Quinn woke up hours before anyone else. Santana and Brittany lay close together in the bed the three of them shared. She felt left out, as she often had in their friendship, despite the fact that Brittany and Santana hadn't dated for years. Santana had new girlfriends every week. She was the girl that straight movie stars pretended to date to be edgy. Quinn decided to get up and have some breakfast before anyone else woke up. She tiptoed out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Rachel had bought food to feed an entire army and Quinn found some yoghurt which she ate on the deck, facing the water.

"You're up early" Sam said.

He came from the beach, sweaty and shirtless, evidently back from a run.

"You too."

"Couldn't sleep. Mike kept talking in his sleep. What's your excuse?"

"I always get up at six am, it's a habit."
He sat down next to her on the wooden steps facing the water. He looked the same, of course, like the pretty boy he was. She wondered if he still did modelling. She wondered if it was too revealing of her lack of knowledge if she asked.

"Sorry for throwing you in the water yesterday" he said.

"Oh. It's okay" she sort of lied.

"It was supposed to be make you smile."
"I know."

She picked up the cup of coffee she had made for herself and drank it. It didn't taste as good as the one Henry made her every morning, but the view was better. And Sam wasn't bad company. He was nice. He had always been nice. Naïve, maybe, but nice.

"Remember when you sort of asked me to marry you?" she asked, smiling, falling into the trap of nostalgia for the first time.

"Yeah, seems like ages ago" he smiled.

They had been different people then. Or at least she had. It had been the post-Beth year, she remembered very little from the year.

"It really does."
"Hurt like hell, though."
"What did?" she asked.

"When Puck got out of juvie and kicked my ass for it."

She frowned at him. She couldn't remember that.

"Did he?"
"Yeah, you didn't know?"

"No."

"Never seen him that pissed in my life" Sam grinned. "It's probably a good thing that you and I broke up or he might have really killed me."
"Yeah" she mumbled.

"Good thing he's over you or your older boyfriend might have gotten a black eye too" Sam chuckled.

…

He watched them from the kitchen, sitting side by side, talking, laughing. Immediately he felt irritation against Sam. Of course, they weren't kids anymore and it wasn't about picking sides, but Puck had still imagined that Sam would have picked his. Everyone knew that Puck and Quinn didn't speak, even they didn't know why. Sam didn't seem to care, laughing to something she said as if it was no big deal.

"If looks could kill…" Santana teased him.

"Shut up."
"Aren't we allowed to speak to her at all?"
"Did I say that?" he muttered.

"No, but your face kind of implies it."
He turned his back on Santana and on the windows facing the lake. He didn't want Quinn to ruin this week for him, the first week in ages he had been able to leave Detroit. She had been right yesterday, the best thing would be if they just ignored each other.

"Maybe you should just talk it out" Santana sighed.

"We have."

"Really?"

"We agreed to stay away from each other until we leave again."
"Wow. That's a great idea" Santana yawned.

Puck ate his breakfast inside, with his back facing the deck. Everyone else went outside to sit in the sun and watch the lake, but he didn't feel like it.

"Why aren't you coming outside?" Sam asked him.

"Don't feel like it" Puck muttered.

"Okay!" Sam grinned, not hearing the dull tone in Puck's voice. "Hey, why didn't you ever tell Quinn about you bashing my face in after I proposed to her back in High School?
Puck turned to face him. Was that what they had been talking about? About his jealousy? About the fact that one of his best friends had started to date the only girl he had ever liked, when he himself was in juvie?

"I don't know" he replied. "It never came up."

Sam chuckled, as if it was all a joke.

"Wanna go for a swim?" he asked.

"No" Puck mumbled. "I'm still eating."
"Hey, are you pissed at me or something?" Sam asked, finally picking up on the vibe.

"No, why should I be?" Puck retorted.

Sam shrugged and went outside again.

…

Of course, ignoring each other wasn't easy. It could have been if Rachel had just let him all be adults but no, this was a reunion and they all had act like kids again.

"This is a game to make us reconnect" she said.

Puck stole a glance at Quinn. She looked annoyed but not surprised. She had probably known what Rachel had been planning. Her pessimism made him decide to enjoy the activity.

"Rachel, it's going to rain" Quinn said, just like he had known she would. "Maybe we play tomorrow."
"It's not going to rain" Rachel argued.

Quinn said nothing, but looked up at the ever-greying sky. It was going to rain. She was right.

"What's the game, Berry?" Santana asked.

