Fic: Autumn Nights - The seventh night - Part 3
Title: The Seventh Night-In Which Quinn Fabray Resists The Urge-To Get Into Rachel Berry's Pants-And The Irony Of Rachel Wearing Skirts (And Other Forms Of Torture)
A/N: Haaave you read Parts 1 & 2?
“Baby-”
“Not yet… I know… I know…”
“I’m s-”
“Don’t be.”
“It’s not… it’s not that I don’t want to. I just-”
“I’ll wait.”
Then in a smaller voice, she asks, “So you’re… you’re ready for it?”
Am I?
I really don’t know but…
“I want you.”
And I hear her catch her breath.
“But… I don’t have well-toned abs like you do…”
Oh, baby. “I love the way yours feel when I touch them… or kiss them, like I did last night… and I’d love to do it again…”
The corner of her lips curls up into a half smile.
“F-Finn-”
“He’s an idiot.”
“H-he always thought my boobs weren’t that big.”
“Well, I only met them briefly but I think I’m in love with them.”
She laughs out loud.
And I’m smiling from ear to ear.
“You know… sometimes when I kiss you I feel like I’m poking your face with my nose,” she says, her tone light.
“You know… every time I kiss you, I feel like I don’t ever want to stop.”
And her whole face softens as she stares at me lovingly.
“Baby, I want you,” I tell her again. “I want all of you… including your nose…”
She smiles until she’s beaming and bowing her head and tucking her hair behind her ear.
“You didn’t believe me the first time I said it, did you?”
She looks up, biting a part of her lower lip, and shakes her head.
“Do you believe me now?”
She nods shyly, her eyes twinkling as she smiles, and it’s a sight that will never get old.
I must be grinning like a fool, sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her and waiting for her to make the next move.
And she’s standing there, staring back at me, almost swaying forward and backward as if she can’t make up her mind.
“Baby, I’m… I’m finding it increasingly difficult to stay in the same room with you right now,” she admits, her chest heaving.
“Oh-kayyy…”
“So I’m just gonna go and-and take a shower in the master bedroom.”
“…Sure.”
“Can you please hand me my shirt back?”
I twist my body to look for-
“On second thought, can you please just… stay there and toss it back to me?”
Seriously?!
“I-I don’t think I can keep my hands or my lips to myself.”
Okay, fine.
I grudgingly do as she asks.
And she catches her shirt with one hand then points a finger at me.
“Stay.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
She probably didn’t catch me rolling my eyes because she turned around so fast and now she’s in a hurry to put her shirt back on.
“As soon as I leave the room, you can… move,” she says as she fumbles around her closet.
Damn it. Why am I so whipped?
“And… and there are clean towels for you in my bathroom,” she adds as she grabs some clothes and opens a drawer.
“Right…”
Then she closes the drawer, turns around, and hurls something small at me.
It’s… the thong.
I take a closer look at it as she closes the doors to her closet.
On the front, in big, bold letters, it says, LOVE PINK.
And underneath, in tiny print, it says-
“Victoria’s Secret?!”
She makes a mad dash for the exit.
“You bought Victoria’s Secret?!”
“They have a five-for-twenty-five special, Quinn,” she quickly opens the door to her bedroom.
“Victoria’s Secret-really?!”
She slams the door shut.
“Ugh!”
I flop down onto her bed.
“My God… she’s killing me…”
I feel like thrashing about her bed and beating it down with my fists. But that’s really not my style.
I guess I’ll just have to take out all of my frustrations on other Cheerios tomorrow…
In the meantime, it’s time to just… take another cold shower and heave another sigh…
Karma is such a bitch.
Ugh.
I pick up the clothes Rachel got for me off the floor and remember to get a hanger for my extra uniform.
For a moment there, I’m tempted to look through her drawer. But I know that’ll drive me even crazier so I hurriedly hang my uniform, go to the bathroom, and strip. I’m not at all surprised to see a patch of wetness in my spankies.
I fold it along with the rest of the uniform I just took off, set them aside, get into the shower, and forget.
I can’t believe how much of a welcome relief the cold water is on my body.
For the first time in a few days, it works. And I feel very refreshed when I step out of the bathroom.
Rachel hasn’t come back so I’m just gonna settle down at her desk with my new book: This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. Someone recommended it on Tumblr and all the reviews say it’s laugh-out-loud funny. I didn’t hesitate to buy a copy because I’m trying to inject more humor into my life.
I get through chapter one without laughing but it really is witty.
I’ve just started chapter two when Rachel walks back in.
And she comes straight to me, wraps her arms around my neck, and kisses the top of my head.
“New book?”
“Yup.”
“Is it good?”
I clear my throat, “Her ironic inflection fills me with the familiar impulse to simultaneously kiss her deeply and strangle her until she turns blue.”
“Oh! So it’s the story of your life.”
“Haha, very funny, Rach.”
“It’s one of the things you love about me.”
“They say it’s one of the things you’ll love about this book.”
“Have you laughed yet?”
“Nope.”
“Too bad. You could’ve just given me…” she checks the back of the book, “the fifteen dollars instead of buying this book and you’d get more than your money’s worth.”
“How so?”
“Well, for one, this book will never make out with you.”
“True… True… But who knows? Miracles do happen… Maybe this book will let me get to second base.”
She pinches my side-
“Ow! I’m kidding, I’m kidding…”
“Will you read to me when you’re done?”
“If it’s as good as they say…”
“Okay… You’ll just finish that chapter and then we’ll study?”
“Yup.”
She kisses the top of my head one more time before leaving my side. And I resume reading.
After a while, she appears next to me, setting her book and binder down on her desk, and goes away again.
Soon after, she asks, “Baby, would you mind if I play music while we’re studying?”
“No, baby, I won’t mind.”
