New Horizons Ch. 31-38
Author's Note: We've come to the end. Just one more installment after this one. Thank you everyone for supporting the story. This one meant a lot.
Chapter 31
Quinn sat in her quiet rehearsal room going through Diego's notes from the day. She knew she had been distracted and it wasn't her best rehearsal, but she couldn't stop thinking about Alex and their almost declaration in the theater earlier that week.
She had only seen the blonde a couple times since the interview and it was always late at night once they were both too tired to do much talking. She was impatient to have more time with Alex— a feeling that was becoming more and more common for her.
She could feel a sort of tension from the other woman since the interview happened, but she supposed that was to be expected considering how it all went down and the amount of time Alex had spent at Janet's office since. Luckily it was finally Friday and she was going to get an uninterrupted evening with the blonde.
"Knock, knock," she suddenly heard from the other side of the room.
Courtney was standing in the doorway, but she looked so different that Quinn had to do a double take and her eyebrows shot up at the woman's unusually put together look.
"I just saw Diego leave so figured I'd stop in. Busy?" Courtney asked.
"No, come on in," Quinn replied and stood up so she could greet the red head. "But only if you tell me why you look like a hot secretary."
"Actually, I was going for a smart, confident graduate student who's been pressured into law school by her conservative parents but is about to break out and realize her real talent is in photography," Courtney said as she posed.
Quinn pretended to give Courtney's outfit a thoughtful look. The woman had on a black pencil skirt, heels and a tight, white blouse. Her unruly red hair wasn't completely tame, but the low bun it was currently in was definitely more pristine than Quinn had ever seen it.
"Now that I'm really looking at it, I can totally see that," she replied as she finished her assessment of Courtney's outfit. "It's like Law & Order meets Carol."
Courtney let out her huge, bubbly laugh. "It's like you're in my head."
"Why exactly are you dressed like that?" Quinn asked next.
"I have to send in a taped audition for a film. It's a long shot, but Mark was helping me in one of the rehearsal rooms. Anyway, you staying here or do you want to walk out with me?"
"I was just about to pack up and leave so I'll walk out with you," Quinn replied and moved around the room to grab the few items she had with her. "Want a snack? I have extra from today."
"I think I'm going to adopt you. What kind of snack?" Courtney asked as they made their way down the rehearsal room hallway and towards backstage.
"Goldfish crackers and this thing they call a granola bar but looks more like a block of chocolate."
"I'll take the granola bar."
Quinn reached into her bag and handed Courtney one of the fake, sugary bars. The red head didn't wait a second to rip the wrapper open and take a bite. "Fuck yes, fuck. That tastes like a snack you got in daycare in the 90s. I fear for our health if we hang out too much."
"It's already bad enough with Alex who only seems to consume bagels, coffee and bourbon," Quinn replied.
"I'm afraid to tell you that you'll have to learn to cook if you ever want something other than takeout with that one. At least I can make a few dishes. The last time Alex cooked for me, I cut my lip on some sharp plastic in the potatoes."
Quinn laughed as they both made their way down the dark aisle of the theater. "I can't even believe Alex cooked once," she joked.
"She lost a bet on when Snoopy would appear in the Macy's Day Parade. She called it way too early. So, she had to cook one of our Thanksgiving dishes. Just one. And there was plastic in it."
"That's kind of endearing."
"Says the girlfriend," Courtney said back in a playful tone. "It caused light bleeding."
Quinn slowed her pace as they made their way into the lobby. She and Alex hadn't used that label yet, but her stomach was suddenly erupting in tiny little butterflies and she had to admit that she liked the sound of it rolling off Courtney's tongue so easily.
Courtney stopped walking when she noticed that Quinn had slowed.
"Oh, hey. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I don't know if you're even there yet with Alex. See, this is why I need Paige with me at all times," Courtney rambled on, pointing to her mouth. "No censor."
"No, it's ok. We haven't used the girlfriend word per se, but I'm absolutely there. I think she is too?"
Quinn didn't mean for the last part to be a question, but suddenly talking about this with Alex's best friend was making her nervous. She understood the implication behind what Alex had said to her after the interview and she could see how the blonde looked at her, but she could also be telling Courtney something else.
"I can see that she is too," Courtney replied quietly. "I hear the Times interview on Monday didn't go very well."
"Have you seen her?"
"No, but we spoke on the phone. She didn't tell me she's worried— because it's Alex— but I could tell she is."
