Author's Note: Longest chapter yet! But I still feel like I didn't fit in enough or everything that I wanted to...oh well. Also, this is NOT the last chapter. There is a part 15...be on the look out! And, also, review, please! :)

Part Fourteen: Prom!

"We're late!" Artie practically yelled, eyes on the digital clock that shone bright red numbers on his dash.

"By ten minutes, if that," Quinn laughed, smoothing the front of her dress and observing the boy beside her out of the corner of her eye. "And it's always good to make a fashionably late entrance, right?"

"Right!" Artie exclaimed, bringing his truck to a squealing stop in the parking lot of the hotel where the prom was taking place that year. "How do I look?" he asked, half turning to face her before exiting the vehicle. "Dashing?"

Glimpsing the smallest bit of red sauce at the corner of his mouth, she held in more laughter, stretching out her hand and gently rubbing the sauce away. At her touch, his cheeks flushed pink and, though she wasn't aware of it, so did hers. "As dashing as Humphrey Bogart at the end of Casablanca." When he stared at her blankly, she let out an exaggerated sigh. "Remind me to make you watch that."

"Casablanca. Watch it. Got it." Grinning, he grabbed his top hat, placing it on his head, then got out, circling as quickly to her side of the truck so he could help her out.

Carefully, she stepped out, pressing her fingers to his. When her feet hit the ground, their fingers remained entangled. "Thank you, kind sir."

Tilting his heat forward a bit, he responded, "You're welcome, kind lass."

"Kind…lass?" Walking beside him toward the entrance of the hotel, she laughed again.

Shrugging, he wheeled slowly, making pace with her steps. "It works."

Before Quinn could reply, a stretch hummer pulled right in front of them. Sam and Finn fell out, shouting about how awesome prom was and how they loved progress and technology. When Sam's eyes lit on Quinn, his jubilant spirit seemed to waver a bit but when Finn wrapped an arm around his shoulders, the merriment that had been fading flashed across his face again and the two boys went inside. Hesitating, Quinn watched their retreating backs a moment, startled when Artie placed his arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him.

"Ready?"

Biting her bottom lip, she nodded, once. "Ready."

Their journey was rather short, as they ran into a bouncing Rachel and seemingly stoic Puck. "Hello, Quinn and Artie. How are you two? Noah and I are fine! In fact, we are more than fine!" Taking the hand of the now trying not to smile Puck, Rachel bounced some more. "You two can be the first to know that Noah and I are officially an item, as the saying goes. I told Noah that I was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him, for the second time since he joined glee club, and he replied -"

"Berry!" Puck cut her off. "They get it. No need to go into detail."

Pouting, Rachel let Puck drag her away, with a slight wave over her shoulder, saying, "But, Noah, it's such a lovely story…"

Tilting his head, Artie squinted at their backs. "Huh. Makes sense though."

"I do believe they make a most lovely couple!" Quinn said, attempting to make herself sound like Rachel.

Busting out laughing, Artie involuntarily grasped her wrist, fingers skimming over her pulse. When she softly gasped, Artie considered dropping his hand but, instead, he tightened his grip, gazing up at her until she shifted her eyes toward his and made eye contact. "Quinn -"

"Artie, Quinn!" The moment was ended when two arms took turns in yanking them both into warm hugs. "I've missed you!"

"Matt?" Inclining his head, Artie half grinned up at the old friend. "What are you doing here?"

From behind him, Mercedes, a stunning sight in her bright orange dress, piped up, hands on her hips, "The school contacted him about the mistake and he decided to come out." Stepping forward, she linked her arm with Matt's, a huge smile on her face. She didn't notice when Matt's eyes furtively turned toward Quinn.

But Artie did. "The school contacted you…" Artie trailed off, glancing between Matt and Quinn, pieces clicking into place, as he saw Quinn, in his mind's eye, knocking over some pens and scribbling words onto a scrap of paper while in the school's office. "That was pretty cool of…the school."

Tugging on Matt's arm with her own, Mercedes nodded toward the double doors that led into the hotel. "We're going to go get our picture taken. See you inside!"

Eyeing Quinn, Artie tapped his fingers against the rims of his wheels. "The school went to all that trouble for Mercedes. Gotta say, it's pretty awesome of the school to do something like that." Winking, he pushed himself to the door, opening it so she could move inside. Her cheeks colored so they matched the shade of her dress. "Don't worry," he whispered, as she passed by him. "I won't tell her or anyone it was you."