“Okay…”
We’ve never really studied together before. And I’m not counting those times when we talked over the phone while we were studying separately in our houses.
All the hours we’ve shared together after school so far were spent on more important things, like making out, eating, making out, watching my favorite TV shows, making out, eating…
I didn’t know dating a vegan would make me hungry all the time.
Anyway, I usually stayed here at Rachel’s until nine and then I’d go home and study on my own.
But that won’t be happening ton-
Shit. I forgot to text my mom.
I shuffle across the room to get to my bag, which is still near the door, where I left it.
“Done?” Rachel asks.
“No, baby, not yet.”
“Okay…”
She’s sitting on her bed, tinkering with her iPod, wearing pajama bottoms and a tank top.
What was I supposed to do again?
Oh, phone! Right…
I crouch down to search for it in my bag but I can’t find it.
“Baby, have you seen my phone?”
“I gave it back to you when we were still in the car.”
“I know. And I remember holding it when we got out.”
“Well, maybe you accidentally left it in the living room.”
“Ugh. Can I just borrow your phone to text my mom?”
“Baby, your phone is probably just in the living room.”
“But it’s too far-”
“It’s not too far.”
“-from you.”
She bites her upper lip and rolls her eyes while shaking her head, trying hard to hold back her smile.
“Nice… Really nice, Fabray…”
I’m grinning so wide it hurts, “I thought so, too.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a book that you’ve been using as a reference for these things,” she says as she ambles from her bed towards me.
I get up on my feet and wait, “As a matter of fact, there is.”
“Oh?” She wraps her arms around my shoulders, “What is it?”
I wrap my arms behind her back, “Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches.”
She bites her upper lip again, “That’s not your average book.”
“No, it’s pure gold…”
“And has it worked well for you so far?”
“Well, there were five chapters devoted to enchanting the object of your affection just by jogging every morning so-”
She lets out a full belly laugh, with her nose crinkled and her head thrown back, and it’s such a joy to see and hear that I’m really starting to believe that it can tickle even the most inanimate of objects.
But it soon dwindles down to random bursts of giggles and she locks her eyes with mine and cups my face.
“The object of your affection, huh?” she smirks.
“It’s way better than paramour.”
She giggles again…
…and kisses me…
And it’s this thin… partially-opened mouth… no tongue-well, maybe a little tongue… type of kiss. Add orchestral music and it would be movie-perfect.
And just like that… it’s over…
She studies my face when she opens her eyes… from my forehead to my eyebrows… then my eyes… to my nose and my lips, while stroking my cheeks with her thumbs.
Then she runs a thumb gently over my lips…
…and kisses me again…
And it’s just… perfect… even without the orchestral music…
…and even if it ends so soon…
She leans her forehead on my cheek, with her eyes still closed, takes a deep breath, and sighs…
Then she takes a good look at me again, brushing away errant strands of hair on my face, and murmurs, “Text your mom…”
And it’s my turn to sigh…
She leads me by the hand across the room, takes her phone from her shelf, hands it over to me, and goes back to her bed.
Mom, it’s Quinn. I’m using Rachel’s phone. Mine is around their house somewhere. I’ll just stay here tonight. Enjoy your party. Drive safe.
I put the phone back on the shelf and it doesn’t take long for me to finish reading chapter two of my new book.
Rachel is still on her bed, playing with her iPod, and she’s probably making a playlist of study-appropriate songs so I pack away my book and bring out my binder, which hopefully won’t be bedazzled in the morning.
“Oh, good, you’re done,” she says cheerfully. “I’ll be right with you.”
Wow. She just loves to keep me waiting, doesn’t she?
I drag myself back to her desk, get another chair, and sit down.
And for some reason, every passing second feels like a really… long… time…
Rachel still isn’t done with whatever playlist she’s making so I decide to read ahead of her.
When I’m done, I can just… annoy her or something…
Then out of the blue, her iPod plays…
I quickly turn my head.
“Looking out… on the morning rain…”
To my surprise, Rachel is drawing near… and she’s glowing.
There’s something intriguing about the way she smiles that I can’t help but look at her… then her iPod… then back to her… then her iPod…
She takes a seat as I give in to my curiosity and stride across the room.
One click on her iPod shows me a playlist of Motown greats from Marvin and Tammi to Teena Marie.
Another click gives me the name and good Lord, it definitely makes me chuckle.
For My Quinniepuff, it says.
And now I’m smiling just as broadly as her.
And much like earlier this evening, I let my feet carry me back to her… and back to her lips… back to her arms… back to her tongue… with her thighs underneath mine as I sit astride her in her seat…
And I just can’t get enough…
I hold her tight…
…and kiss her long…
…and hard…
…and soundly…
I kiss her until I have to come up for air…
And when I do, I realize I know this song by heart… and the next verse says much about how I feel… how she makes me feel…
So I open my eyes, along with my heart, hoping that she sees… and start singing softly… along with Aretha…
“When my soul… was in the lost-and-found…”
First line and my voice cracks-
“You came along… to claim it…”
-not from any roughness in my throat-
“I didn’t know… just what was wrong with me…”
-but from the gravity of the words I’m singing.
“’Til your kiss… helped me name it…”
I hope that she believes them.
“Now I’m no longer doubtful… of what I’m living for… And if I make you happy I don’t need to do more… ‘Cause you make me-”
Hmm…
Her kiss tells me that she does.
“You make me feel…”
And as much as I love to sing… kissing her… is a much better occupation for my mouth…
And it expresses so much more… than words ever could…
And right now… I obviously… have a lot… I need to express…
“Ohh, baby, what you’ve done to me (what you’ve done to me)… You make me feel so good inside (good inside)… And I… just wanna be (wanna be)… close to you, you make me feel… so alive…”
I don’t want this kiss to end.
