Chapter 15:

The injured shoulder

Insecurity is really a horrible thing. She didn't even want to hear the rest Rachel had to say. She ran as fast as she could. Of course, she knows it's too soon to think about a future with Rachel, in long terms wise. They barely started dating. But she did not expect this. Rachel breaking up with her is something that could really hurt her. It's not like the times Finn broke up with her. The only thing hurting was her ego those times and the thought of Finn going after Rachel made everything worse.

She is torn. She is disappointed in herself for ruining her chances with Rachel. Now, she is not so resolute about the plan to get her daughter back.

She drives around without a destination at first, but then she ends up at her favorite bookstore. She doesn't know exactly why she is there. But she has a guess, she needs the distraction and books were her best friends once upon a time when she was a very lonely girl.

Has things changed though? It feels sometimes that she is still that same lonely girl. Never loved, never somebody's chosen one. Or maybe she is overrating; she does have friends. She has Santana and Brittany somehow. She has Mercedes. Although, she has not been a good friend to Mercedes lately.

God!

Maybe Mr. Shue was right when she called her out on her selfishness a few days ago. She thinks as she surveys the books. Her mind is such a mess of thoughts that even books aren't helping her to calm down. She doesn't even notice the presence of the girl beside her.

"A penny for your thoughts."

The girl stands close to her, startling Quinn a little.

"Oh hey." The ex-cheerio frowns as she tries to remember the girl's name.

"Emily." The girl informs.

"Yeah, of course. I remember."

Emily smiles, not really buying it, although in Quinn's defense, she really knew the name, but she is not in her best state of mind right now.

"So?"

"What?" Quinn inquires, putting the book she was inspecting back on the shelf in front of her.

"What's on your mind?"

"Oh… Yeah…" She takes a deep breath. "A lot, actually."

"Did you find something interesting?"

"It's books, they are all interesting to me."

Emily laughs.

"Yeah, I remember. Although, I haven't seen you in awhile…"

"Shame on me." Quinn jokes.

She started coming to this bookstore when she was pregnant, books were a real help at those times. But as her belly was getting protruding, going to places was really difficult, especially because most of her energy was spent with school and Glee competitions. And arguing with Puck, of course.

"You had a good reason I guess."

Quinn's expression changes, as she gets a little taciturn. After all, the "good reason" is the reason why she is here, feeling down. It's the reason she's been torn the whole summer. She has been happy and in love on the one hand and hurt because of Beth on the other.

"Sorry, you probably don't like talking about it." Emily bites her lip. "But you know… It's a small town."

The girl closes her eyes, berating herself internally for commenting this. Emily is an attractive brunette girl, a few inches shorter than Quinn is, 20 years old. As Quinn started buying books from there assiduously, she made acquaintance with the other girl as Emily works there.

"I guess." Quinn chooses one book randomly.

"I didn't judge you though. Not for one second." Emily says, worried.

"Thanks." The blonde attempts to smile in a friendly way. "How is college?"

"It's fine. Thanks for asking."

"No problem."

"Am I boring you?"

Emily jokes, a little insecure, they are acquaintance and they had some meaningful conversations a couple of times, but to her, Quinn is not an easy girl to figure out, Quinn can be very aloof sometimes even though the blonde girl has always been polite to her. Besides, being honest with herself, Quinn is a little bit intimidating, even being the younger one, Emily attended the McKinley high, she graduated three years ago, Quinn was not there at the time, but the Cheerios have some prestige around the town and the blonde girl was the youngest Head Cheerleader ever after all, it was quite a feat.

"You seem off."

"No. You're not. And yeah. Terrible day."

"Do you know what makes me feel better? Alcohol." She laughs, self-deprecating. "Do you want maybe to come over to my place? I'll be off my shift in a while."

Quinn nibbles on her bottom lip.

"What am I saying? Of course you don't wanna come." She shakes her head.

"Actually, I could use some alcohol right now."

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?"

Why not? She thinks.

She is stressed out, and, besides, what better way to cope with a breakup?

Well, if she stops a moment to think it through, she will hear a voice at the back of her mind telling her that alcohol and her insecurities mixed together are not a good combination.

But she doesn't listen to it.

"Why everybody expect me to be perfect? Why can't I make mistakes?"

She inquires, frustrated and letting off steam. She is a little bit drunk, which means angry Quinn is making an appearance.

"I know it sounds cliché, but you just have to be yourself and tell them to fuck off."

"Probably. But I'm a Fabray, even after what he did, I'm still daddy's little girl."

Quinn rolls her eyes and finishes her beer, putting the bottle on top of the coffee table. Emily's apartment is decent. Neat and minimalist. She is a design student after all. Of course, even though everything looks quite fashionable, she got everything second-hand. She is still a student sharing the rent with a roommate and working her ass off to keep up with her grades and her job.

