Hey guys… your reviews were so lovely that I couldn't help but write more! This has turned into vignettes inspired by summer… they probably will reference each other, but they should all stand alone.
All I own is volume one of the Glee soundtrack!
NB: Writing a bitchy Santana is boring…
***
Rachel had recorded three Myspace videos (Turn Back O Man from Godspell, Whatever Happened to My Part from Spamalot and Mama Who Bore Me from Spring Awakening, if you were wondering); she had storyboarded all the choreography for Nationals, and had danced until her Pointe shoes made her toes bleed. She was going insane. A drive would calm her down. She drove aimlessly through the streets of Lima before pulling up at the mall. She wandered around, taking a look at various stores before buying herself an extra large grape slushie, in a vain attempt to beat the heat. She continued walking around, before seeing a familiar figure.
"Santana!" She called out. The other girl turned around, and greeted Rachel with a hug. It was an interesting Monday when the Glee club had returned from Regionals. It was well known that Santana was the Cheerio most reluctant to integrate with the other Gleeks, so when Rachel and Santana walked down the hall, arms linked, people stopped and stared. Santana had informed the jocks that anyone who slushied a Glee club member would answer directly to her, and as there were whispers that Santana had connections to the LA Bloods (total crap, but who needed to know the truth) the slushie attacks stopped abruptly. Santana and Rachel both had strong protective streaks, and that meant that when they bonded, they both bonded hard and were tight friends.
"Hey chica, what's going on?" Santana greeted her. Rachel rolled her eyes.
"I'm going slightly insane. My dads have gone away to celebrate their 20th anniversary, so I'm left with an empty house and nothing to entertain myself with. I'm out distracting myself from my boredom. What about you?" Rachel explained. Santana's face darkened considerably.
"I'm avoiding my house like the plague. My cousin is planning her quinceañera, so my aunt is at my house constantly."
"That's like a really big deal though, right?" Rachel asked. Santana nodded.
"Yeah, it's like your sweet sixteenth. My aunt and my cousins are psychotic though. The only reason they keep coming over is because they want to make sure that they out do mine in every possible way. I'm about to snap and kill somebody, so I just keep leaving the house." Rachel laughed.
"Hey, totally understandable. My house is empty, so you're welcome over any time you need a safe haven." Rachel said. Santana's eyes widened. She discreetly pointed.
"Is that…" she trailed off. Rachel looked in the direction she was pointing and nodded. Walking toward them was Amber Cohen, the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline. Rachel scoffed when Amber glared at the both of them.
"Oh look, it's the Holocaust leftover and the Illegal Immigrant." Rachel fought the urge to roll her eyes. Her insults weren't even original.
"Hi Amber, it's so lovely to see you too." Rachel said through clenched teeth. Amber looked her up and down.
"So, out looking for hand me down costumes? The thrift store is that way." Amber simpered.
"Wait, that's right. You don't need costumes, do you Amber? Remind us, who is going to Nationals in two weeks?" Santana snapped. Rachel smirked as Amber fumbled for words.
"How rude of me, I forgot to ask, how's your nose?" Rachel asked. Amber's hand flew up to her slightly crooked nose, courtesy of Rachel Berry. She linked arms with Santana, and they walked away, both giggling.
"Santana, I gotta say it, I'm glad you're on my side" Rachel said.
"Hey, Rach, your parents are outta town aren't they?" Santana asked. Rachel nodded. They had covered that, hadn't they? Santana gaped slightly.
"And we aren't having pool party número dos? Chica, are you crazy?" Santana was aghast. Rachel frowned.
"I hadn't even thought of that. I do have an idea though." She replied
***
Text messages had been sent out. Tables had been set up. Mattresses were spread out. They were set. Rachel and Santana were wearing matching aprons, and were cooking up a storm in Rachel's kitchen. They had agreed on a Mexican theme, and Santana had gone to town. Rachel had been put in charge of slicing stuff up for Santana, and making up the drinks. While technically not Mexican, she'd thrown together Sangria, as well as agua fresca for the non drinkers (namely Quinn) and was now working on Margaritas. There was half a case of Coronas on ice for the boys. They were doing well.
"I figured that I won't set the table. Kurt would just redo it all anyway" Rachel said conversationally, taking a sip of the Margarita concoction in front of her. She offered a taste to Santana.
"Yeah, I know right… Just a little bit more lime I think" Rachel nodded her assent and added some lime juice. The doorbell rang. Rachel opened the front door to reveal Kurt, Mercedes, Artie, Tina and Brittany.
"Hey guys, come on in. Kurt, you're in charge of table decorations, and you can pile your stuff in the poolhouse, I figured we'd crash in there tonight." Rachel said, punctuated by hugging and kissing everyone hello.
"Brittany, check out my feet! Aren't you proud?" Rachel showed Brittany her blistered and cut feet. Brittany nodded and smiled.
"Totally proud babe! We should do a pas de deux soon." Brittany said.
"Sure, I'd like that." Rachel replied. She had barely shut the door when the doorbell rang again. She opened the door to see Matt, Mike and Puck.
"Hey guys. Mike, Brittany is out in the pool house and Santana is in the kitchen" They both nodded and disappeared. Puck pulled her into an embrace.
"Hey gorgeous." He whispered into his ear. Rachel smiled. He knew how much she loved his pet names. She kissed him.
"Hey yourself. Hope you brought your appetite. Santana's gone all MasterChef." Noah's likely to be smart ass comment was cut off by the doorbell. Finn and Quinn were standing at the door. In lieu of hellos, Quinn pulled her shirt off to reveal her six and a half month pregnant belly.
