This Kiss, Chapter Twenty-Two
Title: This Kiss
Author: poetzproblem
Fandom Glee
Characters: Rachel Berry / Quinn Fabray
Word Count: ~5000
Rating: R
Summary: One pivotal moment can change everything.
Spoilers/Warnings: hrough A Very Glee Christmas. Then AU. Cursing, sexual references, Femslash.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters, just like to play with them.
A/N: Written for a Faberry prompt, but can't remember where. 'Rachel and Quinn share a kiss during a game of spin the bottle. From that night forward both girls desperately try to deny what they felt; what they feel. ..The other Glee kids know what’s up and attempt to play matchmaker.'
(Chapter One) (Chapter Two) (Chapter Three) (Chapter Four) (Chapter Five) (Chapter Six) (Chapter Seven) (Chapter Eight) (Chapter Nine) (Chapter Ten) (Chapter Eleven) (Chapter Twelve) (Chapter Thirteen) (Chapter Fourteen) (Chapter Sixteen) (Chapter Sixteen) (Chapter Seventeen) (Chapter Eighteen) (Chapter Nineteen) (Chapter Twenty) (Chapter Twenty-One)
Some Real Competition
Kurt was practically vibrating out of his Gucci's on Thursday thanks to Rachel Berry. She hadn't returned any of his messages and he simply couldn't wait to find out the details of her evening with Quinn-well, maybe not every detail, just the cute, romantic ones. When he entered the choir room, he took note of who was already present. Puck was hanging out up in the back row at the opposite end from Finn, and the two were still obviously pissed at one another. Tina and Mike were in the middle row and Santana was two seats over from them and behind Mercedes. Brittany was sitting next to Artie in the front row. Kurt spared them a brief glance before he settled next to Mercedes with a grin.
He wondered if Quinn and Rachel would come in together, smiling softly at one another, or maybe even hand in hand-or maybe not, he amended as he glanced over at Finn again. His stepbrother would have an absolute meltdown the second he realized that his two ex-girlfriends were gay for each other. Kurt was still surprised that Puck was handling the whole thing so well. Then again, that might have more than a little to do with the boy's disgustingly pornographic mind and all of the free visuals he was anticipating.
"So did you get any good gossip from our little diva?" Mercedes asked him with an expectant gleam in her eye.
"No," he pouted. "She's been maintaining radio silence and it's driving me crazy. I'm dying of curiosity."
She rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. "Honey, we really need to get you a hobby."
"Well, if Blaine would ever open his eyes and realize that we're perfect for one another, I wouldn't need to live vicariously through my friends."
"Somehow I don't think that…uh oh," she trailed off, eyes moving to the door. "That doesn't look promising."
Kurt whipped his head around to see Quinn stroll into the choir room hand in hand with the wrong person. Sam was grinning widely and the two appeared more coupley than they had for weeks. "Maybe she's just trying to let him down easily," he hypothesized.
The two sat in the middle of the front row on the other side of Mercedes and Kurt watched as Sam wrapped a possessive arm around Quinn's shoulders and she happily dropped her head onto his shoulder with a content smile.
"Um…yeah…or maybe not," Mercedes observed.
Kurt frowned. That was not part of the plan. He cast a questioning glance back at Santana, but the girl rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Don't look at me, Glitter. You all told me to leave the boy alone."
A minute later, Rachel marched in, paused to shoot a disgusted look at the blonde couple and headed right up behind Kurt to sit next to Santana. He angled around to look at Rachel in concern, but she cut him off before he even had a chance to open his mouth.
"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped, crossing her arms defensively.
"But…"
"Not talking about it. Ever. So back off."
The hardness in her eyes convinced him that she was dead serious, and he decided against pushing the issue right then. Obviously something had gone horribly wrong on their little date and he'd just have to wait until Rachel was more amenable to spilling her guts. Kurt turned and slouched down in his chair, frustrated that the stubborn girls kept thwarting all of his perfectly good plans.
"Gotta say, Berry. I'm likin' the don't-fuck-with-me attitude," Santana casually commented.
"Why, thank you, Santana," Rachel drawled huskily. "I must admit-the release it provides is quite satisfying." Kurt and Mercedes both twisted around in surprise at the blatant innuendo dripping from Rachel's honey-smooth voice. "I can definitely see the attraction," Rachel continued with a sultry half-smile aimed at Santana, who for her part looked stunned.
"Ah…yeah…a-attraction," Santana stuttered.
Kurt glanced over to evaluate Quinn's reaction, only to see her still carelessly leaning into Sam, face calm and unaffected. What the hell?
"I have to confess," Rachel added flirtatiously, leaning closer to the Santana. "I have always found your approach to life very, very appealing." She trailed a finger lightly over Santana's tanned arm, and Santana actually blushed a little. "And I think you could…teach me a few things," Rachel finished suggestively.
Kurt saw Santana's gaze dip to Rachel's lips in obvious consideration and he cringed. "Ay, dios, you're good," she finally conceded.
Rachel smirked, "You have no idea."
"Yeah, I could have lived without hearing any of that, thanks," Mercedes complained.
Kurt looked over Quinn's serene expression, then frowned unhappily at Rachel. "This is just so wrong."
She shrugged, "I'm just embracing the new me."
"But yesterday…"
"Don't go there," she warned him again.
Mr. Schuester breezed in to the room (late as usual) and Kurt was obligated to face forward again. The teacher started to talk about finalizing a list of songs for Regionals, throwing out his top contenders. Kurt attempted to concentrate on the debates going on around him, but he really just wanted to know what had happened between Quinn and Rachel last night that had resulted in the complete lack of interest they were showing in one another.
"…and Quinn suggested that we have auditions this time for the featured vocalists," Mr. Schuester was saying.
"Wait…Quinn suggested?" Rachel asked incredulously.
"Yes, Rachel. She approached me this morning with the idea."
"And such an original idea," she mocked.
"Please, like you were really going to bring it up. You're such a self-centered little diva," Quinn fired back.
"Okay, both of you stop. We're not doing this again," Mr. Schue admonished them. "It doesn't matter whose idea it was, it's a good one. Now Quinn has already expressed an interest in auditioning for As Long As You're Mine."
Rachel gasped, "Mr. Schuester, I must object. My voice is far better suited to that song."
