JackilisFaMo, I hope that this chapter goes some way to improve your week ;) I even managed to work some Faberry progress in as a result of your request. So thanks a lot for the idea :)
And thanks to everyone else for their input :)
On with the chapter...
The third day in the Big Brother house had begun well. Almost too well.
Like a postcard picture, the sun had risen overhead and glared down into the back garden, where Rachel, Quinn, and Tina sunbathed on their towels and speculated about what the show's viewers most likely thought of them.
Puck had finally gotten to see some hot chicks strut around and sunbathe in bikinis, and Sam had swiftly agreed to be a part of Jacob's proposed all male alliance - even coming up with the name, 'The Gruesome Foursome,' before sealing the deal with a cheesy fist bump.
Given the fact that the nominations ceremony would be taking place the very next day, things in the Big Brother house had indeed been rather relaxed.
For a while...
Until Puck decided to sneak up on Quinn, scoop her up from her towel, and bomb-dive into the pool, that is.
It wasn't that the twenty-eight-year-old blonde had cursed him out for taking her by surprise, and getting her wet. No. The problem, at least for Rachel, was that Quinn had laughed her vocal chords hoarse when the wild child-like man had hiked her up over his shoulder and splayed his large tan hands all over her butt, abs, and lower back, as he'd repeatedly dunked her underwater.
And now Quinn was quite happily chasing him around the pool, seeking retribution for the sneak attack.
"I'm going to get you eventually, Puck. So you might as well just come here and take your punishment like a man," she advised him, stalking him down in all of her dripping wet glory, like a Goddess.
"Never!" Puck hollered around a diabolical laugh.
Having seen enough, Rachel lay her head back flat to the ground, and tilted her dark shades back down over her eyes.
"Do you wanna...go inside a-and do the yoga l-lesson?" Tina knowingly asked over the not too far off commotion.
Rachel sighed. But shook her head. "Maybe later."
Tina nodded, and tried not to let the tension seep too deep into her psyche. After all, she had no bills to pay, the sun was kissing her skin with its warm glow, and she was in the Big Brother house...
A small slip from Puck, soon after, had meant that Quinn had caught him.
She shoved the squealing man into the pool, and dived in straight after him, only to re-emerge from the water, moments later, with his soaking wet swimming trunks in hand - waving them around like a victory flag. "That'll teach you to fuck with me," she chuckled, husky and deep.
Puck bobbed up and down in the body of clear blue water, his hands firmly cupped around his... man junk. "Sam!" he called, needing back up at this point.
Not that the surfer, who'd gone upstairs with Jacob to play chess on the landing, answered.
Rachel sighed, much lengthier this time. She tried to tell herself that she was annoyed because Quinn and Puck were keeping so much noise. But she knew herself well enough to know that that was utter bullshit.
"Gimme my trunks!" Puck squealed, rather comedically. "Or I'll get outta this pool and hug you. And by hug you, I mean that my dick will brush up against your thigh, and you'll like it." Following the threat was the man's wolf-like grin, which caused Quinn to laugh as she paraded around the garden with his trunks.
"Quinn, just give them back to him!" Rachel suddenly snapped, sitting up.
"Nope. He's gonna take his punishment like a man. That's if he even is a man. Guess we're all about to find out," Quinn chortled, oblivious to the brunette's sharp tone. She tossed the trunks to the grass, and stood over them with her hands poised on her spectacularly appealing hips. "Come and get them, Puck. America wants to see what you're working with."
"Never!" Puck hollered, now swimming back and forth rebelliously.
Tina couldn't help her snigger. If she sat up on her elbows just right, she could see Puck's bare ass beneath the water's surface.
That was the point at which Rachel gathered her things, stood, and headed inside of the house.
She found herself at the diary room door, repeatedly bashing the button that was built into the wall beside it.
The patio door suddenly slid open, and footsteps soon pattered in behind her.
"Rachel?"
"Hmm?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Quinn. I'm fine," Rachel replied, tapping the button a few more times. Urgent.
The blonde had now caught up. She was stood in her wet lilac bikini, toweling off her dripping neck as she eyed the shorter woman, like she was a puzzle that she couldn't figure out.
"Really, Quinn; everything's fine. Promise." Rachel even managed to conjure up a convincing smile.
When the button finally lit up with a green glow, she pushed open the door, ushered into the box-like room, and slung herself down into the only piece of furniture that occupied the tiny space. The luxurious diary room chair.
There she sat, gathering her bearings.
"Why have you come to the diary room, Rachel?" Big Brother asked, marking the silence.
The brunette blew a gust of breath up at her hair and curled her feet underneath her body. "I'm just finding things a little challenging," she said, bobbing her head towards the door that led back into the house, "out there. I thought that it would be wise to come here and just... take five."
"Why do you feel the need to take five?"
"You ask too many questions, Big Brother," she told the almost robotic American voice.
"Big Brother has noticed that you have become friends with Quinn. Are you happy with the direction that your friendship has taken thus far?"