"She's been with Janet all week trying to fix it."
Courtney nodded at Quinn's comment but stayed quiet for a moment as she looked around the lobby.
"Don't let her push you away," she finally said and Quinn knew she couldn't hide the surprise that flashed across her face at Courtney's words. "Because after this media fiasco, I guarantee she will. Besides setting the feminism movement back 20 years, Sloane also did a number on Alex. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but ever since her mom died, she's been pretty closed off emotionally and it just got worse after Sloane. But I also haven't seen her this happy. Ever. So, I'm just asking you to be patient."
"Is this the best friend talk?"
"No. I know you won't hurt her. I'm worried about Alex hurting you. Don't let her go into her Alex cave. I know I told you once before, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you now, but she's worth it. Once you get through the stubborn, emotionally constipated part, that is."
Quinn simply nodded to Courtney in reply, not trusting her voice at that moment. In any other situation, Courtney's funny descriptor would have made her giggle. But suddenly, her throat felt tight and a wave of emotion rolled through her. Because she agreed— Alex was worth it. She just hoped Alex felt the same way about her.
When Quinn didn't respond, Courtney looped her arm into the brunette's and guided them towards the exit that would take them to the street.
"She's never taken me to Coney Island and she knows how much I love hot dogs. Your boobs must be fantastic," Courtney joked and Quinn finally felt a smile spread across her lips.
"They are," she replied.
Once they were outside, Quinn could see Mikey leaning against one of the stone pillars at the base of the theater steps.
"Oh, you should come meet Mikey," Quinn said, pulling Courtney in the direction of her friend. "Just don't talk about my boobs. He hates that topic."
Mikey slid his phone back into his jacket pocket when he noticed the two actresses approaching.
"Hey Mikey, this is Courtney. Courtney, this is Mikey. My manager and best friend. In that order. Courtney is Alex's best friend," Quinn said, turning to Mikey.
"Finally, the best friends meet! They've been keeping us apart for too long. Does Quinn keep you in a cage like Alex does with me?" Courtney asked Mikey and reached out so she could shake his hand.
"Uh, no?" Mikey responded in a confused tone as he shook Courtney's hand. "But it's nice to meet you."
Courtney gave Mikey an exaggerated look, bringing her eyes up and down his body before letting out a small whistle. "Damn, Mikey. I'd climb up all over you if something wasn't telling me that we're both friends of Dorothy."
Mikey just blinked at the red head for a moment before he seemed to be able to form words. "Oh god, there's two of you," he finally replied as he looked between Quinn and Courtney.
"Mikey only likes to use the muscles in his face a few times a day," Quinn said to Courtney. "So, please excuse his lack of smiling."
"I see why you didn't want me to bring up your boobs then," Courtney replied in a dry tone. "Anyway, I need to go. But thanks for the chocolate" she said to Quinn who just nodded because she was too busy laughing at Mikey's expression.
Before leaving, Courtney turned to Mikey and gave a small salute. "And it was nice to meet you, Mr. Mikey."
Mikey turned back to Quinn with his eyebrows raised as soon as Courtney was gone, but Quinn ignored the judgmental look.
"I didn't know you were coming by," she said instead.
"I thought I'd walk you home," he replied and motioned for them to start walking in the direction of Quinn's apartment.
"Are you going to carry my books too?" Quinn asked and batted her eyelashes at him.
"You don't have any books," Mikey replied as they made their way down the street.
"I have a bag."
"I'm not carrying it."
"You're a terrible manager," Quinn said in a huff as she threw her bag over her shoulder in a dramatic fashion.
"Yes, poor baby. Anyway, I come bearing gossip, but if you don't want it, I won't tell you."
Quinn let out a gasp. "But you never have gossip. Who does this gossip pertain to?"
"Me," he replied.
"And you never tell me anything juicy about yourself! You officially have my attention, Mr. Rubio. Speak."
"Well, I thought since you were the orchestrator— which we still need to talk about, by the way—you should know that I have a date with Tim tonight."
"Delvin?" Quinn shouted and stopped walking.
Mikey grabbed her arm and forced her to keep walking. "Yes. Now please stop shouting before everyone in Manhattan knows."
"I think you should be thanking me, not admonishing my volume."
"So, it was you who gave him my number then?"
"Who else would have? I told you I was going to. You can call me Yente," she replied. But when Mikey just gave her a confused side glance, she let out a sigh. "It's the Jewish matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof. You really know nothing about theater."
