"Puck! Your tassel is on the wrong side, you idiot."

"Well, shit. It's not like they tell us these things."

"They said it like ten times during rehearsal! Were you even paying attention?"

"It's fixed! You happy now?"

Quinn shakes her head as she watches her best friends argue once again. They weren't the only irritated ones. The entire senior class was currently backstage at their graduation ceremony, adorning their red cap and gowns. They had been crowded back there for over half an hour and everyone was starting to become impatient. The ceremony was supposed to start any moment now.

She feels the vibrating of her phone and looks at it only to smile.

Rachel: Good luck! Try not to fall on your face :p

Quinn types out a reply.

Quinn: Shut up! You're making me more nervous than I already am!

She looks up to see Puck peeking the the curtain draped between them and the audience.

"Do you see my parents?" Santana asks.

"Yeah, they're in the second row," he tells her.

"Are mine here yet?" Quinn asks. She knows that they were still getting ready by the time she left and wouldn't be surprised if they were late.

"Uh," Puck scans all over the crowd for them. "Yeah, I see them in the third row."

Quinn nods.

"Holy shit! Who's that with your parents?" Puck asks.

Quinn moves him aside to look through the curtain, though she has a pretty good idea of who he's asking about. And sure enough, wearing a simple blue dress with perfect hair and makeup, was her aunt. The woman is laughing while looking at her phone as she sits next to an eager looking Judy and Russell.

"That's just Rachel," she tells him.

"What!" he goes to look back through the curtains again. "That's you're aunt Rachel? No fucking way. Why have you been holding out on us?"

Quinn rolls her eyes and ignores him.

Santana shoves him out of the way to see for herself. "No way, that girl with the dark hair and blue dress is your aunt?"

"Yeah, that's her."

"Damn, Q. She's hot." Quinn laughs at both of her friends trying to ogle Rachel at the same time. Puck was hunched over with Santana's elbow digging into his back.

"She looks nothing like you and Judes," Santana comments.

"She was adopted. And she's a lot younger than my mom," Quinn explains.

Puck turns around faster than the speed of light. "So, you're not actually related? Dude! You gotta let me hit that! She single?"

"Fuck off, Puckerman," she snaps. "Don't even think about it."

"Aww, but Quinn!"

She ignores him once again when she receives another text message.

Rachel: You know I'm joking. You'll be fine. Any crazy plans tonight?

Quinn remembers the party at Dave Karofsky's that most of the seniors were going to. Puck had convinced her and Santana to go, much to her dismay.

Quinn: Yeah I've got some lame party to go to after dinner

The reply is instant.

Rachel: Will there be alcohol?

Quinn laughs.

Quinn: Lol I would hope so, but more than likely yes

She knows that Rachel won't tell her mom anything about this so she might as well be honest.

Rachel: Quinn! You'd better not be driving tonight!

"Alright, places everyone! Just like rehearsal! Move it, Sandbags! Karofsky, if you don't get that cap on your head right, you're not walking! Get off the floor you lazy walruses! Come on!"

Quinn shudders at Sue Sylvester's booming voice. Hopefully she'll never have to see that woman again after this. She rapidly takes her place in line and discreetly types out one last text.

Quinn: Santana's driving me so stop worrying. And the show's about to start so I'll so you after!

She hears Principal Figgins calling out names on the microphone and ends up sandwiched in line between Sam Evans and some other jock from the football team, both wearing too much cologne. She groans and shoves her phone back in her pocket.

"Azimio Adams."

Quinn feels like she's in a sauna with everyone crammed together and she can't wait to get out of there. Names are being called in a seemingly never ending list and she grows bored quickly.

"Michael Chang."

More names are called out one by one followed by immediate applause. Quinn frowns when her stomach starts growling. She perks up when she thinks about stuffing herself with bread sticks after this and -

"Samuel Evans."

Oh crap, she's next.

She takes a deep breath and gets her "award winning" smile ready. Or at least that's what Coach Sylvester called it when she drilled it into the whole team.

"Quinn Fabray."

She looks to the crowd as they applaud for her. Everything seems to go in slow motion in this moment as she walks across the stage. It's almost surreal.

