Title: Not One of Them
Pairing: Rachel/Quinn
Summary: Quinn just wanted to be alone. Rachel just had bad timing.
Disclaimer: Glee is not mine.
Warning: G!P Rachel.
A/N: Aaaaaaand, I'm back! It's been three months, guys, and I'm so fucking sorry. And I had to reread the whole thing before I could write this, so it took some time. I also didn't proofread this chapter, so my mistakes are all over the place. Sorry again. Like always, thank you for the favorites/alerts/reviews. They're the reason I keep writing.
One last thing. Please, don't call me a bitch or anything. I mean, I'm very sad about Cory and I'm sure he was a great man and actor. But Finn was an ass at the beginning of this story and he'll continue to be an ass here. Not changing that. That's all.
xxx
The Cheerios walked out of the locker room after the second practice of the day. The holidays were just around the corner, but Sue Sylvester did not care. Their new routine was simply insane and some of the girls were struggling a bit; that's why they spent the last two hours jumping and dancing around the school's gym after school. Quinn didn't let them go until she was satisfied with what she saw.
Sue was still eying her like a hawk. She didn't say anything about her Glee-situation, but she did criticize the Head Cheerio's leadership every time she got the chance. Because of that, Quinn was working the girls twice as hard, making sure not to give the older woman a reason to open her mouth to complain.
"You are fucking crazy, bitch," Santana groaned as she dragged her feet after a bouncing Brittany, glaring at the shorter blonde that was calmly walking beside her. "Crazy. Bitch's crazy."
Smirking, the HBIC watched in satisfaction the other girls making their way outside with tired expressions on their pretty faces, knowing her job was well done. One of the juniors that was having problems with their new routine caught her looking and widened her eyes, quickly exiting the school to escape the blonde's glare.
Santana was still grumbling to a smiling Brittany, who was now pulling the tired Latina toward the front door.
"Bye, Q," the dancer called as she opened the door, just as Santana spat a final "bitch!" before disappearing.
Quinn chuckled lightly and, instead of following her friends, she turned around and walked down the hall toward the art room. The door was ajar and she could hear the soft music coming from the inside.
Without knocking, the blonde pushed the door open. She didn't enter, though, just watched from her spot as the brunette that was inside moved graciously in front of the big mirror that covered the entire wall. In Glee club, Quinn got to see the small diva sing her heart out and it still amazed her the way the girl's strong voice made shivers run down her spine every single time, but she didn't get to see Rachel dance as often.
It was a shame, really, because what she was seeing was definitely something she wouldn't mind seeing more times. The tight shirt the girl was wearing was sticking to her body, her long legs were shinning with sweat and just the way she moved was just... well, hot.
While her hazel eyes traveled over her body, she didn't notice the little smirk on Rachel's face when she spotted the blonde girl.
"Hey, beautiful," the diva called when the music was over and smiled amusedly when Quinn's eyes finally met hers. "Practice is over already?"
One of her golden eyebrows went up as she stepped inside the art room. "Already? We practiced for two hours, dork."
Rachel hummed and reached her hand out, inviting the other girl closer as the next music started to play. The blonde's gentle giggle when she pulled her against her front made her smile again, the uncharacteristic sound coming from the girl still surprised her sometimes. She guided Quinn's arms to wrap around her neck and let her hands rest on her slim waist and, slowly, they started to sway with the music.
"Your birthday is coming," Quinn said after a few seconds.
Because of their embrace, she wasn't able to see the frown on the brunette's face.
"I'm aware," was her soft reply. Trying to distract the girl, she took a step back and spun her around, stepping closer again before Quinn could regain her balance and crashing their bodies together. The other girl's strong arms wrapped around her shoulders immediately and Rachel grinned before pecking her flushed cheek.
Quinn huffed. "Graceful, Rach."
The music came to a stop, but Rachel didn't let her go. They kept hugging and swaying in the middle of the room without any music like two idiots. It was starting to get dark outside and Quinn knew she should probably get home because it was almost time for dinner, but she didn't want to be the one to end their little moment.
Glad her plan had worked, the small diva finally let the other girl go and walked toward her bag that was lying on the floor near the door after kissing her cheek one more time. Without Rachel's warm body pressed against her, Quinn took another look around the room, eying herself in the mirror once before turning back around to watch the brunette put on some more layers of clothes to keep her warm.
