Chapter Four


It was the day of the party and Quinn was excited in a girlish schoolgirl kind of way that had her questioning her sanity. She was waiting on Santana to come over and she couldn't keep still. Her room was immaculate as always, but it didn't stop her from wiping down the sides and remaking her bed.

The door to her room suddenly burst open, hitting the wall and making Quinn jump out of her skin.

"Santana!" Quinn yelped. Santana just grinned and tossed her bag of clothes and make-up on the floor before jumping onto Quinn's queen sized bed.

"Miss me?"

"Barely."

Santana ignored her and leant over the side of the bed, pulling her bag up to reach inside and pull out a bottle of vodka. She turned to Quinn and waved it in her direction. "Wanna start pre-pre-drinks?"

Tonight was going to be a long one.

After Quinn had gone and fetched some shot glasses from the kitchen, Santana generously poured shot after shot. About four shots in Quinn felt heat rush to her skin and a flush bloom over her cheeks and chest. She hadn't eaten much in the day and was feeling it a lot quicker than usual.

"Another?" Santana asked. Quinn shook her head before stopping suddenly and holding a hand to her mouth as she closed her eyes and deeply inhaled through her nose.

"Received loud and clear, but one more for luck!" With that Santana knocked back another with a dirty chuckle, almost spluttering the shot as soon as it hit the back of her throat.

The feeling of sickness passed and Quinn took a sip of juice as she watched a very clearly buzzed Santana scrunch her face look up to the ceiling.

"Ah, hits the spot."

"You're such a lush."

"No, I'm just not a pussy."

"Whatever you say." Quinn said teasingly. Checking her phone she saw that they only had an hour or so before they were to set off for the mini-Glee party. Sure, it was actually planned to happen in half an hour, but who turned up on time to these things? She rose from the floor and started pulling her clothes off, shirt first, everything else swiftly following.

Heading straight for her closet she rooted through the countless dresses she had unsure on what to go for. She knew she probably wouldn't be wearing it by the end of the night anyway. Wanky. Had Santana really rubbed off on her so quickly? Speaking of, she turned to ask Santana what she thought and caught the other girl staring at her lace-clad ass.

Taking a sharp inhale Santana shot her eyes back up to Quinn's.

They hadn't broached the topic of Santana's sexuality since the day they'd decided to work on their friendship, but if the blush burning Santana's cheeks were any indication she was sure it would have confirmed it was more than a Brittany thing by now.

Now the butterflies Quinn had from catching her? She wasn't too sure about. Everyone likes attention, no?

After going through various different combinations of clothes Quinn, with the very opinionated help of Santana, had decided on some shorts and a white tank. Maybe catching Santana checking her ass out again in the mirror influenced the picking of the shorts, but who knows? It would be hot later, so could be that too.

Santana herself had gone with her old faithful. A short, black, strapless dress that did wonders for showing off her body and didn't she know it. She posed in the mirror for at least ten minutes admiring herself before Quinn told her to move her ass and put her make-up on.

Before they left for Brittany's they had one more shot each (for extra luck, according to Santana).

Where Quinn had gone with flats Santana had thought heels were a good idea. That was until she had to walk across Brittany's neighbour's lawns just to get to her door, her poor heels sank into the grass as she clung to Quinn to save her from getting stuck. Judging by the cars that lined the streets already they were later than they thought. The party had started already.

The flashing of lights and rhythmic thudding of bass could be heard from a fair ways down the street, Santana shimmied in excitement and Quinn laughed at her. Those shots had worked their magic and now it was time to get down to serious business. They weren't new to parties, they were old hands by this point. They knew a good time when they saw it.

"You ready?" Quinn said, almost drowned out by the increasingly loud music as they approached the Brittany's front door.

"As I'll ever be," and before she could think too much about it she pecked Quinn on the cheek and whispered close to her ear, "you look beautiful."

Quinn leaned back almost unsure as to how to respond, but she decided pretty quickly as she said just as softly, "So do you."

