Let Me Sing To You Tonight: Out of My Hands - Part B
Title: Let Me Sing to You Tonight
Pairing: Rachel Berry&&Quinn Fabray
Rating: T
Part: 8/10
Previous parts: | 1 | 2| 3| 4| 5| 6A| 6B| 7| 8A|
Disclaimer: This is a work of my own mind, and reflects nothing of the included characters I've borrowed from the lucky ass who owns them. In other words, this is for fun, don't sue me!
Author's Note: Here’s the next part! Please leave your thoughts. :)
Greg was most certainly a storyteller and Quinn could see why he worked so well in the field he had chosen. He began by introducing himself properly as an old friend of Rachel's. The two had been friends for years now, a project from art school long ago resulting in the blossoming of a beautiful friendship. The blonde listened intently as Greg explained the actress's past.
She had been head over heels when she arrived in New York. Young, dumb, and in love, the director explained sadly, remembering the mouse of a man who had followed in her wake.
Finn Hudson had been her high school sweetheart and when she arrived in the big city at the tender age of 18, she was already engaged to the man whom she believed to be the love of her life. The mug lay forgotten as Greg weaved a tale so thorough and detailed that Quinn found herself reliving Rachel's past as though it were her own.
Finn had abandoned what he had considered his future when he left their small town to follow the aspiring actress to New York. Their relationship seemed steady, strong, and solid even, leaving Quinn to wonder what had happened to leave Rachel not only single but in the market for the fairer sex. Greg had laughed when she voiced this aloud, advising the blonde to be patient if she wanted to know everything. He explained how as the wedding date drew closer, the couple seemed to do the same.
Rachel was not the merely aspiring actress she had pretended to be. Greg was quick to point out that she was by no means famous, but that Rachel Berry had more than a little credibility to her name, all of which she earned legitimately. As her success grew, she had begun spending more and more time away from home and Finn was unable to cope with his friends taking jabs at him about what his girlfriend was doing out late at such hours of the night.
Here, Greg paused, tapping his fingers on the table. "I'm sorry, Quinn. All I can say is that when the wedding was about two months away, the two of them started having problems. Rachel had always been trusting, almost to the point of naivety at times but her fiancé had been quite the opposite. The more time Rachel spent away, the more suspicious Finn became. The details surrounding this are ones that are sworn to secrecy and though I owe you, I can't deny Rachel this confidence. She's broken enough as it is, and to take this away from her…I can't do that. I hope you'll understand."
Quinn nodded curtly, gesturing with her hand for the director to continue, which he did. "Obviously, they cancelled the wedding, and the two went their separate ways, but-but what happened between the two of them; it changed Rachel forever. She had only gone out exclusively with men prior to Finn, but sexuality was never an issue for her. She considered herself to be very flexible. In the past year or two, I've most certainly noticed a preference for women though. Regardless of whom she was dating, Rachel became irrationally insecure, sneaking looks at text messages, etc. on the phone of whomever she was dating,.."
"She also always felt that people suspected her and she let that get to her. Finally, it got to the point where she felt the need to weed people out. Initially, she had resorted to more subtlety than you saw. Slipping a well-placed sentence to a friend of her significant other was sufficient enough for her. The rumor would get back to whomever it was she was dating at the time and she would gauge their response."
Sighing sadly, Greg corrected himself, "At least in the beginning, it was. She'd come to me after a day or two following the 'test'," he explained, coupling the word with air quotes. "She would show up at my office in tears or donning an enormous grin, recounting how her beloved had failed or passed the test. It seemed harmless at first but as time went on, the rumors she planted began to become more and more intricate. Still, I took little concern over it and I let her do her thing.
"I remember the time she first asked me to help her," he added, eyes glossing over as he recalled the memory. "She had been dating a redhead and though the girl seemed susceptible to bouts of minor jealousy, she showed promise. Rachel had come bursting into my office one afternoon begging me to play the role of a shady director, one that I assure you, I am not. I refused but that girl doesn't quit." He let out a soft chuckle, laced with subtle hints of remorse. "I never should have said yes, but I did. And there began her new game."
