Let's Do The Time Warp Again (Part 6/9)
Title: Let's Do The Time Warp Again (Part 6/9)
Author: inanawfulmess
Rating: PG-13
Length: 18,750
Spoilers: Season 1.
Summary: There's something going on between Lea and Dianna that could lead to Glee being canceled. Can Rachel and Quinn help them work it out in order to save their own existences?
Author's Note: Well, here's my entry for the gleefsbigbang . Special thanks goes to my wonderful beta, jo_eva and artist, insidethetimes . It gets a little crazy, but I hope you enjoy!
Several years ago, Chris Colfer had been an average teenager from an average family in an average high school in the great state of California. So when, on a whim, he’d auditioned for a role on a new tv show and, by some miraculous turn of events actually won a role, he’d had to make some adjustments to the Hollywood lifestyle. He had his own apartment now, rather than living with his parents, and he gave way better Christmas presents than he used to. But there were some aspects of his old life that hadn’t really changed at the same time. He still made macaroni and cheese out of the blue box for dinner most nights, and his clothes came from Target or, if he was feeling especially adventurous, JC Penney. And he still had the same cell phone plan his parents had, which meant that service was spotty at best on the Paramount lot.
So when he had wandered pretty far from the studio where Glee filmed and out back toward the sheds where they kept old costumes he was pretty sure were left over from The Brady Bunch in an attempt to make a phone call, he was surprised to hear sniffling that he recognized as belonging to Dianna.
“Di?” he questioned, turning a corner and seeing her crouched down against the wall of an old shed, sobbing into her hands. “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Is it Lea? Did she say something to you?” He slid down the wall next to her and gently put his arm around her shaking shoulders. “She’s smaller than me, I could take her, you know. I’d do it for you,” he whispered.
The girl wiggled out of his arms and wiped her face. “I’m not Dianna,” she said angrily. “Please leave me alone.”
“Oh,” Chris said, retracting his arm and scooting several inches away from Quinn. “You again.”
“Please, just go away. I need some time to think.”
Chris sighed. He didn’t know why he cared, exactly, but the girl looked so much like Dianna and it was hard to sit there and know she was upset without being able to help. “I’m a good listener,” he finally said.
“I don’t know if you’d understand. It’s kind of a big deal and it’s sort of a secret I’ve never told anyone before.”
“So why not me then? You hardly know me? It’s perfect!” Chris smiled and was relieved to see Quinn smile as well.
“I’ve been having some…impure thoughts about…someone.”
“Okay…”
“That’s it. I just, I shouldn’t be having these thoughts but they keep coming and I don’t know how to stop them. And they’re coming out of nowhere, just all of a sudden today it hit me and…”
“So you’re gay. No big. It’s kind of the norm in these parts.”
Quinn’s mouth dropped. “I am not gay! I’m not! I’m just confused. I thought I didn’t want Finn and Rachel together because I still wanted Finn, but then I realized I didn’t like Finn after all. He’s kind of dumb. And Rachel is just so little and cuddly-looking…” She trailed off. Where is this coming from? Cuddly-looking? She is though. My god, stop this! “I didn’t mean that! It’s the animals! The animals on her sweaters are cuddly-looking!”
Chris raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look. “I have to go,” Quinn continued. “I promised Rachel I’d meet her to discuss our mission.”
“That’s fine,” Chris nodded. “But you really should come to terms with your feelings. You’ll be a lot happier if you admit it at least to yourself. It’s okay to be gay, believe me, I know.”
Quinn shook her head violently. “That’s not true, it can’t be. It’s wrong. I can’t be gay. I’m not gay.”
Chris held up his hand to stop her. “Oh, please, honey. Do you think we don’t watch the episodes after we’ve filmed them? Quinn Fabray is the most repressed lesbian in all of television. Though I can’t blame you, I mean, how can you not be if Dianna’s playing you?”
----------
“Lea doesn’t know what’s going on. Can I go now?”
Rachel blinked once, then twice. “What, Quinn?”
“I talked to Lea, she is unaware of anything she may have done to cause issues with Dianna. They’re not together, I called her out on it and she just got all confused. So now that I’ve done my job, I want to leave. Please, I need to get out of here, away from these people.” Quinn turned and quietly whispered to herself, “away from you.”
