Simple Parts
Chapter Six- Momentum
You are the scar on my tissue
That I show all of my new friends
Should I show you me?
should I show you me?
QFRB
The morning dawned cold and grey. The pale silent light stretched across the wall like a ghostly hand. Hazel eyes tracked its progress with a mindless intensity. Thinking was too hard, or it was too easy, but all the subjects were too difficult to handle.
Sleep though, was impossible, and for that she was glad. Sleep would have brought terrible visions of her own attempted demise.
No sleep and she had only the vaguest idea of the time.
Quinn jolted at the sound of wrapping at her door. She stayed quiet in hopes that whoever it was would just keep walking and leave her in peace.
No such luck.
Older Quinn opened the door and stuck her head inside. She just gave the younger blonde a pointed look; she didn't have to say anything. Quinn could guess.
"I know, I know, you knew I was awake."
Older Quinn smiled a little, but she looked just as worn as Quinn felt. "Come on, we're going for a run."
"I don't want to."
"I don't care. It'll do your body good. Besides, I'm hoping we can keep you so busy that tonight you just pass out from exhaustion."
Valid reason.
Quinn sighed. "I need something to wear." She had been given an old NYU sweatshirt and sweatpants to sleep in, but she didn't especially feel like going running in them.
"Already covered," Older Quinn quipped, stepping fully into the room and revealing that she was carrying a change of clothes. She also revealed something else. She was wearing a black tank top and her tattoos were on full display.
It looked, to Quinn, like the entirety of the woman's left arm was covered in ink. It started at her wrist and went up over the length of her forearm and upper arm and then curved over her shoulder and across the left side of her chest. The right arm was bare but the younger blonde could just make out a hint of color, lilac or lavender, creeping over her right shoulder.
Older Quinn smiled at the look of mixed awe and horror on the younger blonde's face. She had just realized that neither of the time travelers had seen the full extent of her ink. She held her arm out for her younger self to observe. The younger blonde, cautiously intrigued, reached out to trace the lines of gold stars and owls that covered the skin, the skin between them inked dark blue in between grey clouds. Some of the stars were clutched in the talons or beaks of the owls, but many were alone in between the birds.
"The stars are for Rachel aren't they?"
"Of course."
"How many are there?"
"Twenty-seven, one for every year we've been together. There's the same number of owls."
Quinn's finger brushed over the largest star in the collection, which was over the older blonde's elbow. In Courier font right above the star were the words I want to live forever this time. "What does this mean?" Alex had mentioned it the day before.
"You remember Julius Caesar? Where it says 'Cowards die many times before their deaths'?" Quinn nodded. "It's related to that. That was my second tattoo. I didn't want to be weak anymore, I wanted to be brave."
Quinn was silent for awhile, just looking at the different designs on the owls. No two were the same style or had the same color pattern. Purples, reds and greens were predominate. "I've always liked owls."
"They're my favorite thing to draw. I drew all of these. In fact, I designed all of my tattoos except the airplane," she pointed out the light blue machine on her bicep, "Alex did that one when he was twelve."
"That's cute." She dropped her hand to her side, blinking tiredly as she tried to catch her train of thought. "Why a sleeve? That's what it's called, right? A sleeve?"
"Yes, that's what it's called. As for why…" she trailed off and grabbed the younger blonde's hand, laying it against her inner arm. "Tell me when you feel it."
Quinn didn't have to say anything, because when she felt the scars she froze entirely, even her heart stilled in her chest for a shuddering moment. Scars. She was touching scars.
She breathed and moved to the next one, and the next, going down in the direction of the older woman's wrist. They felt more defined the farther she went, and they weren't neat and orderly. They crossed over each other sometimes, curved, or shot off in a different direction entirely. When she reached what was the most jagged mark she looked down at the skin she was touching. The scars were nearly invisible from a distance, the ink covered them nicely, but the blue stopped right at the last scar. Above it, directly under the heal of her palm, the word 'Love' was written in black loopy letters.
