The Road Back

Chapter 1: The First Steps

There it sat, on top of a dirty gym bag in the front seat of her car.

Shiny, red, and shaped like a heart.

The note attached read, "Come to the usual place after the gym. Gotta ask you something. xoxo –P." The heart by the letter "P" looked out of place, the lines wobbling as though he'd thought twice about putting it there.

Chocolates and love notes with sloppy hearts.

Lauren snorted involuntarily. Obviously she had underestimated how corny, and desperate, Puck could be. Especially when it came to getting her back.

Even though she had officially forgiven him before the school year had ended, claiming that summer vacation would be infinitely more entertaining with him around, Puck was still just her friend. She may have been a complete sucker for all of his wooing – she had almost an entire albums worth of songs he'd written her in the last few months – and she most definitely wanted "them," again, but the scar of the tape still lingered. And not just for her.

Having Quinn Fabray broadcast what was her and Puck's one-time only sex life all over the Internet hadn't just shaken Lauren's life up. It had shattered her whole family. Her little brothers were pretty much forced out of regular school, and their sports teams, by bullying and whispers. They were spending their summer vacation on her aunt's farm in Kentucky just to put some distance between them and all of that. And her parents…well, they had weathered the storm of parental outrage, and the brief boycott of their restaurant – her dad's manicotti was impossible for anyone to resist – like champs. Getting back to a "good place" in their relationship with her was another story. There had been times when it seemed like they couldn't look at her without being at a complete loss, and days at a time could go by without them saying more than, "have a good day at school," or, "good luck at your match," to her.

Everything had gotten better with time, it just hadn't been easy.

And Lauren had to think about all the hell they'd been through every time she thought about taking Puck back. She loved them all too much not to.

But she also loved Puck too much to just throw it all away.

The headrest cradled her head as she sank back heavily into her driver's seat.

I love him.

It was overwhelming every time she felt it, yet it had only taken something small to make her realize it.

After her dad had agreed to let Puck come back around their house, or at least after he'd stopped overtly threatening Puck with "the most gruesome sort of bodily harm imaginable," Puck had wasted no time putting in the effort of getting back in good with her family. He'd started with her little brothers, since he knew how much she loved those two little monsters despite the fact that she always bitched about how crazy they made her. His weapon of choice? His guitar…because, really, what kid doesn't want to be a full blown rock star? Or at least pretend to be, anyway.

Watching him teach them both how to play wasn't that big of a deal, especially because it wasn't so much teaching as it was him letting them fake jam on his guitar. Plus, she'd seen him play the guitar a million times. Sexy as he was with his axe in hand, she had gotten kind of immune…unless he was playing directly to her, of course. But watching the way the boys' eyes practically lit up when Puck let them each have a pick from his prized collection? Lauren didn't stand a chance after that. She was a total goner.

Puck didn't know that though, and she wasn't about to let him in on the secret. Not because she wanted to dick around with his feelings or anything. As fun as it was having him under her thumb sometimes, real feelings were important and she wasn't the kind of girl who messed with someone else's. Her motives for keeping her mouth shut, and her heart locked up tight, were entirely fear based – another new emotion for her since she could count all the things that truly scared her on one hand.

Sure, Puck could talk a good game, and write her songs, and charm her little brothers…but actually telling him and showing him that she loved him required her to trust him again. The last time she'd done it, her ass had ended up on the Internet – literally and forever – because he'd lied. And as much as she'd forgiven him for that, forgiving wasn't forgetting. She wasn't about to hold it over his head, especially since she knew they couldn't work if she did. But forgetting something like that? She couldn't do it and still respect herself.

It wasn't hard to love him. It was just hard letting everything happen.

"What to do, what to do?" Lauren hummed as she eyed the heart one more time before stuffing it in her bag, and easing her car out of her driveway.

x.x.x.x

Puck looked over his shoulder, squinting to read the digital display on his dashboard.

12:12

Lauren was always out of the gym before noon. Something about not wasting an entire morning away sleeping – this was just her way of giving him shit without really meaning anything by it. But here he was, still half asleep because he'd gotten up early just to put the stuff in her car, waiting.

Waiting.

It seemed like he was always fucking waiting on this girl.

The old Puck would probably have scoffed a bit, rolled his eyes, and moved on to the next hot girl in his queue.

But Lauren Zizes? Not just another hot girl.

He'd always thought "the one" was complete bullshit. It was just something guys said to get into a girls pants. Or maybe that was just him. Either way, the idea of having one person who "completes you," or whatever Tom Cruise said in that movie, was stupid to him. Having a bunch of chicks that made him feel good? Way more fun than having one tying him down and being a total killjoy. He hadn't been screwing around the time he wrote "3some" on his paper when Bryan Ryan had asked them what their dreams were in glee club. Back then, that'd been his dream.