"The affair with you?" Quinn waited for the pause to interject softly, genuinely feeling sorry for the man sitting in front of her. The thought of the entire thing possibly being another act was still at the back of her mind but the amount of sincerity she found in Greg seemed too much to dispute.
"The pretend affair with me, Quinn." The director gently corrected, resituating himself in the chair as he leaned back. "She would refuse to let whoever she was dating come to an audition for a duration of time, introduce me as the smarmy director, and wait to see where their minds went." Clicking his tongue, he shrugged helplessly. "More often than not, her boyfriends or girlfriends failed the test. Each failure just managed to strengthen her belief that she was doing the right thing in weeding out those she could trust and those she couldn't. I tried to convince her that she wasn't going about this the right way but she had some logical points that you couldn't really argue with."
He laughed incredulously then and at Quinn's insistence, confessed breathlessly. "I don't even remember her argument anymore. I just remember it making sense in a way only Rachel Berry could manage."
"So you continued in her little game." Quinn clarified, the tip of her finger circling the rim of the cocoa mug in front of her.
"So I continued in her little game," Greg agreed, scratching roughly at his neck with a deep frown embedded on his face. "But still, until you came along-She never came close to what we pulled on you."
Skeptical, Quinn shook her head as she reached for her phone, sending Kirsten a text asking for food for both Greg and herself. "Forgive me, but I have a hard time believing she just flipped a switch with me."
"Oh, believe me. I understand." The man responded, smiling. "When she met you, she was instantly smitten. Rachel almost floated into my office the first time she stepped foot into this café. I swear, I must have heard hundreds of times how luscious your hair was and how the sunlight 'sparkles in the flecks of gold in those eyes' before you two became an actual couple." Greg teased Quinn, sending a wink her way and snickering at the blush coloring her cheeks.
Kirsten noisily disrupted them, dropping Greg's plate down carelessly before placing the other one in front of Quinn. "Enjoy, Quinn," She added sweetly, before turning and acknowledging the director with a curt nod, "Asshole."
When he reached for the Panini sitting in front of him cautiously, Quinn let out a genuine chuckle before assuring him that though Kirsten was capable of physical violence, she wouldn't resort to such things like poison or spit. "She likes to see fear. She just wouldn't be gratified with either of those things," the blonde added with a small smirk, finding Greg to be just as great a listener as he was a storyteller.
At Quinn's request, the director continued with his story, explaining how Rachel had completely fallen head over heels for Quinn in no time. "In fact, though I'm not sure, she didn't bring up anything at all about testing you until your high school friends came to visit."
The blonde swallowed the bite she was working on and looked up in confusion. "She didn't let me come to any auditions before that, though. She must have known she was going to test me if she had done that."
Laughing, Greg reached over to pat the girl's hand. "She was auditioning for the starring role in a Broadway play. It was a long shot and she knew she would be rejected. I remember this because, Quinn dear, she sat in my office when she didn't get the callback telling me she was glad she hadn't let you see her mess up an audition that important."
He popped the last bit of his Panini in his mouth, leaning back and patting his stomach with a satisfied grin. "Say what you want about your friend's attitude, but she makes a mean Panini."
Quinn laughed, gingerly, delicately taking another bite from her sandwich before tucking her legs under herself. "So what happened with Santana and Brittany that caused Rachel to go all-you know."
"Well, something about one of them trying to convince you to keep an eye on her," Greg guessed with a shrug. "She came in crying one day and said that she was certain you didn't trust her.
He waved a hand in the air passively, a frown pulling the corners of his mouth down, as he continued. "The next thing I know, you're sitting front row at a production we put on to convince you that she and I were having an affair. It was only meant to raise suspicion, invoke rumors and such among you and your friends. Until, of course, Rachel marched in and demanded we take it a step farther." Pausing, he clicked his tongue, seemingly deep in thought. "I suppose, in a way, she was just trying to push you away. With everything that happened with Finn, she began to expect that from everyone around her."
