ACT 6 SCENE 37
INT. THE LIMA BEAN
THE NEXT MORNING.
KURT AND RACHEL HAVE JUST RECEIVED THEIR COFFEES, SETTLE DOWN AT A TABLE. KURT TAKES A RATHER DISPARAGING LOOK AROUND.
KURT
Not quite Ninth Street Espresso, is it?
RACHEL
Not quite, no.
KURT
Still... I bet you could use the caffeine.
RACHEL
Why?
KURT JUST WIGGLES HIS EYEBROWS.
RACHEL (cont'd)
What is that? Eyebrow Morse code?
KURT
No. I'm just saying... GleeksOnline was abuzz with the fact that my brother was seen going into your room last night, and only leaving just before dawn.
RACHEL
What?
(BEAT)
How the hell did you know that?
(BEAT)
And what's GleeksOnline?
KURT
Jacob Ben Israel's new blog. He started it for the reunion.
RACHEL
I haven't even seen him.
KURT
Oh, he's a hermit now. Hardly sees people.
RACHEL
But he managed to keep track of who's going into my room?
KURT
And coming out of it.
RACHEL
Kurt!
KURT
It's a motel, Rachel! They have cameras.
(BEAT)
Although, I think he installed them after you confirmed you'd be staying there.
RACHEL
That is just... so... EW!
KURT
So...? Spill, Soap Dish!
RACHEL
No.
KURT
No?
RACHEL
No.
KURT
You can't say no over our traditional morning coffee! We've been doing this for the better part of a decade!
RACHEL
You're just going to judge me.
KURT
What else is new?
RACHEL
Do we have to talk about this?
KURT
It's you and Finn. You were going to marry him.
RACHEL
But I didn't.
KURT
But you were going to.
RACHEL
It just happened, okay?
KURT
No, it didn't.
RACHEL
How do you know?
KURT
Because that's not possible. Not the two of you. Not with Quinn here.
RACHEL
(LOOKS AWAY)
Quinn has nothing to do with this.
KURT
(TRIUMPHANT SMILE)
Ah, so now we come to the real reason.
CUT TO:
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ACT 6, SCENE 38
EXT. LAKESIDE
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL MORNING, WITH THE BARELY WOKEN SUN TURNING THE SURFACE OF THE LAKE INTO A SPARKLING MIRROR.
SANTANA AND QUINN ARE JOGGING ALONG A PATH POPULATED BY DUCKS AND FISHERMEN, NEITHER OF WHOM PAY THE GIRLS MUCH ATTENTION. THE FISHERMEN - EVEN THOUGH THE GIRLS ARE WEARING TINY SHORTS AND TIGHT WORKOUT TOPS.
SANTANA'S SEVERAL LENGTHS AHEAD. SHE GLANCES OVER, SPOTS QUINN STARTING TO STRUGGLE BEHIND HER AND SLOWS TO A WALK. QUINN SLOWS TOO, AND EVENTUALLY THEY COME TO A STOP. QUINN PLANTS HER HANDS ON HER KNEES, HEAVING FOR BREATH.
SANTANA
What's the matter? Can't keep up?
QUINN
(POINTS AT SANTANA, HUFFS)
Professional athlete...
(POINTS AT HERSELF, PUFFS)
Journalist...
(HUFF)
So...
(PUFF)
...shut...
(HUFF AND PUFF)
...up.
SANTANA LAUGHS.
SANTANA
Come on.
SHE LEADS QUINN TO A VACANT BENCH AND SITS DOWN. WHEN QUINN MAKES TO SIT DOWN BESIDE HER:
SANTANA (cont'd)
No.
SHE MAKES A 'GIMME' GESTURE. QUINN ROLLS HER EYES, STEPS BACK, AND PLANTS ONE LEG IN BETWEEN SANTANA'S LEGS. SANTANA STARTS GIVING HER A RUBDOWN TO EASE THE MUSCLES.
SANTANA (cont'd)
So, you gonna give me the real story, or not?
QUINN
About what?
SANTANA
What's going on with you. Why are you here with Puck?
QUINN
I'm not gonna go over this again.
SANTANA
I saw the look on your face when Finn and Rachel were singing yesterday.
