Chapter Six


They had since gone their separate ways to get to class, agreeing to see each other at some point in the day, whether it be at lunch or in one of their classes.

Quinn was playing it cool, she didn't want to freak Santana out by following her everywhere and anyway, she'd never been the desperate type so she wasn't about to start.

It didn't stop her thoughts from wandering.

Even in her first class that morning her mind kept returning to that night, she'd had the whole weekend to think about it. Yet there she was, mindlessly doodling, mind away with the fairies, reliving every little bit of it.

The rhythmic, repetitive motion of her wrist entranced her further as she tried to dissect what Santana might've thought of their kiss. What did she think of Quinn's forwardness? She felt embarrassment suddenly creep up on her, but batted it away when she remembered the soft touch of Santana's lips on hers.

Her movement came to a halt when she felt somebody nudging her.

"Did you hear me?"

Quinn tilted her head in the palm of her other hand toward Mercedes. She'd almost forgotten who was beside her.

"Uh-huh." Quinn sighed, her mind already slipping back into the memories of that night. What could have happened if Puck hadn't ruined everything? The thought completely consumed her, various scenarios played out in her head for that brief time before Mercedes nudged her again.

"Yeah right, girl." Mercedes had a slight knowing smirk on her face. "I've been spilling all the hottest goss from Brittany's and you've not batted an eye to any of it!"

Quinn sat up straighter to give the impression she was actually engaged in the conversation. "Go ahead."

"Right, okay. Now I've got to start from the beginning. I can't believe you and Satan didn't even turn up until after everyone and their mother started to arrive, you must've been busy. You missed some juicy stuff…" Mercedes paused to gauge Quinn's response, which seemed strange to Quinn. Seemingly not getting what she was looking for Mercedes continued. "Rachel and Finn broke up, she got super wasted early on and he kept complaining she was too clingy and they had an argument that made him leave. Such a drag to be honest. Luckily Kurt was there to pick up the pieces and she stuck around."

"Oh." Quinn wasn't sure why this was considered juicy, didn't they break up already?

"Lauren royally swerved Puck, oh man," Mercedes broke out into an all too amused grin, "that was hilarious. You should've seen him. But he sure got over it, I saw him all over Santana later on."

Quinn stiffened hearing it, she knew that they were together at some point in the night, she saw it, but it didn't stop her responding to the unpleasant reminder. The disdain must've been apparent because Mercedes made a noise in agreement.

"What about you, Q? You were missing for half the night, I barely even saw you after the body shots you did off of one of those college guys." Mercedes raised a brow in question.

The grimace Quinn made had Mercedes cracking up, "What!" Quinn harshly whispered. Thank God she didn't remember that, as if she wasn't mortified enough about saying Santana's name with Taylor.

She must've given something else away by the mere thought of the other girl as Mercedes eagerly asked her what had gone down. What was the worst that could happen? This was Mercedes. Yes, maybe she was a huge gossip but they were friends and she wouldn't spread anything around. At least she hoped.

"Do you swear not to say anything?" Quinn looked Mercedes dead in the eye.

Mercedes' eyes gave away her excitement, she'd kept her cards close to her chest this whole time in hopes that Quinn would spill. "Of course. I swear."

"Right, okay." Quinn fidgeted a bit in her seat before deciding to just come out with it. "Do you know Taylor?" Mercedes shook her head, this was not going the way she thought it would. "She's Brittany's cousin." The other girl nodded. "Well..." Quinn took a deep breath, "I'm pretty sure I almost slept with her. I mean maybe I kinda did? The logistics aren't important right now." Quinn's tone was taught, she was nervous.

Mercedes looked on in shock. "Quinn!" Quinn's eyebrows shot to her hairline, she didn't know how Mercedes would respond in all honesty. "You little devil, you!"

Quinn cracked a smile and couldn't help the small chuckle she let slip at Mercedes' response. Mercedes let out a laugh too, only to hurry to hush herself when the girl in front of them turned to look at them. She shot her a look that told her to mind her business.

"Is that what has you all distracted?" Quinn's face immediately began to heat up, the more she tried to stop herself the hotter she got.

"Erm." Quinn tried to duck her head away from her friend to gather herself. "There might be something else."

Impatient, Mercedes shimmied in her seat and shuffled closer. "Spill, you dirty dog."

"IkissedSantana." It all came out in a hushed rush of breath that made Quinn's need for discretion quite obvious.

"I knew it!"

Quinn did not expect that. Her head snapped up to look at Mercedes and saw her beaming and looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Girl, you had me there! I thought I must've seen wrong, but no, I knew it had to be you kissing Little Miss Santana on that porch."

