She watched them together, the golden couple, wondering where she went wrong. For two years now, she had been on the fringes of the epic relationship that was Finn and Quinn. There had been a time, a brief shining moment, where it had been Rachel and Finn, but those days were long gone. She had ruined it on her own, and now, she had to be content to watch as they planned their final days of senior year together where they would go off to Duke, graduate with matching teaching degrees, end up married and eventually show up at their ten-year high school reunion as the parents of perfect twins. Not that Rachel really thought about...well, not much anyway.
Rachel wasn't the only one who was forced to be on the outside looking in. From the minute that he had agreed to give up his daughter, Puck had stopped having an important place in Quinn's world. It sucked watching his best friend be so happy with the blonde, the once-center of his universe and the girl he had actually believed that he loved at one time. It was hard to be their friend – both their friend because that's what was required in their social circle. They were at the top along with the likes of Santana and Puck. Mattering meant they at least pretended to be friends. And so he didn't mind the occasional date where he pretended to tolerate Santana and not stare at Quinn's ass in line at the movies and stopped himself from punching Finn in the face every time he kissed his own girlfriend.
That's what led him here, waiting outside the girl's bathroom, wanting to talk to probably the only person who could understand. She is dressed unlike herself, with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and her usual sweater and short skirt replaced with a hoodie and jeans. Rachel is surprised to find him waiting but doesn't let herself show it. Instead, she shifts her books to her other arm and looks at him with a look of disdain. "What is it, Noah?" she asked. Her voice isn't prim but horse, a sign that she has been crying. He has come to know the signs well over the past two years.
"C'mon, Rach, talk to me" he pled. They've been doing this for awhile now, confiding in each other. She helped him get through his break up with Zizes. He helped her deal with that nasty first week of school where Finn broke her heart again, after another summer where she felt hopeful and Puck saw her reality before it came crashing down around her. "I saw what happened at Glee Club. Please, just talk to me."
She hadn't expected for Quinn to show her up when they tried out for solos. This was their last year at nationals with Finn and some of the others. It was her last chance, and when it had come down to the key duet, everyone had always assumed that it would be Finn and Rachel. When Quinn had hit all the right notes and Rachel had fallen flat, Mr. Schuester had no chance but to select the bubbly blonde for the key part. Rachel would still duet in a lead position but not with Finn. Puck knew it had to hurt.
"I need to get used to sharing the spotlight if I am ever going to blossom at Julliard," she mumbled. It wasn't like her to accept reality, no matter how glaring it was. Rachel had been the star of her own dreams for as long as Puck had known her and definitely even longer. "Besides, it's just one song and a few more weeks of school. I'll be staying in New York after Nationals to get a jump start on my summer program at Julliard. It's no big deal. Nothing I can't handle, at least."
And that's what makes Puck stop. He grabs her by the shoulder and pressed her backward until she is pinned against a locker. Rachel's eyes don't waver as she looks up at him, pleading for him to release her but not really putting up a fight. "Noah, I don't have time for this," she moans. "It's my turn to make dinner."
"Nope, Berry, you're not going anywhere until I see that superstar arrogance that drives us all crazy," he shakes his head. "I'm serious, Rachel. Do not let them do this to you. You're better than any of us, you know that and we know that. Quinn sang better than you on one song. One song. So what? I know that you could sing circles around her if you wanted, including on that song. Something tells me that maybe you didn't try as hard as you could have and maybe you didn't really want to sing with Finn. Maybe you wanted to duet with someone else. Maybe you wanted your chance to shine without standing in the stupid shadow of what used to be Rachel and Finn."
"I would never not do my best," she argued feebly. He knew then that he had been right about everything. That moment of hesitation before she lifted her chin and looked him square in his eyes told him everything. "I am a star, Puck. I think my vocal abilities will compliment yours much better on To Make You Feel My Love than they would have went with Finn's on Dancin' in the Dark."
"C'mon, Rach," he said again. "This is me, this is us. Just a couple of good lookin' Jews, right?"
She laughed then. "Noah..."
"Rachel, we can do this. We can be the best thing about Nationals. Don't let Finn and Quinn take this away from you. They might have changed a lot of things that we went through these past few years. That doesn't mean that they get this moment. We're going to sing that song and we're going to kill it at Nationals. I don't care how much I have to practice or how much time we have to spend together."
Her dark eyes shone with fear and excitement and exhaustion and life. It was all these emotions at once, far too much for a seventeen-year-old to deal with. But Rachel could handle it and she would. She reached up and hugged Puck then, burying her face in his letter jacket briefly. "Thanks, Noah," she whispered before looking up at him. "For everything."
"We're going to win Nationals, Rach," he promised. "We're going to go the distance."
Noah nodded as she slid her fingers down into his hand. He would remember this moment later as the one where they got together. It was the one that drove him to get good grades that last month of school so that he could go to NYU, shocking everyone that knew him back in Lima. It was the one that helped them through long rehearsals that led up to winning Nationals. It was the one that he carried with him every time she would get nervous before a big audition over the next four years, whispering in her ear those same soothing words until she became his confident Rachel again. It was the one they recounted at their rehearsal dinner when they got married a year after college, just three days before she opened on Broadway in a revival of Spring Awakening. And it's the one that she tells their daughter, who is born two weeks after she won her first Tony and just a month before they go back to Ohio for their ten year reunion. Finn and Quinn might not have made it that long, but Rachel and Puck went the distance.
Not bad for a couple of good looking Jews, huh?