She traced the word reverently.
"Rachel wrote it there every week for months. Any time it wore off she would rewrite it. One day I went out with Kenny and Cameron and got it inked on permanently."
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she sniffled a little before taking a deep breath and tightening her facial muscles so no tears could escape down her cheeks. "I'm going to change. I'll meet you down stairs."
The older woman ruffled her hair and gave her a wan smile. She left without any further comment.
Quinn wiped her eyes and squared her shoulders. Crying wouldn't do her any good. She was alive, she stayed alive, and that was what mattered.
QFRB
Rachel had slept, but not at all soundly. The nightmares that the blonde time traveler was protected from by wakefulness had imposed themselves on the brunette instead. Nightmares aren't a picky sort.
They had shifted quickly, like channels changing on a television. Just as she would get used to the horror of seeing a mangled and bloody Quinn in a bathtub she would suddenly be in a hospital room, standing in front of a still body covered by a sheet, bloody shoe prints on the floor where the doctors had been working. Then she would be at a funeral, standing beside Puck for some reason. In the background haze a child would cry and Rachel wondered if it was Beth.
Then it would all start over and she would pick out different details in the different scenes. The color of Quinn's shoes, the faint outline of a bloody hand under the sheet, the smell of peppermint in the room to cover up the scent of death, the pale white flowers of the wreathes on either side of the coffin.
She hadn't woken during the night, just turned fitfully, catching her legs in the comfortable and warm sheets. Egyptian cotton, she had noted before climbing between them the night before. She and Carmen shared the same sense of luxury.
The luxury was no comfort to her heart.
A gentle wrapping at her door was all it took for her to wake with a gasp, one hand gripping the sheet and the other flying to her throat where it felt like her heart was lodged firmly. Rachel waited with bated breath, listening intently for a sound. Just as she was about to relax back into the soft mattress, the knocking came again.
"Yes?" she called, her voice only cracking a little.
"It's Quinn. Are you decent?" The woman's voice was muffled by the door, but Rachel could tell she was hearing from the older blonde, not the younger.
She checked to make sure the shirt she had borrowed was actually covering her and sat up in bed before confirming that she was.
Quinn entered, bearing clothes. "It's six, and there's only one elliptical in the house which my wife has already commandeered. I thought you might like to get your daily work out in by taking a run with Quinn and me."
"I…thank you, that's very thoughtful…" She, like young Quinn before her, had immediately noticed the visible tattoos. She found herself unintentionally licking her lips as her eyes raked up over the bare arm, counting gold stars that she knew, knew, were for her. When she got high enough to notice that the older blonde was smirking at her, she flushed and looked away.
Quinn laughed pleasantly at Rachel's embarrassment. "I don't mind you looking."
Rachel asked many of the same questions that Young Quinn had and the older blonde gave the same answers. The little diva didn't touch her, and Quinn didn't let the girl feel the scars. It would have been too much for her.
"What does it say…there on your chest?" Rachel asked hesitantly. Younger Quinn hadn't asked to see what was written in Courier font just under her left collar bone. The older blonde didn't know if that because she hadn't noticed it or if she had just guessed, it was from a poem she knew well even in high school.
The older woman pulled the straps of her tank top and sports bra out of the way so Rachel could read the little words.
"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons," the brunette read aloud. Then she confessed, "I don't get it."
"It's from a poem." The blonde gave no further explanation, but Rachel could tell there was one. Under normal circumstances she probably would have pushed the matter. She could tell it wouldn't do any good though.
"You like poetry."
"I do."
"My Quinn wouldn't have told me that." Her tone was despondent, and Older Quinn quirked an eyebrow at the wording.
"Your Quinn?"
Another pretty flush settled over Rachel's cheeks. "I didn't mean-"
"I'm just teasing you," Older Quinn reassured her. She held out the clothes again. "Here, get ready and meet us down staris."
