She hadn't meant to meet his eyes. She was walking away from Quinn, thoroughly shocked because her face had not been smashed in like she expected, and then there he was. She had meant to just march away, pretend that he wasn't there. But Rachel had never been one to run away from pain.
She had been the last person Puck expected to see leaving Quinn's side. Any of the cheerios maybe, but not Rachel. They couldn't stand each other. If you thought about it though, long and hard with squinting eyes, maybe it made more sense then he could explain without sounding like an idiot.
Rachel was honest, and Quinn needed that in a friend at the moment. She didn't bluff, or tell her that everything would be fine. Rachel understood something important. People get hurt, sometimes everything did not end up alright. Sometimes, everything fell apart, and you just had to slowly begin picking up the pieces. Rachel and Quinn had been hurt. They shared feelings for not one, but two men. You couldn't bond more then that.
Puck couldn't take his eyes off of her for a moment, willing her to look up at him. He had learned quickly that if you could see Rachel's eyes you could see her soul. It was the one thing she couldn't control. He didn't expect her to look at him though. Not after everything he had done. It would be easier for her to just walk away.
When she did, it was just a moment. Nothing in the grand scheme of things, but to them, it could change the world.
Her disappointment hit him like a punch. It proved what he had hoped. When he had left her sitting on the bleachers after their break up, she had loved him even then. She had believed in him, even then. After every slushie, or horrible comment, she had still found a way. That made this worse. All of the pain and betrayal was personal. It wasn't just on Finn's behalf. Puck had lied to her, he had kept a secret so large, and now it was tearing their world apart. She had been dragged into the middle of it, telling the truth when no one else could.
The whole club had covered up the scandal, not because they cared, but because they were selfish. Rachel had given up their chance at sectionals to tell the truth, and it had all started with Puck. If he had been a man from the beginning none of this would be happening around her. She wouldn't forgive him, that much was clear in her eyes. He had done the unthinkable. Lied to his best friend, all for a moment of stolen pleasure. Betrayed every friendship he had earned from the beginning.
Electricity rocketed through Rachel when she looked up into her eyes. At first she wanted to say something, but she couldn't stop. Her chest was already tightening, her eyes filling with tears. There was a split second where his eyes pleaded with her, to pause, to reach out. He knew though. They shifted to resignation, he had given up. There was no explanation, and she didn't find any in his face. His eyes told the first truth. Noah Puckerman was just another guy. Another jerk ho had hurt his fair share of girls. It shouldn't have changed his life, but it did. He had learned but it had cost all of them, and she couldn't be the one to life him back up. The punches were his, the fight was his.
Rachel kept going, crying before she even reached the door. She had lost something important, but even she couldn't understand it. She wasn't crying for herself, finding herself in the middle of a mess. Or for Quinn and Finn. She was crying because she had believed in Puck. Believed that he could be Noah.
Puck let her go, knowing that there wasn't any point in chasing after her. The last person who would fight for him had just walked away. He would face Quinn alone. He would be there for his daughter alone. It was how it was meant to be.