I'm Only Human.

i never meant to let you go at all.

It had been a month.

A long, agonizing month apart.

After being together in whatever way they were for so long, he decided all of a sudden he couldn’t risk it. He didn’t want to risk adding another disaster to her life, put her through another hardship. Of course, seeing him everyday made her heart hurt worse than any other thing that could’ve happened. She didn’t have the heart to go to glee rehearsal anymore, claiming she wasn’t doing well in her classes, even though the others knew it was more than that. Exactly what, they didn’t know.

Mercedes knew, though.

“Girl, you’ve been through some hard things in your life already,” she had remarked, a disbelieving tone in her voice. “This could ruin his life if anyone finds out. And yours.”

Quinn nodded, looking at the comforter on Mercedes’ bed instead of her face. “We know.”

The other sighed, shaking her head. “Quinn, sometimes you don’t make sense. Why are you putting yourself through this, babygirl?”

Quinn looked up at Mercedes now, her eyes shiny. “I love him.”

In the beginning of the school year, he volunteered to help out at Homecoming, wanting to be there for another magical night in her high school life, relive it through and with her. But when the bass of the music pounded into the floor and walls and throbbed with her heart, it didn’t feel so magical. Just heartbreaking, especially with him standing out on the side, talking to another teacher. Quinn isn’t dancing, despite multiple offers from girls and guys alike. She keeps throwing glances back in his direction, and they had caught each other’s eyes for a brief few seconds. She turns and hurries out the door, running as fast as she is able to in her dress and shoes, unaware of Will following her until she hears his footsteps behind her.

Eventually she stops and whirls around on her heels, and faces him with her watering eyes. “Why did you follow me?” she demands. He halts in walking, taken aback by her ferocity. “I thought you didn’t want to risk anything,” she spat, the hurt blatant in her strained voice and in her eyes, shining from the moisture gathering. Her hair is flipped over to one side, exposing part of her collarbone and shoulder, and he remembers briefly the kisses he’d trail from her collar to her jaw.

“Quinn,” he tries to speak, but she cuts him off.

“What you don’t realize, Will, is it hurts more to see you walking around school every day, sitting in your goddamn classroom every day, not knowing if you really don’t want me, than being apart because we got caught,” her voice is quivering, a stray tear or two falling off her eyelashes that have (thankfully) waterproof mascara. “At least if you told me you just didn’t want anything to do with me I’d manage to find some closure.” She’s shaking her head, looking up at him with a broken expression. “I’m only human, Will. If you’re going to say goodbye, just do it now.”

He only took a few seconds to look at her, really look at her. It didn’t take him even that long to see that, in her dress of shades of red and violet and pink all blended together, her curled but relaxed hair, miniscule makeup and tears on her cheeks, that she looks stunningly beautiful.

Next thing they know, his mouth is on hers, bruising her lips as well as his own. Their lips mold together as if they were made for one another, their bodies fitting each other as his arms slide around her waist, swinging her off her feet as her arms cling around his neck.

Gently, he puts her on Quinn toes, still lavishing the taste of her, his hands sliding their way up to her neck. Will pulls away, his breath still hot on her mouth, cupping the sides of her face delicately, as if petrified she’ll break because of him again. He wipes away the tears and looks at her; their faces still centimeters apart.

His lips are touching hers, but he still is able to speak a few words out to her. “I love you.”

She smiles and is about to reply, but he kisses her, silencing her words, before murmuring more.

“Don’t ever say goodbye.”