"That may be. But one of the city's biggest theater investors is going out with me tonight so apparently it doesn't matter."
"That's just because you have that pretty face."
"Thank you. I think," Mikey said as they turned down Quinn's street. "Anyway, I have other gossip too. I just came back from Janet Jameson's office and Alex was there."
Quinn's face instantly morphed from teasing to concerned upon hearing Alex's name in conjunction with Janet's.
"I assume you heard about what happened at her interview?" he asked.
"I was in the lobby when it happened. The asshole completely blindsided her with his questions."
"It sounds like it. They didn't go into a huge amount of detail on what the guy asked while I was in the room, but it sounds like he was asking personal questions?"
Quinn kept her eyes ahead and simply nodded. She knew she couldn't tell Mikey anything about Sloane even if he was her best friend. She wouldn't betray Alex's trust about something so intimate.
"Apparently earlier this week, Janet offered to have the story squashed, but Alex wouldn't let her," he said.
"What do you mean?" Quinn asked and stopped walking as they reached her apartment building. "Are you coming up?"
"No, I need to get ready," he replied. "Anyway, Alex said that it would hurt your show to squash the entire feature and she didn't want Janet to do that just to spite the paper. And Maggie and I agree."
"So surprised my publicist agreed with that," Quinn replied sarcastically and rolled her eyes. "What about Alex's interview though? What is Janet doing about that?"
"Janet seems to think she's done enough to scare them out of running that. It was an unethical interview and she seemed pretty confident it won't run."
"Did Alex seem ok?"
Quinn finally asked the thing she wanted to know since he mentioned the blonde's name. Mikey looked at Quinn for a long moment before he responded.
"Are you in love with her, Quinn? Because I've seen this face before."
"Yes," she replied in a quiet voice and she was grateful that Mikey's soft expression wasn't holding his usual judgement.
"And have you told her?"
"No."
Mikey gave her another long look before he nodded. "I might wait on that. If you want to know how she was, she was pretty stressed out by the whole situation."
Quinn could feel her stomach tighten at his words. She couldn't ever remember caring about Jenna's welfare like this— but with Alex, it was as if she could physically feel the other woman's stress and she just wanted to take it away.
"She's coming over tonight," Quinn said instead of talking through everything that was going on in her head.
"It sounds like she's been looking out for your interests all week with Janet," Mikey said. "I like her."
Quinn's head suddenly snapped up at Mikey's comment. It wasn't just that he had never said that about Jenna— he had never said that about any woman she had ever dated.
"You do?"
"She's trying to make it seem like she's looking out for the show and the interest of the theater. But anyone who knows the truth can see through that façade. Have fun tonight, Q."
In an unusual show of affection, Mikey leaned up to the step Quinn was on and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"You too. Tell Tim hello for me," she replied as he stepped back down the stairs and onto the street.
"I certainly will. He's taking me to the symphony. I feel so cultured," he said with a small laugh.
"Look at you, Maestro. That should be fun," Quinn replied. She let out another exaggerated sigh when Mikey just furrowed his brow at her. "Maestro? The name for the conductor of a symphony? Mikey, do you know anything outside of fashion?"
"I don't hear you complaining when you need help getting dressed."
"Fair enough. Be safe tonight. And remember a condom. Bye!"
Quinn turned and ran up the stairs before she could hear a response or see his eye roll at her latest, inappropriate comment. And she couldn't help but laugh at Mikey's earlier, very accurate statement, that she was very similar to Courtney because she knew the red head would have laughed.
As she walked into her apartment, she finally took out her phone so she could text Alex. Based on her conversation with Mikey, she assumed the woman was out of her meeting with Janet and she wouldn't be interrupting at this point.
Quinn: I'm home now. Come over any time.
She added a kissing emoticon to the end of her text and sent it before moving to the bathroom so she could take a quick post-rehearsal shower before Alex got there.
Before she stepped into her shower, she looked at her phone and saw that Alex had responded.
Alex: Leaving Janet's office in a minute. Can't wait to see you.
Quinn knew she was smiling at her phone and probably looked like a lovesick fool, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She was a lovesick fool. She just hoped she wasn't the only one.
Chapter 32
Watching Quinn as she neared an orgasm had become one of Alex's favorite sights. While she let Alex take the reins in the bedroom for the most part, the brunette also wasn't afraid to own her own pleasure and take what she needed, when she needed it.
