Go Titans

Five Years Later

Sam

Quinn

[Private] Sam, I think we should talk.

I think so… I guess I’ll see you around.

Yeah... see you around.

[Private] Sam, I think we should talk.

So we should break up?

I mean I don’t want to...

But I think if we’re gonna be like mature and stuff we kinda need to? If that makes sense.

[Private] Sam, I think we should talk.

I love you and I know you love me too, but we have to admit that things have fizzled out between us.

Yeah... I guess. I mean I don’t wanna hate you. I mean it was awesome until... y’know...

[Private] Sam, I think we should talk.

Yeah? I guess we should.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn should have felt disappointed, but instead, she felt relieved. What did that mean? “Maybe you should,” she responded, nodding her head at him afterwards in acknowledgement. “In fact, I think we should enjoy the rest of the party separately. It would do us both good.” She watched him leave, staying behind a little while longer. Eventually, she went back downstairs, and surprisingly, she was able to have a good time, Sam only crossing her mind once or twice.

Sam wasn’t sure on why it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders when Quinn agreed with him, that he should head home when the party was over. It was supposed to feel like he was missing something. Maybe it just had been some simple attraction, and the whole forbidden fruit kind of thing, and now that everything was good between them it wasn’t actually anything real between them. “Okay,” Sam agreed, maybe some time away from each other was what they needed, spending time with their friends. Sam left Quinn’s room a couple of minutes later, and he searched for his friends, spending most of the time with them, sure Quinn crossed his mind a few times but not as much as he had thought she would.

The party was slowing down, and people were starting to leave. “I’m just gonna let Quinn know I’m leaving. I’m meeting you by the car,” he said before he looked for her. Sam let out a breath before he walked over to her, “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I’m heading home, my friends are leaving,” he said, a hand on Quinn’s back.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn held back a sigh. She was getting tired of hearing that. Was that really the only solution to the problem? She let herself fall backwards onto her bed. Quinn met his gaze when she heard his words. So did she. “Maybe we should have gone all the way that day,” she commented. She bit down on her lower lip. Should have, would have, could have… It was too late now. Quinn took a moment to let herself be reminded of that day. No one would have doubted how much they were attracted to each other then.

Sam rubbed his hands against his neck. He didn’t know what to say. He did’t have a solution to this, maybe the best was just to ignore it and not have sex until later. Maybe it was so bad because they weren’t actually ready for what it meant. He looked down, letting out a breath. “Maybe I should head home when the party is over,” he whispered, he wasn’t in the mood for sex, or anything else anyway. “I mean...” he sighed, he had no idea on what to say. “I can call or text you later, maybe we just need to figure stuff out.” Sam bit down on his lip waiting for Quinn to tell him what she wanted.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn sat down on the edge of her bed. Unable to answer him, she decided to address the elephant in the room. She took a deep breath. “The sex sucks,” she told him bluntly. “I believe you when you say that you’re still attracted to me, but there must be another reason then. Are we just not compatible in bed?” It was an awkward yet necessary conversation to have. Quinn still could not believe that two people as attractive as them were not having mind-blowing sex, not that she had much experience of course. Her eyes found his. She hated that she was doubting them.

Sam ran a hand over his head. He wanted to say something. Anything. Anything that would prove that what Quinn had said wasn’t true. But Sam knew, he knew that Quinn was right, the sex was bad, like really bad. It sucked, sucked hard. "Maybe,” Sam started, hoping that words would come to him without any trouble as he began speaking, “we just need to do it more,” he shook his head. Sam wasn’t sure he actually wanted to have more sex, because if it didn’t get better he didn’t know what they could do. “But like other stuff we’ve done was good,” Sam said looking at her. “I mean I really liked what we did in the car,” he said, his voice low, he glanced up at her.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Kitty was clearly enjoying the kiss a little too much. It made her want to smack the blonde upside the head, but Quinn resisted. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a scene at her own party. “Yes,” she responded, taking his hand. “We can go to my room.” Quinn looked right at Kitty, who glowered at her. Satisfied, she left with Sam, the game quickly starting up again behind them. Despite her display of confidence in front of Kitty, she was far from confident. Unable to hold back any longer, she asked her boyfriend the moment they were alone in her bedroom, “Are you not attracted to me anymore?”