“No, Quinn, you certainly may not leave. This is not merely a fact-finding mission! We have to solve the problem as well as identify it!”
“Well, genius, how can we solve the problem if we can’t identify it?”
“If you would have read the mission statement, Quinn, we’ll just keep doing our detective work until the problem has been identified and I can put together an appropriate plan.”
Quinn huffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. So then what have you found out?”
Rachel hesitated. “I, uh…nothing. I know nothing. Nothing at all, not yet.” The truth was, Rachel knew a lot. She knew that Dianna was pulling away from Lea, and she knew why Dianna was pulling away from Lea. It was almost more than Rachel had hoped for that Dianna would be so forthcoming with information. But when the girl had opened up to her like no one else in her life had, Rachel thought that maybe they could be friends. If Dianna was willing to make herself so vulnerable to a girl who was, essentially, a perfect stranger, imagine what the relationship would be like once they got to know each other better. And then when Dianna came out to her, it really was better than Rachel could have hoped. The girl was beautiful, just like Quinn, obviously, but so sweet and gentle in all the ways Quinn wasn’t and she’d hugged Rachel and thanked her for being someone she could trust. And Rachel had been unable to prevent herself from wrapping her arms around Dianna’s back and gently stroking her hair, and her blush grew so red as Dianna sweetly kissed her cheek.
If she was being honest with herself, Rachel was in love. She’d been in love before - there was Finn, of course, even though he was still with Quinn at the time, then Puck, then Finn again for like two weeks until he screwed things up with Brittany and Santana, then Jesse, and then Quinn. Nobody knew about that last one, of course, but since Quinn had had her baby, Rachel hadn’t been able to keep her mind off of the blonde cheerleader. Some time had passed, and she had plenty of offers (well, Finn was knocking her door down on a daily basis at least), but Rachel just couldn’t get passed the idea of being with Quinn. She had no problem with having feelings for another woman of course, because, hello, two gay dads? She received the ‘love whomever you’d like as long as you’re happy’ speech nearly daily for as long as she could remember. No, her problem wasn’t that Quinn was a girl, exactly, but rather that Quinn was, well, Quinn. And not only was Quinn decidedly straight, but she kind of couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as Rachel.
But if Rachel couldn’t have Quinn, which she really didn’t think she could, shouldn’t she have a chance with the next best (next best, or better? she thought) thing? If Rachel could have Dianna maybe it would be worth it to forfeit her life in Lima and stay here in the real world? She was selfish, everyone knew that about her. And she wanted a chance at real romance, and she had a feeling Dianna Agron would know how to romance her better than any of the boys she’d ever dated. Rachel was thorough in her research, and Dianna’s Tumblr posts certainly indicated that the girl would be able to romance her like no other.
“So, uh, yeah…” Rachel was pretty sure she was blushing so hard that Quinn certainly knew the thoughts that were going through her head. “I’ve got nothing, we need more time. So why don’t you keep talking to Lea, and I’ll work with Dianna and we’ll get to the bottom of this. Sound good?”
Rachel didn’t wait for an answer and scurried away as quickly as she could. That is, until she felt Quinn’s arm lunge forward and grab her around the bicep, hauling her back in toward her. “I don’t think so, Berry. I’ll talk to Blondie, you get the other Streisand.”
------------
Quinn wasn’t dumb, regardless of what everyone seemed to think of her. She doesn’t know if it was the blonde hair, or the way she blindly followed her father’s teachings, or the fact that she allowed herself to get knocked up by Puck of all people (that was one time, shouldn’t people give her a break?), but she was like, in the running to be the valedictorian. She was always on the honor roll, her teachers loved her, and she’d been accepted to every college she applied to. So when Rachel lied to her face, Quinn knew. She wasn’t dumb, and she wasn’t blind. Rachel was a terrible liar.
Even after her talk with Chris, Quinn wasn’t sure she was ready to admit her feelings to herself, much less to Rachel. But she wasn’t entirely sure she liked the idea of Rachel spending time with someone she was clearly interested in. That’s why she agreed to accompany her to the real world in the first place, sort of - she wanted to keep Rachel and Finn apart (although at that point she thought she was saving Finn for herself and not Rachel). So when she saw Rachel’s eyes widen at the prospect of spending additional time with Dianna, Quinn had to put a stop to it. And that’s how she found herself spending the afternoon with the world’s nicest person. Maybe she was kind of dumb after all.
