Can I Have This Dance?
"But it won't be the same without you!" Kurt Hummel tugged on his best friends' coral cardigan- which complimented her figure perfectly.
"It's not a big deal, stop making it a big deal." Quinn Fabray hadn't touched her lunch. She blamed it on the lecture her two best friends were giving her, but they thought otherwise.
"Look," Mercedes Jones rested her hand on Quinn's forearm, "Kurt and I aren't going together together, just as friends. And besides, you don't need a date."
Quinn looked up at Mercedes and sighed. "It's not even that," she took her index finger and flattened a piece of her sandwich out of nervous habit, "I- I just can't, I don't-"
"You can," Kurt suddenly and dramatically wrapped his arm around her, making Quinn jump out of her chair a bit, "and you will."
"Kurt, I won't."
"Come on, mama!" Mercedes looked down at the almost-hole in Quinn's sandwich, the one from her index finger digging into it so roughly, "You are going to wear a gorgeous gown, and you are going to rock it!"
Quinn told herself no, but her friends told her otherwise.
Before she knew it, school was over, and she was in her car on the way to the mall, Mercedes in the front seat aside her and Kurt in the back, along with all of his fashion magazines (prom edition- of course).
After walking around, Quinn stopped in a window of a store and sighed. "This one."
"Let's go in!" Kurt dragged Quinn by the arm. "Follow me, ladies."
Quinn pouted as she lifted up the price tags to the dresses which caught her eye. "Look how much."
Mercedes and Kurt, "Oohed" as their friend revealed the tags to them.
"Different store?" Mercedes suggested.
"How about 'no'?" Quinn made her way to the exit.
"I know what this is really about!" Kurt put on a face as if he had just fully solved the murder case of Jon Benet Ramsey.
"And that would be...?" Quinn knew what he was about to say, but she didn't want to hear it.
"You have no date; after your split with Puck why would you? You, my friend, still have feelings for said Puck."
Quinn laughed at his accusation, but inside her, knew that Kurt was one-hundred percent right. Quinn and Noah 'Puck' Puckerman had split just two months before prom, things not working out the way the both of them expected. Puck ended the relationship shortly after they realized that, leaving the two to be cordial with a few 'his' and 'byes' here and there.
"L-look, it's not that, okay? I just, don't wanna go."
"Quinn," Mercedes looked at her best friend straight in the eye, "Who wouldn't wanna go to prom? Of course you want to go. Screw Puck. Go with us."
"Look, Mercedes, I don't want to be a third wheel, it's okay, you guys have fun, take some pictures for me and-"
"You're going." Kurt said in a serious tone.
"I second that." Mercedes held her hand up in the air.
"What is this, an election? Why does it matter if I go or not?" Quinn looked at her two best friends, who then looked at each other.
"She's going." They both nodded their heads in agreement.
"You have to match your tux with my dress."
"But does it matter that much?"
"Yes."
"But why, it's just-"
"Just a green Catherine Malandrino dress and I-"
"I'll find a match, okay, Rach?" Finn rubbed his girlfriend's thigh.
Quinn looked down at their conversation from a seat on the highest riser in the choir room. She was sitting alone, Mercedes and Kurt hadn't arrived yet.
"Hey," Finn turned around, shocking Quinn. Being her ex-boyfriend and in a very involved relationship with Rachel Berry, he barely even looked at her anymore, "Tell me, do tuxes have to match dresses?"
He whispered this, making sure for Rachel not to hear (she heard anyway).
"U-uh, of course they do. I mean, it'd look silly if you wore a blue tux and your date had on, let's say, a green dress. The lighting would be all off and you'd probably throw each other off in the picture too and-"
Finn looked confused at her response, probably expecting something a little more vague. "Oh."
He turned back around, leaving her, yet again, alone.
Quinn sat up in her chair as she watched him enter the room.
No one really turned their heads when he walked in anymore, no one besides her.
He was just another student in Glee club. Except to her.
"Puck," Mr. Schuester didn't have look up from the pile of music sheets he was organizing to realize who had entered his classroom late, "glad you decided to show up."
And Puck snickered, grabbing a seat next to Santana Lopez, the ultra-bitchy cheerleader with the rock hard attitude. "Hi."
Quinn shriveled up inside just hearing him say hi to her. It didn't really matter, Quinn and Puck had been done for two months and counting, and with the little contact the pair had recently given each other, she couldn't bother anymore.
"Okay," started Mr. Schuester, "Today I'm just going to be calling you up one at a time so you can sing a part of your solo piece for me. It doesn't need to be the whole thing, just a part." Since they were seniors now, their end-of-the-year assignment was to perform a solo in front of the whole Glee club. It could be whatever they choose, but it had to be alone. Mr. Schuester suggested choosing a song that fit their emotions about school ending and leaving McKinley High. He even suggested choosing a song that can say for you what you've been to afraid to say in your career as a student at McKinley.
Quinn sighed a breath of relief knowing that he wasn't actually asking them to perform it yet. With all of the pressure about prom on her, she hadn't even come up with a song.
"Mr. Schuester!" Puck sprung up from his chair, "I have my song ready now."
Santana looked him right in the eyes and smiled, Puck slightly returning it. Quinn quickly glared at the both of them, wondering if anyone noticed her reaction.
No one was paying attention at this point. Quinn eavesdropped into most of the conversations, hearing the topic of prom a very frequent subject.
"Ahem," Puck cleared his throat, "I know I was supposed to wait until next week to perform this number, but it's something I needed to do now."
He looked at his fellow Glee mates sitting in their chairs, waiting for him to sing. Quinn swore for a second he looked at her dead in the eye, but she brushed that thought off.
