Faberry cuteness. Side Brittana. Enjoy!
I hated having to be that person. The one who told Rachel to let Finn go. Not because I want him, but because she is better than him. She is better than all of us. Rachel Berry is going to get out of here; she is going to make a name for herself. Finn and I, the rest of us, we're stuck here. Stuck in small town Ohio. Maybe if I didn't get pregnant last year, I could have gotten out of here too. But now I'm just another small town girl who will never leave. I'll be prom queen, like I'm supposed to. I'll go to Lima Community College, I'll become a real estate agent. I'm coming to terms that this is my fate. And Finn might be in it too, whether I want him to or not.
Not that I'd ever admit it, or even say it out loud for that matter, but there is a reason I'm so mean to Rachel. And it's not because I hate her for trying to steal Finn from me. Rachel Berry makes me feel things that I shouldn't. I should not feel flustered or giddy or excited when she talks to me. And in order to mask it, I'm mean. I know that it's not the best way to deal with it, but it's not like my parents would be up for joining the local chapter of PFLAG.
So, maybe I love Rachel. And maybe I had to tell her that she was better than all of us so that she wouldn't get stuck here like me. That's what you do when you love someone, right? You look out for their best interests before your own. I will never let Rachel give up on her dreams. And if that means I have to be mean to her and make her hate me, then that's what I will do.
The second glee club after regionals was awkward. Mr. Shuester was convinced that we needed to start working on a song for nationals that very minute, and not even Rachel agreed with him. We all complained because it didn't matter what we worked on; whatever we would perform at nationals would be thought of last minute. Rachel stood up as "Team Captain." It's not like Finn ever would.
"Mr. Shue, we just finished an exhausting song writing process. No one at nationals will be able to sing the songs we wrote. We need a break."
"Am I about to agree with Berry?" Santana wondered out loud.
"Yeah, I hate to say it, but Rachel's right," Artie said.
"Totally!" Finn said.
"Oh shut up," I said before I could stop myself.
Everyone looked at me in shock. However secret we were trying to keep it, everyone knew Finn and I had been fooling around. I felt bad each and every minute of it. But, I needed to be a prom queen to fulfill my small town girl destiny. A destiny that did not involve me being gay.
"What the hell Quinn?" Finn asked, looking super confused.
"I'm sorry. You just- you never stick up for Rachel unless everyone else does. Or no one else is around. It's just the easy way out so no one disagrees with you. God forbid someone doesn't like you." It all spilled out before I could control it.
"San, did Quinn take your vicious, vicious words?" Brittany asked innnocently.
Santana winced. Things had not gotten much better for them since they talked to Ms. Holiday. I wish it would. It could give me some sort of hope. Maybe. Besides, Santana is way nicer when she's with Brittany.
"No Brittany," I said, smiling as sweetly as I could at her.
Shit. I just ruined it all. Having feelings for Rachel has been nothing but a problem causer. Why can't I just turn them off and like Finn again? Life would be so much easier if I could just do what everyone thought I was supposed to.
Before I could get too lost in my thoughts, Rachel started talking, jerking me back into reality.
"Before regionals, someone told me about being afraid of never leaving Lima. That conversation has stuck with me all week, and not for the reasons said person might think. I know I said we need to take a break, and we do, but I do have a song prepared that I'd like to sing."
There were moans from the Glee club, but I was suddenly excited. It had to be me she was talking about. It was so so hard to stop the grin that was forming on my face. Here the girl I loved was about to sing me a song. This could either go well or blow up in my face. I chose to focus on the positive when Rachel began singing.
Made a wrong turn
Once or twice
Dug my way out
Blood and fire
Bad decisions
That's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Okay, maybe I'm terrible, but I haven't been listening to the radio at all in the last couple of months. I may or may not have made a playlist of songs Rachel has sung in Glee club and listen to it non-stop. I would plead the fifth in court, so don't even think about accusing me otherwise.
Mistreated, misplaced, missunderstood
Miss, no way it's all good
It didn't slow me down
Mistaken
Always second guessing
Underestimated
Look, I'm still around…
Why is Rachel singing about herself when she is singing a song to me? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she is just being Rachel. After all, she did sing to herself on Valentine's Day.
Pretty, pretty please
Don't you ever, ever feel
Like you're less than
less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like you're nothing
You are perfect to me
The words took me by surprise. Perfect? I am anything but perfect. Why is Rachel singing this song to me? We are frenemies at best. But here she is, telling me I am perfect.
You're so mean
When you talk
About yourself
You are wrong
Change the voices
In your head
Make them like you
Instead
I love how Rachel just knows me sometimes. She is such a good person. It's ridiuclous. How could loving such a good person be wrong?
So complicated
Look how big you'll make it
Filled with so much hatred
Such a tired game
It's enough
I've done all I can think of
Chased down all my demons
see you do the same
She flashes me her winning smile. I know she's going to make it big. How could she not? She's talented, smart, and when I let myself admit it, beautiful. She puts her heart into everything she does. Sometimes I wish that I'd get a part of her heart all to myself.
Pretty, pretty please
Don't you ever, ever feel
Like you're less than
less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like you're nothing
You are perfect to me
At this point, I'm trying not to cry. I am in a room full of people while the girl I love is singing me a song about how I should love myself because she loves me. When Rachel nods at Santana, I get really confused, but then Santana starts rapping.
