No Strings Attached

14

"So Quinn, when am I gonna get to meet your boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Quinn repeated.

"You keep checking your phone." Brittany noted. "And Santana said you were seeing someone."

Quinn looked at Brittany. "Yeah, he'll be here for Christmas so you'll meet him then."

"And speaking of Christmas, we should go get a tree for the apartment." Santana decided.

"Yeah." Brittany agreed. "Can we go now?"

Santana looked at Quinn.

"I'm gonna head home and see what Finn's up to." Quinn said. "He and I need to decorate our place anyway."

"Or you can come with us." Brittany offered.

Quinn shook her head. "I'll see you guys soon."

-

"Finn, I'm home!" Quinn called as she entered the apartment. She paused when she saw Rachel on the couch. "Oh. Hey."

"Hey." Rachel repeated.

"I didn't know you were coming over. Where's Finn?" Quinn asked.

"Hey, Quinn." Finn smiled as he exited the kitchen.

"Hey." Quinn said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, of course not. Come join us." Finn offered as he curled up with Rachel on the couch. "Have you heard from Puck?"

"Not yet." Quinn shook her head. "He's only been gone a few days though. I just came home to figure out what Christmas decorations we need."

"Well, I always get a real tree. We could go pick one out tomorrow." Finn suggested.

"Yeah, sure." Quinn said.

"Can we go another day? I'm working tomorrow." Rachel stated.

"Oh, I meant just me and Quinn." Finn said.

"Why?" Rachel wondered.

"Well, you said you're working." Finn shrugged. "And you don't even celebrate Christmas. Besides, it's not like you live here."

"Finn." Quinn scolded softly.

Rachel folded her arms.

"I just thought it would be a fun roommate activity." Finn said. "Rumor has it that Quinn loves Christmas almost as much as I do."

"Quinn loves Christmas more than you do." Quinn corrected Finn with a smile. Her smile faded as her phone went off. "Excuse me."

-

"Hey, Noah." Quinn said, closing her bedroom door. "I was starting to think you forgot about me."

"I could never forget you." Noah replied. "How's everything? How are you feeling?"

"I'm good." Quinn responded. "How's L.A.? And work?"

"Everything's good." Noah said. "I just wanted to call and let you know I'll be there for Christmas, but then I'm gonna have to fly back to L.A. for a little bit. Everything's somewhat delayed now."

"What? Why?" Quinn questioned Noah.

"The label has notes for me to review and I'll probably have to fight them about it." Noah explained. "So after Christmas I'll come back to L.A. to finish everything again and then I'll be done."

"Alright." Quinn said, understanding even though she was disappointed. "At least you'll be here for Christmas."

"Yeah." Noah agreed. He paused for a minute. "I told my team about the baby."

"What did they say?" Quinn wondered.

"A lot of them had some not nice things to say." Noah stated. "Some of them said things I won't repeat, but we're good."

"We're good?" Quinn repeated. "What does that mean?"

"I told them I'm in this." Noah responded. "That I'm not walking away or paying you off or anything like that."

Quinn nodded slowly.

"They want me to address it." Noah told Quinn. "To avoid rumors, especially with the timing of my album. I told them whatever you're comfortable with is what we're gonna do."

"Thank you." Quinn said. "I should make some phone calls about this, too."

"Call me back whenever you decide what you want me to do." Noah responded. "Take your time."

"Thanks, Noah." Quinn replied. "I'm really glad you called."

"Yeah." Noah agreed. "It was good to hear your voice, too. I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Okay." Quinn repeated. "Bye."

"Bye."