Alright Guys, guess what… the One Shot has kinda, maybe, sorta turned into a "Rachel Berry Does Not" Series. Or so my wonderful and amazing best friend ThatIsRedic has decided to throw prompts my way and give me scenarios in which I make them into these ridiculously long 'supposed to be' drabble… things.
Anyway, umm.. Thank you all for the alerts, favorites and the kind words on my other attempt. I really appreciate it you have no idea. Your interest and ThatIsRedic's persistence is what made me decide to keep going. So, I thank you very much. If you haven't had a chance yet, please go check out my other One Shot "Rachel Berry Does Not Get Sick".
So yeah. I don't own Glee otherwise I'd have a heater that works in my house. Really that's all I want right now. Northern California feels unseasonably freezing so far this year. Alright then. Onward.
Rachel Berry Is Not Afraid of the Dark
Working Title was: Rachel Berry Does Not Sleep with Both Feet Under the Covers.
Rachel Berry does not have many fears. She was most certainly not afraid of the dark. Being afraid of the dark was for children and Rachel was 17 years old and a senior in high school. Sure she could conquer other people's worst fears like getting up in front of a thousand people and belting out her best rendition of any Celine or Barbra song but being afraid of something so intangible was downright juvenile.
Yet, she absolutely was…afraid of the dark. It wasn't so much the dark itself but more the images and dangers that Rachel's overactive imagination conjured up. Clearly she'd watched entirely too many reruns of Law & Order spin offs and Criminal Minds.
So, it's March and the weekend of the Glee Club's Third Annual team sleepover. Sophomore year the idea was conceived as a team unity building exercise. The first two years had been held at Rachel's house seeing as how she is an only child and ever the polite hostess, she'd definitely gone all out to make sure her friends were comfortable in her home. Providing plenty of junk food and snacks that teenagers consume in mass quantities, especially the boys, and enough spare sheets and cushions for the team to pass out comfortably well into the early morning. Both years had gone off without a hitch and Rachel had even noticed some of her teammates warming up to her little by little if not only because she could throw a well thought out sleepover with games and fun prizes while simultaneously still building the team unity that Mr. Schuester so achingly had striven for. They were becoming her friends while accepting that she is who she is and didn't want to change her (too much). She was finally starting to enjoy high school a little.
This year however Mercedes had volunteered to have the team stay over at her house for the night. Both her older brothers were off at college now so there was plenty of room in their large four bedroom house to adequately sleep the now sixteen glee club members as they've added four lower classmen to help keep the club going year after year.
Rachel went over her checklist yet again to make sure she had everything in her overnight bag before Brittany and, by extension Santana came to pick her up on their way to Mercedes' house.
Toothbrush. Check. Face wash and moisturizer. Check. Change of clothes. Check. Sleeping bag. Check. Pillow and blanket. Check. She went on down the list, pleased with herself that she'd gotten everything neatly packed away. She had a hankering to pack up the mini dehumidifier that sat in her room but shook her head and thought better of it. They might like me a little better now, but let's not supply them with any ammo.
She heard the knock on the front door and Brittany and Santana politely greeting her father downstairs. "Sweetie! Brittany and Santana are on their way up." Rachel heard her father yell from the bottom of the staircase.
"Okay." She replied as she saw the two Cheerios ascending the stairs making their way towards her doorway. Smiling brightly at them and Rachel greeted the blonde girl with their obligatory hug. "Hi, Britt." Brittany had begun to accept Rachel wholeheartedly towards the end of sophomore year and it's almost impossible not to be friends with Brittany in return. Santana however, had her moments. She was most definitely not a hugger though. She released from the hug and gave a short nod to Santana which was returned with minor interest. "Thanks again for picking me up." She smiled at the Latina trying to gauge her mood this evening. She had a half smirk on her lips so Rachel took that as a good sign. Taking one last look around at her room Rachel nodded quickly and announced "Okay. We can go, I'm ready. Let me just grab the Tupperware of cookies I made. They're in the kitchen." She brought her overnight bag to her shoulder and started to lug the sleeping bag down the stairs when Santana grabbed it from her grasp and spoke, "Jeez, Berry. You'll kill yourself trying to balance all of that while walking down the stairs." Rachel recognized this to be Santana's civil tone so she smiled gratefully and heard Britt giggle behind them.
Rachel's dad met them at the foot of the stairs with two large Tupperware containers full of cookies. Britt stepped forward bouncing on her toes and held her hands out. "I can take those, Mr. Berry. These two have their hands full." He handed them over to her with a grin and addressed the three. "All right you girls. Have fun and drive safe." He stepped up to Rachel to give her a one armed hug around her shoulders and a kiss on the top of her head. "Call if you need anything, okay, Pumpkin?"
She grinned back at her father. "Thank you, Daddy. We'll be fine. See you tomorrow night." She leaned around her father and yelled into the kitchen "Bye Dad! Have a good night! Love you!" The girls were already making their way towards the door as her other father's voice floated through the room. "Love you, too. Be good..." He singsonged to them and Rachel and her dad just shook their heads as Santana and Britt stifled their amusement. "Go. Have fun." And he shooed them out the door.