"I'm going to divide us into teams and then every team will receive a list of missions. The team that is done first gets a prize!"

"What's the prize?" Kurt asked rather dryly.

He also looked somewhat skeptical to the outdoors activity.

"It's a surprise" Rachel replied. "But remember, even if you don't win, you still get to reconnect with our old friends!"
Puck forced himself to not roll his eyes. He had no problem with these people. He even liked them, however, he felt too old to go on some treasure hunt in the rain. They had a nice deck, they had beer, they had each other. Wasn't that enough?

"Team One: Quinn, Mike, Tina and Puck."
He groaned. This was a Rachel's idea a reunion, making Quinn and Puck work together in some stupid challenge. He knew Quinn would back out. She would make some lame excuse and he would be alone with the married couple. It was fine. He didn't want to be with her anyway.

"Good luck" Santana hissed jovially.

"Are you in on this?" he muttered back.

She grinned and winked. Fuck all of them. Tina and Mike moved in closer to him, hand in hand, looking as in love as anyone could be.

"Should be fun, eh?" Mike said.

"Yeah" Puck said disheartened.

Quinn walked closer to them too. She was still looking up at the sky. He waited for her to excuse herself, to make up some lie, to wave her cellphone around. But she didn't. She didn't look super excited either though.

"Here you go, Team One" Rachel said, giving them their list.

Mike took it and held it out for his wife to read. Quinn inspected her nails. Puck inspected everything but her.

"We're going to win" Tina giggled.

"And even if we don't, it's still wonderful time spent with our friends" Puck muttered.

Quinn pulled a face.

…

The first task was to find three different types of flowers. Tina took the lead and headed out into the forest. Quinn wished she had brought a raincoat from New York but she hadn't thought that they would be playing games in the woods for entire day. She wouldn't have guessed that Rachel Berry was this fond of wild life.

"Do we need to know the name of flowers too?" Mike asked his wife.

She replied no. Quinn walked after them. They looked happy. They had had a white wedding and a child. Still, they lived in Lima so their life couldn't be that great. Puck took up the rear of the group. She hadn't been surprised to end up in his group. Rachel meant well but she needed to keep her nose out of other people's business. "Fixing" Puck and Quinn wasn't a little project she could occupy herself with now that her show was off season.

"Look, here's a yellow one" Tina exclaimed and bent down to pick a rather ugly flower.

Quinn felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She stopped to answer it as the other three walked on. Mr. Lewis was upset. Hannah had filed some papers wrongly and he couldn't find them. It took her five minutes to guess where they could have ended up. She had to hurry to catch up with the others.

"You must have a very important job" Mike said when she finally reunited with the group.

"Not really" she said.

"Your mother thinks so" Tina grinned. "She's so proud, tells anyone who wants to listen about her lawyer daughter."
"I'm actually not a lawyer yet."

"The pride of Lima" Puck said ironically, ignoring her comment.

"Shut up" she retaliated.

"Don't be modest, Quinn" he said. "Our Yale girl. We should proud of the fact that you are gracing us with your presence."

Mike and Tina laughed as if it was a joke. It wasn't. He wasn't even trying to hide the passive aggressive tone in his voice. It wasn't like she was ashamed of her education, but he seemed to think that all of it had been handed to her. He hadn't been there for the nights before the exams when she had studied until her nose bled and stayed awake until her fingers shook with exhaustion. She had fought hard for her degree, all through law school and it had given her a job at one of the best law firms. She had applied herself. She had worked. What had he done? Served in the army. Fixed cars. Ruined her life.

"Look, here's another yellow one" Mike said, picking another flower from the ground.

"Isn't it the same one?" Tina asked.

"I don't know."

They discussed the petals with their heads close together. Puck leaned against a tree. Quinn looked up at the sky for the umpteenth time. It was going to rain soon. And they weren't even done with the first task.

"What's the verdict, Changs?" Puck asked finally.

"Sadly, it's the same" Mike said, shrugging.

Quinn exhaled. She was cold. She felt uncomfortable in her skirt and heeled shoes. She kept sinking an inch into the soft ground at every step. Her frustration with Rachel, with the happily married couple and with Puck rose every second.

"Maybe we should forfeit" she suggested half-heartedly.

Tina had found another flower and wasn't listening.

"This game below you, honey?" Puck asked her.

She snorted.

"Don't pretend like you're enjoying it."

"At least I'm not taking business calls."

"Well, who would call you?"

He raised his eyebrows.

"Good point, Q. I am my own boss."

