She could hear tiny feet hitting the pavement behind her, someone small struggling to match her long strides. She smirked and stopped, she knew it was Rachel Berry. She'd memorised the sound of those footsteps a long time ago.
"Quinn, wait!" Rachel finally caught up to her.
"Rachel." Quinn turned to face the out of breath brunette.
"You've been avoiding me all week, I've been trying to talk to you."
"Why do you want to talk to me? To tell me how messed up I am now?"
"Wait, have people been telling you those things? Who said those things? They're wrong, Quinn, you're not messed up. I know you're under a lot of pressure from your family and things and no one's really supported you through everything you've gone through lately." Rachel had expected Quinn to interrupt by now but she stood there staring at Rachel so she took the opportunity to continue, "You've hurt me in the past and I understand why you did and said those things, and Quinn, you're still the prettiest girl I've ever met, and you're so much more than that. It's a shame that no one sees it."
Oh, god. Quinn vividly recalled that day she had slapped Rachel in a bathroom at prom and instead of crying or running away, Rachel had stayed and cared for her. 'I'm so sorry.'
She'd forgotten how to think.
"Are you still scared?" Rachel stepped closer to Quinn.
"Of what?"
"You told me once you were scared of the future. When all this is gone. You don't need to be."
"It's not really that easy. I can't just stop being scared." She closed the distance between her and Rachel.
"I really care about you, Quinn, and I'm sorry that you're so sad and I-" Rachel locked her eyes onto Quinn's. Quinn could feel the heat radiating from Rachel's body. Or was it her own body? Or both. She wasn't sure if either one of them had moved since Rachel stopped talking but the distance between them was closing faster and faster. Quinn could feel her heart racing in her chest, like it was going to crash through the bones and muscles at any moment. Rachel's dark eyes searched her hungrily, and Quinn felt like her heart was pounding and immobilised at the same time. Whether it was from nervousness or fear or excitement, she couldn't quite tell. Rachel was close enough to kiss her. If she only leaned a little closer…
"You know, Berry, you're gonna pull a muscle if you keep straining your neck like that."
There. Whatever ridiculous spell Rachel had cast over her was gone. Just what the hell were those feelings? That heat and chemistry. She stepped back, she needed that space between her and Rachel. Before she did something stupid like kiss her.
"I need to go."
Quinn turned and walked away, she didn't even need to look back at Rachel's crushed face, she could already see it in her head.
Fuck. Ugh, okay, don't trip over that curb. Yeah, just lift one foot, then the other. Yep, you got it, Fabray. She staggered to the door and tried to insert her key into the lock only to find that it would not turn. She tried again. And again. Fuck, now my key isn't working. Did they seriously change the locks while I was out? God damn it. Quinn pounded on the door. No one answered. She knocked again and rested her head against the door.
"Come on, just let me in," she slurred. The door creaked in its frame, and she managed to stand back before she fall on her face. Which was a miracle in itself, considering how much she'd drunk tonight. Only it wasn't one of her parents staring disapprovingly at her, but Rachel Berry's face.
"Quinn? What are you doing, it's three in the morning." Rachel rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up and process the fact that a certain pink-haired girl was reeling on her doorstep.
"Rachel, what are you doing here? It's my house. And my key isn't working." Quinn placed a hand against the doorframe to keep from falling.
"No, Quinn, this is my house. How do you even know where I live? Never mind, you'd better come in before my fathers wake up." Rachel put an arm around the inebriated girl and led her inside, closing the door behind them.
"I don't know how you managed to get here in your current state, but it's not safe for you to get back to your house right now, so you can stay here until you've recovered." She helped Quinn up the stairs, hoping the girl wouldn't topple over and trap them both on the stairs. She could only imagine the looks on her fathers' faces if they walked out in the middle of the night to find the former cheerleader who had tortured their daughter lying on top of her halfway up the stairs.
"My parents won't care anyway." Despite the slurred speech, Rachel could comprehend Quinn's words.
"I care, Quinn, even if they don't." Rachel helped her up the last step and turned her in the direction of her bedroom.
"Thanks, Rachel." She let herself be led to the bed and settled under the sheets. "Mmm, your bed is so soft."
"Here, you should have some water." She held the glass to Quinn's lips, tipping it slightly as to not spill it. Rachel set the glass down on her bedside table and slipped in beside Quinn.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
"I'm making sure that you don't choke on your own vomit in the night and die. Besides, this is my bed. Now just try and rest and I'll take you home in the morning." She watched Quinn close her eyes and murmur something in her ear. Something that sounded an awful lot like "thank you" and "you're so beautiful". Quinn put her arms around Rachel, and curled into the girl's side.