And in that moment, as she straddled Alex and rode three of the blonde's fingers, Quinn was certainly taking what she needed.
"I'm so close, babe. So close," Quinn panted out as she bounced up and down on Alex's extended fingers in rapid succession.
Alex did her best to stay still so Quinn could direct the pace, but it was hard with Quinn's body slamming down onto her own, not to mention how distracting it was to see Quinn's perfect tits bouncing above her with each thrust.
Quinn let out a series of loud moans before finally leaning forwards so her hands were on either side of Alex's face. She changed her pace so she was pushing down in long, slow thrusts and Alex could feel the woman's walls begin to clench around her fingers.
"Fuck, I'm coming. Oh god," Quinn screamed out and pressed her face into Alex's neck so her words were muffled, apparently not able to hold up her head anymore.
When the last of her orgasm seemed to have rolled through her, Quinn allowed her body to slump down on top of Alex's. Alex didn't mind the weight and just brought her arms around the woman on top of her as Quinn caught her breath and nuzzled further into Alex's neck.
"You are so sexy," Alex whispered and turned her head so she could give Quinn a long, sensual kiss on her cheek.
"Mmm, I'm glad you think so. Because I have something I want to talk to you about," Quinn replied into Alex's neck, but she didn't move away from her spot.
"Interesting. Usually the first thing you want to do after sex is either eat or sleep" Alex replied, rubbing her hands up and down Quinn's bare back.
"Good point. Let's eat and then talk."
"That bag of food I brought is likely cold by now."
"I still love you for bringing me food."
It seemed to take a minute for the larger meaning behind her words to register with both of them, but once it did, Alex could see Quinn's eyes widen at what she just said.
"I'll grab us some clothes," she added quickly and moved off Alex at lightning speed.
Alex barely had time to process what just happened before Quinn was across the room and opening a drawer on her dresser. But as Quinn's words settled in her mind, Alex thought she could actually feel her heart ramming against her chest.
There had been so many times when she had almost told Quinn how she felt, but each time, she became too scared to actually let the words out. So when Quinn came back to the bed and handed Alex a pair of leggings and a tank top, she didn't say anything about the brunette's almost-declaration from before.
"You could just give me one of the many pieces of my own clothing you're hoarding here," Alex said as she pulled the tank top on, helping to move them away from the much more intimate direction their conversation almost went.
"That would give you the opportunity to wear them home. I'm not that stupid," Quinn said back, but she still didn't make eye contact with Alex as she threw on a pair of shorts and a worn t-shirt. "Come on. Let's go heat-up the food and sit on the couch."
Before Alex could even respond, Quinn was out of the bedroom. She couldn't tell if Quinn's behavior was because she was trying not to pressure Alex into declaring anything too soon, or if she wasn't actually there yet and didn't want Alex to read into her slip-up.
But the other woman's words from earlier in the week continued to play in her head and deep down, she knew how Quinn felt. I care about you. The words they repeated to each other felt like a declaration of some kind, even if the words themselves didn't match tradition.
"Babe, I've already eaten an egg roll. You better come have something before it's gone," Quinn shouted from the kitchen.
Alex let out a small laugh and pulled on the leggings Quinn gave her. Declarations could wait for now. With the impending Times article making her stomach a nervous wreck, it probably wasn't the best time to add one more thing to her already crazed mind.
For now, a night of Chinese take-out with Quinn would be enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I'm so full. Don't let me eat anymore," Quinn said as she stretched out on the couch so her feet were resting in Alex's lap.
"We don't have to talk. You look like you're about to fall asleep," Alex teased as she began lightly rubbing Quinn's feet.
http://news.arregui.es/2015/03/from-arregui-we-express-our-heartfelt.html
http://ciencia.ara.cat/joguinesdelaboratori/2012/05/09/anomalies-estadistiques/
https://www.applefritter.com/users/edjomariegwe
https://archive.org/details/mix1_190128
https://archiveofsins.com/s/thread/19024164/#reply
https://www.artfire.com/ext/people/edjomariegwe
http://www.tripntale.com/profile/170526
https://www.tse-tse.it/casalinga-italiana-esibizionista-nuda-vacanza/comment-page-7/#comments
https://www.tuexperto.com/2011/11/20/bose-lifestyle-135-examen-a-fondo-fotos-videos-y-opiniones/