“You make me feel…”
But Rachel pulls away for the nth time tonight…
…and she whispers, “Baby, we should study…”
I kiss her forehead, “It’s just a quiz…”
“But…”
I kiss her right eye.
“…I don’t want you to lose your straight A’s…”
I kiss her cheek, “I won’t.”
“Okay… well, uhm…”
Then I kiss the corner of her lips.
“I-I need… to study…”
“No, you don’t…”
And I kiss her again…
And she doesn’t protest.
She holds me closer and kisses me like she has forgotten she wanted to study instead.
And I carry on kissing her like I really don’t give a damn about breathing.
But that’s all just wishful thinking… and after a while, we pull apart… and she whispers again…
“Baby, we really should be studying…”
I sigh.
“…and I don’t think I can feel my legs anymore.”
“Oh, I’m sor-”
“No, no! Stay… Stay a while longer…”
I can’t believe I’ve been straddling her this long.
“Are you sure?”
She doesn’t answer but keeps her hold on me and rests her head on my shoulder. And I feel the ghost of a kiss on my collarbone.
“We have to study,” she says, almost as if she’s trying to convince herself and not me.
I sigh again.
“As you wish…”
And her breath hitches.
But she doesn’t move-not really…
She just tightens her hold around me and takes a deep breath.
I wonder what she’s thinking…
“Quinn…?”
I hold her just as tight.
“Yeah…?”
She plants a soft kiss on my shoulder.
“Nothing…”
And I can’t help but smile…
“Rach…?”
“Yes Quinn?”
I whisper in her ear.
“Nothing back…”
And I don’t have to take a look at her to know that she’s smiling.
She nuzzles her face by the crook of my neck and places a lingering kiss on the spot where her lips just happen to be.
It’s supposed to make me feel… over the moon? But it somehow makes me feel like… I just lost at something.
But which fight?
She puts her hands on my waist and gives a gentle push. And there goes my cue to stand and move to my own chair.
I notice that she’s purposely avoiding my gaze but there’s a hint of a smile on her lips as she casually opens her book and starts reading and playing with her pen.
Then she sweeps her hair to one side and I wish she had swept it the other way because now I have an unimpeded view of her neck.
To add insult to injury, she keeps massaging her thighs and every now and then, her tongue darts out to wet her lips.
And she never ever looks up from her book, which, now that I think of it, is probably for the best.
“Baby, you’re not supposed to study my face.”
I want to study your face, with my-
Erm… Yeah…
So, History… right.
I turn the pages of my binder until I find the right place to start skimming reading and do my best not to stare at Rachel too much… or too long…
But my attention keeps slipping away…
…
“Baby?”
“Whu-?”
“Baby, wake up…”
I fell asleep?
“Let’s go to bed…”
I’m awake. I’m awake.
And Rachel is giggling.
“You should see your face,” she says.
I automatically check the corners of my mouth.
“Aww, no, baby, you weren’t drooling,” she giggles again. “Come on, up, up.”
“Still hafta brush my teeth.”
“Do you want me to come with? Hold your hand?” she smirks.
“Am nutta baby,” I pout.
“But you’re my baby.”
…
“Well-yeah…” I nod, several times, “Yeah. I am…”
With a huge smile on her face, she offers her hands and pulls me up.
“Extra toothbrushes are in the kitchen cupboard.”
“What?”
She smirks again, “I’m kidding.”
“Hmph.”
“There’s one in my bathroom cabinet.”
“Otay…”
I take a step towards the bathroom but she yanks me back to her and… and she’s kissing me…
And it’s not too soft and not too hard… but it still ends too soon.
Then she just smiles and turns away and starts pulling back the sheets on her bed.
I sigh…
“…Baby?”
“Yeah…?”
“You were supposed to brush your teeth.”
“Oh, right.”
I hurry to the bathroom before I get distracted again, find the toothbrush in the cabinet, brush my teeth, and wash my face.
And now I feel a little bit more alert, a little bit more… present.
But one step out the door and I stop short at seeing Rachel on her bed.
She’s lying on her side, with her right hand folded under her head and all the lights in the room turned off except for a lamp by her bedside.
And that soft smile I love so much graces her face the moment that she sees me.
She holds out her left hand, beckoning me, and I feel like my feet are glued to the spot where I’m standing.
But she leaves her hand hanging so I keep urging and wishing and willing my body to move forward until it does.
And when I reach her bed, I take her hand and feel a gentle tug on mine. I let her pull me down until I’m on my knees and lying down on my stomach next to her, with my right arm draped over her stomach, my head resting just below her shoulder, and my hands tucked behind her back.
She kisses the top of my head and strokes my hair with one hand and holds me tight with the other. And I never felt more… secure… like all my worries were washed away in an instant. I knew I had no reason to be nervous but I was… a moment ago… Now, I could just… stay right here in her arms and be perfectly content.
I feel her sigh…
So I turn my head to place a kiss just above her chest and she plants one just as tender on my forehead.
The she gives it a little nudge with her nose and I oblige.
I lift my head just high enough to meet her gaze, propping myself up on my elbows, as she keeps my hair away from my face, smiling wider than before, with a glint in her eyes.
And I can’t help but smile back…
“Hi…”
She looks adorable biting her lower lip.
“Hello…”
I want to be the one biting it for her.
As if she read my mind, she brings my head down closer to her and opens her mouth, with her tongue peeking out.
And she kisses me…
…ardently… and tenderly… her tongue gracefully sweeping against mine…
She tastes like comfort and pleasure and love and unadulterated joy. She tastes like everything I never knew I always wanted.
I wonder what I taste like for her, other than minty…
But with the way she’s thoroughly kissing me, I really couldn’t care at all.