“Are you sure I can’t get you anything?” Dianna asked for probably the fourth time since she and Quinn had sat down in the quiet of her trailer. “I have vegan banana muffins in the fridge. Or I can make tea! Would you like some tea?”
Quinn arched an eyebrow and glared at Dianna. “Just sit down. I don’t want anything from you.”
Dianna quickly sat and crossed her legs, hands folded in her lap. “I’m sorry,” she apologized quietly. Quinn just continued to stare and Dianna felt her face redden under her gaze. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” she asked finally.
Quinn scowled. “I think you know, Blondie. I used to be head cheerleader and president of the celibacy club. I got knocked up, went soft, gave my baby away, became head cheerleader again, and now apparently I’m so screwed up I have a thing for RuP- “ Quinn quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide and staring at Dianna with fear written all over her face.
“Rachel?” Dianna asked a moment later, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Rachel Berry? I certainly never saw that one coming.”
“It’s not…” Quinn shook her head furiously. “It’s really not…not what it sounds like. No. I don’t like Rachel. RuPaul, I mean. Treasure trail. She’s a midget!”
Dianna gently got up from the chair she was sitting in in the corner and crossed to the couch to sit gently next to Quinn. “Sweetheart, it’s okay,” she said softly. “I know you haven’t always been told this, but it’s okay to like another girl in that way. I know you know it is.” Dianna slowly lifted her hand to the other girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay.”
“No!” Quinn snapped a moment later, batting Dianna’s hand away and standing from the couch. “It’s not okay! I can’t like her, she talks too much and she dresses funny and she’s only five-two and she’s a woman. No. Just no. Leave me alone, please. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Quinn needed to be left alone. She couldn’t be trusted to stay in Dianna’s trailer right now, she was so close to losing her cool and spilling her secrets. Something about the other girl made her seem so trustworthy and Quinn could hardly help the words that came spilling out of her mouth for the second time that day since she even figured out what she was feeling.
“Quinn, sweetheart, sit down and relax, please.” Dianna stood up from the couch and gently grabbed Quinn’s shoulders, guiding her back to the couch and taking her hands in hers. “We’re even more alike than you’d think. I admitted something out loud for the first time today, too. I kind of have feelings for Lea, similar to the ones you have for Rachel. And it’s okay. It is, I promise.”
And as Quinn felt Dianna’s arms wrap around her and heard her soothing words whispered in to her ear, she realized she would have been much better off if she’d just let Rachel stay with Dianna. She didn’t deserve this comfort, she didn’t deserve Dianna’s kindness. She was Quinn Fabray, head cheerleader, unofficial ruler of the school. She wasn’t supposed to be crying in the arms of some supporting actress on a cheesy teenage comedy that wasn’t even good enough to be on cable. But she still couldn’t stop herself from asking “What do I do, Dianna?”
Dianna sighed, running her hand softly over Quinn’s hair. As weird as it was to be comforting the fictional character that she played on television, Dianna couldn’t help but wish somebody had done that for her when she was first realizing that her feelings for Lea went above and beyond those of friendship. Maybe if she had had advice it would have gone better than it had and Lea wouldn’t hate her now. “You need to tell her,” she said finally. “Don’t make the same mistake I did, don’t distance yourself. You need to tell Rachel how you feel.”
Quinn pulled away from Dianna quickly and wiped the tears from her face. “I can’t,” she said firmly. “I’m not ready to do that. I haven’t even told myself yet.”
“Then do that first,” Dianna said. “I wasn’t able to tell Lea and now I’ve lost her forever. So tell yourself, and then tell her. Please, Quinn, you should do it before it’s too late.”
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“I can’t wait to tell my two gay dads about this moment. Lea Michele, star of screen and stage, just complimented my nose!”
Lea laughed, grabbing two water bottles out of her mini-fridge and passing one to her younger counterpart. “Well, actually I think I was more complimenting my nose, but yours is nice too.”
