Return to Sender, Damaged in Transit

...

For the most part, Quinn's still in a funk from the events of last week's prom but from the time she had woken up the day after and heard all of the 34 voice messages that Finn had left on her phone, she had decided to put it behind her. She more or less accepts his explanation that he was so confused on prom night that he had gotten into his car and left without thinking. But every now and again (especially when he takes a 'secret' glance at Rachel), just to spite Finn, she gets the urge to mention, cryptically, that it was the one and only Jesse St. James who had taken her home alone and in the middle of the night.

When she sees Jesse walk into their choir room during rehearsal, it's not entirely unexpected but she's not really sure how to react; she settles for looking indifferent. Apart from Rachel and maybe Sam, she's the only one who's not trying to bore holes into his face so indifference should suffice anyway. Quinn sure as hell isn't going to start clapping and smiling like an idiot.

For his part, Jesse is wholly focused on Rachel and though his eyes do flicker towards Quinn just once, he does it so quickly that she's not even sure if he actually looks. She is sure that Finn is getting angrier by the second and it's beyond depressing that all Rachel has to do is have a possible suitor to get him to react this way. Rachel's looking at Jesse with a large smile and wow, the girl really must be some kind of emotional masochist because no one else would be willing to even talk to a guy who legitimately made breakfast on her face. Or want to be friends with a girl who straight up slapped her.

She is brought out of her thoughts by Finn's declaring how amazingly wonderful his duets with Rachel's are.

"Yeah killed us. We lost," she muses out loud as she purposely looks into the distance. She doesn't know where that comes from, but it makes her feel a little better. He knows how Quinn feels about his duets and yet he still has the gall to brag about them in front of her – it's only fair that he gets humiliated as well. Besides it is true; the New Directions did lose but, more importantly, Finn's duets with Rachel have been the cause of many fights during Quinn's relationship with him. She can feel Finn giving her his kicked puppy face but when she looks back at Jesse, he gives her the smallest of nods and suddenly, she can't bring herself to care.

"You kind of sing and dance like a zombie that has to poop."

Quinn twists her hands and bites her tongue hard in order to stop herself from giving Jesse any signs that she agrees with him. Sort of. If she even so much as smirks, she knows Jesse'll pick up on it and further justify his views on her relationship. Everything from the way he's looking at Finn to his blunt honesty to the the polite yet scathing inflection in his voice really is just too good but she isn't going to give him the satisfaction of being right.

After all, it was around the time of the zombie mash up that she had decided she could have Finn again and since she's technically still with him, she doesn't think it'd be good girlfriend behaviour to burst out laughing.

Behind her, Puck and Kurt clearly don't share the same concerns.

Quinn stays after glee club that day, in order to practise for the solo she's going to sing for the auditions. She half-heartedly leafs through the several sheets of music, trying to decide what would require the least amount of practise because she's pretty sure Jesse is not going to be as objective as he claims. But getting a solo on a National stage would mean that just for a few minutes everyone's eyes would be on her and in New York that had to mean something.

"Quinn, hard at work I see."

This time she places the voice instantly and on cue, she spots him coming down the stairs. "Do you always have to sneak up on me?" she asks without even bothering to look at him. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were doing it on purpose." Out of the corner of her eye she can see that now he's standing right next to her.

"It does add a certain dramatic effect doesn't it? But I think you're just not very observant."

"What, are you here to scope out Rachel's competition?" she asks, turning to look up at him and raising an eyebrow.

"Hardly. Rachel is the best singer in the New Directions. But, I have to admit, I am sort of interested in hearing your voice," he explains before taking a seat next to her on the piano stool. She shifts uncomfortably at being so close to him – hasn't he heard of personal space? He leans over her shoulder in an effort to see her music, but she quickly pulls the sheets towards her chest and gives him a sly look. "Fine," he sighs exaggeratedly, "I suppose it'll give me something to look forward to amidst all the awful, predictable and awfully predictable song choices." His face sours even as he speaks of the other glee club members.

"Are you getting paid to be here?" she asks.

"No, I consider it a form of...community service."

She narrows her eyes at him but his face remains frustratingly relaxed and if anything, amused. "I'm pretty sure that apart from Rachel, you hate everybody here. I don't understand why you're putting yourself through this."

"It's not for you to understand," he says calmly, "you know if you count the fact that Sam is actually poor, then this really does count as community service. Hmm, I never thought of that before but I guess being able to add volunteerism to my list of accomplishments is a nice bonus."

He's exhausting to listen to and in order to drown him out, she begins to absent-mindedly play a melody on the piano using her right hand; it isn't long before he joins in, improvising a harmony. She resists the overwhelming urge to roll her eyes – who even does things like that? Instead she watches his fingers move over the keys gracefully; she's never been able to play like that, so freely, as though it's second nature. He seems to notice her staring because he's smirking again. "So...I see you're still with Hudson." His eyes are very much focused on the keys as he says this.

She abruptly stops playing and turns away. "If that's your attempt at being subtle –"

"Why?"

She lets out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Because I love him."

"Even though he doesn't really love you," he says with a disturbingly casual tone. Jesse takes over the melody as well, playing a little faster; she tries to study his face but he's giving nothing away and it's exasperating for her. She's not sure what he's trying to get at but she isn't having any of it.

"Save the judging for when I'm on stage," she snaps before standing up and walking away from him.

...

Author's Note: Quinn and Jesse are both so stubborn ;) Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to leave a review, I really appreciate every single one of them. As always, let me know what you think about this chapter and thanks for reading!