Quinn was now blushing harder than she'd ever done in her life. "Shh!"

"Aw, look at you! All red and shy!" Mercedes wanted to laugh, she really did, she'd never seen Quinn like this.

"Oh my God." Quinn covered her face in attempt to hide herself.

Mercedes was having none of it though and pulled her hands away, holding them as she prodded for more information. "So what was that about? And don't worry, I won't say anything. You can trust me." She gave a gentle squeeze to Quinn's hands.

"I know that, I do. And honestly, I don't know. I wanted it to happen, which is confusing but I'm not bothered by the fact. Do you know what I mean?" Quinn took a quick scope of the class and saw that others were too involved in their own conversations to care what they were talking about. "I'm not questioning myself, I don't feel scared. Like maybe I'm gay or bi or whatever. That's not the thing that's eating at me." Her voice became quieter and urgent as she went on, as though she had been thinking about this for a while. "I've already had a baby," she chuckled a little darkly at that, "so what's another thing to disappoint my family?" She took a small pause. That wasn't a route she wanted to go down right now. "No, it's not that. It's the Santana of it all."

Mercedes had been diligently listening to Quinn's ramblings, appreciating that perhaps Quinn didn't get to do this a lot. She liked knowing that Quinn could rely on her and she liked to think she could rely on Quinn. Nodding to what she was hearing she began to think back over Quinn and Santana getting closer lately and it didn't seem so far-fetched that somebody in the equation could catch feelings.

"She's not exactly an open book and we've not really spoken about it. Maybe it was just a kiss to her and it's not like I want to bring it up and make myself look like an idiot."

"Hey, well from where I was standing she seemed into it." Mercedes seemed to reconsider what she said, "I wasn't staring or anything!" At Quinn's lack of response she continued, "I think the smart thing to do here is play it cool."

"Cool?"

"Yeah, can you handle that?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes at Mercedes, "I can do cool." The defiance was clear in her tone. "I'm quite the ice queen in fact."

Mercedes gave her an amused look and chuckled, "That is so goddamn corny. You gotta work on that." Quinn huffed but listened anyway. "Just be your cute self and see how it goes. Even if you're not panicked it doesn't mean Santana isn't."

Quinn only made a noise in agreement and turned back to her paper to think on it.

What was Mercedes to do with these girls?

"And anyway, I thought you two had already hooked up." That had Quinn's attention again. "Yeah, I mean we thought if her and Britt were at it then you were in on it too. Who knows what's in the water at those cheer camps?" Mercedes couldn't help cracking a smile at the picture of horror Quinn's face was painting.

"Are you being serious?"

At Mercedes' burst of laughter Quinn shoved her in her chair, only serving to make the other girl laugh harder.

Quinn wasn't backward in coming forward, testing the waters with Santana didn't scare her in the way it might others. Her main concern was how Santana might take it. She didn't want to push her away by being too much too soon. Mercedes was right, she was just going to have to play it cool and see where it went.

It wasn't like she didn't have other things to worry about.

Santana felt on edge, she was waiting for the moment that Sue decided to rear her head and chew her out. Luckily, she had made it until lunch without being detained and was eagerly awaiting Quinn to get her ass over to their table in cafeteria.

She had to admit that she had grown to like the dorks in Glee club. However, it did not stop her from feeling very conscious of the fact that she was sitting with them instead of the Cheerios across the way. She tried to not let it faze her as she listened to Kurt ramble on about some guy he thought was cute. To be honest, she didn't actually mind the distraction and to watch him get all flustered when she teased him about having a crush was kind of sweet too.

"So when are we gonna meet this guy?" Santana leaned in with her head resting on her hand.

"Well…" Kurt stalled and didn't move to answer.

"How about we all have a get together?" Rachel piped up.

"What kind of get together are we talking about here, Berry?"

"The kind where we go bowling, or get pizza, maybe even both."

"Woah, don't go crazy! One thing at a time, I don't think I could handle all of the excitement." Santana gave Rachel a smirk that was more playful than biting. "Would you be inviting Finny-boy?"

"It would only be fair," Rachel shrugged her shoulders, "we're still a team. He should at least have the option to come."

"That's very adult of you." Santana commented.

"Yes, well, I am very mature for my age." Santana could practically see Rachel's ego expand before her and was eternally thankful when she felt somebody sit in the space beside.

"Look at you being all nice." Quinn's voice actually made her heart race, she felt herself grinning as soon as she heard it.

Pull it together, Lopez.

