A/N: Oh hi there, welcome back. This is a follow up to my first story "Awake My Soul". Not completely necessary to have read that one first, but it can't hurt. I know I totally lied about waiting until after the holidays, but I started writing today and couldn't stop, so it's looking like I'll probably get a chapter or two up in the next few days. Until then, a prologue to whet your appetite. :)
Story and chapter title come from the incomprable band Guster. And once again, the music nor the characters don't belong to me. Sadface.
Spring in Chicago is not all that different from Winter. Instead of nice clean snow, the streets and sidewalks instead were covered in piles of dirty brown slush. Puck jumped over a particularly nasty pile of the street sludge as he crossed the street to Rachel's townhouse to pick her up for their date. They had been together since having "The Talk" on New Year's Day. Now, almost four months later, they were more or less inseparable. And really? Puck wouldn't have it any other way. He was still worried that he was living in some sort of dream land with Rachel, and that one day he was suddenly going to wake up and realize that the universe was playing a cruel joke on him.
Bounding up the front steps, he knocked twice on the door of the townhouse before he let himself in. The knock was only a formality. His usual technique of just walking in had backfired once when, two months into his and Rachel's relationship, he had walked in to find Rachel's roommate Kelly running around the house in a towel trying to get ready for a date. While Puck obviously appreciated the free show, it led to a very long and detailed conversation with Rachel about respecting boundaries and Puck really didn't want to have to go through that again.
"Rach! I'm here! Get your cute ass out here before Kelly gets jealous and tries to hit on me again!"
"Nice try Puckerman" Kelly's voice yelled from the kitchen. "I would rather listen to Rachel practice her songs for another 3 hours than come near you."
"It was only 45 minutes!" Rachel bounded down the stairs and pressed a kiss to Puck's lips. "Hi."
"Hi yourself. I missed you." Puck's hands settled on her waist as he returned the kiss.
"And you call me a drama queen. I just left your apartment this morning." Rachel tore herself away from Puck's grasp and slid her arms into her brown leather jacket. "Ready?"
The smirk on Puck's face was undeniable. "I'm always ready babe."
Puck couldn't help but laugh at the epic eye-roll his response elicited from Rachel. She tolerated his shit, but that sure as hell didn't mean that she went along with it. "Fine. Lunch and movie first. Then you can have a taste of the sweet Puckerone lovin'. Maybe we can even get Kelly to come to her senses by then." He made sure to yell the last part loud enough to be heard in the kitchen.
"Hey Rachel" came the response. "Have I mentioned that I have several lovely, polite coworkers that are dying to be set up with you?"
Rachel cracked up at the pouty look that came across her boyfriend's face. "Don't dish it out if you can't take it Noah. Now let's get out of here before Kelly attempts to murder you."