A.N. This chapter has an accompanying "photo log" with Rachel's notes: /watch?v=YM0mLRR3I0g. There is also a playlist: /user/novice242#grid/user/C006829EB7ABBB06. Add the links to the end of the address for youtube or see full links in my author profile page. Thanks to Maiqu, whose cast introductions vid helped inspire the photo youtube video I made. (First video ever.) I realized that I led people to my Author Profile for the description of Josh in the Junior Year story, but needed to do that again for this story. Then facing some writer's block, I got carried away with pictures, but I hope you like the result. Shout-out to Karma22 since I vaguely remember that we talked about a Glee yearbook project a long time ago, somewhat like this idea. And thanks to LizzayMartini for reasons she knows.
Disclaimer. I do not own Glee or anything familiar.
…
The longest cab ride ever finally ended and the driver let them out in front of the Hilton. It was two blocks from where Rachel would be attending Broadway camp in just over a week. Puck wasted no time admiring the sights on the busy downtown street. All he wanted to admire now was Rachel. He led her into the hotel, but when he had no idea where to go, she led him to the elevators. And they totally scored by getting into an empty elevator so they continued the make-out session that started in the cab.
"I missed you so fuckin' much," he said into her neck before continuing to work his magic above her collar bone. His hands explored her body, which he hadn't felt in two weeks. "You're so hot."
"You're amazing," she breathed. His hands, his lips, were doing amazing things and she couldn't wait to get to her room.
As soon as they closed the door to her room, he dropped his duffle bag, then his pants.
Rachel giggled as she followed his lead—though she started with her shirt and loved the way his eyes tracked her progress. She had made sure to wear very sexy black lingerie in anticipation of this moment. And she could tell her plan was having the desired effect. Noah Puckerman did not need any coaxing (and really Rachel Berry didn't either—the cab ride, elevator trip, and the removal of their clothes had more than prepared them both).
Puck tossed Rachel onto the king-size bed and took a moment to marvel at her sexiness in the largest bed they had ever shared before he jumped on top of her. She laughed again before pulling him close to kiss his lips. But soon Puck moved down to kiss her body as he rid her of the black bra first. He knew she loved it when he mauled her boobs and he loved it too. Then he dipped one hand into her panties, felt how ready she was, and continued the motion to slide the remaining undergarment off. She shuddered already when his thumb made brief contact with her most sensitive region. Puck decided he'd take a little time with this, but they had all week to work on long marathon sex. They both needed a fast and furious re-introduction to each other.
Rachel indicated that she couldn't agree more.
…
As they started their second round of re-introductions, a phone rang.
"I told those fuckers not to call me," Puck complained as he continued thrusting. "I'd call them."
"I think it's my phone," Rachel admitted from below him.
"What, no crazy ringtone?" He grinned, then realized he'd gotten off his rhythm and worked double-time.
Rachel moaned lightly then responded concisely, "Not yet. New phone."
"Forget it. Ignore it," Puck told her.
"It's distracting..."
Puck didn't completely disengage, but he felt around on the bedside table and answered the phone, thoroughly pissed. "What?"
"Hello? Is Rachel there?" Quinn asked, confused. "Puck, is that you?"
"Shit, Quinn. Bad timing. She'll call you back."
"Wait! How are you guys? How was the trip?"
"Seriously, you're making small talk with me? I'm in the middle of something. Take the hint," he said through gritted teeth. "If this is the shit you wanna know, call Josh."
"I guess I could. Did he tell you we're sort of friends now?"
"Don't give a shit." Puck hung up the phone and tossed it on the floor.
"Hey! That's my phone!" Rachel exclaimed and gave him a light slap on the arm. "And what did Quinn want?"
"Nothing. She literally called about nothing. Now get your head in the game. Let's get back to it." He thrust himself inside her for good measure.
"But now I'm not…there anymore," she said as she halted his hips. "And you should know sports metaphors do not drive me wild."
"I drove over 11 hours to see you. And I did all the driving so I'd have the chance to maybe stay an extra day with you and fly home. The least you could do..."
