Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Glee
When the shrill sound of her alarm rings through her bedroom at exactly 5am the next morning Rachel is already wide awake thinking about the events of last night. Not even the sun has risen yet, her bedroom only illuminated by the dim light of the street lamps beneath her windows, but her body hums with excitement.
On a normal day Rachel would jump out of bed as soon as her alarm sounds, workout on her elliptical for 40 minutes and then get ready for a new day. But today she is still snuggled up in her large bed, turns off the annoying alarm and continues to think about about her blind date from yesterday evening.
Quinn seems to be genuinely interested in her and she even asked her out a second time. Even though she instantly felt a connection with her part of her refuses to trust the pretty blonde so easily. Experiences with ex-partners, supposedly best friends and even her own family have taught her not to blindly trust everyone. Thanks to all of them, the naive little girl she once was is now gone. Then again, Rachel is ready to jump at the chance of what appears to hold the potential to eventually develop into something beautiful.
Quinn seems so incredibly kind, gentle and even though she has been pretty bold last night, Rachel is sure that she normally is just as shy as herself. The way her cheeks flushed whenever she caught Rachel looking at her was simply adorable.
All of these qualities make the blonde very appealing, but what impressed Rachel the most was her honesty. She could have easily withheld the truth about talking Brody into setting them up, but yet she confessed even though she seemed worried about setting Rachel off with this information.
And Rachel can't even begin to think about the kiss without getting enormous butterflies in her stomach or a ridiculous grin spreading on her face. Before Quinn, she has had six first kisses in her life and the one she has received last night was by far the best of them.
Her very first kiss was rudely stolen during recess in primary school when Cole Thomson tied her up with her own jump rope and just pressed his slobbery mouth all over her face and then ran off without even setting her free. She was hysterically crying by the time the teacher found her and refused to stop until her dads picked her up and brought her home. Rachel had always loved to be dramatic.
She received her second first kiss from her high school boyfriend Finn Hudson behind the dumpsters of their school during their sophomore year. She had been crushing on the tall awkward boy since she first laid eyes on him on their first day in high school and while the kiss itself was perfectly good she was terribly disappointed when he threw her into the dumpster right after just to impress his idiotic football friends. Again, she was left alone and cried until one of her dads picked her up.
The third first kiss she ever received was slightly better simply because nothing bad or humiliating happened to her right after. And it was this particular kiss, during a stupid game of spin the bottle, that taught her that she wasn't as straight as she had initially assumed.
Her first kiss in college had been during a freshman party and Rachel had been too naive to realize that Jen was just collecting notches on her headboard and not looking for a lasting relationship. This farce, Rachel refuses to acknowledge it as a real relationship, lasted a little over two months.
Molly had been all kinds of amazing when she first met her and their first kiss was nice, but nothing special. That is probably why Rachel hadn't been too disappointed when she caught her cheating with some untalented harlot.
Her last first kiss before Quinn had yet again been kind of stolen. Rachel knew she would definitely not be agreeing to a second date with Jonathan after only about 30 minutes with him and still he managed to take advantage of the one moment she didn't pay attention and kissed her. She still has regular visions of his smug face as he finally pulled away and told her he'd call her the next day.
Even though the kiss with Quinn has only been very brief and maybe even a bit hesitant, Rachel can't stop thinking about it. The faint taste of raspberry lip balm, the softness of Quinn's lips and the way her hand cupped her face so gently are permanently burned into her mind.
The sound of her back-up alarm rips her right out of her thoughts and Rachel concludes that her laziness has to end eventually and gets out of bed. Her daily 40 minute morning workout will be 30 minutes short but she refuses to succumb to obesity and does crunches and knee-bends for 10 minutes straight.
Her first class on Thursdays doesn't start before 11 am so she has plenty of time to bake Brody his much deserved thank you cookies. Singing along to the radio, she puts the cookies in the oven and then gets ready for a busy day. After most of the tasty treats are safely stored in a large plastic container, Rachel grabs her bag and makes her way to the subway.
So far, her day has been great. She is still in high spirits from last night and she won't even have to endure the cutting remarks of Cassandra July today. Right before her lunch break she gets a message from Brody asking her to meet him in the cafeteria of NYADA. She puts away her stack of sheet music and says goodbye to some of her classmates.
She spots him in the crowded room and rolls her eyes at the sly grin on his face. "I have no idea why you're sporting this constipated look," she sits down and pushes the green plastic container in his direction. "These are my famous cookies. Normally they are needed as 'I'm so sorry' cookies but this time I feel that 'Thank you' cookies are more adequate."
Rachel winces as Brody grins like a little child and stuffs two of the cookies in his mouth, crumbles falling down on the table. "I must have told you over a hundred times that I do not appreciate food falling out of your mouth."