Rachel watched the older blonde leave silently, and she found that the ache in her chest was different now. Her dreams had worried her and as irrational as it was, she just wanted to make sure Quinn as still safe.
She changed quickly into the borrowed workout clothes and shamelessly dug through Carmen's dresser until she found a hair tie.
QFRB
When Rachel bounced down the stairs and into the foyer, Young Quinn felt like she had just been shot in the face and the back of her skull had exploded off. She was dazzlingly numb except she also felt very heavy, especially around her hands. It felt like a sin, staring at the diva in those revealing clothes, her shoulders bare and most of her legs on display.
Oh God, her legs, her legs, her legs, her thighs, her thighs.
My head between her thighs…
OHGOD, OHGOD, OHGOD, OHGOD!
Sinner! Stop it, stop it, stop it!
Quinn only stopped from smacking herself across the face by recognizing that it would be pretty obvious what she had been thinking about if she did so. Instead she trained her eyes on her older self's shoes, trying to focus on the details of their construction in an effort to erase the mental images she had strummed up. She could feel eyes on her, but she didn't remove her wide unblinking gaze from their location. She couldn't afford to.
Usually she was very good at keeping a neutral expression no matter what her thought process. She wasn't used to thinking dirty thoughts though, not in public and certainly not with Rachel around. Normally she could control herself.
It's because I haven't slept. That's all. I'm just overtired.
At the foot of the stairs Rachel shifted her wait from foot to foot, looking expectantly at the younger blonde. She didn't exactly know how to approach her after the previous night's revelations and it made her nervous. She wasn't used to not understanding where she stood with Quinn.
The young blonde was studiously avoiding her gaze, and kept it firmly on the floor instead. She couldn't understand why for a moment, but the she recalled her reaction from the night before. She had thrown herself at the girl, literally, and in doing so must have made her uncomfortable.
That must be it. I need to remedy this immediately.
She didn't get a chance to say anything though before Older Quinn had corralled them out the door and into the nearly freezing morning air.
The cold was a shock to Quinn's system. It helped her feel more awake and it cured the pesky 'Can't take her eyes off Rachel' problem she was having.
Several minutes into the run that problem is mostly solved for her by Rachel slowing down until she's keeping an even pace with the blonde, so any continued staring would probably be detrimental to her health. She isn't given too much relief though, because as soon as Rachel has hit her stride, she started in on what sounded like a prepared speech.
"I want to apologize for last night. I realize that my actions must have made you uncomfortable and I would just like to clarify that I didn't at all mean them in a sexual or provocative way. I'm sure you know that I would never attempt to force myself on you in any way, and I would like you to be aware that I'm very understanding of the fact that you are likely uncomfortable with your sexuality. I know that whatever relationship we have here in the future has been the product of events that haven't yet happened and so I would like to further impress upon you that I'm not expecting any sort of affection from you while we are privy to information regarding our futures."
Quinn wondered, as the speech went on, if slapping her hand over the other girl's mouth would not only shut her up, but also satisfy her urge to touch her. The longer she talked the more irritated she became until Rachel's assumptions started to chafe at her self control.
"Ok Rachel, stop talking to me. You're starting to get offensive."
"I was just attempting to-"
"No. All you've done is prove that you don't know anything about the way I feel."
"You were clearly upset this morning and I just assumed-"
"Well you assumed wrong. I didn't sleep last night, but it wasn't because you hugged me. Did you completely forget about the part of the night where I found out that I'm going to be a drug addict? Am I not allowed to upset about that? Does everything have to somehow relate to you?"
Quinn didn't wait for Rachel to regain her composure. They had fallen behind significantly, so Quinn took Rachel's momentary silence as a way to escape the conversation and put a little more heat into her pace until she was running ahead of Older Quinn and Alice. Rachel didn't attempt to join her at the front, but she had heard the girl catch up to them.
Older Quinn allowed the tense arrangement for all of three minutes before she brought up the elephant that jogging with them.
"Alright, what's wrong with the two of you?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"Yeah, we're fine. Perfectly normal."
