Another prompt fill from the drabble meme over at puckrachel on LJ.
This one got way to long though. And its kinda cheesy. I hope you guys like it.
prompt:
"Well I know that you're in love with him,
'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes." ...American Pie - Don McLean
Rachel could only focus on the sheets of rain falling from the sky as she watched the parking lot from the windows near McKinley's front entrance. She had stayed late at school to practice a few new songs for glee club, and to think, not that the latter mattered or anything. All she ever did was think; picking apart scenes in her life like movie critics did to movie scenes. If she didn't think so much, she might not even be in the position she was in to begin with, stuck between two boys. One that wanted her but only when it was convenient, and the other who had broke her heart two years ago because he was in love with the homecoming queen, the girl she'd always be second best to.
The rain outside was getting worse, and she could have sworn she saw a flash of lightening out in the distance. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be stuck here for. Her father had sent her a text from the road, telling her there had been an accident and he was caught in traffic, and she needed to stay put even if someone offered her a ride. That was thirty minutes ago. She wanted the comfort of her bedroom, away from everything; no one would be able to bother her there. And she could drown out her thoughts with Oklahoma or Funny Girl.
Besides the night janitors, Rachel was pretty sure she was the only one left at the school. It was almost four thirty, since basketball season hadn't started yet and there were no meetings being held, the halls of the high school were deserted. Everything felt strange. It was times like these where she wished she had close friends, not just people that put up with her. They could listen to her fears and get her through this time alone with her thoughts.
Rachel moved away from the window and decided to head back towards the auditorium. Using the time extra to her advantage sounded like a good plan right now since she wasn't allowed to sing at home anymore. The neighbors had begun to complain again and despite her pleading, her fathers refused to install sound proof walls in her room. They were very supportive of her dreams and the future she had planned out for herself, but according to them new walls were a stretch.
As she made her way down the halls, Rachel thought about the last few days, they were the real reason she was here. She would never admit that to anyone but she had wanted to stay behind and practice so she could sing about it. It was the only way she knew how to handle difficult times in her life. Finn and Quinn had ended their third attempt at their relationship right in the middle of glee club last week and like always he had run to her. He was expecting her to pick up the pieces and put him back together like she always did, but instead of accepting him with open arms, she pushed him away. Rachel was sick of being the girl he ran to when things got tough and left when things were fine again.
She and Finn had tried to have a relationship but it failed miserably. It was nothing like she thought it was going to be. Yes, there had been chemistry, there was no use in denying it, but it lacked passion, and Rachel knew passion was important in any relationship. At least she believed it was important. She had only felt that passion with one other person, but he was closed off to her now. There was no use attempting to walk down that road again, she didn't need any more broken hearts, life had already handed her enough.
When Rachel finally reached the doors to the auditorium she paused before opening them. She heard faint music flowing through the door across the hall. The door, she knew, lead into the gym. She was a bit confused, not knowing who else could be here this late in the day. The janitors never played music when they worked. From what she'd observed from staying after school so much lately, they didn't care for music that much, another thing that confused her.
With her ear pressed up against the door, Rachel tried to listening to the music through the cracks. She heard guitars and synthesizers, it definitely an eighties song.
If we'd go again all the way from the start
I would try to change things that killed our love
Your pride has built the wall so strong that I can't get through!
Is there really no chance to start once again?
I'm loving you
The want to know who was listening to this music behinds door coursed through her. Yes, she had a tendency to be nosy, but if they were the only ones left in the school, could it really hurt. She knew for a fact it wasn't Jacob, after all, he made it perfectly clear what type of music he liked daily on his blog, and this was definitely not it.
Using all of her strength, Rachel pushed against one of the heavy doors, trying her best to be as quiet as possible. When she got into the gym, the door shut loudly behind her. She jumped, and looked around to see if anyone was as equally startled, but there was no one there.
She surveyed the dimly lit room, still not being able to find a soul. Concluding that someone had simply forgotten to turn the music off, Rachel went in search of its source. Soon she saw a rather old CD player sitting on the far end of the bleachers where the room divider had been partially pulled out, and she made her way over to it. Her fathers had taught her at an early age that energy conservation was very important and even though the janitors were still in the building there was no telling when they would make their way to the gym and turn off the music. She just wanted to do the right thing. She never meant to walk into what was about to happen.