Sam followed Quinn, letting her lead the way. All he wanted was to get away from the room. It had been a bad idea to play spin the bottle, of course things would end up weird. Sam let out a small breath. He had thought that what had brought them together in the first place. Sam blinked, he hadn’t thought that Quinn would say something like that. He had been sure that Quinn was confident in his attraction to her and in their relationship. “What?” he asked, frowning. “Of course I’m still am.” He walked closer to her, rubbing a hand against his head. “How can I prove it?” he asked, biting down on his lip.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn gave her boyfriend a wink and then looked to Finn, who was about to take his turn. The bottle spun past her, landing on a cheerleader from Carmel. Quinn looked at Mandy immediately, who was looking at Finn. She stiffled a laugh. If he thought she’d been overbearing before… Somehow Sam ended up kissing the girl she’d kissed earlier, but Quinn tried not to let that bother her too much. It was all a part of the game after all, one they’d both agreed to play. Sam was next. When the bottle came to a stop, Quinn held back a gasp. Kitty Wilde? She’d rather he kiss Mandy! She looked at Sam, who clearly had no idea what to do. Discreetly, she gestured for him to kiss her. Otherwise, he would be seen as a spoilsport. After his turn though, they were out of the game. She needed to make him forget that he’d ever kissed that…that…Ugh!

Sam pressed his lips together. This wasn’t going to be fun. All he knew was that the game was over for him as soon as he had kissed Kitty. He didn’t feel the need to have to kiss someone else. There was only one person he wanted to kiss. His girlfriend. Quinn. Sam moved to the center, and he waited for Kitty, and when she moved closer, he looked at her, making sure that this was just for the game, and it wouldn’t be some kind of big kiss. He pressed his lips against hers. It felt like forever before he pulled away, he was pretty sure that he had felt Kitty’s hand resting on the back of his head, and the other hand been on his thigh. He moved back to his spot. Sam stood up, and, walked over to Quinn, “Want to leave?” he asked, leaning down.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn tried not to let the newcomers bother her. She grabbed the bottle and spun, tensing every time she thought it might land on her ex-boyfriend. Kissing Finn would probably cause unnecessary drama for her relationship with Sam. They had enough drama of their own to deal with at the moment. There wasn’t any need for an outside source of it. Around and around the bottle spun. When it stopped, Quinn felt relieved that it hadn’t landed on Finn. The bottle had landed on some cheerleader from McKinley, but she figured that that would be okay. It was clearly more than okay for some students sitting in the circle. She fought the urge to roll her eyes as she leaned forward to peck the girl on the lips. She sat back afterwards, waiting for the next person to take their turn.

Sam shook his head, and he looked over at Quinn with a small smile when he realized that the bottle had passed Finn, he had a feeling that this whole night would end badly if the bottle stopped on the wrong person. He watched as the cheerleader that Quinn had kissed spun the bottle, he wasn’t sure on who it was all he knew was that she was McKinley. He was about to move when the bottle stopped at him, and he glanced over at Quinn, biting down on his lip a little. Before he moved to the center of the circle, giving her a small peck. There was only one girl he wanted to kiss, and that was his girlfriend. Sam moved back to his own seat, and he spun the bottle watching it slowly come to an halt, and he looked up, seeing who it had landed on, and he bit down on his lip, looking between Quinn and the girl, not sure on what he was supposed to do.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn held her breath every time someone spun the bottle. She knew that kissing other people besides her boyfriend was part of the fun of the game, but that did not make her any less anxious whenever the bottle was spinning round and round. A few turns were taken before the bottle landed on her. It was a football player from Carmel - a freshman, she recalled. He moved into the middle of the circle as did she. Her lips were just about to touch his when he stumbled over incoherent words and bolted from the room. Quinn was surprised at first and then she started laughing. She supposed kissing her was intimidating for a freshman, even if it was just a game.