Rachel blushed as she took the water bottle, twisting the cap open and taking a sip. “You know,” she began, “I have the Original Broadway Cast recording of Spring Awakening back at home in Lima. While my dads and I agree that you have nothing on me, I find your voice to be quite satisfactory and pleasant to listen to. Your technique could use some improvement, although I understand you were quite young when you recorded your tracks.”
Lea frowned, grabbing a bag of pita chips and falling to the couch. “Thank you, I think,” she hesitated. “Your voice is, uh, nice, too.”
Rachel blushed again. “It’s such an honor to hear you say that. Really, it’s just such an honor to be in your presence. To be sitting with a Broadway star in her personal trailer, sharing her pita chips.”
“Oh, sorry,” Lea said, thrusting the bag forward. “Have some chips.”
“Thank you,” Rachel said, grabbing a few out of the bag. “Now, I must tell you that while I adore the Spring Awakening soundtrack, I have not actually seen the show. Due to the adult subject matter and nudity on your behalf, my dads refused to buy tickets on our semiannual trek to the big city. I feel the urge to ask you, seeing as how I too hope to one day break into the business, what exactly prompted you to bare your breasts on stage for entire audiences to see on a nightly basis?”
Lea blinked once, then again. “I, uh, wasn’t aware I’d have to defend myself to a television character today, so I don’t have a response prepared. Can I get back to you on that?”
Rachel nodded. “Of course. I’m certain that you have a fantastic body, I have seen what’s under that sweater, if you know I mean, but I have always said for myself that I would do anything to break into the business except for nudity or the exploitation of animals. And I know you certainly wouldn’t exploit animals. “ She nodded to acknowledge Lea’s blank stare. “PETA. I’ve done my research.”
“Clearly,” Lea spoke, standing up off the couch and walking toward the door. “Listen, I’m already super late to set, so I should go. You can just, stay here or something. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“That sounds fantastic,” Rachel answered. “I appreciate your hospitality. And while you’re pondering your decision to objectify yourself on the big stage, as well as in a variety of magazine photo shoots, please also think about your decision to mark your body with your numerous tattoos. I have some questions.”
Part 7
Author: inanawfulmess
Rating: PG-13
Length: 18,750
Spoilers: Season 1.
Summary: There's something going on between Lea and Dianna that could lead to Glee being canceled. Can Rachel and Quinn help them work it out in order to save their own existences?
Author's Note: Well, here's my entry for the gleefsbigbang . Special thanks goes to my wonderful beta, jo_eva and artist, insidethetimes . It gets a little crazy, but I hope you enjoy!
Several years ago, Chris Colfer had been an average teenager from an average family in an average high school in the great state of California. So when, on a whim, he’d auditioned for a role on a new tv show and, by some miraculous turn of events actually won a role, he’d had to make some adjustments to the Hollywood lifestyle. He had his own apartment now, rather than living with his parents, and he gave way better Christmas presents than he used to. But there were some aspects of his old life that hadn’t really changed at the same time. He still made macaroni and cheese out of the blue box for dinner most nights, and his clothes came from Target or, if he was feeling especially adventurous, JC Penney. And he still had the same cell phone plan his parents had, which meant that service was spotty at best on the Paramount lot.
So when he had wandered pretty far from the studio where Glee filmed and out back toward the sheds where they kept old costumes he was pretty sure were left over from The Brady Bunch in an attempt to make a phone call, he was surprised to hear sniffling that he recognized as belonging to Dianna.
“Di?” he questioned, turning a corner and seeing her crouched down against the wall of an old shed, sobbing into her hands. “Sweetie, what’s wrong? Is it Lea? Did she say something to you?” He slid down the wall next to her and gently put his arm around her shaking shoulders. “She’s smaller than me, I could take her, you know. I’d do it for you,” he whispered.
The girl wiggled out of his arms and wiped her face. “I’m not Dianna,” she said angrily. “Please leave me alone.”
“Oh,” Chris said, retracting his arm and scooting several inches away from Quinn. “You again.”
“Please, just go away. I need some time to think.”
Chris sighed. He didn’t know why he cared, exactly, but the girl looked so much like Dianna and it was hard to sit there and know she was upset without being able to help. “I’m a good listener,” he finally said.
