Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story, the idea, and the mistakes.
First Fanfic! Even though I've been reading Fanfiction for a year now...
Rage.
That's all she saw once she walked inside her apartment she shared with no other than her boyfriend from high school. They've been dating since senior year, and went from there. They have one of those hot and cold, bittersweet relationship. They fight where in any other family, it would be considered a do or die kind of situation. They throw anything they see at the wall, or on the floor out of frustration; plates, mugs, vases, pillows— you name it. There are some situations where she throws stuff in his directions because, well, he starts to be Puck and not the Noah she knows. Actually, Puck has been making appearances way more often than Noah.
She misses Noah. How he used to cuddle with her every night and whisper words that make her knees get weak. Now, he just stays on his side of the bed, and says a weak, "Goodnight," and wrap the blanket around his body. Rachel always felt like crying during those kinds of moments. But what did she expect after what happened the last few month? That he would be fine? Nobody would be fine after finding out that your daughter wants nothing to do with her own father. And apparently, Noah— no, Puck, is letting all his anger out on the only one that knows how it feels when their birth parents put them up for adoption; her.
The only other people in their life in New York are Santana and Mike. Everybody else disappeared. She's never been close to Santana because she still calls her names, and basically, Rachel still feels like Noah would go run to Santana and she'll just be that person he's running away from. It makes her sick when Noah goes over Santana's house when they get in a fight. She feels betrayed and so... so, hopeless. When he leaves, she has a feeling she's not the only girl by his side— even though he claims that he's not cheating on her.
And who does she have? She goes to Mike sometimes, but she mostly goes to her co-worker, Owen. He's one of those guys that made a huge mistake in life and will forever regret it. Owen's ex-girlfriend committed suicide after three month they broke up. She was depressed, and he felt betrayed. At the end, she couldn't take it anymore and just slit her wrists. Every day, he looks at her picture in his wallet, and goes to her grave on her birthday, and holds her favorite shirt on the day she died. She felt so bad for him, but he doesn't want pity from her. He doesn't want anybody making a mistake that will never be fixed.
So when Rachel needs a shoulder to cry on, Owen is always at her side. And she's grateful for that. At this point, she's sick and tired of being the scapegoat.
His eyes are on her as he stands next to the kitchen counter. She feels his eyes making holes on the back of her head as she starts putting her coat and her scarf on the coat hanger. She knows something bad is going to happen, and honestly, she's scared. She knows what happens in these situations.
"Have fun at work?" he asks, with a hint of bitterness highlighting the words.
She turns around so she's making her way to the living room. "I don't know what you're talking about, Noah. Now please, let me just—"
He stalks up to her where she's standing in front of the TV, placing her keys on the counter. "Stop it with this fucking act! It's getting old, Berry! What I wanna know is what the hell were you thinking when you called Santana today, huh?"
She flinched. Another thing she hates? She's no longer Rachel to him. She's Berry. To him, she's the girl who he bullied in high school and not Rachel, the girl he stood up for when college girls talked trash about her. Things definitely changed, and not for the better.
"Please, I'm tired and I—"
"No. You're gonna stay here and fucking tell me why you technically called my best friend a slut just because you felt like insecure! Don't put the blame on Santana and accuse me of cheating on you! Santana stays out of this!" He yelled, not realizing how much he's hurting her.
"Why? Why are you defending Santana when me—your girlfriend has been bombarded with insults all year from Santana and you just stood there a chuckled! Don't start defending Santana, when you never came and defended me! And you can't blame me for thinking that you and Santana are hooking up behind my back by the way you were acting." She walked passed him and started making her way to their room.
She could hear him following her. And if his stomping wasn't any indication, then his voice and the way he yells at her definitely is. "Stop it with this shit about me cheating on you. You know what this shows? It shows you don't trust me, Berry. Why all the sudden you don't trust me anymore after six years, huh? Explain that to me."