Brody's face falls and he pouts at her. "But they are so delicious and they even have chocolate chips in them!" He already forgot all about his lunch and continues to stuff the cookies into his mouth.
"Eeew please close your mouth you wannabe cookie monster" A dark haired girl puts her tray on the table and sits down besides Rachel, sending her an irritating look "What's up with lour pretty boy?"
Rachel shrugs her shoulders "He's inhaling his food, as usual." She pulls the salad she prepared this morning out of her bag and starts to eat as well. "I brought him some cookies and now he is trying to get of many of them into his mouth as possible."
Norah tries to grab a cookie out of the box when Brody slaps her hand away "Ow! I only wanted one to see what the fuss is about"
Rachel giggles at her offended face "I'll make you some too one day."
"Yeah Norah, these are mine. I deserve them because I got Rachel laid," he winks at her and moves right back to his sweet lunch.
"Brody! I clearly remember telling you that I will under no circumstance engage in sexual intercourse on the first date. Quinn has impeccable manners and we said goodbye at my front door."
Brody only shrugs his shoulders in response "But you will go out again, right? It is inevitable that you'll get down to it with Quinn. So in a way these cookies are a thank you for getting you laid."
Rachel huffs as she eats her salad and throws him an incredulous glare. "That may be so but at the very least you could be more tactful and not call it getting laid or getting down to it."
Norah giggles as she watches the two of them interact. "Did you set her up with some of your exes?"
"As if I would ever even talk to one of these harlots. You never know what you might catch," she chuckles.
"You seemed to like Madison and I think that it might develop into something a bit more serious with her." Norah has no idea who they are talking about and just continues to silently watch them in confusion.
Rachel nods. "Yes, Madison seems like a really nice young lady."
"God Rachel, you sound like my grandmother," Brody scoffs.
"She can't compare to Quinn though." Rachel quickly stuffs some salad in her mouth to conceal her grin.
Norah interrupts Brody before he could say something "Who is Quinn?"
This time Rachel doesn't bother to keep the smile off her face and turns to her other friend. "Quinn is the girl Brody set me up with last night." She stops to think before she continues, "Even though she later confessed that it was her that got him to organize the date."
"She told you?" Brody huffs in annoyance "If she planned to tell you all along I could have saved myself the trouble to talk you into it and just given her your number."
"I am convinced that she told me because she felt comfortable enough to do so. And I feel really flattered."
"So you had a date last night? That's so exciting Rachel," the way her friend grins at her causes Rachel's face to flush and she quickly turns her face away. Both Brody and Norah notice of course and smirk at each other.
Norah puts her arm around her shoulder and pulls Rachel into her side. "Aww my little Rachel has a crush on her new lady friend."
Her friends break out into laughter when Rachel groans and buries her Face into Norah's side in embarrassment. "Stop it guys!" She mumbles against the fabric of her friends sweater.
"Please don't drool on me Rach."
Rachel pulls her head back and accusingly holds up a finger and points at her two friends. "The two of you are being horrible to me right now. Yes, I had a lovely time last night and I might even have a tiny little crush on Quinn, but there is no need for teasing."
"Sorry Rachel. But Quinn is into you as well. She already send me a text message to thank me for getting you to agree to the blind date. When I mentioned that we were friends she kept bugging me until I agreed to set you up."
"We're going out again on Sunday."
Norah notices the dreamy look on her friends face. "Did she ask you out again or did you do it?"
"She did and she also told me to keep the whole day clear. We're going to get lunch somewhere and I think she has something planned already," she explains with a soft smile.
"So she's making an effort. That's great," Brody offers.
"But you know how annoying I can get when I don't know what to expect. I don't want to scare her off with my neurotic need to plan every little event in my life." She is actually worried that the neurotic part of her will take over and ruin the date before it even began.
It wouldn't be the first time that she set someone off with her need to be involved in everything and her past partners have been particularly hostile towards her specially created relationship itineraries and animal calenders. But this is a part of her personality that Rachel refuses to let go of completely. She realizes that she needs to be a bit more relaxed, especially in the beginning of a new relationship, but if someone can't accept her with all of her faults and quirks, the person is probably not the right one.
Both of her friends do her best to reassure her and in the end Rachel is confident that she won't ruin her chances with Quinn.
She is bubbling with excitement by Saturday afternoon and already sorted through all of her closet to pick her favorite outfits. She even managed to reduce the possible choices to five different ensembles and styles. She picked something classy, something sexy, and something simple. She'll ask Kurt to help her make the final choice.
Currently she is sorting through all the skirts and shirts she dismissed and is busy folding them back up, when her phone sounds.
