Fic: Autumn Nights - The first night
Title: The First Night-In Which Quinn Fabray Hides Her True Feelings For Rachel Berry-Not That She Wants To-It's Just More Fun (And Tiring)
Author: freshtilapia
Rating: NC-17 (for the whole series)
Length: 1,385
Spoilers: None
Summary: (see Title; or the sequel to Summer Mornings, with the usual fluff and the promise of sex)
A/N: Thanks to (in alphabetical order) 4guiltypleasure, cmayumit, and ultraily for being patient with me when I badgered them repeatedly about this and to aboxfullofqueerios of tumblr, ians_grace47, jbluish, mjacton, and you too (if I forgot you told me) just for being excited about this.
I give you Quinn's POV and the story as it unfolds by night (and not by chapter). What do you want to happen next? I'd love to know what you think.
The first night
It’s a bit chilly out tonight.
But that’s the only thing that’s really changed for the past few weeks.
It’s been a month since classes started. And autumn is finally here…
It’ll be nice to just go outside and breathe… and see everything turning into red, orange, and yellow… and take long walks with leaves crunching at your feet… and hear the crowd roar at a Friday night football game… but a lot nicer to stay in for some… snuggling…
And I am so looking forward to the snuggling…
Damn. I’m smiling like a fool again.
Okay, enough with the sappy.
If this night is gonna be the same as the last two nights, I need to focus.
It’s a good thing that my car is just across the football field and very close to the gym (I knew I had to park there).
I grip the handle of my gym bag tighter, adjust the strap on my shoulder, and walk briskly from the exit towards my car, taking long strides and trying to appear like I’m just pissed at something and not like I’m running away from someone.
I don’t glance over my shoulder even once because, hello, that would make it pretty obvious that I am trying… to escape…
I get to my car with my keys out and ready, press the button to unlock it (I’ve made sure that it doesn’t make a sound anymore, by the way, when it locks or unlocks), open the door at the rear, and throw my gym bag on the backseat before closing it again.
Shit. That was a bit loud.
I take a quick look around, hop inside my car, lock the doors, insert the key to the ignition, put my seatbelt on, check the mirrors (especially the rearview mirror), and reverse out of my parking space.
I don’t hear another engine running while I’m driving out of the parking lot…
That means I have a head start.
I guess I could turn on the headlights now that I’m out of the school premises…
Okay… so far, so good…
Maybe if I drive fast enough this time I won’t have to resort to what I’ve been doing since Monday…
Yeah, I could totally do that.
I’ll just need to get past the traffic light in the main intersection and I’m all clear.
C’mon, c’mon…
Oh, for the love of God, hurry up, Lexus!
Go, go, go…
Yellow.
I’ll make it. I’ll make it.
Shit, red!
Damn it. I’m gonna lose what little advantage I have for sure. This traffic light takes forever to change…
Ugh.
I can only sigh at this predicament I find myself in (again) and take comfort in the fact that, at least, I’m the first one at the intersection.
It won’t be long though…
I just hope the line of cars will pile up soon.
There are two behind me in the inner lane and two to my right in the outer lane. Then another car pulls up (a shiny, silver car that I’m painfully familiar with).
Oh, well…
Since I’ll be running late, I might as well have some fun.
I switch on my car stereo and The Four Tops comes on.
Nice. I’m definitely in the mood for that.
I tap my hands on the steering wheel and bob my head up and down along with the beat of one of the catchiest tunes that ever came out of Motown.
“Now if you feel that you can’t go on… because all of your hope is gone… and your life is filled with much confusion… until happiness is just an illusion… and your world around is crumblin’ down… darlin’ reach out… C’mon girl, reach on out for me! Reach out… reach out for me!”
The light turns green.
“I’ll be there…”
I go straight instead of left. And the silver Bimmer follows…
“I’ll be there… with a love that will see you through…”
Here we go again.
I make a series of turns that get me nowhere and I chuckle.
I wonder how long it’ll take for my stalker to figure out that I’m just driving around in circles…
What can she expect?
I’m Quinn Fabray.
And no one can play games with me thinking that they have a chance at winning…
Ooh, I would have loved to see her face when it finally dawns on her…
…that after all this time, after feeling that maybe tonight’s the night she’ll find out what I’m up to, after the unusual route I took, I’m still just pulling up my driveway in the end.
I’m sure she’s fuming by now.
She got played. She got played and she knows it. She knows it as she sits in her car with the lights off, several yards away from my house, across the street.
I must be looking smug as I get out of my car with my gym bag.
The housekeeper greets me and I quickly run upstairs to my room to change out of my Cheerios uniform into dark sweatpants, a shirt, a hoodie sweater, and my black Nike.
I leave the lights on when I go back downstairs and out the back door.
The crisp autumn air hits me when I step outside so I zip my sweater up and pull the hood over my head and walk calmly from our backyard to the neighbor’s. And then…
I sprint.
I sprint as if aliens are coming down and chasing after me, leaving my friendly observer behind and weaving through my neighbor’s backyards, thankful that they don’t have fences (or dogs), until I round the corner and make a turn.
I still race through the sidewalk for the next three blocks, not because I’d still be seen but because the house at the end of this street is where I really wanted to be fifteen minutes ago.
I’ll be there… with a love that will shelter you…
My pace quickens even more because I’m nearly there.
I’ll be there… with a love that will see you through…
All the lights are on and I can just imagine the adorable pout that’s waiting to greet me.
I ring the doorbell and the door swings wide open almost immediately.
“You’re late.”
I slip through the gap and swiftly close the door behind me, leaning against it with my arms behind my back and my hands on the doorknob and panting heavily. Then I remove the hood from my head.
My little maker of day just looks at me curiously, her pout long gone.
“Don’t tell me-Santana followed you again?”
I nod, still catching my breath.
“That’s the third time this week,” she exclaims. “She’s relentless!”
“She’s Santana…”
“I truly cannot comprehend why the two of you would go on with this silly cat and mouse game that you’ve been playing…”
I take her left hand with one of mine and bring it to my lips to kiss it.
“She knows,” I answer in between huffs, “that something’s up… and she desperately… wants to know… my secret… and I’m not… just gonna hand it to her…”
She smiles and brings her right hand up to remove my ponytail and run her fingers through my hair…
“Pray tell,” she requests, “what is your secret?”
I take her right hand in mine, bring both her hands behind my back, wrap my arms around her, and lean on her forehead.
“…that I’m very, very… very, very… very, very… very, very… very happy…”
“You always know what to say, don’t you?” she smirks.
“Uhuh,” I nod again. “So can I kiss you now?”
“I thought you’d never ask…”
And we kiss…
And I’m smiling like a fool again.
I smile because I seriously can’t help it. I smile because I’ve realized I’m so used to it by now. I smile because I’m sure I’ll have it on my face until I get to sleep and when I wake and will only have to shake it off when I get myself out of my car in the parking lot at school tomorrow and have to act like the bitch that I am, that people know…
“What are you thinking?” she asks when she pulls away.
“Nothing…”
I’m Quinn Fabray.
And I’m in love with Rachel Berry.
The second night