"Oh my God. Will you just shut up?" Quinn hissed, finally turning in her seat to glare back at Rachel with cold eyes. "No one cares what you think."
"Quinn, Rachel has every right to audition, too," he pointed out.
"And I will be doing so," she boldly announced. "If you feel confident enough to test your thin, bubblegum pop style against my years of extensive vocal training, Quinn, then I welcome the challenge."
"I'm weirdly turned on right now," Santana muttered looking at Rachel with almost reluctant admiration.
Rachel smiled at her, "I'm flattered, Santana, and may I say, you should consider auditioning as well. I would welcome some real competition."
"Why don't you two just sing it together? You can take the male lead, Berry," Quinn sneered back at them.
"That actually isn't a bad idea," Rachel said mildly.
"Okay, that's it," Mr. Schue growled, waving his hands in the air. "I'm posting a sign-up sheet at lunch today. Auditions start tomorrow." He shook his head in frustration. "Now…get to class, guys."
"C'mon, Sam," Quinn urged, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the choir room without a second glance back in Rachel's direction.
Rachel stood and smoothed out her skirt. "If you'll excuse me, I really need to discuss an equation with Mr. Landry prior to first period. He never seems to have time to answer my questions during class," she said with a frown before disappearing out the door.
"I just don't get girls," Finn muttered to himself as watched his ex-girlfriend leave.
Santana snorted, "No kidding," and Finn shot her a glare as he grabbed his bag and left.
Kurt dropped his head into his hands. "What just happened?"
Mercedes wrapped her arm around him again, giving him a comforting squeeze. "Maybe it's just not meant to be, Kurt. I mean, Quinn can be pretty harsh, and Rachel is…well," she shrugged, "still Rachel."
"Okay, no, that Berry," Santana argued with raised brows, "so not the annoying little troll version. I could totally be down with her if she was like that all the time."
"And she's a really good kisser, too," Brittany added thoughtlessly.
Santana's head whipped over to the girl with a scowl, "Excuse me, what?"
"You kissed Rachel?" Artie squeaked, and everyone turned to look at him in shock, not having realized he was still in the room until that moment.
"Oh, no," Kurt muttered under his breath, feeling a wave of guilt crash over him. He'd been so obsessed with his scheming that he hadn't stopped to consider Artie's feelings for a moment. Just like he hadn't considered Finn or Sam.
"Um…yeah, yesterday" Brittany admitted, "but it didn't really count."
Artie looked at her incredulously. "You kissed someone who isn't me! How does that not count?" he wanted to know.
"Because it was totally just making out, not like, actual feelings or anything," Brittany reasoned. "Kissing only counts as cheating if it's with Santana."
"You're kissing her, too?"
"No…not since we got together," she vowed, taking his hand. "I swear."
Artie stared at her for a moment, then looked up at Santana, who for her part was leaning forward in her chair and watching Brittany intently. He sighed, and looked back at his girlfriend. "But you have feelings for her," he stated softly.
Brittany glanced briefly over at Santana, then nodded, "I'm sorry… I really, really care about you, Artie."
He pulled his hand away, and started wheeling toward the door. "I…I need to be alone."
"Wait, are you breaking up with me?" she asked him sadly.
He paused, quietly told her "I don't know," and rolled out of the room.
"Brit…" Santana began, but Brittany shot her a hard glare.
"I'm still mad at you."
Tina leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Brittany. Artie is a really understanding guy. I'm sure he'll forgive you."
"So didn't see that coming," Mercedes admitted.
"Man, Berry's scoring with all the hot chicks," Puck said in awe. "Maybe I should make her my wingman."
"No!" they all shouted.
Kurt pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head. "This is such a mess." All he'd wanted to do was orchestrate a perfectly romantic union between two horribly repressed lesbians so that they'd both stop driving everyone around them crazy with their unresolved sexual tension! Was that too much to ask?
"I knew agreeing to this was a bad idea," Tina told them.
"See, this is why I didn't get involved. You guys should never have messed with Rachel and Quinn."
Kurt lifted his head at the sound of the new voice. "Mike?"
Mercedes leaned closer and asked, "When did we invite him into the club?"
Mike looked at them all in disappointment and explained, "Tina and I don't keep secrets from one another."
Puck snorted, raised his fist and made a flicking motion. "You are so freaking whipped, dude."
Kurt stood from his chair and turned to face them all. "Okay, you know what…we've come too far to let one little setback stop us."
"Oh, give it up, Rainbow. It's way more than one setback."
"Yeah, I hate to agree with Santana," Mercedes began, casting a quick disdainful look back in the girl's direction, "like really, really hate it, but I think maybe we're just making things worse now."
"I'm not having fun anymore," Brittany complained with a pout.
Tina gave her shoulder another squeeze. "And Quinn doesn't seem like she's planning to break up with Sam anytime soon."
"As smokin' hot as they'd be together, they're both seriously scary when they're pissed," Puck reminded them with a shudder.
"So you're all just throwing in the towel?" Kurt huffed, hands on his hips. "Just like that?"
"Sorry, Kurt," Mercedes shrugged. "I mean, we tried, right?"
"But they were so close."
Everyone shot apologetic looks in his direction as they started for their next class. Mike and Tina left holding hands, and Puck swaggered out behind Mercedes. Santana cut off Brittany's retreat at the door, quietly asking, "Can we talk? Please?" When Brittany finally nodded, she tentatively hooked their pinkies together and gently guided her out of the choir room.
Kurt sank back down into has abandoned chair. Well, at the very least, maybe Brittany and Santana would finally work out whatever it was they actually were to one another-even if they so weren't the couple he'd been aiming for when he'd gotten the bright idea to play cupid. He just didn't understand what could have happened to undo all of the progress his girls had made. Yesterday Rachel had been on the verge of declaring her love for Quinn, and Quinn had seemed more than receptive, but today they were back to bitching at one another. And Kurt was damn well going to find out which one of them had screwed it up!
•••
Once she was clear of the choir room, Quinn dragged Sam by his hand down the hall and around the corner before she stopped, collapsed back against the wall and gave in to her mad urge to giggle. Sam was looking at her like she'd lost her mind, and it only made her laugh harder. Clutching at her side, she struggled to regain her composure.
"Okay, I think maybe you enjoyed that a little too much," Sam observed.