"Right. Normal. It's normal, what you're doing."
"Rachel just said something irritating, okay? Like I said, normal."
"I'm just attempting to stay out of Quinn's way, since she finds me so irksome."
Quinn winced. I just want to touch you. I can't be near you or I will…
"Oh is that what all this about? You're both just irritated with each other."
"Yes."
"Yeah."
"I see, hmm, just irritation. Nothing other than that?"
"No."
"Why would there be any other reason?"
Older Quinn fell silent for a moment, a contemplative look in her eyes. "Ok, I have a proposition for the two of you. I want you both to tell me what you find most irritating about the other. Only one thing, though, so make it good. Quinn you go first."
"The one most irritating thing about Rachel? You really want me to go there?"
"That's right."
"Let me think," Quinn muttered. The most irritating thing about Rachel other than the fact that she just makes me want to touch her all over. "Ok, she's completely full of herself. All she does is talk about how amazing her voice is and how she's going to be on Broadway, and how talented she is. We get it okay? We all know you're wonderful and perfect and talented. You can stop talking about it. I mean, do you even know anything about the rest of us outside of our musical ability? Having friends, being recognized as a person worth knowing, those are two way streets Rachel." The blonde found herself out of breath and pink faced at the end of her little rant.
Silence other than the slap of shoes on pavement followed this pronouncement. Quinn kept her gaze firmly in front of her but she could feel the diva's eyes burning into her skull.
The silence didn't last long though, because without prompting from the adult blonde, Rachel went into her own tirade.
"Well, I hate how fake Quinn is. All she cares about is image, and what people think, and being popular. None of it matters." She broke her gaze from the older blonde and looked at the younger. "None of it matters Quinn. Not in the real world. You're a sheep that leads other sheep. You don't stand out in any way. You do exactly what is expected of you with no regard to whether it actually makes you happy. If I thought for one second that you were happy acting the way you do, I wouldn't bring this up, but you aren't. You're so unhappy that you can't even see how good you could have it. Instead your greatest ambition is to be a real estate agent in Lima, Ohio, get married to the quarter back and have 2.5 children. And then you'll get fat and be unhappy until you die."
At some point during Rachel's rant they had all stopped running and the diva was now lecturing right to the younger blonde's face. Older Quinn was standing a little ahead of them, watching quietly with Alice at her side. "Look at what you could have, Quinn, if you would just be real!" She gestured wildly in Older Quinn's direction. "You could be happy. If you would just be yourself instead of putting on a show all the time…I just…UGH!" Quinn leapt back a step when Rachel screamed in frustration.
Older Quinn stepped in, putting a consoling hand on the diva's shoulder. "Ok, I think we have an answer then. Rachel, Quinn, it seems that the thing that irritates you most about each other is your inability to relax. So, while you're here, just for the next few days, why don't you try to do just that? Relax, stop worrying about being judged. No one is going to judge you here. And even if they do, no one will ever see you again. Do you think maybe you could try?" When she didn't receive and immediate response she added, "I'm not asking for a miracle or anything. Just your best effort."
"Fine."
"I'll try."
"Great, so why don't we get back to the run. No more talking. Just think about how you can start behaving toward each other."
It was difficult for Rachel to stay quiet for several reasons. She was uncomfortable with silence because she was constantly thinking about a variety of subjects. Everything would thunder through her mind so fast and with such force that she sometimes felt as if her brain was under pressure from all it contained and the only way to feel relief was to let her thoughts fly free.
She wasn't sure how she managed to not make another noise other than heavy breathing for the rest of the run.
As for Quinn, the silence would have been a relief if it weren't for the fact that Rachel being quiet and just running with her intense focus was a total turn on. She found her eyes glued to Rachel's tan neck, watching beads of sweat roll down between her shoulders.
It was almost more torturous than having to sit through one of the girl's lectures in Glee club. Of course, in those situations she could always daydream about creative ways to shut the girl up.