“I don’t know if you’d understand. It’s kind of a big deal and it’s sort of a secret I’ve never told anyone before.”
“So why not me then? You hardly know me? It’s perfect!” Chris smiled and was relieved to see Quinn smile as well.
“I’ve been having some…impure thoughts about…someone.”
“Okay…”
“That’s it. I just, I shouldn’t be having these thoughts but they keep coming and I don’t know how to stop them. And they’re coming out of nowhere, just all of a sudden today it hit me and…”
“So you’re gay. No big. It’s kind of the norm in these parts.”
Quinn’s mouth dropped. “I am not gay! I’m not! I’m just confused. I thought I didn’t want Finn and Rachel together because I still wanted Finn, but then I realized I didn’t like Finn after all. He’s kind of dumb. And Rachel is just so little and cuddly-looking…” She trailed off. Where is this coming from? Cuddly-looking? She is though. My god, stop this! “I didn’t mean that! It’s the animals! The animals on her sweaters are cuddly-looking!”
Chris raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look. “I have to go,” Quinn continued. “I promised Rachel I’d meet her to discuss our mission.”
“That’s fine,” Chris nodded. “But you really should come to terms with your feelings. You’ll be a lot happier if you admit it at least to yourself. It’s okay to be gay, believe me, I know.”
Quinn shook her head violently. “That’s not true, it can’t be. It’s wrong. I can’t be gay. I’m not gay.”
Chris held up his hand to stop her. “Oh, please, honey. Do you think we don’t watch the episodes after we’ve filmed them? Quinn Fabray is the most repressed lesbian in all of television. Though I can’t blame you, I mean, how can you not be if Dianna’s playing you?”
----------
“Lea doesn’t know what’s going on. Can I go now?”
Rachel blinked once, then twice. “What, Quinn?”
“I talked to Lea, she is unaware of anything she may have done to cause issues with Dianna. They’re not together, I called her out on it and she just got all confused. So now that I’ve done my job, I want to leave. Please, I need to get out of here, away from these people.” Quinn turned and quietly whispered to herself, “away from you.”
“No, Quinn, you certainly may not leave. This is not merely a fact-finding mission! We have to solve the problem as well as identify it!”
“Well, genius, how can we solve the problem if we can’t identify it?”
“If you would have read the mission statement, Quinn, we’ll just keep doing our detective work until the problem has been identified and I can put together an appropriate plan.”
Quinn huffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. So then what have you found out?”
Rachel hesitated. “I, uh…nothing. I know nothing. Nothing at all, not yet.” The truth was, Rachel knew a lot. She knew that Dianna was pulling away from Lea, and she knew why Dianna was pulling away from Lea. It was almost more than Rachel had hoped for that Dianna would be so forthcoming with information. But when the girl had opened up to her like no one else in her life had, Rachel thought that maybe they could be friends. If Dianna was willing to make herself so vulnerable to a girl who was, essentially, a perfect stranger, imagine what the relationship would be like once they got to know each other better. And then when Dianna came out to her, it really was better than Rachel could have hoped. The girl was beautiful, just like Quinn, obviously, but so sweet and gentle in all the ways Quinn wasn’t and she’d hugged Rachel and thanked her for being someone she could trust. And Rachel had been unable to prevent herself from wrapping her arms around Dianna’s back and gently stroking her hair, and her blush grew so red as Dianna sweetly kissed her cheek.
If she was being honest with herself, Rachel was in love. She’d been in love before - there was Finn, of course, even though he was still with Quinn at the time, then Puck, then Finn again for like two weeks until he screwed things up with Brittany and Santana, then Jesse, and then Quinn. Nobody knew about that last one, of course, but since Quinn had had her baby, Rachel hadn’t been able to keep her mind off of the blonde cheerleader. Some time had passed, and she had plenty of offers (well, Finn was knocking her door down on a daily basis at least), but Rachel just couldn’t get passed the idea of being with Quinn. She had no problem with having feelings for another woman of course, because, hello, two gay dads? She received the ‘love whomever you’d like as long as you’re happy’ speech nearly daily for as long as she could remember. No, her problem wasn’t that Quinn was a girl, exactly, but rather that Quinn was, well, Quinn. And not only was Quinn decidedly straight, but she kind of couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as Rachel.