"I can't help it," she finally managed, "did you see Santana's face? And poor Kurt looked like he wanted to cry. It was priceless."
"Remind me to never get on your bad side."
She squeezed his hand and smiled up at him. "Thanks for playing along, Sam."
"No problem," he told her with a boyish grin just as Rachel turned the corner and caught sight of the friendly scene. She flashed them an annoyed expression, let out a little huff, and marched past them to the end of the hall before ducking into the girls' bathroom. "Uh…I thought you guys were just pretending to fight."
Quinn swallowed heavily, still staring after her unofficial girlfriend, "Yeah, me too," she muttered distractedly, already moving away from Sam.
She replayed their argument n her mind as she followed Rachel-pre-approved minor cuddling with Sam, (very reluctantly) sanctioned flirting with Santana, staged animosity over a solo, acceptable insults to Rachel's divatude and Quinn's vocal range-nothing that they hadn't agreed to beforehand. Although, Quinn hadn't exactly enjoyed how comfortable Rachel had seemed coming on to Santana, or that she still actually believed that kissing Brittany had ever been a good idea. The whole thing just solidified Quinn's commitment to making damn sure that she was the only girl on whom Rachel would be testing out her newly embraced sexuality from now on.
Entering the bathroom, she saw Rachel touching up her lip-gloss in the mirror, and a cursory glance around revealed that they were alone except for a couple of lingering freshmen. She put a hand on her hip and tossed a cold glare at the other girls, who quickly finished up and scurried out. Rachel barely looked her way, just recapped her gloss and started fussing with her hair.
Quinn paced along the row of stalls, giving each door a gentle push to make sure they really were alone before she came to stand behind Rachel, meeting her eyes in the mirror with concern. "Okay, what am I missing? Because I thought we were on the same page about the…"
Her words were abruptly halted when Rachel executed a graceful pirouette and pressed those heavenly lips over hers. Quinn's arms automatically looped around her narrow waist and pulled the girl closer as she eagerly responded to the kiss, moaning in protest when Rachel pulled her mouth away far too soon.
"Not that I'm complaining," she breathed against a soft cheek, "but didn't we decide on no PDAs at school?"
"This isn't exactly public," Rachel pointed out, but she still gently extricated herself from Quinn's arms, "and I couldn't resist the temptation."
"Yeah, I'm pretty irresistible," she said with a saucy grin. "So, did our little band of merry mischief makers drill you for information after I left?"
Rachel giggled, "No, I didn't stay to give anyone the opportunity, but I'm certain Kurt will spend the majority of second period questioning me."
"How long to you want to keep up the act?" Quinn asked, feeling a just a little bit guilty about playing with their friends. Well, maybe just about Kurt. He was a decent enough guy, and he'd been a better friend to Rachel lately than anyone else had. Then again, he should also have known better than to try and force someone to deal with their sexuality before they were ready.
"Not long," Rachel said thoughtfully, a teasing little smile curving her lips beautifully when she confessed, "While I do find our verbal sparring matches strangely arousing, I don't relish the idea of deceiving our fellow glee clubbers indefinitely."
"You seemed pretty okay about messing with Santana," she muttered.
"Were you jealous?" Rachel asked eagerly, not even attempting to appear contrite.
"Yes."
"You did a commendable job of hiding it," Rachel informed her, reaching out to trace a finger lightly across Quinn's forearm and leaving a trail of gooseflesh in her wake.
Quinn sighed and gave in to her need to touch Rachel again, unusually careless to the possibility of getting caught as she rested her hands on Rachel's waist and pulled her closer. Not reacting to Rachel and Santana had been pure torture. All she'd wanted to do was turn around and slap that fascinated look off of Santana's face and growl mine, but she'd managed to behave. "Only because I know even you're not crazy enough to actually go there with her."
Rachel frowned, even as she curled her palms over Quinn's shoulders. "I think that might have been a backhanded compliment, however I should remind you that I am apparently crazy enough to go there with you."
"No, you're just crazy about me," she emphasized with a quick peck to Rachel's lips.
"True enough," she admitted softly, returning the chaste kiss.
Quinn reluctantly let go of Rachel's waist and put a respectable distance between them. No doubt the fact that they were both already late for first period was the only reason they'd been lucky enough not to have been discovered already. "So, you…me…the choir room…lunch?"
"Was there supposed to be a question hidden in there?" Rachel prissily wondered out loud.
Quinn snorted, then shook her head and adopted a perfectly serious expression as she formally asked, "Rachel Berry, will you please have lunch with me today?"
Instead of the eager agreement she'd been expecting, she got a contemplative frown and another question. "Won't our mutual absences be deemed suspicious?"
She shrugged. "I'll tell Sam to make himself scarce to divert attention. But do you really think you can make it through Kurt's cross examination without spilling everything?"
Rachel folded her arms beneath her lovely breasts and glared up at Quinn. "I don't know what you mean. I am a highly skilled actress," she insisted.
Except when she wasn't, but Quinn knew better than to bring up some of her more lackluster performances, so she tactfully pointed out, "But you're a horrible liar, baby."
Rachel's annoyance instantly disappeared, and her arms fell limply to her sides. "Baby?" she whispered, then cleared her throat and swallowed thickly. "I see we've moved on to endearments already."
Quinn bit her lip nervously. The term had just sort of slipped out without her realizing it, and now she was worried that it was too soon. "Do you…do you not like it?"
Rachel shook her head, and Quinn felt her heart drop-at least until Rachel eyes started to glisten and she smiled adoringly up at her. "I love it."
I love you, Quinn thought but didn't say. It really was too soon for that. "So, do I get an answer to my question?"
"Which one? I think I've lost track."
"Lunch?" Quinn reminded her indulgently.
Rachel bounced up onto her toes, hands on Quinn's shoulders and kissed her thoroughly before spinning away with a giggle. "Consider it a date," she called back as she skipped out the door, leaving the suddenly hot and bothered Quinn behind.
Oh, yeah, Berry was so getting paid back for that at lunch today, and Quinn was going to enjoy every minute.
•••
Rachel was late. She'd gone close to two weeks without receiving a slushie shower and, of course, today would be the day her streak ended. One of the cretins from the hockey team whose name escaped her-because really, they were all fairly interchangeable as far as personality and intelligence-had been bored, and she'd found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was trying not to take it as a sign from above that her fledgling romance with Quinn was destined for failure. Perhaps karma had simply decided to bite her in the ass for misrepresenting the results of their rendezvous last night.
