CHAPTER 9
"Marcus! Hey Marcus!"
As Marcus walked out of the choir room at the end of Glee rehearsal, he stopped as he heard his name being called. He turned around to see Quinn striding over to him.
"Hey, what's up Quinn?" He asked.
"Um… so I figured, if you're not doing anything tonight, maybe we could work on the Glee assignment together?"
Marcus nodded.
"Sure. I've got Rugby practice in the afternoon, but afterwards, I'd love to." Marcus replied. Quinn smiled widely at him and as she did, Marcus couldn't help but be drawn by how absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous she looked. No, stop, focus Marcus, he told himself.
Awesome." Quinn responded. "Could I come to your house around 8?"
"Oh, uh… my dad and I are still unpacking so our house is an absolute mess. We haven't even unpacked our beds yet, let alone anything else. So maybe I come to yours?" He asked. Quinn nodded.
"Sure. That works. My mom is working pretty late tonight anyways." Quinn told him.
"Cool. I'll see you then I guess." Marcus replied. Quinn beamed at him, before turning to walk away. Neither of them noticed in the heat of the moment, but both of their hearts were pounding. The tension between them was palpable, and they were so nervous that they almost forgot something… "Wait, Quinn!"
Quinn turned around to face him again.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"You forgot to give me your number or your address! I have no idea where to go tonight!" He exclaimed.
"Oh crap! I'm so sorry!" She laughed, trying not to blush in embarrassment. "Here, give me your phone. I'll put my number in."
Marcus did so, and Quinn quickly typed her number in.
"Here you go. I'll message you with my address a bit later." She told him, before handing it back to him. As she did, their fingers touched, and instantly, they both felt sparks. It was like nothing they had ever felt before and although dating was quite possibly the last thing they wanted and needed to do this year, there was something about both of them that made the other want to get to know each other…
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
DING DONG!
Marcus' finger was still hovering on the doorbell when the door to Quinn Fabray's house swung open and she stood in the doorway facing him.
"Wow. That was, um… that was fast." He remarked. Quinn's face flushed crimson.
"Yeah, I saw you arrive from the window." She quickly lied. Sure, that story worked. Better than her admitting that she had been waiting for him by the door. "Come in. Here, let me take your jacket."
"Thanks." Marcus murmured, following her into the house. They made it to the living room and sat opposite one another on the sofas.
A long, awkward silence then overtook the both of them as neither really knew how to start the conversation. It was Marcus who eventually decided to break the silence.
"You know, I don't think I've seen you in anything but a Cheerios outfit and that questionable emo getup." Marcus remarked. "You kinda dress like my grandma."
He wasn't wrong. Quinn's casual wear consisted of a white t-shirt, grey sweatpants and a long brown cardigan sweater. Not exactly something you'd assume a head cheerleader would wear, but hey, comfort was comfort. Besides, in Marcus' eyes, she still looked radiantly beautiful.
"Jee thanks." Quinn muttered, her face slightly red. Marcus shook his head.
"Don't be embarrassed. I kind of dig the look." He added. Smiling faintly at him, Quinn responded.
"Thanks." She said. "How was Rugby today?"
"Well I got my ass nearly knocked out cold by my asian hulk of a teammate. It was awesome." Marcus grinned. Quinn rolled her eyes.
"And people wonder why women live longer." She commented. Marcus laughed. Another silence ran through them as they honestly didn't know what to say to one another.
"So how do we do this? We just sit here and talk all evening, and then at the end of it, each come up with a song about the other person?"
"I don't know. I guess so." Quinn shrugged. Marcus nodded.
"Alright. Then tell me about yourself, Quinn Fabray." He asked.
"What's there to know? You already know pretty much everything important about me." She replied. "I'm the head cheerleader. Member of Glee club. President of the celibacy club. I'm an honour roll stu… I'm sorry, am I boring you?"
Quinn had noticed Marcus begin to yawn as she spoke, so she snapped at him, annoyed. Marcus shook his head.
"No, I'm sorry. It's not you. I'm just really tired." He reassured her. "But honestly… you kind of are."
"Excuse me?" She snarled, taken aback. Marcus sighed.
"Look, with all due respect Quinn, I honestly couldn't care in the least what clubs you take part in." He admitted. "The point of the assignment was to get to know you: Quinn Fabray the human. Not Quinn Fabray the Cheerio or Quinn Fabray the Glee club member. So let's try this again. Tell me about yourself, Quinn Fabray."
