Ways in which I think will win your heart
Title: Ways in which I think will win your heart.
Author: slip_into you
Rating: PG-13
Length: 5000+
Spoilers: All of Season 1, I guess.
Disclaimer: I own a lot of things, however, I do not own glee. If I did Faberry would've happened since the very first episode.
Summary: Written for the prompt over at rq_meme: Quinn develops a crush on Rachel, but Rachel dismisses it, thinking it's just another attempt at baiting her so that Quinn can tear her down. Cue Quinn going all "Love Dare" and doing 1 sweet/romantic thing every day, till she makes up for all the crap she put Rachel through, and Rachel finally melts. Gifts in locker, mixtapes, something Streisand-related, random "You're beautiful" thrown in at awkward moments...
For everyone, emotions are unpredictable. They are controlled by the amygdala, a nut sized structure within the temporal lobe of the brain. It plays a vital role in mediating emotions such as love, friendship, affection and the expression of mood (rage, anger, pain, fear, happiness). It’s so unpredictable that those emotions appear at certain times and elicit certain feelings that cannot be controlled. However, at a certain point, Quinn Fabray had wished that maybe if she did enough damage to that area of the brain, these emotions will disappear and she will no longer be able to feel anything. She had developed feelings for a certain brunette named Rachel Berry, who could possibly win the title for worst fashion sense of the century, and she could not fathom why that brunette made her eyes lit up whenever she walked into a room or her stomach feel sensations she thought only aliens could feel.
It was English class and she watched Rachel rummage through her bag for a pencil. Rachel uses pencil to write her answers before using a pen to write over her previous work because she doesn’t like using liquid paper. After a few more minutes, Rachel sighs in frustration and pouts in her spot, no doubt angry at herself for not being prepared. Quinn leans over and hands her the pencil she was holding, Rachel beams a smile and all Quinn could do is blush and look away, her heart pounding in her chest.
Today would be the day.
After class, she watches Rachel walk to her locker to get her books for her next class - Math. She packs a calculator, her trigonometry set and opens a new pack of pencils which she keeps for emergencies.
Quinn takes a deep breath and tries to calm her pounding heart, then walks up to the brunette who seems startled to see her. “Hey, Rach,”
“Uh... Hi, Quinn,” she scans her eyes around the hallway. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, it’s just, you know... You’re talking to me in public,”
Quinn winces, biting her bottom lip. She was not expecting Rachel to question her in that way. “I’ve talked to you before,”
“The only time you’ve said anything to me is to insult me or start some kind of throw down. Well, you did talk to me during that Physics assignment, but that’s not considered talking because -”
“You did most of the talking,” Quinn finished. She didn’t mind listening to Rachel chatter continuously because after having spent such a long time examining the brunette, she can now block out her words by concentrating on her facial features, after all, they were cute.
“Right,” Rachel closed her locker and walked off, Quinn followed behind.
“Listen, Rach. I know this is sort of out of the blue. I’ve been thinking a lot about - a lot of things,” Quinn’s palms began to sweat and she wiped them on her jeans. “I was just - wondering... I mean, I don’t really know if you’re interested but I figured I’d give it a shot because... I can’t - stop thinking about yo - about, these things. And well... “
Rachel stopped suddenly and Quinn turned to face the girl for the first time during her speech. “My classroom is here,”
“Oh,”
“Can we talk later?”
“Willyougoonadatewithme?” she said quickly.
“What?”
Quinn sighed heavily. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“Um... What?”
“I said it as slow as I could,” she pointed out.
Rachel looked around the now empty hallway, Quinn wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she seemed like she couldn’t stand still. “Am I dreaming?”
“I don’t understand,” Quinn said furrowing her eyebrows.
“I’m sleep walking, aren’t I?”
Quinn furrowed her eyebrows further in confusion. “It’s around 11:00 AM. You’re awake and in school,”
“Did Santana put you up to this?” she asked.
Quinn began to fidget with her books and was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable. This wasn’t how she had planned it in her head. “No, it’s all me,”
“It’s one of your Cheerios pranks?”
“Rachel, I’m trying to ask you out,”
“So you can humiliate me?”
“No, of course not. Why would I do that?” At this point, Quinn didn’t know why she had thought this would be a good idea.
Rachel straightened her stance and bought her books to the front of her chest. “Because, Quinn, you’ve never liked me. And now all of a sudden you’re asking me out? How do you know I even like girls? What makes you think I’ll even say yes? You’ve tortured me since freshman year and it’s not something I’m going to forget right away,”
Quinn cringed at the memories flashing through her mind of the times she tortured Rachel and felt a knife had been stabbed to her heart. “Rach, I know I’ve hurt you. But I’ve changed. I really do like you, I don’t even know how it happened. But I can’t stop thinking about you and if you give me a chance I’ll prove -”
“I don’t think so, Quinn. We’re never gonna work as a couple. We don’t even work as friends. Also, I don’t believe you,” she pushed past Quinn and entered her classroom. Quinn wasn’t able to stop her because she was still trying to process the girl’s words.
//
During Spanish, Quinn couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Rachel and her words and the way they affected her. She has never been good at courting anyone, she was Quinn Fabray after all, people courted her. The fact that the brunette thought she had other motives was more painful than anything else.
“So what if she didn’t believe you? Make her,” Santana said while scribbling on her book.
Brittany was sitting beside her. “Yeah, Quinn, charm her with your... Charm?” she turned to Santana. “S, what does this mean?”
Instead of explaining the question to Brittany, she snatched the girl’s paper and wrote the answer for her. “Buy her flowers, leave her notes, sing her a song, romantic gestures. Win her over. Just do it already so you can stop being all glum and making me sick,”
Brittany beamed brightly when Santana had answered all the questions on her paper. “I knew making you take this class with me was a good idea. I think it’s one of my best ideas,” she turned her attention to Quinn. “You can do it, Q. You’ll make such a cute couple,”
Thus, started Quinn Fabray’s quest to win Rachel Berry’s heart.
//
Later that afternoon, Quinn took off to the florist during lunch and bought a single, bright, red rose, which she picked out herself. With Santana’s help, she left it with a note in Rachel’s locker. It took her five minutes to decide on the perfect words to match the perfect rose because she didn’t want to sound too corny, but also sweet. Finally, she settled on: I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you. Will you go out on a date with me?
Quinn watched from afar as Rachel opened her locker, her eyes shot wide in shock at the sight of the rose, but then furrowed in confusion as she read the note. Her eyes scanned around the hallway until they met Quinn’s beaming smile and bright eyes, but only to crush her hopes when Rachel’s eyes told her she wasn’t amused. Rachel shook her head, closed her locker and walked off.
Quinn later became aware that Rachel didn’t take the rose with her, but also didn’t throw it away.
//
The next day, Quinn bought two roses and with Santana’s help, she put them in Rachel’s locker next to the previous rose she had bought for the girl, and wrote on a note: I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done to you. Will you go out on a date with me?
She watched during second period from afar as Rachel’s eyes shot wide in shock at the sight of the rose, but she didn’t furrow them in confusion afterwards. She simply read the note, scanned her eyes until she met Quinn’s hopeful ones, only to crush them again by shaking her head and walking off.
All day Quinn kept her distance from Rachel and feeling miserable for herself.
//
She was determined to win Rachel’s heart and she knew three roses would do the trick. Everyone loves roses, it’s the symbol of love, Quinn just took a while to realize that she needed more than one rose in order to win someone’s heart. Again with Santana’s help, she placed the three roses next to the previous three she had bought for Rachel and left it atop her neatly lined books with a note: I cannot establish how really sorry I am for everything I’ve done to you. Will you go out on a date with me?
That day, Rachel didn’t open her locker until lunch, but when she did, Quinn watched as she read the note but didn’t scan her eyes around the hallway for the blonde. She simply took all six roses and walked off. Quinn’s stomach began to churn with hope.
Rachel placed the six roses on Quinn’s table at the cafeteria and stood in front of her with her arms crossed. Quinn swallowed hard because this wasn’t the image she had wanted to see from someone who accepted her offer for a date. “I don’t like flowers, Quinn. It’s sad when they die. I’d rather you had got me fake ones instead and donated these to a conscious charity of your choice, at least they would enjoy it and not watch it get thrown away,” before she walked off, she turned around and said. “The answer’s still no,”
Apparently, everyone who is normal loves roses. And Rachel Berry isn’t normal. Quinn should’ve known this from the beginning, having watched her for so long and being in her presence every time she did anything peculiar and out of this world.
//
After the rose debacle, Quinn was out of ideas. Every time anyone tried to flatter her, they’d give her flowers and chocolate, but Rachel was a vegan so she couldn’t give the girl chocolate and she was in no mood to search for vegan made chocolate. Also, this was Rachel, she had to think outside the square.
