Coffee and Karma
A.N: My first Gleefic. Be gentle!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or the Indigo Girls. You will see how the Indigo Girls are relevant momentarily. ;)
Puck hated coffee. He hated the smell of it. He hated the brown grinds in the trash. He hated the sound of spoons stirring. He hated that it made him think of waking up on Saturday mornings to the sound of his mother's laughter, of having a fa—well, yeah, he hated coffee. But he hated what it represented, what it reminded him of more. I won't be that guy. I refuse to be that guy, whether Quinn wants my help or not.
That's how he found himself behind the counter of the café, as he had for the past six months, wearing a fake smile and black baseball cap. It was twenty miles from Lima, far enough away that there was no danger of running into people he knew. It worked out well...for the most part.
Damn open mic nights make me want to set myself on fire. But the tips are so much better. Damn it. Stupid talentless hacks, wannabe chicks with guitars...he heard cats in heat that sounded better. But hey, it was a paying gig, and he didn't even have to break a sweat, so...
As the lights dimmed, he groaned. Time for the torture to begin. Too bad I can't get away with earplugs.
"Ladies and gents, the reason you're all here tonight, theeeeeeeeeee open mic! We've got a newbie tonight, so be gentle. Especially since she's hot."
Puck rolled his eyes. Jay, his blonde skater stoner co-worker, was also the MC, and enjoyed it just a little too much. He turned to the espresso machine to fill an order, and was pleasantly surprised to hear an acoustic guitar begin tuning. Huh. Much better than usual. Usually they don't even bother. He turned with the fake smile again and handed off the espresso, glancing over at the stage. Damn, can't even tell if she is hot, her hair is in the way while she's leaning over the guitar. Nice guitar though. He turned away and sat down behind the register, playing Madden on his iPhone.
The guitar picked up softly and a velvety voice quietly wound its way through the café.
"There's a letter on the desktop that I dug out of a drawer
The last truce we ever came to from our adolescent war
And I start to feel the fever of the warm air through the screen
You come regular like seasons shadowing my dreams..."
Can't be, Puck thought, as his heart dropped to his stomach. Not fucking allowed to be. He looked up to the stage, and the long brown hair was swept behind a familiar face, one that had no place in his café.
"The Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota
At a place where you can walk across with five steps down
And I guess that's how you started, like a pinprick to my heart
But at this point you rush right through me and I start to drown..."
Puck swallowed hard. She can't...she wouldn't...it's not about...He pulled the cap lower over his eyes. She broke up with me, damn it, we're done. She's probably singing about Finn anyway. He turned his attention back to Madden, trying to block out the plaintive tone in her voice. Another voice wound through hers for the chorus.
"And there's not enough room in this world for my pain...
Signals crossed and love gets lost, and time passed makes it plain
Of all my demon spirits I need you the most
I'm in love with your ghost...
I'm in love with your ghost..."
Oh shit. Shit. Is that Tina? That means...He scanned the crowd and spotted just what he was afraid of -- a wheelchair. Artie. How the hell did I miss them all coming in? He glanced around furtively for other Glee members, but he found no one else in the audience. Weird.
Rachel looked out into space as she continued the next verse, Tina sang softly, almost whispering in the background, "don't tell a soul..."
"Dark and dangerous like a secret, it gets whispered in a hush
And when I wake the things I dreamt about you last night make me blush
When you kiss me like a lover, then you sting me like a viper
I go follow to the river, play your memory like the piper..."
Tina's added harmony emphasized everything he didn't want to hear, "kiss me like a lover," and "sting me like a viper" echoing in his ears. His own voice echoed in his memory as he remembered telling her "we were never friends."
"And I feel it like a sickness how this love is killing me
But I would walk into the fingers of your fire willingly
And dance the edge of sanity -- I've never been this close
In love with your ghost..."
Rachel's voice soared through the café as she poured herself into the vocal break, a series of "ooos" that sounded like her heart was breaking. He heard her voice crack, just a tiny bit, and his heart stopped. She can't possibly know it's me. Tina squeezed her shoulder as they started the next verse.
"Unknowing captor, you'll never know how much you
Pierce my spirit...but I can't touch you...
Can you hear it? A cry to be free --
Oh, I'm forever under lock and key
As you pass through me..."
Rachel quietly plucked at the guitar strings, lowering her face again.
"Now I see your face before me, I would launch a thousand ships
To bring your heart back to my island, as the sand beneath me slips
As I burn up in your presence, and I know now how it feels
To be weakened like Achilles, with you always at my heels..."
She looked back out to the audience, eyes suspiciously bright, as she and Tina harmonized.
"My bitter pill to swallow is the silence that I keep...
It poisons me, I can't swim free, the river is too deep....
Though I'm baptized by your touch I am no worse at most
In love with your ghost..."
Tina picked up the refrain, singing "In love with your ghost," over and over until Puck's chest was too tight to breathe. Rachel mourned, "You are shadowing my dreams," alternately getting louder and softer, the guitar finally fading away into silence. As applause burst forth from the audience, Rachel, Rachel Berry, Ms. Broadway Spotlight, only whispered, "Thank you," into the microphone, before shrugging off Tina's hand and putting her guitar back in its case. She only shook her head at Tina, and left through the back door.