"Well, you don't have to keep calling me by my full name… but alright, let's try again." Quinn said. She looked down and took a deep breath.
For some reason, she was nervous. It was kind of nerve wracking to open up someone, especially someone she didn't know. However, as she looked up and into Marcus' warm, amber eyes, her thudding heart steadied itself a little.
"Where to start?" She thought aloud. "Well, my mom and dad are divorced. They got divorced two years ago, so I just live with my mom now."
"I'm really sorry about that." Marcus murmured, putting a hand gently on her shoulder. Quinn shook her head.
"Don't be. It was definitely for the best." She replied. "My dad… he honestly wasn't the best person. He always kind of ignored my mom's opinion during their marriage. Then when I got pregnant two years ago, when Finn and I revealed it to my parents…"
"I'm sorry… Finn? I thought you got pregnant with Puck." Marcus remarked. Quinn winced and closed her eyes for a moment.
"Yeah, um… I was, uh… I was kinda hoping we'd be able to talk for five minutes before we got to this topic, but, uh…" Quinn then proceeded to tell Marcus everything. She told him everything. The entire story. She told him about cheating on Finn with Puck, and everything she had felt that day both leading up to it and afterwards. She told him about the pregnancy, and how freaked out she had been. She told him about how rather than turning to Puck - the real father - she had told Finn and lied about the baby being his. She told him all about how they had told her father, and how her father had kicked her out of the house. Then about how she had bounced around different peoples' houses: Finn's until he found out and kicked her out, then Puck's, then Mercedes', and then her mom taking her back in after leaving her dad. She finally finished telling him about giving birth and giving the baby up to Beth. How Beth had been the person that she had "lost", and how that loss had rocked her to the point that she assumed the emo getup.
She soon finished talking and went silent, however Marcus - who had been completely silent throughout the story - did not say anything for a while. He merely looked down, deep in thought, trying to wrap his mind around everything she had told him. As Marcus did not say a word for what seemed like an eternity for Quinn, she felt tears slowly begin to creep up in her eyes.
"Marcus? Please say something." She murmured, barely louder than a whisper. Marcus didn't though, but he noticed the tears that began to roll down Quinn's cheeks and he slowly brought a hand up to wipe them away. It took him nearly a minute for him to finally gather a response.
"Wow, I, um… that was definitely quite a story." He stammered.
"If you hate me and want to leave, honestly I don't blame you so go right ahead. I deserve it." She whispered. Marcus slowly shook his head and held one of her small, trembling hands in his own.
"I'm not going anywhere, Quinn." He replied gently. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you, Quinn… what you did to Finn was absolutely horrible. You realised that you could have easily ruined his life, right? With a baby, he wouldn't have been able to go to college, he could have been put in serious financial debt… his life would have pretty much been over."
"I know! I know! It's all my fault!" She cried, the tears increasing substantially. Marcus shook his head once more.
"No. No, it's not. At least it's not all your fault." Marcus said. "You were pregnant, you were hormonal… you were scared. I can't even imagine what it must have been like in your position. Of course given all that, you weren't exactly going to be thinking clearly. And I think that every member of the Glee club who knew but didn't tell Finn also play a part in that blame. I think that Mr. Schue's ex wife and her sister who supposedly tried to buy the baby off you by planting fears in your head deserve some of the blame. I think that Puck especially, if things really happened the way you say they happened and you slept with him because he got you drunk, needs a serious talking to about consent and deserves quite a bit of blame. And there's Finn… come on, there's no way in a few months of pregnancy he never thought to google whether you can get impregnated via hot tub. This all could've been avoided if he just had an iota of common sense."
"No, it's not Finn's fault." She mumbled. Marcus nodded.
"I agree with you." He told her. "But my point is that there were other people involved in this saga, not only you. It's easy to blame yourself for absolutely everything when in reality, it wasn't all you."
"Thanks." Quinn whispered, her voice still extremely soft. She honestly didn't know how to feel. Her emotions were in complete overdrive. She hadn't been this open and honest with anyone, let alone someone she had literally just met, but weirdly, it almost felt right.
"And besides…" Marcus continued. "You actually admitting to having made a mistake is honestly a huge testament to your personality. It takes a really big person to look within and realise they fucked up. If nothing else, you should give yourself credit for that."
"Thank you." Quinn murmured, before sniffling and wiping her eyes. "God, I'm such a mess. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise." He immediately responded. "I asked to meet Quinn Fabray the human, and you allowed me to get to know her. So thank you, Quinn…"