Puck was sitting at the top of the bleachers in the shadows, leaning up against the divider to keep himself up right. He had seen Rachel enter the room and jump when the doors closed loudly behind her. The urge to laugh at her rose in him, but he suppressed it. Just watching her wasn't so bad. It had actually become a hobby of his in the recent months, thankfully no one had noticed.
The heels of her flats clicked loudly against the floor, echoing off the walls, as he watched her walk over to the CD player he had set up earlier. He knew she wouldn't be able to resist the sound of music coming from behind closed doors. However, when she reached down to turn off the music, he knew he had to make his presence known.
"What are you doing?" He asked gruffly, causing Rachel to jump back. He hadn't meant to sound so mad.
Rachel looked up to where he was sitting in the shadows, unable to make out the voice that had just called to her. Her eyes searched the seats above her trying to find the owner of the voice.
He rolled his eyes at her, as she searched for him. She should know his voice by now. "What are you doing?" He asked again.
"I—I just didn't want to leave this music on if no one was in the room. I thought I was the only one left here. I'm sorry to bother you." Rachel answered, her nerves made her ramble on way more than she should have. "It's just—I don't want to give Principal Figgins another reason to cut the glee clubs budget. Saving energy is a good start." She could feel her cheeks burning red with embarrassment, and hoped the dim lights hid her color.
He felt the urge to laugh at her again. That was Rachel; always obsessing over glee club like it was her child or something. A small chuckle escaped his lips.
"Noah?"
Puck pushed himself up from where he was sitting and descended the bleachers. He knew being close to her was a bad idea, but he couldn't help himself. He could never help himself when she was around, all his self control flew out the window. It was like she was his own personal sun, and he was the earth, constantly drawn to her no matter how many times he moved away.
Her lips drew into a straight line when he reached her. "Is there a reason you're still here? School has been over for almost two hours. I always thought you were the first person that pulled out of the parking lot."
He rolled his eyes at her. If only she knew that he always stuck around to see when she was leaving. If she stayed he always stayed, hanging in the shadows of the auditorium watching her rehearse. Telling her that wasn't an option right now, she'd flip out, slap him and run away. He had to think up of a better excuse, one that she'd buy.
"I had detention and then my truck wouldn't start. I'm waiting for Mike to get out of that dance class he takes so he can come and get me." There she would believe that one.
Her mouth formed into a circle, she had bought it. Then she simply nodded at him, not knowing what to say. Instead she found herself staring up at him, his hazel eyes were soft and warm, a contradiction from the pain and anger they always shown. Their history has been rather rocky, and though she would never admit it to anyone, expect her diary, there something about him that still made her weak at the knees and light headed.
Puck didn't have to ask why she was still there, he already knew. He had heard her signing another Taylor Swift song in the auditorium, something she did whenever Saint Finn fucked up. He wondered if she ever sang about him when she was in there. Maybe he had misinterpreted her song choices.
"Why are you still here?" Puck asked. He knew just assuming why she was here would get the wheels in her heard turning, especially after the time he sneezed when he was watching her and had almost gotten himself caught. His only option at that time was hiding on the floor in between the rows of seats. You don't even want to know what's on the floor of that room; he had to find out the hard way.
Rachel studied him as he asked her, trying to figure out if there was some hidden meaning in his question. You could never tell when it came to Puck. She couldn't find one.
"I was practicing in the auditorium for glee club tomorrow. The assignment for this week was giving me a bit of trouble so I thought learning two different songs was the safer choice," she told him.
"Oh, so instead of one Taylor Swift song, Saint Finn gets two this week? He's going to be so happy," Puck said in a harsh tone. He was so sick of it always being about Finn when it came to her. Why couldn't it for once be him?
"No, Finn isn't getting any Taylor Swift songs this week. I was practicing something else thank you. It's not always about Finn you know. I hate that people always think its Finn."
Puck rolled his eyes at her. "Whatever."