For Quinn, this creativity always somehow involved her mouth.
An hour later the blonde's legs felt a little bit like a mixture of Jell-O and fire, but they had made a complete circle and ended up in front of the Fabray mansion once more.
QFRB
Quinn had wrangled the shower second due to a few violent games of Rock-Paper-Scissors. She had washed quickly, borrowing soap and shampoo/conditioner from Alice, and then relinquished the shower to Rachel after getting dressed in more borrowed clothes. Alice was basically the same size as she was, a little heavier up top, but not enough that it was really noticeable.
While the other girls were getting ready for the day, Quinn thought it would be a nice gesture to go help her older counterpart with the breakfast. At least, she thought that until she actually arrived at the kitchen and found the freshly showered Older Rachel pinning the older blonde against the front of the stove with her hands very obviously working under clothes.
Quinn's eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she quickly dove back around the corner before they could notice her. She cringed at her own curiosity that kept her glued to the wall and her ears straining to hear what was going on in the next room.
"Rach, the kids…"
"Are upstairs fighting over the showers."
"I'm all sweaty and gross."
"I like you sweaty and you're never gross."
"Rachel or Quinn could walk in any second."
"Well then they'll see what they're missing."
"Rach…"
"Hmm?"
"I'm going to burn the eggs."
Quinn nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the violent sound of metal on metal and several loud clicks. She chanced a glance around the corner to see that Older Rachel had pushed the half cooked eggs to a cool burner and turned the heat on the stove off. She was still pining the older blonde to the counter, and once done with her task she returned her (very un-manly) hands to her wife's hips, grinding forward against her ass.
The younger blonde felt her cheeks burst with color and she ducked back away, bringing her hands up to try and cool the burning flesh. It didn't help.
Neither did hearing Older Rachel say, "Now where was I?"
Followed by the older blonde whispering, "Oh, fuck."
Quinn mimicked the whisper, hands dropping from her face to her throat.
"Oh fuck, indeed," the older diva's smug voice teased.
The moan Quinn heard instantly filled her with a very acute want. More noise issued from the kitchen and the younger blonde's eyes grew wider at every passing second.
Oh God, oh God, oh God, ohgodohgodohgod, OHGODOHGODOHGOD!
Young Quinn's internal mantra was interrupted by the older blonde around the corner. "Oh God!"
An evil chuckle, which could have only belonged to Rachel, followed it. "Feel free to call me Rachel."
Quinn's heart was pounding so fast, her breath coming so harshly, that she was amazed that she hadn't been found out yet. Of course, Older Quinn was making much more noise.
She had never watched porn. She had stumbled across dirty pictures before when using Google, but only by accident and she had never taken time to look at them closely before exiting the search window in a blind panic. She had taken to never having her back to the door when she Googled anything after the third incident. Paranoia was something that conservative Christians liked to breed into their children right alongside the guilty conscience.
She had never watched it, but she did have very developed opinions about it and assumptions about the sort of things that happened in it. She did go to school with teen boys. She was friends with Brittany and Santana.
And those moans she was hearing were definitely something she would call pornographic.
God, Rachel Berry is going to make me moan like a porn star.
With that thought Quinn's feet were released from where they had been nailed to the floor and she scrambled away from the kitchen and back towards the stairs. She would just wait there for a little while and warn Rachel off of going in there.
She didn't have to wait long for an opportunity to do so. Rachel bounced down the stairs only a moment after Quinn took a seat on the bottom step.
"What are you doing down here?"
"Hiding. You don't want to go in the kitchen right now."
"Why?"
"Just trust me on this one, you don't."
Rachel observed Quinn for honesty and found that she wasn't lacking. She shrugged and sat down beside the stiff blonde.
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. It was really mean."
"Yeah," Quinn agreed with a nod. "It was true though."
"No, you didn't deserve it."
"I kind of did."
"Quinn…"
"I just don't know how to act around you. Especially now. I haven't hated you in a really long time, but I can't just…I don't know how to…it would be weird if I just suddenly acted completely different toward you."
