The Running Back

Chapter 11

Rachel blushed. Her body had practically been moving on auto-pilot at the time. She was tired and the only thought on her mind was not to get hit. She modestly turned away and shrank a little in her seat. As she did so, Rachel couldn't help but notice that Quinn didn't look too happy. She quickly put on a smile though and before Rachel could ask if something was wrong she was given a big pat on the back by Finn which nearly sent flying face first into her food. "Still can't believe how stupid you made Dave look," he exclaimed.

Understandably, Dave looked offended. Beside him Mike laughed. "I can." He wrapped an arm around Dave's shoulders. "This big lug looks dumb enough to begin with." With that comment all the guys and a couple of the Cheerios started to laugh, and after a moment or two Dave did as well. It was all good natured humor after all. Rachel let out a laugh as well as she rubbed her back. Thankfully she didn't have any bruises there or else that seemingly lit pat would have really hurt, and later on Rachel would have to have a really angry conversation with Finn.

"Hey, be more careful," Quinn told Finn, taking hold of Rachel's hand and replacing it with her own. She rubbed the spot gently as she glared at the quarterback. He back away slightly. Quinn then brought her attention back to Rachel. "Did that hurt?" she asked sweetly.

"No," Rachel shook her head, answering honestly. "I just didn't expect it is all. I'm fine."

Quinn left the topic at that but she glared at Finn once more before she resumed eating. The guys were laughing again, this time at Finn. It was embarrassing for him to get intimidated by Quinn but the fact was that any guy at the table would have been intimidated too. Finn seemed to know that because after initially getting all mad he shrugged off everyone's laughter.

Rachel scooted closer to Quinn in an attempt to avoid any further issues with the boys. Before long they continued on with their previous conversation. Rachel could only hope that she wouldn't be brought into it once more. But much to Rachel's disappointment, the Cheerios soon got into a discussion that revolved around her too. "You two are really cute together, you know that?" a brunette Cheerio said.

"Totally," Brittany chirped in. "Right, San?"

"Yeah, sure Britt," Santana begrudgingly agreed. Several others chimed in as well.

"I wish I was as lucky as you two." The brunette looked past Quinn directly at Rachel. She then nervously cleared her throat and turned away. "So um... I guess you'll be going to homecoming together?" she asked, not looking either one of them in the eye as she picked at her clothes. "It'd be really cool if we could have two Homecoming Queens instead of a King and Queen."

"Well uh..." Rachel was stumped. She had almost forgotten about Homecoming all together. Rachel had never gone before; she never had a reason to. But now that she was reminded, Rachel realized that it was excuse (not that Rachel needed one) to ask Quinn out again. Despite that, she wasn't sure how to answer. She was at a loss for words. Quinn wasn't though.

"Rachel actually hasn't asked me yet." Immediately Quinn turned her attention to Rachel, as did everyone else at the table. Not since the football game had Rachel felt so many eyes on her. But unlike the game there was no need to feel nervous because all she had to do was ask one simple question. And Rachel already knew what the answer was going to be.

Somehow though, the words were still hard for her to get out. "Um..." she cleared her throat. "Quinn, would you like to go to Homecoming? With me I mean?" Rachel heard a few giggles. She couldn't believe that she had actually messed that up. Quinn laughed as well. She didn't answer immediately, making it seem like she was actually thinking it over.

For a moment Rachel actually wondered if Quinn was actually going to say no. But she didn't. "Okay," she answered, cupping Rachel's cheek as she planted a kiss on the other one. "But only because you're cute." Her cheeks reddened so she tried her best to cover up her face. "Still getting all shy on me, huh?" She drew circles on Rachel's cheek with her thumb and then got up from her seat. "I'll be right back," she said. "Just have to freshen up a bit."