She happily notes that she received a text message from Quinn. So far they have been texting sporadically of the last few days, but Quinn has yet to share her plans for tomorrow. Rachel is proud that she successfully managed to restrain herself from asking for so long.
~Hi Rachel, I just wanted to know if we are still on for tomorrow? I hope you had a nice day so far. X Quinn~
~Hello Quinn, my day has been really nice. Of course we are still on for tomorrow. Are you willing to tell me what we will be doing on our date? Rachel*~ As if she would cancel the date she had been so feverishly looking forward to for the last few days.
~You will have to wait for Sunday to know. I'm sorry but I'm not sure if my plan will work and I wouldn't want to disappoint you.~ Rachel looks at her phone is disbelieve. Quinn thinks she could disappoint her? That is simply ridiculous, so Rachel decides to tell her.
~Whatever we end up doing on Sunday, I doubt that I could be disappointed.~ And that's the truth! Quinn could drag her to a hard metal concert and Rachel would still enjoy it, simply because she gets to spend time with the blonde.
~That's good to know. In case my plans really do fall through. I still won't tell you what we'll be doing though :P~ She can do it. She can look forward to this date without knowing the exact plans and without creating a itinerary. Maybe she'll get to plan their next date and then she'll have the opportunity to let her neurotic side go all out.
~I'm not good with not knowing something, but I'll try my best :)~
~That's all I'm asking. Can you be ready by 11.30?~
~Yes, that is possible. Will you at least tell me what clothes would be suitable for your plans?~ That would help her to narrow it down even more. She would look ridiculous in a ballroom dress if they are only going for a walk in central park.
~Great, I'll pick you up then. Wear something you love. Just be comfortable. I'm in a good mood so I'll throw you a bone. We'll be not doing something fancy. I hope that's okay?~ Rachel quickly picks the the long gown out of her stack off possible outfits and puts it back in her closet.
~I assure you that it is completely fine Quinn. I don't need anything fancy.~
~I'm really looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow Rachel. Have a nice day :) xx Quinn~ Rachel grins at the last message. She hopes that the blonde is just as excited as her.
~I'm looking forward to it too :) I'll see you tomorrow. Have a nice day too Quinn! Rachel*~
Rachel turns back to her stack of possible outfits after their short text conversation and in her heart she already knows what she'll end up wearing, but she will still ask Kurt for his opinion.
As usual Rachel gets up bright and early on the next morning, getting ready for an exciting day. Kurt shows up at her door on 10am and he agrees that the outfit she picked out last night is the right one. She really does keep it simple in a pair of back shorts to show of her legs, which she knows are one of her finest physical traits, a cute pair of sandals and her favorite silk top. She straightens her dark hair, puts on some light makeup and adds some jewelery to finalize her outfit.
By 11 am she is nervously looking for something to keep her busy. Under normal circumstances she would clean her apartment but for one she doesn't want to risk staining her clothes and she already cleaning everything in case the blonde would want to come in. So now she is just sitting at her dining table and skips through a magazine she already read.
She jumps up with a squeak when her doorbell finally sounds and makes a beeline for the buzzer to let the blonde in. Not even a minute later there is a melodic knock on the door and Rachel opens it with a nervous smile, greeting her date. "Hello Quinn."
The blonde smiles at her and steps closer to press a light peck on her right cheek. "Hi Rachel, you look lovely."
Rachel blushes and lets the blonde step into her apartment. Quinn is wearing a beautiful soft patterned dress paired with a thin cardigan and has her hair in soft curls. "Thank you Quinn. You look really pretty." She loves that she can make the blonde flush like this.
The blonde lets her gaze wander across the apartment. "Do you live alone? This is a really nice apartment."
"I do. I tried to live in the dorms for one semester but found it hard to adjust. I love having my own space."
Quinn nods her head in understanding. "I can relate. I moved out of the dorms after only 2 months." She looks around some more and smiles when she notices that not a single thing seems to be out of place.
"I just need to grab my purse and I'm ready to go" She moves to get her bag from the table when the blonde tugs at her hand and pulls her back. Rachel's heartbeat explodes as she watches the blonde's eyes flicker down to her lips and without wasting another second she presses their lips together, once again tasting the raspberry lip balm. She swears she hears Quinn let out a tiny moan as their mouths move together, which encourages Rachel to pull her even closer.
They pull away after a few moments heavily breathing against each other. "Sorry," Quinn mumbles against her lips. "I just needed to kiss you again." She shortly pecks her lips and pulls her head away, still keeping her hand enclosed with Rachel's.
"Don't apologize please." Rachel let's out a strained breath and grabs her purse, never pulling her hand away from the blonde's. "Let's go."
Quinn had a cab waiting for them outside of her building and opened the door to help her in. Rachel grinned at the chivalrous act and intertwined their hands again as soon as Quinn got in as well. "Will you tell me where we're going now?"
