A/N: This is me apologizing for taking forever to write this. I hope this was worth the wait! Also, it's shorter...
"You don't hate me?" Rachel gaped at Quinn, eyes wide in shock.
Quinn's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to explain herself. "I mean, I still don't like you, and it's not like we're buddy-buddy or whatever, but... uh, I don't hate you. It's more like... I'm ambivalent, or something. Like, not everything makes me want to punch you in the face."
Rachel just grinned. "I'm okay with being merely acquaintances. If it's okay with you, I'd like to hug you now." She tugged on Quinn's hand, pulling her up onto her feet. Quinn's body shrank away from Rachel's slightly, seeming to draw in on itself.
"Hugging is... uh, kind of a friend-y thing to do, isn't it?" Rachel's grin faltered at the blonde's words.
"Right. Uh... that's true. Sorry." Rachel let go of Quinn's hands, which, to Quinn's horror, were incredibly clammy, and walked over to her desk. "So while you were napping, I was brainstorming about what we'll have to do for the lab write-up." She picked up her notebook, handing it to Quinn. "I'm not sure if I'm right, so... what do you think?"
Quinn scanned it, nodding for most of it, and grimacing once or twice at some of Rachel's blatant errors. "You seem to have the right idea on most of these questions, but you used the wrong equation on this one." She turned the book around, pointing at an equation Rachel had circled and drawn little stars around in pen. "That one... is for physics, not chemistry."
"Really?" Quinn nodded as Rachel scribbled out the 'F=ma', cheeks tinged with pink. "That was embarrassing. I'm not even taking physics."
Quinn laughed, amused. "How did you even know that then?" Rachel looked away. "Never mind that. If I only want you for your body, you only want me around for my mind."
"Not only that," flew out of Rachel's mouth, and a look of mortification flitted quickly across her face before she schooled her expression.
"Oh?" Quinn's eyebrow shot up her forehead, until Rachel smirked, cheeks still slightly pink.
"I want you for your car, too. Obviously."
Quinn chuckled mirthfully. "You're a goof. Let's do this lab thing. And I hope you guys ordered meat, I'm quite the carnivore."
Quinn wriggled in her seat in history, too bored to pay attention. The substitute, who wasn't Holly Holliday, was a horrible teacher. He was also going over a lesson from a week ago, so Quinn had nothing to do. Suddenly, her cell phone vibrated. She sneaked it under her book, and saw that she had a new message.
Hey, are you still free for Chem stuff tonight? - RB*
Quinn's thumbs flew over her keypad, and she shot a message back at the diva.
Ya, def. U texting in class? U rebel! & real classy, R, w/ the star... - Q
A couple minutes later, her cell phone vibrated again, startling her pen from where she was trying to balance it on her upper lip. It clattered onto the desk in front of her.
"You alright, miss..." The substitute scanned his seating plan quickly. "Fabray?"
"Yeah, fine." She waved her hand dismissively. "Carry on." The class snickered, and the sub just huffed before continuing the class.
I'm on free. Also, stars are my thing. - RB*
Perfectly aware. I'm in history, and the sub sucks. I'm sooooo bored. Entertain me. - Q
Quinn turned her attention back to the board, eyes half-hooded in boredom. She fought the urge to slide forward and slouch in her chair. Coach Sylvester would probably find out somehow and force her to run extra laps while yelling at her through the bullhorn. Besides, it wasn't very proper for a lady to sit like that.
Paying attention is incredibly important, Quinn! You should pay close attention since there may be something that you can use at some time in your life -RB*
Quinn hid a chuckle behind a small cough. Santana, upon hearing it, threw a piercing glance at her, eyebrows furrowed, before smirking at her. They rolled her eyes and they shared a silent conversation, and before long, the class was about to end. Quinn quickly tapped out a late response before rushing off to her next class.
Doubt it, but w/e. Meet me my car 4 - Q
"So while most Copper oxides burn a beautiful dark green, Copper one compounds-"
Rachel groaned halfway through Quinn's sentence, slumping forward in defeat. "They're both copper, why would they be different?"
