The pained expression he wore was enough to make anyone walk away from him. His eyes were lost, confused. But most of all, they were hurt. His eyes mirrored the image of his soul, the way he is. She wanted to hold him once more, to hell him it isn't his fault. She wanted to let him cry into her shoulder, and rub his back as only a good friend does. She wanted to kiss his lips again, to taste the bittersweet love that still flowed effortlessly between them. But, all summer long, she stood from afar, watching the man she had changed suffer, more and more than she'd ever seen someone suffer. She holds her head in her hands, and let's the tears flow down her fair skin, out of her sad hazel eyes.
He sees her, easily, in the hallway, as he goes to class. She hears his footsteps, and looks up at him, into those hurt eyes that reflect herself in so many ways. He sees her, but he doesn't see her. His confident stride has been lost, the arrogent smirk rests no more on his smooth face that once looked like the most decilish angel you had ever laid eyes on. Now, the devilish angel's halo was crooked, and his robe was torn into a lowly man's clothes. She wipes the tears from her eyes, and puts on a face that shows nothing can break her, despite the fact she's already broken.
They share a sad smile at one another in Spanish. She folds her hands over her lap, smiling at him. She wants to go up, hold him again, to tell him to not cry himself to sleep again. He wants to tell her to leave him alone, to let him remorse over a loss he can't get out of his head. The most beautiful thing he ever saw, slipped out, and went away from him. His perfect, precious little creation, someone he loved more than anything. She let his precious creation go, away from his arms. His strong, safe arms.
The bell rings, and the class packs up their books. Two stay behind, simply sitting in their chairs. The teacher leaves them, alone. It's the end of the day, and there are so many words to be spoken in the silence that is nearly screaming it all. His eyes brighten at a sad thought, and she looks over at him, smiling as well. As he gets up, she gets up, and follows him towards the choir room. It's eerily empty, as he pulls out his guitar. He knows she's here, watching him, making sure he's alright. He strums an unfamiliar tune, before singing the words to a song that makes her eyes well up with more tears, and wants to take back everything that's happened last year, but keep it all the same.
Little baby Bethany
I see you smiling at me.
With your big hazel eyes,
And Daddy's smirk.
Sweet little Beth.
Have I ever told you
That you mean more than the sky,
Than the heavens and the earth
All combined to me.
Sweet little Beth.
Little baby Bethany.
And that Daddy's cries every night,
Because he can't hold you tight
In his strong arms.
Did you know Momma is alone?
Wishing for a better life.
She loves her little baby Beth,
But she can't show her the love anymore.
Have I ever told you
That you mean more than the sky,
Than the heavens and the earth
All combined to me.
Sweet little Beth.
Little baby Bethany.
One day, you'll hear this song.
A year or two from now.
You may not know it's for you.
But, it is.
Have I ever told you
That you mean more than the sky,
Than the heavens and the earth
All combined to me.
Sweet little Beth.
Little baby Bethany.
The little girl you use to be.
Sweet baby Bethany.
She walks out of the room, shaking she's crying so hard. He strums the chords, over and over, till his finger's feel numb. He knows she's listening outside the door. She knows he'll stop playing eventually. They live knowing, never doing though. She cries, her sobs now echoing painfully throughout the empty school. Night falls over the world, and he's still playing, a softer, gentler song she knows by heart. he's not singing though. She can hear his cries through the door. Suddenly, the music stops, abruptly, before a loud smash is heard. She opens the door, quickly, before looking at a smashed guitar, and a crying boy. He's broken, like her, and it's going to take a team to fix them back up.
She broke him, she broke him. No one else, but her.
She wraps her arms around the boy, before whispering sweet, loving things into his ear. It doesn't stop the cries, but it helps the cries grow softer. Soon he's just hiccuping, softly, and then he smiles again. She loves that smile. He watches her yawn, her lips forming a perfect 'o' at the end. He feels himself yawning as well. In each other's arms, they fall asleep, finally glad something was said between the two of them.
