Chapter 18: Disc-turners
Chapter song: "Without You" - Lerner & Loewe (performed by Marni Nixon)
Time: November

Quinn was walking down the hall towards the choir room, when she heard someone call her name. Gus came running towards finally catching up.

"You walk fast," he panted, his cheeks unusually red.

"I've been standing at my locker forever, Gus" she snickered watching her French friend's flushed face. "You look nice today, by the way."

He was wearing a white shirt buttoned all the way up and tugged down in his pants and for once he had combed his dark hair backwards instead of to the side. Makes him look five years older, Quinn thought, enjoying the view.

"Thank you, you do too."

Quinn looked down at herself. For once she had just put on a grey t-shirt and black jeans. Even though she had accessorized with some golden bracelets and she had spent some extra time curling her hair to perfection that morning – and even though her jeans were pretty tight – she knew she still looked very casual compared to her usual outfits. She then giggled at his invalid compliment and picked up her walk towards the choir room.

"Thanks Gus, but seriously, you do look good."

He smiled but kept his eyes on the ground walking next to her.

"Any special occasion?"

"You will see," he answered teasingly.

Most of the other students were already in the choir room, and the girls and Kurt all made cat calls when Gus entered. His face turned even redder then than when he had been running, Quinn noticed amused. He was walking in front of her, so when he sat on the first row, she followed him.

Unfortunately Quinn hadn't noticed Puck sitting on the second row, so just before she sat down on a chair, he smacked her hard in the behind. The slap-sound was louder than Quinn could even imagine and it kind of hurt. She angrily turned around only to see Puck's goofy grin as he hollered:

"Damn Fabray, you should really wear pants more often."

Quinn could feel her cheeks burn and was just about to smack Puck in the face, when Finn distracted her by saying:

"What the hell Puck, you have a girlfriend." Finn was sitting on the third row and hade made Puck turn around to face him. He knew Puck didn't mean anything by it, but it always got to him when Quinn and Puck had a moment. Then he could feel that little old flame of jealousy spark in him again, even though he was head over heels with Rachel.

"Yeah, I do," Puck sighed sounding a little tired. "But she's my first girlfriend who isn't actually a part of the glee club. So you can't blame me for letting the old Puckzilla run a little loose in here."

Then Puck turned around again to face Quinn and shrugged apologetically. He saw the familiar Quinn Fabray-fire burning in her hazel eyes, as she looked like she was about to castrate him, but that completely disappeared when he apologized. She sat down next to Gus, trying to pull her t-shirt a little further down.

Must be that French guy infecting, Puck mused. Frenchmen don't have any temper.

Sam had been watching the entire incident and even though he had gotten annoyed with Puck as well at first, he suddenly realized he had clear view of Quinn's behind as he was sitting on the second row all the way to the left, and she had been standing all the way to the right. Those sure are some damn tight pants, he mused as if in a trance, when Puck and Finn had been arguing.

Mr. Schue entered the room and got in front of the piano, but before he could say anything, Gus had risen from his chair.

"Mr. Schue? I will like to audition today."

All heads turned to Gus.

Their teacher looked at him confusedly. "That's okay Gus, you don't have to audition, we pretty much just let in everybody who wants to be a member."

"Yes, but I speak to Rachel earlier," he continued. "And she say to me that audition always make a good impression."

"That's true, we should always encourage furthering creative outlets," Rachel said, eagerly nodding her head.

Why hasn't he told me? Quinn thought as she regarded the boy next to her.

"Okay, fine then," Mr. Schue said. "The stage is yours, Gus."

He took a few steps towards the piano while wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Okay, I like to sing this song for Quinn."

Gus saw two blondes frowning when he said that. One was Quinn, the other was her ex-boyfriend.

"Remember when we talk about "My Fair Lady"?" he asked looking directly Quinn.

She nodded her head hesitantly.

"My Fair Lady"… Sam mused. Didn't we watch that once, back at the motel?

"I once saw a porno movie called "My Fair Lady"," Puck remarked. Artie and Mike giggled, but Rachel quickly hushed them down.

"Me too," Brittany chanted.