As expected, Kurt had begged and whined and cajoled in an attempt to discover what had happened, but Rachel effectively silenced him with a pointed reminder that what he was asking was very personal and private and not to be eavesdropped upon by twenty-three of their shamelessly capricious classmates. He'd reluctantly agreed that perhaps it was not the best time or place for revealing such details, and he dropped the subject until the end of class, when he demanded that she explain at lunch what was going on. She failed to tell him that she had prior arrangements for obvious reasons, and apparently, a lime slushie to the face just before she planned to meet Quinn had been her punishment. She really hated lime.
She'd rushed to her locker, grabbed her emergency kit and fired off a quick text to Quinn explaining that she was unavoidably delayed. She did not say why. Rachel didn't know whether she was more worried that the cheerleader would overreact, in either anger or misplaced guilt, or fail to react at all. The latter would disappoint her terribly, so it was highly probable that she had already placed unreasonable expectations on the girl in regards to their relationship-much as she had done previously with…
"Finn!"
The boy's sudden appearance in front of her as she headed for the choir room startled Rachel so badly that she literally jumped and pressed a hand over her racing heart.
"Hey, Rachel. Can we…um…talk?"
She took a deep breath as she gazed up into Finn's hopeful eyes. "Now's really not the best time, Finn," she told him apologetically, glancing past him down the hall to the door that Quinn was waiting behind. Finn had been refusing to speak with her since their break-up, despite her desire to salvage their friendship, and he chose to approach her at the most inconvenient time.
He absently rubbed at the back of his neck and his cheeks tinted pink. Urging her over toward the wall, he leaned over her and said, "Please. I just feel really bad about everything and I…I know I acted like a jerk. Puck told me what you guys were really talking about that day and I…I should have trusted you. I'm really sorry, Rach."
She sighed, biting her tongue to keep from snippily agreeing that, yes, he should have trusted her. "I accept your apology, Finn, and I hope that we can put this unfortunate affair behind us and continue on as friends," but not today, please.
"I was kind of hoping we could be more than that. I really miss you," he said with a small smile as he reached for her hand and entwined their fingers.
Oh, no.
Rachel shook her head and gently extricated her hand. "No, Finn. I think we've expended all of our chances at a romantic relationship. We're just not meant to be."
He frowned down at her. "But I still love you, and I know you still love me."
She wrapped her arms around herself and worried her lip. She hadn't been prepared for this yet. She truly didn't want to hurt Finn, but she knew she had to make him understand that there really was no chance of them ever getting back together. Even if she wasn't in lov-in a brand new, very committed, unexpectedly intimate relationship with Quinn, she would never want to fall back into the same old pattern with Finn. They really did work so much better as friends.
"I care about you, Finn. I always will, but you can't deny that we haven't really been happy together since last summer. We just don't work as a couple."
"That's not true," he argued, "we were fine until I got jealous of you and Puck, and now I know I shouldn't have been. Puck's totally not into you that way."
Rachel frowned at his phrasing. As if Noah's lack of interest made all the difference. Really? She wondered how Finn would react when he found out just who it was that he'd really had a reason to be jealous over.
"We were not fine, Finn," she informed him patiently. "We were barely holding on to something that was over long before Christmas because we couldn't let go of the idea of us." She reached out and took his hand again, giving it a friendly squeeze. "You were the first person who ever really wanted to be my friend, and I think maybe I was one of the first to really believe that you can be so much more than just another jock with big dreams and limited opportunities. It felt good to have that connection, and we both wanted it to lead somewhere, but everything that makes our friendship so wonderful just ends up hurting us whenever we try to be more. You end up disappointing me and I end up embarrassing you."
"You don't embarrass me," he offered half-heartedly.
She smiled up at him. "I do, but it's okay. Friends can be embarrassed by one another, and disappointed in one another, and walk away for a little while and then forgive one another and move on. That's what I'm doing, Finn. I'm moving on. I still believe in you, but I need to let go of the unreasonable expectations that I placed on you as my romantic lead. You deserve someone who can love you unconditionally," she told him honestly, even as her thoughts drifted to Quinn, "and so do I."
Finn looked down at their joined hands, then back up into Rachel's eyes. "You're really over me, aren't you?" he asked quietly.
Rachel held his gaze steadily. "I am." Placing her free hand on his chest, she gently told him, "I'm so sorry, Finn."
"I'm not over you," he admitted, and she dropped her hand and averted her eyes.
"Finn…"
"Don't worry," he cut her off, "I'm not gonna try to convince you to take me back, or sing to you in glee, or get all possessive if you start dating some other guy." Rachel swallowed heavily, knowing that there wouldn't be any other guy. "I'm just gonna try and be your friend again, and hopefully someday you'll realize that we really do belong together."
"Finn, please, I don't want you to hold on to false hope."
"You can't say it's false," he insisted, claiming both her hands and holding on. "You don't know what might happen."
It was true, but she had a fairly good idea of what she wanted to happen, and, sadly, Finn was no longer part of her big picture. "You're right," she admitted, "but neither do you. You may come to realize that everything I've said is true and find that you have, in fact, moved on."
He smiled wryly, "Maybe. But then we'll still be friends, right?"
Rachel smiled, too. "Always."
Finn nodded and his grip on her hands started to go lax for a second, but then he moved closer and bent down to press a chaste kiss to her cheek. Rachel closed her eyes and felt the moisture gather behind her lids. No matter what else came to pass, Finn Hudson would always be her first love, and this moment felt more like closure on that chapter of her life than anything else ever had.
"See you later, Rach," he whispered, and finally let her go.
"Goodbye, Finn," she whispered to herself as she watched him walk away. Finally feeling settled about Finn, she smiled and turned around, determined to at least spend what was left of lunch with Quinn, only to falter after the first step. Standing there not ten feet from her was the girl in question, arms crossed protectively over her stomach and eyes wide and wounded.
Rachel instantly realized exactly how that scene with Finn might have looked, and she moved forward hoping to explain. "Quinn," she began, but Quinn shook her head, spun on her heel and sprinted away. "Damn it," she growled, and took off after Quinn.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Author: poetzproblem
Fandom Glee
Characters: Rachel Berry / Quinn Fabray
Word Count: ~5000
Rating: R
Summary: One pivotal moment can change everything.
