Falling -Faberry

Chapter 18

Quinn's POV 

Everybody wakes up really early because of Mr. Schue. We practice exactly how we did yesterday. When Mr. Schue disbands us he gives us strict orders to shower and get our dresses on then meet in the boys room. All of us girls do just that and leave off our makeup until we get to the convention center where we are performing at. Rachel and I are the last to leave the hotel room to go meet up with the boys. As soon as I walk into the hall I spot the short Hispanic women. She is just down the hall so I wave and call her over. 

"Hey miss." I wave my hand and she spots me. When she does she gets a big smile on her face and immediately walks over to me. Rachel clutches to my side as the older woman approaches. 

"Hello young ladies." Her light brown eyes meet mine and I smile. She gives a quick nod to Rachel. 

"I wanted to thank you so much for what you have done for us. I'm Quinn." I stick my hand out and she grabs it as quickly as possible. Her tender hand grasps mine before she pulls her other hand over mine so she is shaking my hand with both of her's. 

"I'm Maria." She lets go of my hand and looks over to Rachel who is practically attached at my hip. Maria is shorter than Rachel which makes me chuckle for a moment. "And who are you my dear." 

"Rachel." She nods her head at Maria and gives her a tight smile. She leans up and whispers to me. "We should go." 

"Go ahead I need a minute." As soon as I say that Rachel rolls her eyes at me and goes to the boys room. She is really excited about Nationals and I think she is stressed. "Sorry she is stressed about our show choir competition later."  

"Is that why you are dressed up?" Maria looks at my dress for a moment and smiles. 

"Yeah and again I just want to thank you. Most people..." Maria politely cuts me off. 

"I am not most people. And that was a crazy mess." I nod my head in acknowledgment. "It was the kind of sex you have when you get back together with someone." 

"How do you know?" I raise my eyebrow. 

"Because I was you once. I had make up sex like that too. I met this girl when I was your age," Oh okay. That is why she was so generous. I wait expectantly to hear her story "and we fell in love quickly. In a matter of weeks actually." So did Rachel and I. Maria is speaking quickly so it is a little hard to keep up with her accent. "I loved her more than anything in my whole entire life." She goes into the back pocket of her light blue pants and pulls out an old tattered photo. "Here." She hands me the photo and looking at it almost makes me burst into tears. "That is me." She points to her younger self, she was beautiful. I look up at the still beautiful but aged Maria then back at the photo. "That is my Lili." Maria points to a taller Hispanic lady to the right of her. She is just as young as Maria and as beautiful as a princess. Lili has her arm wrapped around Maria as they stand outside leaning on a wooden fence that seems to be in a park of some sort. 

"She is beautiful." I smile and go to hand the photo back but she sticks her hand up to me blocking my hand. I retract my hand and hold the photo at my side. 

"She is the most beautiful woman I have met." She smiles at the love of her life. Maria continues with her story. "An old boyfriend of her's came back into town and they started to go out places together. She would hang out with him instead of me." That sounds familiar. "He kissed her and I was heart broken because she kissed him back." Okay that sounds very familiar. "So I did the worst thing I could ever do." Please don't say it. I close my eyes as she says the next part. "I slept with an old boyfriend of mine." 

"Okay um your freaking me out." I start to take in air to calm my nerves. "That is exactly what happened to me. Did Puck tell you to talk to me?" Maria looks confused. 

"Puck?" 

"Mohawk, big muscles." I wave my hand over my head to signify a mohawk. She just shakes her head at me. 

"Mija this is real life. No one told me to say anything." She looks me dead in the eyes when she says this. Maria is so sincere and serious that I believe her. 

"Oh okay." I nod a couple times and avoid her gaze. "Sorry for interrupting you can continue." 

"It's okay." She smiles with her teeth. "As I was saying I slept with an old boy friend of mine. Lili was incessant on getting back together with me and I wanted to get back with her but I felt so guilty I couldn't. A couple days later I told her, it ruined her and it made me feel even worse." Maria's voice shakes as she tries not to cry. It is also a little hard for me to hear because the exact same thing happened to me and I feel her pain. "It took us about 4 months," It took Rachel and I 4 days after I told her what happened with Puck. "to get back together. We did to my mama's house what you did to this hotel room." I giggle and she smiles at me. "After that we vowed to never hurt each other ever again. And we didn't. We loved each other and we stayed in love." I smile because that is what I hope for with Rachel and I. 