"Really? Staying an extra day? I love you so much!" she pulled his hips back toward her and then did the same thing with his face so she could give him a passionate kiss.
"Now that's more like it," he smirked when she stopped for air. Then he proceeded as planned, with a little more focus to make sure Rachel got back there again promptly.
…
A few miles away in Brooklyn, Josh saw Quinn's number appear on his phone. Weird.
"Going from no talking to talking twice in one week?" he answered, skipping the 'hello'.
"You could say that," Quinn answered.
"So? What's up?"
"Nothing, I just called Rachel's phone, but Puck answered and basically hung up on me because I was clearly interrupting them, so..."
"Oh, seriously?" he groaned. "Why did you have to mention that? I know about it, but I don't wanna think about it!"
"You mean, you don't already talk about stuff like that? I'm sorry to corrupt you," she laughed.
"When guys talk, it's different. I'm gonna have to see those two all the time this week, you know? I don't wanna be thinking about them all up on each other."
"You'll be seeing your brother and his wife every day there. You don't think they have sex? Or your parents? Why do you have to start picturing sex just because you're aware that they have it?"
"I can't hear you! I can't hear you!"
"You're so immature."
"You are!" he said petulantly. Then he laughed. It was sorta nice to laugh again with her. "Anyway, thanks for ruining my evening with sex talk that's the opposite of sexy. I trust you've accomplished what you wanted?"
"Yes, I suppose I have. I just called to check in and make sure everyone arrived there safely."
"Yeah, thanks..." he almost called her mom and stopped himself. It would have been a joke about her motherliness, but as he was about to say it, he realized it might bring up painful memories about how she really is a teen mom, even if her daughter has adopted parents now.
After a bit of a pause, Quinn replied. "Ok, I'll talk to you later. Tell everyone I said hello and good luck on your trip."
Josh said goodbye and hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" asked Eddie.
"Don't worry about it."
Eddie didn't press for details. Fortunately for Josh, Trey was in the shitter—otherwise, he would have kept asking until Josh gave some type of answer. Trey had no social filter.
"Let's just practice," Josh said.
…
While it was an 11 hour drive from Ohio to New York, the flight took Tina, Mike, and Brittany about two hours. As they headed toward the baggage claim, Tina began searching through her carryon bag for her phone.
"Calling your parents?" Mike asked her.
"Actually, I'm just going to send Rachel a text to let her know we got home safely."
Mike pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I'll do it," he said. He smiled to himself at the thought of Puck's reaction.
"That's sweet of you," Brittany said.
"Yeah, I'm all considerate like that."
But Tina saw the evil grin on his face. "That's ok, Mike. I can handle it."
"Too late," Mike said. "Already started…and now it's done!"
Tina rolled her eyes. "You're a troublemaker."
Mike shrugged. "I'm just texting a friend to let her know we're home. And doing a favor for another friend, you, who couldn't find her phone right away."
"That was nice, right?" Brittany asked Tina.
Tina didn't have the heart to explain why she didn't think it was so nice. "It seems nice," Tina said, flashing another look at Mike, who laughed at her.
"Look," he showed her the outgoing message. "Perfectly innocent."
…
"You've gotta be kidding me," Puck said when Rachel's phone indicated the incoming text. He rolled over in bed and picked up her phone from where he'd thrown it. "It's from Chang? Mike fucking Chang is texting you?"
"Mmm…what's it say?" Rachel asked drowsily.
"You don't mind if I look at your private messages?" he asked.
She giggled. "Private? It's from Mike. It's probably just saying they got back to Ohio. It's been about the right amount of time, I guess."
Puck read the message. "Yep, that's what it was. You're right. "
"I know."
Puck threw a pillow at her. "You know, huh?"
She laughed and threw it back. "Yes. And I know something else. I'm getting hungry."
"Yeah, that was a pretty good workout. Wanna order room service or something?"
"I think we can save a little money if we go pick something up…and you did say you want to try to fly home…so we'll need to try not to spend too much on extras, right?"
Puck grinned as he faced her in the bed. "Always thinking up there, aren't you?" He ran his hand over her head and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Always," she affirmed in a soft voice as she looked into his eyes with a small smile.