"Quinn." Rachel reached out and took one of the blonde's hands in her own. It didn't help her relax. "Why don't you just be my friend?"
"I don't know how to be your friend."
"You could start by just…being nice." Rachel shrugged. "I know it's awkward right now. We're apparently going to end up married and we don't even know how to act friendly. We could try though."
Quinn didn't say anything, she just looked at the hand laying over hers.
"We're in the future, Quinn. This is definitely an unique situation. I don't think there are social norms for how to act when you find out you're going to marry and make a life with someone you've never particularly liked before."
"It's not that I don't like you-"
"I wasn't necessarily referring to your feelings for me."
Quinn winced. Of course she doesn't like me. Don't know why I'm surprised. I haven't ever done anything worth liking before.
"Quinn, look at me." The command was gentle and followed by a squeeze to their linked hands. Hazel met brown and Rachel felt like she might drown in the sadness that Quinn held inside her. "You're so beautiful. I don't know how many times I've told you before, but I've never met anyone more physically beautiful than you. I could have done a lot worse than marrying you." She laughed a little and Quinn followed. "I just don't know anything about you. You were right, before. I don't listen enough. I want to know you though."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry I'm fake."
"I'm sorry I don't show how much I care for others."
"I like how you turned that around there. I didn't say that about you at all."
"Don't be jealous. I'm clearly cleverer than you are."
"Cleverer." Quinn tested. "Shouldn't it be more clever?"
"I'm pretty sure it's cleverer…" Rachel contemplated.
"Sounds weird."
"A little."
Quinn shrugged and bit her lip, trying to think of something to say.
Rachel, eyes glued to the abused lip, spoke up first. "What's your favorite book?"
"Alice in Wonderland."
"Really?" At Quinn's nod she continued, "I wonder if Alice is named for the protagonist then?"
"I've always liked the name. It could be a possibility."
They talked quietly there on the bottom stair for quite a while, trading little tidbits of information, and they both got their fill of staring at each other's faces.
"What are you doing?" A voice suddenly cut into their quiet conversation and Quinn could feel her hackles bow up instinctively. She looked up to see Alice, changed and showered, and Alex, still in his pajamas and rubbing his eyes, standing over them.
"Talking."
"Yeah well find somewhere else to talk. You're blocking the stairs. And it's time for breakfast anyway."
Quinn was apprehensive about entering the kitchen again, but when she did, trailing behind the others, it was to find Older Quinn at the stove, looking only the slightest bit rumpled, and Older Rachel already seated, sipping on a cup of coffee like she hadn't just had her wife pinned to the stove less than twenty minutes previous.
She shook her head in bemusement and took her seat at the table.
Breakfast was nowhere near as dramatic as dinner. This was probably because Alex was nearly asleep in his tofu scramble and he had been the instigator the night before. Shannon was equally tired, but she was leaning back instead of forward.
The adults were speaking quietly over the table about the grocery list that Older Rachel was writing out for later. They had a playful argument about getting a small real turkey and Rachel flat out refused, but the younger diva saw the older write it down anyway.
"Alice," Older Rachel called to her sleepy daughter, getting the quiet brunette to look up. "While you're in Columbus you need to pick up the Tofurky. Don't forget."
"Ok."
"And I was thinking you could take Barbie with you. If you'd like to go, of course." The last was directed to the younger diva.
"I would love to accompany Alice," Rachel replied primly.
"Ok," Alice agreed passively.
"Something wrong, baby girl?" Older Quinn asked, running a hand over her daughter's hair.
"No. Just tired. Is Big Dad coming tomorrow?"
"Of course."
"And Nanna?" Alex asked sleepily.
"Mmhmm."
"Quinn, it's nearly eight. You need to go get ready for work."
The older blonde nearly choked on her coffee, shoveled the last of her eggs in her mouth and then ran from the room, depositing a quick kiss on her wife's forehead.