Quinn chuckled, shrugging. "Break time? Maybe it'll stick after a bit of a breather."
Rachel perked up immediately. "You just want a massage," she teased. She smirked, jumping up. Quinn laughed as Rachel dragged her towards the bed.
"Whatever, you like it, Ma-Berry." Rachel gestured for Quinn to lay down, and then propped her head up with a pillow after tugging her T-shirt down.
"I think it would be beneficial to your experience if you allowed me to give both sides of your back equal pressure from above. This can only be achieved if I sit equidistant from both the left and the right side of the body, thus meaning I should be somewhere in the middle. So if you'd be so kind as to allow me to be astride your back, that would be for your benefit as well as mine." Quinn turned her head to watch as Rachel continued with her rant, eyes slightly wider in trepidation. "I understand that you have reservations against the aspect of my touching your back or skin or something, but I assure you that this is for the best, and I will keep my hands in safe places and I'll let you know where I'm going so you won't have to worry about anything inappropriate." Rachel took time to breathe, and Quinn to process.
"How would straddling my back help you, RuPaul?" They both winced at her biting tone, but Rachel's eyes were understanding. Quinn felt something twist in her gut as Rachel knelt beside the bed and patted her clothed shoulder. "Sorry... I didn't want to call you that."
"I understand." Rachel squeezed Quinn's shoulder lightly for emphasis. "It's just that, if I straddle your back, I don't have to lean quite as much over your body, which then relieves my back of stress. Also, pushing from above allows me to use gravity in my favor, which means that not only will I be pushing, but gravity will, in a sense, be pushing my body weight, no matter how slight, onto your muscles as well. This will allow me to use less force over all, which will allow the massage to continue for quite a bit longer than before."
"How is it you don't understand chemistry, Berry?" Rachel blushed and sputtered at Quinn's words, but took them as an okay to climb onto the bed. As the diva's body settled onto her lower back, Quinn tensed, but tried to force herself to relax. Rachel wasn't going to do anything. It was just a massage... It's not like Rachel was going to get her back for every bad thing she'd ever done to her, now that she was defenseless and at her mercy...
The sudden appearance of Rachel's hands on her shoulders made Quinn flinch slightly, and her heart dropped with guilt. "Relax, Quinn, you're safe with me." Quinn's eyes widened, because Rachel had just... she just... Rachel rubbed lightly in soothing motions, waiting for Quinn to relax. When that didn't happen for several minutes, she sighed and squeezed Quinn's shoulders tightly. "I can't massage you if you're not relaxing, so I'll just..." She moved to get off of the blonde. "And maybe we can get somewhere with this massage thing today."
"No, no Rachel, I can... relax... I think." Rachel paused, half off the cheerleader, and looked down at Quinn, noting her furrowed brow and look of general discomfort.
"That," Rachel said, poking the crease in Quinn's forehead, "doesn't look very relaxed. It's fine. I'll just get back off, and we'll do it the way it was before." Quinn looked like she was going to insist, but Rachel cut her off before she was able to say anything, climbing off of the girl in the process. "The faster the massage, the faster we can get back to... blue copper fire or something or other."
Quinn tried her hardest not to look overly relieved that Rachel wasn't on top of her anymore, but caught Rachel's slightly hurt look. Obviously she hadn't been successful. The pang of guilt Quinn felt was slightly surprising, but then Rachel's hands were on her, and she didn't have it in her to care anymore.
Three more sessions passed in which Rachel ended up climbing onto, then off of Quinn. Having caught Rachel's flicker of despondence every time, Quinn was officially feeling quite guilty. The arguments the brunette put up each time as to why it would be better for the both of them if she were to straddle Quinn were quite logical, and Quinn was determined this time to power through it.
As Rachel threw her leg over Quinn's back for the umpteenth time, Quinn tried making small talk, hoping to distract herself from the steady weight that settled onto her back. "So Coach says I've gotten a little more flexible." Her voice was slightly muffled by the pillow, she found. Rachel made a soft questioning sound as she rubbed soothing circles on Quinn's back. "I guess I have you to thank, right?"
