Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
A/N: This has been sitting on my laptop forever and I didn't really want to post this because I don't particularly like it but I figured what the hell so here it is. Not beta'd so all mistakes are mine.
Rachel was on her way home from dropping some things off at the Salvation Army when she slammed on her brakes. Her eyes zeroed in on the familiar white truck parked outside on an old, rickety abandoned warehouse. She looked around quickly before pulling onto the gravel behind the truck. Several others cars were parked around and she wondered if it was such a good idea to get out of her car. She wasn't in one of the nicest neighborhoods but then again, the crime rate in Lima was next to zero.
She slowly got out of her car and made her way towards the warehouse, sparing glances around her as she went to make sure no one was following her. She wasn't paranoid; she was just careful. Rachel could hear people yelling and things shuffling around loudly even from outside. When she pulled a door open that was in desperate need of a paintjob she smoothed down her skirt and stepped into the building, taking in the scene in front of here. There was a circle in the middle of the room made out of what looked like some kind of red paint. There was training equipment in all corners of the room and looking around Rachel realized that this was definitely somewhere she shouldn't be.
"Hey! You can't be in here!" Someone yelled and Rachel stepped back as a large man stepped towards her. "Who are you?" His voice was loud and booming.
"I…" Rachel stammered, wishing she had never gotten out of the car. She swallowed down the lump that was forming thick in her throat and her eyes darted around the room, desperate for some help although she wasn't sure from whom. She was tempted to run but a voice stopped her before she could wrench the door back open and make her escape.
"She's okay." The voice said from across the room. "She's with me."
Rachel looked up to see the familiar mohawked boy jogging towards her. She breathed a sigh of relief when the large man backed off and went back to a group of boys in the corner. The boy stopped in front of her and she scrunched up her face when she realized he smelled of sweat.
"Berry, what are you doing here?" Puck asked, breathing heavily, with his hands on his hips.
"I uh… I recognized y-your truck outside." Rachel's voice was nervous and scared.
Her eyes swept over the room once more and she winced when she saw several boys that she recognized from school punching each other on the other side of the room.
"You shouldn't be here." Puck told her following her gaze.
"My dads' are finishing out our basement and I had several boxes of old stuff from when I was younger. Rabbi Greenburg asked me to drop them off at the Salvation Army. I was on my way home when I saw your truck out there. I didn't know…" Rachel frowned realizing what this was. "You shouldn't be in fight club."
"I shouldn't do a lot of things." He looked back at her.
"This is dangerous, Noah. You could really get hurt." She told him and he could see the worry in her expression. She was scared. She was scared for him.
"I know." He nodded.
"Puckerman!" The large man said. "Let's go."
Puck glanced back at the man before looking back at Rachel. "I have to go." He told her before sprinting off to the man.
Rachel's brows knit together studying Noah. He glanced over at her as the large man said something to him and another boy. She watched as Puck got into a fighting stance and Rachel winced when Puck reached out to quickly strike the taller boy in front of him.
"Oh!" She gasped when the boy punched Puck in the face and Puck stumbled back a few steps before swiftly composing himself. Puck's arm swung out quickly, striking the other boy in the nose. She gasped again, wondering why anyone would want to put themselves through this kind of torture. She was tempted to whip out her cell phone and dial Debbie Puckerman. Surely his mother knew nothing about this because Rachel was sure that if Mrs. Puckerman knew that her son was exposing himself to this kind of violence she would be down here and yanking him out of this warehouse by his ear, not caring that she would most definitely be embarrassing him in front of his 'friends'.
"He's good." Another boy said from beside Rachel and she looked over at him. "Puck'll win. He almost always does. This is his process. He lets the other guy get in a few good punches before releasing what he likes to call the 'Puckasaurus'."
Rachel looked back at Puck who was now really laying into the other boy. The boy fell to the ground and Puck followed after him. He threw punch after punch into the boy's face. She heard the large man yell something she didn't understand and then Puck backed off. Puck smiled over at Rachel before helping the other boy off of the ground. She was shocked that just seconds ago they were beating the crap out of each other and now they were laughing together and patting each other on the back.
"I'm Rachel." She spoke over to the boy beside her who couldn't be more than seventeen. "I uh… I go to William McKinley with Noah."
"Noah?" The boy chuckled. "He lets you call him Noah?"
"Yes. I refuse to call him anything other than the name his mother gave him at birth." Rachel raised her chin defiantly.
"I'm Stephen." The boy held his hand out towards her and she shook it. "I go to McKinley as well."
She furrowed her brow. "Are you sure? Because I like to know all of my fellow classmates and you don't look familiar."
"Stephen Morgan." He grinned. "I sit right behind you in Algebra."
"Oh…" She looked as though she was desperately trying to recognize him.
"Don't worry, people don't usually notice me." He shrugged. "Besides, it's kind of hard to notice anyone else when you're so blatantly staring at Finn Hudson the entire class period."
She blushed and then looked back at Puck. "I don't think Finn will be much of a distraction anymore."
She shifted her weight back and forth between her legs as Puck made his way back over to her. She noted his injuries. They weren't serious. He had a busted lip and his eyebrow was split open. Blood was slowly trickling down his face. The knuckles on his hands were busted open as well but his injuries were scratches compared to the other boy. She shook her head at him as he neared and was grateful his injuries were so mild. He didn't look like he was in pain and Rachel figured he was used to this kind of abuse seeing as he had been in fight club since he was 14.
"That was awesome." Stephen told Puck.
"Get away from her." Puck smiled, biting back the pain.
"Dibs?" Stephen asked.
"It's Berry. No one can call dibs on Rach." Puck laughed.
"Right." Stephen walked off to talk to the large man.
"What'd you think?" Puck asked Rachel.
"You look awful." Rachel told him, reached up to run her thumb over his bottom lip that was busted. He looked a little shocked by her action but other than that he didn't show much of a reaction.
"Thanks." Puck smirked and she smiled. "Come on, I'll walk you out." He slung his arm over her shoulder and led her outside to her car.
"Noah." She said before she could get into her car. She looked up at him and bit into her bottom lip before continuing. "Just… be careful."
"I always am." He grinned.
"I'm serious." She warned and he noted the worry in her eyes.
"Why do you care?" He eyed her carefully.
"I think you know why." Rachel smiled leaning up to kiss him on the cheek softly. "Bye, Noah."
"Bye." He shut the door of her car behind her and watched until she drove off.
Rachel smiled into her rearview mirror and then chuckled to herself. Nope, Finn was definitely not going to be a distraction anymore.