"But what she did was crossing the line, Greg! You should have stopped her!"
"I tried, Quinn. Believe me. I'm not too fond of playing this role. Like I said, in the beginning, it wasn't much at all. With you, though-with you, she just had it set in her head that you were going to leave and when you didn't, she pushed harder and harder until-well, you know." He finished lamely, looking down at his empty plate guiltily.
Taking a deep breath, he leaned back and slumped in his chair, scratching the back of his neck as he apologized once more. "Listen, I'm-I'm really sorry. I know that I should have tried harder-I tried to reason with her. More than once, I tried-it just, it never really got through her head until now that she was doing something wrong."
He paused again, rubbing his hands over his face harshly as he let out a groan. "Rachel has this-she's-she's got this tendency to decide what she wants to do and then really fight for it. She doesn't understand why others won't just agree and she kept pestering me and pestering me, until I just said yes. That's part of the reason I'm here today, to really apologize for the fact that I gave in. We may not have had sex, but what Rachel and I did do to you wasn't any better and I'm sorry for that."
Quinn leaned back into her chair, her head beginning to hurt with the overwhelming amount of information being shoved in front of her.
"I know Rachel's sorry, too. She's devastated without you, Quinn." Greg murmured softly, reaching over and covering the blonde's hand with one of his own. "By no means am I telling you to go over there and make up, but-I just thought you'd like to know that you meant more to her than the others to her. She's completely at a loss of what to do. I wouldn't shy away from betting that though she has most certainly fucked you over as you said, her feelings for you were nothing less than the absolute truth."
They sat for a few moments more in silence before Greg stood and excused himself, regretfully pointing out that he had an actual audition to run. Moving to Quinn's side of the table, he pulled out a card scribbling something on the back and setting it down before squeezing Quinn's shoulder gently. "That's got my cell number on there and on the back is where Rachel has been hiding out these past few days. You should talk to her."
He left then, leaving the girl alone at the table. Quinn played with the card for the better part of five minutes, for some irrational reason afraid to turn it over. When she finally managed to muster up enough courage, her heart swelled and her eyes glazed over.
"Fuck."
An hour later found Quinn engraving a permanent groove into the worn down wooden floors of her apartment. She paced from one side of her room to the other as Kirsten, Brittany, and Santana all watched on.
Kirsten, actively participating, spouted off a hundred reasons as to why Quinn should do anything but go to see Rachel again. Brittany sat nearby, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she watched Quinn, her tears a key reason as to why Santana half-heartedly refuted each of the brunette's objections with a logical answer.
At one point, Santana had turned to Brittany and gently asserted that she may want to side with Kirsten on this issue. The blonde dancer's face took on such an anguished look that her girlfriend immediately retracted her statement and continued to try to convince Quinn to go see the actress.
Quinn was agonizingly torn. The thought of seeing Rachel calmed her erratic heart but settled deep in her gut, succeeding in making her feel at peace and sick to her stomach at the same time.
She had yet to set the card Greg had given her down anywhere, looking down once more to trace the curves of his rushed note. The address took her back to Valentine's Day, the private lake that Rachel had brought her to.
The blonde knew that seeing Rachel would be difficult. Hell, it would be one of the worst things she'd have to go through but as Brittany squeezed her hand gently, she knew that she had no other choice.
She had to go see Rachel.
----
The wind whipped at her skin, stinging sharply and forcing Quinn to tighten her coat around herself as she stepped out of her old truck. Scanning the empty parking lot, hazel eyes fell upon the car that they had been seeking out. She turned her head to the walkway on her side, her gaze following it to the secluded lake
It was no surprise that she found herself at the small lake but it had taken an massive amount of courage for Quinn to get in her car and even more to step out into the parking lot when she reached her destination.
Santana certainly had a hand in helping Quinn get inside her truck, the blonde cringing at the memory of the threat she'd received when she attempted to head back inside.
