A/N: Is there any excuse for leaving a fic so long without updating? I guess not. Oh well. I hope to be able to update more regularly from now on but again, life has a way of intervening whenever it feels like doing so. With that said, please enjoy.
Chapter 6: Stars and an Eventful Night
83.3 miles. All that time spent on a train, keeping herself busy by trying to read and listening to the depths of her ipod, Quinn Fabray was proving no better than one Rachel Berry when it came to patience. It was December already, and soon it would be Christmas break and she would see Rachel in Lima anyway. But she still could not stop herself from getting on a train when the thought hit her. The next time she saw Rachel would be in Lima, Ohio. The place she hadn't visited since she graduated. The place she was afraid to go back to.
Fear. Quinn Fabray was afraid of many things, although she would not be happy to admit the fact. Her biggest fears these days were being lonely all her life and coming out to her mother, respectively. It says a lot that I can bear dying an old sour spinster rather than telling my mother I'm gay, she thought. She hated being full of fear, all the time, but she felt like she was unable to do anything about it.
The blonde sighed and checked her watch before going back to her book. She had about fifteen minutes to go. Fifteen long minutes, going slowly as if the universe was mocking her. Fifteen more minutes, and then she'd be in New York, finally, to surprise the brunette. She smiled to herself, thinking about the ways in which Rachel would react. She would hug the blonde, for sure. She would even squel, maybe, if she was really surprised. Quinn's smile turned into a huge grin just thinking about being wrapped in the arms of the brunette.
About ten minutes later, she was already on the platform, checking her phone to see how to get to the building Rachel was currently at. Thank God for Foursquare and Rachel's internet addiction, she thought to herself, now this is not stalkerish behavior at all. Regardless, she was climbing up the stairs of the old brownstone building soon. She stopped in front of the auditorium. The door was open and she could see people going up onto the stage one by one and delivering a small monologue. She hesitated for one short moment before making up her mind and entering the room.
Now all I have to do is to wait for her to get on stage, she thought while scanning the crowd to find the brunette and failed. She left her bag on the floor, and got comfortale. This might take a while. Ugh these losers have nothing on Rachel Berry. Seriously, I can't believe how insecure she is about the competition he-…
"Up on the stage blondie." An old woman with a no-nonsense attitude nudged her with a cane.
"What? No, I can't. I'm not here for the class actually. I'm not even a student here," she tried to explain, but to no avail.
"Yeah, yeah, I've heard all the excuses. You're just here to see a friend, aren't you?" If Quinn weren't already in full panic mode, she would laugh at the irony of the situation.
"Yes!" Quinn exclaimed instead, frustrated beyond belief.
"Good try, blondie. Up, you go." The next thing Quinn knew was that she was being pushed towards the stage, in front of a class full of NYADA freshmen, and possibly, one Rachel Berry. I can't do this. I can't do this… Oh God, I have to do this. I can't just turn around and run out of the room now. It's too late for that. What if Rachel gets mad at me? What if… Before she had a chance to finish that train of thought, she was at the center of the stage and the spotlight was on her face. She could swear she heard someone gasp, and it was noone other than the brunette herself, but she was too occupied to seek her out. As she had no way out now, she might as well make the best out of it.
"This might be a little different from what you guys do here, but I will be reciting a passage from one of my favorite books of all time," she said, her voice trembling. She paused for a moment, took a deep breath and continued, "I'm Quinn Fabray, by the way and I do not study here." The next thing that happened nearly took Rachel Berry's breath away. Quinn Fabray, in all her glory, stood on that stage and recited Shakespeare from memory like a seasoned actress.
Rachel Berry liked to think that she was prepared for each and every situation a student might face in the course of a class. Natural disasters, fire, even a hostage situation or a shooting. Quinn Fabray appearing in the middle of Carmen Tibideaux's class on stage and proceeding to recite Shakespeare, The Taming of The Shrew, from memory, however, was not on the list of things Rachel was prepared for.
That definitely deserves its own category, was all she could think while watching the blonde own the stage. She deserves her own special category. My God, she's good. I wonder if this is one of those dreams where I wake up just as she comes down and kisses me. Not that I had one of those. In a long time. Not the best time to be thinking of these thoughts probably. What if it's one of those dreams where you realize you're naked in front of a crowd? Am I naked? No. Pants, shirt, sweater, all check. It was only when the blonde came down and finally made eye contact in a hesitant manner thatRachel realized this was in fact not a dream, but reality.
"I can't believe that actually happened!" Rachel was waiting for her down the stage when Quinn finally stepped down as gracefully as possible. Then the brunette basically threw herself at Quinn and enveloped her in a hug which made whole thing seem even more unreal. I think I like this hug-initiating Quinn very much. "You have a lot to explain, Fabray," she tried, her happy voice betraying the serious look on her face.