The thing was…he didn't really need all that when he was with Lauren. Sure, the idea of two chicks and him was still pretty hot – he couldn't help thinking it, he was a guy – but it wasn't like he was missing out on anything. If he was being honest, being with her, even if they were just friends, made him feel all those warm, tingly, girl emotions. Even if it made him a loser, feeling that way trumped any Girls Gone Wild scenario he could play out in his head, and just like before the tape, he was into the idea of having something that was more than sex with Lauren.

Though the sex would be totally fucking amazing just like it was the first time.

He groaned. It was way too hot out to be thinking about her naked. Being sweaty and horny only equaled a good time when he could do something about it, which was totally not an option since he was sitting on the tailgate of his truck, looking out over a lake in the middle of the park that was their new "usual place."

Puck may not have been the brightest, but he knew taking Lauren to their old make-out spot when she barely let him get close enough to touch her half the time probably wasn't the best idea. So he'd decided to offer up this park as a new place, since it was usually kind of deserted, but not in a "let me feel you up in the cab of my truck" kind of way. She'd definitely been into when he took her there the first time, so it just kind of stuck.

He had just pulled his top t-shirt over his head, leaving him in only a white undershirt, when he felt her slide onto the tailgate next to him.

"So what's the deal with the cryptic candy, Puckerman? You summon me here, like I have nothing better to do."

Puck grinned, throwing the shirt back into the bed. "No one summons you anywhere, so don't pretend like you didn't want to come."

"Whatever," she said, trying to hide a tiny smile. "Just get to your point. It's too hot out here for games."

This had always been their thing, the back and forth, and he loved seeing it now because it was a sign that she really had gotten back to herself.

After the tape, she had lost a little bit of her snap. He'd understood it. Hell, he'd had his confidence shaken by one bad haircut the year before. The difference between them was that he'd had to date a popular girl who didn't really like him to get it back. All Lauren had to do was decide to pick herself back up, and keep on being the badass that she was.

Watching her do it reminded him of the thing he liked most about her – her confidence – and he was glad to see it come back because he had missed it and missed her.

Puck turned to her, and pretended like he didn't notice her rolling her eyes when he scooted a little closer. "Okay. So my pool cleaning business is kind of slow right now, and since I've got nothing else going on, I thought about taking a little road trip. And I want you to come with me."

"My parents'll never go for it." It wasn't the answer Lauren wanted to give him, but the inevitable "no" from her parents had sent the words spilling out of her mouth before she had a chance to really think.

"Wait. Just here me out. See, that Blaine kid who Kurt's dating works at Six Flags, so Kurt's been bugging Carol and Burt to go up there since summer started. They finally caved so they're taking him and Finn on a little family vacation. I figured we could use them as our 'chaperones,' even though I have like no interest in going to an amusement park."

"Did they actually go for that? Kurt and Finn's parents, I mean."

"Are you kidding? Carol freakin' loves me. All I had to do was tell her that you and me were just friends, which is technically true, and that I'd be sharing a room with Kurt and Finn so there'd be no after hours action happenin'. She totally went for it." Puck threw his arm around Lauren's shoulders. "You're boy has it all under control, babe."

Lauren's eyebrow arched. "You're pretty sure of yourself, asking her before you ask my parents. Or me, for that matter."

Puck shot her a look. "So you don't wanna go?"

"First of all, I hate amusement parks. There was a bad experience with a carnival coaster when I was a kid and…well, frankly, I don't want to talk about it. And I don't really know what the point of driving up there is if I don't want to go to Six Flags."

"Actually, I thought we could hang out in Chicago for a day since it's so close. I mean, it's no New York, but I did some research, and they have this totally cool aquarium there. I know how much you dig that under the sea stuff so I figured you might want to see it."

There was no way for Lauren to hide the color that rose to her cheeks. Even though he made her sound like an 8-year old who was still into the Little Mermaid, which was completely ludicrous because she was never into that in the first place, she couldn't help but love that he'd remembered her affinity for all things aquatic. "There's still my parents. Us hanging out alone in a big city like that isn't going to be their dream come true."

"Look, if you don't want to go, just say so, and I'll drop it."

Lauren could tell he was disappointed, and that was the last thing she wanted. Especially since there was nowhere she could think of that she didn't want to go with him. "It's not that I don't want to go. But the reality is that my parents may shoot it down."

"So if we can convince them, you're in?" He almost beamed when he said it.

Lauren liked the sound of 'we.' "Take me back to your house, and get some of that iced tea your mom makes, and I'm in."

He jutted his thumb to the cab of his truck. "You're the boss."