A/N: This one is definitely shorter and it's not the best chapter but it's something for you guys. I've been focusing on school lately and I don't want to leave this story hanging so here's a shorter one. Hope you guys like it, nonetheless.
To say that Quinn was prepared for this reunion was an understatement. Sure, Rachel had assured her multiple times that everyone would love her, but that didn't stop her from feeling hesitant about the whole thing. She usually loved meeting new people, getting to know them and showing them how easy it is to communicate with a deaf individual, but that wasn't the case in this situation. She was meeting her girlfriends friends from high school, the people that knew Rachel before she had even learned the girls name. She was almost terrified.
She, Rachel and Sam were the first to arrive at the local Italian restaurant known as Breadstix. It wasn't that cleverly named, and the menu didn't look to be that great, but according to Rachel it was the best place in town that didn't take a half hour to drive to. Quinn was just glad that there was at least one other thing on the menu for Rachel to enjoy aside from a salad.
Santana and Brittany were the next to arrive in the large, circular booth, and Santana didn't hesitate to order a bottle of wine and an extra basket of breadsticks. Quinn was going to ask why, but she was beat by Santana making a statement.
"I've missed these so much.. Hey Rach, remind me to bring out my old wheel barrel to stock up before we leave."
Sam had to roughly translate because Rachel was too busy rolling her eyes at her friend.
The conversation was kept light, mostly consisting of Rachel asking their guests if they were excited to meet her and Santana's friends from high school. Brittany, for the most part, seemed to be rather excited. She was bouncing in her seat and munching repeatedly on the breadsticks in the basket in front of them, but Quinn wasn't paying attention. She was lost in her thoughts, silently observing the way that Santana and Rachel would tell stories about high school, while both Sam and Rachel were signing along for her sake, but she wasn't focusing on them. She noticed how Rachel would throw her head back and laugh on occasion, or when she couldn't think of a word to sign her brow would furrow in frustration and she'd make a face, then attempt to make up the word. It was something she was used to, and most of the time either she or Sam would provide the sign for her. At some point she stopped bothering trying to seem like she was paying attention and looked down at her phone, desperate for something to distract her from her nerves.
She only looked up when she felt Rachel's hand on her thigh. Biting her lip she averted her eyes from her phone and looked at Rachel, who had a stoic, yet almost saddened look on her face. She glanced past her to Sam, who looked almost.. angry. She furrowed her brow and looked to where all four of the other people at the table were looking, and that's when she saw it. Kurt and Blaine were walking towards them with smiles on their faces, but behind them, almost hidden by Kurt's body (and hair- how did he get it that tall?) was the infamous Finn. Someone Quinn was dreading meeting.
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As the night went on, Quinn was becoming more and more aware of everything that was going on and she wasn't liking it one bit. She was glad that Kurt and Blaine had taken up the seats next to her, leaving Finn to sit on the end. But that didn't stop her from catching the smaller things. The way that Finn would look at Rachel, the way that Kurt would shift uncomfortably next to his step-brother when Finn would say something that seemed.. off-putting, and the way that Santana seemed to be glaring at him from across the table. She was trying hard to keep up with everyone but with so many people in one sitting, and her being in the middle, it was hard to focus. Sam was trying his best to sign the gist of everything to her, but he stopped in his tracks when Finn spoke up.
"Hey uh- Sam, is it? What're you doing with your hands? You've been doing that all night- Rach's been doing it too."
Quinn could see the way that Sam rolled his eyes hard.
"It's sign language, Stay-Puft. Q over there can't hear anything so he's using it so she can stay in the loop. It's kinda hard for him to keep up when you keep running your mouth over everyone else." Santana chimed in, and Quinn was lucky enough to read her lips. She gave the Latina a soft smile as a thank you for standing up for her.
"But she doesn't have anything in her ears? Why can't she hear what we're saying?"
"She's deaf, Finn. I told you this last night." Kurt interjected.
Rachel's hand fell to her lap again.
"Well then why is she here?"
Quinn could feel Rachel's sigh from her side. She shook her head and if it wasn't for the fact that she was in the middle of everyone in the booth, she'd have left to the bathroom by now. This was starting to get uncomfortable. She reached down in her lap and gave Rachel's hand a squeeze, then moved it to Rachel's own lap.
"Quinn is here, because she's my girlfriend, Finn. I'm almost certain that Kurt and Blaine told you that last night." Rachel stated, earning a nod from both the men next to her girlfriend. "What I have to ask, is why are you here? Santana, Kurt and I made these plans to show our significant others and Sam a place that they haven't been to before. We made these plans so we can show them what we used to do when we lived here. I don't remember inviting you, especially since I know how you can be."
"What are you talking about, Rachel?"
"You've been making leering eyes at me the whole night! You've been making comments about how you and I used to be together, how we used to love each other, but that's the whole point, Finn. Used to. Not anymore. I love Quinn!"
Sam's eyes widened and he made a motion to Blaine to nudge Quinn. He did so, and Quinn looked at him questioningly. She noticed how his hands moved subtly in his lap, making small gestures that got the point across. He pointed to Rachel, made a heart with his hands, then pointed to Quinn. Quinn's eyes mimicked Sam's and she made the sign for "love", and Blaine nodded.