Santana’s ideas for a romantic gesture included: “Buy her a slushie and pretend to throw it at her, only to say ‘see, I have changed’”, “lock her in the janitor’s closet until she agrees to go on a date with you”, “I’ll threaten her for you. I know she’s scared of me” and “just do what I did to win Brittany and make out with her in public.”
It was Brittany’s simple idea which gave hope to Quinn’s triple crushed heart: “Be nice to her.”
Quinn set out to work. She could be nice, even though sometimes being nice to Rachel needed to be forced, that’s only because years of insults has programmed her brain to let her tongue slip whenever she was with Rachel, but now she needed to re-program that brain and be nice.
She spotted Rachel in the distance of the hallway and walked up to her, inhaling deeply before pulling her in lightly for a hug. Rachel was stiff at first, but relaxed after a while and Quinn could swear that Rachel nuzzled her face into the crook of Quinn’s neck. It was nice hugging Rachel. She was warm and soft, and she smelt like vanilla and doughnuts.
When Quinn pulled away, she couldn’t help but see the smile drop from Rachel’s face. “Can I carry your books?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m trying to be nice,” she snatched the books lightly away from the girl’s hands. “I’ll carry your bag, too.” Rachel only stared at her as Quinn took away her back pack. “Can I walk you to class?”
“We’re in the same class, Quinn,” she pointed out.
“Oh yeah, even better,” Quinn knew this, of course. But one of the elements of being nice was asking for permission.
Quinn didn’t know what Rachel had in her bag, but it felt like bricks. The walk to their classroom was a short distance and once the bag was off her shoulder, she felt a huge weight had been lifted. No wonder Rachel was so short. If she had been carrying a bag like that for years, there was no way she could’ve grown.
Quinn did the next nicest thing she knew and pulled out a chair for Rachel. “Sit,” she said happily.
“I sit at the front,” she said softly.
Quinn was a little disappointed because she should’ve known this also. She quickly went to Rachel’s regular seat and did the same. Rachel thanked her and sat down, while Quinn sat behind her and concentrated on the back of Rachel’s head for forty-five minutes, smiling to herself.
After class, before Rachel could reach for her bag, Quinn hoisted it on her shoulder and took her books in her hands. “I’ll carry them for you,”
“You really don’t have to,” she said.
“I want to. To be nice,”
Rachel didn’t say anything else to her for the rest of the day. Quinn carried her bag and books to all her classes, pulling out a chair every time and would leave. She was outside Rachel’s door the moment the bell rang and resumed carrying her bag and books.
In glee, Rachel lectured the group about certain song choices they have chosen to sing for Regionals and none of those choices were adequate for them to win. The group emitted noises of anger and snickers. Quinn stood up and said, “You’re beautiful, Rach. I agree with what you’re saying,” and sat back down.
Rachel didn’t say a word after that and took her seat furthest away from Quinn, who was upset at the distance Rachel had put between them.
At the end of the day, Quinn asked, “Will you go out on a date with me?”
Rachel sighed, retrieving her bag and books from the blonde’s grip. “I knew you had a motive for being nice,”
Quinn was a little confused because why else would she be so nice to Rachel unless she didn’t have a motive? “So that’s a -”
“No,”
“Why not? I was nice today,”
“Today. Just today. Not tomorrow, not three weeks ago or a month ago. And the fact that you only wanted to be nice to get me to agree to date you is basically like bribing,”
Quinn snickered. “Bribing involves money and valuable possessions,” then she added. “Will you go on a date with me if I actually did bribe you?”
“See you tomorrow, Quinn,”
When Rachel walked passed her, Quinn saw a small smirk forming on her lips.
//
Quinn had never made a mix tape before, these days it was all about illegal downloading and CDs. She had a hard time finding a tape recorder and she wasn’t even sure if Rachel had a cassette player, or if anyone still used cassette players. But the internet recommended a tape because it was more romantic and traditional.
It took her two hours to find romantic love songs that not only would please Rachel, but also express her feelings. Then it took her another three hours to figure out how to record it onto a tape. Once she was finished, she was glad that we now live in the twentieth century where technology was much easier to comprehend.
The next day at school, Quinn handed Rachel the mix tape. “I made it for you,”
“A mix tape? We live in the twentieth century, Quinn,”
“I know. But the internet said tapes would be more romantic,”
“You search on the internet for romantic gestures?”
Quinn dismissed her statement. “Just listen to it. Please,”
Rachel examined the tape in her hand as if it was a diamond she’d never seen before. “I don’t even think I have a cassette player,”
“It’s okay, you can use mine,” Quinn pulled out the cassette player she had in her bag and showed it to Rachel. It wasn’t big, but it was heavy and anyone would be embarrassed to carry it around.
“Uh... What am I supposed to do with it?”
Quinn sighed. “Rachel, you were around when cassette players were still popular.”
“I was probably seven or eight and doing better things rather than sit around playing with that. I had dance lessons, vocal lessons, karate lessons, Survival Camp. I spent a lot of time outdoors,”
Quinn rolled her eyes and replaced the player in her bag. “I’ll put it in my locker and after school I’ll carry it to your car,” she waited for Rachel to respond but the brunette continued to examine the tape. She took Rachel’s books and bag and said, “I’ll carry those for you,”
Instead of waiting for the school day to end, Rachel insisted that she listen to the mix tape during her free period. She took the cassette player from Quinn’s locker and sat in the choir room, while Quinn, who didn’t have a free period, had to wait impatiently in class for Rachel’s response.
She didn’t see the brunette until the end of the day when the girl waited beside her car. Rachel had a blank expression on her face and Quinn’s heart began pounding. She worked hard on that mix tape, it was one of the cheesiest things she’s ever done.
“I Do, Cherish You? Really, Quinn?” Rachel’s voice wasn’t angry or upset, but rather amused. “Justin Bieber, Baby? This I promise you? And how is On Bended Knee a romantic song? That song’s depressing,”
The blush on Quinn’s cheeks was evident because Rachel raised her eyebrows waiting for an answer with a smile on her face. Quinn couldn’t look at her.
“It was a valiant effort. But it’s still a no,”
“What?! I worked hard on that. It took me five hours to put that together,”
Rachel began walking to her car. “You missed the whole point of a mix tape. Those songs were cheesy but they didn’t express your feelings,”
“I Do, Cherish You, did,” she said softly but wasn’t sure if Rachel heard her.
“Not to mention On Bended Knee shouldn’t even be in there at all. And you only made four songs,” she unlocked her car and opened the door. “Better luck next time, Quinn,”
Before Rachel drove off, Quinn watched a smile form on her lips and she couldn’t help but think she was getting somewhere.
//
Quinn sat through almost ten hours of watching Funny Girl later that night. She had to pause the movie several times in order to write down some of the most memorable scenes and dialogue in order to please Rachel with her vast amount of knowledge. She then did further research on the internet for facts about Barbra Streisand and jotted down essential information that Rachel might find interesting.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Quinn said brightly when she saw Rachel.
Rachel handed Quinn her folder of books and bag. “I’m guessing you’d want to carry this again today?”
Quinn was slightly disappointed Rachel wasn’t paying attention to her dialogue. She tried again, “Did you know that when Barbra won her Oscar for Funny Girl, ‘Hello gorgeous’ was the first words she said? Interesting, isn’t it, since it was the first words she uttered in the movie. Very elegant of her,”
Quinn couldn’t make out the expression on Rachel’s face and continued talking. “I have to say, my favorite scene in the movie was when Nick was ordering filet de beouf, sauce bordelaise, and Fanny said she would’ve ordered roast beef and potatoes and he simply said, I did.” Quinn had perfected her French by repeating those five words last night for half an hour. Every pronunciation had to be spot on, also because French accents were sexy and no one would be able to resist.
Rachel stood unmoving with her hand on the knob of the lock and was dumbfounded by Quinn’s words. Quinn scratched the back of her head feeling distressed. Was she saying the dialogue wrong? Was that even the right scene? She knew she should’ve read her notes before school to make sure everything was perfect. She lowered the bags she was holding and took out the paper in her pocket, skimming through it before meeting Rachel’s gaze, who didn’t seem to have shifted, or blinked.
She cleared her throat again. “Barbra’s won an EGOT, each more than once, well, except for a Tony, she was awarded a Special Tony Award. On top of that, she’s won an American Film Institute award and a Peabody Award. I have absolute faith that you’ll beat her in all categories,”
The bell rang signaling the start of first class and Quinn picked up hers and Rachel’s bag, but Rachel made no attempts to move. Quinn waved a hand in her face and that was the first time Quinn noticed Rachel blink. “I’ll walk you to class,”
Rachel nodded slowly trailing behind her, a wide grin formed on Quinn’s face. For ten minutes during that conversation, not once did Rachel say a word. She had left Rachel Berry speechless, how many people could say they’ve ever done that?