It’s amazing how different it feels kissing her in this somewhat sleepy state. It’s like being drowsy has made me feel like a much better kisser than I already am and has heightened all my senses.
Everything feels like it’s in slow motion… from the way she draws in a breath or tugs my hair… or turns her head from side to side… to the way she opens and closes her mouth around my lips… or catches them… between her teeth…
And even the smallest of contacts makes my whole body feel… lighter… and they’re steadily… unraveling me…
I bring my right hand out from under her, caressing her side… her shoulder… her neck… and threading my fingers through her hair, behind her ear…
She offers me the full breadth of her tongue and I take it eagerly… hungrily… drawing it further into my mouth… until she tilts her head up, gasping… and faintly giving my head a push.
Then her eyes flutter open…
And the sight of her leaves me breathless…
She almost looks the way I feel… her expression just as full… of want and longing and yearning… but with more… aplomb… and a stronger conviction, things she always had more of than I do.
She lifts her head and kisses me again, but only briefly, then moves her left hand from my face to my wrist, dragging it down and pulling my fingers off her hair.
No… please… don’t say good night yet…
As if she read my mind again, she slides her right hand down from my hair to cup my face, her fingers caressing my cheek telling me that it’s okay…
I close my eyes and sigh and kiss her palm…
And when I look at her again, she’s staring back at me like she’s been waiting this whole time to regain my attention.
I kiss her palm again without taking my eyes off her to let her know that she has it.
And with our eyes locked, she continues dragging my wrist down until my hand lies flat on her shoulder, then covers it with her own, and brings it lower… and lower… until my hand… is resting on her breast.
Ohh, God…
My eyes can’t help but close. And my forehead blindly finds its way to hers.
This feels so different from touching my own.
It feels… It feels… amazing…
I let out a shaky breath as I open my eyes… and it seems she had just opened hers.
She’s breathing heavily and I can feel it… I feel it in my hand.
I slide it down just a little bit further as she lets it go and holds my hair back with both hands.
Then, carefully… and much too nervously, I run my thumb over her nipple, once-she closes her eyes… twice-and she arches her back… And I do it again and again and anything else I can think of. And she’s gasping with every stroke, every swipe, every tweak and every squeeze…
She forcefully pulls my head down and seizes my lips and kisses me with a lot of need and a hint of desperation.
She kisses me with so much abandon that it makes me feel a little bit bolder.
I lightly run my hand down from her breast to her waist and slip it underneath her shirt. And she gasps when my fingertips touch her skin. But she doesn’t tell me to stop, so I bring my hand higher and higher up her chest and back… to her breast.
She moans…
And the way she’s writhing and arching her back as I fondle her breast makes me dizzy with want.
I lunge at her neck as my right leg swings over her hip and my left hand snakes its way under her shirt, from behind her back, to her stomach, up her rib, and over… to her other breast.
And I indulge in the feeling of having my mouth on her neck, biting… lapping… and sucking, while having both hands on her breasts, kneading… tugging… and pinching, making her moan… and groan… and whimper…
I grow even bolder…
…and let my mouth travel south, leaving marks from the spot behind her ear, down the length of her neck, down to her collarbone, down to her chest, down… to the edge of her neckline…
It feels like I’m bending an unspoken rule. But when I grab her shirt to pull it down and kiss the top of her breast and she arches her back and hums in satisfaction, it doesn’t feel so wrong… And I go lower… wrapping my lips around her nipple that’s still covered by her shirt and giving it a tug.
She gasps.
“Quinn…”
And I can’t tell if it’s a warning or a plea.
But she grabs my head and captures my lips and kisses me again and again and again. And suddenly, I’m on my back-and God, she’s getting good at that-and she’s straddling me and moving her mouth down to my neck.
I feel her tongue wetting my skin, her teeth nibbling at my flesh and her mouth drawing it in until it’s bruising and I’m struggling for breath…
But her mouth soon leaves my neck and goes further down, leaving a trail of soft kisses from my throat, down the middle of my chest, and down… to my waist…
Oh, my God…
And her hands tag along, sliding down from my neck to my abs in a sweeping caress, before slipping under my shirt and pushing the hem bit by bit to expose my skin…
And she-
Hmm…
God… I didn’t know having her mouth on my abs would feel this good…
But then I feel her hands on my breasts-
And it’s even better…
I almost feel like begging for her to just… squeeze the hell out of them, but she’s groping around like she’s memorizing every curve, every texture and taking a survey of their shapes… and sizes-and possibly even contemplating which of the two peaks to name Mt. Rachel-and I still find myself moaning in pleasure…
And I can’t help but place my hands on top of hers, feeling their every move through the fabric of my shirt and-
God, is she-?
Oh, my God… She’s licking my abs… She’s licking my abs in between bites.
Fuuuck…
I shouldn’t have looked. I shouldn’t have looked.
I’ll surely be dreaming about that tongue in other parts of my body tonight… and every night… I can only imagine what it feels like… but where it is right now makes my whole body quiver uncontrollably with every sweep and every flick…
And it’s moving higher… and higher… until it’s just below her wrist.
She moves her hand to the side to cup my breast and then… her mouth is there… over my shirt, above my n-
“Unghh… Rachel…”
…
I can’t… I can’t process anything…
The shirt is… the shirt is…
…inconsequential…
…
She gives me a reprieve… but only for a moment… and only to switch to my other breast.
God…
This is too much…
This is too much for something too… brief and too… restricted.
If this keeps up, it won’t take long before I lose control and do something she isn’t ready for…
…and I don’t want that… even if I want more…
I hold her neck and pull her up and kiss her with everything I couldn’t say…
She kisses back as if she hears it.
And we go on kissing like this, with our hands roaming underneath our shirts… until we’re tired… and out of breath… and ready to say good night.
