A/N: We're on Day 18. Apologies for falling behind, but life (and my brain) seem to be getting in the way, so this is a short one. I'm not totally in love with this, but here it is. A little of what I like to imagine happened when Quinn and Rachel were deciding what song to sing for their duet in the Born This Way episode (2x18).
Day 18: Doing Something Together
"I assume you already have ideas for songs?"
Rachel startles at Quinn's words. They are in Rachel's bedroom, Quinn sitting at her desk while Rachel is on the floor, scouring through her sheet music collection and pulling out her computer.
Quinn Fabray is in her house, and it's disconcerting, to say the least. She has been here before, for Rachel's house party, but she's never been up in her room, sitting at her desk, looking all too comfortable while Rachel is freaking out internally because Quinn Fabray is in her bedroom, and she doesn't know what to say or how to act.
Needless to say, Rachel is feeling a bit nervous about the whole situation. She had asked Quinn to duet with her and to be a model for her nose in the same conversation, the same breath even, which maybe wasn't her best decision in hindsight. But, for whatever reason, Quinn had agreed to both, so here they are.
They went to the doctor after school, and now they are back at Rachel's house to decide on a song for the duet and hopefully get some practicing in. And perhaps Quinn is correct that she has already thought about what they should sing.
Rachel clears her throat. "I do have some songs in mind, but I am more than open to any suggestions you may have," She says. "Believe it or not, I am quite the collaborator when it comes to duets."
"So I've heard." Quinn mutters.
Rachel chooses to brush that comment off and pulls the songs she had been thinking about out of her (numerous) binders of music, handing them to Quinn. As Quinn fans through the papers, Rachel explains, "I was thinking we could either do a traditional duet, something like Popular from Wicked, or turn an existing solo song into a duet with some nice harmonies, like I Feel Pretty or I Am What I Am."
Quinn rolls her eyes. "Anything that's not a show tune?"
"Yes, actually," Rachel responds, "Although I don't have the music, something along the lines of Perfect by Pink or Bulletproof by La Roux would work as well."
Quinn stares at the music for a moment before she tosses it onto the ground, eliciting a gasp from Rachel. She gathers the fallen papers together, and Quinn just watches her, amused. Then, Quinn leaves the desk chair, climbing onto the ground across from Rachel, and takes her laptop. Rachel sits there, speechless, as Quinn mindlessly opens her laptop and does, well, Rachel's not exactly sure what. All she knows is that Quinn, clearly, is not feeling nearly as nervous as Rachel is right now, and it's quite a shock to her system.
"What are you doing?" Rachel asks.
"Find us a better song than those," Quinn mutters, typing away at the keyboard. "All of those songs were just too…"
"Upbeat?"
Quinn shakes her head. "More like… hopeful. Too optimistic."
Rachel is confused. "Mr. Schuester was pretty clear that our songs are supposed to be about self-love and self-acceptance. How are we supposed to achieve this with a pessimistic song?"
"I'm not saying that we need to sing a funeral dirge, Rachel," Quinn deadpans, "I'm just saying that it would be a bit hypocritical of us to sing a song like that."
"Hypocritical? Why?"
Quinn sighs. "You honestly don't think it would be the slightest bit hypocritical for us to sing a song about loving ourselves for everything that we are when you're about to get a nose job?"
Rachel inhales sharply, dropping her gaze to the floor. Quinn's words struck hard, but she's right. Rachel can't get up in front of her friends and sing all about loving herself no matter what when she's in the process of changing her appearance.
"Well…" Rachel starts, looking back up at Quinn, "What do you have in mind, then?"
Quinn just turns her gaze back to the laptop and continues typing until, "Aha!" She says suddenly. "Something like… this."
She presses play on the computer, and TLC's Unpretty begins playing from the speakers. Rachel has heard the song, knows it fairly well, and she has to admit that it is a pretty brilliant choice on Quinn's part. The lyrics certainly hit home for her, in several ways, and, by the look on Quinn's face, they seem to hit home for her as well. As she listens to the song, she can already hear potential harmonies in her head, and Rachel is sold on the idea before the song is even over.
The final note plays, and Quinn looks over at Rachel expectantly, raising an eyebrow. Rachel grins and says, "That is a great idea, Quinn."
"Really?" She asks, sounding surprised.
"Yes, really," Rachel affirms, "It carries a great message, and I think there are plenty of opportunities for both of our voices to shine."
"Right, yeah," Quinn mumbles before saying, "Actually, now that you mentioned I Feel Pretty, I just got another idea." She opens the keyboard program on Rachel's computer and plays a few notes as practice. Then, she says, "Can you sing that song for me? Except, slower, like this."
Quinn plays the melody of I Feel Pretty on the laptop in a slower count, with less subdivided rhythms to hold the notes out a bit longer. Rachel nods and sings the main chorus of the song just as Quinn had demonstrated it for her. A smile lights up on Quinn's face as Rachel sings through the chorus, and she gestures for her to repeat it one more time.
When Rachel starts the chorus over, Quinn begins singing the chorus of Unpretty just after her. They sing the two songs in contrast, their voices blending and separating and blending again, and the mashup is music to Rachel's ears. Literally. It's something that Rachel never would have thought of, to use the show tune in this way, but, now that she's hearing it, she doesn't think she'll ever be able to hear it in the same way.
They both finish singing, looking at each other and processing the previous events. Then, Rachel smiles widely, unable not to, and gives Quinn an amazed look.
"Wow, Quinn, that was incredible." Rachel gushes.
Quinn's cheeks turn red as she replies, "It's nothing crazy. I was just thinking that could really highlight our hypocrisies, actually," Quinn admits, and Rachel looks at her with confusion, prompting her to continue explaining, "We all walk around with these masquerades of feeling beautiful on the outside, making ourselves look as pretty as we can, when, often, we're struggling to accept ourselves on the inside."
Rachel is struck speechless by her insight. It's probably the deepest into Quinn's psyche that Rachel has ever gotten, and she finds herself only wanting to dig deeper. Who knows what depths hide behind those closed-off hazel eyes?
"That… is brilliant, Quinn," Rachel says, trying to convey her feelings as much as possible. "Truly brilliant. Definitely better than anything I could have come up with."
Quinn scoffs with a grin. "I highly doubt that."
"I'm being honest."
Then, they're both silent. Rachel watches Quinn divert her gaze back to the computer in front of her, tapping away at the keys, seemingly working out some kind of background melody in her head. She watches, in awe, as Quinn works away at this track in her head, and Rachel is blown away by just observing her.
Quinn looks up at her. "I'm surprised you haven't already started assigning us parts and harmonies already."
Rachel blushes, shaking her head in mild embarrassment. "I mean, if you want me to…" Quinn gestures to her, and Rachel immediately says, "Right! Well, I figure you should take the first verse, and I can take the pre-chorus, and we can come together on the chorus with some harmonies, and—"
She stops talking when she hears Quinn playing what sounds like a loose intro melody into the first verse, and Rachel, yet again, is in awe of her. Then, Quinn stops.
"You were saying?" She asks obliviously.
Rachel just smiles and shakes her head. She'll never understand the depths of this girl.
A/N: Stream I Feel Pretty/Unpretty by the Glee Cast on your streaming service of choice.