It shouldn't have made Santana smile as wide as it did. She knew she was beautiful, she'd been told since she was able to comprehend speech, but Quinn saying it? It felt different, it felt like more.

Still smiling as they entered the house, hot, humid air hit them as soon as they stepped over the threshold, the music was blasting and the crowd in the living room let out a roar of cheers.

Quinn took Santana's hand and pulled her through the heaving mass of bodies crowding the hallway into the doorway of the living room. They saw an enthusiastic Brittany swinging her top around as she effortlessly danced to the music.

As if by chance her eyes opened blearily and caught Santana's. She beamed in response.

"Sanny! Quinny!" She leapt through the crowd, barging through the people in front of her without much care for anything in the world. She engulfed them both in a sweaty hug and rested her burning face on top of Santana's head.

"Hey Britt-Britt," the three girls were pressed even further together by people trying to get past them, "shall we go get some drinks?"

"Such a good idea. You're so smart, San." Brittany nodded her head slowly, lolling it around every other nod, very clearly intoxicated.

Still squished, the three of them clung to each other and made it to the kitchen, passing Glee club members in various states of intoxication along the way. Rachel and Kurt hung off of each other as they blabbered obnoxiously about some pretentious, obscure piece of media nobody below the age of sixty knew about between long sips of a very pink drink, Tina and Mike were practically dry humping up against a wall, which Santana found significantly less offensive than the conversation she had just overhead. And her personal favourite, Lauren blanking Puck as he sidled up beside her for what must have been the millionth time that night. If only he put half the effort he put into studying as he did being an absolute sleaze he might've been in with a chance of graduating with the rest of the class.

The kitchen being significantly cooler than the rest of the house came as a great relief to all of the girls as they broke apart in the less dense room. Brittany, with a heavy hand, snatched a bottle of tequila out of some girl's grasp and tipped it in Santana and Quinn's direction.

"Cheers!" Brittany took a swig of the bottle and handed it off to Quinn.

Quinn eagerly took her up on it and knocked back a fair amount before gagging, making Brittany squeal with laughter. Santana laughed too, but only when she saw Quinn shoot daggers in Brittany's direction.

They talked mindlessly for a while, passing the bottle back and forth, Santana put Quinn to shame as she took a long pull without spitting it everywhere. But as they say, no rest for the wicked and Brittany was definitely that. Apparently already bored with the pair she had wandered off without so much as a goodbye and could be heard laughing in the next room over. Santana wasn't too heartbroken, she wouldn't say no to a little more Quinn quality time. She hopped up onto the kitchen counter and brought Quinn closer to her by the strap of her tank.

The two girls continued to share the bottle for as long as they could before feeling too sick to drink it straight any longer.

"Yuck!" Scrunching her face in disgust Quinn took her last sip and looked to Santana. "Okay, I thi- I think we should go and join the party." The smile was on Santana's face before the first word, she had to admit that Quinn was being pretty cute right now.

"Okay."

Sufficiently on the road to absolutely fucked, Santana had Quinn help her down and pulled her into the heaving crowd once more to dance.

Quinn couldn't feel her face and she couldn't find Santana. She tried to find her, but needed to pee too. So here she was, falling asleep on the toilet, head in hand, slipping every now and then until there was a banging on the door.

"Hurry up! I need to go!" A high pitched voice called.

"Ina min.. in a.. min," Quinn slurred. Standing after her third try, Quinn tried to shake herself awake, she splashed cold water onto her face when she managed her way over to the sink. It worked for the most part, she no longer felt on the brink of passing out.

Great work, Quinn. We're doing great. She nodded to her reflection.

She opened the door and there stood the devil incarnate herself. Taylor.

"Quinn?" A wicked smile lit up her pretty face as she stepped into the bathroom with Quinn still in it, locking the door behind her.

"Hey Tay.. hey Taylor." Quinn tried to give her a smile.

"You look good, Quinn." Taylor seemed to be drunk herself, nearly falling on the floor as she tried to sit on the toilet.

