She was exhausted. Beyond exhausted. Worst of all? She reeked. Quinn was thrilled that she was once again a part of the Cheerios. Order had been restored. The thing she wasn't so thrilled about? No contest, it would have to be…
Pop Practices.
They were like pop quizzes only with cheer routines instead of fill-in-the-blanks. Ms. Sylvester had all of the Cheerios excused from their final periods and demanded that they learn a new routine before the last bell rang (or before the last bell had the audacity to send a wave of high pitched screeching vibrations directly to her ear without permission, as she put it. She had the squeaky red head for that).
Quinn sat on the bench in the locker room as she rotated her neck in a stretch. Exhausted was beginning to sound like an understatement. When the bell rang, her eyes widened in a gasp.
"Artie!" With being burned out, Quinn had almost forgotten about her wheel-bound partner and their study…date? Study thing. Yeah, that sounded a little better. She looked down at herself, inspecting the damage the impromptu practice caused and wrinkled her nose at her own stench. Deflating into herself, she sighed. "Crap."
In a sudden burst of energy (she had no idea where it spawned from), the head cheerleader tore out of the locker room and searched the student flooded halls of McKinley High for one sweater vest wearing boy. She released a depth breath as she spotted him heading for his locker.
"Artie! Hey, I need to talk to you." Breathing heavily, she stood with her shoulders square and her hands on her hips.
He sent one look in her direction before turning back and focusing on placing his books in his locker. "You found another partner."
His tone confused her. It wasn't quite solemn or disappointed. It sounded more as though he had expected her to bail on him. "What? No I…"
"I understand you would want a partner that is more…of your level." He cut her off and began wheeling himself away as Quinn hurriedly tried to keep pace with him. "I'm sure I can find someone else." He paused in mid wheel-push and glanced upwards in thought. "Hmm, the girl that collects hair is…"
"God, could you try to stop talking for like a second and hold on." Completely frustrated, Quinn planted herself in front of his wheelchair and folded her arms across her chest. "I was going to ask if it was alright if I went home first. Ms. Sylvester sprang a surprise practice session during last period and I would really love a shower and some fresh clothes right about now."
"You do sort of sm…"
"I would think long and hard before you consider finishing that sentence." She held a hand up as her shiver inducing voice sent chills down Artie's back. He would have been a little more frightened if she didn't have that playful smirk of hers covering her features. Her words may have said one thing, but the hidden humor glistening behind her eyes said something entirely different.
"You're right." He shrugged, holding a perfectly straight face. "And now that I think about it…I wasn't going to say anything."
"That's what I thought." She released a breathy sigh. "So, in a hour?"
He smiled lopsidedly. "I'll be waiting."
Sitting in the garage, Artie began organizing all of the supplies he and his dad had picked up on the way home from school. There were various paints, tiny landscape figures (the kind used for train sets…not that he would know anything about that or would have any pieces already purchased and stored somewhere in a closet where all of his other embarrassing childhood hobbies remained buried), glue, wood for the base, print outs detailing the entire oil-spill fiasco, and everything else needed to make a really slammin' diorama. 'Slammin' may have been over shooting it, but Artie was determined to make it as slammin' as possible.
When the house entrance to the garage opened, the hinges squeaking in effort, Artie swallowed hard and wheeled himself over. He wasn't too ecstatic that someone was coming over; even more so that that someone was Quinn Fabray. His home was his own personal sanctuary and he preferred it that way.
His mouth hung open at the first sight of her. She wore a yellow baby doll dress, a modest white cardigan covering her shoulders, and her golden locks were held back, out of her face, by a simple yellow head band. Artie had seen Quinn dressed like this before (it was kind of her staple), but this was different. This was outside of school…and inside his house.
Quinn was beautiful.
Enough said.
"Hi Quinn." He waved sheepishly, blush filling his every pore, as he tried to be anything, but awkward. Normal was the goal here. Nice, normal, not at all awkward Artie. "I have everything set up in here." He nodded with his head towards the supplies.
