He decides on a Tuesday that she's a lot like coffee. With her dark brown eyes, and head full of brunette locks. She's like coffee. She can be warm and inviting, or cold and refreshing. She can definitely be useful when he has a hangover. So, she's like coffee. Except better 'cause he can actually make out with her, and Puck totally loves making out with Rachel.
Yeah, he's talking about Rachel, and how she's like coffee. Ever since she called him out on all the shit he pulled before juvy, and kissed her in the middle of her rant they have been madly in love. At least, that's how she tells the story. He simply sees it as something that would have happened no matter what. Inevitable.
''AAAHHHHHH!'', he's broken out of his thoughts by a sharp scream coming from the bathroom. Where Rachel just went to take a shower.
Before Puck can do anything Rachel runs out of the bathroom in only a towel and goes to hide behind him. He tries not to get too distracted by the way she's clinging to his back, with her chest right up against him.
''Rach, you okay?'', he asks.
He can feel her head shake against his back. He turns around and pulls her into his arms; his lips curve up as he feels the contours of her body. Unconsciously, his grip around her tightens.
''What's wrong, babe?''
''There's a spider in the bathtub.'', her voice is barely above a whisper.
He fights back a laugh. Of course Rachel would freak out over a little spider.
''Do you want me to take care of it?'', he asks as he runs a hand through her slightly damp hair.
''Yes, but don't kill it. And be careful, it's big and hairy.''
He rolls his eyes at her concern, and bites back an innuendo about big and hairy things. ''Are you questioning my badassness?''
He had said the same thing to her the first time they dated back in sophomore year, and when she ducks her head and blushes he knows she remembers. He laughs under his breath, and walks into the bathroom in search of the infamous spider.
He quickly spots it sitting innocently in the middle of the tub. Puck has to admit, it is pretty creepy looking. It's one of those spiders that looks like a mini tarantula, with the hairy legs, and big body.
Puck grabs the water cup off the sink and puts it over the spider, entrapping it in the glass cylinder. Now what? He thinks. Rachel told him not to kill it, her and her vegetarian tendencies, but how on earth is he supposed to get it out of the bathtub? He looks around the room searching for something flat to slide the spider onto while keeping it trapped. He opens the cabinet, and finds an unopened box of q-tips. Not ideal, but its a flat surface at least.
As he walks out of the bathroom with the spider under the cup balancing it precariously on top of the q-tip box he can Rachel singing to herself downstairs.
He quickly gets rid of the spider, and follows Rachel's voice to the kitchen. For a minute he just stands there, admiring her form as she cooks breakfast for them. He closes his eyes, and he's back in the McKinley choir room, listening to her dedicate a song to her loving boyfriend. He's still shocked that she chose him over Finn. After they got together junior year she helped him pull his grades up to where he could actually graduate on time. Whenever he tried to break up with her spouting out crap about how he couldn't hold her back, she was the one to knock some sense into his head, and push him to apply to NYU. Now, here they are twenty-two years old and taking New York by storm. He had gotten a job singing at bar when they first got here, and some dude from an Indie record offered him a contract. It was hard trying to balance school and working on his new CD, but he managed it with Rachel. Whom had just graduated from NYADA, and was auditioning for any role she could.
''Noah, breakfast is ready!'', she calls out louder than she needs to, probably thinking he's still upstairs.
He goes up behind her, and wraps his arms around her tiny frame. She jumps, not expecting him to be right behind her, but the relaxes into his arms just like every other time.
''The spider's gone, Rach.'', he whispers in her ear.
He hears the gasp leave her lips as he starts peppering her neck with kisses.
''Mmmmm, Noah.'', she moans out in a breathless whisper.
He moves his lips to hers, and captures her mouth in a searing kiss. Her soft lips move gently against his, and he licks her bottom lip, asking for entry. He gently caresses her tongue with his when her mouth opens to let him in. The kiss increases in intensity, and he can feel her pouring all her love, passion, and devotion to him in that one kiss. He responds with just as much fervor, if not more. They kiss for several moments until a beeping noise interrupts their impromptu make out session.
''Mmm, coffee's done.'', Rachel says, still a little breathless from the kiss.
Puck smiles to himself as he remembers his little epiphany from earlier where he compared her to coffee.
''I love you.'' , he answers, simply.
''I love you too.''
P&R P&R P&R P&R P&R P&R
He sits on the bed in their room, mindlessly strumming his guitar. Rachel had left awhile ago to go to her audition for RENT. Come on, Puck. The album has to be done by Friday. Just one more song, you can do it. He growls in frustration as he tries, and fails, to write his last song for his new album, Pipe Dreams.
He can usually find inspiration in Rachel, so he gets up and walks over to the dresser. He pulls the small velvet box out of an old pair of socks where he had hidden it from Rachel, and opens it. There, nestled between the satin is an engagement ring. To him, it was never a question of if he was going to propose, but a question of when. So, four months ago, he went out and bought Rachel's ring. As he holds the delicate ring between his thumb and forefinger,he thinks of everything he loves about Rachel.
She accepts him the way he is.
He loves her, and she loves him.
Her voice can make you cry and laugh at the same time.
He loves coffee, and this morning he compared Rachel to it.