She only manages to lock her eyes onto one person, the small brunette jumping up and down, clapping with a beaming smile on her face.

Every other face in the crowd is pretty much blurred to her. Her heart can't help but flutter seeing Rachel look so happy for her. She's vaguely aware of Principal Figgins shaking one hand and placing a diploma in the other. It's only when Judy's camera starts blinding her eyes that she snaps out of it.

Quinn flashes one last smile before exiting the stage.

Quinn munches on her third breadstick in the past five minutes. Totally worth the wait, she thinks.

She and her two best friends, along with her parents and Rachel, were all crowded in a booth at Breadstix.

"Looks like all of McKinley decided to show up," Russell remarks and takes another sip of wine.

Quinn and Santana both nod absentmindedly as they scarf down more breadsticks.

"Slow down, girls. Save room for dinner," Judy reprimands.

Quinn ignores her as she's now focused on something else. She glares down the table at Puck, who happens to be sitting across from Rachel, and no doubt flirting with her. Didn't she tell him not to bother her?

She hears him going on about his pool cleaning business and rolls her eyes. Rachel looks like she's trying to stifle a laugh.

"So, are you guys excited for an entire summer without cheer practice for once?" Judy asks.

Santana groans, "Oh god, yes. I have four years of sleep to catch up on."

Quinn chuckles. "I definitely won't miss the three hour suicides."

"For real! I've thrown up like ten times cause of that shit."

"I know, I was there. I was also at the top of the pyramid during one of those times," Quinn reminds her.

"Yeah we were there too...at the hospital for Quinn's sprained wrist!" Russell joins in.

Santana nearly spits out her drink in laughter. Quinn cringes at the memory of falling straight into a pile of vomit. None of the girls were brave enough to step in it to catch her, leaving her to plunge to her doom.

"I almost had a heart attack that day!" Judy cries. "My poor Quinnie!"

"Ugh, mom. Don't call me that," Quinn whines.

"What? I was so scared! And you just wouldn't stop crying!"

Santana doubles over in laughter while Russell can't help snickering.

"Okay, first of all, I was fifteen. Second of all, I was covered in puke. You would all be crying too! And third of all, coach told me I would be off the team if I dared to cry on her field. I had to hold it in until I got to the hospital!"

"Whatever. Coach had me do suicides for two more hours when you left for 'damaging her head cheerleader'," Santana air quotes.

"That's ludicrous!" Judy cries.

"Right!"

Her friend and mom continue to rant, but Quinn tunes her out as someone else catches her attention. She looks to Rachel only to see her aunt smiling at her, probably listening in on their conversation and ignoring Puck. She's giving her a both intrigued and amused look. Quinn bashfully smiles back and averts her gaze to shove another breadstick in her mouth.

Almost an hour goes by before their food finally arrives. Quinn is now sitting across from Rachel since she made Puck switch seats with her. After arguing, and losing miserably, he reluctantly agreed.

She smirks as she watches her parents grill him and Santana about their college plans. He looks incredibly bummed out. Serves him right.

"Your friends seem...interesting," Rachel says to her in a voice low enough for only them to hear.

Quinn scoffs, "It's alright. You can say that they're rude with terrible social skills. Won't hurt my feelings one bit."

"Okay, I know I'm older," Rachel whispers to Quinn as she leans across the table. "But I'm pretty sure that when your friend offered to clean my pool and mow my lawn, he was saying that he actually wants to...mow my lawn," she giggles. "What a charmer."

Quinn raises her eyebrows, "That's Puck for you."

"Well my pool does need cleaning," Rachel says. "It looks like the previous owners haven't fished the leaves out in a while. And your friend did offer a discount."

"Rachel, he just wants to get in your pants," she whispers harshly. "Don't be stupid."

"Calm down. Do you really think that I would sleep with one of your friends? How low do you think of me?" Rachel asks with sadness in her voice.

Quinn sighs, "That's not how I meant it. It's just that he's notorious for...mowing the lawn of every woman in Lima, and I told him to stay away from you."

"Quinn, I would never do that to you. So stop worrying about it. I'll call another pool cleaning service if it makes you feel better."

"No, don't do that. You can have Puck do it. He actually does a pretty good job anyway."

