A/N: I wrote this one-shot on a whim; I needed to write something that wasn't related to any of my other stories and this is what came out after watching the video "Ride" by Cary Brothers. It's kind of random, I guess, but if you watch the video, it makes sense and follows it. The italicized are flashbacks. This is my first time writing for Puckleberry and I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimers: I do not own Glee or any of the characters, as well as the song "Get it Right". I also do not own the title of this fic, which is taken from the aforementioned song.
Ride
Puck opened the trunk to let her see. She stood frozen at the sight, then turned to him, mascara running freely down her cheeks. He met her eyes evenly, not flinching. She turned away and heard the trunk slam. They slid into the car and drove off into the night.
The sound woke her out of the light and troubled sleep. She looked around, disoriented and saw a rock hit her window. Rachel opened the window and looked down to find Puck in her front yard. His arm was poised to throw another rock, but he saw her in time and let it slip out of his hand. The two stared at each other. Puck shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted nervously.
"Can you come down? I need to talk to you."
Rachel nodded, and made her way down the stairs and out of the house to meet him. Puck met her at the door.
He sighed heavily. "I'm leaving."
"Why?" she knew that he meant for good.
"There's nothing really for me here." He shrugged, a gesture that somehow meant both nothing and everything.
Rachel tried to tell herself that she didn't feel anything when he said that.
Puck winced, as though he could hear her thoughts. He always could feel what she was thinking.
"Sorry, Rach." He stared at her. "I just can't stay here anymore."
"Where will you go?" she asked in a small voice, hugging herself against the cold.
He shrugged again. "I always wanted to go West. See the desert. The Pacific Ocean. Redwoods and shit."
"Oh."
He took a step closer to her, and she could hear his rapid breathing. "You said, when you told me you loved me for the first time, that you would stick by me through anything. Is that still true?" His eyes looked hopeful.
Rachel flashed through everything they had been through, and met his eyes.
She couldn't lie. "Yes."
"Come with me, Rach."
They pulled over at a gas station. Puck put the car in park and stared straight ahead. "I know I asked you to come with me before you knew…" he gestured to the trunk. "But there's still time to back out. You got your whole life ahead of you. Mine…mine died tonight." He looked at her. "When I come back, I can take you home. If you want." He gave her a small smile, then slipped out the car.
Rachel's mind blanked out for a minute. "You mean, run away with you? Noah, we cannot just leave! What about your family? Friends? What about…what about her?" Rachel could not bring herself to speak the name.
"She doesn't matter. She never mattered," he snorted.
"So she refused and I'm the second, no, third choice you probably asked to go along with you on your joyride?" She angrily turned to walk away but his voice stopped her.
"You were the first choice," he said softly. "Always was. I was just too stupid to do anything about it, and when I did, I got scared. Messed it up."
Rachel, for once, was speechless.
"Rachel."
Her head snapped up in surprise. He never said her full name. Before, it was always 'baby', 'Berry' or 'old lady'. Once, with arms and legs tangled tight and the darkness to mask the fear in his eyes, it was "love" After…everything, it was Rach. Close, but not quite.
She bit her lip. "Give me 10 minutes."
He disappeared into the gas station, and Rachel only had to think for a split second before bolting out the car and following him.
Puck met her halfway and wrapped her in a hug. They stood under the beam of florescent light, and Puck felt like they were the only two people in the world, in that moment.
"Is this a yes or no?"
"Yes." She held onto him tighter, shaking. "I'm…I'm scared."
Puck led her back to the car and opened her door. Rachel slid into the car and he shut the door gently and kissed her forehead through the open window. She closed her eyes and more tears slid down her cheeks. Puck suddenly hated himself then: he was selfish, dragging her into this.
"Me too," he whispered.
But he thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would be ok if he had her by his side.
Rachel made her way quietly back into the house and to her room. She sat on the bed and sat with her head between her legs, trying to make her head stop spinning. She breathed in deeply, once, twice, and a third time.
She popped open her piggy bank and emptied its contents into her wallet: $5,000. Rachel grabbed her phone book with important numbers and looked around. She peeked out the window and saw Puck standing there patiently.
Before she could change her mind, she picked up her phone.
Puck could feel her looking at him in the dark.
"I meant when I said yes."
"Even…?"
"Yes. Grilled Cheesus help me, yes."
Rachel scooted closer to him on the bench seat and he wrapped his arm around her. They drove like that for a couple of hours, the gravity of what had been done, and what they were about to do, bearing down on them so hard it was impossible to break the silence.
Puck abruptly pulled over on the side of the road. "Here."
They climbed out of the car. He could feel her hesitation. "I…I need a minute first. Please." She sat on the hood of the car, facing away from him. He clambered onto the roof and found he couldn't look at her.
Puck could hear her whispering. No, singing so softly that he had to strain to catch some of the words. His heart dropped when he picked out a phrase: 'Cause my best intentions, keep making a mess of things/I just want to fix it somehow/But how many times will it take?/To get it right.
Her voice dropped off suddenly in a sob.
Puck turned his face her. "You have to know...it was an accident...I didn't mean for it to happen." His voice pleaded for her to understand.
"And yet there he...it...is." Rachel was silent. "He was your best friend, Noah."
"Rachel, there better be a good reason for you interrupting my beauty sleep," Kurt grumbled sleepily. She could hear someone, Blaine, ask who it was. Kurt shushed him.
"Kurt. I'm leaving."
"On vaycay? Have fun, dear," he mumbled sleepily.
"No. Kurt, I'm leaving. With Noah."
He suddenly bolted upright. "Puck?" he hissed. "Why? Rachel, don't. Please. Hasn't he done enough…"
She cut him off. "It's…it's different this time." Rachel paused. "I love you."
"RACHEL BARB-"
Rachel sniffled and shut her phone off. She let it rest on the bedside table; there wasn't really a need for it anymore. She grabbed her bags, wrote a short, terse note to her dads, then walked out the front door. Puck was leaning against an unfamiliar car.
"Ready?"
She nodded.
Puck hesitated. "There's something you should see. In the trunk."
Puck quickly doused the car in gasoline and the heavy scent assaulted their nostrils. He emptied the can and tossed it back in the car.
This was it. This moment would change everything.
Puck looked at Rachel, eyes asking one last time if this was what she really wanted.
Brown eyes met green.
She wordlessly lit the match and tossed it on the car.
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ETA: I have no clue what was in the trunk of the car in the video. In this fic, you are free to assume whatever, although when I wrote it, I pictured a dead body...