It was probably the two cups of coffee she had drank and she would later blame it on the high that it gave her because she felt pleased with herself and quite spontaneous. At lunch, she spotted Rachel as soon as the girl walked into the cafeteria, but Rachel didn’t notice her when she waved, and Quinn stood on the table, diverting the attention from everyone towards herself.
“Quinn! What are you doing?” Santana hissed.
Quinn waved a hand to silence her. “Rachel Berry, will you go out on a date with me?” she shouted from across the room.
Rachel froze and glanced around, everyone’s heads moved back and fourth from Quinn’s to hers, it was as if they were watching a tennis match. She blushed deeply and turned on her heel to walk out. Quinn chased after her, cornering her in the bathroom. She stood at the door just in case Rachel made any attempts to run away from her, but all she did was straighten out her hair with her fingers watching herself in the mirror.
“Well?” Quinn asked. She moved closer with every breath she took. “I really, really like you, Rach.” Another step closer. “This isn’t a joke, it’s not a prank. It’s just me wanting to take you out.” One last step and Quinn’s front was pressed against Rachel’s arm, she stroked the brunette’s cheek. Rachel turned to face her, there was softness in her eyes. “I’m taking this silence as a good sign. So I’m going to kiss you now to seal the deal,”
Rachel didn’t flinch and her eyes dropped to Quinn’s lips. Quinn licked her lips and slowly tilted her head lower. The only audible sound was the pounding in her heart which she knew Rachel could also hear. She closed her eyes as the tip of her nose brushed against Rachel’s and leaned in to ghost their lips before capturing -
“There you are!” Santana yelled. “What the hell was that?!”
Rachel gasped and jumped back, her hand clutching her chest and she took several breaths before pushing past Santana and ran out. Quinn called after her but she was too fast.
“That was not a romantic gesture,” Santana said obliviously. “It was more of an embarrassing gesture. Who does that these days? No wonder she ran away from you.” Santana recoiled when she noticed the fierce glare in Quinn’s eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I hate you right now,” she muttered through gritted teeth and left.
//
Seven days went by and Quinn was quickly running out of suggestions for romantic gestures she found on the internet. Just when she thought she had Rachel where she wanted her, Rachel didn’t answer any of her calls nor did she give Quinn an answer. Who would’ve thought courting someone would be such a hard task? Actually, courting anyone would be simple, flowers, chocolate, love hearts, anything would’ve worked. But this was Rachel, her impression of anything romantic involved ideas which were astronomical, exorbitant, cosmical.
“Quinn, would you like to read your speech to the class?” Mr. Stern asked during English the day after the weekend.
“Certainly,” she smiled and straightened herself before meeting Rachel’s eyes. “No words can explain my feelings for you, time spent with you is so fresh and so new, I want to move forward with you in my life, if I was for marriage, I’d want you as my wife. I cherish the passion we share, never would I leave you into the arms of another, feeling you next to me is immaculate conception, let’s just be done with all the lies and deception. I’m sorry I hurt you before; I don’t want to lose you. Keep me in your heart and I’ll always be true, put your trust in me and I will prove myself worthy. Baby, please don’t up and leave me in a hurry,”
Quinn folded the paper in her hands and kept her gaze on Rachel, the girl bit down on her bottom lip and her eyes remained on her lap. The class was silent, some people had their mouths opened in shock, some were wide eyed, and others glanced back and fourth between her and Rachel.
Finally, Mr. Stern spoke, breaking the silence. “That’s - that’s great, Quinn. Not what I had expected when I said write a speech on Shakespeare. But he was poetic, so I guess that was a good effort,”
At glee practice, Rachel was sitting quietly while everyone chattered amongst one another. All day she has continued her gestures of being nice by carrying Rachel’s books, her bag and pulling out a chair for her, and then running out of class to meet Rachel in front of her class so she could repeat the process. It became difficult at times when Quinn’s classroom was across the building from Rachel’s. Half the time, she was out of breath.
“I’d just like to say,” Quinn said walking towards Rachel. “That you’re beautiful. That is all,”
Santana sniggered and pretended to vomit. Brittany smiled brightly holding out her thumbs to congratulate Quinn. Everyone else stopped talking and focused their attention to the two girls, watching intently as Quinn shifted her chair closer to Rachel and sat quietly.
“I’m running out of ideas, Rach,” Quinn said once they reached Rachel’s car and she reclaimed her back pack and books. “I don’t know what else I can do,”
“Maybe you should stop?” Rachel said casually.
"Did you like my poem?
"You got that from the internet," she pointed out.
"How did you know?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Because I typed in a few words from the poem in Google and it led me to a cheesy site,"
Quinn heaved a sigh of distress and decided it was best to move on. “Will you go out on a date with me?”
All Rachel did was grin widely and got into her car, waving at Quinn before driving away.
//
Quinn didn’t do any romantic gestures the next day at school besides her usual carrying of Rachel’s books and bag, and pulling out a chair for her. She saved her romantic gesture for after school when she showed up on the singer’s doorstep, a board game in hand and fake flowers in the other.
Before Rachel could ask any questions, Quinn stepped inside her house. “I think we should play a board game. You like those, right? And I got you flowers,”
“Fake flowers,” Rachel said in delight. “Very sweet of you, Quinn,”
Quinn gleamed at those words and her eyes sparkled. “It’s scrabble, you like scrabble, right?”
“I have it at home,”
Quinn set the game on the floor and motioned for Rachel to sit down. “We’ll play with my version,”
Rachel didn’t have the heart to ask any questions and watched as Quinn prepared the game, facing the lettered tiles downwards before they both chose the letters one by one to determine who would go first. Ten minutes into the game, Rachel is up by thirty points and Quinn sat with her elbow on her knees, her chin on her palm, looking bored. Rachel began to question whether Quinn knew how to play at all.
“Water,” Rachel said, placing the letters on the board.
Quinn’s eyes lit up and she perked. “Will,” she said.
“Igloo,”
“You,”
“Yearn,”
“Go,”
“Green,”
“On,”
“Naughty,”
“A date,”
Quinn waited for Rachel to burst into a lecture about her lack of knowledge for the game. But Rachel simply continued. “Daylight,”
“With,”
“Hem,”
“Me,”
Seconds ticked by as Quinn observed Rachel fidgeting in her spot, her fingers twiddling in her lap, her eyes not wanting to meet Quinn’s. She bit her bottom lip and Quinn noticed she was trying to suppress a smile rather than feeling displeased. Then suddenly, she lifted the edge of the board and the letters tipped over. “You cheated.” With that, Rachel got up and left the house.
Quinn couldn’t figure out why, it was her house after all.
//
Serenading Rachel was her next romantic gesture. She left this to the end because it wasn’t something she was entirely comfortable with, but she was getting desperate, and she knew the brunette was starting to warm to her romantic methods because Rachel hadn’t said ‘no’ like she had during the beginning. In fact, she hasn’t said ‘no’ at all.
“Rachel,” she said during glee rehearsals. “I have a song I want to sing to you.” Everyone was silent. “But I need you to sing it with me,”
Rachel shook her head dramatically and Quinn was quite taken aback. The other kids were too because she heard Mercedes say, “Is she sick or something?”
“Please,” she said moving closer. “I need you,”
Rachel stood up forcefully and her chair fell back. “I don’t feel well,”
“Okay,” she said softly not wanting to push this any further. She turned to Santana. “S, you can sing it with me,”
“What? No way, Quinn,”
Quinn pulled her towards the door and hissed angrily. “You owe me for interrupting that moment I had with Rachel,”
Santana sighed in frustration snatching the music sheets out of Quinn’s hands. She gasped and turned to face the blonde. “This song? This lame cheesy song?”
Quinn ignored her and motioned for the band to start playing. She smiled happily, nodding at Santana to begin. “You’re the boy,”
Together, they sang the words, Santana feeling uncomfortable and refused to move from her seat. Brittany encouraged her by bouncing to the tune and humming softly, but she didn’t budge, while Quinn, stood in front of Rachel and held her gaze for as long as the song went on.
I finally found someone
That knocks me off my feet
I finally found the one
That makes me feel complete
This is it, oh I finally found someone
Someone to share my life
I finally found the one
To be with every night
'Cause whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone
And whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone
“Will you go on a date with me?”
