Title: Don't Let This Be Over (It's Only Just Begun)
Category: Glee
Genre: Drama/Romance
Ship: Puck/Rachel
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Picture – by bewolke puckrachel drabble meme (part 8)
Word Count: 1,137
Summary: In a few hours, she'd be gone, and a bitter part of his heart was terrified that this would be the last time he saw her.
Don't Let This Be Over (It's Only Just Begun)
-1/1-
It was her last night in Lima. She was getting on a plane for New York in the morning and in a couple months, when he was sure things were settled with his ma and sister, he'd follow her down. Before Rachel, he'd always planned on leaving Lima. He didn't know where he'd go, but he'd set out with a backpack and nothing but his feet to get him there if he had to. And then she came along and she had all the plans and dreams and she wanted him to be a part of them. A part of her.
Sometimes, he thought life was easier before fell in love with her. Being badass Puck, the guy who threw losers in dumpsters and swirlied them and tossed slushees in their faces, that was who he'd created. Somebody he had to be so he didn't get looked down on or treated like shit. If he was the one handing out the beatings, then nobody could be breaking him down. He had enough of that at home, with his ma breathing down his neck and the ghost of his dead-beat father hanging over his head like a noose. But it was easy for him; he'd long-perfected that alter-ego.
Maybe it was glee that changed him, maybe it was Beth, or maybe it was just those assholes locking him in a port-a-potty, either way, he was trying to be better. And he was doing just that when he and Rachel got their shit together. He was learning how to be a good man, a good boyfriend, a good person. And when her and Finn blew up, yeah, he took his chance. 'Cause Rachel was the nice, Jewish girl his ma wanted for him, but she was also so much more than that. She was supportive and crazy and she saw something in him that sometime even he had trouble seeing. Something she repeatedly tried to convince him was there and would get him everything he deserved and wanted in life.
So yeah, maybe it was easier to be a badass who wasn't in love with her. There would probably be a lot less slushees thrown in his face or assholes calling him out or whatever, but… Seeing how proud she was of him, every day, that was worth all of it. So they stuck together and they made it through senior year and she got into NYADA and so their plans for New York were settled. They would go and they would rock it and their lives would really begin.
She thought they'd be hitting up BreadstiX for their last night; some big last dinner before they spent the rest of the summer apart. Instead, he gathered up a couple blankets and some pillows and he brought her down to the lake. He looked up vegan-friendly recipes and he made some snacks for them and he told his ma not to wait up.
They spent the whole night camped out there, laughing and reminiscing and making out. She stripped her little dress off until she was just wearing the slip beneath and he tossed his shirt somewhere unknown and they sprawled back against their makeshift bed, staring at the stars through the tree branches.
"Do you see that one star standing out, Noah? The one that's just a little brighter than the rest?" she asked.
He squinted and thought he found it, so he nodded. "Sure."
"That's me."
He grinned. "Ego, babe… You already got it."
She chuckled, reaching over to slap his stomach lightly. "And do you see the star right next to it? How bright and beautiful and unique it is?"
He pursed his lips. "Rach, they all look the same to me."
"They're not." She rolled over and stared at him seriously. "Those two stars are special… In the whole universe, those two are the best and the brightest and the most talented…" She nodded. "And they are going to do amazing things…" She reached for his hand and threaded their fingers, squeezing. "Together."
He licked his dry lips and nodded up at her. "Okay."
She laid back down, closer this time, resting her head on his chest. "Tell me everything you want to do when you get to New York…"
He trailed his fingers through her hair and told her. All the big things and the little things and the sweet things she'd appreciate, like test out their bathtub with all that fruity bubblebath shit she liked; he talked until she was starting to fall asleep and he could hardly keep his eyes open. And then he kissed her forehead and told her, "I'll show you the rest when I get there, babe…"
He could feel her smile as she curled up into him.
He stayed awake and watched as the stars faded away, replaced by a pink sky. As the sun started rising above the water, he sat up, resting his arms on his knees, and looked down at her sprawled next to him, her long dark hair mussed from moving around in her sleep. The morning air was cool and he could feel his skin prickle with goosebumps. Her legs and arms and some of her back was bare, her skin smooth, the sun peeking through the trees to warm her shoulder.
He stared a long while. She was so damn beautiful. In a few hours, she'd be gone, and a bitter part of his heart was terrified that this would be the last time he saw her. His ma would ask him to stay or his sister would beg him not to leave her or in a couple months, Rachel would come to her senses and tell him New York wasn't really his thing, she wasn't really his thing…
And then she moved, inhaling softly, and murmured, "Noah?"
"Yeah, babe?"
She reached back for him. "Come hold me."
He rolled over and slid up against her back, spooning around her, his arms wrapping her up into him, face buried in her hair. God, she smelled like apples and a bit like his cologne.
She smiled. "I can't wait to wake up every morning like this," she told him.
The wistful promise made him grin and suddenly two months didn't seem so long; didn't seem like a death sentence for their relationship. They'd been through worse right next to each other and they'd already come so far. He would keep his promise to his mom and help out with Sarah while she was out of school, but when September came, he'd go to New York and his dreams and his life and his girl.
He kissed her shoulder. "Love you."
She looked back at him from dreamy, soft eyes. "I love you too, Noah."
And that would be enough to get him by.
[End.]