The whole world stares while I swallow the fear
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in lying and we tried tried tried
But we try too hard, it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cuz they're everywhere
They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair
Exchange ourselves and we do it all the time
Santana is singing this song for Brittany. Not that Brittany would ever feel bad about herself. But Santana is on a mission to prove to Brittany that she loves her more than Artie. Rachel and Santana being friends would make my life much easier too.
Why do we do that?
Why do I do that?
Why do I do that?
They sang together, smiling. Rachel even let Santana sing the last verse with her.
Ooh, pretty pretty pretty,
Pretty pretty please don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than
less than perfect
Pretty pretty please if you ever ever feel
Like you're nothing
you are perfect to me
You're perfect
You're perfect to me
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel
like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty, pretty please if you ever ever feel
like you're nothing
you are perfect to me
"Wow, that was great!" Mr. Shue said, as Rachel and Santana bowed and the rest of the Glee club stood up clapping. I had so many words stuck in my throat. I wanted to cry. I didn't deserve anything from Rachel, not her friendship or anything else. I wanted to run away. But I couldn't let everyone else know how I felt. So I forced a smile, but Rachel saw right through it.
"Well, I think we're good for the day! Everyone should go home and enjoy this spring sunshine!" Rachel said, dismissing everyone. The glee clubbers filed out before Mr. Shue could make them stay. He gave up and left and the only people remaining were Brittany and Santana and Rachel and myself. I was still sitting, away from everyone else. In shock? Awe? Fear? Love?
Rachel started walking towards me and I fiddled with my hands. Brittany and Santana were hugging and when they tore apart, Brittany kissed her best friend. Rachel sat down next to me silently and we watched them.
"Are you sure?" Santana asked, fear in her eyes.
"Yes. San, you were brave enough to sing with Rachel. For me. That's love," Brittany said simply.
Rachel opened her mouth, but I covered it with my hand. I was touching her lips. As soon as I realized what I had done, I retracted my hand. Shit. Brittany and Santana left, pinkies linked, and Rachel cleared her throat.
"May I speak now?" she asked.
"Yeah. Sorry, I just didn't want to see Santana get her heart broken again. Rach?"
"Yes?" she asked with a smirk.
"What? Why are you smirking! I am trying to be serious!" I said, panicking.
"Sorry, you just rarely call me Rachel, let alone Rach. But I like it. Continue."
"Um. Okay. Uhh, well, you know. Did you mean it?"
"Mean what?"
"What you were singing to me. Because if not, leading me on like that is not very nice, and you are typically very nice and that would just be wrong."
I was blabbering. Rachel Berry made me tongue tied.
"Slow down Quinn. What do you mean leading you on? I sang you a song. Of course I meant it. I believe in you and you should too."
"Yeah?" I asked, scared.
"Yeah," she said, grabbing my hand for reassurance. I quivered at her touch.
"Thank you," was all I could manage.
I looked at Rachel, sincerely smiling at me and holding my hand. I wondered if she ever thought of me like I thought of her. If she wanted to kiss me like I wanted to kiss her so badly in that moment.
"Of course Quinn. I care about you."
What does that mean? Could it? No. No, Rachel Berry has been the girl after Finn, Jesse, Puck. Not the girl. Not me. But, my brain didn't get that far. I kissed her before it could. I was timid and careful; I didn't want to scare her. Her lips were so soft and patient. When she didn't push me away, I softly put my palm on her face and deepened our kiss. I wanted to be as close to her as possible. My body was on fire. Never in my life had someone kissed me so well. I think it was similar to floating. When her tongue entered my mouth, I lost it. I pulled away. I couldn't continue if it wasn't real.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked, worried.
"No. I just, I don't know, what's happening?"
"Well, I sang you a song, and then you kissed me. I kissed you back because it felt good. While I sometimes expected that you might like me more than you let on, I never quite imagined that you would kiss me. But I quite enjoyed it and would like to continue doing so," she said with a small smile.
"Rachel, I'm not going to prevent you from achieving your dreams," I blurt out. Theme of the day Quinn, good work.
"Quinn, you're part of them. Shut up and kiss me again."
Why didn't I do this months ago? Could it really be this easy?
"I want to, believe me. But, since when?"
"Since always. After you told me that you would be stuck here and I was crying, I realized how convulted all my intentions have been. Finn was my way to get to you. And I'm sorry I wasn't more straight forward, but I didn't realize that I was trying to get to you until I wrote that song. My best intentions keep making a mess of things? That's you Quinn. My intentions to make you see how much I care have backfired so much. And I clung to Finn thing so you couldn't see that my feelings were actually for you. I'm sorry. But it's you I want," she said, taking my other hand and squeezing them both. The way she looks at me, I know she can't be lying.
Holy shit. This is real.
"I never hated you, you know? I was mean to you because I was scared. Being mean could mask how flustered you make me," I sad, looking away from her.
"I forgive you. I did a long time ago. Can you please just kiss me again?" she said, smiling.
"Impatient much?" I tease.
"Um, have you ever had a kiss so good?" she said and before I could respond, she kissed me.
Maybe I will get out of here. Maybe I won't be a Lima Loser. Rachel Berry wants to kiss me after all. And she does it oh so well.