A/N: this is the last chapter :'( and since I finished the way I spent the rest of the story, it's later than I promised it, so sorry for that.
A couple of people have asked me if there's any chance of a sequel for this, so if anyone else is wondering the answer is a very, very tentative maybe. If a decent enough story for a sequel presents itself, I'll probably write it, but it's much more likely I'll just write something else.
Anyway, thank you everyone who commented/read this story, I enjoyed writing it a lot and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it too :) Hopefully the last chapter isn't a huge let down...
In front of her mirror, Rachel brushed her hair out slowly, and adjusted her blouse. She knew Quinn didn't usually like the clothes she wore to school, but she hoped she'd approve of the outfit she'd picked out for tonight. Normally, of course, she would wear whichever costume she felt was most appropriate to the song she planned to sing at karaoke, but she had rather more important things on her mind today. Namely, impressing Quinn Fabray. Her fathers had tried to reassure her of course - Quinn wouldn't have gone to all this effort with her if she hadn't already been quite taken with Rachel, but she still couldn't help worrying. This was the first time they were going to meet outside of school, and the longest amount of time they'd ever spent alone. Coupled with her nervousness though, was the excitement of wondering just what Quinn had planned for her.
"Rachel," her dad yelled up the stairs, "Quinn's car just pulled up outside, hurry up and get down here or we're going to make toaster oven jokes."
Rachel yelped in horror, smoothed her skirt one last time, and hurried downstairs.
xxx
Lima karaoke night was held in a local church community centre, decorated for the occasion with streamers and balloons and a large banner proclaiming the "Annual Lima Karaoke Sensation". At the front of the room there was a small stage with a microphone and screen for the performers - although Quinn would later dispute that people who came to an event exclusively for karaoke could be called that, much to Rachel's annoyance.
"Well," Quinn said as they entered, "I expected it to be lame, but I didn't expect it to be this lame."
Rachel nudged her indignantly, "Don't say that, it's the singing that counts."
Quinn found herself being dragged across the room to pour over the potential song selection for the evening.
"What are you thinking of singing?" Rachel asked her, giving a small smile, "Anything surprising?"
Quinn shrugged, "If I am, I want it to stay a surprise."
She went to take a seat as Rachel gave a list of her song choices to the nervous looking man running the event, and from what Quinn could see she appeared to give him a detailed reason behind each song she'd chosen as well. The poor "DJ", as he was being referred to, had better gain a little confidence, Quinn thought, if he planned on dealing with Rachel all night. Soon the other girl sat next to her though, looking pleased with herself, "While the choice of songs available was inadequate, to say the least, I feel confident I can win."
Quinn frowned, "Rach, I don't think it's a competition, it's supposed to be - "
She was interrupted however by the loud screech of microphone static as the nervous man stood on stage, now with an elderly lady, who was presumably the first singer. "Uh, okay." he said, "Well we're going to begin now, and to start us off - " the rest of his sentence was lost in another blast of feedback from the speakers, so all that could be heard was, "the Streisand classic, Don't Rain on my Parade."
Quinn looked down at her knees. Did she dare look at Rachel? No, even Rachel Berry wasn't insane enough to want to compete with an old lady at a church karaoke night. She took a deep breath and glanced to her left. Rachel's eyes were narrowed, her teeth gritted, her nostrils flaring. She turned back to the stage. This was going to go well.
xxx
Rachel looked triumphant as she departed the stage, "I think it's safe to say I won that little encounter." she said with a grin.
Quinn couldn't help but laugh at her, "I really don't think it's a contest, Rachel. Everyone just wants to sing and enjoy themselves."
"Well," Rachel said, settling herself next to Quinn again, "There's still no harm in a healthy competitive attitude."
While she might have questioned that, the same elderly lady from before was on stage, and she appeared to be looking directly at Rachel as the song she was singing was announced.
"From the popular musical "Wicked", we're going to hear Defying Gravity".
The old lady smirked. Quinn sighed. Rachel's lips curled as she muttered, "She's going down."
xxx
"I can't believe we got kicked out."
Walking slowly through the darkness of the parking lot, Quinn replied thoughtfully, "Well you might have got away with singing Dirrty by Christina Aguilera at a church karaoke night. I think it was the choreography that really offended them."