Once settled into the back seat of Santana's BMW X5, Rachel spoke, "So, if we take McGarver it should only take us about 8 minutes to get to Mercedes' house from here. I have mapped out certain streets that I think would be quickest route and haven taken into account any road work th—" Santana cut her off with an exasperated "Oh my God! Seriously?" Rachel pursed her lips tightly. Britt just smiled at her and said "That's okay, Rachel. Santana knows the way." Smiling sheepishly Rachel replies, "Right. Of course she does. Sorry Santana. I just like to be prepared."
Santana shrugged her shoulders and looked in the rearview mirror to catch Rachel's eyes. "It is what it is, Berry. We should be used to you by now, right?" She teased with a sliver of amusement in her voice then put the car in drive and started towards Mercedes' house.
Everyone had begun to arrive fairly early and by 9 o'clock all sixteen members were stashed away in the Jones' living room all talking amongst themselves as the wood in the fireplace popped and burned and the movie that no one seemed to be paying attention to played in the background and served as the little illumination in the room.
Around 10 o'clock Puck had turned off the neglected movie and called everyone's attention. He, Finn and Sam had the brilliant idea of telling ghost stories and any other scary stories before everyone went to bed. Rachel felt her fists ball into the edge of her blanket slightly and her arms tensed while the rest of the team voiced their enthusiasm. This had 'bad idea' written all over it. But she'd be damned if she'd let any of them know that she had a childlike fear of things that go bump in the night. So she held her head high and plastered that winning smile on her face and nodded enthusiastically with the rest of the club. All the while still wringing the corner of her blanket in her fingers where no one could see.
They were all situated haphazardly around the living room and by the grace of a higher being Rachel had commandeered one of the couches entirely to herself. There was a rather large loveseat that fit two people comfortably, three if they were Cheerios, Artie and one of the freshmen took up that one. The pull-out couch across the living room had Mercedes, Kurt, and two of the newer glee clubbers laying on that one. The rest of the team was laying every which direction in the middle of the three pieces of furniture. Artie was just finishing up his scary story and as he hit the climax the group gave a collective gasp, mostly the girls. There was a low buzz of conversation afterwards while everyone reacted to the story.
Puck had decided he wanted to go next. It was getting late. They'd been up for two and a half hours trying to see who could scare them the most. Rachel had already had three minor heart attacks during the course of the storytellings. But Puck had that devilish look in his eyes as he sat in the perfect position for the dying glow of the fireplace to hit off of the features on his face in a perfectly menacing manner. It only added to her nerves when he would change the tone of his voice to indicate the more frightening parts.
"So have you heard the one about the girl who falls asleep with her arm dangling over the side of the bed and her dog licks her hand?" He waited as the whole club shook their heads no. Rachel already didn't like where this one was headed. Puck's smile transformed to a frightening smirk and he continued. "This girl, every night when she goes to sleep, she lets her arm hang over the side of the bed and her dog, every now and then would lick her fingers as they would brush past his head as she pet him." Rachel looked around with a nervous smile at her teammates and she could tell every single one of them was enraptured in the scenario Puck was illustrating in their minds with his words.
Puck should have been a camp counselor. He'd totally scare the bajeezus out of those kids in front of the campfires. He smirks to himself as he looks around making eye contact and determining who of his teammates were already close to peeing in their pajamas. He continues darkly. "Well she goes to bed like every night and her dog is licking her fingers like normal. A little bit later she keeps hearing this dripping sound coming from the faucet in the bathroom. So she gets up to investigate." Rachel was gripping the pillow tightly to her chest as she waited with bated breath for Puck to continue. She had a morbid curiosity for what was about to happen to this girl knowing that once she hears the end she probably won't be able to fall asleep.
"She walks across her bedroom and flicks on the light in her bathroom." He looks around torturously. 'And on her mirror…" Gasps. "Written in blood… " Gasps. Damn you Noah Puckerman and your dramatic pauses! Rachel thinks to herself.
Puck continued in his most terrifying voice. "It said… It's not Fido licking your fingers tonight. I thanked him for this special ink." More gasps. "The girl turns around just in time to see the killer climbing out from underneath her bed and then…. HE LUNGES AT HER!" Accentuating the climax by grabbing on to Brittany's leg, who had been lying down across from him. The entire club screamed and then began laughing and congratulating Puck on a job well done on scaring them out of their pajamas. Rachel would never admit it to anyone but she may have jumped the most out of everyone there. She faked giggles through her absolute horror and it seemed to work, no one appeared to notice her freak out. Quickly they started shushing each other seeing as it was close to 1 am and weariness was starting to settle on all of them as their heart rates returned to normal.
The fire had died out completely and all the lights were off in the house as the glee clubbers all said their goodnights through yawns and tired voices. But Rachel was not so sleepy. Yes, she was tired. But there was no way in hell her body was going to let her fall asleep after hearing Puck's story. He couldn't have chosen a worse story to tell right before they were to fall asleep. See Rachel has this strange quirk. She cannot sleep with both feet under her covers. Call it what you will, but when she's all wrapped up and swaddled in blankets she feels confined. She may or may not have a minor case of claustrophobia. But thanks to Puck's story she not only cannot get comfortable but now he's torn away the only thing that might actually make her feel a little at ease, which was sticking one leg out from under her covers.