"Um…where is here, exactly?" Quinn's eyes wouldn't stop moving as her sight couldn't decide on any one part of the room to land on. The Abrams' garage certainly didn't look like her own. There were rugs strewn about the floor and a couch set up facing a 32" wide screen television. There was a controller charging stand sitting on top of a mini fridge and there were speakers set up in each corner of the room. There was even a PC gaming area off on the side. In the middle, where Artie had everything ready, was a work table that looked as though it could double as a poker table. She had to admit, as juvenile as it seemed, it was kind of cool.
"Oh, well…" He beamed with pride. "This is the Abrams' family man cave!" His eyes lit up in excitement. "My dad and I put it together after my mom complained that we were making too much noise during one of our epic marathon X-box sessions." When she responded with only silence and a raised brow, Artie immediately regretted letting her come over. "S-sorry you have to be in here. Mom was worried about the mess."
Quinn let loose a laugh-like exhale as her jaw dropped in awe. "Actually, I think this is pretty amazing. You always see these kind of things on tv, but never in real life." She simpered as he awkwardly adjusted his glasses. "Don't sweat it Artie, I think it's neat."
"I guess we should get started." Grinning from ear to ear, Artie started showing Quinn what he had planned for their project.
Three hours and a twelve pack of cream soda later, Quinn and Artie had about half of a beach completed, a portion of the reef done, and something that kind of resembled a forest finished. Things were going smoother than either of them anticipated. Conversations were flowing freely and laughter made for a common occurrence. Quinn could barely believe that she was actually enjoying herself.
"The diorama is turning out well." Quinn commented as she continued painting the ocean scene. "I'm glad we're partners."
Artie frowned, his happy mask slipping for the briefest of moments. "Yeah, me too."
Furrowing her brows, Quinn repeated what she had just said over in her mind and searched for what she had said wrong. Obviously she had said something wrong, based on his expression at least. Finally, it dawned on her. Partners. She had decided as soon as the teacher had said 'Partner up!' that she would ask Artie to be hers, even if it meant turning down Sam. It was all a part of her plan to help the boy who she found herself relating to more than she had ever realized she would, but of course he probably would have preferred Tina walking up to him instead of her.
"You still love her, don't you?" Quinn placed down her paint brush and waited for Artie's response. She had already offered him her ears, now she was only waiting for him to use them.
"No, n-not at all." He didn't need to know who 'her' was to answer. "I'm strong now and I do not need a woman holding me back." Straightening his posture, he feigned confidence.
"Right…" She drew out the sound and stared at him knowingly. "And that is why you joined the football team, right? Because you don't need a woman?"
"I'll have you know that I actually like football." He adjusted his glasses, the tell-tale sign that he was nervous. "It's fun and I-I rather enjoy building up a sweat." He cleared his throat after that last pronouncement. It sounded a lot more innocent in his head than it did out of it.
"Okay…" She snickered at his uneasiness. "I for one think you are doing great. Not every team can say they have their very own battering ram."
An uncomfortable silence fell between them before Artie timidly stammered out "Wh-why are you being so nice to me?"
She opened her mouth, but no sounds came out.
"We didn't stumble into some sort of 90's teen movie where this is all a dare, did we?" He narrowed his eyes and pulled his brows together. He was convinced that there were some sort of ulterior motive behind the head cheerleader's kindness. "Did you make a bet with someone that you could turn me into prom king?"
Quinn stared up at the ceiling and took a deep calming breath. She should have expected suspicion, but naively she didn't. Bringing her eyes to meet his, she knew she had to say something. "I watch you sometimes."
Artie pointed at himself in shock. "Me? Are you sure?"
"Yes, you." Rolling her eyes, she chuckled. "I saw how you were feeling, how down you were and then you started whatever that was with Brits. I love Brittany, but she's in her own world far away from our own."
"Yeah, I kind of noticed." He folded his hand in his lap.
"When I saw you two the next day, it was easy to see what happened. Then I realized we had more in common than I thought we did and I sort of thought it would be nice if you had someone else to go through this with." She lowered her head in an attempt to ward off the blush that was threatening to fill her cheeks. "Besides, you helped me once."
"I did?" His voice cracked, turning ridiculously high.