Looking down at her blouse, now slightly ripped, Rachel pouted, and Quinn couldn't help but laugh, "If it's any consolation, I liked it."
Rachel smiled, "That's a good consolation prize." as they stopped by the taller girl's car, she looked up at her sheepishly, "I guess I ruined your surprise."
Quinn shrugged, "Well, a little, but I like watching you sing. And dance like that." her eyes widened as if she realised what she'd just said and she looked away embarrassed. "Anyway," she continued, "What do you want to do now? I can take you home or...we could get something to eat."
"Wait," Rachel said, "I believe you have something to tell me?"
Quinn looked around at the parking lot, badly lit and deserted, "Well this seems kind of anti-climactic now."
"It doesn't matter."
"Um, okay," Quinn leaned back against the car, biting her thumb nail nervously, "So, um, I guess I'll tell you the story of what happened." As Rachel nodded in approval, she continued, "Yeah. So, I was dating Puck, and it kind of sucked, but I didn't have the guts to break up with him. And I used to spend a lot of time at his house watching him play video games and not drinking the wine coolers he brought me. Which got pretty boring, and one day trying to kill time I ended up on your MySpace page and watching your videos and I kind of realised... that they were really good. And I felt bad about all those times I commented on them saying those crappy things to you. So I started commenting on them saying nice things, you know."
She took a breath, and Rachel took her hand with a small smile, "Then after a little while we started talking. And you kind of surprised me." Rachel's eyebrows raised and she explained quickly, "I mean, not in a bad way, I thought you were okay before, but you kind of turned out to be a lot of fun to talk to, and you were funny, and nice as well, and it just felt like..." she took a deep breath, "Everything I was supposed to feel for Puck, I was feeling for you instead."
Rachel moved a little closer and Quinn continued more calmly, "But I didn't know how to tell you that. And no offence Rachel, but for someone who claims to be kind of psychic, you missed a lot of really obvious clues. Anyway, I guess you know the rest of the story." she shrugged, "So that's it." she gestured around herself with one arm, still holding Rachel's hand with the other, "Here's your big reveal, I'm your MySpace admirer."
Rachel looked up at her with a wide smile, "Quinn, however you did it, your "big reveal" was always going to be amazing, because it was you doing it."
"That was kind of cheesy."
Rachel sighed, "At any point tonight are you going to shut up and kiss me?"
"Did Rachel Berry just tell me I talk too much?"
"Quinn."
With a smirk, Quinn leaned down and pressed their lips together.
xxx
"I can't believe they told us we had to leave their parking lot, I suspect some deep-seated homophobia was at play on their part."
Quinn glanced across at her as she spun the wheel of the car to turn on to the road, "Or they just don't like teenagers making out in front of their community centre."
Rachel was silent, and Quinn could almost see the letter of complaint being written in her head.
"Where do you want to go, Rach? I can take you home."
"I don't really want to, just yet, if that's okay? I'm not sure what else there is to do in Lima on a Saturday night though. I would usually be retaining my Berry family Rock Band championship title right now."
Quinn laughed, wondering how she could ever have disliked this girl, "Well as much fun as that sounds, we could hang out at my house, for a while?"
Rachel looked across at her, eyebrows raised, but just said "That sounds nice."
xxx
"Ooh." Rachel said, standing at the edge of Quinn's room, "You have a dimmer switch." She played with it, and they went from standing in bright light to complete darkness several times, before Quinn tugged her hand away and left them in shadows. Quinn looked down at their hands, still linked, in surprise, and stared at the lines of Rachel's fingers clutched between her own.
"Quinn," Rachel said, but the other girl didn't look up, just gripped her tighter, and took a deep breath, "We can go downstairs and watch TV, if you like. We don't have to stay up here."
She seemed unable to look at Rachel, but she shook her head, "It's Saturday, my mom likes to get drunk and watch Saved by the Bell. It's probably best to stay out of her way."
Rachel gave a sympathetic smile, "That sounds horrific." so they stood in the half-darkness a little longer, as Quinn tried to gather her nerves.
