Chapter Five: Confessions and Revelations
Quinn looked up with a start as Santana's chemistry book hit the wall beside her head and landed in a crumpled mess on the floor. It was Sunday evening and there were only a few days of classes left before Thanksgiving, but it seemed neither girl's professors had gotten that memo and they were both inundated with homework. Being the conscientious student that she was, Quinn had wanted to start her assignments on Saturday, but Santana's methods of distraction had proven themselves to be very effective, and consequently the girls were still studying at nine p.m. on Sunday night. Quinn was sitting at her desk, engrossed in the text she was reading about Stanislavsky, whilst Santana had been moving restlessly from place to place - first the couch, then the chair by the window, then jumping up to get a glass of water from the kitchen, before ending up sitting Indian style on the bed.
"What was that for?" Quinn asked, frowning at Santana over the rims of her glasses as the brunette fell back against the pillows with a melodramatic sigh.
"Chemistry sucks," Santana muttered darkly, her voice muffled by the arm she'd flung across her face. Quinn didn't respond. She was used to Santana's histrionics about her school work by now, and she hadn't found encouragement, platitudes, or lectures to be effective counter arguments. It was usually best to let Santana complain for a bit, then she'd get it out of her system... for a while at least. Lately, these outbursts were happening more and more frequently, and Quinn was beginning to get a little concerned. "I mean, when am I ever going to need to know this stuff?" Santana grumbled, waving a dismissive arm in the direction of her ruined book. "When does knowing what ketones or polymers are ever come in useful? Who cares what the chemical formula for benzene is? And, what the hell is a covalent bond?"
Despite her resolve to stay out of it, Quinn couldn't stand to see Santana so stressed. She closed her laptop, set aside her book, and moved to sit on the bed beside her anguished fiancée.
"You've only got one more semester after this and then you'll be finished with all your basic requirements," she reminded Santana, stroking her arm soothingly. "It gets better, sweetie, I promise."
"That's easy for you to say," Santana huffed, unwilling to be placated.
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked, genuinely perplexed.
"Isn't it obvious?" Santana moved the hand that was covering her face and opened one eye to glare at her sulkily. "I'm not smart like you, Q," she admitted with a sigh. "It all comes so easily to you but none of this stuff makes any sense to me."
"Is that what you think?" Quinn asked in surprise. "San, I don't find it easy, it's a lot of work and sometimes it's really overwhelming, but it's a means to an end. And you are smart... I know you better than anyone, and I know you can do anything you put your mind to. You just have to want it badly enough."
"But you enjoy studying," Santana said flatly. "You love learning new things, you can't deny that. I really don't. I just want to be out in the real world, making a difference. I'm starting to think that college was a mistake."
Quinn was horrified by Santana's admission and she remained silent whilst she tried to process the revelation. Finally she sighed.
"San, I don't want you to be unhappy," she said finally. "Really, I don't. But you've come too far to just give up on your education now. I'll help you in any way I can - I'll study with you, quiz you, tutor you... whatever you need. I'll even dust off my Cheerios uniform and be your own personal cheerleader if you think it'll help." The last comment forced a tiny smile out of Santana and Quinn felt the knot of anxiety in her stomach loosen slightly. She leant over and kissed Santana softly on the lips. "Just please don't ever think that you're not smart, baby?" she whispered against Santana's mouth as the brunette's fingers threaded through her hair to hold her in place.
They kissed again, slowly and tenderly, taking it in turns to take charge, tongues dancing and retreating in each other's mouths. Santana's hands were waking up Quinn's body delightfully and as Santana slid her fingers under her shirt, sending delicious shivers coursing through her, she was beginning to reach the point of no return. Much as she wanted to spend the rest of the night lost in her beautiful fiancée, Quinn really did have to study. She pulled back reluctantly, causing Santana to whine and pout.