"So, about your birthday..."
Okay, maybe it didn't really work, after all.
Sighing, Rachel picked her bag up and opened the door. She patiently waited for Quinn to go out first before she turned the lights off and followed her.
"What about it?" she questioned quietly as they walked toward the exit.
Quinn shrugged. "I just noticed that you don't really seen excited about it," she commented. Pushing the front door open, the cold wind slapped them directly in the face, making both girls shiver. It hadn't snowed yet, but it was promising to be a very, very cold winter. "At all," she added.
"I just don't think there is anything to be exited about." Rachel looked around the parking lot, not surprised that the only car beside Quinn's black Porsche was the poor, old thing principal Figgins called a car. She kind of expected it to simply explode every time he started it. "It happens every year, there's nothing especial about getting older."
"Oh, come on." The cheerleader pulled her closer and linked their arms. "You'll be seventeen in a few days, dork. Don't you want to celebrate it?"
"Not really."
The blonde girl eyed her for a few seconds, frowning. "What are you not telling me?"
"Nothing," Rachel answered and squeezed Quinn's arm gently. "I just don't like parties, you know."
With a snort, the blonde shook her head. "No way. Rach. You wanted to throw a party just last week because Brittany got a B on her Math test. Try again."
That made the diva blush.
"Okay, so maybe I just don't like birthday parties." She shrugged when Quinn's blonde eyebrow went up. "And can we discuss this inside your car? 'Cause it's getting really cold out here."
"Good point."
Pushing her gently toward the passenger's side, she quickly made her way around the car and got inside, sighing in contentment as she started the car and turned the heat up. It was really getting late now and she could already imagine her father's angry rant about her being late for dinner again — it would be the third time that month alone —, but she didn't give a damn, really. She wanted to spend more time with her girl and their current discussion was—.
Her hazel eyes widened slightly and she looked down to hide her startled expression from the diva. Her girl? Now, where the hell did that thought came from?
"Like I said, my birthday it's not something special to me," Rachel continued, oblivious to the other girl's confusion. "Besides, it's just a few days before Christmas. So, I rather focus on that instead."
Another snort escaped the blonde. "Rach, you're Jewish."
Damn Quinn for finding holes in her excuses and damn excuses for having holes in the first place! Huffing, the diva crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the blonde beside her.
"I don't want to celebrate it, Quinn. That's it. Now, can we talk about something else and just let the birthday thing go?"
Still distracted by her own traitor thoughts, Quinn just shrugged and pulled out from her parking space. Her lack of response was enough to tell Rachel she wouldn't let go so easily.
xxx
The next day, Rachel was calmly walking to her first class and humming to herself when someone suddenly stepped in front of her. Startled, she let her book fall and let out an embarrassingly high squeak, making several heads turn toward her.
"Dude," Finn groaned as he rubbed his right ear.
"Finn!" she gasped and narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Don't do that!"
The boy bent down and picked her book up, frowning when he saw it was a Calculus book. He offered it back with a confused expression and Rachel quietly accepted it, hugging it closer to her chest as she took a step back to put some distance between them.
When he didn't go away and just stood there, frowning down at her, she sighed.
"What do want, Finn?"
It wasn't like she hated the tall boy — she couldn't hate anybody, it just wasn't in her nature. But she really, really disliked him. Not that he did something to her directly; no one dared to touch her or even say more than a few words to her in the last couple of months. It was mostly because she always had one of the three cheerleaders with her, probably. But Finn constantly running after Quinn annoyed her to no end.
She lost count of how many times she had to help Quinn calm down because he wouldn't stop whining about their break up. And there was also that one time Brittany wasn't there to stop her and Santana ended up punching him, efficiently shutting him up. But it was his failed attempts to get the blonde's attention that really pissed her off. He used every chance he got to sing something to her in Glee and would send her flowers or chocolate and it all just...
It wasn't jealousy, exactly. No, it was, but not because she thought Quinn would go back to him or anything like that. What she was really jealous about was because he could do all of that in the first place. He wasn't even dating her and he still got to sing to her, and flirt with her and buy her flowers and no one even cared about it. Now, if she tried something like that, all hell would break loose.
And, anyway, she had no reason to try something like that, she reminded herself. They weren't dating,either.