Biting her lip, Quinn turned to Rachel and tapped her thigh gently. 'You love me?'
Rachel smiled at her and nodded, leaning forward to kiss Quinn gently on the lips.
"But this doesn't make sense, Rachel. You're not gay! You've never been gay!"
"Newsflash puffy nips, just because a girl has a thing for you doesn't automatically make her straight. I would definitely know." Santana commented, causing Rachel to break the kiss with Quinn with a laugh.
"Well that doesn't mean anything, Santana, you've slept with everyone at the school." Finn retaliated, crossing his arms.
Quinn had caught Finn's lips and understood what he was saying and it took all that she had to not reach over Blaine and smack him across the face. She was about to, but she was interrupted by Kurt grabbing Finn by the ear and dragging him away from the table, and what looked to be out of the restaurant. She stifled a laugh and reached for Rachel's hand under the table, giving it a light squeeze as the brunette leaned into her arm. She looked over and saw Santana turning red with rage, but one touch from Brittany on her cheek and she was calming down. It made her smile, knowing that their "badass" friend could be comforted with just a few small touches.
By the time Kurt came back and Finn was nowhere in sight, everyone at the table decided that it was time to head to the reunion. Kurt wouldn't stop apologizing to Quinn and Rachel about Finn and his behavior, but Quinn just pushed it off. She didn't want to cause trouble; she hated trouble. She was sitting in the passenger's seat of Rachel's dad's car (whom let Rachel borrow it for the night) with her hands in her lap and her eyes on the road in front of them, silently wondering what was waiting for them ahead. She didn't know how Rachel's other friends were going to react and honestly she was afraid. She was afraid that they all would question why Rachel would be with her; or even compare her to Finn. She shuddered at the thought.
She was so lost in her own mind that she didn't even notice when they had pulled up in front of the school and Rachel was opening her door for her. Quinn looked at her girlfriend and met her eyes; they were filled with kindness and joy and hope. Her hands moved fluidly, signing out 'don't worry, they're going to love you' with ease, and Quinn almost believed it. Rachel offered her her hand and Quinn took it, sliding out of the car and following the short brunette towards the school. As they entered the school she could see rows upon rows of lockers, all variously decorated for students who were currently enrolled. She walked with Rachel with Sam trailing behind them as the girl led them through the darkened hallways, making a soft pause at a locker. Quinn looked to her, confused.
"This was my locker all through high school, and that was Kurts." She explained, placing her hand on her locker and pointing to the one next to it. "We'd meet up every morning with coffee and talk about the latest episodes of the shows we'd watch, or what we were working on for glee.." She trailed off, her hands stopping signing. Quinn smiled at her and leaned over to place a kiss on her cheek.
'High school holds good memories for a lot of people.' Quinn explained, then took Rachel's hand again.
"Lead the way, songbird." Sam teased, motioning down the hallway.
Rachel laughed and soon they were stopping in front of an opened door, with lights coming from the room. Quinn assumed that there was music playing, but it wasn't loud enough for her to hear the vibrations. She squeezed Rachel's hand and looked down at her.
"This is the choir room.. This was my safe haven."
And from there, they walked inside.
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An hour into the reunion had Quinn standing close to Rachel, having already met all of her girlfriend's friends, and old classmates. She had met Artie, someone Rachel said had been with the club since the very beginning and had grown to be a close friend with Rachel. She learned that he was in California, working his way up to becoming a director by attending film school (which she had to guess based on lip movement because Rachel didn't know the sign for "film school" and Sam was attacking the snacks), and she had met his girlfriend, Kitty, who was attending UCLA on a cheerleading scholarship.
From there she was introduced to Rory, the person who was making this year-early reunion possible and his girlfriend, Sugar, who was making plans to fly back to Ireland with him. It was a little harder to understand what they were saying because from what she understood (based on Rachel's interpretation), Rory's accent was thick and Sugar talked a little too quickly.
Next she met Marley, whom from what she understood was Rachel's mini-me in high school. Their features were similar and apparently Marley had a pretty strong voice of her own, but they each were different in their own way. Rachel was outgoing, Marley was shy, and various other differences. With Marley came her friend Ryder, who reminded her of a shorter Finn with a personality of Sam. Sam had rejoined them by that point, and seemed to be getting along quite well with the two of them. They had learned that Marley was attending school in Chicago, while Ryder was on a football scholarship to OSU.
The last people that Quinn met were two young men named Spencer and Alistair. From what Quinn interpreted, they were together and in love, and Spencer was attending OSU with Ryder while Alistair owned a coffee shop, saying that he didn't need to go to school right away. They seemed nice but were lost in each other, of what Quinn understood. She had a similar feeling with Rachel around.
The last person she met was Will, or as everyone called him, Mr. Schue. He was the teacher of the club and seemed to have a kind heart with a little bit of a biased opinion. Quinn didn't mind it all that much. Her nerves were fading once everyone was laughing and joking around her, while Rachel and Sam were interpreting. Even Santana was starting to get the hang of a few things and were helping the latter two out with keeping her in the loop. There were a few times when she was lost, but Rachel always helped her find her way back even when the group started singing. Sam just started them all with basic signs so Quinn could join in, laughing and smiling the whole way.