Rachel opened her mouth to respond but breathes a sigh of relief when Mr. Schue enters the classroom. Quinn glared fiercely at him throughout the lesson. He tried his best not to meet her gaze, it was the angriest he had ever seen her and he began to wonder whether her pregnancy hormones had returned.
//
“I really don’t want to do this,” Santana said glancing at her outfit. “Haven’t I said sorry enough?”
“No,” Quinn said quickly. “Brittany’s enjoying it,”
Santana rolled her eyes. “Brittany enjoys everything,”
“She’s coming,” Brittany said from the doorway, then moved into her position beside Santana.
Rachel froze as soon as she stepped into the room, her eyes darting from Quinn to Santana to Brittany. Quinn was wearing a sleeveless dress, with a waistline around her hips, the skirt brushing just below her knees, longer in back than in front. Made of a soft, pale, gray fabric, the entire dress was embroidered with silver pearlike beads in a Deco-style floral pattern. Santana looked as if she had come straight out off the desert. Her boots were a faded black, her pants hugged to her body like a second skin, and her shirt was of the same brown as the boots, unadorned and opened at the throat. She wore her hat low over her eyes - she looked like a man. Brittany, however, was dressed in entirely different clothes from both girls. She was wearing a pink tutu dress with butterfly wings and holding a wand. A large rose atop her headband and sucking on a dummy.
“What is this?” Rachel asked, feeling a little concerned for herself.
Quinn pulled Rachel to sit on a chair and stood back in her position. “We’re going to act out a scene from Funny Girl. It’s your favorite movie. I’m gonna play Fanny, Santana is Nicky and Brittany is our daughter,”
Rachel giggled and the sound of her laughter sent warm shivers down Quinn’s spine.
“Let’s get this over with,” Santana yelled. “This is embarrassing already,”
“Can I record it?” Rachel asked.
“No!” Santana shrieked, snatching the phone out of her hand.
Quinn was beside her in an instant grabbing the phone away and handing it back to Rachel. “Of course you can,” Quinn glared at Santana. “Behave,”
They acted out the scene in which Nicky Arnstein wins a fortune while playing poker and agrees to marry Fanny. Quinn pretended to run around in chaos organizing wedding plans, while Santana ran around unenthusiastically talking to invisible people about her marriage to Fanny. Brittany cheered from the sidelines supporting Santana’s great acting skills.
Quinn: Where I come from, when two people… well, sort of love each other… oh, never mind.
Santana: Well? What do they do when they “sort of love each other”?
Quinn: Well, one of them says, “Why don’t we get married?”
Santana: Really?”
Quinn: Yeah, and sometimes it’s even the man.
They then act out the scene where the two newlyweds move into a new house, and Fanny falls pregnant - cue Brittany, acting as the baby who has just come out of Quinn’s womb. Rachel laughs when Brittany sucks on her thumbs and begins mumbling like a child and clinging onto Santana, repeating “Daddy, daddy.” Santana was not amused that her girlfriend was calling her by such a word.
Quinn carried Rachel’s books and bag as usual while walking out to their car. “That was really enjoyable,” Rachel’s brown eyes were calm and lightened. “I didn’t know you could act,”
A tingle traveled through her fingers as she reached out to grab Rachel’s hand. “Will you go out on a date with me now?”
Quinn withdrew her hand from Rachel’s grasp when the smile on her face faded and her eyes became unreadable, they were no longer calm and lightened. The only unchangeable reaction was the pounding in Quinn’s heart. If anything, it was louder and faster. “I have to go,” Rachel finally said. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
“Rach, if you go now, that’s it from me. I can’t keep doing this. I’ve proved myself, haven’t I? I’ve carried your books and bag for days, I ran across the school just to meet you in front of your classroom,” Quinn recalled with desperation in her voice. “I made you a mix tape that took me five hours, I watched Funny Girl for ten hours just so I could please you, I embarrassed myself standing on top of the cafeteria table asking you on a date, and I serenaded you with possibly the most cheesy love song,” she took a deep breath once she finished and bent her knees so she was at eye level with Rachel. “Not to mention what I did just now. Please,”
Rachel didn’t show any reactions, Quinn didn’t know what she had expected Rachel to do, but the least the brunette could have done was pull her into an embrace or show signs of liveliness in her eyes. Neither of those occurred. Rachel simply opened her car door and said, “I guess you can stop now,”
//
Quinn wasn’t at school the next day, Rachel knew why and all she could do was watch the clock tick by slowly as the day dragged out. She saw the way Quinn’s smile dropped when her answer wasn’t what the blonde expected, she saw the hurt in her eyes when Rachel showed no reaction to what she had said, and she could feel Quinn’s heart breaking into a million pieces as she drove off in her car. It was foolish of her to hurt Quinn that way, she had tried so hard for the past two weeks and had succeeded in gaining Rachel’s attention, even her heart.
The moment her locker slammed shut, her head snapped to the left and her eyes met Santana’s fury glare. “Listen up, Berry. I don’t know what is it about you that has Quinn going all gaga, but you made a big mistake yesterday.” As Rachel stepped back, Santana moved closer. “I do not dress up like a man in dirty clothes just so you can laugh at me later. Quinn organized the whole thing because she thought it would please you, and God knows why!”
“Look, Santana, I’m sorry you feel the way that you do but I have a pla -”
“Shut up! If she comes to school tomorrow with cow eyes that are red and swollen, you’re in big trouble,” she looked Rachel up and down one last time, no doubt wishing her fury glare would set Rachel on fire, and walked off.
The sun was long gone by the time Rachel parked her car on the curb at her destination. The night sky shone brightly above as the stars twinkled, the full moon smiling down at her and she looked up one last time to draw it’s energy in order to give her confidence in what she was about to do. She reached back to retrieve the pieces of cardboard she had prepared and set out to pursue a certain blonde.
Rachel didn’t know which window was Quinn’s, so she threw a rock to the window anyway hoping her psychic abilities would be in her favor. Six rocks later and possibly a now slightly damaged window, a head appeared but it wasn’t the blonde she was hoping for.
“Who’s there?” Quinn’s mother yelled from above.
Rachel hid behind a tree, the cardboard held tightly against her chest. Wrong window.
“Who’s there?” she yelled again. “I have a gun so don’t try anything stupid,”
When she heard the window close, she grabbed a few more rocks and set out to throw it at the next window. After three rocks and no movements, she walked over to the other side of the house. The two windows were pitch black, but the one on the right was emitting a small light from deep within, Rachel hoped this would be the correct one. Her heart leapt out of her chest when she noticed Quinn’s shadow in the distance.
“Okay, what the hell is -” Quinn stopped when she saw Rachel smiling down at her. “What the hell, Berry? My mom’s going crazy here running around with a gun that I didn’t even know she had. Haven’t you heard of ringing the door bell? Or calling?”
“Can you come down, please?” she begged, trying not to laugh at what Quinn had just said.
“Why?” Hurt was apparent in her voice.
“Please, I have something to show you,”
Quinn let out a loud grunt and shut her window fiercely. Rachel ran to the front of the house, standing a few feet away from the door, and taking deep breaths as she listened to the uneven beats of her heart.
Quinn opened the door a few seconds later. “This better be good,”
Rachel held the cardboard pieces to the front of her chest. Quinn read the first word written on it: Will. Rachel placed the second cardboard above it: You. Then the third: Go. Next, the fourth: Date. Then the fifth: A.
She detected confusion on Quinn’s face and looked down at her cardboard, they were in the wrong order. Quickly, she shuffled them back into place and resumed from the beginning. One by one, she slowly removed the pieces of cardboard revealing a different word which were now in the correct order: Will. You. Go. On. A. Date. With. Me?
Quinn walked down from her front door and closed the gap between her and Rachel until they were only centimeters apart. She had a smirk on her face. “You planned this all along, didn’t you?”
Rachel nodded happily at the thought she had succeeded in fooling Quinn. “Uh huh,”
“So you’re telling me, I wasted two weeks trying to woo you with the most cheesiest and most embarrassing gestures, when in the end you’re asking me on a date?”
“Did I woo you enough? Love Actually taught me how to do this,”
“I know,” Quinn said casually.
Rachel lowered her eyes and said shyly, “If your answer’s going to be a yes, I suggest you seal it with a kiss,”
Quinn did just that, capturing her lips in a soundless kiss. No coherent thought emerged from the jumble whirling about in Rachel's head. Everything about her simply came to a dead stop. Quinn’s lips were warm, soft and very persuasive.
Just as abruptly, Quinn broke the kiss and wrapped her arms around Rachel, pulling her tightly against her chest. She leaned down and whispered, “Maybe after a few more dates we could do more than kissing?”