"Hmmm, I wanted to ask you something," Finn said after a few awkward seconds. Scratching the back of his neck, he looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to them before stepping closer to her, oblivious to the way the small girl tensed. "You and Quinn are, like, friends now, right?"
Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Yes, Finn. We are friends," she answered anyway.
"That's... weird. But, anyway, do you know if she's seeing someone?"
She had to take a deep breath to keep herself from saying something she really shouldn't. Because, in that moment, all she wanted to do was tell him that yes, Quinn was seeing someone, and that yes, he had to stop going after her. But then she would be lying.
"Why are you asking me this?" she said instead.
"Well, I tried to ask Brittany first, but she started talking about talking giraffes and how whales are shy and how she caught her cat smoking yesterday," he said and frowned again. She tried really hard not to laugh, but she couldn't keep her amused smile from escaping. Jesus, Brittany was a genius. "And Santana would punch me again if tried to ask her, so I came to you."
Well, maybe he wasn't so much of an idiot, after all.
"Look, Finn, I'll be honest with you." She sighed. "I don't think Quinn is seeing someone right now," she said and had to stop herself from rolling her eyes when the boy grinned triumphantly. "But," she continued, making him drop his smile, "I really think you should stop going after her."
He looked even more confused. "Why? If she isn't seeing anyone—."
"How many times did she tell you no already?" Rachel exclaimed, frustrated. "Don't you understand that, if she isn't dating anyone, maybe she just isn't interested?"
"But we dated for so long!" he exclaimed back. People were looking now, but he apparently didn't notice because he just kept going. "We were happy—."
Rachel scoffed. "You cheated on her!"
"Just a few times!"
Now she really was about to hit his red face with her book, but a pair of strong arms circled her waist from behind and pulled her away from him. Next thing she know, Santana is standing in front of her with her, glaring daggers at the taller boy.
"You're going to take a step back. Now," she said to him, eyes narrowing when he didn't do it immediately. Huffing, he finally took a step back. "I don't know why you came after Hobs, but you're not going to do it again. You see, I haven't given my dwarf her shots yet," Rachel huffed in indignation behind her, but she just ignored it, "and we can't have her getting whatever it is that you got. It apparently make you freakishly tall and stupid."
Finn kicked the closest locker to him, frustrated. "You're such a bitch, Santana!"
"Damn right, now get the hell out of here."
Still fuming, the boy turned around and stormed out. Some people were snickering, clearly amused by the boy's childish display.
"What a man," Santana mumbled sarcastically to herself before turning around to face an unamused Rachel. She tried not to laugh at the smaller girl's glare. "What?"
Rachel opened her mouth to start her rant, but nothing came out. As the seconds passed and she said nothing, the Latina's satisfied smirk just grew until it became a cheeky grin. Her darker eyes were shining with mirth and the girl's unusual expression was enough to make the diva's anger disappear.
"I'm not your dwarf," she finally said and turned around dramatically, walking away from her in the opposite direction Finn went.
Santana's laughter reached her ears easily and she smiled to herself. She was almost entering her classroom when the Latina grabbed the back of her sweater and pulled her back.
"Yes, you are," she whispered against her ear, still laughing. "And you fucking love it, Hobs."
The shorter girl pushed her away playfully.
"I'm telling Quinn you said that!" she called before disappearing inside the room.
xxx
Looking toward the window, the blonde girl could help but chuckle again. It turns out Rachel did have a dog; a white poodle named Fiyero that was just as dramatic as its owner. And Fiyero was apparently bored and did not appreciate the fact he wasn't getting enough attention from the small girl, so he decided to play with one of Rachel's father's fancy shoes.
Because of that, Rachel was now running around the Berry's small backyard after the dog in her pink sweatpants, screaming at him as Fiyero easily stayed out of her reach. Well, at least he was not bored anymore.
She had Rachel's phone in one hand and, with one last look toward the window — the diva somehow ended up on the ground, rubbing her hurt behind with a pout, and she could swear Fiyero was laughing at her —, she unlocked it and opened the girl's contact list. It was easy to find the number she was looking for and she quickly saved it on her own phone before putting Rachel's back on the girl's bedside table.
Sitting back on the small but comfortable bed, she pulled Rachel's comforter over her legs again and only hesitated for a second before dialing the number.
