Quinn smiled as she woke up after her first night in New York city. Finn and the girls had seen her off at the airport the day before, she'd had a long layover in Colorado and by the time she'd gotten to Rachel's apartment it had been too late for the blond to go out and explore. Instead she found where Rachel kept her delivery menus, ordered chinese and spent the night watching Dirty Dancying in Rachel's king size bed.
It felt so refreshing and calming to be so far away from her ex and everything that had gone on between them. For the first time in a long time, Quinn felt like she could breathe again and it was a feeling that she had missed for so long. It was just so nice to not feel like she was being pulled under constantly with no chance to escape it.
The apartment was warm and done up nicely in rich deep colours. Quinn could honestly say that she adored it. Rachel had done well for herself, and you could see that, but it still had a feeling of home and Quinn thought that it probably took a lot of work to interject the feeling of warmth in this apartment.
She climbed out of bed and made her way into the deep green en-suite bathroom where she climbed into the shower and washed away any of the evidence that she'd been travelling the day before. She had a quick breakfast before heading downstairs where the doorman hailed her a cab. She felt the need to go out and about today and she was just itching to buy herself a few new things.
The air was warm, the sun was shining and all in all it was a perfect day for exploring, it was a perfect day for new beginnings.
Quinn smiled and thanked the doorman when she stepped into the building after being out shopping all day. She'd gone to most of the major New York stores and had spent way too much money, but the way she figured it, it was time for a change and the first place for that was with new clothes.
She made her way up the elevator and let herself into the apartment, intent on putting away her new purchases right away before she could talk herself into returning them.
She walked through the living room and immediately screamed, dropping her bags in the process. "Oh my God! You're naked! On Rachel's couch!" She exclaimed looking at the dark haired, (extremely) handsome man sprawled out on Rachel's dark red sofa in his birthday suit.
"Fuck!" He exclaimed, giving her the once over. "You are definitely not Santana."
Quinn stammered something before she rushed away into the bedroom. Its when she searched for her cell phone that she realised who the naked man on Rachel's couch is.
It took Rachel two rings before she answered her phone.
"Hello?"
"Rachel can you tell me why there is a buck naked Noah Puckerman on your living room couch?"
Rachel groaned and laughs softly to herself at the same time. "Santana." is all the petite brunette offered as an answer and Quinn tapped her foot with impatience. Who the hell was this Santana chick?
"Who is Santana Rachel? And what does she have to do with anything?"
"Santana is my best friend, and one of Noah's, we'll say, special friends. She probably told him she'd be at my place and to just come on over to mess with your head a little bit. She's doing it because she has it in her mind that she needs to check you out. You'll get used to her."
"So what do I do. Let me repeat, there is a naked Noah Puckerman on your living room couch. Noah Puckerman the former teen sensation before he retired from recording to become a big time record exec."
Rachel laughed again. "Just go in there and tell him that there's been a mix up. He's a pretty good guy, we dated for about a year or so before we realised we were heading different directions in life."
"You're best friend is sleeping with your ex?"
"Its not a big deal. Noah and I are over. And they're nothing serious. Anyway, I've got to run I have to be on set in an hour."
The two girls hung up the phone and Quinn nervously smoothed her hands across the soft yellow of her sundress before making her way back into the living room. He was still there but he had thankfully (or maybe not, she hadn't made up her mind), put his boxers back on. He grinned at her as she made her way back into the living room and stood up to talk to her.
"I'm really sorry about what just happened there. Santana sent me a text earlier saying she was house sitting for Rachel and to come on over after work and she'd meet me here. I had no idea that Rachel ended up subletting."
Quinn blushed as she looked him in the eyes. Noah Puckerman made her very nervous, and that was something that hadn't happened in a long time.
"Its okay. I just got off the phone with Rachel actually. She said that Santana would of set you up for this. I'm Quinn. I'll be staying here while Rachel is in San Diego filming."
"I'm Puck." He held his hand out for her to shake and she flashed him a shy smile before turning around and making her way into the kitchen.
"If you put the rest of your clothes back on I'll let you stay for dinner."
Quinn ended up ordering pizza for the two of them for dinner. Puck had run upstairs to his apartment to grab them some beers and they'd settled around the table to eat.
He was attractive, there was no denying that. She remembered back when she was in high school, her and all the other girls on the cheerleading squad had had the biggest crush on him. Noah Puckerman, he'd taken the world by storm, and then just a few years into her college education at Brown, he'd taken the world by storm once again, this time to retire from the music business, for good. He'd ended up getting a job as the talent scout for an up and coming record label, and now he'd put more people on the billboard charts than any of the other record companies combined.
"So how long is Rachel subletting to you?" He asked her, breaking her out of her thoughts.
Quinn blushed slightly and looked at him. He made her nervous, in the best way possible, and Quinn couldn't (okay, that's a lie, she didn't want to) remember the last time that had happened. "I'm not subletting actually. We did a house exchange. She's staying at my house in San Diego while she shoots her movie and I'm staying here."
Puck raised an eyebrow at her. "What about your job?"
"I edit children's books. I can do it pretty much anywhere as long as there's a fax machine and an internet connection."
Puck nodded his head. "What's that like? Editing books for kids?"
Quinn smiled softly. "I love it. I always read anything that gets sent to me to my nieces and if they love it I'll edit it. If they hate it I usually pass it on to someone else. And since I've started doing this, the books we've put out have been doing pretty well."
"Nieces?"
"Yeah, Daisy and Delilah. They're twins and they're four. They're my world." A brief look of sadness flashed across her face and Puck made a mental note to ask more about it later.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" Quinn shrugged her shoulders. "What do you say I take you out to see the sights tomorrow. New York is more fun when you've got a badass like me showing you around."
Quinn laughed and smiled at Puck. "That sounds fantastic."
"Awesome. I'll pick you up at two."
"That sounds-"
She's cut off by the door opening and a tiny Latina girl comes strutting into the dining room. "You're still here?" She asked Puck giving him a look of confusion.
Puck rolled his eyes at her. "Real fucking mature San. But thanks, I really like her. Anyway, I gotta go, I'll pick you up at two tomorrow?" He asked turning his attention to Quinn. Quinn nodded her head and Puck made his way to the hall.
She heard the faint sound of the door closing and Quinn turned to face Santana, a different kind of nervous settling into her body. She couldn't explain it, but this tiny Spanish girl scared her. A lot.
"So you're Quinn, huh?" Santana asked crossing her arms across her chest, clearly already bored with the situation.
"I am. And who the hell are you?"
"Feisty. I like it. I think we'll get along just fine. And Puck does certainly seem to like you. Did he even try to sleep with you?" Quinn shook her head and Santana laughed humourlessly. "He likes you a lot then. He only ever tries anything with girls right away who he knows he won't be bringing home to meet his mother."
"I can promise you that-"
"Save it, its not a big deal. We fuck. Nothing else. If he likes you its a good thing. He treats his girlfriends like gold. I know, he dated Rachel for a year. Anyway, don't try anything here. I'll be checking in."
"Did Rachel put you up to this or something?"
"Nope. She tried to talk me out of it. But I have a key, so I'll be around."
"Is that a threat?"
"No. Its a promise. But you'll get used to me. Everyone does. Anyway, I'm out. But I'll be back."
So here's the latest chapter, mad thanks to my beta for being awesome. Also I got a Tumblr and I may post little sneak peeks on there from time-to-time so I'll post a link to it on my profile. Anyway, enough rambling. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and remember, reviews are love!