Author: slip_into you
Rating: PG-13
Length: 5000+
Spoilers: All of Season 1, I guess.
Disclaimer: I own a lot of things, however, I do not own glee. If I did Faberry would've happened since the very first episode.
Summary: Written for the prompt over at rq_meme: Quinn develops a crush on Rachel, but Rachel dismisses it, thinking it's just another attempt at baiting her so that Quinn can tear her down. Cue Quinn going all "Love Dare" and doing 1 sweet/romantic thing every day, till she makes up for all the crap she put Rachel through, and Rachel finally melts. Gifts in locker, mixtapes, something Streisand-related, random "You're beautiful" thrown in at awkward moments...
For everyone, emotions are unpredictable. They are controlled by the amygdala, a nut sized structure within the temporal lobe of the brain. It plays a vital role in mediating emotions such as love, friendship, affection and the expression of mood (rage, anger, pain, fear, happiness). It’s so unpredictable that those emotions appear at certain times and elicit certain feelings that cannot be controlled. However, at a certain point, Quinn Fabray had wished that maybe if she did enough damage to that area of the brain, these emotions will disappear and she will no longer be able to feel anything. She had developed feelings for a certain brunette named Rachel Berry, who could possibly win the title for worst fashion sense of the century, and she could not fathom why that brunette made her eyes lit up whenever she walked into a room or her stomach feel sensations she thought only aliens could feel.
It was English class and she watched Rachel rummage through her bag for a pencil. Rachel uses pencil to write her answers before using a pen to write over her previous work because she doesn’t like using liquid paper. After a few more minutes, Rachel sighs in frustration and pouts in her spot, no doubt angry at herself for not being prepared. Quinn leans over and hands her the pencil she was holding, Rachel beams a smile and all Quinn could do is blush and look away, her heart pounding in her chest.
Today would be the day.
After class, she watches Rachel walk to her locker to get her books for her next class - Math. She packs a calculator, her trigonometry set and opens a new pack of pencils which she keeps for emergencies.
Quinn takes a deep breath and tries to calm her pounding heart, then walks up to the brunette who seems startled to see her. “Hey, Rach,”
“Uh... Hi, Quinn,” she scans her eyes around the hallway. “Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, it’s just, you know... You’re talking to me in public,”
Quinn winces, biting her bottom lip. She was not expecting Rachel to question her in that way. “I’ve talked to you before,”
“The only time you’ve said anything to me is to insult me or start some kind of throw down. Well, you did talk to me during that Physics assignment, but that’s not considered talking because -”
“You did most of the talking,” Quinn finished. She didn’t mind listening to Rachel chatter continuously because after having spent such a long time examining the brunette, she can now block out her words by concentrating on her facial features, after all, they were cute.
“Right,” Rachel closed her locker and walked off, Quinn followed behind.
“Listen, Rach. I know this is sort of out of the blue. I’ve been thinking a lot about - a lot of things,” Quinn’s palms began to sweat and she wiped them on her jeans. “I was just - wondering... I mean, I don’t really know if you’re interested but I figured I’d give it a shot because... I can’t - stop thinking about yo - about, these things. And well... “
Rachel stopped suddenly and Quinn turned to face the girl for the first time during her speech. “My classroom is here,”
“Oh,”
“Can we talk later?”
“Willyougoonadatewithme?” she said quickly.
“What?”
Quinn sighed heavily. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“Um... What?”
“I said it as slow as I could,” she pointed out.
Rachel looked around the now empty hallway, Quinn wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she seemed like she couldn’t stand still. “Am I dreaming?”
“I don’t understand,” Quinn said furrowing her eyebrows.
“I’m sleep walking, aren’t I?”
Quinn furrowed her eyebrows further in confusion. “It’s around 11:00 AM. You’re awake and in school,”
“Did Santana put you up to this?” she asked.
Quinn began to fidget with her books and was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable. This wasn’t how she had planned it in her head. “No, it’s all me,”
“It’s one of your Cheerios pranks?”
“Rachel, I’m trying to ask you out,”
“So you can humiliate me?”
“No, of course not. Why would I do that?” At this point, Quinn didn’t know why she had thought this would be a good idea.
Rachel straightened her stance and bought her books to the front of her chest. “Because, Quinn, you’ve never liked me. And now all of a sudden you’re asking me out? How do you know I even like girls? What makes you think I’ll even say yes? You’ve tortured me since freshman year and it’s not something I’m going to forget right away,”
Quinn cringed at the memories flashing through her mind of the times she tortured Rachel and felt a knife had been stabbed to her heart. “Rach, I know I’ve hurt you. But I’ve changed. I really do like you, I don’t even know how it happened. But I can’t stop thinking about you and if you give me a chance I’ll prove -”
“I don’t think so, Quinn. We’re never gonna work as a couple. We don’t even work as friends. Also, I don’t believe you,” she pushed past Quinn and entered her classroom. Quinn wasn’t able to stop her because she was still trying to process the girl’s words.
//
During Spanish, Quinn couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Rachel and her words and the way they affected her. She has never been good at courting anyone, she was Quinn Fabray after all, people courted her. The fact that the brunette thought she had other motives was more painful than anything else.
“So what if she didn’t believe you? Make her,” Santana said while scribbling on her book.
Brittany was sitting beside her. “Yeah, Quinn, charm her with your... Charm?” she turned to Santana. “S, what does this mean?”
Instead of explaining the question to Brittany, she snatched the girl’s paper and wrote the answer for her. “Buy her flowers, leave her notes, sing her a song, romantic gestures. Win her over. Just do it already so you can stop being all glum and making me sick,”
Brittany beamed brightly when Santana had answered all the questions on her paper. “I knew making you take this class with me was a good idea. I think it’s one of my best ideas,” she turned her attention to Quinn. “You can do it, Q. You’ll make such a cute couple,”
Thus, started Quinn Fabray’s quest to win Rachel Berry’s heart.
//
Later that afternoon, Quinn took off to the florist during lunch and bought a single, bright, red rose, which she picked out herself. With Santana’s help, she left it with a note in Rachel’s locker. It took her five minutes to decide on the perfect words to match the perfect rose because she didn’t want to sound too corny, but also sweet. Finally, she settled on: I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you. Will you go out on a date with me?
Quinn watched from afar as Rachel opened her locker, her eyes shot wide in shock at the sight of the rose, but then furrowed in confusion as she read the note. Her eyes scanned around the hallway until they met Quinn’s beaming smile and bright eyes, but only to crush her hopes when Rachel’s eyes told her she wasn’t amused. Rachel shook her head, closed her locker and walked off.
Quinn later became aware that Rachel didn’t take the rose with her, but also didn’t throw it away.
//
The next day, Quinn bought two roses and with Santana’s help, she put them in Rachel’s locker next to the previous rose she had bought for the girl, and wrote on a note: I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done to you. Will you go out on a date with me?
She watched during second period from afar as Rachel’s eyes shot wide in shock at the sight of the rose, but she didn’t furrow them in confusion afterwards. She simply read the note, scanned her eyes until she met Quinn’s hopeful ones, only to crush them again by shaking her head and walking off.
All day Quinn kept her distance from Rachel and feeling miserable for herself.
//
She was determined to win Rachel’s heart and she knew three roses would do the trick. Everyone loves roses, it’s the symbol of love, Quinn just took a while to realize that she needed more than one rose in order to win someone’s heart. Again with Santana’s help, she placed the three roses next to the previous three she had bought for Rachel and left it atop her neatly lined books with a note: I cannot establish how really sorry I am for everything I’ve done to you. Will you go out on a date with me?
That day, Rachel didn’t open her locker until lunch, but when she did, Quinn watched as she read the note but didn’t scan her eyes around the hallway for the blonde. She simply took all six roses and walked off. Quinn’s stomach began to churn with hope.
Rachel placed the six roses on Quinn’s table at the cafeteria and stood in front of her with her arms crossed. Quinn swallowed hard because this wasn’t the image she had wanted to see from someone who accepted her offer for a date. “I don’t like flowers, Quinn. It’s sad when they die. I’d rather you had got me fake ones instead and donated these to a conscious charity of your choice, at least they would enjoy it and not watch it get thrown away,” before she walked off, she turned around and said. “The answer’s still no,”
Apparently, everyone who is normal loves roses. And Rachel Berry isn’t normal. Quinn should’ve known this from the beginning, having watched her for so long and being in her presence every time she did anything peculiar and out of this world.
//
After the rose debacle, Quinn was out of ideas. Every time anyone tried to flatter her, they’d give her flowers and chocolate, but Rachel was a vegan so she couldn’t give the girl chocolate and she was in no mood to search for vegan made chocolate. Also, this was Rachel, she had to think outside the square.
