A/N: Okay, so this is my second Puck/Rachel one-shot, and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Reviews are definitely appreciated!
Disclaimer: Dude, if I owned Glee, Puck and Rachel would have never broken up. Thing is, they did, so I must not own it, right? Right.
Takes place after Matress.
He was hot. Sexy, if you must. Puck knew this. He'd heard the cheerleader say this, plenty of times before. It was like a routine. All Puck had do was send a smile their way, and five minutes later he would find himself in a supply closet with a Cheerio.
Not that it mattered to him; not anymore. Not when Rachel Berry broke up with him. Rachel Berry, for crying out loud! She was a member of the Glee club, but she was different. He couldn't describe it, but there was just something about her that made her stand out in Puck's eyes.
She was no Quinn Fabray, that was fact. Rachel was no Cheerio, nor was she popular. This however, didn't seem like something she ever worried about. No, Rachel's worrying was usually associated with the glee club, her grades, doing well in Broadway, and Finn.
As he thought about it, the last part stung a bit. Finn was his best friend, but when it came to Rachel, things were different. It pissed Puck off that even though Finn had a girlfriend, he always seemed to be flirting with Rachel.
He didn't when or how, but had gotten the urge to know her. Well, other than the times he threw slushies in her face.
So, he did the only thing he could thing of. He joined glee. The same thing he'd berated Fin for joining. Singing. That's what he gave as an excuse when Finn asked him why he had joined. He was a fairly good singer when he wanted to be.
"Dude." Finn punched him on the shoulder, taking his mind off of thinking about Rachel.
"What?" Puck snapped as they ran around the football stadium.
"Practice is over. Glee's gonna start soon." Finn said quietly.
"What, you're suddenly married to glee? Why would you possibly want to be there early? It's glee, dude." Puck said, as he walked inside the locker room to change.
Twelve minutes. That's how long it would be until Glee started. Suddenly, everything clicked. Finn wasn't going to be early for the club. He'd be there early for Rachel; the person that was not his girlfriend.
Even the thought of that pissed him off. Not that he had a reason to care anymore. Sure, Rachel had only been his girlfriend for a week, but something about it felt…right.
Narrowing his eyes, Puck stormed out.
"Dude, where are you going? Aren't you going to change?" Finn asked, as his best friend grabbed his stuff and practically ran off.
"Got somewhere to be!" he said, as he ran inside the school.
"Noah." Rachel said in surprise as he slammed the door open. "What are you doing here? Rehearsals won't start for another ten minutes, you know." she said matter of factly.
He knew, and so did Finn.
He sighed. It was all Finn's fault for making him feel he had to say this. "You're Rachel Berry."
"Yes, I am." she said curiously, having no idea what was going on.
Puck took that as an invitation to continue. "You're Rachel Berry and you know what you want. You have plans, for everything! You're smart, and he's just using you, Berry! Can't you see that?
"Finn?" Rachel asked softly.
He nodded angrily. "Yes!"
She bit her bottom lip. She did that when she nervous or thinking. He had noticed when they had gone out…or whatever it is that they had done.
Rachel looked at him. "Noah, I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine."
His eyes narrowed. "Really, you're fine? So the second you see Finn with Quinn you won't get sad or burst into tears? You won't feel like just maybe you have a chance at being with him? Because, let me tell you, you aren't her!"
She looked down. Shit. He hadn't meant to say what he had so harshly, but she had to realize a relationship with Finn was not in her realm of possibilities."
"It's not your business, Noah."
Puck groaned. He actually groaned. Damn her for making him feel he had to tell her. "Yes, it is!"
"Why?" she challenged.
"Because you changed your look for him." he said angrily. "You went and got some ridiculously slutty outfit to get his attention. Get it in your head, Berry. He's not leaving Quinn. Ever."
Damn it. This wasn't what he meant to tell her. Or at least not this way. When the hell did he become the person to talk about feelings and shit? He didn't do feelings. He was the do 'em and leave 'em type. The week he had spent with her sure messed him the hell up a lot more than he thought.
It just couldn't be helped. Anyone would want to be a fool for not wanting to spend time with her. However, he wouldn't admit that. Puck would rather go to his grave swearing she was boring, but that didn't make his opinion any less true. She was just…captivating. She looked at his screwed up problems in a way no one else would. She believed in him. Rachel actually looked like she meant it when she said he was a good person.
"Rachel, listen, I was wondering…" Finn started, as he came inside and saw his best friend. "Puck, what are you doing here?"
"Nothing." he huffed and walked out.
"You're acting like a child, you know." Kurt informed him.
They were inside the football team's locker room and Kurt had decided to wait and talk to him or something. Honestly, it creeped him out. Not that he was homophobic or anything, because he wasn't. He and Kurt weren't even friends, so he had no idea what Kurt could want to talk to him about. Until he actually spoke.