"Quinn, you, um, you don't need to-" Rachel tried to shift but Quinn held her in some octopus-like death grip. Though she wasn't really complaining, since it was nice to have Quinn Fabray so close and actually touching her without panicking and running away. She really was the most beautiful girl Rachel had ever met, though she wasn't exactly sure why Quinn had stumbled to her house in the middle of the night drunk, but she was glad that Quinn had not been injured in her journey. Rachel leant her head against Quinn's and fell asleep.
Rachel stirred, the early morning light filling the room and stretched her arms. Well, she tried to, only there was some pressure on one side of her body. Feeling flustered and constricted, she glanced at what was causing the pressure. Oh, god, it's Quinn.
"Oh, fuck, my head." Quinn put a hand to it, as if that would stop the pounding inside her head.
"Wait, where the hell am I? Berry, what the fuck?" Quinn moved, pulling her arms away from Rachel's body, then collapsed again. "What the fuck happened? Did you do something to me? If you have, Berry, I swear I will-"
"Quinn, just calm down, I haven't done anything to you except get you off the streets and into a bed for a night. Do you even remember hammering on my door at three in the morning?"
A look of confusion appeared on Quinn's face followed by a sharp "what?".
"You were somewhat intoxicated last night and for whatever reason you staggered to my house in the middle of the night and started pounding on the door. Fortunately, I got to it before my fathers woke. I can't imagine they would feel thrilled to see someone who used to torment their daughter trying to break down their door at 3am drunk."
Quinn placed both hands over her eyes and groaned.
"Are-are you okay? Do you need more water?"
"No. I mean, no, I'm fine. Just- fuck, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you, that wasn't fair."
"It's okay, Quinn. I'm just glad you weren't injured at all. Is everything okay at home? You said your parents don't care where you are anyway. You look so sad, Quinn. You shouldn't be, you deserve all the happiness in the world." she grabbed one of Quinn's hands and held it in her own. Quinn squeezed the hand and sighed.
"I'll get dressed and take you home." Rachel stepped out of bed, grabbed a dress from her wardrobe and headed for the bathroom.
Quinn rubbed her eye, removed her other hand from her face and opened her eyes at last. She'd never seen Rachel's room, well at least not sober, but she hadn't realised how… yellow it was. Musical posters and framed playbills adorned the bright yellow walls. That didn't surprise Quinn. She got so caught up in admiring the girl's room and how well it suited her that she hadn't noticed Rachel enter the room again.
"Are you okay to go? You're not feeling sick or anything?"
Quinn jumped a little. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine."
She shifted out of the bed, followed Rachel out of the room and promptly crashed into her back. Rachel's fathers stood next to them in the hallway.
"Rachel, would you care to elaborate on why Quinn Fabray is leaving your bedroom?" Hiram asked.
"Uh, well, you see-"
"Sorry, isn't this the same Quinn Fabray who used to torture you? Do you need to tell us something, Rachel?"
"What? No! She just- um, she needed to get out of her home for a night, that's all, and she's not like that anymore! I said she could stay the night if she needed somewhere to just crash. She's a good person, daddy. I was just about to take her home-" Rachel flailed and tried to explain.
"Nothing happened, sirs. I had a fight with my parents and needed to get out and blow off steam so I talked to Rachel and she invited me in to stay the night so I wasn't out on the streets." Quinn stepped in, if only to save Rachel from digging herself further into a hole. Politeness seemed the best path to take to keep Rachel out of trouble, and talking to her. Though Quinn was enjoying the fact that Rachel's face was three shades of red after her fathers had insinuated there was something more to their relationship.
"Well, okay then, if you say so. We're glad you're not hurt, Quinn."
"Thank you."
They slip past the two men and headed back towards Quinn's house. The moment their feet hit the pavement outside Rachel's house, they dissolve into laughing fits.
"Have a lot of girls stay over, Rachel? Or do they just assume anyone that sleeps in your room is, shall we say, not getting any sleep?"
"Quinn!" Rachel blushed and jokingly pushed her.
"That was incredibly awkward, though."
"Yes." Rachel paused, she never wanted to say something and upset Quinn and make her run and panic and not talk to her. "You keep avoiding questions about your parents and your home life. It's not okay there, is it?"
The laughter and joking faded now.
"No, Rachel, it's not." Quinn shoved her hands in her pockets, kept her eyes on the ground and not on Rachel. Rachel kept her eyes on Quinn.
"If you ever want to talk, Quinn, I'm here for you."
"Thanks, Rachel."
"We could spend more time together if you want. I do enjoy your company." Rachel brushed a strand of hair out of her face only for it to fly right back.
"Yeah, that'd be nice, I'd like that." Quinn smiled right back at her