Taking a deep breath as she moved towards the sandy shore, her breath hitched at the sight of a small body huddled near the water.
Cursing her body for the reflexive reaction, Quinn forced herself to head towards Rachel. She moved silently, not intending to surprise the brunette but rather in fear of scaring the girl away.
A few yards away, Rachel turned her head slightly, calling out to Quinn over her shoulder. "You shouldn't be here."
The slight tremor in the girl's voice did nothing to deter Quinn, who made her way to Rachel's side before taking a seat next to her. "Neither should you, but from what I've heard you've been coming here quite often."
Chuckling humorlessly, Rachel turned to look Quinn in the eyes for the first time. "You should be the first to know not to believe everything you hear…or see, for that matter." She finished bitterly, turning away again and running her fingers through the sand beside her.
Quinn let out a soft exhale, bracing herself. Though she maintained a calm and collected exterior, her heart was tossing restlessly in her chest.
"I'm sorry, Quinn. That was-that was exceptionally rude of me." Rachel amended quietly, breathing in deeply before continuing. "I just, I don't quite understand why you're here, though I'm guessing Greg told you I was here?"
The blonde scrunched up her face for a brief moment, considering covering for the director before admitting that he had indeed visited earlier. "He told me you weren't doing so well. I thought-well, maybe talking about it would help you-a-and me, too."
Rachel stiffened beside her, "What else did Greg share with you, hmm?"
Quinn looked over curiously, surprise clear on her face at the tone of the brunette's voice, both angry and strangely calm all at once. However, surprise was a fleeting emotion as the blonde found herself becoming increasingly upset with the diva's behavior. "He told me everything you wouldn't. Everything you should have told me when I came over."
Quinn laughed then, a single harsh bark, as she glared at the brunette next to her. "Can you believe that? The director in your whole little plot, the bad guy; he was the one who came and talked me through everything. Fuck, Rachel-just…fuck you."
The pregnant pause that followed threatened to swallow Quinn whole, startling her when it was broken by a soft sniffle and a stifled sob.
"I'm sorry." Rachel apologized once more, wiping harshly at her face with a sweater sleeve. "For everything-I'm so so sorry."
"I-I don't know what to do with that, Rach." The tired blonde replied resentfully, anguish clearly present in her voice. Her forehead crumpled, white teeth worrying her bottom lip as Quinn turned towards Rachel once more. "Who's Finn?"
The fear passing through the brunette's eyes sent a chill down Quinn's spine, but she found herself unrelenting as she pressed on. "I need to know, Rachel. I need to know who he was and what he did that made you like this; that made you think that it was okay to do this to people."
"Why?" Rachel breathed out, turning her head slightly towards Quinn. "Why do you have to know about Finn? I apologized to you. I told you that I didn't cheat on you with Greg-why can't we just leave it at that?"
"Because," Quinn stressed, turning towards the brunette fully and gripping her shoulder, "He's the reason you broke my heart; I deserve to know what he did because of what you did to me."
"Will you forgive me if I tell you?" The shorter girl asked, her voice lilting upwards near the end in slight hope.
Pausing, the blonde took a moment to seriously consider the request before shaking her head in the negative. "I-Rachel, I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. But I do need to know and I promise to hear you out completely."
Rachel began rocking back and forth, her gaze trained on the clear night sky. "I can't. I'll answer anything else, but that is something I need to keep to myself, Quinn. I-I need you to respect my privacy."
"Rachel…either you tell me or I leave, and if I leave, you can be sure that I will never ever come back."
When the brunette didn't reply, Quinn moved to get up, only to fall back down when Rachel hurried to her feet and rushed towards the parking lot.
Shocked, the blonde followed her with her eyes until the petite girl vanished from sight. The reality of the situation set in and Quinn found herself just a little more broken, though she hadn't really thought it possible.
The tears pricked behind her eyes and the blonde dropped her head in her hands, more than a little upset at the way the meeting had gone. Pulling at her phone, Quinn sent a simple text to Santana letting her know that Rachel hadn't been interested in talking and to not wait up.