"Must be very empowering" she snarled.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Hey" Mike said softly. "Please don't fight."

Quinn turned her head away from all of them. She contemplated going back to the house but they were too far into the forest. She would probably get lost.

"We have two flowers now" Tina said. "Let's just find one more, okay?"
Quinn nodded.

"Yeah" Puck said.

…

They found a third flower and continued on. The next task was to climb the highest tree they dared and take a photo from the top. Quinn pointed at her tight skirt and announced that she was not climbing any tree. Puck didn't volunteer either. In the end, Mike climbed a fairly high tree and took a photo which he sent to Rachel as proof.

"Just one more thing on the list" Tina said happily.

Quinn's phone rang again. Mr. Lewis had another problem with finding files. She stopped once more to think where he could find the Hanson case files. When she finally hung up, Tina, Puck and Mike were gone, out of her sight. And it started to rain. Heavy drop of rain fell out of the grey sky and soaked her within a minute.

"Thanks" she muttered to no one and walked in the direction where the three others had disappeared.

The rain didn't stop. It fell into her face and her eyes, making it hard to see anything. She even tried calling out after the others, but no one answered. And she had none of their phone numbers. Finally, she decided to hide under a dense pine until the rain subsided and she could find her way back. She took her shoes off; they were ruined. Thanks Rachel.

"Quinn?"

She peeked out from the branches. Puck had come back. He was wet too. He hadn't seen her yet.

"Here I am" she called.

"Under a fucking tree?" he asked. "You learn that in Brownies?"
He lowered his head and made his way in under the branches as well. The rain was still heavy. He sat down next to her.

"Where's Tina and Mike?" she asked.

"We ended up almost back at the house. They ran inside."

"What about you?"
"Well, I knew that Rachel would blame me if you starved to death."

She smiled politely. This wasn't the plan. She wasn't supposed to sit next to him under some tree in the rain. She was supposed to ignore him for the rest of her life.

"Nice look" he said, nodding at her face.

"Yeah, well. I said that it would rain."

"Yeah" he agreed. "You did. A few times."

She rolled her eyes at him but he only smiled. She realized that he had been joking, not passive aggressively and not meanly. He had just been joking. She almost felt bad for the eye roll. Almost.

"Can you find the way back to the house?" she asked in a more pleasant tone.

"Think so, you want to go now?"
She peered through the branches. Was it possible that the rain was coming hard faster now than before?

"Let's wait until it subsides at least a little bit" she suggested.

"Fine with me."

…

She had mascara all over her face. Her hair was plastered to her head. The blouse she was wearing stuck to her skin. He liked her better like this; without the eyeliner, the nice up do and fancy clothes. She looked more real, more like an actual person now. Less like the person she had become in his absence.

"Your shoes are ruined" he said.

"Thanks for information" she muttered.

She hadn't thanked him for coming back for her, not even a little inclination that she was grateful for not being alone. Not that he had expected it, but still…

"I should have stayed in New York" she said. "This is miserable."

"Two days in the row, you end up wet" he grinned.

"At least Sam apologized."

"Was that what you were talking about today? I thought you were talking about me" he said.

"Why should we be talking about you?" Quinn asked.

She kept tapping her phone to check that it hadn't died.

"Sam said you talked about me beating him up."

"Yeah, well, he brought it up" she said.

She gave up her on her phone and stuck it under her shirt, probably in her bra, to keep it dry. He saw a glimpse of her skin. It had goose bumps. It gave him goose bumps too.

"You never told me that" she said. "You never said that you gave him a black eye."
"I knew that you wouldn't like it."
"We weren't really speaking then, you and me, I mean" she recalled.

"I know. I had no right to punch your boyfriend. Yada yada. Spare me the lecture."
He was digging his fingers into the moist soil to have something to do with his hands. This was the longest he had spoken to her in years. And without fighting. This wasn't really fighting, was it?

"How was the army?" she asked, her voice drenched in sarcasm, changing the tone of the conversation entirely.

Now they were going to fight. He knew it. Maybe he had jinxed it by thinking that they were actually kind of getting along. The rain was subsiding now too. They could leave. But apparently she wanted to talk about this now.

"I left it like seven years ago" he replied.

"Really" she said tonelessly.

"Yeah, it was only eighteen months."
"Only" she echoed.

"And I survived" he stated.

"Clearly."