But if Rachel couldn’t have Quinn, which she really didn’t think she could, shouldn’t she have a chance with the next best (next best, or better? she thought) thing? If Rachel could have Dianna maybe it would be worth it to forfeit her life in Lima and stay here in the real world? She was selfish, everyone knew that about her. And she wanted a chance at real romance, and she had a feeling Dianna Agron would know how to romance her better than any of the boys she’d ever dated. Rachel was thorough in her research, and Dianna’s Tumblr posts certainly indicated that the girl would be able to romance her like no other.
“So, uh, yeah…” Rachel was pretty sure she was blushing so hard that Quinn certainly knew the thoughts that were going through her head. “I’ve got nothing, we need more time. So why don’t you keep talking to Lea, and I’ll work with Dianna and we’ll get to the bottom of this. Sound good?”
Rachel didn’t wait for an answer and scurried away as quickly as she could. That is, until she felt Quinn’s arm lunge forward and grab her around the bicep, hauling her back in toward her. “I don’t think so, Berry. I’ll talk to Blondie, you get the other Streisand.”
------------
Quinn wasn’t dumb, regardless of what everyone seemed to think of her. She doesn’t know if it was the blonde hair, or the way she blindly followed her father’s teachings, or the fact that she allowed herself to get knocked up by Puck of all people (that was one time, shouldn’t people give her a break?), but she was like, in the running to be the valedictorian. She was always on the honor roll, her teachers loved her, and she’d been accepted to every college she applied to. So when Rachel lied to her face, Quinn knew. She wasn’t dumb, and she wasn’t blind. Rachel was a terrible liar.
Even after her talk with Chris, Quinn wasn’t sure she was ready to admit her feelings to herself, much less to Rachel. But she wasn’t entirely sure she liked the idea of Rachel spending time with someone she was clearly interested in. That’s why she agreed to accompany her to the real world in the first place, sort of - she wanted to keep Rachel and Finn apart (although at that point she thought she was saving Finn for herself and not Rachel). So when she saw Rachel’s eyes widen at the prospect of spending additional time with Dianna, Quinn had to put a stop to it. And that’s how she found herself spending the afternoon with the world’s nicest person. Maybe she was kind of dumb after all.
“Are you sure I can’t get you anything?” Dianna asked for probably the fourth time since she and Quinn had sat down in the quiet of her trailer. “I have vegan banana muffins in the fridge. Or I can make tea! Would you like some tea?”
Quinn arched an eyebrow and glared at Dianna. “Just sit down. I don’t want anything from you.”
Dianna quickly sat and crossed her legs, hands folded in her lap. “I’m sorry,” she apologized quietly. Quinn just continued to stare and Dianna felt her face redden under her gaze. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?” she asked finally.
Quinn scowled. “I think you know, Blondie. I used to be head cheerleader and president of the celibacy club. I got knocked up, went soft, gave my baby away, became head cheerleader again, and now apparently I’m so screwed up I have a thing for RuP- “ Quinn quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide and staring at Dianna with fear written all over her face.
“Rachel?” Dianna asked a moment later, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Rachel Berry? I certainly never saw that one coming.”
“It’s not…” Quinn shook her head furiously. “It’s really not…not what it sounds like. No. I don’t like Rachel. RuPaul, I mean. Treasure trail. She’s a midget!”
Dianna gently got up from the chair she was sitting in in the corner and crossed to the couch to sit gently next to Quinn. “Sweetheart, it’s okay,” she said softly. “I know you haven’t always been told this, but it’s okay to like another girl in that way. I know you know it is.” Dianna slowly lifted her hand to the other girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay.”
“No!” Quinn snapped a moment later, batting Dianna’s hand away and standing from the couch. “It’s not okay! I can’t like her, she talks too much and she dresses funny and she’s only five-two and she’s a woman. No. Just no. Leave me alone, please. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Quinn needed to be left alone. She couldn’t be trusted to stay in Dianna’s trailer right now, she was so close to losing her cool and spilling her secrets. Something about the other girl made her seem so trustworthy and Quinn could hardly help the words that came spilling out of her mouth for the second time that day since she even figured out what she was feeling.