Oh yeah. Back entrance. Damn it. Parking lot. Oh no. Parking lot?! My truck...
His worst fears were realized as he heard someone clearing their throat at the counter. Keeping the cap low, he stood and looked over to see Artie. Of course it would have to be Artie. The only one who could see up into my face. Fuck.
"Hello, Puck," Artie said quietly.
***
Tina ran after her. "Rach, wait! Rach, come on, it's okay..." She looked around the dark parking lot, hearing Rachel's hiccupping attempts to cover her tears. "Rach?" She wouldn't...would she? Tina cautiously approached the familiar truck and peeked into the truck bed. "Oh, Rach..."
"I told you it was his truck! I told you! I never should have...was he loo---did he—is he --Why does this always happen to me?" Rachel sobbed harder as she curled into a corner of the truck.
Tina sighed and thanked the powers that be that she wore her boots as she hauled herself into the truck bed next to Rachel. She rubbed Rachel's back in soothing circles. "Rach, it was a good idea, and how the hell could we have known he works here? Who knows, he might've been on break right then. I didn't see him in there, did you?"
Rachel nodded her head as she gulped and gasped for air. "H-he was...I-I think it was...it m-might...be..."
Tina poked her in the side. "Stuttering was my thing, Rach, get your own."
Rachel looked up as if slapped and subsided as she realized Tina was joking. "Tina, I've always...I've always been able to solve everything with music. I just...that song...it was so perfect, and I thought if I performed it, if I poured myself into it, I'd feel better, but then I saw him in the break before the third verse, and I'm sure it was him, Tina, I know because I felt my heart break all over again and then I kept going, hoping he'd look over or come up or something but my life's not a movie and I know that and I just can't..." She crumpled, pleading in a broken whisper, "It still hurts, so much, why won't it stop hurting?"
Tina gathered Rachel up in her arms and rocked her as she cried.
***
Puck cleared his throat. "Um, hey, Artie," he replied. "That was...uh..."
"For you." Artie looked up at him sternly. "You know that song was for you."
Scoffing, Puck turned away on the pretense of wiping down the counters. "Yeah, well, whatever, she's wasting her time. How the hell did you know I work here anyway?"
"We didn't, actually," Artie answered.
Puck froze, cloth in hand. Wait. She didn't know...? Then why was she here of all places?
"Rachel wanted to perform that song away from everyone, where no one would know what she was singing about," Artie explained. "She picked here because they had open mic and pretty much no one at school would come all this way for coffee. Probably the same reason you're here."
Puck refused to turn.
"She saw your truck in the parking lot, you know. She recognized it immediately and wanted to turn around, but it was too late. My mom drove us and she was already gone. Tina and I didn't believe that it was yours, and we dragged her in. She must've spotted you."
"Right before the third verse," Puck muttered to himself. I knew I heard her voice crack.
"Huh?"
"Nothing," Puck answered. He plastered a smirk on his face and turned to face Artie. "Well, it is my truck, so point for Berry. Doesn't make a damn difference though."
Artie looked searchingly into his face. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess not. See you around, Puck." Artie wheeled away and out the back door in search of the girls.
Puck stared after him. Whatever. It doesn't matter. We'd never work out, she said so. She broke up with me, so what the hell is she trying to do anyway? She's over me, she never saw me as anything other than a Finn substitute. And she was just the nearest hot Jew. He snapped back to attention when two women approached the counter. "Two cappuccino, and one of those chocolate croissants, if you don't mind," the brunette ordered absently. "Nicole, I'm telling you, someone broke that poor girl's heart. She's so talented, poor thing..."
Puck's hand tightened around the lever for the foamed milk as her companion answered. "She definitely is talented, I'll give you that, but if she's that sensitive she'll never make it. Show biz is tough. Did I ever tell you I was in the Miss Ohio pageant? Fourth runner up," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
He barely refrained from slamming the cappuccinos on the counter and gave them both a tight smile as they paid. His eyes drifted towards the back door and he frowned. "Jay," he called. His friend raised an eyebrow. "Can you cover for a few? Got to take care of something." Jay nodded and Puck skirted around the counter and out the door.
As he stepped outside, he looked around. How hard is it to find a wheelchair, a goth chick and an overachiever? He walked slowly through the lot, seeing no wheels other than the combustion-driven variety. He approached his truck cautiously, looking for any sign of damage or disturbance. Where the hell could they have gone? He narrowed his eyes as he rounded the truck bed, noticing four black scuff marks on the side. Tina's boots maybe? And four scuffs means in and out, probably. He peeked into the bed and a small glint of gold caught his eye. What the...He reached in and pulled out a small pearl earring.
Well hell.
***
Safely ensconced in Artie's van, Rachel sat staring out the window, trying not to cry.
Musical note: The song is "Ghost" by the Indigo Girls, from their Rites of Passage album. You can find it on YouTube if you want to hear it. And trust me, you do. :)
A.N.: Okay, so my first Puckelberry outing. I know I can do better, but I won't do anything without reviews...so, do I keep going?