Through bleary eyes Quinn looked at herself in the mirror again, she felt like she was doing something. What was she meant to be doing?

Lost in thought she missed the moment when Taylor hip checked her to wash her hands. Quinn nearly fell into the door but caught herself before she did. The other girl laughed as she slid up past her to grab for the door handle.

Cracking the door open she looked back at Quinn with a conspiratorial smile. "Come with me."

Quinn followed her out to what seemed to be the landing. When had she come up here? Then she vaguely remembered the downstairs toilet being loudly occupied.

She could barely hear it under the throbbing bass from downstairs, but she could hear soft music playing from the room they were heading to. Taylor carefully opened the door to a room blanketed in a soft pink glow, there were pink fluffy fairy lights all over Brittany's room. Brittany herself was even there, Artie too.

How the hell did he get up here?

They were speaking in hushed tones, giggling every now and then until they saw that Taylor had returned with a guest.

As Quinn got closer she realised Brittany was painting Artie's face with glowing paint, she'd given him glowing glasses and the sight made her laugh. Brittany laughed too and pecked Artie on the mouth.

"Welcome to the secret den." Taylor motioned around the room as she walked off to the side to pull a little baggie out of a drawer in Brittany's dresser. She held it up to Quinn, "Do you want some?"

Taylor slowly approached Quinn and before she knew what she was doing she was nodding yes. Brittany did a little clap followed by a soft cheer. It was then that Quinn looked into Taylor's striking eyes and saw that they were almost black. Her pupils were dilated and there was a slight sheen to her brow. She pulled out a little ball of tissue that held the molly and told Quinn to open wide so she could put it on her tongue, nodding her head to signal to swallow.

"Do you have some water?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course," Taylor grabbed a bottle off the floor and handed it to Quinn.

The four of them sat in Brittany's room for a while, Quinn waiting for it to kick in and the others enjoying themselves by decorating their bodies. Quinn's vision started to vibrate slightly and she felt herself coming up, her face breaking out into a smile as she let her body relax into it.

Clammy hands were on her face and it made her open her eyes (she hadn't realised she'd closed them) to find Brittany looking at her.

"Hey, Quinn."

"Hey, Brittany."

Brittany rested her forehead on Quinn's. "I'm sorry I haven't been a very good friend to you."

"I'm sorry too." And she meant it.

"Can we be friends? But for real friends?"

"I'd love that."

Brittany sat back to squeeze orange fluorescent paint onto her fingertip and slowly ran it down Quinn's cheek.

"Do you love Santana?"

Santana! Where was Santana?

Quinn almost jerked in response, but remained steady. That's what she was trying to remember.

"Of course I do, Britt. She's my best friend."

"Okay, Quinn." Brittany kissed her on her nose and sat back on Artie's lap before saying she needed to pee, wheeling a dancing Artie with her.

Quinn wasn't sure if the agreement she had just made with Brittany was the real thing, but she didn't want to think too much about it.

"And then there were two."

Quinn almost fell off of the bed. She had forgotten Taylor was in the room so it startled her to say the least. Taylor muffled her laughter into a pillow and lay down tapping the space next to her.

Despite remembering Taylor as a real cunt, Quinn was feeling quite agreeable and Taylor didn't seem too bad either, she went along with it and lay with her.

"I thought you were a real bitch." Quinn said before she could stop herself.

"I am. And anyway, I thought you were too."

"I am."

They both stared at each other, wide-eyed and hazy in the pink glow of the room. It was Quinn who started to laugh first, Taylor soon joined her until they were short of breath.

Where's Santana?

Quinn went to roll off the bed to go and find the answer to that question when Taylor placed a hand on her arm. The contact caused her skin to tingle and get even hotter. They were still for a second, Quinn regarded Taylor curiously.

Warm lips met hers as Taylor unexpectedly kissed her. Even more unexpectedly, Quinn let her.

Quinn began to move her mouth in tandem, accepting the kiss from this girl she barely knew. She didn't particularly care in the moment. It felt too good to care.