"That's me now. Miss Nicey-Nice." Santana tuned out the others and ignored the snort from Rachel as she turned her attention on Quinn. She still looked as good as she did that morning. Only now her hair was a little less put together and her dress was creased from where she must've been fiddling with it throughout the day. It was both hot and cute at the same time. No fair.

Quinn wasn't looking at her as she looked for something in her bag, but Santana could see the upturn of her mouth at what she said. "Well, Miss Nicey-Nice, how do you feel about being an absolute doll and holding this for a sec?" Quinn held out a bottle for Santana to take and put her bag away.

Santana tried to unscrew it, 'tried' being the operative word, "God Quinn, why's it so tight?"

At this point Mercedes had made her way over and had overheard, "That's what she said." Quinn shot Mercedes a look, but seemed amused all the same. Santana, however, felt herself heat up out of sheer discomfort. She was the last person to be called a prude, it was just that the whole situation with Quinn was new territory. It made her kind of defensive, okay? She knew from experience that fallin- erm… liking your best friend was bad news and she wasn't ready to come out and be exposed like that.

On the other hand, she couldn't deny the buzz of excitement she felt around Quinn, how she wanted to be around and thought about her all the time. Santana prided herself on being intelligent, but holy fuck did girls make her dumb. This is what Finn must feel like all the time. She shook her head to herself. Poor guy.

"Here let me do that." Quinn took the bottle from her hands, bringing Santana out of her musings. Quinn used the material of her dress to twist the cap off and took a swig before handing it back to Santana.

"Thanks." Santana said quietly, she took a sip herself and looked to the rest of the table to see what they were talking about as she took a moment to collect herself.

"Hey, are you okay?" Quinn had lowered her voice as not to be heard by the others as she ducked her head toward Santana.

Santana nodded and gave Quinn a secret smile to reassure her. "Yeah."

Quinn looked sceptical, but didn't ask again, she just smiled back and spoke with Mercedes about having a girls' night sometime in the future. Santana watched Quinn talk out of the corner of her eye and made to look like she was listening to Kurt and Rachel until she felt Quinn place her hand on her thigh.

Now that was hard to ignore.

The table they were at hid where her hand was so she wasn't too concerned about anyone seeing. It wasn't like she hated the touch either.

Santana placed Quinn's bottle on the table, still without looking directly at Quinn, and slipped her own hand down and on top of other girl's. She walked her fingers over Quinn's knuckles, catching her smiling at the action. She made her fingers do a little dance that had Quinn's smile widening and Mercedes wondering what she was saying to make Quinn cheese so hard at her.

Santana must've been regressing, because the butterflies she had from hardly any contact had her feeling like a twelve year old. The small touch of Quinn's hand and the silly secrecy of their interaction were making her heart beat that much faster.

"I mean Santana would agree," the sound of her name pulled her attention back to Kurt slightly, "wouldn't you?"

Mindlessly nodding Santana managed out a vacant, "Uh-huh."

Suddenly Quinn flipped her hand and clasped their hands together, their fingers interlocked and palms hot against another's.

"Really?" Rachel's disbelief was not hard to miss.

Santana couldn't care less. She bit back a smile as she looked at Rachel's perplexed expression and nodded.

"Huh. Never had you down as a Sondheim kind of girl. I suppose Madeline Kahn does have an irresistible charm about her in Company."

Santana stared at her blankly, looked to Quinn, then back to Rachel.

"Absolutely."

The end of the day was fast approaching and for that Quinn was thankful. That was until she was struck still in the hallway as her eye caught Sue's.

Taking a deep breath she steeled herself and approached her old coach, she was going to rip the band aid off. She had made her bed and now she was going to lie in it.

"Quinn."

"Coach."

There was no bitterness to either address. However, there was an undercurrent of disappointment in Sue's that bit at Quinn's pride.

"Come with me, if you would." Sue began to walk, not toward her office, instead toward the fields that weren't occupied due to it being the last period of the day. Quinn would be missing her last class, but she wasn't about to start arguing now.

They were quiet on their walk and Quinn respected the silence. She knew Sue was a tyrant in many ways, but she had given her a second chance when she asked for it and when not many would. The absurd loyalty she felt towards Sue was in a lot of ways messed up considering she dropped her on her ass when she was found out to be pregnant, but she also raised Quinn to a higher level - to an untouchable level that protected her for so long.

She was the reason Quinn felt worthy for a long time.

Quinn felt she had begun to let go of her dependence on popularity and those expectations of her. The prospect of losing it all still scared her shitless, but what was life if it not doing one fucking thing after another that scared you?