"Hello?"
"Puckerman?"
"Yeah," the younger girl answered. "And who the hell are you?"
Quinn rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "Quinn Fabray."
"Barbie?" Ruth scoffed. "How did you get my number?"
"Listen, little girl, I don't feel like talking to you just like you don't fell like talking to me, so let's make this short," she said calmly. "Rachel's birthday is next week and she isn't really looking forward to it. And... you are her best friend and I need your opinion on something," she admitted with a frown. "So, if I decided to throw her a surprise birthday party—."
"Dude, don't. That's a bad idea."
Quinn sighed. "And why is that a bad idea?"
"'Cause Rae don't like to do anything on her birthday. Can you imagine being a kid and while all the other kids throw parties, you're the only one that's not invited? And then when it's your own birthday party, no one shows up? I think the last time Rachel really threw a party was when she was eight or something."
"But I thought her... secret just came out during middle school." Quinn looked up again, shaking her head when she spotted said girl just sitting on the grass, glaring as Fiyero happily ran around her, fancy shoe bouncing in his mouth.
"Yeah, but she had gay dads since she was born, Barbie. Besides, she was always the weird kid that dressed funny and talked too much, so kids liked to pick on her even before her 'secret' came out. The only one who used to go to her parties was, well, me. And Noah, but he usually went because of the food. I mean, there were some kids at first, not everyone was an asshole, but them they didn't show up the next year and she just... stopped. Now, we just sit around the house watching musicals and getting fat."
Quinn sighed again and played with the comforter with her free hand as she thought.
"Look, just don't do that," Ruth continued when the blonde didn't say anything. "She doesn't like to celebrate it."
"I got it," Quinn said with a small frown.
"You know, you could always start acting like a real girlfriend and take her—."
"I'm not her girlfriend," she interrupted her.
Ruth huffed. "Obviously. That or you're a really crappy one."
"I'm done with this conversation." Quinn looked up and was surprised when she found the backyard empty. "Anyway... thanks. For the advice."
"Just don't mention it. Like, seriously, don't mention it. Ever. To anyone."
"Got it. Bye," she said shortly before hanging up.
Still frowning, she got up from the bed and went after the smaller girl. The house was small, so it didn't take long for her to find Rachel and Fiyero running around the kitchen. The girl's bad condition, with mud all over her pink sweatpants and her wild, messy hair made her frown quickly become an amused smile.
She calmly knelt down and patted her thighs. When the dog spotted her, he easily avoided Rachel's hands and trotted triumphantly toward her, dropping the shoe covered in drool in front of her.
"Fiyero, you freaking traitor!" Rachel cried from her spot on the floor not far from them.
Ignoring her, the poodle just licked the blonde's hand once before disappearing down the hall, satisfied with his impeccable work. She would probably think twice now before ignoring him again.
Quinn chuckled as she picked the ruined shoe up and walked toward the panting brunette. Rachel's miserable pout quickly disappeared when the blonde beauty sat down on her lap, probably getting mud on her clothes, too, and pecked her lips gently.
"You look like a mess, dork," she whispered against her lips. "I think you need a shower."
And when, twenty minutes later, she had Quinn moaning her name as she pressed her harder against the cold tiles of the shower wall, hot water pouring over them, she didn't mind one bit that one of her father's fancy shoes was completely destroyed.
xxx
The last Glee club meeting before the holidays was a good one. They were still high from their victory at Sectionals two weeks prior; even Puck was smiling and joking with the rest of the boys as they danced around the choir room and sang Christmas songs.
Sectionals had been... interesting. Because of Mr. Schue's lack of initiative, they had to put up their set list and choreography in only one week. It had been hell. Rachel was constantly trying to help who was having trouble with their singing and Brittany tried to help with their dancing, but they were all nervous and Quinn had to scream at Santana to shut the fuck up more than once because the Latina wouldn't stop saying she'd "kick all their fucking incompetent asses".
But when the competition came, it all became a blur of memories. Quinn remember arriving at the theater, sitting quietly with the others in a small room as the other choir groups were on stage, Rachel pressed against her side. And when it was their turn, she remember Mr. Schue talking quietly with the smaller diva before sending her away first, they nervously waiting backstage, then Rachel's strong voice filling the theater and instantly sending shivers down her spine.
"Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter..."
They sang and danced around the stage, a few of them messing up the choreography more than once, but no one noticed apparently because, when they were finally done, the crowd got up from their seats and clapped enthusiastically, cheering.
It was a different kind of high, Quinn learned. She had won three Nationals competitions with her Cheerios, she was more than used to being on the spotlight, but it still felt completely new to her. With Rachel and Brittany holding her hands as she took in the scene in front of her, she almost couldn't hear the crowd's applauses over the strong beats of her own heart. It was overwhelming, exhilarating.
Now, they were dancing around their choir room with the trophy on one corner and a small Christmas tree on the other. Mr. Schue was clapping and singing beside Brad, their pianist, and when it was time to go, he watched the kids laughing as they exited the room.
"See you next year, guys!" he called.
It was Tuesday when Rachel woke up with her father shaking her gently. She reluctantly opened her eyes and groaned, not ready at all to wake up yet.
"Honey, I need you to get up. There's someone here that wants to see you," her Dad told her and tugged at her comforter so she wouldn't go back to sleep. The cold air made her shiver and she whined pitifully before giving up.
She groaned again and sat up. "'Kay, 'kay. I'm up."
Five minutes later, she dragged herself to the living room to find Quinn, Brittany and Santana sitting on the couch, talking quietly. Confused, she ran her hands through her hair a few times to try to tame it, but it refused to go down.
Brittany was the first one to spot her and the blonde dancer grinned brightly. "Rachel!"
Hazel and dark brown eyes met hers immediately. Santana snorted after she took her disheveled condition and Quinn smiled before getting up from the couch and walking toward her, chuckling as her strong arms circled her waist.
"You look..." she started, her fingers playing with her wild hair that was determined to defy gravity, apparently.
"Awful," Santana offered, wincing when Brittany pinched her.
Quinn rolled her eyes. "Cute," she added quietly, just for her.
Resisting the urge to kiss the blonde, she pulled away from her warm body and held her hand instead, pulling her toward the small couch. It was a tight fit and Rachel ended up practically sitting on Brittany's lap, but the dancer didn't seen to care.
"Not that I mind," she said, "but what are you guys doing here?"
Beside her, Quinn sighed and looked at Santana.
"Here is the thing, Hobs," Santana started. "Tomorrow is your birthday and I get that you don't want to celebrate it or whatever, so we decided to do something today."
Brittany nodded excitedly and squeezed the smaller girl. "We are kidnapping you!"
"I talked to your dads," Quinn continued, "and they said it's alright. I know you don't want to make a big deal out of your birthday, so we'll consider it like just friends hagging out, okay? We'll go out and just enjoy the day."
After a few seconds contemplating the idea, the diva smiled gently and nodded, laughing when Brittany squeezed her again. "Just give me a few minutes to get dressed," she said before getting up and disappearing again.
She had no idea of what "just friends hanging out" was supposed to mean, so she just stayed quiet as they drove around town with Santana and Quinn bickering the whole time as Brittany ignored them. The first thing they did, much to the diva's amusement, was go play in the park. It had started snowing a couple of days ago and there was a thick, white layer of snow covering the ground. After having breakfast, they drove to the park and it really shouldn't have surprised her that things got out of control within minutes. The first thing Brittany did when they stepped foot inside the park was throw Santana face first in the snow and things just got crazy after that.
Rachel felt like a child as she threw snowballs at the Latina's face, laughing hysterically as Brittany pushed Quinn around and the other brunette screamed in Spanish as she tried to catch her, swearing when she ended up falling face first again.
Everything was just so silly and childish. It made her think about how much she had wanted to do that when she was younger, but never got the chance. Now, years later, with Santana throwing snow at them and Brittany using a laughing Quinn as a shield, she decided that maybe it wasn't too late to be that little kid.
"I'm fucking freezing," the Latina whined as they tried to get warm.
After the park, the girls went to Brittany's house because it was closer. The dancer gave them dry clothes and her mother, a nice woman with bright blue eyes and a gentle smile, made them hot chocolate to help them warm up. They ended up staying for lunch and watched a couple of movies after, lying down around the spacious living room with blankets and Brittany's thousand cats around them.