The song on the CD player changed, catching Rachel's attention. This song she recognizes, and she's rather shocked Puck would be listening to something like this. It didn't seem like his type of music, from what she recalled anyways. When she voiced her opinion on the song, he brushes her off. He doesn't want to explain that his music taste has changed since they dated sophomore year.
"Dire Straits though, Noah? I'm just shocked. I never took you for someone to like 80's power ballads."
"You of all people know that I have a tendency to surprise people."
Puck reached over and turned the volume up a bit then reached out for Rachel's hand, grabbing it in his own and dragging her to center court.
"What are you doing?" Rachel protested as he pulled her with him. She tried to pull away from his grip but he was too strong for her.
Puck smiled, knowing that his plan was falling into place. He wrapped his arm around her waist and took her hand in his. "We're dancing." It was a statement, not one he wanted her to object to in any way.
'But, Noah, my father could be here at any moment. I have homework to do. I need to go out and wait for him." Rachel tried again and failed to pull away from him.
"Rachel, you're dancing with me. Understand? Take your shoes off. I don't want you tripping in heels." His voice was forceful causing her to shake her head and remain silent. She did what she told and kicked off her heels as he kicked off his own.
He wasn't concerned with scaring her anymore. He was sick of playing games.
They swayed to the music, his eyes staring into hers. Puck was hoping she would pick up what he was trying to tell her the only way he knew how. Nothing was getting through, so he resorted to doing the only thing Rachel would understand, singing. He listened for the perfect time to jump into the music and started singing to her.
"When you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah
Now you just say, "Oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him"
Rachel stared up at him, was he singing to her? She didn't understand what was happening, but Noah Puckerman was in the middle of the gym dancing with her and singing—to her.
"Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die"
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
"Noah…" She let her sentence trail off when he looked at her as if to tell her to keep quiet until he was done.
"I can't do the talks, like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song, like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything, but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything 'cept be in love with you
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat, 'n bad company
And all I do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you, anytime"
She could feel a broad smile growing on her face and a familiar warmth pool in her belly. Finn never did this for her, these feelings her body only produced for him—for her Noah, the one people always mistook for Puck. She didn't understand how a simple song and dance could pull all these feelings out of her at once, but she wasn't about to question it.
"Ah Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said I love you like the stars above, I'll love you till I die
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
And a love struck Romeo, sings a streets a serenade,
Laying everybody low, with a love song that he made
Finds a convenient street light, steps out of the shade
'n' says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?"
"You and me babe, how about it?"
Even after the song was over, Puck continued to dance with her, going along to the next song on the CD, and the song after that. He didn't want to let this go just yet. Rachel rested her head on his chest, wondering whether or not to bring up what she had been planning to tell him since she had left the auditorium after her last song. She was expecting it to happen so soon but now was a better time than ever.
"Finn doesn't have a sister," Rachel whispered against his chest.
"What are you talking about?" Puck asked as he continued to dance with her.
"The one song I was singing. Finn doesn't have a sister. He doesn't play guitar. His favorite color is blue. His birthday is on the 2nd of October. He has his mother's eyes and he hates when we argue."
Puck pulled himself away from her a bit to look down at her. He didn't know what to say.
"I gave up on Finn a long time ago," she continued. "I guess no one pays enough attention to me to even care. And I know you've been watching me in the auditorium after school. I'm not stupid, Noah. I can hear you when you're in there, even though you try to be quiet."
The urge to lean down and kiss her course through Puck's veins, and this time he wasn't going to ignore what his body wanted so desperately for him to do. He lowered his lips to hers but was interrupted by a loud banging noise.
They both looked over to see the gym doors shaking. Rachel could hear the sound of footsteps walking away from them.
The sound pulled Rachel out of the haze Puck had put her in, and guilt slowly settled on her. She couldn't do this. As much as she wanted to, things just weren't that simple. She had been stupid for ever singing that song, knowing he would hear her. This could never work.
She pulled herself away from him, a confused look growing on his face. "I'm sorry, Noah, I can't do this," she said in barely a whisper. She leaned down and grabbed her shoes before running out away from him.