Santana’s ideas for a romantic gesture included: “Buy her a slushie and pretend to throw it at her, only to say ‘see, I have changed’”, “lock her in the janitor’s closet until she agrees to go on a date with you”, “I’ll threaten her for you. I know she’s scared of me” and “just do what I did to win Brittany and make out with her in public.”
It was Brittany’s simple idea which gave hope to Quinn’s triple crushed heart: “Be nice to her.”
Quinn set out to work. She could be nice, even though sometimes being nice to Rachel needed to be forced, that’s only because years of insults has programmed her brain to let her tongue slip whenever she was with Rachel, but now she needed to re-program that brain and be nice.
She spotted Rachel in the distance of the hallway and walked up to her, inhaling deeply before pulling her in lightly for a hug. Rachel was stiff at first, but relaxed after a while and Quinn could swear that Rachel nuzzled her face into the crook of Quinn’s neck. It was nice hugging Rachel. She was warm and soft, and she smelt like vanilla and doughnuts.
When Quinn pulled away, she couldn’t help but see the smile drop from Rachel’s face. “Can I carry your books?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m trying to be nice,” she snatched the books lightly away from the girl’s hands. “I’ll carry your bag, too.” Rachel only stared at her as Quinn took away her back pack. “Can I walk you to class?”
“We’re in the same class, Quinn,” she pointed out.
“Oh yeah, even better,” Quinn knew this, of course. But one of the elements of being nice was asking for permission.
Quinn didn’t know what Rachel had in her bag, but it felt like bricks. The walk to their classroom was a short distance and once the bag was off her shoulder, she felt a huge weight had been lifted. No wonder Rachel was so short. If she had been carrying a bag like that for years, there was no way she could’ve grown.
Quinn did the next nicest thing she knew and pulled out a chair for Rachel. “Sit,” she said happily.
“I sit at the front,” she said softly.
Quinn was a little disappointed because she should’ve known this also. She quickly went to Rachel’s regular seat and did the same. Rachel thanked her and sat down, while Quinn sat behind her and concentrated on the back of Rachel’s head for forty-five minutes, smiling to herself.
After class, before Rachel could reach for her bag, Quinn hoisted it on her shoulder and took her books in her hands. “I’ll carry them for you,”
“You really don’t have to,” she said.
“I want to. To be nice,”
Rachel didn’t say anything else to her for the rest of the day. Quinn carried her bag and books to all her classes, pulling out a chair every time and would leave. She was outside Rachel’s door the moment the bell rang and resumed carrying her bag and books.
In glee, Rachel lectured the group about certain song choices they have chosen to sing for Regionals and none of those choices were adequate for them to win. The group emitted noises of anger and snickers. Quinn stood up and said, “You’re beautiful, Rach. I agree with what you’re saying,” and sat back down.
Rachel didn’t say a word after that and took her seat furthest away from Quinn, who was upset at the distance Rachel had put between them.
At the end of the day, Quinn asked, “Will you go out on a date with me?”
Rachel sighed, retrieving her bag and books from the blonde’s grip. “I knew you had a motive for being nice,”
Quinn was a little confused because why else would she be so nice to Rachel unless she didn’t have a motive? “So that’s a -”
“No,”
“Why not? I was nice today,”
“Today. Just today. Not tomorrow, not three weeks ago or a month ago. And the fact that you only wanted to be nice to get me to agree to date you is basically like bribing,”
Quinn snickered. “Bribing involves money and valuable possessions,” then she added. “Will you go on a date with me if I actually did bribe you?”
“See you tomorrow, Quinn,”
When Rachel walked passed her, Quinn saw a small smirk forming on her lips.
//
Quinn had never made a mix tape before, these days it was all about illegal downloading and CDs. She had a hard time finding a tape recorder and she wasn’t even sure if Rachel had a cassette player, or if anyone still used cassette players. But the internet recommended a tape because it was more romantic and traditional.
It took her two hours to find romantic love songs that not only would please Rachel, but also express her feelings. Then it took her another three hours to figure out how to record it onto a tape. Once she was finished, she was glad that we now live in the twentieth century where technology was much easier to comprehend.
The next day at school, Quinn handed Rachel the mix tape. “I made it for you,”
“A mix tape? We live in the twentieth century, Quinn,”
“I know. But the internet said tapes would be more romantic,”
“You search on the internet for romantic gestures?”
Quinn dismissed her statement. “Just listen to it. Please,”
Rachel examined the tape in her hand as if it was a diamond she’d never seen before. “I don’t even think I have a cassette player,”
“It’s okay, you can use mine,” Quinn pulled out the cassette player she had in her bag and showed it to Rachel. It wasn’t big, but it was heavy and anyone would be embarrassed to carry it around.
“Uh... What am I supposed to do with it?”
Quinn sighed. “Rachel, you were around when cassette players were still popular.”
“I was probably seven or eight and doing better things rather than sit around playing with that. I had dance lessons, vocal lessons, karate lessons, Survival Camp. I spent a lot of time outdoors,”
Quinn rolled her eyes and replaced the player in her bag. “I’ll put it in my locker and after school I’ll carry it to your car,” she waited for Rachel to respond but the brunette continued to examine the tape. She took Rachel’s books and bag and said, “I’ll carry those for you,”
Instead of waiting for the school day to end, Rachel insisted that she listen to the mix tape during her free period. She took the cassette player from Quinn’s locker and sat in the choir room, while Quinn, who didn’t have a free period, had to wait impatiently in class for Rachel’s response.
She didn’t see the brunette until the end of the day when the girl waited beside her car. Rachel had a blank expression on her face and Quinn’s heart began pounding. She worked hard on that mix tape, it was one of the cheesiest things she’s ever done.
“I Do, Cherish You? Really, Quinn?” Rachel’s voice wasn’t angry or upset, but rather amused. “Justin Bieber, Baby? This I promise you? And how is On Bended Knee a romantic song? That song’s depressing,”
The blush on Quinn’s cheeks was evident because Rachel raised her eyebrows waiting for an answer with a smile on her face. Quinn couldn’t look at her.
“It was a valiant effort. But it’s still a no,”
“What?! I worked hard on that. It took me five hours to put that together,”
Rachel began walking to her car. “You missed the whole point of a mix tape. Those songs were cheesy but they didn’t express your feelings,”
“I Do, Cherish You, did,” she said softly but wasn’t sure if Rachel heard her.
“Not to mention On Bended Knee shouldn’t even be in there at all. And you only made four songs,” she unlocked her car and opened the door. “Better luck next time, Quinn,”
Before Rachel drove off, Quinn watched a smile form on her lips and she couldn’t help but think she was getting somewhere.
//
Quinn sat through almost ten hours of watching Funny Girl later that night. She had to pause the movie several times in order to write down some of the most memorable scenes and dialogue in order to please Rachel with her vast amount of knowledge. She then did further research on the internet for facts about Barbra Streisand and jotted down essential information that Rachel might find interesting.
“Hello, gorgeous,” Quinn said brightly when she saw Rachel.
Rachel handed Quinn her folder of books and bag. “I’m guessing you’d want to carry this again today?”
Quinn was slightly disappointed Rachel wasn’t paying attention to her dialogue. She tried again, “Did you know that when Barbra won her Oscar for Funny Girl, ‘Hello gorgeous’ was the first words she said? Interesting, isn’t it, since it was the first words she uttered in the movie. Very elegant of her,”
Quinn couldn’t make out the expression on Rachel’s face and continued talking. “I have to say, my favorite scene in the movie was when Nick was ordering filet de beouf, sauce bordelaise, and Fanny said she would’ve ordered roast beef and potatoes and he simply said, I did.” Quinn had perfected her French by repeating those five words last night for half an hour. Every pronunciation had to be spot on, also because French accents were sexy and no one would be able to resist.
Rachel stood unmoving with her hand on the knob of the lock and was dumbfounded by Quinn’s words. Quinn scratched the back of her head feeling distressed. Was she saying the dialogue wrong? Was that even the right scene? She knew she should’ve read her notes before school to make sure everything was perfect. She lowered the bags she was holding and took out the paper in her pocket, skimming through it before meeting Rachel’s gaze, who didn’t seem to have shifted, or blinked.
She cleared her throat again. “Barbra’s won an EGOT, each more than once, well, except for a Tony, she was awarded a Special Tony Award. On top of that, she’s won an American Film Institute award and a Peabody Award. I have absolute faith that you’ll beat her in all categories,”
The bell rang signaling the start of first class and Quinn picked up hers and Rachel’s bag, but Rachel made no attempts to move. Quinn waved a hand in her face and that was the first time Quinn noticed Rachel blink. “I’ll walk you to class,”
Rachel nodded slowly trailing behind her, a wide grin formed on Quinn’s face. For ten minutes during that conversation, not once did Rachel say a word. She had left Rachel Berry speechless, how many people could say they’ve ever done that?