So in her mind, Rachel is struggling to find some form of comfort because her two feet are lying side by side under the covers and it is making her very uneasy. She's trying not to thrash around too much to cause any noise and unwanted attention to herself. But she knows that if she slides one foot out from under the blankets there will be some murderer just waiting and will find a way to lick her freshly pedicured toes from underneath Mercedes family's couch surrounded by all her friends and teammates. Hey, it could happen.
After a long and tumultuous internal debate, which in reality may have only been about 4 minutes, Rachel stills her body, looking around into the dark of the room and listens to the house. There was just deep even breathing coming from her friends all around her and the ticking of the clock hanging in the hallway. No creaks or cracks anywhere. Rachel looks around slowly in the darkness and bites her lip. She could feel her head growing drowsy in spite of herself. Boldly, Rachel slowly moved the blankets aside quietly and peeked out her toes from under the edge of the blanket. Cool air bites at her exposed flesh and she winces a little but finally begins to relax as her feeling of confinement starts to subside. She takes a deep cleansing breath and slides her whole leg out, up to her knee and settles into the relief. Closing her eyes with a content smile she allows the exhaustion of the evening to take her over.
In the quiet of the night just as Rachel was on the cusp of unconsciousness she hears a deep growl beside her and feels a large strong hand come up and clutch at her exposed leg and Rachel lets out a blood curdling scream waking up the rest of the team (and probably Mercedes' entire block) as they checked to see what all the commotion was about. Once all the movement settled down, everyone was focused on Puck who was doubled over clutching at his stomach and chest from laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. "Oh my god! Rachel, you screamed so loud! You were so scared!" Rachel huffed in annoyance and grabbed every pillow within her reach and began beating him to an unharmed fluffy pulp. Damn you down feather pillows! Puck had maneuvered himself onto the couch next to Rachel as she crouched beside him still trying to cause some sort of damage with the pillows.
"NOAH PUCKERMAN! You juvenile miscreant! You scared me half to death, you- you giant creep!" She wailed as the rest of the team kept on laughing at her show of aggression.
"Oh man! I got you so good!" He wheezed out trying to regain his composure. The entire club was awake again and she was now striking him on his bicep blocking her futile attempts to strike him with her tiny fists. Puck was still chuckling lightly to himself when he grabbed her arms and hugged her tiny frame into his broad chest while she tried to wriggle free of his hold.
"Oh, I hate you, Noah! That was not funny! At all!" She said once more as her fighting died down and she just rested against his bare chest. Puck was not embarrassed to sleep shirtless no matter who was around. Rachel felt a flicker of excitement course through her body as she let the warmth from his body heat engulf her frazzled nerves.
Puck noticed that she had taken the prank a little harder than expected so he began to trace soft soothing circles on her shoulder where he held her to him. He was pleased to see the action had an immediate effect on her.
From the other side of the living room somebody, probably Santana, said groggily, "Fuckin' hell Puckerman, just tell her you'll protect her from the Boogie Man so we can all get some sleep already." There were a few scattered giggles from the handful of kids still slightly awake. Rachel flushed and her teeth tugged at her lip as she looked down in embarrassment. She hadn't realized her arms had snaked around Noah's torso and she was practically clutching his body to her. He smirked down at her.
Shrugging one shoulder he said with a wicked grin, "S' a big couch…"
She rolled her eyes but moved a little so that Noah could spoon up behind her between herself and the back cushions. He pulled her back to his bare chest and Rachel shivered at the contact. He was so warm. Dragging the blankets back over them both, he kicked his foot out from underneath the covers and she giggled to herself as their legs aligned together perfectly.
His palm splayed across her abdomen as he pulled her a little closer to him still and her hand came to rest on his, their fingers interwoven together. Then he whispered in her ear so low only she could hear, "I can still lick something if you want…" She reared back and sent her elbow into his gut making him groan slightly. He buried his face into her hair to try and stifle the sound. Puck idly acknowledged that her hair smelled like coconut and nuzzled her neck softly pretending like he was trying to get comfortable. "You had better watch your back, Puckerman." She tried to threaten in her most venomous voice which just made chuckle again in return.
Rachel was actually grateful for the darkness, resigning herself to the fact that maybe the dark wasn't so scary when you have someone there to protect you from your own imagination. Or you have someone who has scared you within an inch of your life but makes it up to you by spooning up behind you with a smoking hot broad muscular bare chest. Either way, at least no one would be able to see the giddy little smile on her lips as she finally drifted off for the night.
Thank you for reading!
Also… if you have any ideas for me to do for this series leave them in a review or PM me and I'd be glad to try and work your prompt into a crazy little one shot. Remember to put me on Author Alert, since I will probably be posting each one shot as a separate story.
Alright then. Have a good day!