Puck stared back at her for a few moments, trying to figure out if there was something more being said that he should understand.
Then Rachel's stomach growled, breaking the moment. She flushed with embarrassment, and he laughed, so she started giggling too. "Sorry, I guess I'm hungrier than I thought. I'll throw on some clothes so we can get that food."
Puck threw on his t-shirt and jeans and waited for Rachel to get ready. When she picked up her purse and her camera, he paused.
"Why do you need that? Planning on doing some restaurant sight-seeing?"
"No, silly. I'm capturing moments. I want to remember every moment with you."
"You should've taken pictures during my performance a few minutes ago. That was worth remembering!" He smirked down at her as he closed the distance between them.
"That's true," Rachel said, blushing. "But I'll keep the photos non-pornographic—in case my dads get too nosey."
"But I thought they don't know I'm here in New York with you."
"They don't," she admitted. "But I think discovering that you were here will be less of a punishable offense than discovering pictures of the dirty, dirty things we did during your visit."
Fuck, saying dirty like that was too damn sexy. "Oh, that was a low blow, Berry. Getting me all hot for you after I know you're starving."
"I think I can make it through a quickie without too much detriment to my glucose levels."
"Uh huh. I heard what I needed to hear." He started stripping. "Get naked."
"Oh, you're so romantic," she rolled her eyes.
But she obeyed.
…
They found a restaurant across from the hotel that was open late (even for minors) and had food that was considerably cheaper than what they could get at the Hilton. Of course, Rachel insisted on a picture. Puck wasn't sure if he could deal with all the picture-taking, but when he saw the result and thought about having the photos to look at when he went back to Lima while Rachel stayed in NYC for Broadway camp, he figured it was worth it. While they waited for their order, Puck decided he should go ahead and call the guys to figure out the plan.
Josh told him they were set to play at his brother's place tonight, but Rachel freaked out when he passed along this news.
"I'm not ready! And I'm exhausted!"
He smirked. "It's cool; they can do one show without us."
"Oh, I don't mean to keep you from playing. You can still join them without me. I'll be involved next time."
"Nah, seriously. They'll be fine."
Josh was rolling his eyes as he listened to their conversation over the phone. "Puckerman, it's fine. You're right. We've played without you before. We can do it without you tonight."
"Thanks, man. We'll come by your place tomorrow to work out the rest of the details."
"Yeah, good. We have two shows lined up. One at an all-ages place for Rachel, like you asked. And one at night at my brother's club. We'll need some time to practice the new stuff with Rachel."
"Sure thing. Later."
Puck and Rachel spent the rest of the night alone together, still unconcerned about plans for sight-seeing outside of the hotel room.
…
The next day, Puck and Rachel managed to wake up early and head over to Brooklyn Heights to meet the guys at Josh's brother's place. Rachel realized that all she had were casual camp clothes, along with two nice dresses. She selected the nicest casual outfit she had with her—a pleated red skirt and a short-sleeved navy sweater with a yellow bow embroidered on it. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she had a startling realization that this was the outfit she wore the first time she met Jesse St. James at that music store last year. But it was a perfectly good outfit, so she certainly wasn't going to get rid of it. And it was the only suitable outfit she had to wear for today.
"I think I need to go shopping for performance clothes, Noah. I didn't know I'd be invited to join you with the band when I prepared for my trip."
"Yeah, sorry about that. It kinda came up last minute. But thanks for agreeing to do it. Trey really wanted to do Percussion Gun, and then Josh got all these other songs in mind that involve piano or you singing."
"New songs? I didn't know I'd have to learn new songs! What are we waiting for? There's so much to do! New clothes, band practice, scheduling…!"
"Chill, Berry," he commanded with a chuckle. "You're the master. You'll pick up on the songs like they're nothin' and if you don't, we won't play those. Just because Josh is all bent out of shape over Quinn still doesn't mean we have to play all of his whiny break up songs."
"Oh, is that what the new songs are about? Well, I'll try to humor him since music is very therapeutic, but you're right, if we can't work out the arrangements in time, then we won't play the new ones."