Her expression softened and she leaned over, lightly kissing his upper cheek. "Thank you, Artie."

Gulping, he waited for her to pull away but she didn't, mouth hovering close to his for the second time that evening. Part of him just wanted to close the gap and discover what her mouth would feel like against his but a nagging in the back of his head gave him pause. That's when he spotted, over Quinn's bare shoulder, Brittany and Santana, holding hands and skipping. Closing his eyes, he let out a giant exhale of breath…right into Quinn's face.

Raising both eyebrows, Quinn fake grimaced. "Glad you had Chinese earlier because, if not, that could've been kind of unpleasant."

"What?" Realizing what he had just done, Artie blinked. "Oh. Sorry. Um, hey, I'll be right back?"

Nodding, Quinn straightened, twisting around to watch as he chased after his sort of girlfriend. Holding her head high, she pretended as if it didn't hurt, to see him go after Brittany. But it was just a pretend and tears stung her eyes, threatening to fall and ruin her make up. Shaking her head, she discreetly dabbed at her eyes with her fingers, then floated to the main hall where the dance was taking place.

Hurrying, Artie scooted his chair toward the best friends, calling out, "Brittany!"

The tall, bubbly blonde spun on a heel, grin breaking out on her face once their eyes met. "Artie!" Releasing Santana's hand, which hurt the other, though her face was a well guarded mask, Brittany ran to him and embraced him, burying her face in his shoulder. "You're here!"

"Uh, yeah." Breaking her hold on him, Artie took her hands. "Brittany, I need to talk to you." Seating herself in his lap, she waited for him to say what he needed to, her eyes bright. A part of him wanted to just roll away and not say what he knew he should, saving the difficult speech for another day. But then he thought of Quinn and he knew he couldn't wait. "Look, I've really liked you. Maybe even more than liked you, Britt. But I…something's happened and I can't deny it. If I didn't…feel this way, maybe, but I do and so we must…break up."

The way Brittany scrunched up her face for most of his incoherent babbling of a speech alerted him to the fact that she had no idea what he meant, until he uttered, "break up." Bottom lip trembling, she held her position for several seconds. "You…want to…break up?"

Feeling worse by the second, Artie let his head hang. "I'm really sorry, Britt."

"I think you've said enough," snapped Santana, clutching Brittany to her side. "Have fun with Ms. Princess. I'm sure you two deserve each other or something." Sneering, Santana guided Brittany away from her now ex-boyfriend.

Not sure what to do next, since it was his first time officially breaking up with someone, Artie continued to remain immobile for quite some time. A few dances must have passed by because suddenly he over heard the DJ announcing that it was time to declare that year's prom King and Queen. Quickly, he spun around, one word escaping. "Quinn."

On the fringes of the crowd, Quinn stood near Tina and Mike, who were currently in the middle of a heated discussion, which Quinn was certainly not eavesdropping in on.

"You obviously like her," Tina hissed, eyes narrowed into the tiniest of slits.

"No," Mike insisted, hand approaching her waist. Upon seeing this, she slapped it, the sound of the impact causing even Quinn to wince. "Tina, babe, I'm with you. I like you. Yeah, I think she's attractive…but she's not you."

Even though Quinn didn't care about Tina and Mike's relationship, she couldn't help but smile at the exchange. Subtly glancing over her shoulder, she saw the couple in the middle of ending their feud with a kiss. Disrupting the sweet moment, Kurt rushed over, gossip falling from his lips before even a greeting.

"Oh my God, guys, Artie dumped Brittany! Word on the dance floor is it has to do with another certain blonde."

When his eyes transferred from theirs to hers, she swiveled her neck too fast, causing a crick to form. Eyes wide, she contemplated Kurt's words, curious as to whether it was more than just a rumor and, if not, could she be "another certain blonde"? Her thoughts began to spiral, her heart racing. Wiping now sweaty palms on the skirt of her dress, she lifted her eyes, scanning the crowd. Artie was nowhere to be seen.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Quinn thought that maybe she should go find him. But he might want to be alone, post break up. Or…perhaps there was no truth in what she had just listened to. Option number two made her heart sink.