"Did you know that I came back alive?" he asked. "Or didn't you care?"
"I knew" she replied. "And I didn't care."
"Right."
It was only drizzling now and the house was only a few minutes away. They could leave now but neither of them stood up. Clearly her plan of ignoring each other wasn't working. Perhaps it was better to attempt to clear the air. Once and for all.

"I came to see you when I came back" he said. "Did you know?"

"No" she said. "I told you that I didn't want to see you."

"Well, I came anyway. You were still at Yale then."
"Oh, I hope you enjoyed the campus."

"I saw you with him. The man. The professor."

"Henry" she corrected him.

"Yeah, I don't really care what he's called."

"Henry. My partner..."
"Stop saying that. It sounds weird."
She rolled her eyes. He looked away from her face. He was cold now, freezing the bone. He longed for a shower, for a beer, to talk to someone who didn't hate him. And still he stayed.

"It wasn't forever, Quinn" he said. "It was eighteen months. You couldn't wait that long?"
She didn't respond for a long time. He thought that she was going to ignore him, but in the end, she took a deep breath.

"It wasn't about the time."

"No?"

"I didn't want you to go at all. I begged you not to."
Her voice was different. Softer. Lighter. More childlike. Gone were the New York attitude and the Lawyer confidence.

"Let's not have this fight again" he almost begged. "I had to go. You know I had to. I had already signed up."
"You could have made an excuse, made something up."

"I didn't want to."
"I know" she said. "That was the problem."

"Finn had just died and…" he began.

"Yes" she said. "He had just died. I didn't want to lose you too."

"We talked about this-"
He was interrupted by her phone which began to ring beneath her clothes. She sighed and fished it out.

"It's Santana" she said, pressing the green button on the screen. "Hey. We're coming back now."

When she hung up, they both got to their feet. She held her shoes in her hands, walking barefoot on the muddy ground. Puck guided the way. They didn't speak a single word during the entire walk.

…

"Stop looking at me like that" he muttered to Santana.

She sat next to him on the couch, sharing the blanket Rachel had covered him with after his long and hot shower. Everyone else seemed to have escaped the rain fairly well. He would have too, if hadn't gone back for Quinn.

"Did you have a nice moment in the forest?" Santana asked pointedly.

"Just give it up" he sighed. "Please."

"Rachel won't. She'll keep pairing you up together."

"Well, tell her not to."

"She's a hopeless romantic" Santana said. "She'll never give up."
"There's nothing romantic between Quinn and me. There hasn't been for like ten years."

"Still, you went back for her. To find her in the woods. Seems kind of romantic" Santana argued.

"Just give it up, okay?" he begged.

She shrugged. He wasn't pressing her about Brittany, even though they had too been paired together by Rachel. He was giving her space. He was being a better friend.

"I guess Rachel just has this idea of everyone moving to New York. She has this romantic image of us living some kind of artsy, cultural life and marrying each other and living happily forever" Santana continued.

"Maybe she needs to find someone to marry herself" he said.

"Believe me, I've been telling her that for years" Santana sighed.

Puck angled his head so that he could see Rachel in the kitchen, chopping vegetables with Kurt and Mercedes. She was probably the most successful person here and perhaps also the unhappiest.

"She means well" he admitted.

"She does" Santana agreed. "Still irritating as hell, though."
"Yeah" he grinned.

He lifted his beer from the sofa table and took a big swig. He should probably help with dinner but suddenly felt wiped out.

"You should still move to New York, you know" she said. "Even if it's not to marry Quinn Fabray."
"Hey, lower your voice" he muttered. "People might get ideas."

"Seriously though" she went on, ignoring him. "Detroit sounds fucking boring."
"It is" he said without thinking.

"New York is not. New York is everything" she said.

"So you keep saying. I just don't think it's for me."

"What if Quinn lived somewhere else, would it be an option then?" she asked.

"Not everything is about her" he sighed.

"Maybe not, but a lot of things seem to be."

…

"It's a reunion, in my experience, they are always ridiculous" Henry told her.

"Yeah, but this is too much" she exhaled. "We're too old to play games."

Everyone else was downstairs, preparing dinner and drinking wine. Quinn had sought solidarity to be able to speak to Henry in peace, her most prominent link to her real life. His low, calm voice was always soothing, always comforting.

"No one's forcing you to be there" he reminded her kindly.

"I can't leave."

"If it's bad enough-"

"No, I literally can't leave. I don't have a car and God only knows where the closest bus station is."
He laughed as if it was a joke. She leaned back against the headboard of the Queen sized bed she was sharing with Santana. She still felt cold despite her fifteen minute long shower.