"I'll make you a deal, baby," Quinn said softly. "I'll spend an hour helping you with your chem homework, then you can go take a nice, long, hot bath..." as she spoke she walked her fingers over the exposed skin of Santana's abdomen, where her shirt didn't quite meet her shorts, "...whilst I finish up my assignment, and then I'll give you a lovely, relaxing massage to help get rid of some of your tension."
Santana chuckled. "I like everything after the first part," she said, rolling her eyes, "but I don't suppose I'm going to be able to talk you into skipping it, so okay, you've got a deal." Wearily, she dragged herself off the bed and crossed the room to retrieve the offending chemistry book.
Quinn busied herself scanning over Santana's assignment, trying to encourage her brain to remember long forgotten organic chemistry classes. She was so engrossed that she didn't feel the mattress dip as Santana returned. To get her attention, Santana plucked Quinn's glasses off her face playfully.
"Maybe these'll make me smarter," she teased, putting the frames on and pushing them up the bridge of her nose. She looked ridiculously sexy and Quinn briefly wondered if she could convince Santana to wear them for a little role play sometime. Forcing her desire to one side, and trying her best to look exasperated, Quinn retrieved her glasses and put them back on. Santana blinked several times as her vision readjusted. "Whoa, Q, those are strong," she said with a grin. "I had no idea your eyesight was so bad!"
Quinn snatched the book from Santana's hands and began to flip to the relevant section. "Not a good idea to insult the tutor, " she warned, frowning at Santana from beneath her eyelashes.
"Are you going to punish me?" Santana asked hopefully, and Quinn groaned audibly at the sudden rush of heat that flooded her body. It was going to be a long night.
She took a deep breath and forced her base desires to one side with considerable difficulty.
"Okay, let's start with polymers..."
Quinn proved to be quite an effective tutor over the next hour. Of course, she couldn't help but wonder if her teaching methods were responsible, or if it was simply down to the fact that Santana was more apt to pay attention to her rather than a crusty, old professor. Once Santana understood the concepts, she was able to complete her assignment without too much difficulty. Quinn offered her fiancée effusive praise, determined to disabuse her of the notion that she simply wasn't smart enough.
Finally, Santana scribbled down her answer to the last question, and slammed the book shut in relief. Under Quinn's orders, she headed off to take a bath while Quinn worked on her method acting paper. As frequently happened when she was enjoying her work, Quinn blocked out everything else. She didn't even hear the phone ringing until Santana bellowed at her from the bathroom.
Flinging herself across the couch, she managed to get to the handset just as the answering machine was kicking in. She hit the button to turn it off and brought the handset to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Quinnie, sweetheart, it's Mom," trilled her mother's voice through the earpiece. Quinn groaned inwardly and looked at the clock. It was almost ten thirty.
"I know it's you, Mom," she said drily. "I recognize your voice. It's after ten, kind of late to be calling. How are you? Is everything okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine darling," her mom said dismissively. "I'm just calling to check that you're still coming home to Lima for Thanksgiving."
Quinn fell back against the cushions and propped her feet up on the arm of the couch before responding.
"Of course we're still coming home," she said, trying not to sound exasperated. "We booked our flights already - I emailed you all the details last week."
"I know, but I just thought I'd check that you hadn't changed your minds." Her mother sounded contrite and Quinn felt a rush of guilt. Her mom really had been trying since Quinn had come out to her about her sexuality and her relationship with Santana in the spring.
"We're not going to change our minds, Mom," Quinn assured her. "We're looking forward to seeing you."
"Oh." Her mom sounded surprised and pleased. "Well, of course I'm looking forward to seeing you too," she offered. "Both of you."
Quinn smiled at her mother's thought to include Santana. "Thank you," she said softly.
"I hate that you're not going to be staying at the house though," Judy admitted. "I made up your bed for you in case you change your mind." As she spoke, Santana came out of the bathroom, her skin pink from the hot bath, wearing the tiniest shorts Quinn had ever seen, and a flimsy camisole that left little to the imagination.
Quinn's eyes traveled over her fiancée's figure appraisingly, as Santana lifted Quinn's legs so she could join her on the couch, placing Quinn's feet in her lap.