Rachel, in spite of herself, chuckled. "You guys think you're so slick, don't you? Funny how whenever I refuse to answer your coy little questions, you just get straight to the point."
Silence followed, and to the point that the brunette felt her resolve to keep quiet crumbling...
Once it became clear that Big Brother wasn't going to respond, she rolled her eyes. "I told Quinn that my attraction towards her wasn't going to be a problem for her. I really don't want it to be. She owes me nothing."
"What makes you say that?" Big Brother immediately responded.
Though Rachel was aware of the millions that would watch this diary room clip, she felt safe to be vulnerable in the small space, where only she and Big Brother seemed to exist. "I'm fully cognizant of the fact that it has only been three days. But... I really really enjoy Quinn's company," she murmured, peering down at the chair's uninteresting leather armrest. "At this point, I guess there's sort of no denying that I would like to perhaps pursue a little more than friendship with her. But I don't know if she's into women - and what's to say that she'd go for me, even if she were?"
"What brought you out of your denial?" Big Brother asked, and Rachel could've sworn that she'd heard a few muffled giggles from behind the scenes.
"I hope you guys aren't poking fun at my predicament."
"Big Brother takes all matters very seriously."
"Sure you do," Rachel quipped sarcastically.
"Big Brother takes all matters very seriously."
"I just... I wasn't particularly fond of the way that Puck grabbed her out in the garden just now," Rachel admitted, seemingly to her lap. "He had his hands in some very questionable positions. Not that Quinn seemed to have a problem with it. In fact, she rather seemed to enjoy it, and I-I know that I shouldn't be jealous - that I have no grounds to be. I know that! But I... can't really help it, which makes me feel incredibly frustrated with myself."
...
"Big Brother suggests that you talk to Quinn, and discuss how you're feeling."
Rachel scoffed at the offered solution, and shook her head resolutely. "I'm not going to discuss how I'm feeling with her. Surely the disclosure of such information will just make her feel awkward. She should be free to do as she wishes, without the need to tiptoe around my feelings." The brunette sighed, clicking her tongue. "I wasn't supposed to feel anything for anybody in here. It all feels a tidbit masochistic - being in this house with her twenty-four-hours a day. Aligning myself with her. Sharing a bedroom with her. It seems that there's no escape. Perhaps a little space would serve us both..."
"You can always ask one of your fellow houseguests from the other bedroom to swap with you," Big Brother suggested.
"Hmm," Rachel hummed, tapping her chin absently. "Maybe I will..."
Quinn was still perplexed.
She'd returned to the garden to get Tina's perspective on Rachel's abrupt need to flee.
"Hey Tina?" she began, scooting down next to the sunbathing woman. "What's up with Rachel?"
Puck, who'd long since slipped back into his swimming trunks, overheard the question. He actually couldn't believe how dense Quinn was.
"I think... Rachel really likes you," Tina cautiously answered.
Quinn frowned around a slow nod. "I like her... too. She's interesting."
"Dude, Rachel wants you!" Puck blurted, unable to keep it in. Bored of keeping it in. "That's why I dumped you in the pool - to make it seem like we were flirtin', so that she'd grow some balls and make some sort of move." He shrugged. "She's jealous."
Quinn's first inclination was to chuckle. Cynically. "She's not jealous. You and I were just goofing around."
Puck rolled his eyes. "Man, I'm done helpin' broads who don't wanna see the obvious."
Suddenly not so sure of herself, Quinn looked to Tina, who merely shrugged in refusal to say any more than she already had.
"I guess," Quinn drawled, "I'll be talking to her when she gets done in the diary room then."
"Just for my own curiosity; do you like pussy or dick?" Puck suddenly blurted, like he was asking the blonde which brand of soda she liked the most. He continued to leisurely front crawl around the pool as he waited for an answer.
"Why do I get the distinct feeling that my sexuality has been discussed in the house prior to this?" Quinn asked, arching an eyebrow.
"'Cause you're smokin' hot, and everybody in this place is diggin' you. Man, woman, and child." Puck winked her way. "Now we all just need to know who you're diggin'."
Quinn frowned, blinking. She'd never enjoyed being put on the spot.
"E-Even I'm digging you, a-and I'm straight," Tina chirped at her.
"This is a mad house," Quinn mused, mostly to herself.
In the laundry room, Santana was stuffing some clothes into the washing machine. Big Brother's washing machine was much more complicated than the one at home. She still hadn't quite figured out how to get the thing to do what she wanted it to.
"Hey," came a sudden voice from the doorway.
Santana glanced over her shoulder, her features immediately softening when she saw that the presence was her wife. "Britt, I'm sorry for being a jackass yesterday," she rushed out, like it had been sitting in her throat for much too long. "I was just missing you, and then we had that bullshit argument - which was my fault - and I couldn't even talk things through with you afterward."
Brittany stepped into the room and pulled the door in behind her. She dumped the clothes that she'd brought with her on top of the machine, and began to needlessly sort through them, just in case Emma was upstairs watching them. "What did you say to Quinn in the kitchen yesterday?" she asked.