"Not yet." The blonde grinned at her incredulous look and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry Rachel. You'll know in a few minutes."
Rachel squirms in her seat when she recognizes the buildings, which Quinn notes with a quiet giggle. They pull up in front of the Shubert Theatre a few minutes later. Quinn pays the driver, helps Rachel out of the car and leads her into the building. Rachel looks around the entry hall and wonders why no one else is around and why did Quinn pick her up for lunch, if they are going to see a show now.
"What are they playing?" She can't spot any posters that indicate which musical is currently running.
"Matilda," Quinn tells her and gently pulls her along, as they walk through the halls of the old building. "But not today. The cast in on a tour abroad for the next month and the new show will only start on Friday. Come on, this way."
Quinn opens the large wooden door that holds a sign, which clearly states that they are not allowed to enter this particular area. Rachel stops and looks around to see if she can finally spot someone else wandering around these halls. "Quinn, I believe that we are not allowed inside there and I don't want to be banned from this theater. This could be my future working place."
The other girl laughs and shakes her head. "Don't worry Rachel. We have all permissions needed." She gives her a reassuring nod and the brunette relents.
They pass a few more entrance forbidden signs when they stand in front of a door that has Rachel gasping for air. "Are you serious?"
Quinn opens the door and for the first time in her life Rachel sets foot on a real Broadway stage. "Oh my god Quinn. I feel like I'm walking on the holy grail."
"So it's a good surprise?"
"Are you kidding? This is all I've been dreaming of since I've been a little child. Well the crowd is missing and I'm not actually starring in a musical yet, but still...this is amazing." She scans her eyes across the large stage and grins as she notices the scene set up. "Funny Girl," she happily exclaims "How did you do this Quinn?"
The blonde smiles shyly and walks over to the blanket that is spread right in the middle of the stage and urges Rachel to follow her. "I may have some insider contacts that allowed me to arrange this. And I asked Brody for your favorite musical so that's why the stage looks like Fanny's dressing room." She explains and starts to spread out the contents of a cute little picnic basket that Rachel only notices now.
Rachel feels so overwhelmed by everything and takes in her surroundings again. She is on the stage of a real Broadway theater and her date has arranged her favorite musical stage setup and it looks like she prepared a picnic. "This is amazing Quinn. Thank you so much. You really didn't have to do all that."
She watches as the blonde pulls the lids of several plastic boxes containing different fruits and even some sandwiches. "I wanted to. And I'm happy that you like it." She holds up a strawberry for Rachel, who happily takes it. "I may have bugged Brody a lot these last few days. I needed to know what you like to eat and turns out that it was a smart idea. Otherwise I probably would have presented you with non-vegan food." She grins at Rachel as she fills two glasses with juice and then hands her one. "Instead we have strawberries, grapes, watermelon, mangoes, some ALT sandwiches, chips and juice."
"This is perfect," Rachel whispers shyly and glances at Quinn, who is watching her intently. She picks up a couple of grapes and makes eye contact with the other girls. "Grapes are my favorite fruits."
"I know." Quinn winks at her and they both munch on the food she prepared in a comfortable silence.
"How did you really manage to organize this?" Rachel asks her and hopes for a more detailed answer this time. Quinn sighs and lies down on the blanket, her head resting on a few pillows. Rachel follows her lead and comfortably lies down on her side, not moving her eyes from Quinn.
"My uncle produces Broadway plays and he is currently involved with this theater. I knew that they only open at the end of next week and asked him if I could do this. He said yes and told the security guys to let us in." She explains, but Rachel notices that she doesn't seem to like discussing the topic.
"You don't like talking about it?"
"Some people believe that I have an advantage because of him. He also sponsors some music schools all over the country, including NYADA so my classmates don't want me to audition for events like the showcases."
"I don't believe you're the kind of person to take advantage of your uncle. I have yet to hear you play piano but I am convinced that you're really talented. You're classmates are simply jealous of your abilities."
The blonde blushes at the compliment. "Thank you. I may play for you sometime. But only if you sing something for me."
"You already heard me sing and I believe that's the reason why we are on this date right now. My amazing talent knocked you right out of your socks." Rachel giggles at the shocked look on Quinn's face and squeals when the blonde starts throwing grapes at her.
"Playing with food is irresponsible Quinn," Rachel lectures her and holds up her hands to block the flying grapes.
"Sorry." The blonde giggles as Rachel peeks out through her fingers to check the situation. "You're right though," she admits quietly "You did knock me out of my socks. I kept looking for you all around campus but never came across you again."
"Well, I'm really glad you met Brody then."
A shy grin forms on Quinn's face. "Me too."