Rachel shrugs, "I'll think about it."

Judy turns her attention to them and starts conversing with Rachel. Puck, Santana, and Russell are still talking amongst each other. Quinn sighs in relief knowing that no one else overheard their quick, heated conversation.

She loves Puck. She really does. And he can sleep with every girl in Ohio for all she cares.

Just not Rachel.

Because Rachel is way too good for that. Definitely too good for him. And especially too good for her jerk of an ex husband. She deserves so much more. She deserves all the love that she gets in life and then some.

Quinn watches as Rachel laughs with the others. Quinn loves that laugh. She's always so graceful with everything she does, and it just comes off as second nature.

She looks so beautiful, Quinn thinks. The way her eyes light up when she's enjoying herself is indescribable. And her smile is just something else. It's so amazing. Quinn wishes she could be able to see that smile everyday. To be able to make her smile every day. And just find ways to make her happy and...

Wait...what?

...

Quinn stops breathing. Time seems to slow as everything comes crashing down on her at once. It all seems to suddenly make sense. The jealousy she was feeling when Puck was flirting. All the times she couldn't help staring, which is literally all the time now. The longing to be with her every minute over the past several days. The fact that the woman was always on her mind now.

Holy shit, Quinn thinks. She totally has a crush on Rachel. Her aunt Rachel. Aunt Rachel.

Something inside of her snaps and she feels like a bucket of cold water was just thrown on her face. She starts mentally berating herself.

How could this have happened? It's completely wrong! Wrong on so many levels. Rachel is family, for Christ's sake! She can't have feelings for someone in her family. It's insane. And completely fucked up.

Santana nudging her drags her out of her inner turnoil.

"You okay?" she whispers. "You're staring into space like you wanna kill something."

Quinn starts panicking for a second. There's no way that Santana can already know, can she? That would be completely ridiculous. But not entirely impossible.

"Earth to Quinn," her friend says a little louder, waving a hand in front of her face.

"I'm fine!" she chokes out, trying to get herself together.

Santana raises an eyebrow at her, not quite convinced.

"I'm fine," she repeats more calmly this time, to reassure herself more than anything.

She chances one more look at Rachel as she's laughing with Judy and shakes her head. This is so fucked up.

They've been at the party at Dave Karofsky's for at least three hours, and Quinn has been sitting in the same spot on the couch since they got there, nursing beers that her friends have been bringing to her.

It looks like everyone at Breadstix came here right after. There's hardly any room with everyone crammed together and dancing in the living room. For once, she doesn't mind the insanely loud music since it's sort of helping her distract her from her thoughts.

She looks around at all of the familiar faces. Most of which she'll probably have nothing to do with ever again. Not that she cares. She learned more over the years that high school is nothing but a complete joke.

She notices Santana dancing near the corner of the room with Brittany Pierce, the girl Santana has long been in love with for a long time but is too scared to do anything about it. The two had messed around throughout most of high school with no strings attached. But Santana was too stubborn to admit her feelings. Brittany ended things completely when she started dating Sam earlier this year.

The two are still very good friends, if the way they're grinding right now is anything to go by. Quinn just wishes that her friend would finally pull her head out of her ass and do something.

The songs ends and Brittany whispers something in Santana's ear before running off to the kitchen. Santana sees Quinn sitting alone on the couch and joins her.

"You doing okay?" she asks.

Quinn looks at her and nods with a reassuring smile.

But honestly, she's far from okay right now. Quinn looks around at other couples dancing together. For a moment, she wishes that she could be able to dance with Rachel like that but quickly tells herself she can't be thinking these things. She needs to find a way to get over whatever these feelings are and fast.

Get over it before things get worse. It's already bad enough and she's just only realizing her feelings.

She chugs the rest of the beer in her cup and sets it down on the floor.

Nip it in the bud. Just get over it. That's what she needs to do.

Puck spots them on the couch and makes his way over to sit between them.

"Fuck yes. We're finally done with high school," he grins.

"Yeah, I'm glad I had you guys to help me get through it," Quinn says.

"Definitely. I'd say we did it right," Puck says and all three nod their heads in agreement.

"I don't know if it's just me, but this is kind of boring for our last high school party ever," Santana yells to them over the music.