Spoilers/Warnings: hrough A Very Glee Christmas. Then AU. Cursing, sexual references, Femslash.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or the characters, just like to play with them.
A/N: Written for a Faberry prompt, but can't remember where. 'Rachel and Quinn share a kiss during a game of spin the bottle. From that night forward both girls desperately try to deny what they felt; what they feel. ..The other Glee kids know what’s up and attempt to play matchmaker.'
(Chapter One) (Chapter Two) (Chapter Three) (Chapter Four) (Chapter Five) (Chapter Six) (Chapter Seven) (Chapter Eight) (Chapter Nine) (Chapter Ten) (Chapter Eleven) (Chapter Twelve) (Chapter Thirteen) (Chapter Fourteen) (Chapter Sixteen) (Chapter Sixteen) (Chapter Seventeen) (Chapter Eighteen) (Chapter Nineteen) (Chapter Twenty) (Chapter Twenty-One)
Some Real Competition
Kurt was practically vibrating out of his Gucci's on Thursday thanks to Rachel Berry. She hadn't returned any of his messages and he simply couldn't wait to find out the details of her evening with Quinn-well, maybe not every detail, just the cute, romantic ones. When he entered the choir room, he took note of who was already present. Puck was hanging out up in the back row at the opposite end from Finn, and the two were still obviously pissed at one another. Tina and Mike were in the middle row and Santana was two seats over from them and behind Mercedes. Brittany was sitting next to Artie in the front row. Kurt spared them a brief glance before he settled next to Mercedes with a grin.
He wondered if Quinn and Rachel would come in together, smiling softly at one another, or maybe even hand in hand-or maybe not, he amended as he glanced over at Finn again. His stepbrother would have an absolute meltdown the second he realized that his two ex-girlfriends were gay for each other. Kurt was still surprised that Puck was handling the whole thing so well. Then again, that might have more than a little to do with the boy's disgustingly pornographic mind and all of the free visuals he was anticipating.
"So did you get any good gossip from our little diva?" Mercedes asked him with an expectant gleam in her eye.
"No," he pouted. "She's been maintaining radio silence and it's driving me crazy. I'm dying of curiosity."
She rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. "Honey, we really need to get you a hobby."
"Well, if Blaine would ever open his eyes and realize that we're perfect for one another, I wouldn't need to live vicariously through my friends."
"Somehow I don't think that…uh oh," she trailed off, eyes moving to the door. "That doesn't look promising."
Kurt whipped his head around to see Quinn stroll into the choir room hand in hand with the wrong person. Sam was grinning widely and the two appeared more coupley than they had for weeks. "Maybe she's just trying to let him down easily," he hypothesized.
The two sat in the middle of the front row on the other side of Mercedes and Kurt watched as Sam wrapped a possessive arm around Quinn's shoulders and she happily dropped her head onto his shoulder with a content smile.
"Um…yeah…or maybe not," Mercedes observed.
Kurt frowned. That was not part of the plan. He cast a questioning glance back at Santana, but the girl rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Don't look at me, Glitter. You all told me to leave the boy alone."
A minute later, Rachel marched in, paused to shoot a disgusted look at the blonde couple and headed right up behind Kurt to sit next to Santana. He angled around to look at Rachel in concern, but she cut him off before he even had a chance to open his mouth.
"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped, crossing her arms defensively.
"But…"
"Not talking about it. Ever. So back off."
The hardness in her eyes convinced him that she was dead serious, and he decided against pushing the issue right then. Obviously something had gone horribly wrong on their little date and he'd just have to wait until Rachel was more amenable to spilling her guts. Kurt turned and slouched down in his chair, frustrated that the stubborn girls kept thwarting all of his perfectly good plans.
"Gotta say, Berry. I'm likin' the don't-fuck-with-me attitude," Santana casually commented.
"Why, thank you, Santana," Rachel drawled huskily. "I must admit-the release it provides is quite satisfying." Kurt and Mercedes both twisted around in surprise at the blatant innuendo dripping from Rachel's honey-smooth voice. "I can definitely see the attraction," Rachel continued with a sultry half-smile aimed at Santana, who for her part looked stunned.
"Ah…yeah…a-attraction," Santana stuttered.
Kurt glanced over to evaluate Quinn's reaction, only to see her still carelessly leaning into Sam, face calm and unaffected. What the hell?
"I have to confess," Rachel added flirtatiously, leaning closer to the Santana. "I have always found your approach to life very, very appealing." She trailed a finger lightly over Santana's tanned arm, and Santana actually blushed a little. "And I think you could…teach me a few things," Rachel finished suggestively.
Kurt saw Santana's gaze dip to Rachel's lips in obvious consideration and he cringed. "Ay, dios, you're good," she finally conceded.
Rachel smirked, "You have no idea."
"Yeah, I could have lived without hearing any of that, thanks," Mercedes complained.
Kurt looked over Quinn's serene expression, then frowned unhappily at Rachel. "This is just so wrong."
She shrugged, "I'm just embracing the new me."
"But yesterday…"
"Don't go there," she warned him again.
Mr. Schuester breezed in to the room (late as usual) and Kurt was obligated to face forward again. The teacher started to talk about finalizing a list of songs for Regionals, throwing out his top contenders. Kurt attempted to concentrate on the debates going on around him, but he really just wanted to know what had happened between Quinn and Rachel last night that had resulted in the complete lack of interest they were showing in one another.
"…and Quinn suggested that we have auditions this time for the featured vocalists," Mr. Schuester was saying.
"Wait…Quinn suggested?" Rachel asked incredulously.
"Yes, Rachel. She approached me this morning with the idea."
"And such an original idea," she mocked.
"Please, like you were really going to bring it up. You're such a self-centered little diva," Quinn fired back.
"Okay, both of you stop. We're not doing this again," Mr. Schue admonished them. "It doesn't matter whose idea it was, it's a good one. Now Quinn has already expressed an interest in auditioning for As Long As You're Mine."
Rachel gasped, "Mr. Schuester, I must object. My voice is far better suited to that song."
