Title: I’m Still Waiting For the Rain to Fall (11/?)
Author:
an_an0maly Summary: ...pour real life down on me...
Pairing: Eventual Rachel/Quinn
Rating: PG to NC-17
Word Count: 2,487 / 45,000+
Spoilers: Some spoilers from Season 1.
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters unfortunately. Title belongs to Evanescence's 'Good Enough'.
Music: 'Another Brick in the Wall Part 2' by Pink Floyd.
Betas:
grdnofevrythng for final touches in SPAG errors and
gleek23 for getting me to keep writing. :D
Author's Note: Apologies for lateness. Moved back to Sydney and settling into work again. Hopefully there'll be more soon. :)
Previous Parts:
Prologue |
I |
II |
III |
IV |
V |
VI |
VII |
VIII |
IX |
X Part Eleven:
~*~*~
“Well,” Rachel started as she exited the small bathroom and into the kitchen where Quinn was tidying up. “At least you picked out appropriate pajamas.”
Quinn rolled her eyes as she dried the last glass and put it back in the cupboard. “I don’t think you’d have such an issue with your clothes if you could coordinate them better.”
Rachel looked affronted by the implication that her coordination was lacking in the clothing department. “I’ll have you know, that argyle and plaid have always been, and always will be fashionable.”
“And that,” Quinn began, her pointed finger following the direction Rachel took around the counter top, separating the lounge and the kitchen, “is why Kurt will continue to have conniptions over your choice in clothing.”
Rachel just rolled her eyes and waved a hand in the air as if waving off Kurt and his unnecessary outbursts.
Quinn grinned with amusement. “Anyway, I’m going to grab a quick shower.” She disappeared into the bathroom, but quickly poked her head around the doorframe. “Don’t touch the fold out. I’ll pull it out when I finish my shower.”
Rachel narrowed her eyes at the way Quinn ordered her around. With a small grumble Rachel waited with her hands on her hips until the bathroom door clicked shut before turning to face the couch. She eyed the cushions for a few seconds before beginning to pull them off and piling them to the side. Just as she was reaching for the metal bar of the pull-out, the bathroom door flung open.
“What did I just say?” Quinn asked in a stern voice. She stood just outside the bathroom, left hand holding onto the door frame, right hand on her hip. She’d managed to undress and let her hair down, the ends brushing against the top of the white towel she was wrapped in, before she remembered that leaving Rachel Berry unsupervised was sometimes a bad idea.
Rachel dropped the bar quickly and spun around, hands moving to clasp tightly behind her back, a look of innocence on her face. “I didn’t touch the bed. Just the cushions,” she said defensively.
Quinn shifted then crossed her arms over chest and raised an eyebrow. Rachel’s eyes followed the line of the towel to where it ended just above Quinn’s knees. She continued south, trailing down Quinn’s right leg to her tapping foot before flicking her eyes back up to Quinn’s.
Rachel knew that look. Quinn had used it on her earlier that morning. Rachel quickly jumped into action. She bent down and picked up the seat cushions and threw them into place before hurriedly sitting down on the edge of the sofa, her back straight and hands clasped in her lap.
Quinn stared at Rachel for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing slightly as she debated whether leaving Rachel alone was a wise decision.
Rachel finally got fed up, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms while puffing out a breath of frustration. “Would you leave already? I can smell you from here.”
Quinn took a menacing step forward only to see Rachel quickly fix her posture. “You know,” she said, her foot continuing to tap against the carpet, “after today, you deserve to sleep on that lumpy fold-out.”
Rachel watched with a barely concealed grin as Quinn disappeared back into the bathroom. She waited a few moments until she heard the water turn on before sighing as she looked over to the bag Quinn had hurriedly packed for her that morning. Piled on top of the closed bag were three new tops, two skirts and even a pair of shorts.
She pushed herself off the couch and made her way over to her bag. Kneeling down on the carpet, she began to sort through the new items, removing price tags and folding them neatly. She thought back to that morning when she’d forced Quinn to take her shopping.
“What now?” Quinn asked as she began to set up her phone charger on the bedside table, ignoring Rachel, who was standing in the doorway, purple skirt in one hand, orange top in the other.