"I think I need another one."

She has evolved from the girl that used to get drunk with two bottles of wine coolers, to the girl who can handle four bottles of beers, or so it seems, at least.

"I think you had enough." Emily counsels. "I'm kind of regretting I offered you alcohol, you're under age after all." She grimaces.

"Technically, so are you." Quinn points out.

"I'm almost there."

Emily settles on the couch, placing her elbow on the backrest so she can face Quinn.

"You really are beautiful." She states, delighted. "But there's something about you… I don't know… you're the kind of girl that looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you." She laughs. "My best friend was a Cheerio too. You have quite a reputation."

"Really?" Quinn smiles, reminiscing her Head Cheerleader days.

"You know you do."

Emily gets a little closer.

"Maybe…" Quinn fidgets on the couch.

"Any chances for you to come back?"

"I can't say there's no chance at all, but right now, I have so much on my plate…"

"I can relate; senior year was really stressful for me. Coming out, my parents…"

"You did great though." The ex-cheerio looks around.

"Now, at least. I had special help too." She smiles. "Mr. Schue, actually. He was just the Spanish teacher at that time."

"I didn't know this."

"No one knows. Besides, you weren't in McKinley. Anyway, I begged him to let it hidden. He wanted to talk to my parents, but I knew it'd be useless. I decided for Ohio state university and the Berrys helped me to get a job, the owner of that store is their friend, they even offer for me to stay with them… Mr. Schue thought they could be a help for me, emotionally speaking, that is, they ended up doing more, actually. I think they had a talk in one of those parents and teacher meetings. My parents were absent and Leroy noticed. They were always very unpleasant with the Berrys… Karma is a bitch…"

"The Berrys helped you?" Quinn inquires, gaped.

"Yeah..." Emily grimaces a little, everybody knows about the feud between the Head Cheerleader and the Glee club diva, especially after Finn started going after Rachel. "But anyway, I thanked them, of course, but I ended up living with a friend for a while. I graduated and now I'm here, I really like working on that bookstore, besides, it pays the rent right? And I'm happy with my college choice. Leaving my parents' house was the best thing I ever done. They were toxic to me. I spent my junior year in hell; I was so depressed and frustrated all the time."

"Wow…"

They remain silent for a while.

"But hey, you went through a lot too. With you know…" She trails off, suggestively. "And of course, the other thing."

"What other thing?"

"Your sexuality."

"My…" She frowns. "Wait, what?"

Emily smirks.

"How do you…?" Quinn questions, curious.

"We can tell these things…"

She leans forward and presses her lips against Quinn's. The blonde instinctively pulls away, placing her hand on Emily's shoulder and pushing it slightly.

"Did I get it wrong?" Emily sighs. "I should've known those Virginia Woolf's books and punk outfits meant nothing. You're really hard to figure out." She points out, frustrated.

"Do you think other people can tell?" Quinn says, frowning and with her eyes glazed over.

Of course, Quinn's mind are already working in overdrive. It's not that she cares about other people's opinion, okay, maybe a little, she is a Fabray, it's just that she is a little bit taken aback with the possibility of it happening so soon.

"Wait…" Emily looks at her, suspicious. "So, I'm not wrong?"

Quinn remains silent.

"Hey, it's okay." Emily cups the blonde's cheek tenderly.

Maybe it's the alcohol or maybe it's because she is still ruminating what Emily said. The fact is that it takes a while for her to realize what Emily is about to do.

Emily kisses her again and for a moment there, she reciprocates the kiss. When she feels Emily's hand on her waist though, she pulls away abruptly.

"I can't do that."

Last time she checked, she was still dating the girl of her dreams. Wasn't she?

Actually, no. Rachel just broke up with you, did you forget?

She thinks.

"Oh god…" She presses her face on her hands and exhales soundly.

What am I doing?

"I have to go." She informs the other girl, agitated.

"You can't leave like this. It's kinda late and you certainly can't drive."

Quinn ignores. She stands up and gets a little dizzy.

"Quinn…" She calls out. "It's okay, I'm not gonna do anything. You can stay the night."

"It's not that. I have to go."

She walks toward the door in a hurry. She opens the door and leaves the apartment with Emily right behind her.

"Quinn! You can't drive like this."

She doesn't listen and keeps walking, but as she reaches the stairs, she stumbles on her own foot and starts falling. On the bright side, she made a grab at the handrail, but she twits her shoulder.

Sitting on the stair step, she whines in pain.

"Are you okay?" Emily sits on her side.

"It freaking hurts!"

"Can you move?"

"Yeah…" But as she stands the pain is too much. She has to lean her body a little, as she cannot stand straight.

"I'm gonna take you to the hospital."

"Okay." Quinn nods, the pain apparent on her face.

She had a shoulder sprain. That was the diagnosis after the x-ray.

"Should I call your mom?"