Quinn was moving back to her spot in the circle when three students decided to join the game: Finn, Mandy, and Kitty. She stole a look at Sam. Well, things just got interesting. Quinn really didn’t like the way that Kitty was eyeing her boyfriend. Still, she kept a smile on her face.

Sam did his best to hold back the laugh when he saw the freshman football player, there was no way that the kid was older, pretty much got up and ran away when he realized that he had been about to kiss Quinn. Sam looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, before letting out a breath.

He was waiting for Quinn to spin the bottle when he realized that a few more people were joining in, Kitty, a part of him was praying that he wouldn’t have to kiss her, talk about awkward. Sam bit down on his lip as he saw Hudson and his girlfriend, maybe kissing Hudson’s girlfriend would be fun just to annoy him. But Sam didn’t like the idea of Quinn kissing her ex if it went that way. Sam took a deep breath, forcing a smile, waiting to see what would happen.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

“Oh,” she responded, taking another sip of her drink. “You can go and hang out with them if you want.” Quinn was not the clingy type. She could be possessive at times, but never clingy. She wouldn’t have minded if he’d decided to hang out with his friends for awhile, but she was glad when he decided to stay with her.

“Totally,” she said, grinning at him now. That game had brought them together after all. She took his hand, leading him through the crowd. “I think there’s one going on in one of the guest bedrooms.” During parties, her parents’ room and her room were off-limits. She opened the door to one of the downstairs guest rooms and sure enough, there was a game of Spin the Bottle going on. "Come on!” she urged him, joining the circle.

Sam smiled. “I’ll find them later,” he replied. It was nice knowing that Quinn was okay with him hanging out with his friends, “and you can hang out with your friends too.” He wasn’t going to hold that against her, at least not when she was telling him that he could hang out with his friends.

It wasn’t a problem following Quinn. It seemed like she knew everything that was going on at the party. He was a step behind her, before he followed her inside. He sat down a couple of seats beside Quinn, as much as he had wanted to sit next to her, it wasn’t enough room. Sam waited for someone to spin the bottle, and he looked around, he didn’t see anyone he was recognizing, but he was pretty sure that a lot of them were football players and cheerleaders.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

A few minutes later, Quinn started to get impatient. What was taking Sam so long? “Finally,” she stated with a roll of her eyes when she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Finn? I thought I told you we’d talk later?” Finn nodded his head at her in acknowledgement. “Later will have to be now because losing Mandy’s not an easy thing to do,” he muttered, much to Quinn’s amusement. “Relationship problems?” she teased him, eliciting a growl from him. She’d expected such a reaction. What threw her off-guard was his retort. “You’re one to talk, Q,” he responded, and Quinn narrowed her eyes at him. Tread carefully.

“Something’s clearly wrong,” he continued. “He wasn’t stupid enough to cheat on you, was he? Because I’ll crush him.” She rolled her eyes at him. “I’d crush him,” she assured him. “Mandy’s coming this way, so you’d better tell me what you have to say now.” Finn shrugged, at a sudden loss of words. “I just…” he trailed off, looking at his feet. “I just miss you, Q. I miss u-” “There you are!” Mandy exclaimed, interrupting him. “Come on, Finn! We need you!” Before Quinn could react, Mandy was pulling him into the crowd. She shook her head. That was…weird.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Sam spoke to her. “Oh, thank you,” she said, taking her drink from him. “What took you so long?”

Sam glanced down, he wasn’t sure on how to answer the question the last thing he needed was to get in trouble with Quinn. He wasn’t stupid, he had a feeling that if he lied Quinn would know. Sam took a sip from his drink. “I just ran into a few friends,” he replied, “and they wanted to talk, it was kinda hard to leave.” Sam really hope that telling her the truth was a good thing.