"Do you guys live here in New York? Did you get married?" I want to ask the Hispanic woman a million questions but I stick to the ones I asked already. 

"Actually she died." Maria looks down at her hands and my smile drops off of my face in an instant. The tears shortly start gushing down my face. I stay silent because I know if I talk I won't be able to get real words out. Maria only has a single tear rolling down her face. I look at the photograph that is in my hand and look over every feature of Lili. "We had been together for 16 years when it happened, she was only 35." No, please no. "She was on her way home from work when a storm hit. Her car flew off the road and into a pole. She died on impact." 

"No." Is all that escapes my lips. I take a quick look at the photo again. Lili is dead and has been dead for years. The photo makes my heart ache more for Maria. 

"Yes, Mija it happened." I look up at the ceiling to try and rain in my tears but it is not helping at all. "You want to know something." I look back down at her and I close my eyes not wanting to answer. "I am still in love with her." The tears fall down my face again. "It has been 30 years and I think about my Lili everyday. I love her everyday. I talk to her everyday." I can't hold back anymore and I start to ugly cry. Maria also starts to cry a lot more. "I miss her so much but I get to remember the time we had together. I try to bring back a memory everyday. Lili was the love of my life and she always will be. I have a picture of her on the table next to my bed and I tell her about my day. I tell her that I love her and that I miss her every second of everyday." 

"Please stop." I beg of the short old women. I don't want to feel the pain she has ever. I hold the photo at my side because I know if I look at it again it will make me cry more. Maria continues on. 

"I can always feel her right her." She points to her heart which I can barely see because the tears are clouding my eyes. "I know she is always watching down on me, making sure I am okay." Maria's voice cracks and more tears start to stain her cheeks. Tears that she probably cries everyday and every night. I continue my ugly cry. "It was hard at first because I lost my other half. Someone you could never lose but I did. I still hurt but I know she is here because I always feel her."
 
"Why," My voice cracks. "why are you telling me this Maria?" I gaze down at her through my blurry eyes. 

"Because I don't ever want you to let go. I want you to hold on to Rachel with everything you have because one day she is going to be gone." A squeal comes out of my mouth. I never want to think about Rachel being absent from my life or worse...dying. "You never know when that time is. So soak up every moment you have with her. Pretend like it is the last moment you will ever have with her. Rachel is your Lili. Do you understand me, Mija?"   

"Yes." I scream through my cries. Maria has stopped crying but the loss of her lover is still fresh in her mind. It is always fresh in her mind. 

"Come here." She holds out her brittle arms. I bend down and wrap my arms around the woman. I turn the photo over in my hand so I can't look at it as I sob into her shoulder. Maria's hug is warm and reassuring. It is exactly what I needed right now. 

"I love Rachel so much. I love her. I love her. I love her." My last word is drawn out as I let out a quiet scream. Maria pets my hair to calm me down. 

"I know." She pulls back from the embrace. Maria places her hands on either side of my face and wipes away my tears. "It's okay. I promise you it will be." I take a deep breath as her soft thumbs wipe across my cheeks. She takes away all the pain she just placed unto me. I nod my head at her and let my feelings wash away. "I want you to forget everything I just said. I want you to remember it when you need it most." She nods at me a couple times so I nod back at her. "Now go to that show choir competition of yours." She turns me by my shoulder but I stop her. 

"Maria." She halts at my tone. It's not angry just stern enough for her to take me seriously. "I want to talk about Lili." I remember for a moment the pain I felt when she told me about Lili. 

"Not now. It's time for you to go." Maria gives me one last smile and a nod before walking away. I am left alone in the hallway wondering what the hell just happened. I still have the photo of Maria and Lili. I look down at it for a couple seconds before putting it in my suit case back in the hotel room. As soon as I walk back into the hallway Mr. Schue steps out of the boys room looking for me.  

"Come on Quinn we are doing a quick show circle before we leave." He leads me into the room, everyone is standing in a circle waiting for me. 

"Sorry I was..."  I start to announce but Rachel cuts me off. 

"Talking to that older woman." I sigh and take my spot in the circle next to Rachel. I give her a really tight hug. "I love you." I whisper as I let her go. She only looks up at me and gives me one of my favorite smiles she gives me. This one being of the 'I love you too' variety. 

"Everyone hands in." Mr. Schue announces and we pile our hands in the center. We are going to do another show circle before the competition so I don't know why we are doing one now. "Ready." The teacher surveys us and we all nod excitedly at him. We all dip our hands down then throw them in the air with a shout of 'New directions'. 