Santana's shoulders slumped. She knew that tone. Knew that it meant that she was still in the dog house. "I told her that I was gonna kick her ass out of the house, 'cause she was pissing me off."
Brittany sighed. Long and heavy.
"What?"
"I wanna work with her and Rachel!" Brittany sort of whined, sighing again. "I overheard Sam and them whispering about an all boy allegiance earlier."
"An all boy alliance?" Santana half asked, half corrected.
"Yeah. They call themselves The Gruesome Foursome, or something, and they're gonna pick off a girl each week."
"Fuck," Santana quietly gasped, raking her fingers back through her hair. "I don't even know why I'm shocked. The boys do this shit every season, whilst the women tear into each other."
"That's why we need to round the girls up. Quinn too! So you need to say sorry to her."
"... Alright," Santana reluctantly agreed. "You know, this would be a good reason for us to put Sam up. We'll tell the rest of the house that he's in The Gruesome Foursome," she mocked, "and he'll go the fuck home, where he belongs."
"We could..."
"But?"
"If Emma goes home, we'll be a girl down."
"She won't go home!" Santana quietly stressed.
"We don't know how Big Bro's gonna ask the two of us to vote. They might ask us to vote together as one vote," Brittany pointed out. "Not separately. If they do, Sam might not get enough votes to go home. We might not even be allowed to vote at all."
Santana nodded, loving the fact that she was married to a genius, even if she was currently in the dog house. "You thought of everything," she said, smiling at the beautiful blue-eyed blonde with uncensored love and adoration.
"I always tell you I'm the smart one," Brittany quipped, smiling a genuine smile for the first time in how long.
Once becoming aware of her own telling gaze, Santana cleared her throat, and pretended to inspect the washing machine's buttons. "Is Goliath in their alliance?"
"I don't know. I didn't hear everything."
"If we choose Finnept, he'll definitely go. That's one asshole down, at least."
Brittany shrugged a shoulder and smiled. "I'm down for that."
"We're good to go then."
Rachel walked out of the diary room feeling somewhat alleviated. She'd always been someone who'd benefited from talking about her feelings.
"Hey, can we talk?" Quinn asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
The blonde had since dried off and shed her bikini, in favor of some blue skinny jeans and a baggy viridian off-the-shoulder top.
She looked, quite simply put, unforgivingly scrumptious. At least she did in Rachel's estimation anyway.
"Sure," the brunette conceded, heading over to the sofa area, where she sat and removed her shades. She hung them in her bikini top, and watched as Quinn claimed a seat on the kitchen stool that had somehow found its way into the living area. "What do you wish to talk about, Quinn?"
"Us."
Rachel took a deep breath. She'd never been so intimidated by a one syllable word in her life. "What about... us?"
"Why'd you walk off earlier?"
"I wanted to talk to Big Brother."
Quinn's eyes narrowed. "About?"
"What Big Brother and I discuss is nobody's business but mine and Big Brother's, and quite frankly, I'm not sure that I appreciate the intensity with which you're interrogating me."
Quinn sighed, consciously toning her intensity down. This wasn't the first time that she'd been called intense. She often tended to get this way when she had a set goal in mind. "Rachel, if you don't talk to me, I don't know where I stand. All I know, so far, is that you think I'm pretty."
"You're being really cryptic," Rachel replied, sort of bewildered at this point.
"Were you jealous, earlier, when Puck and I were goofing around in the pool?" the blonde decided to just ask.
Rachel's cheeks purpled almost instantly...
"I guess I'll take that as a yes."
"Quinn, I don't want you to feel awkward with our... situation. You should be able to do as you please. So I simply removed myself from the situation, earlier, so that you could do just that."
Quinn nodded to herself. But didn't say a thing.
Rachel literally wanted the sofa to multiply and gobble her all up, expelling a guttural burp afterwards. But she knew that that wasn't going to happen, so she held her chin high and resolved to face the situation, like her fathers had always taught her to. "Big Brother suggested that I swap beds with someone in the other bedroom. We could do with some space -"
When the blonde shook her head, no, Rachel didn't quite know what to do with herself.
"No, you're not going anywhere. I like having you around," Quinn stated, adamant yet sporting an amused twinkle in her eye. "I'm straight," she then revealed. "I've only ever dated men. I've only ever fallen for men. I've never done anything with a woman, nor have I ever been presented with the opportunity to. The shirt that I wore for the HOH competition was a gift from a friend back in Ohio. We went to Gay Pride in Miami, and he bought it for me."
Rachel nodded and took another deep breath. She felt like she'd just been winded. Like she'd just been rejected at an audition.
"But!" Quinn emphasized, sending a flirtatious smirk and wink the brunette's way, "love's hard to find in this world. I'll never say no to it, regardless of where it comes from."
Well that was it - Rachel was certain that she was having some sort of heart attack...
Having a ball with this. Next up will be the nominations ceremony ;)