Of course Kurt would bring up the one person he didn't want to talk about. Her.
"Puck shrugged. "Don't know what you're talking about."
He tried walking away, but Kurt wasn't having any of that. For a pretty small person, he sure wasn't as puny as he thought.
Damn. There he went again. Using words like puny, Neanderthals, asseverate, expandable, and a lot of other words that were not in his vocabulary. Yet another result of spending time with Rachel. Or rather, having spent time with her. Because that was over; in the past. Done.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "Sure you do. You know, that 5"10 girl with black hair? Because someone intent on having the reputation of a heartless Neanderthal you sure can't hide your feelings as well as you think. At least, not around Rachel. To be honest, the look you get when you see her simply evokes pity."
Puck's nostrils flared. "Kurt, the face you care so much about will find itself spitting blood out of it if you don't leave."
Kurt's face flushed as he left, but not without saying, "She's stubborn. I'm sure you know that as much as I do. However, she does seem to think you're not as bad as you make yourself out to be. I'd think about that before you walked into glee tomorrow."
The end of the world was definitely coming to an end if Puck cared about what Rachel Berry thought about him
He could hear her. Standing outside glee's practice room, Puck could hear her laughter. Rachel sounded like she was having the time of her life. So when he opened the door, he almost expected Finn to be the person she was with. But it wasn't, she was with Mercedes.
When she saw him, she quickly stopped laughing. It was that moment- when she frowned at him instead of smiling like she would have done if they were still going out-that he felt his insides twist in a bunch.
He didn't expect her to light up at the sight of him. Not only was he not Finn, he had no given her no reason to.
Two weeks had passed since Kurt had talking to him, but he hadn't done anything. He didn't talk to her, he ignored her pleas to talk to him. Puck avoided her like she was a plague.
She had gone back to being slushied. Not by him or Finn, but by his so called friends. It all started the day she broke up with him. All Puck did every time he saw her get slushied, was to look down or just keep on walking. As if it was no big deal.
He ignored the sad and disappointed looks she gave him. What the hell was he supposed to do anyway?
He could have fought for her. That all it would have taken. If they made it official, no one would be throwing slushies in her face. Not is she was his girlfriend. Then again, she was the one who had broken up with him.
Puck cleared his throat. "Can we talk?"
She blushed. Rachel actually blushed.
He wasn't supposed to be paying attention to what she did. Or the way she bit her lip when nervous. The way her eyes wandered around when was uncomfortable. Especially the look of pure adoration she gave Finn. Because, damn it, he wanted her to look at him that way.
"I don't think so." she replied, avoiding eye contact with him.
"It's important, Berry." he hissed.
"Noah, Mercedes and I are rehearsing. You know I take glee very seriously." Rachel answered quietly.
His patience was wearing thin. Running his hand through his mohawk, he said, "Please."
She nodded. "I suppose we could schedule in a break."
He followed her outside. Without letting he say anything, he started talking. "I sleep around, okay? I'm not the nicest guy, and I know that. The thing is, you're Rachel freaking Berry. You talk about Broadway and the Tony…whatever Awards, like it's your life. You…you deserve better than an asshole that's probably going to be with the same girl for the rest of his life, and never gonna leave town."
Three weeks, 21 days, and 504 hours. That's how long it took for things to take an unexpected turn. A Monday to be exact.
Quinn hadn't shown up that day. However, he didn't worry; not really. He and Quinn ahd come to the agreement that she would tell him if there was anything wrong with his little girl.
He should have noticed; Rachel looked extra cheerful. Puck figured it had something to do with glee.
Once he went inside for glee, things changed. Everything single person seemed to be gossiping about something. Only when he actually got close to the conversation Mercedes and Kurt were having did he get to hear what seemed to captivate them.
"You know, I didn't believe it when she told he asked her out. We all know the idea of Finn and Rachel is well…outlandish." Kurt said, looking at Puck as he got closer. "Yes?"
"Did you just say Finn asked Rachel out?" he asked dumbly.
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "What's it to you if she's going out with him? As I recall…your relationship was short lived. Besides, you don't seem to care about her much."
He seemed ready to explode. "Because he's with Quinn."
Mercedes shook her head. "They broke up two weeks ago. Didn't you hear?"
He shook his head and walked away. It couldn't be true. Finn wouldn't…couldn't…
Only when they walked inside, holding hands did he believe it. Rachel looked so damn happy. As if nothing in the world mattered. As he saw this, something inside of Puck died, as he realized she had never looked that happy when she was with him.
A/N: For the record, I do like Puck and Rachel. A lot, in fact. So, I have no idea where all this angst came from, lol. My next oneshot for them is actually somewhat happier.
I'm confused as to why she ended up with Finn, honestly. I really had no big issue with him, until Mattress. Finn pissed me the hell off.
Review, please.