It was probably the two cups of coffee she had drank and she would later blame it on the high that it gave her because she felt pleased with herself and quite spontaneous. At lunch, she spotted Rachel as soon as the girl walked into the cafeteria, but Rachel didn’t notice her when she waved, and Quinn stood on the table, diverting the attention from everyone towards herself.
“Quinn! What are you doing?” Santana hissed.
Quinn waved a hand to silence her. “Rachel Berry, will you go out on a date with me?” she shouted from across the room.
Rachel froze and glanced around, everyone’s heads moved back and fourth from Quinn’s to hers, it was as if they were watching a tennis match. She blushed deeply and turned on her heel to walk out. Quinn chased after her, cornering her in the bathroom. She stood at the door just in case Rachel made any attempts to run away from her, but all she did was straighten out her hair with her fingers watching herself in the mirror.
“Well?” Quinn asked. She moved closer with every breath she took. “I really, really like you, Rach.” Another step closer. “This isn’t a joke, it’s not a prank. It’s just me wanting to take you out.” One last step and Quinn’s front was pressed against Rachel’s arm, she stroked the brunette’s cheek. Rachel turned to face her, there was softness in her eyes. “I’m taking this silence as a good sign. So I’m going to kiss you now to seal the deal,”
Rachel didn’t flinch and her eyes dropped to Quinn’s lips. Quinn licked her lips and slowly tilted her head lower. The only audible sound was the pounding in her heart which she knew Rachel could also hear. She closed her eyes as the tip of her nose brushed against Rachel’s and leaned in to ghost their lips before capturing -
“There you are!” Santana yelled. “What the hell was that?!”
Rachel gasped and jumped back, her hand clutching her chest and she took several breaths before pushing past Santana and ran out. Quinn called after her but she was too fast.
“That was not a romantic gesture,” Santana said obliviously. “It was more of an embarrassing gesture. Who does that these days? No wonder she ran away from you.” Santana recoiled when she noticed the fierce glare in Quinn’s eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I hate you right now,” she muttered through gritted teeth and left.
//
Seven days went by and Quinn was quickly running out of suggestions for romantic gestures she found on the internet. Just when she thought she had Rachel where she wanted her, Rachel didn’t answer any of her calls nor did she give Quinn an answer. Who would’ve thought courting someone would be such a hard task? Actually, courting anyone would be simple, flowers, chocolate, love hearts, anything would’ve worked. But this was Rachel, her impression of anything romantic involved ideas which were astronomical, exorbitant, cosmical.
“Quinn, would you like to read your speech to the class?” Mr. Stern asked during English the day after the weekend.
“Certainly,” she smiled and straightened herself before meeting Rachel’s eyes. “No words can explain my feelings for you, time spent with you is so fresh and so new, I want to move forward with you in my life, if I was for marriage, I’d want you as my wife. I cherish the passion we share, never would I leave you into the arms of another, feeling you next to me is immaculate conception, let’s just be done with all the lies and deception. I’m sorry I hurt you before; I don’t want to lose you. Keep me in your heart and I’ll always be true, put your trust in me and I will prove myself worthy. Baby, please don’t up and leave me in a hurry,”
Quinn folded the paper in her hands and kept her gaze on Rachel, the girl bit down on her bottom lip and her eyes remained on her lap. The class was silent, some people had their mouths opened in shock, some were wide eyed, and others glanced back and fourth between her and Rachel.
Finally, Mr. Stern spoke, breaking the silence. “That’s - that’s great, Quinn. Not what I had expected when I said write a speech on Shakespeare. But he was poetic, so I guess that was a good effort,”
At glee practice, Rachel was sitting quietly while everyone chattered amongst one another. All day she has continued her gestures of being nice by carrying Rachel’s books, her bag and pulling out a chair for her, and then running out of class to meet Rachel in front of her class so she could repeat the process. It became difficult at times when Quinn’s classroom was across the building from Rachel’s. Half the time, she was out of breath.
“I’d just like to say,” Quinn said walking towards Rachel. “That you’re beautiful. That is all,”
Santana sniggered and pretended to vomit. Brittany smiled brightly holding out her thumbs to congratulate Quinn. Everyone else stopped talking and focused their attention to the two girls, watching intently as Quinn shifted her chair closer to Rachel and sat quietly.
“I’m running out of ideas, Rach,” Quinn said once they reached Rachel’s car and she reclaimed her back pack and books. “I don’t know what else I can do,”
“Maybe you should stop?” Rachel said casually.
"Did you like my poem?
"You got that from the internet," she pointed out.
"How did you know?"
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Because I typed in a few words from the poem in Google and it led me to a cheesy site,"
Quinn heaved a sigh of distress and decided it was best to move on. “Will you go out on a date with me?”
All Rachel did was grin widely and got into her car, waving at Quinn before driving away.
//
Quinn didn’t do any romantic gestures the next day at school besides her usual carrying of Rachel’s books and bag, and pulling out a chair for her. She saved her romantic gesture for after school when she showed up on the singer’s doorstep, a board game in hand and fake flowers in the other.
Before Rachel could ask any questions, Quinn stepped inside her house. “I think we should play a board game. You like those, right? And I got you flowers,”
“Fake flowers,” Rachel said in delight. “Very sweet of you, Quinn,”
Quinn gleamed at those words and her eyes sparkled. “It’s scrabble, you like scrabble, right?”
“I have it at home,”
Quinn set the game on the floor and motioned for Rachel to sit down. “We’ll play with my version,”
Rachel didn’t have the heart to ask any questions and watched as Quinn prepared the game, facing the lettered tiles downwards before they both chose the letters one by one to determine who would go first. Ten minutes into the game, Rachel is up by thirty points and Quinn sat with her elbow on her knees, her chin on her palm, looking bored. Rachel began to question whether Quinn knew how to play at all.
“Water,” Rachel said, placing the letters on the board.
Quinn’s eyes lit up and she perked. “Will,” she said.
“Igloo,”
“You,”
“Yearn,”
“Go,”
“Green,”
“On,”
“Naughty,”
“A date,”
Quinn waited for Rachel to burst into a lecture about her lack of knowledge for the game. But Rachel simply continued. “Daylight,”
“With,”
“Hem,”
“Me,”
Seconds ticked by as Quinn observed Rachel fidgeting in her spot, her fingers twiddling in her lap, her eyes not wanting to meet Quinn’s. She bit her bottom lip and Quinn noticed she was trying to suppress a smile rather than feeling displeased. Then suddenly, she lifted the edge of the board and the letters tipped over. “You cheated.” With that, Rachel got up and left the house.
Quinn couldn’t figure out why, it was her house after all.
//
Serenading Rachel was her next romantic gesture. She left this to the end because it wasn’t something she was entirely comfortable with, but she was getting desperate, and she knew the brunette was starting to warm to her romantic methods because Rachel hadn’t said ‘no’ like she had during the beginning. In fact, she hasn’t said ‘no’ at all.
“Rachel,” she said during glee rehearsals. “I have a song I want to sing to you.” Everyone was silent. “But I need you to sing it with me,”
Rachel shook her head dramatically and Quinn was quite taken aback. The other kids were too because she heard Mercedes say, “Is she sick or something?”
“Please,” she said moving closer. “I need you,”
Rachel stood up forcefully and her chair fell back. “I don’t feel well,”
“Okay,” she said softly not wanting to push this any further. She turned to Santana. “S, you can sing it with me,”
“What? No way, Quinn,”
Quinn pulled her towards the door and hissed angrily. “You owe me for interrupting that moment I had with Rachel,”
Santana sighed in frustration snatching the music sheets out of Quinn’s hands. She gasped and turned to face the blonde. “This song? This lame cheesy song?”
Quinn ignored her and motioned for the band to start playing. She smiled happily, nodding at Santana to begin. “You’re the boy,”
Together, they sang the words, Santana feeling uncomfortable and refused to move from her seat. Brittany encouraged her by bouncing to the tune and humming softly, but she didn’t budge, while Quinn, stood in front of Rachel and held her gaze for as long as the song went on.
I finally found someone
That knocks me off my feet
I finally found the one
That makes me feel complete
This is it, oh I finally found someone
Someone to share my life
I finally found the one
To be with every night
'Cause whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone
And whatever I do
It's just got to be you
My life has just begun
I finally found someone
“Will you go on a date with me?”
