Title: "A Part of You is Something"
Rated: T for some cursing on Puck's behalf.
Summary:Rachel discovers Puck's fling with Shelby. Her reaction... and Puck's.
A/N: I've had this fic written down in my notebook since the Sectionals episode of season 3 and I just now typed it up. Procrastination for the win!
A/N2: I swear, this is the last fic I'm posting on , I'm in the process of moving to my LJ.
A Part of You is Something
- The Whole is Everything -
"Noah Puckerman!"
He hears it from down the hall, and for a moment he thinks it's his ma – it's just the right mixture of crazy and Jewish – but then he recognizes the voice and he groans a low, "Fuck..."
"Noah Puckerman!" The voice screams again as Rachel Berry's tiny body pushes through the crowd of students, angry and frustrated.
"Nice to see you, too, Berry," He says haughtily, chuckling to himself.
"How dare you, Noah Puckerman!" She yells at him again.
Puck continues to stare into his locker, muttering, "How dare I what?"
"Oh, don't play dumb with me, Puckerman! You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!"
Puck turns to look at her sternly. Arching his eyebrow he says, "Obviously not."
Rachel sighs and glares at him. "You know," she says before looking around and leaning in to whisper, "Shelby."
Puck swallows nervously and darts his eyes away from her.
Rachel's face flushes with anger and then proceeds to slap him across his chest and arms with her notebook.
He kinda just stood there and took it for a while because, yeah, he kind of deserved it, but – damn, that girl can hit! Hard!
"How could you, Noah!" She yells at him some more, continuing to slap him.
"Hey, hey! - Ow! - Stop!" He yells back, grabbing her wrists, making her drop her notebook to the ground. "Stop," he says sternly.
"How could you?" She asks more calmly, but the hurt dripping from her voice makes her sound anything but.
"Oh, don't get preachy with me, Rach!" He yells, throwing her hands back at her. "You can't tell me what to do! You aren't my girlfriend! You can't tell me who I can and cannot sleep with!"
Rachel stared at him and whispered a low, "You slept with her?"
Puck closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he opened them again he looked back at her with a steely gaze. "Yes," he said simply.
Rachel took a ragged breath and, between holding back sobs, croaked out, "That's my mother." She let a tear slide down her cheek. "How could you?" She repeated, harshly.
"Because she's the only part of you I can have!" He yells, stunning Rachel into silence. "I take what I can get. I can't have you – all of you, so I'll take a piece of you." Puck leans close and says, "I've waited three years to hold you again. I'm done waiting... or at least I'm trying to be done."
"Noah..." she tries, but he holds a hand up to silence her.
"No. Don't 'Noah' me. Don't try to make it better. I waited for you, but you made it perfectly clear you weren't going anywhere without him, so excuse me if I tried to move on!"
"But with her?"
"Yes! With her! Because she's the next best thing!"
"Do you know how much that hurts?" Rachel now had tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.
"You think you haven't hurt me? I could never hurt you the way you've hurt me. You don't love me enough." Puck whispered the last sentence.
Rachel paused, as if she was trying to understand if she really did hear him say it. "That's not true," she found herself whispering back.
Puck looked up at her incredulously, "But... Finn."
"Finn is... familiar. I do love him, just not the way I used to. I'm just... scared."
Puck scoffed, "Who isn't scared, Rach? Is that an excuse to stay with him? You don't love him, why lead him on?"
"He was my first." Those words were like a knife in Puck's heart. "I owe it to him to-"
"You owe it to him to be honest!" He yelled, interrupting her. "So what if you gave yourself to him, you actually think you two would last past high school? It's all he wanted! To get into your pants! Do you think he could ever care for you the way I could?"
"He told me he loves me."
"And you believe him?" Puck scoffed again, "Please, all he ever talked about was getting into your pants."
"Stop it..." She cried softly.
"Oh, what's the matter, Rach?" He leaned down so his face is level with hers, "Am I being too mean – too cruel? What? You can dish it out, but you can't take it?" He pressed himself against her, "Are you hurt yet? Do you finally feel what I feel every time I see you and him walking down the hall together?" He grabs her and they just stare at each other.
"I'm sorry, Noah." She sighs, "I really am. I don't expect Finn and I to last past high school, but I value our friendship too highly to ruin it with a relationship." And with that, she turns on her heel and sulks away.
Puck stands there, fuming and as he see's her begin to round the corner he slams his fist into his locker and screams out, "Fine! Go ahead! Be scared with him! Don't take a fucking chance!"
He sees her in the hallway the next day. She and Finn are up against the lockers, holding hands and sucking face.
She opens her eyes and notices him down the hallway. The look of guilt on her face probably shouldn't bring a bit of satisfaction to him, but it does.
"Whatever," He thinks shaking his head, and he turns on his heel and walks away.
- Nothing Breaks My Heart -