The Running Back

Rachel's head hurt. And it didn't just hurt a little bit. It hurt a lot. Perhaps she was being a bit of a baby, especially since she was officially a big tough football player but it hurt. She couldn't really remember what had happened. All she knew was that she wasn't on the field anymore. She seemed to be lying on a bed. Her helmet was off and someone was pressing an ice pack to her forehead. Whoever the person was added a bit more pressure and Rachel winced in pain. "Ow."

"Sorry," an angelic voice apologized. She sounded beautiful. She sounded like... wait. Her eyes snapped open. Above her, Quinn was tending to her wound. Quinn pulled the ice pack away to better see Rachel's face. "Hey, are you feeling all right?" Stunned into silence, Rachel could only nod slowly. "That's good. You took quite a hit to the head. I was really scared." The memories came back to her. She was practicing and she had gotten distracted. The ball hit her and...

And Quinn had seen. Quinn had seen. Oh dear. Rachel didn't know how to feel; embarrassed because Quinn had witnessed her get knocked down by a football or happy because Quinn was holding her hand. Wait, what? Rachel's eyes drifted down to her hand and found Quinn's hand tightly wrapped around her own. Quinn followed her gaze and then pulled her hand away.

"Sorry," she said again. "Like I said, I was really worried. I'm glad to see that you're okay Rachel."

Once more Rachel was stunned, but having recovered from her initial shock, she was able to speak. "You-you know who I am?" she asked, to which Quinn giggled.

"Of course I do. You're that cute, little girl who decided to join the football team." Rachel's cheeks reddened. "Oh, did I embarrass you? I'm sorry," she apologized once more. "You really are cute." More than likely, Rachel's blush intensified. She tried to regain her composure and pushed herself up into a sitting position. As she did, Rachel scanned the area. She didn't quite know where she was. The room they were in looked like the nurse's office. Or at least it looked like a nurse's office.

Rachel had never been sick a day in her life so there had never been an instant where she had to see the school nurse. She had passed by the place a few times though. Rachel knew what it looked like, and while the room they were in looked similar it clearly wasn't the same. "Where are we?" she asked, partially out of curiosity but mostly to change the subject.

"Oh, we're in Sue's secret first aid room."

"Sue's what?" Rachel knew that the Cheerios had a lot of funding but a secret room.

"Her secret first aid room," Quinn said once more. "Practice can get kind of rough some times. If any of us get hurt we go here. That's after we get yelled at of course. It's only supposed to be for Cheerios, but I made an exception for you." Rachel's heart swelled. Sure she had embarrassed herself but now Quinn was taking care of her, but she had also gone against Sue's word. At that thought Rachel started to worry.

"Won't you get in trouble?"

"I shouldn't, unless you tell. Sue's got this important conference call so I was in charge of the entire practice today. I'll be fine. Besides you should be worrying about yourself. How are you feeling?"

"Good."

"Great." Quinn got up and started walking away. Rachel almost called out to her but she stopped herself. She watched Quinn go over to a cabinet and search through it few seconds she pulled out a bottle of water and a granola bar. She handed them both to Rachel. "Here."

"Thanks," Rachel said as she took the bottle and the granola bar. She unwrapped the granola bar and took a bite. She chewed slowly under Quinn's watchful eye. She still looked to be a bit worried and Rachel had to wonder, "Is there a bruise?"