"You think I didn't know that it was your idea to sing to Finn and me?" She tilted her head as he shrugged sheepishly. "It really helped, so…thank you."
"Um, a-are you sure you wouldn't prefer to be partnered with Sam? You two seemed to be hitting it off."
"Sam is cute, but he reminds me so much of Finn sometimes. Which is a good thing, but between the two of them?" She scoffed. "They don't shine very much brighter than a flickering candle." Together they fell into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
Artie wiped a stray laughter-caused tear out of the corner of his eye and ended with a drawn out sigh. "You helped me once too." He smiled as he recalled the warmth of Quinn's hand on his shoulder. 'Dream A Little Dream' had to have been the hardest performance for him to get through and her small gesture of comfort helped him to do it. "So…thank you."
They stared at each other for awhile, just smiling at one another until the pitter-pattering sounds of an excited brown haired-blue eyed five year old girl came barreling into the garage. "Artie! Artie! Artie! Guess what Mama said?" The little wavy haired girl scrambled up her brother's legs and plopped down in his lap. "Who's she?" The little girl glared at the blond stranger who sat across from her brother.
"Aims, manners." Artie pursed his lips and spoke firmly as he wrapped his arms around his baby sister.
Aimee pouted and scurried her way over to Quinn. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Quinn leaned forward, folding her arms across her legs, so she could be at eye level with the young girl. "I'm Quinn. I'm…a friend of your brothers." Artie's expression widened at Quinn's use of the word 'friend.' He certainly wasn't expecting that. He had always believed that acquaintances was the highest honor he would be granted when it came to one of the most popular girls in school.
Taking a lock of Quinn's hair between her fingers, Aimee smiled brightly. "You're pretty." Giggling, Aimee ran back to her brother's lap. "Isn't she pretty, Artie?"
"Okay, I think it's time you go away." Artie turned beet red as he tried desperately to shuffle his sister out of the garage.
"But, you didn't guess what Mama said yet!"
Sighing, Artie relented to his sister's whining, just as he always did. "What did she say?"
"She said we could order Chinese food for dinner! Quinn, do you like Chinese food?"
"I love it." Quinn responded with an enthusiastic smile.
"Will you stay for dinner?" Aimee hopped off of Artie's lap, clasped her hands together, and stared at Quinn with the biggest puppy dog eyes imaginable. In that moment, Quinn knew she would likely be killed by adorableness before she left the Abrams' home.
"I'm sure she wants to get home, Aims." Artie groaned, trying to give Quinn an easy escape. Surely, the last thing the head cheerleader of the Cheerio squad would want to do is have dinner with his geek family.
"Actually, I'd love to stay for dinner." Quinn winked at Artie while she playfully tapped Aimee on the nose.
"Good you can sit next to me." The little girl jumped in excitement before leaning in and whispering to her brother, "I like her."
"Yeah," he whispered back while holding Quinn's gaze. "I like her too." And he did, truthfully. Quinn was a lot different from the persona she paraded around with at school and with each passing minute, he found himself more and more glad that they were partners.
"I'm gonna go tell Mama!" With that, Aimee took her whirlwind excitement and ran back into the house.
Quinn watched as Aimee left, her eyes lingering on the door longer than she had intended for them to. Just a few months earlier she had given up her baby girl and she couldn't help, but wonder if Beth would grow up to be as energetic as Aimee was. If Beth would run around yelling 'Mama!' Sometimes...only sometimes...Quinn wished she had kept her baby.
"Do you ever think about her?" Artie witnessed the entire exchange of thoughts circling within Quinn's mind. He wasn't sure exactly what the thoughts were about, but he could assume.
Quinn, like Artie earlier, didn't need to know who 'her' was to answer. "Every day."
"You want to talk…"
"Not yet."
"Okay." Artie decided not to press any further and wheeled himself next to Quinn. "Aimee was right, you know."
Quinn chewed on her lower lip as she tried to ignore the thoughts screaming in her head. "About what?"
Artie placed his hand on hers in hopes it would give her the comfort she had given him. "You are pretty." He smiled, capturing her gaze with his own. "I just thought you would like to know."