“Quinn, sweetheart, sit down and relax, please.” Dianna stood up from the couch and gently grabbed Quinn’s shoulders, guiding her back to the couch and taking her hands in hers. “We’re even more alike than you’d think. I admitted something out loud for the first time today, too. I kind of have feelings for Lea, similar to the ones you have for Rachel. And it’s okay. It is, I promise.”
And as Quinn felt Dianna’s arms wrap around her and heard her soothing words whispered in to her ear, she realized she would have been much better off if she’d just let Rachel stay with Dianna. She didn’t deserve this comfort, she didn’t deserve Dianna’s kindness. She was Quinn Fabray, head cheerleader, unofficial ruler of the school. She wasn’t supposed to be crying in the arms of some supporting actress on a cheesy teenage comedy that wasn’t even good enough to be on cable. But she still couldn’t stop herself from asking “What do I do, Dianna?”
Dianna sighed, running her hand softly over Quinn’s hair. As weird as it was to be comforting the fictional character that she played on television, Dianna couldn’t help but wish somebody had done that for her when she was first realizing that her feelings for Lea went above and beyond those of friendship. Maybe if she had had advice it would have gone better than it had and Lea wouldn’t hate her now. “You need to tell her,” she said finally. “Don’t make the same mistake I did, don’t distance yourself. You need to tell Rachel how you feel.”
Quinn pulled away from Dianna quickly and wiped the tears from her face. “I can’t,” she said firmly. “I’m not ready to do that. I haven’t even told myself yet.”
“Then do that first,” Dianna said. “I wasn’t able to tell Lea and now I’ve lost her forever. So tell yourself, and then tell her. Please, Quinn, you should do it before it’s too late.”
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“I can’t wait to tell my two gay dads about this moment. Lea Michele, star of screen and stage, just complimented my nose!”
Lea laughed, grabbing two water bottles out of her mini-fridge and passing one to her younger counterpart. “Well, actually I think I was more complimenting my nose, but yours is nice too.”
Rachel blushed as she took the water bottle, twisting the cap open and taking a sip. “You know,” she began, “I have the Original Broadway Cast recording of Spring Awakening back at home in Lima. While my dads and I agree that you have nothing on me, I find your voice to be quite satisfactory and pleasant to listen to. Your technique could use some improvement, although I understand you were quite young when you recorded your tracks.”
Lea frowned, grabbing a bag of pita chips and falling to the couch. “Thank you, I think,” she hesitated. “Your voice is, uh, nice, too.”
Rachel blushed again. “It’s such an honor to hear you say that. Really, it’s just such an honor to be in your presence. To be sitting with a Broadway star in her personal trailer, sharing her pita chips.”
“Oh, sorry,” Lea said, thrusting the bag forward. “Have some chips.”
“Thank you,” Rachel said, grabbing a few out of the bag. “Now, I must tell you that while I adore the Spring Awakening soundtrack, I have not actually seen the show. Due to the adult subject matter and nudity on your behalf, my dads refused to buy tickets on our semiannual trek to the big city. I feel the urge to ask you, seeing as how I too hope to one day break into the business, what exactly prompted you to bare your breasts on stage for entire audiences to see on a nightly basis?”
Lea blinked once, then again. “I, uh, wasn’t aware I’d have to defend myself to a television character today, so I don’t have a response prepared. Can I get back to you on that?”
Rachel nodded. “Of course. I’m certain that you have a fantastic body, I have seen what’s under that sweater, if you know I mean, but I have always said for myself that I would do anything to break into the business except for nudity or the exploitation of animals. And I know you certainly wouldn’t exploit animals. “ She nodded to acknowledge Lea’s blank stare. “PETA. I’ve done my research.”
“Clearly,” Lea spoke, standing up off the couch and walking toward the door. “Listen, I’m already super late to set, so I should go. You can just, stay here or something. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“That sounds fantastic,” Rachel answered. “I appreciate your hospitality. And while you’re pondering your decision to objectify yourself on the big stage, as well as in a variety of magazine photo shoots, please also think about your decision to mark your body with your numerous tattoos. I have some questions.”
Part 7