Rachel turned around and glared at him. "After how you've been treating me?" You treat me like I'm the reason you're acting like this! I try to get you to talk to me and all you do is—"
"Try to talk to me? Un-fucking-believable! Like you could fix this! You always think you're the best and that you can fix everything if you put your heart to it, right? You're wrong!"
She stomped her foot on the ground and balled her fist. He's so stubborn! Well, both of them are stubborn. Thus, why the argument is still going. She just wanted to go to sleep. But it looks one of them are either going to sleep on the couch—It happened to Puck and Rachel— or Puck is going to Santana's like he always does. And that just makes Rachel even angrier knowing he might go over there. Doesn't he see she's hurting?
"Stop insulting me! You don't mean that and I know you don't. So stop bringing me down! It's not making this situation any better…"
"The maybe we should just have a break so I can calm down—"
"Of course it isn't! It's never about me! It's always about you! It's never about me, or my feelings, or my epiphanies! It's always about you! Ever since..." Rachel trailed off, knowing whatever she said was only going to escalate the problem, or she'll regret it.
Unfortunately, Noah heard it and his eyes flashed a mix of anger, hurt, and something else she couldn't identify. "Say it,"
Rachel was standing there, gripping the drawer, not facing him because she knows she's not going to hear the last of it. Noah obviously agrees.
"Say it! Say what you were gonna say! Yell it out! Scream it to the world! Say it, stop being such a fucking bitch and say—"
"Since Beth didn't want you in her life! Happy? Are you happy—"
"Fuck you, Berry. I'm done." He started making his way down the hallways and grabbing his keys on the way.
Rachel followed him, finally giving him a chance to stop what he was doing. Stop walking away or he'll regret it. She watched him grab his coat, and thrust his feet inside his sneakers.
As he turned the knob, Rachel said in a quiet, small voice. "If you walk out, I'm not gonna be here when you return."
He rolled his eyes, Puck taking over the Noah who would do something to take away the hurt that was evident in her voice.
He turned the knob and said the words that punched her heart and twisted the knuckles for good measure.
"Good riddance," And with that, he left and slammed the door.
Rachel felt the tears fall as the twisting feeling in her stomach was made her want to puke out everything she ate. The sobs raked her body as she fell on her knees and put her hand on her throat, the sobs making it ache. Her face was scrunched up, and she put her hand on her mouth to quite down her sobs, but it only did her little help. Did he just…?
He just walked away. And not even saying "I love you," or "I'll miss you," No, he said good riddance.
Good Riddance.
Never had she thought that would be the words Noah would say when she practically warned him about what would happen, and he just left. That was the last straw. She tried and tried, but he didn't. And you can't fix something with one hand. Actually, with one hand it's most likely to crumble down faster.
After a few hours and a text message from Santana telling her how ridiculous she's acting, she had all of her clothes packed and her stuff was put into boxes. She's was wearing one of her father's shirt and jeans she found on the floor. Her hair was in a messy bun and her eyes were bloodshot from crying. She was waiting for Owen to come and pick her up with his father's truck.
She didn't leave a note or a message on his phone. She just left the ring he gave her. Not an engagement ring. A promise ring he gave her in their first year of college. He promised when they were twenty-five, he'd replace that with an engagement ring. That's not going to happen. Not after the Beth situation.
He broke his promise.
And unfortunately, he broke her too.
She saw Owen drive up to the side of his house, and she got up. He quickly exited the car and jogged up to her. Rachel broke down crying again, and he held her. Owen whispered words of comfort into her ear, and rubbed her back as she let the tears fall. She would've thought her eyes would've been dried out, but she was wrong.
After a few minutes, they were loading her stuff inside his father's truck. It was quite, just like the night. None of them bothered to talk. None of them needed too. Maybe Rachel will be a little bit better tomorrow. But for now, she just wanted to lie down.
Because starting tomorrow, she lives a life completely different than the one she lived a few hours ago.
No more Puck.
No more Noah…