It was only during the second movie that Rachel felt a warm body pressing against her side. She turned her head to find gentle hazel eyes watching her instead of the television and offered the girl one of her best toothy smiles. Sighing in contentment when Quinn draped her arm over her stomach.
"Is this okay?" the blonde whispered against her ear and, instead of answering her, she just turned her head again and gently kissed her lips.
A snort came from the couch not far from where they were lying on the carpeted floor. "You better not start fucking, bitches."
And then their romantic moment was over. But, really, with Santana in the room with them, she probably should've known better.
When the second movie was over, Brittany insisted they did something else. That's how they ended up in the dancer's room a few minutes later, sitting on the floor with a deck of cards between them. It seemed innocent enough at the beginning and, trust her, Rachel had no idea how a simple game of cars turned into strip poker and than there was suddenly nothing innocent about it anymore.
But then, again, Santana was playing. Rachel just never learned.
"Take that shirt off, dwarf." The already shirtless Latina smirked from her spot beside Brittany, who had lost so many times she now had only her underwear on. The only one that still had all of her clothes on was Quinn, probably because she had the best poker face Rachel had ever seen. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You have nothing we haven't seen before."
Rachel reluctantly tugged Brittany's oversized shirt over her head, blushing.
"Stop staring," the diva groaned before throwing the shirt at the Latina's smirking face.
Santana snickered. "Nice tits, Hobs," she teased the already red girl and even Quinn had to smile when Rachel huffed in indignation. "Not as good as mine, though. But look at these babies," she said, patting her own bra-clad breasts fondly.
"You're shameless, Santana."
"Damn right, Hobs. Now let's get Fabray naked."
The blonde in question raised one of her eyebrow. "You wish, Lopez."
Half an hour later, Rachel was a hot, blushing mess on the floor. She was trying really hard not to look at a naked Brittany that, even though she had no more clothes to lose, was still playing just for the fun of it. A topless Santana was swearing lowly in Spanish as she took off her sweats and Quinn, still fully clothed, smirked in satisfaction.
She was trying really hard not to cover herself. With only her underwear on, it was... unnerving, but oddly exciting to be half naked in front of the most beautiful girls she knew. Years of torture taught her not to trust them, but the last few months of self-discovery and even acceptance of the hazel eyed girl that was eying her body with appreciation made her somewhat confident enough to just sit there and let them look. And when the only thing she got from them after she took her own pants off was another smirk from Santana, a simple "hot" from Brittany and a kiss on the cheek from Quinn, she let herself relax a little.
Quinn's delighted laughter filled the room and brought her back to the game.
"Oh, damn it. Fuck you, Fabray!"
And then Santana was completely naked and Rachel felt like a hot mess all over again.
With their clothes back on, they had dinner with Brittany's parents — the dancer's father arrived that night with a box with seven kittens inside, much to Brittany's delight and Santana's horror — and then settled down on the living room again to watch another movie.
It was getting too late, though, so, when the movie was over, Rachel hugged Brittany goodbye and laughed when the enthusiastic blonde picked her up and spun her around. Santana glared as she came closer to her, but the diva ignored her threats and wrapped her arms around her anyway. After trying to push the smaller girl away from her and failing, she just poked her crotch until she let her go with a squeak.
Rachel was still smiling when she entered the blonde's Porsche and stayed that way until Quinn parked in front of her house. It was really late by then and the only light that was on was the one on the front porch.
"Today was amazing, Quinn," she said while the blonde looked inside her purse for something. Finding whatever it was, she put the purse aside to look at her, smiling gently. "I never had... I just— thank you."
The blonde shook her head. "Don't thank me, dork." She leaned closer and pecked her lips, playfully bitting her lower one. "And I'm glad you had fun. I'm sure you enjoyed a day with naked Brittany and Santana," she teased, making the brunette blush again.
"I would have enjoyed more if you had been naked, too," she teased back.
"Well, my pride wouldn't let me lose to Santana." Quinn chuckled. "And you see me naked all the time, Rach."
Leaning closer, Rachel kissed her again and again, pressing their lips together and tasting her like she'd wanted to do all day. "Not enough," she whispered, pecking her pink lips. "Never enough."
Feeling her heart melt as she kissed the girl one more time, she gently pushed her away so she could think clearly again. As she tried to catch her breath again, she fished the old blanket she always kept in the backseat with one hand and her purse with the other, grinning when the Rachel just watched her with a confused look.
