boy in this high school, but maybe she could use the slowness of the boy to her advantages. "You asked me out."
The hall went silent. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Quinn mentally rolled her eyes.
"You may take me out for a dinner or something," said Quinn indifferently. More like an order.
Finn smiled sheepishly. "Sure, Quinn... I will..."
Quinn had lost her interest from the beginning. All she wanted to do was to walk a certain brunette to class, but the girl was nowhere to be found.
Quinn searched everywhere but only found a taller blonde with a frown.
Brittany looked confused. "But I thought Quinn was into Rach..."
"Sometimes you are too smart, Fabray, but sometimes you are blind." Santana shook her head in disapproval.
"Q, you need to get a pair of glasses if you are blind. Or maybe you should ask Rachel to move a little for you to see better," said Brittany.
Quinn was lost.
"Because she is the apple of your eyes."
Quinn swallowed.
The rest of the day went so slowly like torture.
The only thing that lightened up Quinn's world remained MIA, and even Kurt was avoiding her for some reason. Rumors went fast, and Sue had to give other girls on the team extra laps to stop the gossip. Rumors said that Quinn and Rachel were no longer friends because they were fighting over the same boy.
Quinn hated it and drove home in anger.
Her fingers were hanging over the text box with "My Star" for the hundred times for the last hour, but she couldn't hit the send button on the screen. Two girls on the background of the text box were smiling happily toward her, and it was hurt for Quinn to see the smile.
When her dad came upstairs and knocked at her door, Quinn almost dropped her phone.
"Dinner is ready, baby girl!"
"Yes, Daddy. I am coming."
Quinn was sitting at the dinner table and poked at the tomato in her plate when her dad was talking about how they finally found the perfect apartment at the midtown. Quinn almost cried.
Judy frowned and touched her husband's arm to stop him. "Quinnie, what's wrong?"
Quinn swallowed, "I was just thinking…that Stanford and UCLA are also good schools to go to."
Judy and Russell exchanged looks, silently communicating in an old-couple way. Quinn wondered when Rachel and she could do the same, and the sadness cut through her heart at the thought of the brunette.
"Oh, honey, what happened to your Columbia dream?" Judy asked in concern.
"Please, Q. I was counting on the Berry girl to tie you down to the east coast and our family tradition of Ivy League," Russel chipped in and made a face when he received a glare from his wife.
"Hi, we will always be here for you. You know that, don't you?" said Judy gently. Russel put down his fork and nodded, giving his full attention.
Quinn nervously glanced back and forth between her parents before taking a deep breath and stated in a small voice, "I have always realized that I like Rachel too much."
Judy reached out to hold her daughter's hand in support and stated in affection, "Sweetie, it is understandable. Rachel was adorable. Talented, optimistic, passionate, and "
"And keep you from being the from some cliché blonde cheerleader in a high school TV drama that everyone hates," Russel added, successfully winning him a light punch on the arm from his wife.
"I dare them," Quinn sneered.
"That's my baby girl!" Russel cheered. Judy narrowed her eyes dangerously at her husband who turned back to the 21-year-old frat boy when they first met.
Russel threw his hands up in surrender and shrugged, "Hi, my daughter is just looking for the Berry girl. You know how those kids are jealous of Berry's girl's talent. You got to have someone to look out for them in the town. We don't have Superman around Lima. Those superheroes are way too busy around New York."
Before Judy had time to give a lesson about the impropriation behind the logic, Quinn threw her hands up. "Okay, fine. I made a mistake. I asked a boy to take me out on a date as I was afraid that Rachel would turn me down and chase after the boy."
Russel opened his mouth and was about to say, but Judy effectively shut him by a firm glare. Russel pouted and started to poke his tomato in the plate, just like his daughter did before.
Judy almost rolled her eyes on her husband who demanded her attention, but she could only take one brat at a time.
"She recently came up to me and said she wanted to date before 25. And I panicked. I guess I wanted to ask her out to date as girlfriends before, but she said she wanted to wait until 25 to date. So I waited and waited. After being a loyal friend for too long and knowing well enough how amazing she is, it is impossible for me to open up about the relationship thing again and only to lose her after," said Quinn, feeling much better to finally let everything out.
"Wow, " Russel was in amaze how many words his daughter could finish in one breath. "I can clearly see the influence of Rachel on you now."
Before Judy had time to kicked him out to sleep on the couch tonight, Russel added quickly in a gentle voice, "Baby girl, you asked Rachel to marry you when you were 9, and Rachel said yes two weeks later. She was so serious when she announced the news to Leroy and Hiram that Leroy cried for a week and Hiram came to me for a fight."
Russel put one hand on Quinn's shoulder who was now in deep thoughts and turned around to wink at Judy who was evidently impressed by his speech.
"Do you know why she said she wanted to get married at 25?" asked Judy.
Quinn swallowed and shook her head.
"Because you said you wanted to go to graduate school after college when you were 14, and she was waiting for you to graduate before marrying you," Judy said with a tender smile. "You have always been a part of her future, you know."
Quinn's eyes lighted up again. She said "thank you" to her parents before quickly collecting herself and walking upstairs. In her room, she pulled out her phone.
Meanwhile, Russel was massaging Judy's shoulder on the couch downstairs and said under breath, "I will not let my own daughter ruin my deal with the **** broker."
After Judy smacked him on the arm, Russel pouted, "Hi, at least now you know for sure that your daughter is coming back to Ohio for Christmas."