"Yep. Look who's right this time," he said proudly.
"Look at that!" she smiled up at him before giving him a quick kiss.
"Alright, let's go," he laughed, shaking his head.
They made it to Brooklyn Heights and faced a row of renovated brownstone homes. They double-checked the house number with the address Puck had stored in his phone. "Ok, this is it." He rang the doorbell and was greeted shortly after by a tall blonde woman with greenish-hazel eyes.
"Hello?"
"Hi, I'm Rachel and this is Noah. We're here to see Josh and the other guys in the band. Are we at the right place?"
"Oh, yes, you are. Hello, I'm Liv, Josh's sister-in-law. Please come in."
They entered to glimpse a well-decorated home, along with a blonde man in the room at the end of the foyer…playing…Guitar Hero?
Liv caught the direction of their stares. She laughed lightly. "That's Jake, Josh's brother. I think they're all playing in his study; leaving me to fix breakfast for the horde, of course. Would you care to join us?"
"No thank you. We ate breakfast at the hotel. But thank you for offering," Rachel said politely.
Liv smiled and led them into the room where all of the guys were gathered around playing Guitar Hero. The décor was different than the rest of the house—a wall of stark white bricks flanked another white wall decorated by modern art, a large entertainment center, and a sizable aquarium of exotic fish.
"Welcome to Jake's room," Liv said. "Jake, do you mind greeting our guests? And guys, these are your friends, right? Spare a glance to acknowledge them?"
"Huh?" Jake grunted, distracted by the game. He looked up at the two new people in his home. "Hey, I'm Jake. Make yourselves at home. These guys sure have."
Rachel introduced herself and Noah to Jake, but seeing that they were obviously not interested in interrupting their game, she held Noah's hand and began browsing around the room. They settled at the aquarium, with Puck sitting on a stool and Rachel leaning over his shoulder. A flash of light surprised them, and they turned to see Eddie lowering a camera.
"I couldn't resist. It wasn't my turn on the guitar, and you two looked so peaceful. And Puck hardly ever looks peaceful. And from what I've seen of you, Rachel, you're always running around or busy doing homework. It seemed like a good moment to take a picture."
"Wow, thank you, Eddie!" Rachel beamed. "I've been trying to make sure to take pictures of good moments for my calendar of memories—instead of taking too many pictures of the sights. So I really appreciate that."
"Sure thing," Eddie shrugged.
"Calendar of memories?" Puck turned to Rachel. What?
She nodded and was about to describe her intent in great detail when Trey interrupted. "Guys, I think we're heading to see what Liv made for breakfast. You coming?"
"Nah, man, we ate already. Thought you guys would be waiting on us instead of the other way around," Puck replied.
"Late start. We won't be too long."
Puck and Rachel didn't want to interrupt their breakfast, but Liv insisted they join them at the table and at least have something to drink. "You probably have band talk to discuss, and you can start over breakfast."
"I do have a question, actually," Rachel said. "I am planning on purchasing some new outfits for the performances with the band this week. The attire I packed is not appropriate." Everyone looked at Rachel's outfit and agreed silently. Trey nodded. Rachel continued, "I wonder if you could direct me to the types of clothes I should buy? What types of venues will we be playing?"
"Well, I can speak for ours," said Jake, blue eyes scanning Rachel, then Puck. "The patrons dress like hipsters, with the girls usually more dressed up than the guys and the guys looking like they're not trying too hard." He flashed a brilliant grin, "But really they are. I think if you get some trendy tops, nice jeans, maybe a skirt, you'll fit right in." Rachel felt a little defensive, but she had asked for advice on attire, so she nodded at Jake. He turned from Rachel to Puck. "And guys who are in bands tend to just wear t-shirts and jeans, so you'll be fine, Mohawk and all."
"Don't knock the 'hawk. It plays with the ladies," Puck defended himself and bragged simultaneously. Rachel gave him a look to express her mild irritation at his mention of his 'player status'.
Jake let out a laugh. "I like you. I bet you bust Josh's balls."
