He paced the boys bathroom incessantly looking every which way. His mind was racing and so many thoughts passed by that his head began to ache and hurt from exhaustion, he never was the brightest. He knew it, everybody knew it, but worst of all – in his eyes- Rachel Berry knew it. Yes Rachel Berry, little miss perfect 'I'm gonna be on Broadway and I love gold stars and stuff' Rachel Berry. The same person who held his heart in the palm of her hand, the one person who took advantage of that and crushed it into pieces with no regards to the complete mess that would make of him. He's stupid, dumb, slow, an idiot.
'You're nothing but an insecure oversized toddler who's too slow to see that she deserves something so much better than and idiotic ball of stupid like yourself.'
Quinn Fabray. He seethed just at the thought of the blonde girl. Who does she think she is calling him stupid and slow? How can it even occur to her to call him something like that when he was the only person to figure it all out? Yeah he was the only person to know what was really going on around him. Everybody else was completely clueless to the leering and longing glances from across the room. Nobody saw the way a certain brunette mooned shamelessly over the person who was set out to make her life a living hell. Oh but he isn't stupid, he knew it was all just a way for the blonde to cover it all up. The 'hateful' way she spoke to her covered up a huge amount of passion. The detrimental names hid all the terms of endearment that she longed to use.
He stopped pacing and placed his hand on the sink closest to him as his eyes lost coordination and his breath came out in harsh rasps. He knew it and he would be damned if he allowed himself to be played the way he was. He still couldn't understand how it all came to be, his first love and his current love interest were practically drooling over each other when they should have been drooling over him. Nobody but him! That's what his mind would tell him. He snickered and rubbed the back of his neck out of pure anxiety.
"Hey dude you okay?" He snapped out of his daze and looked ahead of himself. There stood Puck with a confused expression on his face. He nodded quickly and showed one of his lopsided half grins.
"Yeah man I was just thinking about something" He said, his grin growing and turning into a full blown smile as he placed a hand on Puck's shoulder and squeezed tight. Puck's eyebrows furrowed as he observed his face. His eyes seemed to be glazed over, he was sweating, not excessively but it was obvious by the small amount of beads on his forehead and that smile was so out of place. It was so unlike him that it sent shivers down his spine. "Come on let's go, wouldn't want to be late for glee"
Puck cleared his throat and focused on the eyes of the large figure before him again and the same unnerving feeling fell through him for some reason. He nodded and they walked out of the bathroom and headed towards the choir room. The hallways were empty since only the Gleeks were around at the time for a last minute rehearsal because Finn had something important to share that might help them win.
"So you sure you're okay man? You look like you're sick or something" Puck mumbled with placing his hands in his pockets while looking straight ahead. He waited what seemed to be a minute before looking at the person next to him and if he was confused a few minutes ago, than at the moment he couldnt pin point what was happening to his fellow Gleek. "Finn?"
His bottom lip was being bitten tightly between his teeth, cheeks were a rosy color and it seemed as though he was either angry or had a fever. His perspiration increased and the collar of his green shirt was drenched. His backpack held overprotectively in his arms, gripping so hard it looked as though it was painful even. He was certain Puck was speaking to him but he could care less. The reality of his actions were finally sinking in and he hadnt even gone through with it yet. But he would do it. For himself. For his pride. For Rachel. She deserved it. The best and Quinn Fabray was anything but the best thing for her.
It was so funny that he chuckled. He walked in one day to Glee rehearsal and it all clicked. His eyes found Rachel instantly but her gaze was fixed on the opposite side of the room towards a particular blonde who was glancing shyly her way. Shyly! Since when did McKinley's HBIC act shy about anything. Rachel was blushing profusely and Quinn would smirk every once in a while before acting as if she was glaring at the brunette. Then Rachel started twirling her hair between her fingers as she drifted to lala land and only came back to look at the blonde again. It was all so surreal for him. It was almost as if the world stopped and there was no starting it again. Permanent pause and that's when he lost it.
"Im outta here whatever" Puck said feeling aggravated because he was being ignored. Finn nodded absentmindedly and held onto his backpack tighter. He leaned against a row of lockers and let out a deep breath and closed his eyes for a total of half a second before grinning and walking towards the choir room.