"Go for it Puck, you-" Mr. Schuester started to say.
"Y'know how you said that the song could be something that you were too afraid to say?" Puck looked back at Mr. Schue, who was now observing in the stool by the piano.
"I remember."
"Well, this is what my song is. Look, I couldn't say this out loud, er, to the person I-I'd like to say it to, okay?" He heard Finn and Matt crack a joke about him being too 'soft' nowadays but tried his best to ignore it.
Santana looked up right as Puck screamed out those words, confident that the song would be some sappy love song based on his secret feelings for her. The whole room didn't doubt that either, but they were interested either way.
Puck looked at Mr. Schuester for a cue to begin, and he tossed his hands in the air.
"My guitar, please?" And Santana ran over to wear Puck had placed his guitar and handed it to him, still smiling.
You say you gotta go and find yourself
You say that you're becoming someone else
Don't recognize the face in the mirror looking back at you
You say you're leaving as you look away
I know there's really nothing left to say
Just know I'm here whenever you need me I'll wait for you
Finn and Kurt found themselves nodding at the song selection, smiling as he sang a few lines of the song.
Quinn knew the song, too. Puck played this song on the acoustic once while they were dating, he told her he had liked the beat, but she didn't think anything of this performance.
So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me
Take your time, I won't go anywhere
Picture you with the wind in your hair
I'll keep your things right where you left them
I'll be here for you
"I'm setting you free, you don't want to be with me." Puck said just a few months prior.
"I'll miss you." Quinn clutched on to his shoulder.
He pushed back a strand of her hair with his hand. "I'll always be here for you, though," Puck looked at her with a serious face, "We've been through so much together, I'm not going anywhere."
Before everyone knew it, the song neared an end, people waving their cell phones, clapping their hands together (slightly off-beat on Finn's part) and smiling straight at Puck.
And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me
You find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me
He was looking at her dead in the eye, now.
"I hope you find someone who can treat you better, we just don't work." He told her before leaving.
"I think we both need to find ourselves first, find out who we are." He answered because she didn't.
As Puck strummed the last chord, the applause grew wild.
He smiled, handing Santana back his guitar, leaving her in a ray of confusion. She must've known that the song wasn't for her.
"Psst," Kurt tugged on Quinn's cardigan as he had done a few days back, "That number? Totally for you, doll face."
This time, she didn't make an argument. She didn't speak, though. She just looked at Kurt, smiled, and looked back at Puck, who smiled directly to her.
"Ah-uhm, I have one more thing to say," Puck said before walking away from the center of the room, "That song was a dedication to someone. The lyrics? They described exactly how I'm feeling. And uh, I'm hoping that person knows who they are, be-because I probably don't have the courage to tell them."
As he walked off, Quinn's heart exploded with excitement. It was for her, the song was for her and she knew it.
It was a day before prom, and she was still dateless, contemplating whether to go or not.
The library seemed emptier than usual. It felt as if Kurt, Mercedes and her were the only three people in the room.
"Look girl," Mercedes pat her friend on the shoulder, "Like I said, come with me and Kurt! You'll still have fun!"
"I-I don't think so, Mercedes. I love you for asking, but no." Quinn looked back down at the textbook page she had kept open for over an hour now.
"There's your man candy, Q!" Kurt shouted, leaving Quinn's eyes to bulge.
"Shush!" Quinn grabbed him by the wrist, gesturing for him to quiet down, wondering if Puck heard any of their conversation.
"Go talk to him!" Kurt flicked Quinn's hand off of him, pushing her back toward the direction Puck was facing.
Before Quinn could even rise from her seat, Puck motioned for her to come over toward him. Mercedes and Kurt giggled and high-fived each other in the background, Quinn rolling her eyes in front of them.
"Quinn," He said as the two of them stepped into the hallway, "You know about it, don't you?"
She lifted one eyebrow, something Puck thought was absolutely adorable, "Know about what? You ignoring me for the past two months? You totally flirting with Santana in front of me? You think I don't see these things, Noah?"
She barely ever called him Noah, he cringed at that, "Ouch. I meant the song."
"Oh, the song." She felt like an idiot.
"Look," he put one hand on the curve of her waist, "I haven't gotten over you, Quinn. And that song, that's just the beginning."
Again with the eyebrow thing.
"Look, I've written you letters, messages on Facebook, all these-"
"Letters? Messages?" Quinn was utterly confused, "I-I never got-"
"That's because I never sent them," Puck did a half-smile, finding Quinn simply not amused, "I was too shy and didn't know if you'd take me back. They were long, those letters. All my feelings for you and I-"
Quinn looked at him in the eyes. She wouldn't tell him this, but she actually missed his eyes. She could stare into them for hours and get lost and not want to find her way home. After a moment of silence, she did what she missed the most.
She knew he liked it, too, because he smiled and rubbed his hands on her waist, the way he used to.
"You've still got it, Fabray." He made kissy-lips at her, bringing out her beautiful smile.
"Now," he breathed heavily, "I have one more question."
Quinn was all ears.
"I bought two tickets to prom, but I don't need the second one."
Quinn giggled.
"You can take it. And if you don't, well, just take it."
She squealed- out loud this time. She didn't know what else to say.
"What color dress do you have?" Puck asked her seriously. "I've gotta match my tux."
A/N: Oh my, I totally forgot I had this story in my drafts. The idea of a prom episode just came to me so I thought, "why not"? If they ever did one, Quinn and Puck better be going together! I'm excited for next season, if you've read the spoilers you know a little bit, but I just miss Quick in general. Reviews are love, this is just a one-shot, though! Thank you, and enjoy! More stories to come soon! x