Chapter 12: Confrontation
Chapter song: "Yes, We Have no Bananas" – Sam Lavin
Time: September

AN: This chapter features the movie "Sabrina" with Audrey Hepburn. If you have seen this film/heard of this film, you can easily skip this Author's Note. If not, it might be a good idea to keep on reading:

In short, "Sabrina" is about a mousy chauffeur's daughter who is in love with the playboy-son of her father's boss. She's awkward and botched and the playboy doesn't even notice her. Then she heads off to Paris, becomes stylish and chique, and returns to the U.S. as a brand new person. Now, the playboy-son does does not only notice, he falls head over heels for her. But Sabrina Fair quickly realizes that it's her father's boss' oldest son, whom she might be attracted to - and so the story goes.

Paris. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The long grass is tickling her ankles. Sam is here. It smells like ice cream. She could go for an ice cream. She can always go for an ice cream, it's her favorite dish. Sam always tells her that ice cream can't be her favorite dish since it's not a dish. She doesn't care. A couple of French school kids are chanting. They're dancing through the park. She dances along with them. Sam dances too. They dance towards the Eiffel Tower. Then under the Eiffel tower. It gets darker. Sam is gone. The smell of ice cream disappears and now it smells like coffee. Café au lait? No. not café au lait. Not some delicious French coffee. More like bad tasting black coffee. Black coffee mixed with cigarettes and… and… bad breath… miss Fabray… miss Fabray...

"MISS FABRAY!"

"Huh? What?" Quinn looked around the class room, her eyes full of confusion.

Her English literature teacher was standing in front of her. He had bent down so his head was right in front of hers.

That explains the bad breath, she thought absentmindedly.

"Miss Fabray, if you're going to sleep at this hour of day, you might as well be doing it at home. This class ends in fifteen minutes and I expect you to have finished this work sheet before leaving," her teacher said, throwing a piece of paper on her desk.

Quinn apologized and then groaned as her teacher went away. Finn and Rachel were sitting in front of her looking a bit guilty.

"Why didn't you guys wake me up?" she hissed, feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry Quinn," Rachel began. "But you were looking so peaceful. So relaxed. And you've seemed a little, uh, uptight lately, so we figured you could use a little nap. If we had known that Mr. Elgreen was going to notice and, well, yell at you in front of everybody,"

Quinn winced slightly.

"…we would have woken you up. We're sorry."

"Yeah," Finn continued, blushing a bit. "Plus you were kind of saying Sam's name over and over so we didn't really want to-"

He was interrupted as Rachel kicked him under the table, frowning at him.

"Ouch!" Finn exclaimed

Oh god, Quinn thought. Wonderful. Now they think I'm having sex dreams about my best friend's boyfriend in the middle of English lit.

She looked down at her worksheet and began answering the questions

Fifteen minutes later, she still wasn't done, so she decided to stay for a little while, finishing up.

Ten minutes later, just as she was finishing the worksheet, there was a soft knock on the door. She looked up and saw a confused Gus.

"Quinn? I wait at your car, but you not come," he said, sounding a little hurt.

It took her a moment to realize what he meant.

"Oh my god, Gus, I'm so sorry. I've been sleeping so badly these past couple of days, I'd completely forgotten about our study date." Tutor session, Quinn, tutor session! Not study date, not a date!

"Oh," Gus said, sounding rather disappointed. "I understand. Uh, I go out and wait for school bus."

He was about to walk out the door, when Quinn called him back.

"Gus, I'm not doing anything today, so you can still come home with me, it's no problem."

He considered it for a moment. "But you are, uh, fatigue."

"Tired," she corrected him. "Well, I got a little nap just before. Listen, I just need to deliver this at Mr. Elgreen's office and then I'm ready to go. It's not a problem. Okay?"

"Okay," he smiled. "But you say to me when you are very tired, yes?"

"Sure." She got up and gathered her things.

...

When they entered her room, Quinn kicked off her ballet flats and went straight to the mirror hanging in the other end of the room. Gus sat down on her chaise longue and studied her.

"Oh Jesus, my mascara is completely smudged," she whined as she began rubbing the skin around her eyes with her thumb. "I'm just going to remove my make-up, Gus. I'll be back in a sec."

She went to the bathroom and pulled out the make-up removal cream. Since her natural hair color wasn't blonde, her eyelashes were pretty dark, so she didn't feel insecure not wearing mascara. She pinned up her hair and went back to her room.

Gus looked at her for a moment seemingly amused.

"What?" Quinn asked with a smile.

"It's, uh, you are very beautiful. Also sans make-up."

"You think I'm beautiful without make up?"

"Yes. Une beauté naturelle. Like an old movie star. You make me think of, uh, American actress… quel est son nom… ah, oui: Grace Kelly," he said with a heavy accent. ["A natural beauty. ... what is her name... oh, yes."]