Rachel nodded, ignoring the slight waver in Quinn's voice, then realized that Quinn wasn't able to see her actions. "Yes, I guess you do." She smiled, noting how Quinn was trying so hard to stay relaxed.
Leaning forward, she rested the heels of her palms on the curve of Quinn neck, massaging gently. Quinn moaned softly, and her shoulders instinctively relaxed. Rachel softly sat back as she moved slightly lower to Quinn's shoulder. She squeezed, and Quinn's appreciative groan grew louder. Rachel smiled, continuing to rub that same area.
"Don't... don't move. It feels so good..." Quinn groaned. "God, I love your hands." Her eyes fluttered closed as Rachel continued to work her shoulders, working the ache out. A while later, Rachel's hands slowly worked their way down her back, kneading and massaging her kinks out.
"Oh, God, Rachel!"
At about midback, Rachel moved to sit on Quinn's thighs. The momentary instinctive tensing that Quinn experienced at feeling that weight shift was banished as Rachel continued to work her way down Quinn's back. Rachel's hands kneaded Quinn's sides, turning Quinn into a puddle of goo.
All of a sudden, Rachel tugged on Quinn's shirt. Quinn turned her head to ask what Rachel was doing, but Rachel beat her to it. "Your shirt bunched up. I just put it back into position."
"Oh, uh, thanks."
Rachel didn't respond, choosing to pound lightly up and down Quinn's back with loose fists. Quinn hummed in gratitude, smiling into the pillow her head rested on. "Have I ever told you that you're awesome? Oh, hey! I sound like a boat again!" The steady rhythmic pounding faltered slightly, then continued as if nothing had occurred.
"No... but thank you. I like to think that as well." Quinn could hear the smile in Rachel's voice. "Though it's nice to finally have someone else acknowledge the fact that I am, as you said, awesome." Quinn chuckled, and they fell into a comfortable silence, broken only by the sound of Rachel pounding on Quinn, muffled slightly by the blonde's T-shirt, and Quinn's bemused humming.
Rachel switched to gliding her hands up and down Quinn's back. All the way up her spine to her neck, then down her sides, repeatedly, all while applying constant steady pressure. Quinn turned her head slightly and murmured in appreciation, the softer tactic a nice change to soothe the warm pleasurable fire she had in her back.
"How's this feeling, by the way?"
Quinn smiled contentedly at Rachel's query, knowing she could see it. "Marvelous," she drawled lazily.
Rachel laughed. "I'm glad. It's so much better this way, isn't it?" Quinn purred in agreement as Rachel worked her way slowly back up to Quinn's shoulders, shifting to once again sit on Quinn's lower back. Several minutes passed, and then Rachel climbed off the boneless Quinn. Quinn rolled over onto her back and splayed her arms out on Rachel's bed, completely content.
"You all right there?" Quinn grunted in agreement, eyes closed. "Are you going to sleep on me?" There was sound indicating the negative, which was followed by a small silence.
A bit later, when the bliss had faded slightly, Quinn rolled off of Rachel's bed and collected her bags to leave. Rachel looked up from her essay that she had been writing, getting up to walk the blonde to her front door. Before they left Rachel's room, however, Quinn looked back at the diva. "I still dislike you, Rachel Berry, even if you're awesome. Just for the record."
Rachel chuckled. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Fabray." She rolled her eyes. "Now go, I have to write this essay, then my fans await on MySpace." She ushered the blonde out her door, and down the stairs. Rachel's fathers looked up from the den as they passed and called out a goodbye, which she returned.
"I'm serious about still disliking you, Berry."
Rachel sighed. "Goodbye, Quinn. Have a nice afternoon, and I'll see you on Monday." Rachel closed her door, shaking her head, before returning to her room. Hamlet and his odious soliloquy on melting flesh couldn't be postponed very much longer.