"Rachel, wait!" Puck called after her as she opened the door to the gym and ran out.
Later that night, Puck found himself calling the last person he ever thought he would call. He pleaded his case, hoping his former best friend would understand. Puck would understand if he didn't but he was willing to take a chance.
"Dude, I need your help," he said into the phone. He had never been one to plead but the situation called for it.
Finn sighed before his voice answered him from the other end. "You love her don't you?"
"I guess I do, longer than I realized it myself. I would have told her too if your stupid ass hadn't of interrupted us earlier." Puck hated to admit his feelings to anyone but knew that this was the only way he'd get Finn to go along with anything.
"Alright fine, I'll call the guys. Just be at the school early tomorrow, and I'm talking like six am early. We have a lot of work to do. And don't worry about the song. I have the perfect one for you—and for me too."
"Thanks, dude." Puck hung up the phone. He was hoping his second shot at this would finally win Rachel over, and that he wasn't too late.
He had one more important phone call to make before calling it a night.
The next day during glee club, Rachel expected things to be awkward. When she came into the room she took her usual place next to Tina and Artie, smiling at them as she sat down. She looked around the room to see if Puck had gotten there yet, but he wasn't in his usual place between Mike and Matt. The fact that she had barely seen him all day was a little unnerving to her. She was so use to seeing him everywhere she went. Today was the first day she noticed just how much of a presence he had in her life at school, and wondered silently if that was all his doing.
She looked around at the rest of the glee club members, trying to figure out if any of them had known what had happened yesterday, or if it had been any of them that had walked in her dancing with Puck. Finn was off in the distance, talking to Mr. Schu about something. Brittany and Santana were on their cells phones on opposite ends of the room. Rachel wondered if they were actually talking to one another. It wouldn't shock her if they were, Brittany had a tendency not to notice when people were in the room when she tried to call them, and Santana was probably humoring her. Some of the newest members of glee were sitting off near the door, wrapped up in a game of poker. And Mercedes, Kurt and Quinn were having their own private chat in the back corner of the room. They were glancing down at her every so often causing Rachel to suspect it had been one of them that she had heard yesterday. Rachel hadn't seen anyone else in the halls when she fled the gym, but she was curious as to who had seen them and who had told Jacob enough to write a detailed account of it on his blog this morning.
Puck staggered into the room and took his regular seat just as Mr. Schu called for everyone's attention. "Alright, guys, settle down. We have a lot of work to do today. Now last week I told all of you to pick a song that could express your feelings, whatever they may be, to someone in your life. Easy enough, right? Some of the boys decided that they wanted to sing one song together first." Mr. Schu turned to Rachel, addressing her. "I know I told you, you could go first, Rachel, but they're really excited about this."
Trying to hold back his discontent, Rachel agreed. It was going to be interesting to see how all these boys could find one song to express how each of them felt.
Finn, who had been standing next to Mr. Schu the entire time he spoke, motioned for Puck, Artie, Mike and Matt to join him in front of the rest of the group. They all got up taking their places next to him, grabbing some things that were sitting on the piano along the way. Matt threw on a crown, Mike grabbed a leather jacket, and the rest a few other things. Puck didn't reach for anything expect his shoes, which he leaned over and unlaced before he kicked them off towards the piano bench.
Rachel rolled her eyes, this was going to be about her, and she knew it.
"They're going to be singing American Pie. After that we'll have Rachel show us what she prepared for us, and then—" Mr. Shu hesitated for a second before deciding who to call on next. "Puck, you told me the other day you had a piece you wanted to do, so you can go after that if you're up for it."
Puck shook his head as he answered. "No thanks, Mr. Schu, I'm good. I expressed myself yesterday." White everyone laughed at his response, Puck kept his eyes on Rachel.
Rachel didn't even hear what Puck had said, or what she paying attention to the fact that he was staring at her. All she focused on was the boys' song choice.