When a hand nudged her shoulder, she was brought crashing back to reality. "Quinn," she heard Tina saying. "They're about to pick King and Queen. You need to be on stage."

Blindly, she stalked through the crowd, slowly climbing the steps to the small stage where the other nominees stood. The bright lights restricted her vision so that when her eyes flitted from face to face of those watching, she saw only grey blobs.

"Your nominees for Prom King are," Mr. Schuester bellowed into the microphone, excitement in his tone. "Finn Hudson, Noah Puckerman, Mike Chang, Sam Evans and Dave Karofsky!" After a brief period of cheering, the DJ hushed the crowd. "And McKinley High's 2011 prom King is…Sam Evans!"

Bashfully, Sam stepped forward, hunching over so that Principal Figgins could put the plastic crown on his blonde locks.

"And your nominees for most vapid, I mean prom Queen, all of whom have less hair product in their updos than my curly-haired date," Coach Sylvester was cackling, earning a glare from Mr. Schuester. "are Brittany Pierce, Santana Lopez, Annie Perry, Kaylee Reynolds and Quinn Fabray." Clicking her tongue against the top of the mouth, Coach Sylvester went on, "And the winner is Quinn. Congratulations, poster child for teen pregnancy and captain of the Cheerios."

Forcing herself to smile, especially in light of the cheerleading coach's barbed comment, Quinn accepted the crown graciously from Principal Figgins, almost choking on a laugh when she remembered how not many months beforehand, her one wish was that she and Sam would be crowned King and Queen. Her wish had changed drastically since then, had scattered into many wishes, most of which had to do with Artie and none of which she fully understood. In that moment, what she wanted more than anything was simply to dance with him. However, it was tradition that King and Queen dance together so Quinn steeled herself for the most awkward dance ever. But McKinley was always bucking tradition, it seemed.

"King and Queen," Principal Figgins called out. "Select your partners for the King and Queen dance."

Surprised, Quinn let out a little squeal, which Sam heard and flinched, then stumbled down the stairs, legs ramming into something hard at the bottom. Letting out a oof, she collapsed against…a top hat.

"Woman, you almost crushed my hat!"

Upon hearing the voice that had become so familiar over a short period of time, Quinn grinned. "Well, it was in my way. It should have watched where it was going."

Righting his hat, Artie arched an eyebrow. "Always blaming the hat!" Quirking her mouth, Quinn was prepared to retort about how she would never blame the hat but, rather, him, when he brushed his fingers against the bottom of her dress. "Looking for a dance partner?"

"Might be," she hummed. "You know of any?"

"There's this one I might know…who's available to dance and…just available."

Hearing the tone in his voice and seeing the frankness in his eyes, Quinn knew that Brittany and Artie really were no more. "That's good," she purred, dropping into his lap.

Adoring eyes on her, Artie slid his arms around her waist, drawing her closer to him. Their foreheads touched, their bodies barely swaying in time to the music.

Nearby, Finn opened his arms to Sam, clearly believing that Sam would choose him to be his partner for the dance. "Uh, hey…yeah." Jerking his head in Brittany's direction, Sam told Finn, "Brittany's pretty sad, dude, so I'm going to dance with her."

Noticing the way Brittany's mouth was dropping, Finn nodded. "Oh, yeah." After Sam had asked Brittany, Finn declared, to all around him, "My best friend, Sam, he's such an awesome dude." This no one could argue with.

Once the song ended, Quinn stayed put, having zero desire to separate from him. "Artie…"

"Quinn…" Skimming his fingers up her back, he rested his temple against hers. "I'd like to hang out with you. A lot. As often as possible. Play Hungry, Hungry Hippos -"

Not on purpose, she ended his rambling by running a finger along his bottom lip. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes," she repeated, half lidded eyes on his. "I agree."

Boldness swept over him and, without wavering, he kissed the center of her palm, beaming when she shivered. "So you busy tomorrow for lunch?"

"I'll have to check my day planner…" At her comment, his fingers launched themselves in a tickling attack until finally, gasping for breath, she relented. "No, no, I'm not busy!"

"That's what I thought." Rubbing his nose against hers, he smiled. "Can't stop smiling around you."

"Funny," she murmured, tucking her hands under the lapels of his jacket. "I can't stop smiling around you either."

And as another song began, they both smiled, enveloped in each other's arms under a long banner on which read, "Progress: Technology is Our Future."