That's it! Puck thinks. Coffee, that's what he's gonna write about. He grabs a piece of paper, and starts on his new song about his two favorite things.
She's like cold coffee in the morning
I'm drunk off last nights whisky and coke
She'll make me shiver without warning
And make me laugh as if I'm in on the joke.
As Puck holds up the finished product proud of himself, he starts thinking. He has a perfect, beautiful girlfriend who his mom adores that he's totally in love with. And he has an engagement ring available not ten feet away, and a kick ass song about Rachel. Puck's not the smartest, but he can tell when the universe is telling him that he should propose to his girlfriend of five years. So, with this thought in mind, he collaborates a plan for tonight.
P&R P&R P&R P&R P&R P&R
Rachel walks in the door of her and Noah's apartment with a smile on her face. She couldn't wait to tell Noah how here audition went.
''Noah.'', she called out, knowing he was home.
''In the room, babe.''
Her smile widened at the sight of Noah sitting on the bed with his guitar beside him when she entered their room. The crumbled up papers surrounding him were a sign that he'd been writing all day.
''Hey, Rach. Can I get your opinion on a song?''
Like he had to even ask. She always wanted to hear what he wrote. Rachel nods, and sits down next to him on the bed. She crosses her ankles and curls up against his side, and tucks her head into the crook of his neck.
''Ok, I'm ready.'', she tells him.
As he starts strumming his guitar she closes her eyes, and loses herself in the soft tresses of his voice. In her opinion, he's never written a bad song, but she could be biased.
She's like cold coffee in the morning
I'm drunk off last nights whisky and coke
She'll make me shiver without warning
And make me laugh as if I'm in on the joke
And you can stay with me forever
Or you could stay with me for now
Tell me if I'm wrong
Tell me if I'm right
Tell me if you need a loving hand
To help you fall asleep tonight
Tell me if I know
Tell me if I do
Tell me how to fall in love the way you want me to
Rachel nuzzles her face deeper into his neck half way through the chorus.
I'll wake with coffee in the morning
But she prefers two lumps of sugar and tea
Outside the day is up and calling
But I don't have to be so, please go back to sleep
Stay with me forever
Or you could stay with me for now
Tell me if I'm wrong
Tell me if I'm right
Tell me if you need a loving hand
To help you fall asleep tonight
Tell me if I know
Tell me if I do
Tell me how to fall in love the way you want me to
'Cause I love the way you wake me up
For goodness sake will my love not be enough?
Tell me if I'm wrong
Tell me if I'm right
Tell me if you need a loving hand
To help you fall asleep tonight
Tell me if I know
Tell me if I do
Tell me how to fall in love the way you want me to
Tell me if I'm wrong
Tell me if I'm right
Tell me if you need a loving hand
To help you fall asleep tonight
After the last note rings through the room, they both just sit there for the next minute. Both are reluctant to break the comfortable silence, but he did ask her opinion.
''It's beautiful.'', she says truthfully.
''It's for you.''
She knows that the song's for her, but she still blushes when she hears him say it out loud. Again, they sit in companionable silence with Noah softly running his fingers through Rachels hair.
''How did the audition go?'', he asks.
That's one of the things that she loves about him. When he ask her about her day, he really wants to know.
''It went great; I feel really good about it. Even though it's just an off Broadway production I would still love to get the part of Mimi. Just think it's the begging of my rise to fame. Rachel Berry, Broadway star'', she says.
Noah untangles himself from Rachel, and gets off the bed. Before she can say anything, he gets down on one knee.
''Rachel, I love you, and I know you love me. We're both young, but we both know that we're it for each other. I know you want to be Rachel Berry, Broadway star, but would you consider being Rachel Puckerman, Broadway star? Will you mary me Rachel Berry?''
All Rachel can do is sit there in a stunned silence. They've been together since junior year. They've seen each other at their best, and worst. They both are completely devoted to each other. But on the other hand they're young. They're just starting out in life, and Rachel knows the statistics of any marriage working out. They are so many reasons why they shouldn't get married now, but for once Rachel decides to follow her heart.
Noah just waits patiently for her answer while she works this out in her head. He knows that her silence isn't necessarily a bad sing.
''Yes.'', Rachel whispers before she can let her head out rule what her heart says.
''Yes?'', Noah asks in an amazed tone.
''Yes, Noah. I would love to be Rachel Puckerman, Broadway star.''
''YES!'', Noah shouts, and jumps up off his knees to take Rachel in his arms.
He slides the ring onto her finger, and pulls her mouth to his in a searing kiss. The kiss isn't like others they've shared. This one holds all the hopes they've ever had for anything about their future. It holds a promise to love each other forever. The kiss holds everything the want.
The one to pull away first is Noah.
''Hey Rach, we're getting married,'', he whispers in her ear.
A shiver runs down Rachel's spine as he pulls her in a kiss mor intense and demanding from earlier. They fall back on the bed, getting lost in their own corner of the universe.
Well, that's it. I'm thinking about doing a little sequel for it. Review please. Oh, and I highly suggest you go to YouTube and listen to Cold Coffee by Ed Sheeran, it's the song Puck sings. And the album Pipe Dreams is real, it's Mark Salling's (Puck) album.