The next day, she walks up to him, and he is still wearing the same, sad look. She wonders what's wrong now, and before she can say anything, he's off like a sudden summer wind. she follows him, quickly, her soft shoes making no trace of a sound. She finds him outside, on a bench on the school's campus. His eyes are red, and he smells faintly of booze. She doesn't need to ask him what he did, or why he did it. He wants her to ask though, so he can tell her. She kisses his lips, the taste of booze seeps into her mouth. He sloppily kisses her back, but it soon grows a little more gentler and less precise. He pulls away, his face grows pale before heaving into the grass below them.
She rubs his back, and whispers things like, "It's okay." and "Afterwards how about we ditch school, and get ride of this hangover." and this like "Don't cry, love." and "I want you to feel better." She tells him all these things before calling up a friend to carry the drunken teenager to his car. She sneaks his keys into her tiny hands, and whiskes him to his house, where it's dark and no one is home. She put a bin at his feet, and gets some asprin for the headache he's complaining of. She thanks the tall friend with a hug, that he returns. The friend wishes a speedy recover, before hijacking his car to get back to school. The blue truck drives away in the distance, and the sounds of someone retching comes from the living room. With a contended sigh, she returns to her patient, letting him cry once more on her shoulder. Letting her, once more, feel needed again.
He is better by the afternoon, now bearable to deal with. His mother comes home, and finds the two giggling at the screen of a movie she doesn't recognize. With a tender smile, the mother pushes the young daughter out of the house, telling her that they'll go over to Mimi's home for the night. She hasn't seen her son this happy in forever, and doesn't want to reck the mood that is in the rom. I's warm like a candle, glowing softly in the darkness.
They hear the doors shut, but stay in their positions, holding onto one another. After an hour of being in love, they bicker. She's screaming at how insensitive he's being, and his face is red from the anger that builds up inside him. She sees a monster in his eyes, but she also sees truth and justice too. She is scared again, like she was what seemed like forever ago. She's scared he'll raise his hand, and smack her. But, he doesn't. Instead, his face turns into a normal color again, and he leans against the counter like he's about to pass out. She runs to him, and holds him in her arms once more, before he murmurs that he ran into their precious angel, and that's she's grown and looks like her, but with his eyes.
She is the one crying this time, and soon she is in his arms. And as she cries, it's his turn to whisper sweet, loving, tender things into her ear. He wants to make everything good again. He wants to make everything the way it should be.
The nest few weeks, their tranformation from strang lovers, to a little more than friends is noticable. His hand holds her, firmly and proctectively, as she rests her head on his shoulder. Her laugh is clearer, like the ringing of joyful bells, instead of the hum of a meloncholy bird, singing it's sad song. The smirk rests gently on his lips, but not fully there. He notices people, and talks to them. Everyone is smiling at the two, but watching for warning signs as well. If one snaps, the other will fall soon too.
The young soprano walks up to them, and asks if they want to hang out. He secretly sees the sadness still in their eyes, and he knows a similar pain that still is in his. He sees him squeeze her hand, and she replies that tonight would be fabulous. The young soprano smiles, before giving an awkward laugh. They all laugh, and decide to have a movie night. They walk to class, making small talk about everything that's going on. School, Glee, drama. Everyone turns to stare at the three friends, or what could be friends, secrectly envoius about how well they get along. What they don't see is the way the smaller boy is watching them, clearly worried. What they don't see is the way her smile is fake. What they don't see is the bruise fading on his devilish angle face, on the boy whose halo is slowly falling apart.
At the soprano's house, they laugh talk and tease one another. He leaves early, and it's now just the soprano and her. She talks to him, before leaving soon after him. He hears bickering, before a deafening silence. The soprano peeks through the curtains, to find a crying man, now back to square one. She is whispering sweet things in his ear, swaying to a song that isn't playing. The soprano wishes that he had someone like that.
The crying man was lucky he did.
A year has passed, and he kisses her goodbye. She kisses the bittersweet memories, the tears falling from his eyes, and the silence that surrounds them goodbye. He kisses her tears away, the marks up and down her arm from self inflicted pain from when they were both lost. She kisses away the bruises of his past, of the father he had, and the father he longed to be. They kiss till every star in the night sky is gone, and till morning rises. They kiss away everything, before they simple say goodbye.
They promise to meet eachother, one day, when everything was better than before.
Noah Puckerman still is love with her.
Quinn Fabray is still in love with him.
It still hasn't changed.