Chapter 3: Reminiscing
Chapter song: "La Vie en Rose" – Édith Piaf
Time: August

When the bell rang for the last time that day, Quinn hurried out of the school. She had had enough sightings of Sam and Mercedes for one day and now she just couldn't wait till she got home. She practically ran across the parking lot and slipped inside of her car. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, her hands resting on the turning wheel.

After Artie's party in July Quinn had been so sad and felt so lonely but Paris had changed that. Sure she had thought about her ex-boyfriend and all of her mistakes the previous year, but they just didn't seem quite as important when you were eating an ice cream in front of le Sacre-Coeur listening to a busking playing "La Vie en Rose" on an accordion. She had been spending her days strolling around the town, walking up and down the small streets carefully taking everything in: the bright colours of the marquises of the shops, the sweet smell of macaroons from the bakeries, the playful sound of birds twittering and occasionally the ringing of a bicycle bell. Quinn couldn't remember when she had last seen anyone ride a bicycle in Lima. Never, perhaps? She mused while snorting quietly.

She and her mother had rented a hotel room just minutes away from le Notre Dame, so every morning they'd been waken early by the sweet music of the church bells. Then they would get dressed and go down and buy a café crème at the café next to the hotel, which they would drink at their regular table next to la Seine. The two of them had gotten a long a lot better than Quinn had thought. They had been travelling to Paris every summer for many years, but usually they'd be pretty tired of each other after a week or so. This year was different. They had been having so much fun pretending to be natural Parisians, that they had extended their stay with weeks.

Already on the second day of their trip Quinn had decided to spill her heart out to her mother, as her loneliness was eating her up. While they were enjoying croissants on a bench in le Jardin des Tuileries Quinn had told her mother everything from the previous year. How she had decided to be independent in junior year, but then she had met Sam, then she had lost him because of her cheating with Finn, her feelings regarding Finn, her clashes with Rachel, prom, Lauren Zizes, New York, her reunion with Santana and Brittany, her awkward relationship with Puck (her mother cringed slightly upon hearing her daughter mentioning the boy, who had taken her virginity after getting her drunk and then knocked her up), how she had been babysitting Sam's siblings, dating Finn, the funeral, her missing Mercedes…

Quinn had been talking for hours eventually letting a tear sliding down her cheek. Judy Fabray had been sitting quietly next to her daughter listening carefully, padding her knee every once in a while whispering "Oh, honey." When Quinn was done talking she was sobbing loudly, so Judy had wrapped her arms around her and had begun rocking back and forth. Quinn had leaned her head upon her mother's shoulder and Judy had kissed her forehead mumbling soothing words.

"Didn't you have any good experiences last year?" She asked when Quinn had started calming down.

"Yes. I did. They're just difficult to remember right now"

"That's normal, sweetie."

"Is it?" Quinn looked up at her mother blinking with her wet eyelashes. "Is it really normal to feel this down when you just turned 18? Is it normal to be this unhappy?"

"Well maybe not, but you haven't had a very normal high school experience, have you? Look Quinnie, I know you feel like hell right now and you might have difficulties seeing your life continue on from this point. But trust me, it will. Life always goes on no matter what happens to you – no matter how miserable you are. Often times you just need to get away from everything to get the bigger picture."

Quinn sniffed.

"And look where we are!" Judy gestured with her hand, making Quinn aware of their enchanting surroundings. "We're in Paris, honey. Could you possibly imagine a better place to get the bigger picture?"

Quinn smiled and sniffed a last time.

"I know it's hard right now, being your age and… being you. But trust me; everything's going to be okay. Don't worry about everything at home. Just enjoy yourself where you are right now. Everything is good here. You're just sitting on a bench in a wonderful park in the sun with your mother who adores you," Judy paused and wiped her daughter's tear stained cheeks "and who happens to have done very well this year moneywise. So what do you say we go shopping? We could take the metro to Saint Germain and find some of those cute vintage dresses you like."

Quinn gave her mother a big smile for the first time in six months or so, Judy thought to herself and hugged her.

"Thanks, mom."

"You're welcome, darling."

They had spent the rest of the day trying on dresses and Quinn had found a beautiful midnight blue one with a retro cut. She had fallen for it right away, and of course it had fitted her perfectly.

"Maybe it's just a little boring," her mother had said. "It's beautiful, but at your age, you're allowed to wear much more daring dresses than that."

"But I love these dresses, you know I do," Quinn had answered. "And with a pearl necklace, this'll be perfect for any occasion. I just need to buy myself a pearl necklace." Quinn had bought the dress for 220 euros.

Afterwards they had consumed their dinner at the restaurant at the Eiffel Tower. From that point on Quinn had had a marvelous trip, allowing herself to enjoy life.

When she had returned to Lima in August her suitcase had been full of new clothes and perfumes, while her mind had been full of memories. She had felt a lot better than before she went away, now realizing how much she had missed her fellow Glee clubbers. She had tried to imagine Sam and Mercedes being together as a couple telling herself that she was fine with, that she could be happy with Mercedes finally falling in love with someone. Though as soon as she had laid eyes on the couple in the hallway her heart had dropped and she instantly knew that it was going to be a long time before she was okay with it.

Quinn slowly opened her eyes realizing she was all alone in the parking lot except for the usual eight or nine kids who were forced to take the school bus home. They were sitting just outside the fence looking awfully tired and she felt bad for them – those were the ones whose parents couldn't afford an extra car and didn't have the time to deliver and pick up their kids. Most of them were freshmen as juniors and seniors often just got rides from their friends. Though one of them looked a little too old to be a freshman, but Quinn had never seen him before. "Must be a new kid," she said to herself but didn't put much thought into it. She put her key in the ignition and drove away from McKinley High.

Thank you for reading!
This chapter is just a - oh, what do you fanfic-writers call it - a filler? I know there may seem to be a lot of useless information, but I'm a grand sucker for set-ups and pay-offs. For those of you who don't know, a set-up is a piece of information that is given at a time when it may seem useless. However, later on there will be a pay-off where the set-up becomes useful. So don't worry, I'm not just blabbering in this chapter :-) Thank you for the reviews and the story alerts, they make me so happy! I expect the next chapter might be a filler(? Please corrrect me if I'm wrong) too, but I promise the action will begin in the fifth chapter with a lot more interaction between the main characters. 'Till then!