"It's my mom," Quinn whispered to Santana, her hand over the mouthpiece. Santana smiled sympathetically as Quinn returned the phone to her ear. "Mom, we talked about this," she said with a sigh. "Santana and I want to be together so we're going to stay at the Lopezes." Santana busied herself with removing Quinn's socks and began rubbing her feet soothingly as Quinn closed her eyes and savored the sensation.
"Well, I... If you wanted to... You could both stay with me?" stammered Judy uncertainly. Quinn almost dropped the phone in shock. Her eyes flew open and Santana looked at her questioningly.
"What's up?" she whispered.
"You'd let Santana and me stay in my old room?" she asked wonderingly. "Together? In the same bed?" At her words, Santana's brow furrowed into an equally surprised expression. "You'd be comfortable with that?" Quinn demanded.
"You're my daughter, Quinn," Judy said, dropping her usual breezy tone. "I love you. I told you I'd try to understand this... relationship... between you and Santana, and I meant it. I'm not as naive as you seem to think. You're already living together, in an apartment I'm currently paying for," she continued, her haughty Fabray attitude resurfacing for a moment, "so I don't see the point in forcing Santana to sleep in the guest room. I'd like you to give it some thought before you answer, but the offer is there."
"Um, I'll discuss it with Santana and let you know," Quinn agreed hesitantly as Santana raised a questioning eyebrow and continued to massage her feet. "I'll call you in a day or two, okay?"
She and her mother said their goodbyes and ended the call. Quinn handed the phone to Santana, who placed it back into its cradle on the end table. Santana continued to silently rub the tension out of Quinn's instep whilst she waited for Quinn to process what had just happened.
"You're really good at that," Quinn said appreciatively, flexing her toes and stretching. She allowed Santana to keep massaging for several beats before speaking again. "My mom wants us to stay with her when we go back to Lima," she explained finally.
Santana smiled enigmatically. "So I gathered," she said softly. "What do you want to do?"
Quinn groaned loudly.
"I don't know," she admitted with a sigh. "I want to stay in a hotel so we can escape from everyone if we need to, but financially that's not an option and it'd just piss off our parents. Your parents are a lot more comfortable with the idea of us than my mom is but..." She broke off and shook her head.
"You want to give your mom a chance," Santana finished for her. Quinn studied her fiancee's expression carefully before nodding.
"Am I crazy?" she asked. "I mean, she's let me down so many times, am I setting myself up for another fall?"
"I don't know," Santana said thoughtfully. Her hands left Quinn's foot and began to slowly stroke up and down her right calf, causing Quinn to hum appreciatively. "But your mom said she was going to try, and so far she's been true to her word." She shrugged. "It's your decision, baby, and I'll support you whatever... And if you do fall, you know I'll be here to catch you. "
Quinn smiled affectionately at Santana.
"I love you so much," she said softly.
"Back at ya," murmured Santana, her fingers now caressing Quinn's thigh. Quinn caught hold of them and held them still, stroking her thumbs over the back of Santana's hands.
"I believe I'm the one who should be massaging you," she giggled suggestively. "I told you if you were a good girl and you did all of your homework, I'd reward you with a massage, remember?"
Santana suddenly launched herself at Quinn, landing on top of her and pinning her to the cushions as she fused their mouths together hungrily.
"Maybe we could massage each other?" Santana suggested breathlessly between kisses. She took Quinn's hand and placed it over her shorts at the apex of her thighs, then placed her own palm flat on Quinn's stomach and began to ease it below the waistband of her pajamas. Quinn felt a rush of arousal and she pressed her lips over Santana's once more, licking at Santana's bottom lip to request entrance to her mouth. Santana acquiesced eagerly.
"Bed?" panted Quinn as Santana kissed her way along her jawline, nipping gently as she went. Santana shook her head.
"Uh uh," she mumbled against Quinn's pulse point. "Right here." And with that, she dove her fingers between Quinn's thighs and all rational thoughts left Quinn's mind.