It felt even better when Taylor moved the hand that was holding her arm down to her inner thigh where she lightly rubbed the soft skin that was exposed by the ridden-up denim of her shorts.

Feeling bold, Quinn opened her mouth to Taylor and deepened the kiss, encouraging her hand to go further when she lifted her hips. She must have gotten the hint as Taylor pressed her hand directly down in between her legs, only to press harder at the sound of the moan Quinn let out. Grinding up into the other girl's hand, her eyes rolled back into her head.

Quinn grabbed the hair at the base of Taylor's neck to pull her mouth away to breathe as Taylor replaced her hand with her thigh, resuming the friction that had Quinn clawing at her back and grabbing her face to bring her down into another kiss.

Quinn was thoroughly lost in the moment, she felt her high building and she felt her temperature rising. Sweat rolled down her temple and disappeared back into her hairline as she got herself off on Brittany's bitch cousin's thigh.

Wait. Santana. I lost Santana.

Even though her thoughts were addled she still had Santana on her mind. Her beautiful, fierce and insanely smart best friend who had the best sense of humour and smooth-…

A particularly hard thrust brought her back to the moment, but barely. Still lost in thoughts of warm brown eyes and full kissable lips Quinn's orgasm was just on the horizon. She could taste it.

"Santana…" Quinn moaned out. Almost there.

The friction stopped and Quinn let out a frustrated growl. When she opened her eyes a blonde curtain of hair surrounded her face, sharp blue eyes looking back at her questioningly.

Oh yeah.

"Santana?"

"Erm," Quinn used her forearm to wipe the sweat from her forehead, "I gotta go."

Awkwardly shifting Taylor off of her she pulled herself up and hurried to leave the room, briefly eyeing the bottle of water on the far side of the bed that she could've done with. Fuck it, she thought, leaving the water and the room.

The air outside of Brittany's room wasn't all that much cooler than the air in the sweatbox she'd just left and Quinn could see from the banister that the party was still in full thwack and didn't look to be dying down any time soon.

She was so thirsty. Water. Then Santana.

With those things in mind she recalled the bathroom she was in earlier and made her way to the door not hesitating before barrelling through.

The sight of Brittany on her knees and bobbing her head in Artie's lap as he clutched the sink with one hand and her hair with the other scarred her brain. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going down…

It was definitely Brittany.

Quinn blurted out a sorry that fell on deaf ears as she quickly walked backward out of the bathroom, pulling the door closed as she did.

Falling into the mass of moving sweating bodies Quinn tried to navigate her way through to the kitchen, letting the music flow through her as she glided through, her high peaking and her jaw tense.

Finally!

She made it through the throngs into the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards in search for a cup, she eyed one by the sink and emptied its contents before rinsing it out and filling it to the brim with water. She gulped it back in one. She filled it up again, but only took a sip from this one before diving back into the party-goers.

Then she spotted her.

Santana's hair was pulled up and her movements were fluid if not a little sloppy. Quinn's body moved toward her before she knew she was doing it.

But who was that?

Puck was grinding up on Santana, moving his hands up and down her sides. Quinn grimaced, betting to herself that he hadn't washed them once that night. Or ever.

With renewed purpose she slipped through the crowd easily enough to come face to face with Santana so she could pull her towards her causing Puck to look over at her and raise his eyebrows.

Santana, on the other hand, opened her eyes and shouted "Quinn!" wrapping her arms around Quinn's neck they swayed on the spot as she held her as tight as she could.

"Hey, San." Quinn hugged her back and put her arms around her waist to keep them steady.

"Do you mind?" Puck leant toward Quinn so she could hear. She had her eyes closed but rolled them anyway.

Santana just murmured in her ear, "Let's dance, Q."

"Fuck off, Puck." Quinn spat, that anger she usually felt bubbling underneath her skin when she'd had a drink reared its head.

She saw the sweat on his top lip as he sneered at her and huffed before storming out through the back door.