"Well… I wanted to surprise you." Quinn offered lamely and stuffed her hands in her jeans' pockets.
"Much as I appreciate the dramatic nature of a grand surprise like this, next time, sweetie, let's go for something less dramatic." Did I really just call her sweetie? What is wrong with me?! Upon hearing the word sweetie from the brunette, all Quinn could do was to nod and try to look like she weren't hyperventilating. Oh God, she just went quiet. Quiet Quinn is scary Quinn. Say something. "So, Shakespeare, huh?" Rachel's tone was trembling slightly. "Should have known you'd be a fan of the classics." Way to be eloquent Berry¸she chastised herself.
Somehow, despite the situation Quinn managed to raise one eyebrow – her signature move, as if daring Rachel to contradict her on this. "They are classics for a reason Rach. Also, figured if I did something good, there would be less chance of me getting in trouble for it."
"We'll see about that" was all Rachel offered in turn. "What on earth possessed you to get on that stage Quinn? I thought you hated being in the spotlight. I mean it was courageous and your performance was considerably good with a few critical points that could be improved but still… " Rachel rambled on. "Most people I know here would do anything to avoid going on that stage only to be judged by the legendary Carmen Tibideaux."
"Oh, so that's who she was." Quinn said, finally making the connection between the main theme of many conversations Rachel and she had had over the phone the past month and the old lady with the cane. "She was the one who made me do it. I mean, I was just going to sit and wait until I saw you, but then she forced me to go on stage. I tried to explain but she wouldn't let me."
"Well… it makes more sense now. And you do have the looks of a young actress with a bright future ahead," Rachel smiled at the blonde, causing her to swoon a little bit. "So, what are you doing here? I didn't forget that you were visiting this week, did I?" What if I did? I mean I know that the workload of my classes are reaching a ridiculous amount as we near the Christmas holidays but I couldn't have forgotten that she was going to visit, could I? She panicked as her thoughts went on and on in this manner, and missed Quinn's soft reply. "Excuse me?" she found herself asking Quinn to repeat it.
"I said I just really missed you." Quinn wasn't even looking at her in the eye anymore, but still she found it unbelievably cute that the blonde would take the time to visit her just because she missed her. She missed me. She really missed me enough that she got on a train and visited me. A frown appeared on her face as she tried to stop herself from assuming too much. "Are you angry at me for suddenly appearing like this?" Quinn asked, noticing the change in the brunette's expression.
"No!" NO! GOD NO. How can you tell someone that you feel like you are the happiest person on the earth and the only reason you feel that way is that they missed you? Or how do you say all that and not make things awkward? "I'm glad that you're here Quinn. I missed you, too!" That will have to do for now.
They then proceeded to walk arm in arm to Rachel's dorm, making small talk. If you asked them later on neither one would have an idea who offered their arm to the other first, but the very simple gesture of touching in such an innocent way was exciting and scary at the same time for the both girls.
Soon, Quinn was sitting on the brunette's bed wondering if they would be sleeping in the same bed as they did when the brunette visited her in Yale. She looked at the other bed in the room, belonging to Rachel's roommate and made a mental note to ask Rachel later where her roommate was. She was woken from her thoughts when she heard Rachel's voice directed at her.
"Quinn, you need to tell me what you want to do while you're here since you caught me off guard and for once I do not have anything planned for your visit. Not that I would ever let that stop me from being an impeccable host to you, but still you need to provide me with ample information about your mood so I can start planning accordingly."
Quinn just tilted at her head and gave the brunette an amused look. "How do you do that?"
"Do what?" the brunette was taken aback.
"How do you manage to sound so considerate and serious at the same time?" and before her mind could catch up with her mouth, the blonde added, "And how do you know so many words? I'm supposed to be the literature geek here." I did not just say that out loud. Oh well.
"Well Quinn, to answer your first question, I do take planning very seriously and I do want you to have a good time." The brunette paused, then continued. "And I might have spent a little bit too much time with a thesaurus trying to write songs when I was younger." The confession made Quinn blush. It seemed like something private, something that the brunette did not freely share with everyone.
"Then I'd like to have a quiet evening with one Rachel Berry with adequate amounts of food, if that's possible." The blonde's tone was playful, even flirty as she words left her mouth. And she knew it was worth all the homework cramming, last minute packing and the impossibly long train ride when the brunette flashed her a blinding smile. She is worth everything.
Liked it? Hated it? Want to beat me with a stick for being such a lazy ass and not updating? All comments are appreciated.