"Oh my God. Will you just shut up?" Quinn hissed, finally turning in her seat to glare back at Rachel with cold eyes. "No one cares what you think."
"Quinn, Rachel has every right to audition, too," he pointed out.
"And I will be doing so," she boldly announced. "If you feel confident enough to test your thin, bubblegum pop style against my years of extensive vocal training, Quinn, then I welcome the challenge."
"I'm weirdly turned on right now," Santana muttered looking at Rachel with almost reluctant admiration.
Rachel smiled at her, "I'm flattered, Santana, and may I say, you should consider auditioning as well. I would welcome some real competition."
"Why don't you two just sing it together? You can take the male lead, Berry," Quinn sneered back at them.
"That actually isn't a bad idea," Rachel said mildly.
"Okay, that's it," Mr. Schue growled, waving his hands in the air. "I'm posting a sign-up sheet at lunch today. Auditions start tomorrow." He shook his head in frustration. "Now…get to class, guys."
"C'mon, Sam," Quinn urged, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the choir room without a second glance back in Rachel's direction.
Rachel stood and smoothed out her skirt. "If you'll excuse me, I really need to discuss an equation with Mr. Landry prior to first period. He never seems to have time to answer my questions during class," she said with a frown before disappearing out the door.
"I just don't get girls," Finn muttered to himself as watched his ex-girlfriend leave.
Santana snorted, "No kidding," and Finn shot her a glare as he grabbed his bag and left.
Kurt dropped his head into his hands. "What just happened?"
Mercedes wrapped her arm around him again, giving him a comforting squeeze. "Maybe it's just not meant to be, Kurt. I mean, Quinn can be pretty harsh, and Rachel is…well," she shrugged, "still Rachel."
"Okay, no, that Berry," Santana argued with raised brows, "so not the annoying little troll version. I could totally be down with her if she was like that all the time."
"And she's a really good kisser, too," Brittany added thoughtlessly.
Santana's head whipped over to the girl with a scowl, "Excuse me, what?"
"You kissed Rachel?" Artie squeaked, and everyone turned to look at him in shock, not having realized he was still in the room until that moment.
"Oh, no," Kurt muttered under his breath, feeling a wave of guilt crash over him. He'd been so obsessed with his scheming that he hadn't stopped to consider Artie's feelings for a moment. Just like he hadn't considered Finn or Sam.
"Um…yeah, yesterday" Brittany admitted, "but it didn't really count."
Artie looked at her incredulously. "You kissed someone who isn't me! How does that not count?" he wanted to know.
"Because it was totally just making out, not like, actual feelings or anything," Brittany reasoned. "Kissing only counts as cheating if it's with Santana."
"You're kissing her, too?"
"No…not since we got together," she vowed, taking his hand. "I swear."
Artie stared at her for a moment, then looked up at Santana, who for her part was leaning forward in her chair and watching Brittany intently. He sighed, and looked back at his girlfriend. "But you have feelings for her," he stated softly.
Brittany glanced briefly over at Santana, then nodded, "I'm sorry… I really, really care about you, Artie."
He pulled his hand away, and started wheeling toward the door. "I…I need to be alone."
"Wait, are you breaking up with me?" she asked him sadly.
He paused, quietly told her "I don't know," and rolled out of the room.
"Brit…" Santana began, but Brittany shot her a hard glare.
"I'm still mad at you."
Tina leaned forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Brittany. Artie is a really understanding guy. I'm sure he'll forgive you."
"So didn't see that coming," Mercedes admitted.
"Man, Berry's scoring with all the hot chicks," Puck said in awe. "Maybe I should make her my wingman."
"No!" they all shouted.
Kurt pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head. "This is such a mess." All he'd wanted to do was orchestrate a perfectly romantic union between two horribly repressed lesbians so that they'd both stop driving everyone around them crazy with their unresolved sexual tension! Was that too much to ask?
"I knew agreeing to this was a bad idea," Tina told them.
"See, this is why I didn't get involved. You guys should never have messed with Rachel and Quinn."
Kurt lifted his head at the sound of the new voice. "Mike?"
Mercedes leaned closer and asked, "When did we invite him into the club?"
Mike looked at them all in disappointment and explained, "Tina and I don't keep secrets from one another."
Puck snorted, raised his fist and made a flicking motion. "You are so freaking whipped, dude."
Kurt stood from his chair and turned to face them all. "Okay, you know what…we've come too far to let one little setback stop us."
"Oh, give it up, Rainbow. It's way more than one setback."
"Yeah, I hate to agree with Santana," Mercedes began, casting a quick disdainful look back in the girl's direction, "like really, really hate it, but I think maybe we're just making things worse now."
"I'm not having fun anymore," Brittany complained with a pout.
Tina gave her shoulder another squeeze. "And Quinn doesn't seem like she's planning to break up with Sam anytime soon."
"As smokin' hot as they'd be together, they're both seriously scary when they're pissed," Puck reminded them with a shudder.
"So you're all just throwing in the towel?" Kurt huffed, hands on his hips. "Just like that?"
"Sorry, Kurt," Mercedes shrugged. "I mean, we tried, right?"
"But they were so close."
Everyone shot apologetic looks in his direction as they started for their next class. Mike and Tina left holding hands, and Puck swaggered out behind Mercedes. Santana cut off Brittany's retreat at the door, quietly asking, "Can we talk? Please?" When Brittany finally nodded, she tentatively hooked their pinkies together and gently guided her out of the choir room.
Kurt sank back down into has abandoned chair. Well, at the very least, maybe Brittany and Santana would finally work out whatever it was they actually were to one another-even if they so weren't the couple he'd been aiming for when he'd gotten the bright idea to play cupid. He just didn't understand what could have happened to undo all of the progress his girls had made. Yesterday Rachel had been on the verge of declaring her love for Quinn, and Quinn had seemed more than receptive, but today they were back to bitching at one another. And Kurt was damn well going to find out which one of them had screwed it up!
•••
Once she was clear of the choir room, Quinn dragged Sam by his hand down the hall and around the corner before she stopped, collapsed back against the wall and gave in to her mad urge to giggle. Sam was looking at her like she'd lost her mind, and it only made her laugh harder. Clutching at her side, she struggled to regain her composure.
"Okay, I think maybe you enjoyed that a little too much," Sam observed.
