A/N: It's been a little bit...life has just been crazy lately. I went back and forth on POV...and then I decided that Quinn wasn't done yet. I think that I made the right decision.

So Simple (Alicia Keys)

I have never been one to rely on other people for my opinions.

When I screw up, I have learned to just internalize those feelings but now that I am stuck in this situation with Santana...

And by situation, I mean me forgetting that she is my girlfriend and treating her like just a friend.

Like just another person that I could manipulate...

But things were different...she was different.

Things were just so easy in the beginning...just sex...just fun and then all the stuff in Lima and things changed.

And that's because I had let them.

My own insecurities had gotten in my way and now I needed to change that...

I wanted her.

That was the single truth that I was basing everything on from now on.

And when Quinn Fabray wants something...nothing can stop me.

I wish that I could say that Santana came back to the house that night and everything was normal again.

But that would be a lie.

She didn't come home that night or the night after or for a week after that.

I would text her and she wouldn't respond and when I called, I was immediately forwarded.

How was I supposed to fix things with her, if I couldn't talk to her?

And then the person that helped to get me in this mess...found me lingering outside my job with my third cigarette dangling between my lips.

"There you are!" He said, as if I hadn't been working the same shift, at the same job for months now.

The very same shift, might I add, that he had shown up to and helped me to sabotage my relationship.

But I didn't respond with any of that snarky bullshit...it reminded me too much of her.

"Hi, Noah." I said with my coldest voice without giving him more than a passing glance.

"Yo, you have got to talk to your girl. She is seriously cramping my style."

Suddenly his presence was necessary.

"I don't follow." I said as I blew out smoke rings just like San had taught me.

"She showed up a week ago...looking like shit and so I took her in...thought that she would be a good wing man but she is just a bitch instead."

"Yea?" I chuckled but he didn't seem too amused.

Puck went on complaining until my break was over and then I sent him on his way.

What had started out as a crappy day, had suddenly turned into something worth saving.

I clocked out early and then headed across the city.

This couldn't wait.

My hopes were high and I knew that if I didn't do this now, then my nerves would be shot.

On the way, I had stopped by a flower shop and convinced the florist that while it was unconventional to buy just one flower...I was willing to pay the price for a whole bouquet, if he would just let me buy one.

And so he rolled his eyes and brought me what I had asked for.

It was perfect.

When I got to Puck's apartment, I could hear the music blasting through the door.

Had it been hard rock, I would have just left because seeing Puck twice in one day was something of the past for me.

But it was Alicia Keys and apparently...Santana.

I closed my eyes and smiled to myself as I listened to the casual rasp in her voice...a rasp that made my skin tingle.

God, how I had missed that.

My hand was sweaty as I balled up my fist and knocked on the steel door.

The music was turned down and then I heard soft footsteps.

I couldn't help my smile as the door cracked open and a single brown eye looked at me.

"Are you lost?" She mumbled.

"No...can I...um...come in?" I said as I cleared my throat.

The door slammed and I took a step back...what now?

Just as I was turning away, the door slid open and I could feel her eyes burning into the back of my head.

And so I turned around.

You know that moment, when you expect one thing...well dread one thing and then suddenly everything gets even worse and the first feeling isn't so bad?

No?

Well that has been my life...like always.

But when I turned around and she was standing there in skin-tight jeans and a tank top with her wet hair dangling around her face, it took my breath away.

Suddenly, I wasn't dreading this...and all the words that I had been hoping to say floated away, replaced by new and better ones.

I held my hand out and waited for her to shake it.

And to my surprise she did.

She quirked her eyebrow up and was about to deliver some smartass comment but I smiled and spoke first.

"Hi, Santana. I'm not sure that you remember me, my name is Quinn Fabray. You and I went to high school together back in Ohio. I was the school's biggest bitch and you were this unattainable hot, smart girl that I didn't stand a chance of getting. I was a prude and manipulative and so were you...well the second part. It seemed like you were always taken and it seemed like I was always going through something. I have admired you from the moment that I met you and I knew that if I ever got a chance that I would cherish you with everything in me. I'm not sure where you are in your life right now but I knew that I couldn't go another day without asking out the girl of my dreams. I was wondering if you would do me the honor of going out on a date with me...tonight."

She stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and a small smirk on her face.

This was me asking to start over.

Asking to do this the right way.

She had been showing me the parts of her that she didn't show anyone and I had been treating her exactly the same.

But now...I didn't want to do things that way.

"Tonight?" She said, breaking my thoughts.

"Yes at six."

"Hmm...and is that for me?" She asked and then suddenly, I remembered the wilting flower in my other hand.

It looked pitiful but she seemed enamored with it as I held it out to her.

"Yes...I picked it out myself."

"I love tulips." She said as she brought it to her nose and inhaled.

I hadn't known that.

But luck was apparently on my side.

"So will you go out with me?" I asked again.

She smirked and just when I thought that she would answer with our usual response...she switched it up and showed me that she was willing to go along with this new change.

"Yes...I would be honored to go out with you Quinn. Pick me up at six?"

"I'll see you then."

As I was turning to leave...she said one last thing in a raspy voice that made my hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

"Nice ass, Fabray."

A/N: This chapter was definitely more playful...and in true me fashion...25 may not be the end...but it is coming...like by 30...we shall see. Love you guys!