"Wait a second!" Rachel protested causing everyone to stop and look at her. "Mr. Schu, I don't seriously believe that this song could express how you feel about someone. It's a song about three musicians that died in a plane crash. And it's an eight minute long song. I'm not going to have enough time for an introduction for my piece or for a critique afterward. Not that I need, but that's not the point. I just can't see how—"
"Rachel, relax," Finn said walking up to her. "We shortened the song, but there are some really good lyrics here that mean something to each of us. You'll understand when you hear them. After all weren't you the one that taught me the only true way to express how you feel is through a song?"
Though still angry, Rachel nodded her head before crossing her arms over her chest.
As the band began to play, Finn went back to join the rest of the guys.
Like she was instructed to do, Rachel listened to the lyrics of the songs very closely as the boys were singing. Finn and Artie alternated singing between first few verses, and they all sang the chorus in unison.
Rachel was unimpressed. She had yet to hear whatever important message she was suppose to be looking for. All she was hearing in the lyrics was music dying, February being a cold month and someone being a widow. Finn's voice, one she loved once upon a time ago, was beginning to get on her nerves.
After the first chorus ended, Matt picked up the vocals, pointing to Rachel as he sang.
"Did you write the book of love,
And do you have faith in God above,
If the Bible tells you so?"
Rachel was so focused on Matt's voice, one that they didn't get to hear that often, that she didn't notice Puck and Finn were now standing on either side of her chair. Puck took over the rest of the verse, his face down near Rachel's ear.
"Do you believe in rock 'n roll,
Can music save your mortal soul,
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?"
Rachel jumped at the sound of Puck's voice in her ear. Was her referring to what had happened yesterday or was this just a coincidence? The thought was gone from her mind as quickly as it was conjured. Finn had taken up the next verse of the song, grabbing Rachel's hand and pulling her up from her seat. Puck's arms wrapped around her waist from behind her, pulling her towards him as Finn moved back a little and sang.
"Well, I know that you're in love with him
'cause I saw you dancing in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes.
Man, I dig those rhythm and blues."
All Rachel could do was smile was she placed her hands over Puck's. She got the point that he was not giving up, and she also understood that everything he had done the day before was completely genuine. He wanted her, and she could feel herself giving in. Puck started to sing into her ear again.
"I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck
With a pink carnation and a pickup truck,"
Mike was suddenly presenting her with a pink flower he had pulled from off of the piano. She laughed as she reached out to accept it. Like before Finn took over the rest of the verse. She could tell he was singing to her as much as Puck had been.
"But I knew I was out of luck
The day the music died."
The boys danced around and sang the rest of the song. Rachel, along with the others laughed when Mike, in his James Dean like jacket, stole the crown Matt had put on at the beginning of the song. Rachel joined them in a few dance steps, and Brittany and Santana soon found their way out of their seats and next to the boys as well, dancing in between them.
When the song ended everyone in the room applauded, including the ones that had been participating. Mr. Schu clapped the loudest.
"That was fantastic, guys!" Mr. Schu couldn't contain the excitement that was pouring out of his voice. "If we can incorporate the rest of the group, we could use this at Regionals this year. It's far too good for Sectionals. With your shoes on of course, Puck."
"Me not wearing shoes was the best part, I was doing what the song said," Puck answered, a smirk drawing on his face as he looked down at Rachel who was still in his arms.
Everyone cheered one more time before Mr. Schu told them all to take a little break before Rachel's number.
Puck pulled Rachel out of the door towards the lockers so they could talk. He was sure Rachel had a billion questions for him.
"Did you understand, Rachel?" They heard Finn's voice ask behind them.
Rachel turned them both around, Puck not being able to let go of her waist. She shook her head, glancing up at the boy who had finally let her go. She had understood the second Finn had pulled her up from her seat and placed her in Puck's arms. He had been the one that saw them yesterday. He had set all of this up for them. He had finally understood who her heart belonged to and he had shown her just who that was.
"Yes, Finn. Thank you," Rachel smiled at him. There was nothing else that needed to be said, words wouldn't be able to conveying how thankful she was.
Puck pulled on Rachel's arm and lead her away from Finn and down the hallway. He had two years worth of explaining to do to the doe-eyed brunette now staring up at him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, knowing all too well that'd it probably take him forever to explain everything to her, but he was completely ok with that. He was willing to spend as long as it took for her to understand.