Breakfast ended shortly afterwards. Older Rachel put them all to work in different areas of the house, taking over the kitchen and supervision for herself, along with cleaning up from breakfast.
Rachel had been put on trash duty and was in the kitchen tying up the bags when Older Quinn swooped back into the room, clean and dressed in tight jeans and a loose, warm looking dark sweater. The younger diva wanted to laugh at the irony of seeing that the sweater had a whale on the front. She wished Young Quinn was there to see it.
The older blonde kissed the older brunette goodbye properly, and this time Rachel watched without regret, but still with the tight feeling of longing in her chest.
Alice, restless and irritated at being forced to clean windows until time to leave, pushed for the opportunity to get out of the house earlier than was really necessary. It was only a two hour drive to Columbus, but they left at ten with Older Rachel's credit card and a warning to drive carefully.
Rachel shrugged at the miffed glare Quinn was sending her from the stair well. She was supposed to be polishing the banister, so Rachel made a motion for her to get on with it and then laughed when the blonde flipped the bird at her.
Alice kept the car silent until they were outside Lima city limits and then turned on the radio. They sat in silence for a long time, just listening to the music. It was the same oldies station from the day before, but Rachel didn't know if Alice would be bothered by her singing along, so she didn't.
"This is awkward," Alice stated suddenly over the music when half an hour had passed in silence, causing Rachel to jump in surprise.
She glanced at the girl beside her and smiled nervously, clenching her hands tightly in her lap. She supposed that Quinn wasn't the only one she needed to make more of an effort listening too. "We could talk."
"I'm betting we don't have anything in common."
"Tell me about yourself then. We could have a lot in common. I know you probably don't talk to your parents about hobbies often. I mean, I love Broadway, everyone knows that. But I have other interests to."
Alice sighed and turned the music down to a quiet hum.
"My name is Alice Qywen Fabray. Yes my middle name is the same as my Momma's, no it's not spelled the same. It means 'bird' in Vietnamese or something. I don't know. I'm convinced that my parents are insane and nothing can cure them." She paused as she checked her wing mirror and switched lanes. "I'm seventeen, my favorite color is light blue. I desperately want to go to France for spring break but I doubt my moms are going to let me. I don't have time for a job in between Cheerios and Glee and all my dance stuff so I can't earn the money on my own. Most of it goes to the birds anyway."
"It's interesting that you're middle name means 'bird' and you like birds."
"I like that they can just fly away and be free. We all have a thing about flying or the sky, actually. It's kind of weird. I mean, you and your gold stars, Momma and her owls, Morgan loves dandelions, Carmen worships the moon, my birds and Alex's planes. Shannon's the only one that's grounded I guess. She's like roots."
"What do you plan to study in college? Rachel said you were the first to not want Juilliard."
"Political Science."
"Wow, do you want to be a lawyer?"
"Yes, kind of. I don't know, I might change my mind."
"Tell me something interesting about you."
"What? Nothing I've said so far interests you?"
"No I didn't mean-" Alice cut her off with laughter and Rachel pouted. "That was mean."
The cheerleader just smiled and carried on as if the conversation hadn't been interrupted. "I have no sense of smell."
"What?"
"Well I do, but it's extremely weak. That skunk we passed awhile back? I barely smelled it and it didn't really smell bad."
"I apologize, but that is incredibly odd."
Alice shrugged and smiled. "I have terrible eyesight too. My contact subscription is ridiculous." She was quiet for a moment but then she bounced in her seat. "Oh! I'm also allergic to bees, shellfish, and spinach."
"Spinach?"
"Yeah, it sucks too cause I love spinach. I eat it anyway sometimes and just deal with my mouth breaking out."
"Ouch," Rachel murmured, covering her mouth at the thought.
"I have really terrible acne that I have to take medication for."
The look of sympathetic horror on Rachel's face made Alice chuckle.
"And now we know that my mom is an alcoholic and drug addict, so I have that to worry about too."
"Quinn has terrible genes," she said finally.