"Look at this, look at this! I popped!" she squealed, pointing to her belly button. Her belly button was indeed popping out. Puck hesitantly touched her belly; looking as if all his Christmases had come at once. Finn looked proud as punch.
"It's her Drizzle button." He explained. Rachel just raised an eyebrow at him.
"You press it and she kicks." He added.
"There is no way we are calling the kid Drizzle" Puck and Quinn chorused at the same time. Rachel just shook her head.
"Beer is out back boys. I should probably go help Santana finish up." Quinn and Rachel walked into the kitchen.
"Ok, San, you tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it." Rachel announced. Santana looked around.
"I think we're actually ok for the moment. I'm just waiting on the Tortillas to heat, so we should probably start moving all the food to the table." Santana said. Rachel nodded. She loaded up a tray and carefully began to move down to the table. She gasped when she saw it. Rachel thought it would be nice to eat out on her patio, but Kurt had done a hell of a job, making it look like something out of a magazine. It looked amazing. She began to set the plates down.
"No, no, no, NO Rachel! You are throwing off the dynamic!" Kurt whined. She stopped.
"Fine. You put the food out then" She replied. To an outsider, that probably would have sounded like an antagonistic exchange. Anyone who actually knew the Glee club knew that it was Rachel and Kurt's way of showing affection. Quinn and Santana came down with the last few plates. They both put them down on the table, and let Kurt finish fussing.
"Oh, guys, the drink in the pitcher with the orange handle doesn't have alcohol in it, just so we all know." Rachel announced. Quinn winked at Rachel and poured herself a large glass.
The only time the Glee club was ever close to being quiet was when they were eating.
"Santana, this is AMAZING girl! Where did you learn how to cook like this?" Mercedes asked. Santana blushed lightly.
"My grandmother. She was a top chef in Mexico, and I was the only grandkid she could convince to hang out with her long enough to learn all her tricks." She explained.
"Well, next time you see your grandma, hug her from all of us, ok?" Artie added. Santana nodded.
"Done."
***
Rachel and Puck were lying in the hammock hanging next to the pool. Santana and Matt were canoodling somewhere, and the rest of the group had taken it upon themselves to wash up from dinner. They were both in the comfortably lethargic state you reach after having enjoyed a large meal. Rachel let herself relax. She sighed happily.
"I really like this, you know?" she said lightly, sitting up slightly to take a sip of sangria.
"Which part?" Puck asked, pulling Rachel down so that she was resting against him again. She shrugged.
"All of it really. The house full of friends. No more slushies to the face. How crazy is this, I might even love the arrogantly sexy footballer boyfriend" She said, turning slightly to face Puck. He kissed her deeply, grasping her waist tightly so she wouldn't fall off.
"That's lucky then. Cause my gleeky girlfriend makes my world spin around" He whispered in her ear. She couldn't help it. She had to kiss him again. They didn't notice the giggles of their teammates. They weren't really aware of the flashes that went off around them. But they did notice when Tina, Kurt, Mercedes and Brittany ran and bombed into the pool, effectively soaking them. Rachel squealed. Puck quickly rolled her away from the pool and sat up abruptly.
"What the hell was that?" He demanded to raucous laughter.
"Y-y-you have to a-admit. It was a t-t-tiny bit funny" Tina said innocently.
"If you two just got a room…." Kurt added. Rachel poked her head over Puck's shoulder.
"Um, it's my house!" She said.
"So it shouldn't be a problem then?" Mercedes asked. That sounded like a challenge. Rachel jutted her chin out.
"Fine." She said, grabbing Puck's hand and marching him into the house.
***
Puck stretched out across Rachel's bed as she changed in her ensuite.
"I really don't think they were expecting that reaction babe." Puck said. Her laughter echoed through the room.
"I don't think they were either. To be honest, I don't know what made me think of it." She said. She walked out of her ensuite, clad in the white bikini that had caused such a sensation the first pool party, with a sarong tied loosely around her waist. In seconds, Puck had grabbed her wrist and pulled her down on the bed. Rachel giggled as he began to kiss every available piece of skin.
"You look good enough to eat baby" he growled playfully. Rachel absentmindedly played with the stripe of hair that covered Puck's head, and attempted to get off the bed, but the hand splayed on her stomach prevented that.
"Come on. We're gonna get enough grief just coming up here, but the longer we spend up here the more time they have to make assumptions" Rachel said. Puck gave her his very best puppy dog eyes. She shook her head.
"Not gonna work babe. Get up." She suddenly didn't like the look on Puck's face. He stood up, swept her up and slung her over his shoulder, and began to carry her downstairs. Once actually off the stairs, he picked up his pace.
"Noah Jeremiah Puckerman! I know what you are thinking! Don't you dare!" she squeaked. Abruptly he stopped and put her down. They were right at the pools edge. The evil glint that sparkled in Rachel's eye was too quick to be missed. She smiled sweetly and pushed her boyfriend in the pool. She giggled innocently when he resurfaced.
"Oh, it's on now." He growled. Rachel looked around. There was no other option. Noah was about ten seconds away from grabbing her. She reacted out of instinct, and dove into the pool. She resurfaced, and brushed her wet hair off her face.
"You were saying babe?"
***
"Hey, guys, look at that!" Brittany called out, pointing.
"Uh, why is the sky going all light like that?" Finn asked.
"Sweetie, the sky is going light because the sun is coming up" Quinn answered.
***
Fin. I don't really like the ending on this one, but whatever. Updates will be added to this story whenever something summery inspires me, but if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know
Please review! I swear the chocolate covered Puck is on his way! *shuts bedroom door hard*