"Santana's there right?" he asked. "And Rachel?"

"Yes."

"There you go. You have your friends!"

"You don't even like them" she said. "You said that they are naïve and self-involved in their strive for stardom."

She could quote his opinions, word by word. They had been together that long. She knew him that well. And he had never really said a good word about her friends.

"Well…" he said. "Well, I'm not saying that those two are the best influence on you but this is a special circumstance."

"I'm not a child" she told him. "No one can influence me."

"We never stop evolving, Quinn. That's the beauty of the human nature. You know that, I taught you that in college, didn't I?"
He probably had. She had been to every single one of his lectures, always sitting in the back, thinking that he was speaking to her. In the end, it turned out that he had been looking at her from the first minute of the first class. It was the beginning of a wonderful love story.

"Five and half days left" she said.

"That's nothing" he said.

"Don't you miss me?" she asked, becoming the needy girlfriend she hated to be.

"Quinn, you've been gone about 36 hours."

"Right."
"Have you had any time to study for yet?"
"No" she replied. "Maybe tonight."

"Good. Don't get distracted."

"I won't" she promised.

They hung up. She stayed in bed under the covers for another fifteen minutes before getting up. In Santana's bag she found a large college sweater and pulled it on..She was too frozen for her own thin cardigans.

"Good for you, Quinn Fabray, you look more alive now" Kurt commented as she came down the stairs.

He handed her a glass of white wine. She sipped it. It tasted better than the red from last night.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"I think we're okay. Sit down for a bit."

She nodded and headed for couch. However, she realized quickly that it was already occupied. Puck and Santana sat close together, under a blanket, her head on his shoulder. He turned his face to look at her when he heard her footsteps, opening his mouth as if he was about to say something. She took a mouthful of wine.

…

"What did Henry say?" Rachel asked.

Quinn leaned her back against one of the counters. They were making vegan lasagna. Henry would have laughed at it. All these kids who drove cars, flew airplanes and bought a huge amount of clothes, trying to compensate by eating vegan food.

"Nothing special" she said.

She had her back against the living room now. Not that she cared what Puck and Santana did, but it was confusing. She had never understood their relationship. And perhaps she had wished that Santana would have chosen her side in this conflict.

"You must miss him" Rachel went on airily.

No, Henry didn't really like her friends, but equally, Rachel and Santana had no warm and fuzzy feelings about him either. They thought that he was too old, too stuffy and the reason why she never had time to hang out. He was probably the reason that Rachel was determined to pair her back up with Puck.

"Yes, I do" Quinn said, even though she wasn't really sure it was true.

She missed New York and the safety she felt there, but as Henry had pointed out, she had only been gone 36 hours. He had been gone for conferences for a week at a time before and it had never really bothered her. They weren't teenagers, craving each other's love. They had an adult relationship, built on consideration and respect, she thought, once again quoting Henry.

"It's nice to get away though" Rachel said. "Isn't it? From work and the city and…"

"Working on Broadway isn't picnic, is it?"

"No" Rachel replied. "But I love it. You are the only one who understands. We both work so hard for what we love."
Quinn smiled, thinking of how Rachel had never really had a real job in her life. She sang and danced in front of a doting audience every night. Quinn studied and sweated and got yelled at if they lost a case. It was probably easier to love being a Broadway star than a paralegal.

"I promise to come and see your show" she promised. "Sorry for missing so many of them."

Rachel's face lit up. Quinn immediately felt bad for declining the free tickets that Rachel always sent her, one for her and one for Henry. He didn't understand musical theatre, he said and she could understand him. That was also the reason that she had never told him how much she had loved doing West Side Story in High School.

"I think you'll like it" Rachel said, talking about her new show. "It's very dark. Moody. You know."
Quinn didn't ask why she thought that Quinn would enjoy something like that. Maybe she didn't have the sparkly personality her mother had hoped for.

"Hey, Q" Santana shouted from the living room. "Come here for a second?"

Quinn sighed, let Rachel refill her wine glass and then made her way back to the couple on the couch. Wasn't Santana supposed to be a lesbian? Why did she have to have her legs in Puck's lap?

"What?" Quinn asked.

"Is this a good time for you to look over that contract I mentioned? Please."

Quinn sighed again.

"Yeah, sure."

Santana jumped to her feet.

"You're the best" she told Quinn.

"What kind of contract?" Puck asked, as if they had not had a heart felt discussion of their past just an hour or two ago.