Rachel opened her mouth to respond but breathes a sigh of relief when Mr. Schue enters the classroom. Quinn glared fiercely at him throughout the lesson. He tried his best not to meet her gaze, it was the angriest he had ever seen her and he began to wonder whether her pregnancy hormones had returned.
//
“I really don’t want to do this,” Santana said glancing at her outfit. “Haven’t I said sorry enough?”
“No,” Quinn said quickly. “Brittany’s enjoying it,”
Santana rolled her eyes. “Brittany enjoys everything,”
“She’s coming,” Brittany said from the doorway, then moved into her position beside Santana.
Rachel froze as soon as she stepped into the room, her eyes darting from Quinn to Santana to Brittany. Quinn was wearing a sleeveless dress, with a waistline around her hips, the skirt brushing just below her knees, longer in back than in front. Made of a soft, pale, gray fabric, the entire dress was embroidered with silver pearlike beads in a Deco-style floral pattern. Santana looked as if she had come straight out off the desert. Her boots were a faded black, her pants hugged to her body like a second skin, and her shirt was of the same brown as the boots, unadorned and opened at the throat. She wore her hat low over her eyes - she looked like a man. Brittany, however, was dressed in entirely different clothes from both girls. She was wearing a pink tutu dress with butterfly wings and holding a wand. A large rose atop her headband and sucking on a dummy.
“What is this?” Rachel asked, feeling a little concerned for herself.
Quinn pulled Rachel to sit on a chair and stood back in her position. “We’re going to act out a scene from Funny Girl. It’s your favorite movie. I’m gonna play Fanny, Santana is Nicky and Brittany is our daughter,”
Rachel giggled and the sound of her laughter sent warm shivers down Quinn’s spine.
“Let’s get this over with,” Santana yelled. “This is embarrassing already,”
“Can I record it?” Rachel asked.
“No!” Santana shrieked, snatching the phone out of her hand.
Quinn was beside her in an instant grabbing the phone away and handing it back to Rachel. “Of course you can,” Quinn glared at Santana. “Behave,”
They acted out the scene in which Nicky Arnstein wins a fortune while playing poker and agrees to marry Fanny. Quinn pretended to run around in chaos organizing wedding plans, while Santana ran around unenthusiastically talking to invisible people about her marriage to Fanny. Brittany cheered from the sidelines supporting Santana’s great acting skills.
Quinn: Where I come from, when two people… well, sort of love each other… oh, never mind.
Santana: Well? What do they do when they “sort of love each other”?
Quinn: Well, one of them says, “Why don’t we get married?”
Santana: Really?”
Quinn: Yeah, and sometimes it’s even the man.
They then act out the scene where the two newlyweds move into a new house, and Fanny falls pregnant - cue Brittany, acting as the baby who has just come out of Quinn’s womb. Rachel laughs when Brittany sucks on her thumbs and begins mumbling like a child and clinging onto Santana, repeating “Daddy, daddy.” Santana was not amused that her girlfriend was calling her by such a word.
Quinn carried Rachel’s books and bag as usual while walking out to their car. “That was really enjoyable,” Rachel’s brown eyes were calm and lightened. “I didn’t know you could act,”
A tingle traveled through her fingers as she reached out to grab Rachel’s hand. “Will you go out on a date with me now?”
Quinn withdrew her hand from Rachel’s grasp when the smile on her face faded and her eyes became unreadable, they were no longer calm and lightened. The only unchangeable reaction was the pounding in Quinn’s heart. If anything, it was louder and faster. “I have to go,” Rachel finally said. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
“Rach, if you go now, that’s it from me. I can’t keep doing this. I’ve proved myself, haven’t I? I’ve carried your books and bag for days, I ran across the school just to meet you in front of your classroom,” Quinn recalled with desperation in her voice. “I made you a mix tape that took me five hours, I watched Funny Girl for ten hours just so I could please you, I embarrassed myself standing on top of the cafeteria table asking you on a date, and I serenaded you with possibly the most cheesy love song,” she took a deep breath once she finished and bent her knees so she was at eye level with Rachel. “Not to mention what I did just now. Please,”
Rachel didn’t show any reactions, Quinn didn’t know what she had expected Rachel to do, but the least the brunette could have done was pull her into an embrace or show signs of liveliness in her eyes. Neither of those occurred. Rachel simply opened her car door and said, “I guess you can stop now,”
//
Quinn wasn’t at school the next day, Rachel knew why and all she could do was watch the clock tick by slowly as the day dragged out. She saw the way Quinn’s smile dropped when her answer wasn’t what the blonde expected, she saw the hurt in her eyes when Rachel showed no reaction to what she had said, and she could feel Quinn’s heart breaking into a million pieces as she drove off in her car. It was foolish of her to hurt Quinn that way, she had tried so hard for the past two weeks and had succeeded in gaining Rachel’s attention, even her heart.
The moment her locker slammed shut, her head snapped to the left and her eyes met Santana’s fury glare. “Listen up, Berry. I don’t know what is it about you that has Quinn going all gaga, but you made a big mistake yesterday.” As Rachel stepped back, Santana moved closer. “I do not dress up like a man in dirty clothes just so you can laugh at me later. Quinn organized the whole thing because she thought it would please you, and God knows why!”
“Look, Santana, I’m sorry you feel the way that you do but I have a pla -”
“Shut up! If she comes to school tomorrow with cow eyes that are red and swollen, you’re in big trouble,” she looked Rachel up and down one last time, no doubt wishing her fury glare would set Rachel on fire, and walked off.
The sun was long gone by the time Rachel parked her car on the curb at her destination. The night sky shone brightly above as the stars twinkled, the full moon smiling down at her and she looked up one last time to draw it’s energy in order to give her confidence in what she was about to do. She reached back to retrieve the pieces of cardboard she had prepared and set out to pursue a certain blonde.
Rachel didn’t know which window was Quinn’s, so she threw a rock to the window anyway hoping her psychic abilities would be in her favor. Six rocks later and possibly a now slightly damaged window, a head appeared but it wasn’t the blonde she was hoping for.
“Who’s there?” Quinn’s mother yelled from above.
Rachel hid behind a tree, the cardboard held tightly against her chest. Wrong window.
“Who’s there?” she yelled again. “I have a gun so don’t try anything stupid,”
When she heard the window close, she grabbed a few more rocks and set out to throw it at the next window. After three rocks and no movements, she walked over to the other side of the house. The two windows were pitch black, but the one on the right was emitting a small light from deep within, Rachel hoped this would be the correct one. Her heart leapt out of her chest when she noticed Quinn’s shadow in the distance.
“Okay, what the hell is -” Quinn stopped when she saw Rachel smiling down at her. “What the hell, Berry? My mom’s going crazy here running around with a gun that I didn’t even know she had. Haven’t you heard of ringing the door bell? Or calling?”
“Can you come down, please?” she begged, trying not to laugh at what Quinn had just said.
“Why?” Hurt was apparent in her voice.
“Please, I have something to show you,”
Quinn let out a loud grunt and shut her window fiercely. Rachel ran to the front of the house, standing a few feet away from the door, and taking deep breaths as she listened to the uneven beats of her heart.
Quinn opened the door a few seconds later. “This better be good,”
Rachel held the cardboard pieces to the front of her chest. Quinn read the first word written on it: Will. Rachel placed the second cardboard above it: You. Then the third: Go. Next, the fourth: Date. Then the fifth: A.
She detected confusion on Quinn’s face and looked down at her cardboard, they were in the wrong order. Quickly, she shuffled them back into place and resumed from the beginning. One by one, she slowly removed the pieces of cardboard revealing a different word which were now in the correct order: Will. You. Go. On. A. Date. With. Me?
Quinn walked down from her front door and closed the gap between her and Rachel until they were only centimeters apart. She had a smirk on her face. “You planned this all along, didn’t you?”
Rachel nodded happily at the thought she had succeeded in fooling Quinn. “Uh huh,”
“So you’re telling me, I wasted two weeks trying to woo you with the most cheesiest and most embarrassing gestures, when in the end you’re asking me on a date?”
“Did I woo you enough? Love Actually taught me how to do this,”
“I know,” Quinn said casually.
Rachel lowered her eyes and said shyly, “If your answer’s going to be a yes, I suggest you seal it with a kiss,”
Quinn did just that, capturing her lips in a soundless kiss. No coherent thought emerged from the jumble whirling about in Rachel's head. Everything about her simply came to a dead stop. Quinn’s lips were warm, soft and very persuasive.
Just as abruptly, Quinn broke the kiss and wrapped her arms around Rachel, pulling her tightly against her chest. She leaned down and whispered, “Maybe after a few more dates we could do more than kissing?”