They had just begun settling into the apartment after a particularly heated argument over who had rights to the bed. Rachel had claimed that as the kidnap victim, she should be allowed the bed, that it was Quinn’s duty as kidnapper to provide for her needs. Quinn had scoffed and argued that she’d done the driving and had to put up with Rachel for longer than was ever necessary and should be allowed the comfort of the bed.
They finally decided that an important decision such as this was worth a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Quinn won. Seven times. Rachel had a tendency to bite her bottom lip every time she chose rock. It was an easy victory.
“Look at this!” Rachel exclaimed as she shook the garments in the air. “I refuse to walk around looking like I dressed myself in the dark.”
“And... that would be a change, how?” Quinn quipped with a smirk as she turned back to wrap her charger cable around the lamp to keep it in place.
Rachel growled as she gripped tightly to the skirt and top before she dropped her fists to her hips. “Quinn Fabray? You owe me two new outfits.”
And with that, Rachel stormed out, but Quinn knew she would take the brunette shopping. It sounded like a great opportunity to rile Rachel up even more. To Quinn, bantering with Rachel had never seemed more fun.
Rachel smiled as she held up her new pair of jean shorts. They were incredibly short and Rachel had to admit they really did wonders for her legs when she’d tried them on. She carefully folded the shorts and set them aside to wear the next day.
She knew they were only items of clothing, but Rachel wondered what Quinn would think if she ever found out that their shopping expedition that day, had been the first ever time someone had helped her to pick out clothes, other than her parents.
Okay, ‘helped’ was a little bit of an understatement.
~*~*~
Quinn let the warm water run over her head, soaking her blonde hair. The water flowed down in rivulets, through the long strands of her hair, down her back, meeting at the crevice between her thighs before flowing all the way down to her feet.
She sighed as she turned to face the shower head and the warm water followed a path down her front, between her breasts, over her navel to meet between her thighs. She tilted her head forward and out of the spray. She opened her eyes as she searched for the bottle of shampoo.
She squeezed a dollop into the palm of her left hand before using both hands to massage the foaming substance into her scalp. The scent of lavender and lilac began to fill the bathroom as Quinn’s fingers continued to work the shampoo through her long hair.
Quinn sighed in relaxation. This was exactly what she needed after a long day in Rachel Berry’s company. Rachel could be exhausting. No, scratch that. Rachel was definitely exhausting. She still wasn’t quite sure whether bringing Rachel along had been a smart decision on her part, but it was too late now and they both had to deal with the situation they were in.
Quinn stepped back under the spray and closed her eyes as the steady stream of water washed the shampoo from her hair, the suds sliding down her body to her toes, before disappearing down the drain.
If Quinn were honest with herself, which she had been trying to do lately, she would admit that spending time with Rachel had been not only eye-opening, but also, dare she say it, a little bit fun. In all the years Quinn had been bullying the girl, trying to live up to the expectations of others, she’d missed out on many opportunities to interact properly with Rachel.
Quinn knew they could never have been friends, not when she had still been under Sue Sylvester’s thumb and her parents “guidance”. And although they weren’t exactly friends now, they were certainly more than the big, bad bully and small, helpless victim.
Well... technically, Quinn still bullied Rachel. But, as Quinn had begun to learn in recent weeks, Rachel could give as good as she got. Quinn grinned as she remembered how she’d managed to take over Rachel’s wardrobe choices earlier that day.
“No. Absolutely not,” Rachel instantly protested, her arms crossed and her head shaking from side to side.
Quinn rolled her eyes and dropped the top into the cart. “That’s a definite ‘yes’.”
Rachel huffed and stomped her foot in irritation. “I said no! What’s the point in asking me if you’re not even going to listen to my clearly superior opinion?”
Quinn made to argue with Rachel just as Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” interrupted their conversation. Quinn slid her phone out of the front pocket of her jeans while Rachel raised an eyebrow.
“How... rebellious of you,” she commented in a dry tone.
“I use it in honor of Coach Sylvester,” Quinn remarked as she pointed to Ellie who was strapped into the seat of the cart. “Watch her,” was all she said as she answered her phone and took a few steps away from Ellie and Rachel.
“Hi! Quinn?” The voice on the other end asked with a nervous tone.
Quinn’s brow furrowed in confusion. The voice sounded familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. “Yes?”
“This is...” the girl said before she cleared her throat to start again. “This is Anna. From the diner. This morning?”