Satisfied he'd been dealt with Quinn moved with Santana and rode out her high, loving it especially when Santana tickled her arms and neck. Quinn's eyes rolled to the back of her head for the second time that night. The events that transpired earlier came back to her and the more she thought back on that missed orgasm from Taylor the more she realised how turned on she still was.

Santana was enjoying this side of Quinn, she seemed to have let her hair down and was having a good time. A really good time by the hand she felt on her ass as they danced body pressed against body.

Quinn had this dopey grin on her face and kept looking at Santana's mouth. Every time Santana caught her she felt a twinge of want and what she wanted was Quinn to kiss her. Santana lightly scratched the back of Quinn's neck and like hitting a puppy's sweet itch spot Quinn's eyes fluttered.

It was getting too hot in here, Quinn's white tank was almost see-through with how wet it had gotten. She took Quinn's hands in hers and pulled her to the back door for some fresh air.

As soon as they stepped through the threshold, cool air hit their skin leaving trails of goosebumps all over their bodies. It was cooler than she had expected.

Santana stood close to Quinn's warm body as they stood off to the side. The porch lights illuminated Quinn's face and she saw her blown pupils and tight jaw. Her Quinny had really enjoyed herself tonight then, huh?

Santana pulled out a stick of gum from her bra and passed it to Quinn with a smirk.

"Thought you might need it more than me."

Quinn pulled her focus away from the dewy grass and steamy pool of Brittany's yard to look at her outstretched hand. She carefully took the gum, slowly unwrapping it before bringing it to her lips. The squeals and sound of splashing were drowned out by her thudding heart. They held eye contact as Quinn bit the strip in half. Almost agonizingly Quinn lifted her other hand to cup her face, training her eyes on Santana's mouth, willing it open with a look. Santana held no protest as Quinn slid the other half of gum into her mouth. Slender fingers brushed against her lips and before Quinn could pull away she closed her mouth around them.

Quinn let out a gasp and flicked her eyes back up to Santana's. If Quinn's eyes were not already dark they would have been by now. Quinn moved her hand from her hold of her cheek to the back of her neck as she slowly extracted her fingers. With a satisfying pop they were finally free and there was a split second of hesitation on Santana's part as she remembered they were in the presence of their whole year and then some, but she pushed the thought away when she saw three topless cheerleaders sprint and bomb into the pool. A kiss would be the last thing anybody would remember from tonight. If they remembered anything at all.

She took her barely-chewed gum out and stuck it under the railing of the porch, Quinn tutted at her actions before copying her anyway. Her mouth quirked with a smile that suggested she knew something that Santana didn't. And just like that Quinn closed the small distance between them. Their mouths met with a surprising tenderness that juxtaposed the chaos that surrounded them.

Feeling bolder in her decision, Santana closed her mouth over Quinn's bottom lip and deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue out to run it across Quinn's begging mouth. Quinn was eager to reciprocate, her grip on Santana's neck tightening as she pulled the other girl closer to her. Santana felt dizzy and so, so good. Maybe the drink was to blame, but maybe that kiss was hitting kind of different. Once separated they looked into each other's eyes as intently as their inebriated states would allow, breathless and flush.

...

Quinn was positively burning. Her mouth tingled and felt hot. She could feel a smile growing on her face as she held Santana's gaze, her face actually ached for it. Santana laughed lightly at the sight and pecked her mouth before returning the smile. Her eyes slightly unfocused but trained on her nonetheless.

"Swim?" Quinn asked, her voice coarse and laced with lust.

Santana nodded and that cued Quinn to strip. Goodbye useless tank and goodbye shorts. Standing in just her underwear Quinn felt the cool air brush more of her skin. One area in particular feeling quite cold all of a sudden. Luckily Quinn had worn light lace panties so how wet she was wasn't as blatantly apparent to everybody else as it was to her.

"You coming?" Santana's voice drew her back in and she saw that she was down to just her underwear too, her hand outstretched for Quinn to take.

Lacing their fingers they made their way across to the pool without crashing into anyone. Without stopping they jumped straight in to be immediately submerged into the (thankfully) warm water.

