"Quinn!"
Quinn Fabray almost kept walking when she heard the voice calling out to her from down the hall; but, against what she usually would have done in the circumstance, she turned and waited for the voice's owner to catch up to her.
"Can I help you?" Quinn asked, though it didn't come out as bitchy as she had hoped it would.
"Look," Rachel sighed, "I know you and I are definitely not the best of friends, but I figure with our shared love of-"
"Cut to the point, man-hands."
"I need a makeover, and we all saw how it went when I asked Kurt to help me before. That can't happen again, and, believe it or not, I don't have a hoard of people in this school that would be willing to help me in this predicament. And while you don't particularly -"
"Okay, stop," Quinn commanded. "I honestly don't know what makes you think that I – of all people – would be the one to help you out. But," she said before Rachel could interject, "I suppose I could offer my superior sense of fashion to the less fortunate. After all, it would be a favor to the whole student body. I only have one condition. Why exactly do you want this?"
Rachel took a deep breath. "I have a very important audition coming up in a mere matter of days. Hollywood doesn't go for girls like me. I need a new image to insure my rise to superstardom before the time I'm twenty."
"And now the real reason."
Rachel looked around suspiciously, with theatrics that only she would perform in public before continuing the conversation in lower tones. "I think I'm in love with Jesse, and before you can laugh in my face about it, I know what my chances are at this. Jesse may not ever love me back, but what if he does? I know who I am. How many chances at this am I going to get?"
Quinn raised her eyebrow to the brunette and let out a sigh of her own. "Meet me at the mall by for. Don't be late."
With that, the blonde continued down the hall confidently in her cheerleading outfit as if the previous conversation had never happened. Rachel watched her walk away with a small smile growing across her face.
"Are you going to answer my question or not, man?"
"No."
"Why not? Come on. I'm your bro! You have to tell me. It's like... the law."
"Like you would know anything about any law," Jesse scoffed.
"I resent that – wait – stop trying to change the subject! Answer the question."
"No."
"St. James I swear to-"
"No, Puck," Jesse sighed. "The answer to your question is no."
"Jackass," Puck muttered. Jesse fell back onto the couch and Puck took a seat on the nearby recliner.
"You don't understand-"
"Lay down."
"What?" Jesse asked with confusion.
"You say I don't understand, so you're going to make me. I don't think you really get what's going through that emotionally challenged, over privileged mind of yours either. We're going to play therapy."
"Puck-"
"Shove it, St. James. Psychology is bad ass." Puck paused. "So you say your in love with this chick."
"I don't see why we-"
"So you say you're in love with this chick," Puck repeated with more force.
"Fine," Jesse sighed with defeat. "Yeah, I think I'm in love with Rachel."
"Think or know? You have to decide. Personally, I'm too awesome for monogamy, but you've got just the right amount of wuss in you to pull it off."
"Think," Jesse finally decided. "But what's wrong with that? You're not supposed to love each other before you even start dating! Isn't love a feeling I should develop while actually in a relationship? How well do we really even know each other? What I do know is that I really, really like her. And I like being around her and spending time with her. Isn't that all that matters?"
"Matters for what?" Puck prompted.
"Starting a relationship," Jesse answered easily, without realizing exactly what he was saying.
"And their, my emotionally conflicted friend, is your answer."
"Hello, Rodger," Rachel greeted. She smiled fondly at the enormous man holding up a sign with her name followed by a gold star.
"Ms. Berry," Rodger nodded with a smile of his own. "Always a pleasure."
"Likewise," Rachel nodded.
"I do have some bad news, though," Rodger began as the two of them started walking away from the luggage carousel where he had retrieved her bags.
"What's that?" Rachel asked. They were now outside and headed toward Jesse's signature navy blue limo.
"Mr. St. James got caught up on set today," Rodger explained. "He sends his sincerest apologies, and he has given me orders to take you wherever you wish to go. Also, he slipped me a certain credit card that you're welcome to do damage to."
Rachel laughed. Jesse would be one to send a credit card when he wasn't available. And though the offer was tempting, Rachel turned to Rodger and answered, "Could you just drop me off at Jesse's? I think I just want to go and unpack."
"You're the boss," Rodger shrugged. He opened the door for the brunette and then made his way to the driver's seat.
Once Rachel was settled in the inviting leather seats, she began to think. Almost naturally her thoughts drifted to Jesse. She started to wonder if he had stayed late on set to avoid spending time with her, but quickly dismissed the thought. If that had been the case, he probably wouldn't have offered up his house for her to stay in in the first place. Then her thoughts flooded to what Jesse's reaction was going to be to her new look.
She pulled self-consciously at her skinny jeans Quinn had forced her into and tugged at the spaghetti strap of her deep blue blouse. She wiggled her toes in her new ankle boots and adjusted her bangs. Finally, she settled back into her seat and repeated what Quinn had told her when she was done. "With this makeover, Berry, you'll be able to pass for a celebrities girlfriend. And maybe even pass for one yourself."
Rachel was broken out of her reverie when the door was opened and Rodger stood before her ready to help her out of the back seat. Suddenly, she realized she had been so wrapped up in herself that she had missed the arrival to Jesse's house.
"Are you ready, Ms. Berry?" Rodger asked.
Rachel took a confident breath. "Yes. I am."
Okay... I know... It took FOREVER and it was really short. I'm just really, really swamped right now, and I'm trying to keep this story in my priorities, but sometimes it just slips... I hope all of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving (well.. the Americans anyway...) to the rest of you I hope your life has been amazing! Oh and over this semi-hiatus I took I went to London! Jon Groff in Deathtrap = most legendary thing to grace the stages of the West End. (In my humble opinion.)