She just had to keep it together and stick it out.

"Why didn't you come to me?" Sue spoke clearly and outwardly.

"I was scared." There was no point in lying.

"I'm disappointed, Q, I have to be honest. You're one of my more promising Cheerios." Sue held her arms behind her back as she maintained a stroll. "I actually see a lot of myself in you."

Despite the sentiment Quinn inwardly cringed at the idea of even being remotely similar to Sue. She knew she was no saint, but the comparison seemed like a stretch.

"You're ambitious, smart, old Hollywood beautiful. All qualities we share. And no punches are pulled with you." Sue let out a dreary sigh. "Oh how you've wounded me."

"Coach, I just can't do it anymore."

"I know." She was quiet then, a serious expression taking over her features. "And I'm guessing Sandbags isn't going undercover for me is she?" It was a rhetorical question, Quinn knew that. Sue seemed to get lost in thought as she murmured under her breath, something about Roz and laxatives. They walked together some more across the fields, eventually looping their way back around to the school.

"Leave your uniforms on my desk. I'll have to burn them to exercise the quitter spirit." There was finality to the words - sadness too. When they came to a stop outside of one of the school entrances Sue turned and looked to Quinn. "Well good luck with those bunch of losers," she reached out and put her hand on Quinn's shoulder, surprising the girl, "you're going to be just fine, Q. You know where I'll be."

Whether it was the sincerity of the words or the fact that she really needed to hear them from an adult in her life, Quinn felt tears burning behind her eyes. She tilted her head back a little and dabbed her eyes to keep them at bay.

Breathing out she said, "Thanks, Coach." Sue gave Quinn a small resigned smile. "Really."

"Don't go soft on me now." Sue dropped her hand and held the door open for Quinn to go inside before her. "Brittany is going to be ecstatic with captain."

That roused a small laugh out of Quinn, it was only slightly gurgled by the lump in her throat. "Yep."

"Now get to class." With that Sue strode down the hallway, unrelenting even when shouldering into a passing student who was sent reeling into the lockers. The sight kept the smile on her face as she thought back to when Santana did something similar all that time ago.

How things had changed since then.

Later that day in Glee Santana found herself caught up in a conversation about Lord Tubbington's misadventures with Artie of all people.

"I swear that fat bastard hates me." She regaled. "Every time I go to Britt's he's there watching and waiting. One of these days my guard will be down and he'll put poison in my food or something."

"Oh my god, I totally get that." Artie very seriously agreed. Finally he had someone who could relate! "He hisses at me constantly."

"Guys, be nice. He's just having a hard time." Brittany came over to join them. "He's very self-conscious and he feels judged."

"Stop feeding him so much then, B." Santana said, only to have Brittany pout back.

"It's not just me! He gets fed by every house in the neighbourhood; he's a real food slut."

Santana snorted just as Quinn came in and sat next to her.

"Hey, Q." She greeted.

"Hey, San. Artie. Britt." She nodded to the other two and got settled into her seat.

Artie seemed to turn a little pink when Quinn addressed him, Santana thought nothing of it as the other two slid away to sit themselves nearer Tina and Mike so that Brittany could brainstorm a new dance idea.

"I spoke to Coach."

That immediately put Santana on edge; she thought they might've gotten away with it today. "And?"

"And she said to leave our uniforms in her office." Santana didn't say anything, prompting Quinn to continue. "She was weirdly fine, no declarations of ruining our lives or anything like that. I think she's just disappointed." Quinn shrugged, deciding to keep the heart-felt moment between herself and Sue private.

"Oh," Santana sounded surprised, almost disappointed, "that's it? I was almost breaking out in hives over that?" She scrunched her face up in confusion for a moment, eventually settling on a semi-satisfied shrug herself. "Meh. Suppose I'll have to live with it."

"Yeah I suppose so." Quinn was tickled by Santana's reaction.

"Onwards and upwards then, huh, Q?" Santana gave Quinn one of her devilish smirks as she leaned back in her chair and raised an eyebrow in the other girl's direction.

"Onwards and upwards." Quinn gave as good as she got and gave a sly smile back.

Santana felt lighter already. She couldn't believe it. No more Cheerios to worry about, it felt kind of unreal. The uncertainty of where she stood in the school hierarchy had skated around the periphery of her mind but she tried not to let it dampen her mood.

She looked down at her shoes and let her mind wander, a smile itching its way onto her face. If she was being real she was elated.

Another foot came into her line of sight and knocked into her's deliberately. She looked up to find Quinn smiling softly at her.

It was the wink that accompanied the smile that just about melted her heart.