"Some pilot she's filming in LA during the summer" Quinn replied.

"It's not some pilot" Santana retaliated, bringing back a stack of papers. "It's a charming family comedy about a suburban family."

"What part do you play?" Puck asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"Well, it's a tiny part in the pilot, one of the daughter's friend, but they told me that it will get bigger."

"Hand it over" Quinn said, nodding against the huge amount of paper.

She sat down on the armchair next to her couch and read the contract, line by line. Nothing was really new to her after reading a few of these for Santana. They were always super vague of how much she was going to be on the show, if it got picked up, but also very unfair by tying her up for a long time even if it didn't last on the air.

"You're supposed to be sixteen?" Puck was saying. "No one's going to believe that."

"God, have you ever seen a sixteen year old playing a sixteen year old on TV?" Santana responded. "No. Because they are weird and pimply and have to like go to school."

"Still, no one had boobs like that in High School" he said.

"Shut up" Santana snarled.

Quinn cleared her throat. She had no interest in talking about the size of Santana's breasts with Puck. It just made everything weirder. If possible.

"Don't do it" Quinn said. "Don't sign it."

"What?" Santana said. "Why not?"

"It's the usual. If you do get picked up, you can't sign with anyone else for a year. A year, Santana, even if the show only lasts like three episodes."

"It won't get cancelled" Santana pouted. "One of the writers is that guy who wrote that comedy with Kristen Ritter."
"Who?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah, I don't know either" Puck said.

Santana stood up to take the papers back. Quinn held them away from her.

"I always tell you not to sign, San. And you never listen" she said.

"Yeah, well, it has worked out this far."

"Yes, because nothing of what you have signed up has been picked up by a network."
"What if I say no and this becomes like a big hit?" Santana asked desperately.

"How many lines do you have in the pilot?" Puck asked.

"It doesn't matter-"Santana began.

"One" Quinn replied in her place.

Santana reached once again for the contracts. Quinn once again tried to hold them away from her.

"Look, I'll look them over one more time, look for a loophole" she said. "Okay?"

Santana nodded.

…

He didn't know where she had found that sweater she was wearing. It was his. He hadn't seen it in a year or two. It was huge on her tiny frame. She probably didn't know that it was his or she wouldn't have touched it.

"What if the show becomes a hit, San" he said, distracting himself from Quinn who was studying the papers closely. "Will you move to LA?"

"Probably" Santana replied.

"Then what's with the campaign for me to move to New York?"

She shrugged.

"It's not just for me. You shouldn't live in that miserable city. Right, Q?"
Quinn looked up.

"What?" she said.

She had bunched up the sleeves of the shirt. He had bought it before going into the army the first time, just after Finn had died. Black had seemed like the appropriate thing to wear then.

"New York beats Detroit" Santana clarified herself. "Right?"
Quinn looked down again.

"I don't know" she said. "I've never been to Detroit."
"It's not that bad" Puck said absentmindedly.

She had been upstairs for a long time, talking to her partner. Henry. He still couldn't understand how she could have ended up with a man twice her age. He still couldn't understand how she had chosen that old man before him. She could have waited eighteen months. And still, she was in his black sweater, with rolled up sleeves and knees hidden under the fabric, as if they were still together.

"Are you listening to me?" Santana asked, kicking him.

"No" he replied honestly. "What were you saying?"
"You're not staying for that girl, are you?" she asked.

"Cindy?"

"The neighbor girl?"

"Yeah" he said. "Or no, I'm staying for her."

"Poor girl. You going to break her heart?" Santana asked.

"Nah" he replied.

Quinn hadn't turned the page in a long time. She was very still, as if she was listening to every word he was saying. He wondered if Santana had brought up Cindy to test her reaction. One part of him wanted to scream to everyone to stop meddling in their business. The other part was interested too in Quinn's reaction.

"She just takes in your mail?" Santana pressed on.

"Well, not only" he replied, deciding to pressure Quinn into reacting too.

"Bring her to New York then" Santana decided. "Any girl named Cindy would love The Big Apple."
Quinn straightened her back and handed the documents back to Santana.

"I wouldn't sign it" she said, as if they hadn't even mentioned Cindy. "Get your agent to negotiate you a better contract, either without the one year thing or with more screen time."

"My agent sucks" Santana muttered. "Why can't you do it? Just call them and speak lawyer to them?"

"I'm not a lawyer yet" Quinn said.

She got up. Puck watched her leave. She was wearing his shirt. What did that mean?

…