"I can't help it," she finally managed, "did you see Santana's face? And poor Kurt looked like he wanted to cry. It was priceless."
"Remind me to never get on your bad side."
She squeezed his hand and smiled up at him. "Thanks for playing along, Sam."
"No problem," he told her with a boyish grin just as Rachel turned the corner and caught sight of the friendly scene. She flashed them an annoyed expression, let out a little huff, and marched past them to the end of the hall before ducking into the girls' bathroom. "Uh…I thought you guys were just pretending to fight."
Quinn swallowed heavily, still staring after her unofficial girlfriend, "Yeah, me too," she muttered distractedly, already moving away from Sam.
She replayed their argument n her mind as she followed Rachel-pre-approved minor cuddling with Sam, (very reluctantly) sanctioned flirting with Santana, staged animosity over a solo, acceptable insults to Rachel's divatude and Quinn's vocal range-nothing that they hadn't agreed to beforehand. Although, Quinn hadn't exactly enjoyed how comfortable Rachel had seemed coming on to Santana, or that she still actually believed that kissing Brittany had ever been a good idea. The whole thing just solidified Quinn's commitment to making damn sure that she was the only girl on whom Rachel would be testing out her newly embraced sexuality from now on.
Entering the bathroom, she saw Rachel touching up her lip-gloss in the mirror, and a cursory glance around revealed that they were alone except for a couple of lingering freshmen. She put a hand on her hip and tossed a cold glare at the other girls, who quickly finished up and scurried out. Rachel barely looked her way, just recapped her gloss and started fussing with her hair.
Quinn paced along the row of stalls, giving each door a gentle push to make sure they really were alone before she came to stand behind Rachel, meeting her eyes in the mirror with concern. "Okay, what am I missing? Because I thought we were on the same page about the…"
Her words were abruptly halted when Rachel executed a graceful pirouette and pressed those heavenly lips over hers. Quinn's arms automatically looped around her narrow waist and pulled the girl closer as she eagerly responded to the kiss, moaning in protest when Rachel pulled her mouth away far too soon.
"Not that I'm complaining," she breathed against a soft cheek, "but didn't we decide on no PDAs at school?"
"This isn't exactly public," Rachel pointed out, but she still gently extricated herself from Quinn's arms, "and I couldn't resist the temptation."
"Yeah, I'm pretty irresistible," she said with a saucy grin. "So, did our little band of merry mischief makers drill you for information after I left?"
Rachel giggled, "No, I didn't stay to give anyone the opportunity, but I'm certain Kurt will spend the majority of second period questioning me."
"How long to you want to keep up the act?" Quinn asked, feeling a just a little bit guilty about playing with their friends. Well, maybe just about Kurt. He was a decent enough guy, and he'd been a better friend to Rachel lately than anyone else had. Then again, he should also have known better than to try and force someone to deal with their sexuality before they were ready.
"Not long," Rachel said thoughtfully, a teasing little smile curving her lips beautifully when she confessed, "While I do find our verbal sparring matches strangely arousing, I don't relish the idea of deceiving our fellow glee clubbers indefinitely."
"You seemed pretty okay about messing with Santana," she muttered.
"Were you jealous?" Rachel asked eagerly, not even attempting to appear contrite.
"Yes."
"You did a commendable job of hiding it," Rachel informed her, reaching out to trace a finger lightly across Quinn's forearm and leaving a trail of gooseflesh in her wake.
Quinn sighed and gave in to her need to touch Rachel again, unusually careless to the possibility of getting caught as she rested her hands on Rachel's waist and pulled her closer. Not reacting to Rachel and Santana had been pure torture. All she'd wanted to do was turn around and slap that fascinated look off of Santana's face and growl mine, but she'd managed to behave. "Only because I know even you're not crazy enough to actually go there with her."
Rachel frowned, even as she curled her palms over Quinn's shoulders. "I think that might have been a backhanded compliment, however I should remind you that I am apparently crazy enough to go there with you."
"No, you're just crazy about me," she emphasized with a quick peck to Rachel's lips.
"True enough," she admitted softly, returning the chaste kiss.
Quinn reluctantly let go of Rachel's waist and put a respectable distance between them. No doubt the fact that they were both already late for first period was the only reason they'd been lucky enough not to have been discovered already. "So, you…me…the choir room…lunch?"
"Was there supposed to be a question hidden in there?" Rachel prissily wondered out loud.
Quinn snorted, then shook her head and adopted a perfectly serious expression as she formally asked, "Rachel Berry, will you please have lunch with me today?"
Instead of the eager agreement she'd been expecting, she got a contemplative frown and another question. "Won't our mutual absences be deemed suspicious?"
She shrugged. "I'll tell Sam to make himself scarce to divert attention. But do you really think you can make it through Kurt's cross examination without spilling everything?"
Rachel folded her arms beneath her lovely breasts and glared up at Quinn. "I don't know what you mean. I am a highly skilled actress," she insisted.
Except when she wasn't, but Quinn knew better than to bring up some of her more lackluster performances, so she tactfully pointed out, "But you're a horrible liar, baby."
Rachel's annoyance instantly disappeared, and her arms fell limply to her sides. "Baby?" she whispered, then cleared her throat and swallowed thickly. "I see we've moved on to endearments already."
Quinn bit her lip nervously. The term had just sort of slipped out without her realizing it, and now she was worried that it was too soon. "Do you…do you not like it?"
Rachel shook her head, and Quinn felt her heart drop-at least until Rachel eyes started to glisten and she smiled adoringly up at her. "I love it."
I love you, Quinn thought but didn't say. It really was too soon for that. "So, do I get an answer to my question?"
"Which one? I think I've lost track."
"Lunch?" Quinn reminded her indulgently.
Rachel bounced up onto her toes, hands on Quinn's shoulders and kissed her thoroughly before spinning away with a giggle. "Consider it a date," she called back as she skipped out the door, leaving the suddenly hot and bothered Quinn behind.
Oh, yeah, Berry was so getting paid back for that at lunch today, and Quinn was going to enjoy every minute.
•••
Rachel was late. She'd gone close to two weeks without receiving a slushie shower and, of course, today would be the day her streak ended. One of the cretins from the hockey team whose name escaped her-because really, they were all fairly interchangeable as far as personality and intelligence-had been bored, and she'd found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was trying not to take it as a sign from above that her fledgling romance with Quinn was destined for failure. Perhaps karma had simply decided to bite her in the ass for misrepresenting the results of their rendezvous last night.