Santana came surging back to the surface almost as fast as she went under but saw that Quinn was nowhere in sight. "Qui- ahgh!" Hands grabbed onto her ankles and dragged her back under. It didn't take a genius to work out who pulled her under, the distinctive laugh of Quinn Fabray as she broke the surface once more only confirmed it.

"You bitch!" Santana swiped a splash of water at Quinn, but it only made her laugh harder.

"What?" Quinn's voice was an octave higher as she tried to play innocent, but her apparent amusement was doing her no favours on that front.

"You know what." Santana grabbed for Quinn and pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her waist as she moved them into a shallower depths so they could stand.

"Mmm, maybe I do." Quinn put her arms over Santana's shoulders, gathering her wet hair and softly squeezing some of the water out before letting it go to caress the back of her neck. "Just helping you on your road to swimdom."

Santana gave Quinn a look that told her she was not convinced. "Swimdom? I don't think that's even a word, Q."

"Sure it is. It means infiltrating a swimming team to help your psychopath coach out."

Santana nodded her head sagely, "Ah, yes of course."

Quinn let go of Santana when a chill ran through her to dip her body lower into the water so that her chin touched the surface. Santana mirrored her actions, their legs gliding across each other's, but not completely touching as they slowly moved closer to each other again.

"You're not going to do it are you?"

"I don't know."

Quinn slid lower until the water covered her mouth. They both were still for a short while, lost in their own thoughts. It was Quinn who broke her reverie first. Humming the theme song from Jaws she slowly edged closer to the other girl. Santana gave her a perplexed look until she caught on to what she was doing. She tried to bite down her smile, but could feel herself failing miserably as she watched Quinn make her way toward her.

As ridiculous as it sounded Santana's heart actually began to speed up at the prospect of being chased, even if it was playfully. Backing up until she hit the edge of the pool Santana laughed out, "Stahp!" squealing when Quinn lurched out of the water to pretend attack her. In an act of self preservation Santana put her hand on Quinn's forehead and pushed her back down. Bubbles erupted from the water as Quinn fell back under.

Quinn gasped out a laugh when she resurfaced and wiped the hair out of her face and water out of her eyes. She approached Santana again, putting her arms either side of her on the pool's edge, trapping her in. She had a coy look on her face as she bit down on her lip. The action certainly drew Santana's attention.

As Quinn began to lean in Santana's gaze shot back up to her eyes. "What are you doing?"

Quinn's eyes flashed with challenge. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

She began to close the distance, but stopped before they made contact, her mouth ghosting Santana's.

"Quinn." Santana almost whispered out.

The moment was interrupted by a wave of water splashing them. Sam burst through the water whooping and encouraging somebody on the grass that the girls couldn't see.

"Sam!" Quinn snarled, smacking a splash of water back.

"Oh hey, Quinn!"

Just then the person Sam was shouting for jumped in, another wave hitting Quinn square in the face. Coughing out the water that got into her mouth Quinn felt soft hands take a hold of her arm as she was pulled to the side.

"Sorry, Baby Momma!" Puck apologised with about as much sincerity as she had patience for him. He very obviously found Quinn's disgruntled state highly amusing.

"I hate that fucking prick," Quinn muttered to Santana. "Call me that again you pig and see what you get!" Puck knew more than anyone that Beth was a sore spot, to be made fun of by him for it riled her up like nothing else.

Her Santana bubble had burst and this asshole was purposely trying to push her buttons.

Very drunk himself, Puck didn't think anything of it as he laughed in her face and made a remark under his breath to Sam. The action made Quinn's blood boil, she knew it wasn't worth getting into but at this point in the night her inhibitions were well and truly shot.

She moved to hit him, but felt that hold on her arm tug her back.

"Q, stop." When Quinn didn't turn to look back at the other girl, Santana tried to pull her attention by moving her face toward her. "Hey," she said softly.

Quinn almost complied, but she was too worked up, her heart hammered and her hands shook. She pulled away from the touch and lifted herself out of the pool without another word.