QUINN
I always look nauseous when they sing.
SANTANA
That wasn't nausea.
QUINN
Then what was it?
SANTANA
Jealousy.
QUINN
Oh, please!
SANTANA
Other leg.
QUINN SWITCHES LEGS.
SANTANA (cont'd)
You screwed it up.
QUINN
What?
SANTANA
I was so proud of you.
QUINN
Why?
SANTANA
I thought... finally... that smile of yours wouldn't be fake.
QUINN
What is this? Obscurity Day?
SANTANA
End of senior year. You and Rachel going off to New York. I really thought that was it. That you were gonna make it.
QUINN
Yeah, well, sometimes things don't work out.
SANTANA
And that's an excuse for going back to Puck?
QUINN
(PULLS HER LEG BACK)
Give it a rest, Santana!
QUINN SETS OFF DOWN THE PATH AGAIN AT AN ANGRY WALK. SANTANA WATCHES HER FOR A MOMENT, THEN GETS UP AND FOLLOWS.
QUINN (cont'd)
You did this back then too! You just had to interfere! Install yourself as my love-guru, or something! You just couldn't leave well enough alone!
SANTANA
Was I wrong?
QUINN
Back then?
SANTANA
Yeah. Do you regret you and Rachel?
CUT TO:
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.
ACT 6, SCENE 39
INT. THE LIMA BEAN
RACHEL
It's my one big regret.
KURT
Washington Square Park?
RACHEL
(NODS)
We'd been fighting.
(BEAT)
A lot.
(SAD CHUCKLE)
It was so stupid. I'd just been cast in the revival of Spring Awakening,you remember?
KURT
Remember? You won the Tony for your portrayal of Wendla.
RACHEL
(SUDDEN GRIN)
I know. Any excuse to bring that up.
KURT
Focus.
RACHEL
Anyway, I knew this was my big break. Somehow... I just knew it. But then Quinn got that offer from the San Francisco Chronicle.
KURT
I thought she loved the New York Times.
RACHEL
She did. But the feature editor position was too good to resist. Plus, she'd been doing all that charity work for the Born This Way Foundation,and that's in California, so...
KURT
She asked you to go with her.
(NODS)
RACHEL
She brought up Yale. How she gave that up to follow me to Broadway.
KURT
Ouch.
RACHEL
We fought about it for weeks. Eventually, Fall was approaching and the casting director needed my answer.
(BEAT)
And I turned it down.
KURT
What?
CUT TO:
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ACT 6, SCENE 40
EXT. LAKESIDE
QUINN
She decided to come with me.
SANTANA
Wait, we're still talking about Rachel, right? Rachel Berry? The Broadway nutjob who had that stupid Evita ringtone for as long as we knew her?
QUINN
We were in love, Santana. We were talking about getting married.
SANTANA
Okay, this is making less and less sense. If she was going to go with you, and already turned the part down... what happened?
QUINN
We were gonna leave the 1st of September. So the day before - the last day of summer - we had a picnic in the shadow of the arch stretching across Fifth Avenue. It was supposed to be our goodbye to New York.
SANTANA
But instead it was just your goodbye-
QUINN
-to each other.
CUT TO:
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ACT 6, SCENE 41
INT. THE LIMA BEAN
RACHEL
It was all my fault. I wasn't in the best of moods. Quinn kept trying to tell me that I'd be the Queen of the San Francisco stage.
KURT
I thought San Francisco queens...
RACHEL
(HOLDS UP A HAND)
I made the same joke.
(BEAT)
But she just couldn't make me feel better. And she tried. So hard. She... she bought me a balloon. Told me it represented our old life. The hopes and dreams we used to have - but also all the disappointments and regrets. The burdens that weigh us down.
(BEAT)
And then she told me to just let it go.
KURT
That's beautiful.
CUT TO:
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.
ACT 6, SCENE 42
EXT. LAKESIDE
QUINN
I can still see it.
(CASTS HER EYES UP TO THE SKY)
This blood red balloon cutting the sky between those buildings - looming over us like giants.
SANTANA
What happened then?
QUINN
She started singing. The song that was playing the first night we went out.
(BEAT)
Kiss Me.