"Rethinking having her kid or something?" Alice asked with a pout.
"No! I really like you."
"Thanks," the cheerleader replied sardonically. "I guess I don't have to worry about you keeping me around then."
"You remind me a lot of Quinn. Your brother and sister remind me more of me."
"Well I'm the only one that's really Quinn's. I mean, biologically."
"Do you mind talking about that? I've wondered about it, but it's kind of a delicate subject."
"Momma had all of the kids except me. Mom had me." She paused and switched lanes again, preparing to take an exit. "We all have the same donor."
"Do you know who your donor is?"
"Yeah, we met him a few times. His name is Sam Evans, apparently you went to school with him for a year and he looks a lot like Momma. I guess that's true, except Momma dies her hair. Otherwise though…"
"Sam Evans?" Rachel didn't know what to think. On the logical side, Sam was very handsome and fit. He was athletic, and an all around nice guy. He had never been mean to her like the other kids at school, and had even agreed to Prom with her (and Mercedes). Illogically, she was jealous. Violently jealous. Quinn (because it had to have been Quinn's idea) had talked her into having babies with her ex-boyfriend.
"Yeah. He's a paranormal investigator or something. Has a television show and everything."
"Oh my God."
Alice giggled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he sends the best birthday presents though."
The younger girl keeps talking about funny stories of Sam and his job, and the way she talks about him like a sort of weird uncle makes her jealousy wane a little.
QFRB
Columbus is no New York City, but in comparison to Lima it might as well be. There is more visual evidence of being in the future in the city, cars that actually look like space ships, teen boys on hover boards, holographic advertisements that walk around and speak to people. It was mind boggling to look at, but Alice drove slowly and laughed at Rachel's excited pointing.
They ended up arriving too early to wait at the airport, so they picked up the tofurkey and bummed around the mall eating lunch. Rachel was again awed that there were so many vegan friendly options available. In her own time there were a few scattered around the city, but in the future it was like stepping into a kind of Mecca.
The airport was large and crowded, but they were both adept at navigating such spaces and quickly found seats in the arrivals area.
They only had to wait ten minutes before Carmen's plane arrived and Alice took to scanning the crowd while Rachel kept her eyes on the tabloid she had snatched up at the market when they got the tofurkey.
"And there's Carmen."
Rachel looked up, following Alice's line of sight and staring through the crowd. It wasn't hard to spot her, because it was very much like looking in a mirror.
The young woman was strutting toward them with a disinterested expression on her face and an attitude that suggested she ruled the world. She was carrying an expensive looking hand bag in one well manicured hand, and a pair of designer sunglasses in the other.
Alice stood as she drew nearer and Rachel mimicked the action, attempting to keep from glancing anxiously between the two girls.
The atmosphere was thick with tension and Alice was radiating irritation.
Carmen stopped in front of them, cocked her hip and looked down at Rachel (she was about an inch taller, so there wasn't much to work with), sucking on her teeth briefly before turning to her younger sister. "What the fuck is going on?"
QFRB
All we need is a little bit of momentum
Breakdown these walls that we've built around ourselves
All we need is a little bit of inertia
Breakdown and tell
breakdown and tell
A/N: God this was hard. And not because I didn't have it planned out or anything. It was hard because I wasn't getting any feedback on it. I got some, but just not the amount I had gotten used to, so it made me think that people just really hated the last chapter or something.
I know this is billed as humor, and I tried to get back to that in this chapter, because I know chapter five was completely unfunny.
And I got a lot more favorites and alerts, but the reviews just dropped right off.
It gives a writer a complex you know. That's also why this chapter is a lot shorter than the last one.
Anyway. I hope you all like this one better. I also hope you liked Quinn's tats. There are more of them and they will be talked about…maybe.
I kind of got off my posting schedule. I'm going to try to get back on it.
Next chapter: Carmen's a bitch (I love writing her already), Beth, Morgan, and dinner.
Chapter Song: Momentum- The Hush Sound