As expected, Kurt had begged and whined and cajoled in an attempt to discover what had happened, but Rachel effectively silenced him with a pointed reminder that what he was asking was very personal and private and not to be eavesdropped upon by twenty-three of their shamelessly capricious classmates. He'd reluctantly agreed that perhaps it was not the best time or place for revealing such details, and he dropped the subject until the end of class, when he demanded that she explain at lunch what was going on. She failed to tell him that she had prior arrangements for obvious reasons, and apparently, a lime slushie to the face just before she planned to meet Quinn had been her punishment. She really hated lime.
She'd rushed to her locker, grabbed her emergency kit and fired off a quick text to Quinn explaining that she was unavoidably delayed. She did not say why. Rachel didn't know whether she was more worried that the cheerleader would overreact, in either anger or misplaced guilt, or fail to react at all. The latter would disappoint her terribly, so it was highly probable that she had already placed unreasonable expectations on the girl in regards to their relationship-much as she had done previously with…
"Finn!"
The boy's sudden appearance in front of her as she headed for the choir room startled Rachel so badly that she literally jumped and pressed a hand over her racing heart.
"Hey, Rachel. Can we…um…talk?"
She took a deep breath as she gazed up into Finn's hopeful eyes. "Now's really not the best time, Finn," she told him apologetically, glancing past him down the hall to the door that Quinn was waiting behind. Finn had been refusing to speak with her since their break-up, despite her desire to salvage their friendship, and he chose to approach her at the most inconvenient time.
He absently rubbed at the back of his neck and his cheeks tinted pink. Urging her over toward the wall, he leaned over her and said, "Please. I just feel really bad about everything and I…I know I acted like a jerk. Puck told me what you guys were really talking about that day and I…I should have trusted you. I'm really sorry, Rach."
She sighed, biting her tongue to keep from snippily agreeing that, yes, he should have trusted her. "I accept your apology, Finn, and I hope that we can put this unfortunate affair behind us and continue on as friends," but not today, please.
"I was kind of hoping we could be more than that. I really miss you," he said with a small smile as he reached for her hand and entwined their fingers.
Oh, no.
Rachel shook her head and gently extricated her hand. "No, Finn. I think we've expended all of our chances at a romantic relationship. We're just not meant to be."
He frowned down at her. "But I still love you, and I know you still love me."
She wrapped her arms around herself and worried her lip. She hadn't been prepared for this yet. She truly didn't want to hurt Finn, but she knew she had to make him understand that there really was no chance of them ever getting back together. Even if she wasn't in lov-in a brand new, very committed, unexpectedly intimate relationship with Quinn, she would never want to fall back into the same old pattern with Finn. They really did work so much better as friends.
"I care about you, Finn. I always will, but you can't deny that we haven't really been happy together since last summer. We just don't work as a couple."
"That's not true," he argued, "we were fine until I got jealous of you and Puck, and now I know I shouldn't have been. Puck's totally not into you that way."
Rachel frowned at his phrasing. As if Noah's lack of interest made all the difference. Really? She wondered how Finn would react when he found out just who it was that he'd really had a reason to be jealous over.
"We were not fine, Finn," she informed him patiently. "We were barely holding on to something that was over long before Christmas because we couldn't let go of the idea of us." She reached out and took his hand again, giving it a friendly squeeze. "You were the first person who ever really wanted to be my friend, and I think maybe I was one of the first to really believe that you can be so much more than just another jock with big dreams and limited opportunities. It felt good to have that connection, and we both wanted it to lead somewhere, but everything that makes our friendship so wonderful just ends up hurting us whenever we try to be more. You end up disappointing me and I end up embarrassing you."
"You don't embarrass me," he offered half-heartedly.
She smiled up at him. "I do, but it's okay. Friends can be embarrassed by one another, and disappointed in one another, and walk away for a little while and then forgive one another and move on. That's what I'm doing, Finn. I'm moving on. I still believe in you, but I need to let go of the unreasonable expectations that I placed on you as my romantic lead. You deserve someone who can love you unconditionally," she told him honestly, even as her thoughts drifted to Quinn, "and so do I."
Finn looked down at their joined hands, then back up into Rachel's eyes. "You're really over me, aren't you?" he asked quietly.
Rachel held his gaze steadily. "I am." Placing her free hand on his chest, she gently told him, "I'm so sorry, Finn."
"I'm not over you," he admitted, and she dropped her hand and averted her eyes.
"Finn…"
"Don't worry," he cut her off, "I'm not gonna try to convince you to take me back, or sing to you in glee, or get all possessive if you start dating some other guy." Rachel swallowed heavily, knowing that there wouldn't be any other guy. "I'm just gonna try and be your friend again, and hopefully someday you'll realize that we really do belong together."
"Finn, please, I don't want you to hold on to false hope."
"You can't say it's false," he insisted, claiming both her hands and holding on. "You don't know what might happen."
It was true, but she had a fairly good idea of what she wanted to happen, and, sadly, Finn was no longer part of her big picture. "You're right," she admitted, "but neither do you. You may come to realize that everything I've said is true and find that you have, in fact, moved on."
He smiled wryly, "Maybe. But then we'll still be friends, right?"
Rachel smiled, too. "Always."
Finn nodded and his grip on her hands started to go lax for a second, but then he moved closer and bent down to press a chaste kiss to her cheek. Rachel closed her eyes and felt the moisture gather behind her lids. No matter what else came to pass, Finn Hudson would always be her first love, and this moment felt more like closure on that chapter of her life than anything else ever had.
"See you later, Rach," he whispered, and finally let her go.
"Goodbye, Finn," she whispered to herself as she watched him walk away. Finally feeling settled about Finn, she smiled and turned around, determined to at least spend what was left of lunch with Quinn, only to falter after the first step. Standing there not ten feet from her was the girl in question, arms crossed protectively over her stomach and eyes wide and wounded.
Rachel instantly realized exactly how that scene with Finn might have looked, and she moved forward hoping to explain. "Quinn," she began, but Quinn shook her head, spun on her heel and sprinted away. "Damn it," she growled, and took off after Quinn.
Chapter Twenty-Three