Quinn shakes her head and hands the ice bag to the other girl. They are at the nursery, Emily came to check on her minutes ago and found her sitting and holding the bag over the injured area.

"Help me here."

Emily holds the ice bag on Quinn's shoulder as the blonde takes her phone from her pocket and hands it to Emily.

"Call Rachel."

"Rachel?" Emily frowns, confused.

"Mom is going to freak out."

"Don't you think she is going to notice it anyhow?"

"Well sure, she is the one paying our insurance after all."

Emily thinks it's weird and messed up that the only reason Judy Fabray will notice something like this, it's because of the money involved.

"I will explain to her later don't worry. I'll tell I was trying to get back to the cheerios, she will be delighted." Quinn says spiteful.

"You said Rachel…?"

Emily inquires; it cannot be the Rachel she is thinking of.

"Rachel Berry."

"Oh. Okay. Didn't know you guys were friends."

Quinn keeps quiet, taking the ice bag back.

"Make sure you tell her I'm fine. That it wasn't a big deal. Rachel is a drama queen by nature."

"I know that." Emily twists her nose and calls Rachel, looking a little reluctant.

###

"Where is she?" Rachel asks as soon as she takes sight of Emily in the waiting room.

"Hello Rachel." Emily ignores the questions. "Hi Mr. Berry." She addresses to Leroy.

"Hello Emily, how are you?" Leroy asks warmly.

"Hey, can you guys do this later? Where is Quinn?"

"Calm down, she is okay, she hurt her shoulder, that's all, she is placing a sling. She will be all healed in a week, two at most." Emily explains, calmly.

"What happened?" Leroy asks.

"She just stumbled on the stair."

"She was with you, I'm assuming?"

"She was. I brought her in her car, actually."

Meanwhile, as they talk, Rachel is trying to connect everything.

"What were you two doing?" She asks, her nostrils flaring.

"Going down the stairs?" Emily says with a hint of sarcasm.

"That part is pretty obvious." Rachel states aggressively.

"Rachel…" Leroy reprimands her sweetly.

Hiram shows up at this moment.

"Where is she?"

"I'm here." Quinn states as she walks towards them with the sling on her right arm.

Rachel pulls away from the group and goes to Quinn.

"You have no idea how worried I was."

"It was just a sprain, it's painful, but it's nothing too serious."

Upset, Rachel doesn't say anything, she looks at Quinn with stern eyes. She wasn't talking about the injury, she was worried because Quinn left in that state. And looking at her now, she can see she was right to worry.

"Are you girls ready to go?" Hiram steps in as he is sensing the tension. He knows how Rachel is overprotective.

"Sure, I'm free to go." Quinn informs.

"We'll take you to your apartment Emily." Leroy states. "Hiram will drive Quinn's car."

Hiram pouts. He avoids driving at all costs, only when Leroy is too tired or it is necessary.

"Okay." He confirms.

The way home is very quiet. As Rachel is sitting on the passenger seat, she looks behind every now and then. Emily notices, she would think it weird, but she knows the glee club diva from the school days and because of her relation with Hiram and Leroy, so she knows Rachel is a little bit invasive sometimes.

"Thanks for taking me to the hospital." Quinn says to Emily as the brunette stands outside the car.

"Of course I would." She smiles, then she closes the door and waves goodbye.

As soon as they get home, Quinn and Rachel go to Rachel's bedroom.

"Are you girls hungry?" Leroy asks as they are already up the stairs.

"No thanks, dad, I'm fine."

"Quinn?"

"I'm good, sir, thank you."

"Are you sure you don't want to call your mom?" Hiram inquires.

"It's okay. I don't want to worry her; she will be back tomorrow anyway."

"Okay." He nods. "Good night girls."

"Good night, daddy." Rachel answers.

They head to the bedroom. Quinn walks in first and sits on the bed, preparing herself for Rachel's lecture.

"Your mom is not visiting your sister." It is the first thing Rachel says after she closes the door behind her.

"No."

Rachel gets close to Quinn; she caresses the blonde's cheek tenderly as her face is full of concern. She leans forward and notices the smell.

"Did you drink alcohol?"

Quinn doesn't answer.

"Quinn!"

Rachel bursts out, frustrated.

"What were you thinking?"

"What did you expect? You broke up with me!"

"I didn't…"

"What?"

"We need to talk." Rachel sighs tiredly. "But not now, you're probably hurting."

"Yeah."

In many ways. She thinks.

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Quinn agrees.

Tomorrow she will get it right again. She will start with the truth, of course. Rachel wanted them to be honest with each other. And she will be.

She will fix the mess she made. All because she allowed her insecurities to take control over her actions again.

Okay, she is making a mess of things, but she will get it right. And not in a "superficial" way, like Finn would for example, I promise.

And we're almost back to where we were in the first chapter.