"No, you're right," Quinn agrees.

"It'll probably get better if we do some shots," Puck suggests.

Quinn nods and follows her friends into the kitchen.

She's not sure how many tequila shots she's had. She lost count somewhere around five. There might have been a game or two of beer pong. She doesn't remember. All she knows is that the counter she's leaning on keeps shifting back and forth from diagonal to horizontal. She leans down to put her face on it and giggles.

"Looks like Quinn's drunk," she faintly hears a male voice say.

"Fuck you, Puckerman! You're drunk!" she calls out, only to burst into another fit of giggles.

"Okay, Q-Tip. Up you go."

Santana pulls the blonde off the counter and holds her by the waist so she doesn't fall over.

"You got her?" Puck asks.

Santana rolls her eyes. "Yeah I guess so."

Quinn closes her eyes and nuzzles her friend's shoulder, feeling a little sleepy. "I'm sorry I'm drunk."

Santana laughs, "Don't worry. Everyone's drunk."

Quinn doesn't say anything and just nods her head, returning to her micronap.

When she opens her eyes again, she stands up straight and leans with her hands planted on the counter. She turns to Santana only to see the girl staring murderously at something in the distance.

Quinn turns her head to see Sam and Brittany making out rather aggressively right outside the open back door. She frowns and turns back to her friend.

"You're not being very subtle." Quinn was trying to whisper, but ended up shouting rather loud.

Santana's eyes widen before she slaps a hand over the blonde's mouth.

"Keep your voice down," she says.

"Sorry," Quinn mumbles.

Santana brings her hand down before crossing her arms over her chest with a forlorn look on her face.

Quinn frowns and wraps an arm around her waist. "It's okay," she tells her.

"Do you wanna go?" her friend asks suddenly.

Quinn thinks about it. She's not having that much fun and it looks like Santana is miserable.

"Where's Puck?" she asks.

"He went with some girl to the pool."

Quinn shudders to think about what's going on in that pool. "Yeah, I'm ready to go," she says.

Before she knows what's going on, Santana is dragging her through the sea of people in the living room and out the front door. She doesn't even get the chance to say bye to anyone, not that she honestly cares.

Santana is able to get them both to her car unscathed. She opens the passenger door and gently helps Quinn settle in her seat.

"You okay to drive?" Quinn asks as she fumbles to put her seat belt on.

"I'm fine," she slams the door and goes to the driver's side.

Quinn swears that she only closed her eyes for maybe ten seconds. But apparently not because when she opens them again, they're parked in front of her house.

"I think I fell asleep."

"Yeah, you were snoring a little," Santana smiles.

Quinn grimaces and unbuckles herself. Before she opens the door, she turns to her friend to say bye, but stops when she notices the other girl's eyes glistening with unshed tears.

She reaches over to lightly touch her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay."

Santana wordlessly unbuckles herself and leans over the center console to Quinn, who's too drunk and surprised to react.

The dark haired girl attaches her lips to Quinn's neck and leaves soft kisses on a trail from the base to her ear. Quinn moans and tilts her head to the side for better access. It feels really good this time, probably because she's drunk.

She feels a hand slowly making it's way up her dress right to the edge of her boxer briefs. The other girl wastes no time and cups her through the material.

Quinn gasps and opens her eyes to shift her gaze downward. She sees the dark hair of someone assaulting her neck. And her unfocused mind can't help but wander.

For a quick moment, she's imagining Rachel there instead of Santana. Pressing her plump lips against her neck and massaging her length through her shorts. The thought makes her grow incredibly harder and it's only then that Quinn realizes where her just imagination is going.

"Santana! Stop!" she cries.

The Latina jumps back in panic. "What? What's wrong?"

Quinn shakes her head and takes a deep breath. She covers her face with her hands and tries to calm down, feeling completely ashamed of herself.

"Quinn, I'm sorry. I know that I should have asked you first but I -"

"No, that's not it," Quinn cuts her off.

"Okay? If you're tired we don't have to do this tonight."

Quinn shakes her head again and sighs. "You're only doing this because you're upset about Brittany," she tells her.

"So what? We use each other and we're both okay with that. We talked about this."