CUT TO:
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ACT 6, SCENE 43
INT. THE LIMA BEAN
RACHEL
So I kissed her.
(BEAT)
It was our last kiss.
KURT
Why?
RACHEL
Because the song ended.
(BEAT)
That night - that first date - I asked her what was going to happen to us. She told me not to worry about it. That we were just two people. And we were just dancing.
(BEAT)
But I was scared of what would happen when the music stopped.
(BEAT)
And she told me we'd pretend it never did.
KURT
It's hard to live your life pretending.
RACHEL
That's what I said. I told her we couldn't pretend anymore. The music had stopped. That the only reason we were even together was because we were both pretending.
KURT
Rachel...
RACHEL
I know.
KURT
That was a horrible thing to say.
RACHEL
I know!
(BEAT)
I don't know why I said it. I didn't mean it. I could see by the look on her face how much I hurt her. I wanted to take it back. I wanted to make it okay, but...
CUT TO:
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.
ACT 6, SCENE 44
EXT. LAKESIDE
QUINN
I just left. I couldn't look at her for another second.
(BEAT)
I mean, I knew she didn't mean it. I knew she wasn't pretending. You don't fake what we had. But it's like she said it just to hurt me. And I realised...
SHE TRAILS OFF.
SANTANA
What?
QUINN
I realised that she would never be okay with this. That... we'd hit that point of no return. My destiny was on the west coast. Her dreams were in the east. There was no changing that.
SANTANA
Did you ever see her again? Before now?
QUINN
Once.
(BEAT)
Shelby called me to tell me that Beth was sick. She was in the hospital. I flew in, and I stood watch by the window to the NICU all night.
(BEAT)
Somewhere around midnight... Rachel was there.
CUT TO:
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.
ACT 6, SCENE 45
INT. THE LIMA BEAN
RACHEL
We didn't say a word. I held her hand and she let me. We stood there for seven hours, until a doctor told us that Beth would be okay, and they were discharging her.
KURT
And then?
CUT TO:
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ACT 6, SCENE 46
EXT. LAKESIDE
QUINN
She just left. No tears, no goodbyes. Just, one minute she was there, and the next...
QUINN JUST STOPS. SHE WIPES A STRAY TEAR, STARING OUT OVER THE LAKE. SANTANA IS QUIET, CONTEMPLATIVE FOR A FEW MOMENTS.
SANTANA
What about now?
QUINN
(MIND SOMEWHERE ELSE)
I'm sorry?
SANTANA
What about now?
(BEAT)
You have another chance.
QUINN
I don't think so.
SANTANA
Why not?
QUINN
We were... together... yesterday. When you guys went over to Coach Sylvester's.
SANTANA
Get out!
(WHEN QUINN JUST GIVES HER A LOOK)
Slut!
QUINN
And afterward, I was so happy. I felt whole again for the first time in years, but...
SANTANA
No! No! No buts! What the hell's the matter with you?
QUINN
I couldn't let it go. I couldn't forget what she did to me. And I wanted to hurt her. Just like she hurt me, so...
CUT TO:
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ACT 6, SCENE 47
INT. THE LIMA BEAN
RACHEL
I had to get away. I almost ran Finn over in my car. And...
KURT
(FULL OF ACTUAL SYMPATHY)
Oh, Rachel...
RACHEL
He loves me, Kurt. He really does.
KURT
And do you love him?
RACHEL
Of course.
KURT
The same way you love Quinn?
RACHEL DROPS HER GAZE, FINISHES HER COFFEE, REFUSING TO ANSWER.
KURT (cont'd)
You have to tell him, Rachel. You have to. You owe him that much.
RACHEL
How can I? It'll crush him! I did that to him once, I can't do it again!
KURT
I don't think you're giving him enough credit.
(BEAT)
In fact, I don't think you know Finn at all.
RACHEL
He said the same thing.
KURT
Because it's true.
(BEAT)
Do you know why he sang that song, senior year? Do you know why he made you go to Quinn?
(WHEN RACHEL SHAKES HER HEAD)
Because the only thing he's ever wanted is your happiness.
RACHEL TAKES THIS IN... HER HEART HEAVY, AND TORN.
CUT TO:
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