"Quinn," Rachel said, and placed a gentle hand under her chin to make her look up at her, "It's okay." She leaned up to press a kiss to her lips, and drew back when Quinn laughed.
"I told you I'm a coward."
Rachel rolled her eyes and disentangled her hand from Quinn's to place it on her waist, "So don't be," she said simply, and kissed her harder, smiling as Quinn sighed into her mouth and her fingers curled around the edge of her shirt. She felt her relax against her, pulling her closer and her tongue pushing into her mouth, and she brought a hand up to trace along her jaw and nestle in her hair, scratching gently at the back of her neck.
Quinn gasped and drew back, her face still so close Rachel could feel her breath on her cheek. "Don't be a coward?" she said, "Okay." and Rachel felt the words on her skin, even as hands were tugging at her hips to spin her round and push her back towards the bed. She grinned and stood on her tiptoes to kiss her again, laughing when it made Quinn stumble and stop. She pulled her back and they sat almost chastely next to each other against the headboard, Quinn's hands on her waist and Rachel's cupping her face as they kissed, so Rachel squeaked in surprise when she was pushed back to lie on the bed, Quinn above her looking just as shocked.
"Who's brave now?" she asked, reaching up to trace a finger across Quinn's cheek.
Quinn shrugged with mock bravado, "You make it easy."
Rachel raised an eyebrow, "Are you calling me easy?"
Even as she said it though, Quinn's lips were at her neck, her teeth grazing the skin gently and she was too distracted to demand an answer. She tugged the cardigan from Quinn's shoulders and the other girl shrugged it off, leaning back down to nip at the underside of her jaw. Slowly, she urged her back up to kiss her again, and they lay for several minutes, their hands locked at the others sides even as they were itching to move. Eventually Rachel slid a leg between Quinn's thighs, and couldn't help but smile as her hips jumped of their own accord. The cheerleader's hands moved beneath her shirt, and Quinn drew back and took a shaky breath, looking at Rachel for permission. Rachel nodded and lifted her arms as her shirt was slipped over her head, leaving her in her bra beneath Quinn, the other girl's dark eyes sliding down her torso.
"You're so pretty." she said breathlessly, and Rachel blushed and leant up on her elbows to kiss her, and between them Quinn's hands trailed up her stomach to toy briefly at the underside of her breast before running a thumb over her nipple, hardened beneath the material. As Rachel gasped she seemed to gain confidence, massaging her breast as her teeth pulled at her bottom lip.
Even as she wasn't sure when Quinn's shirt and jeans or her own skirt disappeared, she was minutely aware of Quinn's fingers skating across her stomach, of her hips keening upwards to collide with Quinn's pushing her back into the bed, of Quinn trailing hot kisses across her chest, of Quinn smiling against her as she gasped and moaned.
Resting her chin on Rachel's stomach, she looked up at her, and eyes half closed, Rachel looked back, reaching down to tangle her fingers with Quinn's, her heart thudding in her chest, keenly sensitive to how close Quinn was to her arousal.
"Okay?" Quinn asked. Her voice tingled against Rachel's damp skin, but all she could do was nod and watch as Quinn moved downwards with butterfly kisses, her tongue and teeth tracing the curve of her hip, stopping at the edge of her underwear. For one long second she seemed lost in the image of Rachel's skin beneath her, and Rachel waited, mouth dry, until Quinn pulled the last of her clothing away and dropped it to the floor, leaving Rachel panting and naked beneath her.
She moved up to kiss her, her hand lingering on Rachel's thigh, tracing light circles there. Finally, impatiently, and without taking her lips from Quinn's, Rachel tugged at her hand to move it where she wanted, and Quinn stroked her fingers through the wetness she found. Rachel gasped and her hips bucked upwards as Quinn found her clit, remembering vaguely that she was sure music was supposed to be playing right now, and there was going to be flowers and incense, but it didn't seem worth stopping Quinn to tell her as one finger slipped inside her. Her hips rocked and she gave a strangled groan, Quinn's mouth on her neck as her hand began to move.
She twisted around to capture Quinn's lips, grasping at the back of her neck and pushing her tongue into her mouth, moaning as Quinn's fingers curled inside her. Quinn grinned into the kiss and murmured something that sounded like "eager", before moving down her body, nipping at the underside of her breasts and her stomach, kissing her hips and the inside of her thighs and stilling her fingers to stroke her tongue against her clit.
