She was missing her best friend. Badly.
Since high school began, they were drifting apart. Puck became popular by the time he joined the football team, and she was drowning herself into a bunch of losers. The upperclassmen in football team 'taught' him how to rule the school which included slushy-ing the losers that known as Glee club members. He did slushy Rachel, and also Mercedes, and there was the fact that he did toss Kurt into dumpster. But she was never his target. She did get slushied though, but not from him – or if it mattered, from any football team that were in Glee club.
She appreciated him for not slushy-ing her. But she did miss her best friend. Heck, she wasn't sure if they were still best friend. It was their senior year and she only got to talk to him in summer before school started, when he didn't have party with his jock friends, when he just showed up in front of her door bringing movies and popcorn.
A few weeks ago she was slipping from stage when performing for the home-coming assembly in auditorium, she fainted and her head bled. She knew he wasn't in the assembly, that's why he wasn't in the hospital with the other students. She felt empty though when she woke up without him beside her bed. For God sake, she fainted and she was bleeding and even Karofsky was there – even when he claimed that he was there just because everyone was coming. She felt like she couldn't be more hurt when she realized that he wasn't gonna call her – or even just text her – after waiting for days. She skipped school for a full week and she really hated him for letting her felt so empty.
She swore she wouldn't call him for any matter after the incident, but here she was. She cursed herself from giving in so easily and hoped that her text to Puck – that only had one word 'Hi!' – failed to send because of the operator's error or something. It didn't.
'Sup, Tee?'
She stared at her phone screen for three minutes straight, not believing that he actually replied her short message. She knew right away that she should take a chance.
'What are you doing next Saturday?'
Puck's message came in a few second.
'Just usual. Why?'
'Dinner with me?'
She bit her lip. Really, Tina? She cursed herself for being stupid by asking Puck for dinner. She was startled by the sound of her phone. Shit.
"Hello?"
"You have that choir competition," he said bluntly.
"Yeah, well, I was thinking that we can go after that, I'll drive, and –," But before she finished, Puck cut her. "Sure."
She was paused for a few seconds and thought, wait, what? "Really?"
"Yeah, why? You changed your mind?"
"No! Of course not. Okay, thanks, I'll see you on Saturday?" She was relieved that Puck didn't reject her. If he did, she clearly didn't want to show up at school anymore. Puck surprised her by remembering the day of her Sectionals, and she didn't know that Puck had more surprise for her.
"Actually, can you get me a ticket for your thing?"
She froze. What?
"Why?"
"Um, because I want to come and watch?" He replied her with a duh-tone and she could imagine him rolling his eyes.
"Why?"
"Will you give me the ticket or not?"
"Okay, fine, I'll slip it in your locker by Monday." She would just think that he wanted to watch Mike, Matt, Finn, Sam, and that pretty Quinn – oh, what was that? She wasn't jealous, was she? Well, she shouldn't disappoint because of her own thought right?
"Thanks Tee."
"You're welcome. So I guess I'll see you in school after competition?"
"Yeah. And by the way, I'm driving. See ya," He didn't give her a chance to say goodbye. Rude. She thought to herself. But she couldn't hide her smile for the rest of the weekend.
Days rolled fast and it was Wednesday morning already. She woke up after her alarm rang off at 7 and took her shower. She felt ready for Sectionals, but she wasn't really sure that dinner with Puck was actually a good idea. She hopped back to her bedroom finding her phone went off with a notification.
'What time the competition start?'
She huffed. He clearly didn't read the pamphlet she got for him.
'At 1, you didn't read the pamphlet, did you?'
'Nope. And what time you guys should come?'
'9, Puck, why? Wanna wish Mike a good luck kiss? ;)'
She wasn't really joking though. Puck was actually really close to Mike since their freshmen year, maybe Mike was the closest friend Puck had ever had – if she was excluded.
'I'll pick you up at 8.'
What was that? She thought. Puck was actually offering a ride to school? No, he forced her to ride with him. She assured herself that it was nothing and went to get ready, packing her clothes for the competition and placing some muffins she made last night in her lunch box.
She was sitting on a bench in front of her house reading a book while waiting for her ride. Puck came 5 minutes early. He pulled off in her yard and got out his car just to surprise her by greeting her morning, kissing her cheek, and taking her bag with him.
She reminded herself that there's no need to blush because of that.
"You want some muffin?" She asked him after he hit the gas leaving her house behind.
"Your muffin? Hell yeah." He grinned and took the muffin from her eagerly making her chuckle. Within seconds, she found herself giggling over the boy who seemed oblivious with his crumbs all over his mouth. She picked a tissue from her bag and began wiping the crumbs that she could reach. "How old are you really?"
He just rolled his eyes and took her tissue to wipe all the crumbs.
In no time, they arrived at school. He took her bag and went to the choir room with her making her confused. But her confusion was answered as soon as they got in the choir room with Mike bounced around Puck telling him that he was really glad Puck came to watch. The second she saw Mike bouncing, she glared at Matt, knowing that the certain boy had given the Asian boy some extra sugar in his coffee earlier. It made Matt raised his hand in surrender and walked back to help the others with anything.