And with Rachel tucked snugly in my arms, I go to sleep knowing… that one of these nights, I’ll get my chance… to show her exactly how I feel… and it’ll be worth the wait.
The eighth night
A/N: Haaave you read Parts 1 & 2?
“Baby-”
“Not yet… I know… I know…”
“I’m s-”
“Don’t be.”
“It’s not… it’s not that I don’t want to. I just-”
“I’ll wait.”
Then in a smaller voice, she asks, “So you’re… you’re ready for it?”
Am I?
I really don’t know but…
“I want you.”
And I hear her catch her breath.
“But… I don’t have well-toned abs like you do…”
Oh, baby. “I love the way yours feel when I touch them… or kiss them, like I did last night… and I’d love to do it again…”
The corner of her lips curls up into a half smile.
“F-Finn-”
“He’s an idiot.”
“H-he always thought my boobs weren’t that big.”
“Well, I only met them briefly but I think I’m in love with them.”
She laughs out loud.
And I’m smiling from ear to ear.
“You know… sometimes when I kiss you I feel like I’m poking your face with my nose,” she says, her tone light.
“You know… every time I kiss you, I feel like I don’t ever want to stop.”
And her whole face softens as she stares at me lovingly.
“Baby, I want you,” I tell her again. “I want all of you… including your nose…”
She smiles until she’s beaming and bowing her head and tucking her hair behind her ear.
“You didn’t believe me the first time I said it, did you?”
She looks up, biting a part of her lower lip, and shakes her head.
“Do you believe me now?”
She nods shyly, her eyes twinkling as she smiles, and it’s a sight that will never get old.
I must be grinning like a fool, sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her and waiting for her to make the next move.
And she’s standing there, staring back at me, almost swaying forward and backward as if she can’t make up her mind.
“Baby, I’m… I’m finding it increasingly difficult to stay in the same room with you right now,” she admits, her chest heaving.
“Oh-kayyy…”
“So I’m just gonna go and-and take a shower in the master bedroom.”
“…Sure.”
“Can you please hand me my shirt back?”
I twist my body to look for-
“On second thought, can you please just… stay there and toss it back to me?”
Seriously?!
“I-I don’t think I can keep my hands or my lips to myself.”
Okay, fine.
I grudgingly do as she asks.
And she catches her shirt with one hand then points a finger at me.
“Stay.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
She probably didn’t catch me rolling my eyes because she turned around so fast and now she’s in a hurry to put her shirt back on.
“As soon as I leave the room, you can… move,” she says as she fumbles around her closet.
Damn it. Why am I so whipped?
“And… and there are clean towels for you in my bathroom,” she adds as she grabs some clothes and opens a drawer.
“Right…”
Then she closes the drawer, turns around, and hurls something small at me.
It’s… the thong.
I take a closer look at it as she closes the doors to her closet.
On the front, in big, bold letters, it says, LOVE PINK.
And underneath, in tiny print, it says-
“Victoria’s Secret?!”
She makes a mad dash for the exit.
“You bought Victoria’s Secret?!”
“They have a five-for-twenty-five special, Quinn,” she quickly opens the door to her bedroom.
“Victoria’s Secret-really?!”
She slams the door shut.
“Ugh!”
I flop down onto her bed.
“My God… she’s killing me…”
I feel like thrashing about her bed and beating it down with my fists. But that’s really not my style.
I guess I’ll just have to take out all of my frustrations on other Cheerios tomorrow…
In the meantime, it’s time to just… take another cold shower and heave another sigh…
Karma is such a bitch.
Ugh.
I pick up the clothes Rachel got for me off the floor and remember to get a hanger for my extra uniform.
For a moment there, I’m tempted to look through her drawer. But I know that’ll drive me even crazier so I hurriedly hang my uniform, go to the bathroom, and strip. I’m not at all surprised to see a patch of wetness in my spankies.
I fold it along with the rest of the uniform I just took off, set them aside, get into the shower, and forget.
I can’t believe how much of a welcome relief the cold water is on my body.
For the first time in a few days, it works. And I feel very refreshed when I step out of the bathroom.
Rachel hasn’t come back so I’m just gonna settle down at her desk with my new book: This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. Someone recommended it on Tumblr and all the reviews say it’s laugh-out-loud funny. I didn’t hesitate to buy a copy because I’m trying to inject more humor into my life.
I get through chapter one without laughing but it really is witty.
I’ve just started chapter two when Rachel walks back in.
And she comes straight to me, wraps her arms around my neck, and kisses the top of my head.
“New book?”
“Yup.”
“Is it good?”
I clear my throat, “Her ironic inflection fills me with the familiar impulse to simultaneously kiss her deeply and strangle her until she turns blue.”
“Oh! So it’s the story of your life.”
“Haha, very funny, Rach.”
“It’s one of the things you love about me.”
“They say it’s one of the things you’ll love about this book.”
“Have you laughed yet?”
“Nope.”
“Too bad. You could’ve just given me…” she checks the back of the book, “the fifteen dollars instead of buying this book and you’d get more than your money’s worth.”
“How so?”
“Well, for one, this book will never make out with you.”
“True… True… But who knows? Miracles do happen… Maybe this book will let me get to second base.”
She pinches my side-
“Ow! I’m kidding, I’m kidding…”
“Will you read to me when you’re done?”
“If it’s as good as they say…”
“Okay… You’ll just finish that chapter and then we’ll study?”
“Yup.”
She kisses the top of my head one more time before leaving my side. And I resume reading.
After a while, she appears next to me, setting her book and binder down on her desk, and goes away again.
Soon after, she asks, “Baby, would you mind if I play music while we’re studying?”
“No, baby, I won’t mind.”
“Okay…”
We’ve never really studied together before. And I’m not counting those times when we talked over the phone while we were studying separately in our houses.