Rachel groaned slightly in frustration, and a heartbeat later couldn't stop herself from moaning loudly as Quinn's began to move inside her again, and she clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Sorry," she breathed through her fingers.
Quinn hummed a response against her clit, and Rachel's hips bucked in response, "But your mom - "
Barely moving, Quinn replied, "She wears headphones to watch, she really loves Zack Morris."
"Okay," Rachel half moaned, as her hips strained downwards, "That's okay then - God." Quinn chose to interrupt her by inserting another finger, and judging by the laugh she felt (sending another rush of pleasure through her) had decided it was an effective way to shut her up. She went past the point of coherent thought then though, as Quinn's fingers sped up, her tongue swirling around her clit and her hand found grip in the other girl's hair, thrusting hopelessly as the pleasure built steadily within her.
Her hips bucking relentlessly, she attempted to gasp out "Quinn, please", it emerged as a more incoherent garble of noises, but Quinn appeared to understand anyway, because her fingers curled and her tongue flicked across her clit quickly, and finally Rachel's body tensed, her back arched, and as she came she moaned Quinn's name.
Kissing her way back up her body, Quinn grinned as Rachel opened her eyes with a slow smile. "Brave enough for you?" she asked with a smirk, and Rachel rolled her eyes.
"Not too bad," she answered, "But I think now it's my turn to be brave." and kissed her, her fingertips trailing down her stomach.
xxx
The next morning, sunlight filtering through the curtains, Quinn opened her eyes slowly to find Rachel staring intently at her.
"Hi." Rachel said brightly.
"Hmm," Quinn rubbed her eyes blearily, "What time is it? Why are you watching me sleep?"
"It's 8AM, I normally get up at 7 on a Sunday."
Quinn gave a huge yawn, burying her face in her pillow and throwing an arm around Rachel, "Go back to sleep, Rach." she said, her voice muffled.
"Do you want to take a picture of us for my official website today?"
Quinn frowned. It was 8AM on a Sunday. She was having a harder time believing that Rachel wanted to have this conversation now than the fact she had an official website or that she wanted to take a picture of them for it. She snuggled closer to the other girl, her head on her chest, and murmured "Has anyone ever told you that you're insane?"
"Yes," Rachel sounded both wide awake and unhappy, "Almost everyone I know."
Sighing, Quinn propped herself up on one elbow to look down at the other girl, "Well I kind of like it." she gave a sleepy smile, "Just not at 8AM on a Sunday morning."
Rachel smiled, "Okay then."
With some degree of relief, Quinn lay back down and pushed her face into Rachel's neck, kissing it quickly but already halfway asleep again. Rachel put her arm around her, but she had no intention of sleeping. She had lots of plans to make after all, first a video dedication to Quinn to thank her for her kind comments (and actions, although that probably wouldn't go in the video), followed by a duet, then there would be their collaborations in Glee club to plan of course.
"Rachel," Quinn said, sounding like she wasn't awake at all, "Stop planning musical numbers and go back to sleep."
Rachel lay still for approximately thirty seconds, before her face lit up suddenly with an idea. Hopping out of bed, she announced she was going for a shower, sweeping up her bag as she went.
Re-entering the room twenty minutes later, freshly showered and grinning slyly to herself, Quinn was sitting up in bed frowning at her phone.
"What's the matter?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible.
"I got a text from an anonymous number," Quinn said, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
Rachel was the picture of innocence, "A text? From an anonymous number? I know nothing of the sort. Why, what does it say?"
Quinn rolled her eyes, "You know what it says."
"I do not."
"Fine." Quinn said, attempting to sound exasperated even as she couldn't hold back a smile at Rachel's hopeless over-acting, "It says You're awesome, and a really good singer."
"Well," Rachel said, "I wonder who sent that."
"Is this the beginning of an insane plan?"
"Quinn," Rachel said, crossing the room to kneel on the bed next to her and kiss her softly, "Yes it is."
Quinn watched as Rachel bounced happily out of the room, and then, with a grin, followed her.