She sighed when Mike danced around her. But she eventually gave in, took Mike's hand, and danced with him around the choir room. It was when Santana called them to change into their costumes when they finally stopped. But she knew Mike wouldn't ever stop moving even after they changed their costumes. So she approached Puck who chatted with Finn in the corner, "Hey, can you take Mike to the field?"
"What? Why?" She could see the confusion both in his and Finn's faces.
"We need to get ready, and there's no way we can do it with Mike dancing and bouncing around us. Just make him take 10 laps or something –"
"Make it 15!" Rachel and Santana shouted together from the make-up desk. They weren't the closest friend in Glee, in fact they used to hate each other, but they were like partners in crime when it came to Mike. Puck sighed and dragged Mike's arm to the field.
They won! She was bouncing with Mike on the stage right after the judges announced New Directions as a winner. Then she slipped to hug Matt tightly while Mike was occupied with Rachel and Santana. Everyone was cheering, and after she pulled out from Matt, she could see Puck was standing and clapping from the audience with pride.
They all ran – Mike's twirling Brittany – to the choir room laughing and smiling. Mr. Schue was beaming and told them to go home before they could do a celebration the next day. As Mr. Schue went out, the kids stayed in the room, not wanting to let out their moments for a while. It was Mike who asked making Tina's eyes widened if it was possible, "Hey Tina, do you need a ride home?"
"Oh! No, Mike, I'm fine. I actually have an appointment." She rushed packing her stuff and hugged them goodbye before running towards the parking lot where she thought Puck was waiting – or maybe he already left as she was late.
Puck was leaning on his truck paying attention to nothing when he heard the school's door shrieked open. Tina was panting and out of her breath, making him quickly rushed to her side, "Tee! Hey, hey, you okay?"
"Oh my God. Puck! I'm so sorry I'm late." She talked slowly as she caught her breath while Puck soothing her back. "It's fine. Come on, can you walk?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I really am sorry, Puck."
"Hey, you're here, it's not a problem now." He chuckled as he helped her climbing up his truck.
They were silence on their way to the restaurant that she mentioned before, but he turned on his radio for occupying their silences. The time they arrived, he was wowed by the interior of the restaurant. It was an Italian restaurant that he never had been there before, and he was wondering why she never took him there before. She just shrugged and said that she only went there if her father took the family for some celebration.
"I've got to say, I was a little bit worried earlier in the parking lot," He started the conversation after ordering some foods. She smiled, "And why was that?"
He shrugged, "Well I thought that you made fun of me, and you were going to ditch me or something."
"Why would I ditch you, Puck? Or make fun of you?"
"I didn't know, you probably hated me for what I did to Berry, Jones, and Hummel."
"I didn't hate you, I will never hate you, Puck," She assured him as she held his hand over the table. He smiled guiltily and murmured his thanks to her. That time she knew right away that Puck and her were going to be alright even after all of the high-school dramas around them.
They talked a lot; Glee, football, their family, her application to Brown, his plan to go abroad after graduation, and many things. He even complimented her for her performance earlier, "Your dance duet with Chang were great up there, don't tell him that I told you this."
She giggled and thanked him for that.
After they finished their foods, he asked the waiter for the bill and paid the whole thing. She sighed. When they were outside, she asked him how much she should pay and tried to take the bill from his hand – which he twisted around so she couldn't reach him.
"You really want to know how much was it?" He asked as she eagerly nodded. He raised his hand which had the bill on it and began to rip it down into little things and throw it to the trash bin outside the restaurant. She opened her mouth to say something about him being rude but she didn't want to ruin the night, so she just said, "I was the one who asked you out for dinner, I was the one who was supposed to pay."
He just smirked and raised his eyebrows in return. She sighed knowing she couldn't said anything anymore, so she tugged his sleeves and tiptoed to peck his cheek, "Thank you."
They walked back to his truck with her arm looped around his and he didn't even protest. She was glad that she could keep the conversation with him without any awkward moments in the car until he parked his truck in her driveway. She smiled sadly as he helped her with her bag to the front door. "I guess, that's it."
"I paid for dinner," He said out of nowhere. Tina just nodded, "Yeah, thanks Puck."
"I paid for our dinner," He said again making her confused. She heard him, and she was pretty sure that he heard her thanks.
He sighed at her silence and stared at his now-interesting shoes mumbling, "Quinn said that gentlemen always pay in the first date."
She mouthed an O in silence. She stuttered, "It, it was, it was a date?"
"You know what, Tee, forget what I said. I'll just go home."
He only needed three more steps to his truck when he heard her calling him, "Puck!"
He turned around and found her jogged her way towards him. "I'm sorry, Tee, I –"
"If it was a date, you should've kissed me before walking away."
"Wait, what?" His eyes wide, he certainly didn't believe what his ears caught. But, "You heard me."
"Are you serious?"
She smiled genuinely and put her hands on his arms. "I will never make fun of you, Puck."
With that Puck smiled and leaned in to kiss Tina. She wasn't surprised finding her own hands sneaking around his neck. When they pulled away, he grinned and stole another peck, "I'll see you on Monday?"
"You better be."
"Good night, Tee." He kissed her forehead before pulling away from her embrace. "Good night, Puck."
Tina closed the door before Puck left and grinned to herself behind the door. He sure did made her day a lot better after winning Sectionals. Little did she knew, Puck was raising his fist over the way to his truck, just like he always did every time they won a game.