All the hours we’ve shared together after school so far were spent on more important things, like making out, eating, making out, watching my favorite TV shows, making out, eating…
I didn’t know dating a vegan would make me hungry all the time.
Anyway, I usually stayed here at Rachel’s until nine and then I’d go home and study on my own.
But that won’t be happening ton-
Shit. I forgot to text my mom.
I shuffle across the room to get to my bag, which is still near the door, where I left it.
“Done?” Rachel asks.
“No, baby, not yet.”
“Okay…”
She’s sitting on her bed, tinkering with her iPod, wearing pajama bottoms and a tank top.
What was I supposed to do again?
Oh, phone! Right…
I crouch down to search for it in my bag but I can’t find it.
“Baby, have you seen my phone?”
“I gave it back to you when we were still in the car.”
“I know. And I remember holding it when we got out.”
“Well, maybe you accidentally left it in the living room.”
“Ugh. Can I just borrow your phone to text my mom?”
“Baby, your phone is probably just in the living room.”
“But it’s too far-”
“It’s not too far.”
“-from you.”
She bites her upper lip and rolls her eyes while shaking her head, trying hard to hold back her smile.
“Nice… Really nice, Fabray…”
I’m grinning so wide it hurts, “I thought so, too.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a book that you’ve been using as a reference for these things,” she says as she ambles from her bed towards me.
I get up on my feet and wait, “As a matter of fact, there is.”
“Oh?” She wraps her arms around my shoulders, “What is it?”
I wrap my arms behind her back, “Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches.”
She bites her upper lip again, “That’s not your average book.”
“No, it’s pure gold…”
“And has it worked well for you so far?”
“Well, there were five chapters devoted to enchanting the object of your affection just by jogging every morning so-”
She lets out a full belly laugh, with her nose crinkled and her head thrown back, and it’s such a joy to see and hear that I’m really starting to believe that it can tickle even the most inanimate of objects.
But it soon dwindles down to random bursts of giggles and she locks her eyes with mine and cups my face.
“The object of your affection, huh?” she smirks.
“It’s way better than paramour.”
She giggles again…
…and kisses me…
And it’s this thin… partially-opened mouth… no tongue-well, maybe a little tongue… type of kiss. Add orchestral music and it would be movie-perfect.
And just like that… it’s over…
She studies my face when she opens her eyes… from my forehead to my eyebrows… then my eyes… to my nose and my lips, while stroking my cheeks with her thumbs.
Then she runs a thumb gently over my lips…
…and kisses me again…
And it’s just… perfect… even without the orchestral music…
…and even if it ends so soon…
She leans her forehead on my cheek, with her eyes still closed, takes a deep breath, and sighs…
Then she takes a good look at me again, brushing away errant strands of hair on my face, and murmurs, “Text your mom…”
And it’s my turn to sigh…
She leads me by the hand across the room, takes her phone from her shelf, hands it over to me, and goes back to her bed.
Mom, it’s Quinn. I’m using Rachel’s phone. Mine is around their house somewhere. I’ll just stay here tonight. Enjoy your party. Drive safe.
I put the phone back on the shelf and it doesn’t take long for me to finish reading chapter two of my new book.
Rachel is still on her bed, playing with her iPod, and she’s probably making a playlist of study-appropriate songs so I pack away my book and bring out my binder, which hopefully won’t be bedazzled in the morning.
“Oh, good, you’re done,” she says cheerfully. “I’ll be right with you.”
Wow. She just loves to keep me waiting, doesn’t she?
I drag myself back to her desk, get another chair, and sit down.
And for some reason, every passing second feels like a really… long… time…
Rachel still isn’t done with whatever playlist she’s making so I decide to read ahead of her.
When I’m done, I can just… annoy her or something…
Then out of the blue, her iPod plays…
I quickly turn my head.
“Looking out… on the morning rain…”
To my surprise, Rachel is drawing near… and she’s glowing.
There’s something intriguing about the way she smiles that I can’t help but look at her… then her iPod… then back to her… then her iPod…
She takes a seat as I give in to my curiosity and stride across the room.
One click on her iPod shows me a playlist of Motown greats from Marvin and Tammi to Teena Marie.
Another click gives me the name and good Lord, it definitely makes me chuckle.
For My Quinniepuff, it says.
And now I’m smiling just as broadly as her.
And much like earlier this evening, I let my feet carry me back to her… and back to her lips… back to her arms… back to her tongue… with her thighs underneath mine as I sit astride her in her seat…
And I just can’t get enough…
I hold her tight…
…and kiss her long…
…and hard…
…and soundly…
I kiss her until I have to come up for air…
And when I do, I realize I know this song by heart… and the next verse says much about how I feel… how she makes me feel…
So I open my eyes, along with my heart, hoping that she sees… and start singing softly… along with Aretha…
“When my soul… was in the lost-and-found…”
First line and my voice cracks-
“You came along… to claim it…”
-not from any roughness in my throat-
“I didn’t know… just what was wrong with me…”
-but from the gravity of the words I’m singing.
“’Til your kiss… helped me name it…”
I hope that she believes them.
“Now I’m no longer doubtful… of what I’m living for… And if I make you happy I don’t need to do more… ‘Cause you make me-”
Hmm…
Her kiss tells me that she does.
“You make me feel…”
And as much as I love to sing… kissing her… is a much better occupation for my mouth…
And it expresses so much more… than words ever could…
And right now… I obviously… have a lot… I need to express…
“Ohh, baby, what you’ve done to me (what you’ve done to me)… You make me feel so good inside (good inside)… And I… just wanna be (wanna be)… close to you, you make me feel… so alive…”
I don’t want this kiss to end.
“You make me feel…”
But Rachel pulls away for the nth time tonight…
…and she whispers, “Baby, we should study…”
I kiss her forehead, “It’s just a quiz…”
“But…”
I kiss her right eye.