Quinn’s heart began to race as the caller identified herself. “Er... Hi?” Quinn answered awkwardly. How did she even get her number? Quinn turned to check on Ellie. When she found Rachel trying to entertain the infant, Quinn knew exactly how Anna had gotten hold of her phone number.
Anna giggled. “I’m sorry. You’re friend said you were a little shy and liked the other girl to make the first move.”
Quinn practically growled into the phone as her eyes narrowed on Rachel’s figure. “What else did my friend tell you?”
There was a beat of silence before Anna began to answer. “Well... um... she implied that you... uh... liked it when... when the girl talks... dirty, maybe.”
Quinn’s face turned red in equal parts embarrassment and anger. She was going to kill Rachel Berry, but first, she needed to get rid of Anna. “Anna? I have to apologise on behalf of my... friend - ”
“Wait!” Anna interrupted. “I know what you’re going to say,” she began. “But I didn’t even get to tell you what I’m wearing,” she finished in a whisper.
Quinn picked up the closest object in her vicinity - a pack of hair elastics - and threw it right at Rachel’s head. Ellie squealed in delight and clapped her hands together as Rachel quickly turned and looked at Quinn with equal parts surprise and confusion. Quinn saw the confusion fade when she glared at Rachel and pointed to her phone.
When Quinn saw a grin begin to form on Rachel’s lips, she knew exactly where she was going to bury Rachel Berry’s body.
“Quinn?” Anna asked, checking if she was still on the line.
“Anna... I’m really sorry. You’re really sweet and really pretty but... but I’m just not ready to, to date anyone,” Quinn began. She honestly felt terrible for the girl. How was she to know she was going to be the butt of some joke that Rachel Berry had pulled.
“Oh...” Anna replied in a defeated tone.
“I’m rea - ”
“Well, you have my number now, for when you’re ready,” Anna interrupted, her tone a little perkier than before. “And I’m still wearing my uniform, minus a few... undergarments. In case you were wondering.”
Before Quinn could even formulate a reply, the call was suddenly dropped. Quinn slid her phone back into her pocket before turning her head to look at Rachel who was trying not to glance in her direction. Oh revenge was going to be sweet.
Quinn wasn’t sure how she was going to get Rachel back, but she was certainly going to try. Quinn giggled slightly as she remembered making Rachel return all the items the brunette had placed in the cart. After that, Quinn would only allow Rachel to purchase clothes that she herself had picked out for the scheming midget.
Once Quinn was sure all the shampoo had been washed out, she stepped out from under the spray, squeezed the excess water from her hair and squeezed a large amount of conditioner into her palm. As she massaged the lavender and lilac scented conditioner into her hair, she recalled the way Rachel had looked in the jean shorts Quinn had tossed at her. She had chosen them as a joke, because although Rachel wore dangerously short skirts and had worn those short shorts for the “Give Up the Funk” number, Quinn had never seen her in anything else as revealing.
Rachel had protested at first, complaining that shorts did nothing for her figure, but Quinn had shoved the girl into the change room thrusting the pair of shorts in her direction. A few minutes later Rachel tentatively opened the change room door, allowing Quinn to get a good look at the girl.
“Well?” Rachel asked, her arms crossed over her chest, her shoulders hunched.
Quinn had never seen her look so self-conscious. She gave Rachel a once over, noting how long Rachel’s legs looked in the shorts. “You look good,” she remarked with a nod of her head.
Rachel’s hands found her hips. “Good? That’s it? Look at me, Quinn! I look, for lack of a better colloquialism, hot!” Rachel exclaimed as she twisted and turned in front of the three full length mirrors in the change room.
Quinn watched as Rachel bent forward slightly and stuck her backside out in Quinn’s direction. “Look at how great my,” she paused as she eyed Ellie who was happily wedged against Quinn’s hip, “behind looks!”
“Oh, great,” Quinn muttered as she grabbed the door and pulled it closed to block out the vision of Rachel pulling various poses in front of the mirror.
Quinn washed her hands under the spray of the water before grabbing her loofah and squeezing some shower gel on it. As she began to gently rub her arms, she had to admit that the image of Rachel in those shorts had definitely been alluring. But... it was Rachel Berry and it just seemed weird to think of her as anything but the short girl who obsessively wore argyle and knee socks.
But damn, those legs.
Quinn groaned in frustration at the abrupt detour her thoughts had taken.
Dammit.