"Oh, Grace Kelly. Yeah," Quinn chuckled as she sat down on her bed.

"You think so to, yes?"

"Oh, no no… I mean, I don't know… It's just that I've been told that before." She thought of how that Jesse-kid from Vocal Adrenaline had given her a similar compliment at prom night.

"Alors, il doit êtrevrai. She is an idole for you, no?" ["So, it must be true. She's an idol for you?"]

"An idol? No, not really. I think she's beautiful, no doubt, so it's a really sweet compliment, but I'm more of an Audrey Hepburn-fan."

Gus tilted his head slightly.

"Do you know Audrey Hepburn?"

"Ha! Ah Quinn, you make me laugh," he almost yelled, falling back on the chaise longue. "You not forget; Audrey Hepburn is European not American. Of course I know her."

"Yeah, well Europe is a big place," Quinn chuckled while thinking that Gus was one of the only boys she knew who actually knew who Audrey Hepburn was.

Sam knows who she is too though. I once watched My Fair Lady with Stacey. He was doing his homework, but I know he was secretly paying attention to the movie. I think he was fascinated by all of their dancing and singing, she thought.

"You like Europe, no?" Gus asked.

Quinn reached up and touched her Eiffel tower necklace. "I do. I love Europe. I haven't been so many different places, mostly just Paris, but I love Paris. I actually discovered my love for Paris because of Audrey Hepburn."

"Comment?" ["How?]

"Well, when I was twelve, my mother took me to the cinema. It was a special occasion and they were showing "Sabrina". Until then I didn't really care much for movies, but when I saw Sabrina… oh boy, was I fascinated. It was like a whole new world opening up to me. Like I was seeing everything in it's realness for the first time: what love is, what dance is, what fashion is, what passion is... and all those things were in my head linked to one specific place,"

"Paris," Gus whispered mesmerized.

"Yep. So the following summer, my mom took me to Paris. Just for a few days, but I swear it was the time of my life…" Sam. "…and we've been there every summer ever since. Even when times were hard," she said, thinking of her father.

"Hard?"

"Oh, never mind." She didn't really feel like telling this stranger (he's so not a stranger anymore, though) about her dissolved family.

"It is funny, I have not see "Sabrina"."

"Oh, you really should!" Quinn exclaimed. "Besides Audrey, it has Humphrey Bogart, Billy Holden and it was directed by Billy Wilder… you know, I actually have it on dvd. You want to watch it?"

"Yes, very much," Gus said as he stood up.

Quinn got up as well and popped in the dvd. She then went back to her bed, positioned the pillows against her head board and lay back.

When she saw Gus standing awkwardly in the middle of her room, she motioned for him to come and sit next to her. He hesitated, but then took of his bright red all stars and lay down next to her.

Thank god my bed is queen size, other this would be terribly awkward.

Quinn pressed play and the opening titles began.

During the movie Quinn glanced over at Gus a couple of times, though careful not to turn her head to much, as they were lying pretty close together. The exchange student looked completely captured by the motion picture, and Quinn couldn't help but wonder.

This guy confuses me so much. He hesitates with getting in bed with me, obviously aware of the tension. But then he's really into this movie and I know Audrey Hepburn is stunning, but still… it's a romantic comedy from the 50's. And not a very action-filled one. There aren't even any musical numbers. Which team does he play for?

Exhausted from her lack of sleep during the last few nights, Quinn slowly felt her thoughts trail off. She struggled to keep her eyes open but was quickly losing the battle.

When she opened her eyes, the end credits were on the screen and her head was resting upon Gus' chest. He had an arm around her and was whispering her name.

"Oh, sorry." She immediately sat up and wiped away a bit of drool in the corner of her mouth.

"C'est bon," he said sitting up as well and moving towards the chaise longue.

"I slept through the whole thing?" she asked.

"No no, just the last half hour."

I'm a light sleeper, how the hell did I manage to do that? I really must have been tired.

"Sorry," she murmured once again.

"You know, Quinn, I can go home now and you can sleep. You are tired, yes?"

"No no, it's fine Gus, I feel much more awake now." Liar, she mused to herself. "So, what did you think?"

"It was very good. Audrey Hepburn is very beautiful. But I don't like, uh, Humphey… Humphr…"

"Humphrey Bogart? I think he's a wonderful actor."

"Yes I am sure. But for Audrey Hepburn he is very old."

"He is very old. Too old. But you see, that was sort of her trademark – always falling in love with guys much older than herself in her movies."

"Oh, I did not know." He then paused. He scrunched up his face a bit, wondering how to approach the subject. "Quinn, I wonder. Why do you love Sabrina very much?"

She blinked confusedly. "I already told you. The clothes, the plot, the era-"

"No Quinn," he interrupted her. "Why do you love Sabrina?"

He was eyeballing her, and then she realized where he was going with this.

"Well," she began, thinking how does he know me so well already? "I think I love the movie so much because… because I feel somehow connected to Sabrina Fair."