“…I don’t want you to lose your straight A’s…”
I kiss her cheek, “I won’t.”
“Okay… well, uhm…”
Then I kiss the corner of her lips.
“I-I need… to study…”
“No, you don’t…”
And I kiss her again…
And she doesn’t protest.
She holds me closer and kisses me like she has forgotten she wanted to study instead.
And I carry on kissing her like I really don’t give a damn about breathing.
But that’s all just wishful thinking… and after a while, we pull apart… and she whispers again…
“Baby, we really should be studying…”
I sigh.
“…and I don’t think I can feel my legs anymore.”
“Oh, I’m sor-”
“No, no! Stay… Stay a while longer…”
I can’t believe I’ve been straddling her this long.
“Are you sure?”
She doesn’t answer but keeps her hold on me and rests her head on my shoulder. And I feel the ghost of a kiss on my collarbone.
“We have to study,” she says, almost as if she’s trying to convince herself and not me.
I sigh again.
“As you wish…”
And her breath hitches.
But she doesn’t move-not really…
She just tightens her hold around me and takes a deep breath.
I wonder what she’s thinking…
“Quinn…?”
I hold her just as tight.
“Yeah…?”
She plants a soft kiss on my shoulder.
“Nothing…”
And I can’t help but smile…
“Rach…?”
“Yes Quinn?”
I whisper in her ear.
“Nothing back…”
And I don’t have to take a look at her to know that she’s smiling.
She nuzzles her face by the crook of my neck and places a lingering kiss on the spot where her lips just happen to be.
It’s supposed to make me feel… over the moon? But it somehow makes me feel like… I just lost at something.
But which fight?
She puts her hands on my waist and gives a gentle push. And there goes my cue to stand and move to my own chair.
I notice that she’s purposely avoiding my gaze but there’s a hint of a smile on her lips as she casually opens her book and starts reading and playing with her pen.
Then she sweeps her hair to one side and I wish she had swept it the other way because now I have an unimpeded view of her neck.
To add insult to injury, she keeps massaging her thighs and every now and then, her tongue darts out to wet her lips.
And she never ever looks up from her book, which, now that I think of it, is probably for the best.
“Baby, you’re not supposed to study my face.”
I want to study your face, with my-
Erm… Yeah…
So, History… right.
I turn the pages of my binder until I find the right place to start skimming reading and do my best not to stare at Rachel too much… or too long…
But my attention keeps slipping away…
…
“Baby?”
“Whu-?”
“Baby, wake up…”
I fell asleep?
“Let’s go to bed…”
I’m awake. I’m awake.
And Rachel is giggling.
“You should see your face,” she says.
I automatically check the corners of my mouth.
“Aww, no, baby, you weren’t drooling,” she giggles again. “Come on, up, up.”
“Still hafta brush my teeth.”
“Do you want me to come with? Hold your hand?” she smirks.
“Am nutta baby,” I pout.
“But you’re my baby.”
…
“Well-yeah…” I nod, several times, “Yeah. I am…”
With a huge smile on her face, she offers her hands and pulls me up.
“Extra toothbrushes are in the kitchen cupboard.”
“What?”
She smirks again, “I’m kidding.”
“Hmph.”
“There’s one in my bathroom cabinet.”
“Otay…”
I take a step towards the bathroom but she yanks me back to her and… and she’s kissing me…
And it’s not too soft and not too hard… but it still ends too soon.
Then she just smiles and turns away and starts pulling back the sheets on her bed.
I sigh…
“…Baby?”
“Yeah…?”
“You were supposed to brush your teeth.”
“Oh, right.”
I hurry to the bathroom before I get distracted again, find the toothbrush in the cabinet, brush my teeth, and wash my face.
And now I feel a little bit more alert, a little bit more… present.
But one step out the door and I stop short at seeing Rachel on her bed.
She’s lying on her side, with her right hand folded under her head and all the lights in the room turned off except for a lamp by her bedside.
And that soft smile I love so much graces her face the moment that she sees me.
She holds out her left hand, beckoning me, and I feel like my feet are glued to the spot where I’m standing.
But she leaves her hand hanging so I keep urging and wishing and willing my body to move forward until it does.
And when I reach her bed, I take her hand and feel a gentle tug on mine. I let her pull me down until I’m on my knees and lying down on my stomach next to her, with my right arm draped over her stomach, my head resting just below her shoulder, and my hands tucked behind her back.
She kisses the top of my head and strokes my hair with one hand and holds me tight with the other. And I never felt more… secure… like all my worries were washed away in an instant. I knew I had no reason to be nervous but I was… a moment ago… Now, I could just… stay right here in her arms and be perfectly content.
I feel her sigh…
So I turn my head to place a kiss just above her chest and she plants one just as tender on my forehead.
The she gives it a little nudge with her nose and I oblige.
I lift my head just high enough to meet her gaze, propping myself up on my elbows, as she keeps my hair away from my face, smiling wider than before, with a glint in her eyes.
And I can’t help but smile back…
“Hi…”
She looks adorable biting her lower lip.
“Hello…”
I want to be the one biting it for her.
As if she read my mind, she brings my head down closer to her and opens her mouth, with her tongue peeking out.
And she kisses me…
…ardently… and tenderly… her tongue gracefully sweeping against mine…
She tastes like comfort and pleasure and love and unadulterated joy. She tastes like everything I never knew I always wanted.
I wonder what I taste like for her, other than minty…
But with the way she’s thoroughly kissing me, I really couldn’t care at all.
It’s amazing how different it feels kissing her in this somewhat sleepy state. It’s like being drowsy has made me feel like a much better kisser than I already am and has heightened all my senses.