I don't really remember the ride to the competition or getting my hair and makeup done but I know I did it so I was as close to Rachel as possible. The announcer calls out our school and Rachel and Finn start their duet. It's a song Finn wrote, its okay but I don't think its as good as the song Rachel wrote. 'Get it right', I somehow had a feeling she wrote that for me. I watch from stage right as they sing the duet. Rachel outshines Finn in every way possible. She looks like she is glowing as she sings. They dance around each other while they sing, Rachel catches my eyes a couple times and I can't help but smile at her like an idiot. After they finish the song they stand really close to each other. I turn my head as Puck steps behind me. I give him a quick smile and he gives me one before having a quick look of whats happening on stage. He looks back at me with a smile then he snaps his head back to the stage and his expression drops. I don't say anything just slowly turn to Rachel and Finn.

I feel the vomit coming up. Finn is kissing Rachel in front of thousands of people. I don't know if she is kissing him back or not, it doesn't look like it. I want to run away from what is happening. Rachel pushes Finn away and her eyes immediately snap to mine. I know everything she wants to say to me. She didn't want it to happen, he did it. And so much more she is telling me just with those brown eyes but it doesn't help the pain that is rising. It stings me but it isn't as bad as when she kissed Jesse because I know she didn't mean it. I know Finn kissed Rachel not the other way around. 

All of the New Directions join Finn and Rachel on stage. I am going to kill that Pillsbury dough-turd. The next song starts playing and I feel like I forget the dance but my body and mouth are singing and dancing seamlessly. Rachel tries giving me glances while we dance but I avoid her incessant gaze at all costs. After we are finished performing I run off of the stage and wait for Finn to get off. As soon as he does I slap him across the face. 

"What the hell?" A yelp comes from him. I expect Mr. Schue to say something but this one time he stays silent. He stands behind me just kind of watching.

"Quinn." Rachel calls out and walks up to me. 

"I don't have to explain myself to you Finn." I turn on my heal and start to walk away. 

"That was not okay man." Puck defends me as he follows Rachel and I. Complete chaos erupts from the scene we just left. I go to the girls bathroom so Puck can't follow us in there. "Dammit." Puck curses as we enter the bathroom. All the bathroom stalls are stainless steel and the sink is one long counter along one side of the bathroom wall. 

"I thought this was going to be easy Rachel." I shout and spin to face her. 

"It is going to be easy. You know he kissed me not the other way around." Her voice isn't as loud as mine and she is being so genuine I believe her. Then in a flash I remember. I remember Maria and Lili. I remember what Maria told me to do. To never do stupid shit like we are doing now. 

"Your right." My expression softens and I take a step closer to my confused girl. "It is easy but love is always going to be hard. I have you and I am not letting you go." I grab the sides of her pretty face and pull me lips down to her's. I wrap her in a short kiss before removing my lips from her big plump ones. I lick my lips and look deep into her eyes. I can feel her. 

"So you're okay?" She looks up to me with those big chocolate eyes.  

"Yes." I give her a half smile. "You're more important than a stupid boy." Rachel grins at me. 

"I would have smacked him right there on stage but that would have thrown our chances at winning." I take her small hand in mine and make our way out of the bathroom. 

"Rachy baby our chances are already thrown out the window. That kiss was completely unprofessional." I push the door open with my free hand. 

"What?" Rachel eyes me with sadness in her eyes. I want to kiss that look away but Puck springs up from a bench right across the hall and makes his way over to us. 

"You guys okay?" He asks and hols up his thumbs. 

"Yeah we're fine." I smile down at Rachel. I will never take another second with Rachel for granted. 

"Yeah." She smiles back at me and I feel like taking her in the hallway right now. 

"We have to go sit in the audience for the rest of the performances." Puck tucks his lips into his mouth. "You ready?" We nod and follow Puck back into the giant auditorium and sit down with the rest of the glee club. They all snicker as the three of us sit down. 

"I'm sorry Quinn I..." Finn starts to whisper to me but I hold my hand up to his face to stop him from talking to me. He is a couple seats down from me so I don't have much to worry about. We sit watching all the other glee clubs for a couple more hours. There is about an hour long break for the judges to decide who is in the top ten and will be continuing on. The glee club takes the time to go get lunch and calm our nerves. I spend the lunch period sitting next to Rachel silently eating my sandwich and salad, maybe I should get a haircut. I stay silent because I know we aren't going to be in the top ten. Let alone the top 20, we are going to be dead last because of the stunt Finnocence pulled with Rachel. I watch as everyone talks around the large round table. They only talk about what place they think we are going to be in. Rachel obviously says first place. I chuckle and she cuddles into my left side to get me to shut up. And it works because I am overwhelmed by all that is Rachel. After lunch the results are posted so Mr. Schue checks for us. As I thought we didn't make it in the top ten. Rachel is devastated, I am sad but I know we have next year to get it right. Santana is absolutely pissed she looks like she is about to pop a blood vessel. 