He nodded his head and gestured for her to continue.

"Every year when I go to Paris, I have this dream that everything will be different when I return. Like I'm Sabrina in her little girl dress, with her messy hair, hiding in a tree, watching all these normal people act the way they should and she tries so desperately to fit in, but she just can't. And then she goes to Paris and she undergoes this transformation. When she returns everything is different. She looks great, she's elegant and poised, her crush falls for her and she finds true love.
"So when I go to Paris every summer, I desperately hope to get to know myself well enough so that when I return, I won't be Sabrina Fair, the chauffeur's daughter. I'll be Sabrina Fair, the self-confident grown-up who doesn't act childishly and who thinks rationally and who's able to find the right guy. The Sabrina Fair, who knows who she is."

Gus nodded for a moment, processing what she had just said.

"Quinn," he finally began. "You ever think maybe you have, uh, transformed or what it is called?"

She looked at him not understanding what he was trying to say.

"You are 18 now, so you are grown-up, no? And I don't think you act childishly. Au contraire. You are one of the very elegant girls I know. You are sweet and kind and patient and… all of your friends, look how they treats you. They love you. Maybe you are not certain who you are, but all your friends – they know who you are. We know who you are."

She stared at him, once again blown away by his attentive manor. "Y-you really think that?"

"Oui." He then paused wondering if he should raise the next subject. "And from I hear in the locker room, you have changed over summer."

He slowly got up and sat next to her on the bed, his feet still at the floor.

Quinn winced slightly, thinking this is it. The inevitable confrontation that occurs every time I meet a new person.

"Speak to me,"

"Gus, I really don't want-"

"Please, Quinn. I see you at Glee rehearsel. You are so triste. Speak to me."

She inhaled deeply and then, slowly, began telling her new friend everything. She told him about how she was when she started in high school, about the Cheerios and her status. Then the pregnancy and how that affected her, and suddenly she couldn't stop. She told him everything about her high school life and how she saw herself and as she reached the end of the story, telling him about Samcedes, she was sobbing loudly once again.

He had put his arms around her in a tight embrace and was now gently rocking her back and forth.

"…and I don't want to go back and be my old hateful, angry, bitchy self, I don't want to be that jealous girl who has no real friends. But it's damn hard to act like a grown-up when I see him with her everywhere I go," she cried.

He nodded and stroked her hair.

"Why can't I just be like Audrey Hepburn. She was sweet and kind and patient, but nobody ever made her sad. She had so much love to give and so much respect for other people, why don't I have that?"

"You do, Quinn."

"No, I don't! I cheat on my boyfriends, I steal boys from other girls… I've lied so much these past years."

"Oui, mais pas maintenant. You are finish with that. You do not that anymore. You are like Audrey Hepburn." ["Yes, but not now."]

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are. You are change over summer."

She kept on crying into his neck until a wave of exhaustion flushed in over her.

…

"Quinn," he whispered, gently caressing her cheek.

"Hmmm, what?" she opened her eyes and realized what had happened; she had once again fallen asleep on top of the French boy.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry Gus. I don't know why I keep doing that."

She stood up from the bed and fixed her dress, and then she wiped the corner of her mouth for that inevitable little bit of drool. This time though she saw Gus had a wet spot at the size of a nickel on his shirt where her head had been resting just a few seconds ago.

Jesus, he must think I'm a five-year-old.

"It is okay. It is good that you sleep, it make you relax." He smiled at her, and she enjoyed how he always made her feel so at ease.

He then cleared his throat and began putting on his All Stars. "However, it is late and mes parents américaine will be worry soon."

"Oh, sure. I'll take you home." She put on her ballet flats and they headed downstairs and out to her car.

When she put the key in the ignition, she saw the light in the living room was on. Mom is home? She thought, knowing her mother was always working until late on weekdays.

I wonder what time it is.

Twenty minutes later she pulled up in front of the little row house. The road was deadly quiet at this hour since most of the habitants were older people, who went to bed early, Gus had told her.

"I'm sorry Gus, I hope you don't get in too much trouble for staying out so late. I am grateful you stayed with me though, it was really nice."

"Bien sûr, cherie," he said kissing her cheek. Then he went inside and Quinn drove home. ["Of course, my dear."]

Thank you for reading!
So, at work today, one of my customers was humming "Yes! We have no bananas" and I immediately thought of "Sabrina", thus inspiring me to write this chapter. I kinda felt like Quinn Fabray could relate to the story line of this great movie, but maybe it's a little far-fetched. I sometimes wonder where the line between the author's freedom and the complete change of characters goes.
I don't know how interesting this chapter is if you haven't watched "Sabrina", but I hope you got something out of it anyways. I've already written a part of the next chapter, so I'll update relatively soon. Thank you for the sweet reviews - please keep them coming, I can't tell you how happy they make me!