"So I go home to mes parents américaine, and I discover they have My Fair Lady soundtrack. Not Nat King Cole's, but with Audrey Hepburn sing."

Not Audrey singing, it's Marni Nixon, Quinn thought, but she sure as hell wasn't going to interrupt her friend in the middle of his audition, knowing his nerves were playing with him. However as soon as Gus had said 'Audrey Hepburn', Quinn could hear Kurt beginning to say something, so she turned around and mouthed 'no, you don't' with as bitchy an attitude as she possibly could pull off. Kurt was immediately silent.

Gus, who hadn't noticed the exchange of looks and mouthing, gladly continued "I then find an old, uh, what do you say, disc-turner? Non, on dit pas ca. Comment dit-on 'un tourne-disque' en anglais?"

"Uhm, a record player." Quinn answered still feeling a little nervous.

"Yes!" Gus exclaimed while violently tugging at his earlobe.

His English gets a little worse when he's in front of a lot people, Quinn thought.

"So I find a record player and I listen to all songs from "My Fair Lady". Not just Nat King Cole." He grinned at her. "And I like this song. It is not to you Quinn, but it is for you," he said emphasizing the two prepositions.

He then pulled a piece of sheet music from his shirt pocket and gave it to Brad at the piano. Then he began to sing with a deep almost opera-sounding voice.

"There'll be spring every year without you.
Glee club still will be here without you.
There'll be fruit on the tree.
And a shore by the sea.
There'll be crumpets and tea without you."

A couple of the glee kids were now laughing; some at his lyrical joke, some at his accent.

"Art and music will thrive without you.
Somehow Keats will survive without you.
And there still will be rain
on that plane down in Spain,
even that will remain without you.
I can do without you."

Then he began walking around on the stage making grimaces that fit with the song.

"You, dear friend, who talk so well,
You can go do football, Cheerios and AV."

Now everybody in the choir room, including Quinn, was laughing with him.

"They can still rule the land without you.
And McKinley will stand without you.
And without much ado we can all muddle through without you."

Being the dedicated "My Fair Lady"-fan she was, Quinn smilingly mouthed 'you brazen hussy' at Gus, who noticed it and winked at her. He then went over to her, offered his hand and began swinging her around with dance moves matching the lyrics.

"Without your pulling it, the tide comes in
Without your twirling it, the earth can spin
Without your pushing them, the clouds roll by,
If they can do without you, ducky, so can I

I shall not feel alone without you
I can stand on my own without you
So go back in your shell
I can do bloody well
Without you"

He had picked Quinn up in his arms during the last verse, and after he'd finished his song, he carried her back to her chair and put her down. Then he returned to the stage to receive his applause, which was grand.

"I know it is not your favorite, Quinn," he said smilingly. "But it should be your mantra."

Quinn wasn't sure how many of the students understood what he meant, but she sure did and nodded. When he sat back down she gave him a big hug and held him tight.

"Thank you so much," she whispered into his ear, pressing her cheek against his.

"De rien, chérie."

When she pulled away from him, she noticed a certain blond guy watching her. When their eyes met, he asked her something. Because the other glee kids were still commenting on Gus' performance, there was a lot of noise in the room and Sam didn't say it very loudly, but Quinn understood perfectly.

"What's your favorite song from "My Fair Lady"?"

She parted her lips, just about to answer, when Finn interrupted her, yelling:

"Okay, Gus' performance was really cool and it's great with the oldies lately, but now we kind of need something a little more upbeat."

While saying that he jumped down to the drum set and began playing a fast rhythm. Mercedes quickly got down from the second row and began singing an r'n'b-song and then Rachel joined in. Because of all the confusion, Quinn and Sam lost their eye contact. The next time she looked at him, he was looking at Mercedes and the next time he looked at her, she was dancing with Gus.

Thank you for reading!
Sorry for the update hiatus; I've been writing this huge assignment the last three weeks and I denied myself internet acces to avoid getting distracted. I have written a few chapters though and I'll upload them as soon as possible. The next chapter is very long and things will take a turn!
I hope you haven't completely given up on this story even though I'm a slow turtle. If you are still reading this, please drop a review - a word or two is just great - so that I can be sure. Thank you and a very merry Christmas!