"I'm so sorry guys." Mr. Schue can barely look up at us. "We still have next year." He reassures us and we have a giant group hug. I see Santana eyeballing Rachel and Finn and I know this is not going to end up well. 

Sometime later all the girls go back to our room to change. Santana is fuming at the back of the room by the window. Brittany tries calming her down but it isn't working at all. Rachel is clueless about what is coming in the very near future. 

"Get the boys." I whisper to whoever is closest to me. When I look I see it's Mercedes. 

"Why should I?" Her sass blows all over my face. I take a quick breath so I don't snap at her. 

"Santana is about to lose it. Go get the boys." Mercedes backs away from me instantly and makes her way out of the room. I watch Santana with a close eye and her anger isn't going down, Brittany gave up so she made her way over to Rachel. I'm guessing to protect her but I know I can do better. I take a quick look at Rachel, she is watching me as closely as I am watching Santana. Rachel stands in the middle of the room, Brittany is sitting on a bed behind and to the left of her. I am sitting on the bed closest to Santana, she is not calming down. The boys walk in. 

"What's going on in here?" Mike asks out of confusion. He is the first one out of the boys to come in. He walks over to me but in reality he is walking over to Tina who is sitting behind me in the bed I am on. Sam is next to walk in. 

"Yeah Mercedes said something about Santana." As soon as the words fly out of his mouth Finn comes walking in and Santana finally snaps. She starts to lunge forward, I can't tell if its at Rachel or Finn but it is in that general direction. I immediately spring into action latching onto Santana to hold her back. Sam and Mike aren't far behind and they come to hold her back. We are doing a decent job as every one stares at us because they don't know what to do. Santana starts to swear in Spanish. Finn sits on the edge of the middle bed, mine and Rachel's bed, and holds his face in his hands. Rachel is standing in the middle of the room with a worried look on her face and her arms crossed. I can't make out most of what Santana is screaming at Finn and Rachel but I know she is yelling at them for kissing. 

"Escucha, soy de Lima Heights Adjacent y estoy orgulloso." She waves her hands around for emphasis and it is not helping the hold I have on Santana. She is really hard to hold back when she is this angry and two boys are helping me. "¿Sabes lo que pasa en Lima Heights Adjacent? Cosas malas." I am almost positive cosas malas means bad things. Santana goes on with her rant, it is getting really hard to hold her back, the only people helping are Sam and Mike and I need Mr. Schue. Just a couple seconds later Mr. Schue comes bursting through the door. He takes a second to look over the scene. He sees almost the entire glee club sitting around not helping us with the Santana situation. They just sit there staring besides Finn and Rachel. Rachel still looks worried and Finn is laying on the bed not giving a care in the world. The teacher's eyes snap to where Santana is squirming in our arms and he urgently runs over to us. He puts his hands on Santana's shoulders. 

"Stop. Stop. Stop." He instructs over her yelling. It takes him a couple more times but she does stop screaming. I let go once I am confidant she isn't going to try anything. I brake away and towards Rachel. 

"Are you okay?" I ask Rachel as Mr. Schue barrages Santana. 

"Yeah I am." She nods and looks down at her feet. 

"Wanna go for a swim?" Rachel's face instantly lights up. I love her so much. We sneak off from the intense-ness that was Santana and make our way to the bottom floor to go swimming. 

We changed in the locker rooms down stairs because the hotel room was full. We made out in the hot tub again but this time I did get to finger Rachel. I made sure to tease her nice and good as I slowly started to make her come. We went back upstairs and everything was calm so we took a shower together, I fingered her again but I also used my mouth. We cuddled up in bed and had a good nights sleep because tomorrow, Saturday, is our flight back home.  

I still had to sit next to Puck on the plane but I was perfectly fine with it. I just took a nap, I don't know what he did. When we got home I stopped at my house to greet my mom and drop my stuff off. Then I went directly to Rachel's house. We were entangled with each other all night long, not sex just cuddles.