Catalyst

Chapter 14

The Glee kids came to Rachel's birthday party, mostly out of obligation. She'd saved their asses and it was the last they could do. Brittany, Santana, Puck, and Hannah came first, then that folk girl Quinn still didn't really like or know, then pretty much everyone else. Quinn was relieved to see Brittany pull Rachel into a hug. They hadn't had much interaction, either in Glee or outside of it, so the constant roil of her stomach calmed a little to see that Brittany was holding up to her bargain. Rachel's face was momentarily surprised, then she hugged her back, and led her to the snacks.

The folk girl came to every other meeting, sang irregularly with different genres, but wasn't typically engaged in other activities. She hadn't even gone to Sectionals, she'd had to have her tonsils removed or something. Still, Rachel vouched for her. Quinn just knew that the girl was lanky and had been Rachel's friend longer than she was comfortable with. The rest of the group showed up almost at once, and a couple of cousins helped bring Artie down the steps. Neither of their advisors came because it could be deemed inappropriate. The party was actually pretty fun. They played darts and pool, the uncles argued good naturedly over football. The little kids ran around, hopped up from the excitement, then collapsed on whatever lap was closest for dramatic events. Quinn ended up with a little boy, Woodrow, and he giggled hysterically when she started to tickle him. He was warm and his stomach was soft under her fingertips.

Rachel was damn near vibrating, she was so excited. Rachel was always in her element with people and it made her wonder if they would have met if they hadn't gone to the same high school. Would they have met in college, working together on a project? Would Rachel have been a barista, flirty but sweet and giving her a free drink? Would they have even been in the same town? Rachel lived for big cities, was obsessed with them to a degree. There was a shoebox filled with post cards depicting New York, Chicago, Beijing, LA, Miami, London; just about every major city in the world. She never saw Rachel look into the box, but knowing her, it just felt good to know that they were in the room with them. Just as Quinn was thinking it, Rachel descended and kissed the corner of her mouth, and they smiled at one another before Rachel flopped next to her, kicked her shoes off, and curled up next to her. The Glee kids were still around and while they were aware, it was weird to see their friends watch them kiss. Santana was probably anticipating it, really. Since she'd told Santana about Rachel, Santana had been a tiny bit nicer to them, but was curious about Rachel. Quinn figured it was strictly academic, otherwise she'd have approached Rachel already in order to see herself.

"Shelby hasn't gotten here yet," She murmured. Quinn looked at her and bit her bottom lip. She wasn't sure what to say. It was close to five, and beyond that wasn't really an appropriate time to show up. She looked at Rachel, the resigned dimness in her eyes, the bitten bottom lip, and said, "Give me your phone." Rachel did so without asking anything, and her eyes followed Quinn out of the living room and to the sliding door that led outside. Toto shuffled to her, pressed his nose to her knee, and they were both outside. Shelby was under Rachel's recent callers under "S. Corcoran" and she called her.

It took quite a few rings for Shelby to answer, and her voice was groggy, possibly hungover.

"Hello?"

Quinn's voice was shrill, "Where are you?"

"Excuse me?" Shelby asked, voice irritated, "Who the fuck is this?"

She scowled, "It's Quinn. It's almost five thirty, Rachel's party is going to finish soon, and you haven't even called her." The party really wasn't going to finish soon. Some of her cousins had just made a beer run, her coworkers were due to show up soon with God knew what, and she could see some of the men from here, firing up the grill.

She groaned, "Oh my God, I forgot. She gave me her address yesterday, I think I can be there in under half an hour."

"Hurry," Quinn said flatly and hung up.