Disclaimer: Glee and all of it's characters belong to Ryan Murphy and Fox Network. I am neither, hence the disclaimer.
Noah was the next-to-last person to board the bus that would take them back to Lima and upon getting on, he immediately wished he would have been the first. Ten pairs of eyes were on him instantly. Seven of the ten were burning through his forehead with anger, one pair offered a look of sympathy, another seemed to be expecting him to speak, and the last pair seemed to almost be looking straight through him, sadness overshadowing any trace of anger that may have been there. Bowing his head, Noah headed straight for the seat in the very back of the bus, admitting defeat and accepting the fact that he would be sitting completely isolated from the rest of the club.
'Whatever.' He thought to himself. 'Let them think what they want. I could care less.'
Miss Pillsbury stood to speak, and Noah took that moment as a golden opportunity to turn on his iPod and put the earphones in, effectively drowning out the sound of the guidance counselor's voice with that of Mick Jagger.
Rachel had distanced herself from the other Gleeks as they headed back towards the bus, knowing that while they all were ecstatic to have just won Sectionals, as soon as they were back in Lima they would go back to treating her like a complete outcast for outing Quinn's secret. If she were being honest with herself, Rachel knew that while she said she only wanted Finn to be happy, the only person's happiness that had concerned her was her own, and for that she felt she completely deserved the cold shoulder from her supposed friends. She saw Miss Pillsbury standing through the windows of the bus and realized that everyone else had already boarded, and if she didn't as well they might very well leave her in Columbus.
Inhaling deeply, she prepared herself for the stares and whispers she knew would be waiting for her on the other side of the folding doors on the school bus. When she climbed the steps Miss Pillsbury immediately stopped mid-sentence to turn and see who was entering the bus.
"Rachel! I didn't realize you weren't with us." She explained apologetically. "Please, take a seat. I was just letting everyone know how proud Mr. Schuester is of all of you for today. He was on the phone listening to your entire performance."
Rachel simply nodded as her eyes scanned the bus for a place to sit. Mercedes and Tina were sitting together with Kurt leaning over the seat directly behind them, the three of them engaged in discussion. Brittany, Santana and Quinn were in a nearly opposite position, with Quinn sitting alone in one seat and Brittany and Santana leaning over the back of the seat in front of her. Matt and Mike sat across from each other and were discussing dance routines they'd like to work on for Regionals. Jacob Ben-Israel was eyeing her in what she assumed was meant to be a seductive manner, but all it did was make her wish she could vomit right there in the middle of the bus. She considering turning around and just sitting with Miss Pillsbury in the front when a Mohawk in the back caught her eye.
Noah had his earphones in and his head titled back and she could tell he must have been unceremoniously forced to sit alone as well. Deciding that now would be as good a time as any to try to make amends with her pseudo-friend, she held her head high and walked to the back of the bus, only stopping when Jacob arose from his seat to speak to her.
"Hello, Rachel. I'm so glad you've decided to sit with me, I certainly enjoyed being bus buddies on the way up here. Perhaps now that you've been alienated by your so-called friends you'll be more accepting of my advances."
"Hey Jewfro." A gruff voice spoke from behind them. "How many times does she have to say no before you get the fucking hint, huh?"
Jacob looked at Noah as though he would wet his pants at any moment. He may have had the most popular blog in western Ohio, but none of the jocks had ever even seemed to notice him, much less make a fool of him in front of his one true love, Rachel Berry.
"I, um… Well, you see, Puck-" he stammered.
"Sit down and shut up." Noah said, the anger and annoyance evident in his voice. "I don't think anyone has ever told you this, but you're really fucking annoying."
Jacob did as he was told and looked away from Rachel, who stood completely in shock of Noah's outburst. Before she could speak, his earphones were back in place and his head assumed the same position is had been in when she first noticed him in the back seat. She contemplated walking away; he seemed to want to be left alone. But, Rachel never had been one to back down from the task at hand until her mission had been accomplished. Current mission? Thank and apologize to Noah Puckerman before arriving back in Lima.
She took the seat next to him and smoothed out the invisible wrinkles of her skirt, as if making herself more presentable would make him more likely to accept her gratitude and her apology. When he didn't react to her sitting next to him, she cleared her throat. Still no response.
"Noah?" She all but whispered. When he still acted as if he didn't know she was there, she became furious. No one else seemed to want to talk to him after the whole fiasco of finding out he was the father of Quinn's baby, he had no reason to completely ignore the one person who did. 'Well,' she mused 'he does have a reason, but that is completely beside the point!' Without even thinking about it, she reached over and yanked the earphone out of his right ear, earning her a glare.
"What the fuck, Berry?" he said in a raised voice. Miss Pillsbury turned and gave him a warning look and he lowered his voice before turning back to Rachel. "What do you want?"