Everything feels like it’s in slow motion… from the way she draws in a breath or tugs my hair… or turns her head from side to side… to the way she opens and closes her mouth around my lips… or catches them… between her teeth…
And even the smallest of contacts makes my whole body feel… lighter… and they’re steadily… unraveling me…
I bring my right hand out from under her, caressing her side… her shoulder… her neck… and threading my fingers through her hair, behind her ear…
She offers me the full breadth of her tongue and I take it eagerly… hungrily… drawing it further into my mouth… until she tilts her head up, gasping… and faintly giving my head a push.
Then her eyes flutter open…
And the sight of her leaves me breathless…
She almost looks the way I feel… her expression just as full… of want and longing and yearning… but with more… aplomb… and a stronger conviction, things she always had more of than I do.
She lifts her head and kisses me again, but only briefly, then moves her left hand from my face to my wrist, dragging it down and pulling my fingers off her hair.
No… please… don’t say good night yet…
As if she read my mind again, she slides her right hand down from my hair to cup my face, her fingers caressing my cheek telling me that it’s okay…
I close my eyes and sigh and kiss her palm…
And when I look at her again, she’s staring back at me like she’s been waiting this whole time to regain my attention.
I kiss her palm again without taking my eyes off her to let her know that she has it.
And with our eyes locked, she continues dragging my wrist down until my hand lies flat on her shoulder, then covers it with her own, and brings it lower… and lower… until my hand… is resting on her breast.
Ohh, God…
My eyes can’t help but close. And my forehead blindly finds its way to hers.
This feels so different from touching my own.
It feels… It feels… amazing…
I let out a shaky breath as I open my eyes… and it seems she had just opened hers.
She’s breathing heavily and I can feel it… I feel it in my hand.
I slide it down just a little bit further as she lets it go and holds my hair back with both hands.
Then, carefully… and much too nervously, I run my thumb over her nipple, once-she closes her eyes… twice-and she arches her back… And I do it again and again and anything else I can think of. And she’s gasping with every stroke, every swipe, every tweak and every squeeze…
She forcefully pulls my head down and seizes my lips and kisses me with a lot of need and a hint of desperation.
She kisses me with so much abandon that it makes me feel a little bit bolder.
I lightly run my hand down from her breast to her waist and slip it underneath her shirt. And she gasps when my fingertips touch her skin. But she doesn’t tell me to stop, so I bring my hand higher and higher up her chest and back… to her breast.
She moans…
And the way she’s writhing and arching her back as I fondle her breast makes me dizzy with want.
I lunge at her neck as my right leg swings over her hip and my left hand snakes its way under her shirt, from behind her back, to her stomach, up her rib, and over… to her other breast.
And I indulge in the feeling of having my mouth on her neck, biting… lapping… and sucking, while having both hands on her breasts, kneading… tugging… and pinching, making her moan… and groan… and whimper…
I grow even bolder…
…and let my mouth travel south, leaving marks from the spot behind her ear, down the length of her neck, down to her collarbone, down to her chest, down… to the edge of her neckline…
It feels like I’m bending an unspoken rule. But when I grab her shirt to pull it down and kiss the top of her breast and she arches her back and hums in satisfaction, it doesn’t feel so wrong… And I go lower… wrapping my lips around her nipple that’s still covered by her shirt and giving it a tug.
She gasps.
“Quinn…”
And I can’t tell if it’s a warning or a plea.
But she grabs my head and captures my lips and kisses me again and again and again. And suddenly, I’m on my back-and God, she’s getting good at that-and she’s straddling me and moving her mouth down to my neck.
I feel her tongue wetting my skin, her teeth nibbling at my flesh and her mouth drawing it in until it’s bruising and I’m struggling for breath…
But her mouth soon leaves my neck and goes further down, leaving a trail of soft kisses from my throat, down the middle of my chest, and down… to my waist…
Oh, my God…
And her hands tag along, sliding down from my neck to my abs in a sweeping caress, before slipping under my shirt and pushing the hem bit by bit to expose my skin…
And she-
Hmm…
God… I didn’t know having her mouth on my abs would feel this good…
But then I feel her hands on my breasts-
And it’s even better…
I almost feel like begging for her to just… squeeze the hell out of them, but she’s groping around like she’s memorizing every curve, every texture and taking a survey of their shapes… and sizes-and possibly even contemplating which of the two peaks to name Mt. Rachel-and I still find myself moaning in pleasure…
And I can’t help but place my hands on top of hers, feeling their every move through the fabric of my shirt and-
God, is she-?
Oh, my God… She’s licking my abs… She’s licking my abs in between bites.
Fuuuck…
I shouldn’t have looked. I shouldn’t have looked.
I’ll surely be dreaming about that tongue in other parts of my body tonight… and every night… I can only imagine what it feels like… but where it is right now makes my whole body quiver uncontrollably with every sweep and every flick…
And it’s moving higher… and higher… until it’s just below her wrist.
She moves her hand to the side to cup my breast and then… her mouth is there… over my shirt, above my n-
“Unghh… Rachel…”
…
I can’t… I can’t process anything…
The shirt is… the shirt is…
…inconsequential…
…
She gives me a reprieve… but only for a moment… and only to switch to my other breast.
God…
This is too much…
This is too much for something too… brief and too… restricted.
If this keeps up, it won’t take long before I lose control and do something she isn’t ready for…
…and I don’t want that… even if I want more…
I hold her neck and pull her up and kiss her with everything I couldn’t say…
She kisses back as if she hears it.
And we go on kissing like this, with our hands roaming underneath our shirts… until we’re tired… and out of breath… and ready to say good night.
And with Rachel tucked snugly in my arms, I go to sleep knowing… that one of these nights, I’ll get my chance… to show her exactly how I feel… and it’ll be worth the wait.
The eighth night