A/N- I've never really thanked my readers/reviewers before, but I think I'll do it now. Thanks for the feedback! It's great and stufflikethat. ALSO. I just got a Tumblr again. If y'all wanna be tumble-buddies It's the same name, just one word; themoronscribe. AND HELL, pop a message in my ask box if you wanna get crazy letting me know that this is how you found me. I will undoubtedly be amused.
Quinn pulled the stool away from her vanity table. She dragged it across the room and planted it directly underneath her smoke detector. She had a box of Glad Cling Wrap tucked under her arm as she stepped up onto it.
For a while, it had been easy to just sneak out onto the patio whenever she wanted a smoke. But now, it was getting cold, and she was getting lazy. Her window was open, a towel was rolled up under her door, and now she was covering the smoke detector. There was no way her mother would catch her. However, she was beginning to wonder if the extra effort was worth staying a little warmer. Once the detector was covered, she dragged the stool over to her window and sat down.
She was down to a single cigarette a day. She figured it was an acceptable ration. She didn't have a problem, she just had a ritual. One cigarette was what she needed to stay sane.
Her phone started buzzing across the room, and she left the burning cigarette on the inside of her windowsill as she went to answer it. She smiled uncontrollably when she saw that it was Rory calling.
"Hey,"
"Hello," Rory said sweetly. "I would've texted you but I wanted to be a gentleman."
"I appreciate that," Quinn giggled.
"I just wanted to let you know," Rory continued. "That I made a reservation for breadsticks tomorrow night. Mrs. Pierce told me that breadsticks is the only restaurant in town worth taking a lady to."
"Oh, so you're consulting Brittany's mother now?" Quinn teased. She stepped back over to the window and picked up her cigarette.
"…Anything I can do to give you the best," Rory said.
Quinn giggled one more time. Doctor Jessup was wrong. There was no way Quinn couldn't like Rory.
"Quinn!" Her mother's voice called down the hallway. "Quinn do you want some dinner…?"
"Hey, look, I have to go," She told Rory. "But I'm looking forward to our night out."
She hung up quickly and stabbed her cigarette out and leaving it in between the screen and the window as she pulled the window shut.
"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute!" She called frantically as she ran to the door and grabbed the towel before her mother could come in and find it. She then went over to her vanity and fixed her hair before collectedly going out to meet her mother in the hall.
"You've been smoking again," Was the first thing her mother said. "I can smell it on you."
Quinn kept her smile of innocence on. "Of course not…"
"Don't lie to me, Lucille."
Her mother only called her by her real name when she was in trouble. "Honestly!" She cried, quite convincingly. "I got a ride home from Puck. He smokes like a chimney! It's impossible not to smell like cigarettes after sitting for even a minute in that hotbox."
Her mom started down the hall boredly. She wasn't buying it. "No wonder you haven't been dating this year. No boy wants to kiss an ashtray."
Quinn's jaw dropped. Her mother had said a lot of mean things over the years, but the excessive exposure didn't provide Quinn with any sort of immunity. "Excuse me!" She charged down the hall after her mother. "For your information, I have a date tomorrow night."
"Honey, I don't want you sitting at home watching Lifetime anymore. I'm worried about you."
"I just said I…" Quinn tried, but Judy Fabray interrupted.
"It's your senior year. You should be having fun."
"It's been good for me to relax, mom!" Quinn argued as they walked into the kitchen. "And I really do have a date tomorrow. His name's Rory."
Her mother was skeptical. "…Rory…?"
"He's Irish…" Quinn included.
"I'll have to meet him," Judy sighed. "It better not be one of my classmates again."
"Gary was three years younger than you! He didn't even go to your high school!"
"He was in youth group with my cousin Katherine in 1985. He was old enough to be your father. I swear to god; the decisions you make…"
"The decisions I make are none of your business!" Quinn shouted. "And honestly, I'm afraid to introduce you to Rory because you might scare him off."
"You haven't made it easy to trust you," Judy reminded her daughter. "This is my house and I'm finally laying down some rules. If you want to go out with this boy, he has to come inside and say hello when he picks you up."
"He can't," Quinn grinned superiorly.
"I'm serious, Quinn."
"He can't come pick me up. He doesn't have his license."
