Can't Take My Eyes Off You || Quinntana

Twenty Three

"Are you okay?"

Startled, Quinn pulled at the hem of her shirt, searching for something wrong with her appearance. Santana was looking at her intently, clearly worried about something.

"Yeah. What do you mean?"

"Your under-eye bags. Did you sleep at all?"

Now that she thought of it, Quinn's face had been pretty puffy when she woke up that morning.

"Oh. Yeah, I didn't sleep much."

"Is something wrong?"

Quinn avoided eye contact, searching for a response, but that action told Santana everything she needed to know.

"What's going on, babe?"

"Can we wait until later to talk about it? Maybe dinner tonight?"

Santana agreed, then, realizing Quinn was still standing in her doorway, let her into the house.

"I've been thinking," Santana started as they walked to the living room, "about the songs I played for you yesterday, and I realized that the only one I'd written about you was kind of depressing."

Quinn nodded matter-of-factly.

"So," she continued, "last night, I decided to fix that." She sat down behind her keyboard. "I hope you like it."

Blurry vision in my eyes
You see stars, all I see is a dark sky
Some nights it almost swallows me whole but
You won't let it

And jumbled thoughts in my head
All I can think of are things I should've said
Keeps me awake at night but
You're sleepless too

My rose colored glasses were shattered
Started to think I didn't even matter
But you picked up each shard and
Pieced them back together

what would i do without you by my side
if somehow our worlds did not collide
i don't know who i'd be today

Now that I'm standing I can finally see
that you bring out the best in me

"It's not quite finished, but I like where it's going—oh god, you're crying again"

There were, indeed, tears streaming from Quinn's eyes.

"You have to stop making me cry like this. It's embarrassing."

"They're good tears this time, though, right?"

Quinn responded by placing her hand on Santana's cheek and giving her a long kiss.

"You're amazing," she said after finally pulling back, completely lost in Santana's eyes.

. . .

"So, what's been bothering you?"

Quinn sighed, studying her pesto pasta dish and twirling her fork a little too intently.

"You said you'd tell me over dinner. And, well, here we are."

Still no response.

"Hey," she tried a gentler tone. "I really care about you, Quinn. Tell me what's going on."

There was a beat of silence.

"I almost came out to my sister last night." The words came out as barely a whisper.

Santana reached across the table to hold her hand, gently rubbing it with her thumb.

"She asked why I'd been acting weirdly, and I really wanted to tell her, but I just couldn't. And then I spent the whole night thinking about what I should have said to her." Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks.

"I know how hard that is, babe. It's really, really hard. But, even the fact that you thought about coming out to her is progress. You'll know when it's the right time." She smiled. "And I'll be there for you when you decide to do it."

At that moment, Santana's gaze was caught by two blondes walking in the door. Her heart hiccuped. Quinn snapped her head around to see who it was.

Brittany and Sam. Together. At Breadstix. On a Saturday night.

Shit.

Santana considered hiding, but it was already too late. The couple had noticed them and were quickly approaching. Santana and Quinn put on their best smiles, Quinn discretely wiping her eyes.

"Santana and Quinn! I wasn't expecting to run into you two here!" Brittany was the epitome of joy, as usual.

"Same!" was the only response Santana could think of. She cringed internally, fearing that she'd made things even more awkward, but Brittany picked up right where she'd left off.

"You look really great tonight, Santana. You too, Quinn. Glad to see you both doing so well."

"Same here," Quinn replied. "It's great to see you both. I don't want to keep you, though. Go enjoy your dinner!"

"Thanks." Brittany lowered her voice. "Did you know that breadsticks are just baby baguettes? I can't believe they take them from their mothers"

Sam looked at the breadsticks on Quinn and Santana's table with deep concern.

They exchanged goodbyes, and Brittany and Sam found a table across the restaurant. Quinn shot Santana a questioning glance. "You okay?"

Santana sat up straighter. "Yeah, actually. I'm glad that she's dating again. Glad that we're both dating again. Seeing her walk in with Trouty Mouth was, well, startling, to say the least. But I'm happy for her."

Quinn squeezed her hand. "I'm glad. Things are starting to work out for everyone."

She paused. "Wait, did you just say we're dating? Does that mean I can call you my girlfriend?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure we've been dating since, like, last Sunday. But sure, you can call me whatever you want."

The girlfriends spent the rest of their dinner talking, laughing, and paying no mind to the blondes dining across the room.