She shook her head as she looked herself in the mirror barely recognizing herself and yet finally seeing her true colors. There was so much going on in her life at the moment. Her grades were as good as ever, her relationship with her mother and father had grown significantly, she hadn't been in a relationship for the better part of a year as a way to get to know herself better and see exactly where she was standing. Her feelings were in check and she was no longer confused. Glee was coming to an end as was school but the most important thing for her at the moment was the fact that she had applied to Columbia University in New York and was accepted with a half-tuition scholarship. She was finally going to leave Lima and make something of herself, but most of all she was finally going to take a leap and tell Rachel Berry just how much she meant to her.
She had it all planned, she would find out what her schedule at school would be like and she would start going to all her rehearsals or dance classes or anything related to her in any way just to be close to her. After the shock of having Quinn speak to her because she just knows Rachel will be surprised that her lifelong tormentor had desires to maintain a conversation with her and show up around campus to spend time with her, Quinn would befriend her and after a slow and romantic courtship she would tell Rachel all about her repressed feelings, fears and dreams regarding her. Rachel would cry dramatically and throw herself in her arms and they would live happily ever after with a huge family – six loud rambunctious dramatic kids with adorable large brown eyes, according to her plans -.
She smiled and laughed at herself in the mirror. The happiness she felt with the simple thought of it all actually happening was almost too much for her to handle and her heart raced and ached all at once. Who was she to say that Rachel would ever forgive her anything that she had put her through. All the slushies, insults, belittling. Every tear that dropped from those warm and soulful eyes. A heavy sigh escaped her lips. Rachel had to forgive her, she just had to.
"Hey can I talk to you?" Puck leaned against the locker next to Rachel's startling the brunette making her drop all her books. They both bent to pick them up.
"Noah! You scared me, of course we can talk. Is everything okay?" She asked once they were both standing and she saw the worried expression on his face.
"I don't think so" He said seriously. Rachel looked at him for a brief second as to read him since they had grown significantly closer after having lost Nationals in New York junior year.
"What's wrong?" She asked stepping closer to him in a way of reassurance.
"I think something's wrong with Finn"
"What would make you think that?" She asked with confusion. He sighed and leaned fully against the locker with his back pressed tightly towards it.
"I don't know... I mean have you ever had a feeling that something really bad was about to happen but you know that you have no way of preventing it" He whispered looking the brunette straight in the eye. Again Rachel stopped a moment to study him and what she saw was concern and a hint of fear. She smiled and held his hand as he explained the occurrence that had happened not only five minutes earlier between Finn and himself.
"Noah there's nothing to be concerned about. I'm sure Finn is probably just going through something related to separation anxiety because graduation is around the corner and it is definitely something to feel stressed about." She said with the same warm smile on her lips. He looked at her and she nudged his shoulder with hers playfully causing him to chuckle and shake his head.
"I'm serious you know" He said.
"Don't think that's possible"
"And that's offensive!"
"Wow, didn't know that word was in your vocabulary" She said between small giggles.
"I liked you better when you weren't somewhat cool" He said rolling his eyes.
"Shut it Puckerman" She said smacking his shoulder non too lightly making him flinch. They both laughed for a while. When their laughs finally subsided, they both looked around the empty halls and a sense of nostalgia hit them both. "Can you believe it? One week and we are officially out of McKinley High" Rachel said with a sigh.
"Can you believe I'm actually graduating?" Puck responded with a nod. Rachel turned to look at him and bit her lip nervously. She always got nervous when she spoke about the next thing that came to her mind.
"Of course. You are quite intelligent when you want to be"
"Thanks, that's a lot coming from Ms. Gold Star" He said chuckling.
"It certainly is. I for one can't wait to start in Julliard. I have so many plans to go shopping and I just have to have breakfast at Tiffany's again. Oh! And I must go to the top of the empire state building, it's one of the first sights to see in New York" She said trailing off at the end. Sadness creeping onto her face. Puck looked at her questioningly and she shrugged as she pursed her lips.
"Well?" He asked impatiently knowing the diva was struggling with something in her head.
"Do you think Quinn is going to stay here? In Lima I mean. Not that I care or anything because I am not going to miss her and I don't think about her at all." She said, almost stuttered. Puck smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at Rachel suggestively, laughing internally at Rachel's oversharing. Rachel shook her head with a roll of her eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me. Quinn totally gets you wet"
"Noah!" She said with a scold as her eyes darted every which way making sure nobody had heard such a comment. "Quinn does not... Who said I'm w... Look I'm just curious is all" She finished saying with a huff and a small stomp making Puck laugh loudly as she walked away.
"Yeah you keep telling yourself that Rach!" He shouted with the same smirk on his face failing to notice the shadow of a person close by hearing the whole conversation.