"Well, it's not very nice to make a lady drive,"
"What is this, 1895?" Quinn narrowed her eyes in disgust. "I'll probably just pick him up on the way to the restaurant. I'm not going to turn around just so he can meet you. Our plans just aren't going to work out the way you want them to."
"How convenient," Judy shook her head.
Quinn rolled her eyes. "You said there was dinner."
Judy nodded, still irritated. "There's lasagna in the oven. Help me set the table."
Quinn made her way to the cupboard, chuckling meanly. "It's two plates. It's not that hard to do on your own." She mumbled.
He mother scoffed. "Count your blessings, Lucille," She shouted after her.
"You said you wanted to get to know me," Rory grinned at Quinn from across the table. "So ask me anything you'd like. I'm open for business."
Quinn was unwrapping the napkin from her silverware to place it on her lap. She blushed up at Rory, almost at a loss for words. "I don't know. What do you think is important about you?"
"Well. My name is Rory. I'm extremely adorable. I like to sing. I like cars. I like movies."
"What kinds of movies?"
"All of them. Even the bad ones… I like to break them down…really think about them. It's kind of an escape, you know?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Quinn nodded. "But my favorites are the brainless comedies from the 1930s and 40s. I like how they're sort of just long sitcoms."
"Are you familiar with the Marx Brothers?" Rory challenged her.
"Absolutely," Quinn beamed. "Duck Soup is in my top ten."
Rory was thrilled. "That's both surprising and impressive, Quinn Fabray."
"I was raised on the classics," She shrugged. "My mom loves anything black and white. She still watches shows from the 50s more than anything else. I was named after Lucille Ball."
Rory raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry…?"
Quinn suddenly realized her mistake. She felt her face go hot. "Oh. Wow. That was a mistake."
"I don't understand…" Rory was smiling, intrigued.
Quinn realized there was no easy fix for what she had just done. "You see, the name on my birth certificate is Lucille Quinn Fabray."
"That's a beautiful name," Rory complimented genuinely. "Why do you go by Quinn? Did you just want a change?"
"Sort of…" Quinn nodded. "I have some bad memories of being Lucy."
"Please elaborate,"
Quinn raised her eyebrows at Rory, speechless.
"Sorry…" He caught himself, looking down at his menu, embarrassed. "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."
"No, it's great," Quinn shook her head. "You should be asking questions. It's just that for a second there you sounded just like my therapist."
There was a brief awkward pause, and Quinn felt like slapping herself for speaking again without thinking.
"We used to go to family therapy in Ireland. My brother had some issues, and we wanted to help him through them," Rory let slip nonchalantly. "I've always said that mental health is just as important as physical health."
"Oh…" Quinn wanted to cry. She was just too touched that Rory was being so nice and so logical.
"I meant it, Quinn…" He told her, his face contorting seriously. "I meant it when I said I'd never judge you."
Quinn nodded slowly. "Good."
"I like him," She said to Doctor Jessup during her next session. There was a pleading tone in her voice, as if she was begging for permission to do something. "I really, really like him. He took me to dinner and we saw an old Carey Grant movie at the revival, and we had so much to talk about. He had all these great stories. He's interesting…"
"That's great, Quinn, I'm glad to hear the date went well," Doctor Jessup grinned.
"So, if I'm sure I like him, do you think I could be in a relationship with him?"
The doctor sighed. "Look, Quinn, I still don't think you should rush into anything. Be an adult. If you two are cherishing your time together, there's no need for labels. So what if you can't post your relationship on Facebook."
"That's not what this is about!" Quinn argued. "I like him, and I want to be with him. If I string him along with no commitment, he's just going to end up in the arms of some other girl!"
"Think hard, Quinn," Doctor Jessup reminded her. "Making your relationships official haven't kept all parties faithful in the past. It will be less stressful if you take this at a reasonable pace. Learn from your mistakes. That's all I can suggest."
Quinn pursed her lips. "You know, I really want tell you to screw yourself and storm out,"
Doctor Jessup was amused. "Then why don't you?
Quinn shook her head wildly. "My mother's paying you for a reason."
"That she is…" The therapist said softly.
Quinn leaned back on the couch, biting her lip in thought. "I really like him," She repeated herself.
"And if that feeling is real…" Doctor Jessup told her. "Then it will last."