He pressed his lips together. “Want to see if they’re playing a game of spin the bottle somewhere?” Maybe if they did what had brought them together in the first place this awkwardness would disappear. If it did’t Sam wasn’t sure on what he was going to do.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

“Yes, of course,” she responded, a little relieved that he still wanted to stay the night honestly. “Oh, um, sure. That would be great, thanks.” Right now, any kind of drink would do. As she waited for Sam to return, she looked around, surprised to find Mandy at the party. She’d invited her, but had never expected her to come. Quinn pursed her lips in thought. Then again, she’d probably come because of Finn. Did that girl ever let him out of her sight? Her ex-boyfriend caught her eye then and reminded her that they needed to talk. “Later,” she mouthed before she looked elsewhere. She was about to wonder how different things would be if Finn and her were still together, but she stopped herself. Those were dangerous thoughts.

A soft breath escaped from his lips as he looked at Quinn. He was glad that she still wanted him to stay the night. Even after their lack of good sex, not that he felt like bringing that up. The last thing he wanted was to ruin this party for everyone, well for the two of them. “Okay, what o you want?” Sam asked, he waited for Quinn to tell him what she wanted, and he nodded his head before he began his search for their drinks. Sam rubbed a hand against his neck, letting out a breath, and hew as just about to grab their drinks when he was stopped by a couple of friends. Sam didn’t want to be rude and leave them, he wasn’t sure on how long they had been standing their talking. “Okay, I’ll find you guys late, cause I gotta hand this over to Quinn,” he said as he showed the drink. “Hey,” Sam said as he finally found Quinn. “I got your drink,” he held her drink out for her to take.

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn nodded her head at him in acknowledgement as he spoke. “The best time,” she assured him. She turned her head from side to side, taking a look around. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, which was good, since she’d promised that tonight was going to be the party of the year. “You’re still going to stay the night, right?” she clarified, uncertainty in her voice. Maybe after two bad experiences, Sam was no longer interested in having sex with her. Quinn caught sight of Kitty then. Even she had to admit that she looked hot. Maybe Sam was starting to see options, especially after working so closely with Kitty lately. The idea made her frown.

Sam smiled. Glad that Quinn was having a good time. He knew that he had a somewhat good time, not that he was going to tell Quinn that. But from the looks of it as Sam looked around, the party was a success. Sam nodded his head, “Yeah, I’m doing that,” he replied with a small smile, “as long as you still want me to,” he bit down on his lip. Quinn could have changed her mind about this, after all the sex hadn’t been as good as they had thought it would be so who knows. Sam glanced around spotting Kitty again, and a bit further away he saw Hudson with his girlfriend, who was kinda cute, not that Sam would tell Quinn that. “Want something to drink?”

Stranger Things | Quinn & Sam

Quinn was making her way through the crowd, her eyes still searching for Sam, when she bumped into Finn. “Hey,” he greeted her, and she returned his smile easily. “Hey,” she responded. “Thanks for coming.” Quinn was surprised that he had actually, considering the fact that his girlfriend and her were in a feud of sorts. Finn seemed to read her mind because he told her quickly, “We’re not serious.” She nodded her head at him in acknowledgement, not sure how else to react, not sure how he wanted her to react.

“Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you,” he added after a beat. “Maybe somewhere a little more private?” Finn looked past her before she could respond. “Find me later,” he insisted before he left her standing there. Before Quinn could make sense of his odd behaviour, she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Hey!” she exclaimed, mustering up some excitement. “You’re here! I’ve been looking for you.” She gave him a kiss, and then the awkwardness settled in. “So, um, how are you?” she wondered, smiling at him.

Sam had made the decision that he was going to spend some time with Quinn and then find his friends again, he needed to spend more time with them anyway. It felt like it had been a really long time since he had actually spent more than like five minutes with the.

He wrapped his arm around Quinn, smiling against her lips. This was’t as easy as it had been before, maybe something had changed, or maybe it was because of the people around them, he wasn’t going to think about it. He just needed to spend some time with her and then have some fun. “I’m here. I know,” Sam looked around, “it’s a lot of people here and hard to find anyone,” a nervous laugh left his lips, “I’m okay, just trying to catch up with people.” Sam gave her hand a soft squeeze. “And you? Having a good time?”