"The day is not over yet, dork," she said before getting out of the car.
It was really cold now and she pressed herself against Rachel's back as they made their way toward the backyard of the Berry residence. With some trouble, Rachel found the light switch next to the door and then sat down beside Quinn on the single step of the back porch, sighing in relief when the blonde covered them both with the blanket.
They were in silence for a few minutes and Rachel just enjoyed the warmth coming from the girls beside her, watching the snow fall in front of her cover the muddy ground. She jumped lightly when something beeped and frowned when Quinn laughed.
"What was that?"
"My phone," Quinn answered and took her phone out of her purse that was lying beside her on the wooden floor. "It's midnight."
Next thing she knew, Quinn was kissing her again. She moaned quietly and kissed her back, pulling her closer until there was no more space between them. It was only when the blonde pulled back and whispered a soft "happy birthday, dork" against her ear that she finally understood what that meant.
"I did something and you can't laugh," she continued when the diva just stared at her in awe and she was glad it was cold, so her cheeks were already tinted red and her blush went unnoticed. Before she could back out, she opened her purse again and took out a small container. She felt silly as she opened it and showed the smiling brunette the cupcake inside.
Rachel laughed anyway when she put a candle on top of it, but helped her to light it up and sang quietly with her. After she blew the candle out, they ate the vegan-friendly cupcake, laughing when the diva ended up with icing all over her face.
"And you call me a dork," she teased the blonde that was cleaning her nose.
"That's because you are, Rach." Still smiling, she licked her finger clean, not missing the way Rachel's dark eyes darkened a bit. "And I got presents for you, so you should be nicer to me."
That made her perk up. "Presents?"
Quinn took out three packages and offered her the red one first.
"This is Santana's, so be careful," she warned.
Ripping the paper carefully, she found a box inside. Hazel eyes watched her as she opened the box to find a—.
Dog-collar.
It was black with a silver medal that said Santana's Dwarf and it was such a stupid present and so Santana that Rachel could just laugh. Beside her, Quinn snorted and shook her head.
"It's sad that I'm not even surprised," she said as Rachel carefully put it aside and accepted the next one. It had ducks all over the paper and a card attached to it that said "Happy B-day, Rachel! — B" and the innocence of it made Rachel smile.
A few seconds later, Rachel was laughing again as she looked down at Brittany's gift. The sweater was light blue, almost the same shade of the dancer's eyes, and it had a unicorn with a rainbow coming out of its ass in the front. She had to wonder where the hell did Brittany find that.
Quinn nervously played with the blanket as the brunette opened her present. She'd spent days looking for the right thing and, when Rachel gasped softly after opening the small box, she was sure it had been worth it. The delicate bracelet was very simple and it had a single pendant, a gold star. Lone, just like the sweet girl that was gently caressing it with her fingers.
"Quinn," she whispered as she took it out of the box. "It's beautiful."
The blonde carefully took it out of her hand and helped her put it on, smiling when the small star rested against Rachel's wrist.
"Happy birthday, Rachel." And she kissed the girl softly again.
They lost track of time as they stayed like that, with the old blanked tangled around them and lips locked. Rachel was overwhelmed with the whole day, specially the last few minutes she spent with the blonde. She wanted to push Quinn down on the hard floor and show her how much she really appreciated the whole thing, but it was cold outside.
"Stay," she pleaded softly.
But Quinn shook her head no and smiled sadly. "Your dads are home, dork."
"I don't really care," she admitted. "We— we don't have to do anything. Just... stay."
And even though she knew she'd be in a whole lot of trouble when she went back home later that day — she did miss dinner again, after all —, she found herself nodding, getting up from the wooden floor of the Berry's back porch and following the girl inside. Her small bed was warm and comfortable, but it was the petite girl with the big, brown eyes and toothy smile that was pressing against her that made her relax.
She sighed softly and ran her hand through her messy hair, smiling when Rachel's hands slipped inside her shirt and her cold fingers caressed the naked skin of her lower back.
Her girl, she allowed herself to think again, almost like she was cautiously tasting it for the first time. Closing her eyes, she pressed her lips against her hot skin. Her girl.
She really wanted to hate it so much, but, to be honest, nothing ever sounded so good to her before.
xxx
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