"To say thank you." She mumbled, looking down at her hands, which were laced together in her lap. "No one's ever stood up to Jacob for me before, and I really do appreciate the gesture. Though, you really have no reason to defend my honor, seeing as I've recently been the cause of all your problems. Which brings me to the original reason that I decided to join you in your solitude."
Noah rolled his eyes and pulled the ear bud from her hands, attempting to replace it in his ear before Rachel slapped his hand away.
"Noah! I am speaking to you!"
"Well, maybe I don't want to hear it, Berry. I got you out of sitting with Israel, you said thank you. I'm saying you're welcome. Now scram." The hurt look on Rachel's face did not go unnoticed by Noah, but he was in a bad enough mood that he honestly didn't care. Yes, his mother had raised him better than to make a girl cry, but Berry was right: she had been the reason that everyone hated him now.
"I will not, as you so eloquently put it, 'scram' until you hear what I have to say." She snatched the iPod from his hands when she saw him put the earphone sin again. "This is important, Noah. Please, just listen to me."
Noah looked at her and couldn't tell if the pleading look in her chocolate eyes was sincere, or just her part of her incredible acting ability that she was always bragging about. When they glazed over with tears, he knew he would end up listening to her. He may have been able to make her cry, but he couldn't stand having to see it too. "You have two minutes, Berry."
She gave him a weak smile before looking back at her hands, which were still in her lap but now cradled his iPod.
"I owe you an apology, Noah. More so, I think, than Finn and even Quinn. I was being selfish when I told him the truth, and I didn't even stop to think of how him knowing would affect the two of you, especially you. While I don't agree with the choice you and Quinn made to lie to him, I know that you were only doing as she asked you to because whether you'll admit it or not, you care about her and the baby. That being said, I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies and hope that we can move forward from here. I know you said when we broke up that we weren't friends before, but I'm hoping that after all of this, we can be friends now, Noah. I know that you more than anyone could probably use on now and I-"
"Shut up." He said cutting her off and prying the iPod from her hands.
"I beg your pardon?" Rachel asked, completely baffled.
"I said shut up. A simple 'sorry' would have been fine, Berry." He looked at their fellow gleeks in the seats ahead of them. "If they can all see Quinn's side of the story and not mine, then fuck them. I don't need any friends."
He hadn't meant for that last sentence to come out as melancholy as it did, and prayed that Rachel didn't catch onto his tone; she did. She laced her fingers through his, gently stroking the back of his hand with her thumb.
"Everyone needs a friend, Noah." She whispered softly.
"Yeah, well…" Puck jerked his hand from hers and folded his arms across his chest. "You seem to be doing just without any." Finally placing his earphones back into their respective ears, he slid across the seat to other side of the bus, leaning his head against the window and shutting out the world.
Rachel put her head down but refused to cry. 'He's just dealing with everything the only way he knows how' she reasoned with herself. Glancing at Noah one last time, Rachel stood up and took her originally intended seat next to Miss Pillsbury in the front of the bus.
As soon as the bus came to a complete stop in front of McKinley, Rachel grabbed her back and bolted from the bus to her Daddy's Lexus, kissing him on the cheek before getting into the passenger's seat. She watched as the other students filed out of the bus, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. She felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she saw them divide into their small groups: Brittany, Santana and Quinn, Kurt, Tina and Mercedes, Matt and Mike, Jacob, and last but not least Noah. When he caught her gaze, she averted her eyes, hoping that she had only imagined him catching her staring at him.
"Are you alright, pumpkin?" Seth Berry, Rachel's Daddy, asked as he climbed into the driver's seat and buckled his seat belt.
"I'm fine." She said, wiping a lone tear from her eye before plastering on a smile and recounting her daddy with the details of the competition.
As Noah watched Rachel mouth the words "I'm fine" to her father and put on what he knew was one of her fake smiles, he couldn't help the knot forming in his gut as the guilt of being the cause of that tear set in. 'Shit,' He thought to himself 'she can whip out a guilt trip without even saying anything. I'm in trouble.'
A/N: OK, so after an extensive break from writing ANYTHING (it's a longgggg story :/) I am back! I have five chapters written for Need You Now, but seeing as it has been an eternity since I updated that I decided to look them over and make some changes, seeing as I have new ideas for that story now and I want to get this one started and finished before Glee comes back. Reviews are great! And those of you who reviewed NYN all those months ago and have it on your alerts, I'm so sorry for the eternal delay! But you can expect an update no later than tomorrow night, maybe even tonight if I get around to it!
Like I said, reviews are great, and I love some feedback on this chapter. I have the next three or so chapters pre-planned, but want to know what you all think so that I know whether I'm taking a step in the right direction or not.
Love & Rockets :]