Puck shrugged. "When necessary."
"Whatever," Josh glowered.
Rachel decided she should change the subject, but the first topic that crossed her mind was not ideal. However, she blurted it out before she realized her mistake. "So, Josh, you and your brother have a strong resemblance. Have you noticed that Liv has the same hair and eye color as Quinn?"
Josh looked at Rachel, then looked at Liv. "No, I hadn't noticed. I don't think they look alike at all. But I guess they do have the same coloring or whatever. Are you suggesting that I'm genetically predisposed to going for blondes with greenish eyes?"
"Oh, no, I'm so sorry. I'm good at putting my foot in my mouth."
Puck decided not to say the obvious come back regarding what else she was good at putting in her mouth.
"Who's Quinn? Is that your girlfriend, Josh?" Liv asked with a smile.
"Not anymore," Josh shrugged.
The smile slipped from Liv's face. "I'm sorry."
Josh shrugged again.
"I'm sorry for bringing her up," Rachel said. "I feel terrible."
"Don't worry about it. She called me yesterday. I guess she's forgiven me and wants to be friends or something," he said dully.
"Well, that's good news," Rachel offered.
A third shrug from Josh was followed by, "This breakfast's great, Liv. Thanks for making it and putting up with us. I think we better hit the road soon so we can get this girl something to wear that doesn't look like it came out of the school uniform catalogue."
Rachel's jaw dropped and her brows furrowed at the insult. But he had a point. And he was in a bad mood. So she let it slide. This time.
Puck didn't really think anything of Josh's comment until he glanced at Rachel and saw the look on her face. Then he felt shitty because he used to say stuff like that about her all the time. Sometimes to her face. Hell, sometimes he still does.
"Dude!" Puck exclaimed. At the same time, Liv admonished, "Josh, I think you should apologize for that remark."
Josh turned around from his spot on the stairs. "Sorry, Rach. I didn't mean to be an asshole. I just am sometimes."
"It's ok, Josh. I accept your semblance of an apology. You were lashing out. And I'm sorry I brought up a painful subject. But don't worry, I have experience dealing with jerks."
"Me?" Puck asked her.
"Well, you used to be kind of a jerk sometimes," Rachel answered.
Puck nodded. "That's probably an understatement."
"Probably," she agreed—to his chagrin. "But now you're the mature, loving boyfriend who defends my honor against those who would besmirch it."
"Aw, that is so sweet," smiled Liv.
"Besmirch? Who the hell says besmirch?" asked Trey. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? I guess I can figure it out from the context. But dude, that's a weird thing to say."
"Welcome to my world, man," Puck said.
"You should thank me for broadening your vocabularies," Rachel announced.
"Thank you, Miss Rachel," Eddie joked.
Puck flashed back to his visit with Dizzy—when the names Mr. Noah and Miss Quinn were given to the real parents of his daughter. He stopped paying attention to the action around him for a few moments.
"Yeah, we would be besmirched without you," Trey added as he flopped down on the couch in the study, preparing to go back to playing Guitar Hero now that breakfast was over.
Rachel started to define besmirched for Trey so he would be able to use it correctly, when he explained that he was joking. Puck interrupted them.
"So, wait, are we gonna stick around here so you can tell us the gig schedule and we can prepare? Or did I just hear Josh say you guys were coming shopping with me and Rachel?"
Josh emerged from upstairs to say, "Yeah, we'll go with you guys. We can talk about the schedule while we're out. Multi-tasking. And maybe we'll see good deals on clothes for us too."
"Doubt we'll find deals in New York compared to Ohio," Trey pointed out. Josh glared at him in response, so Eddie and Trey took their cues to finish getting ready—basically they needed to brush their teeth and grab their wallets.
…
Josh was their guide for shopping since he knew the area from previous visits. Rachel was more familiar with Manhattan than Brooklyn, though she had spent two weeks at NYU's Polytechnic campus, she didn't know much about the shops. She was pleased they stopped at a place where the guys actually purchased a few things so that she wasn't the only one on a spree. Josh informed them that they'd be having dinner at a nice restaurant that night with Jake and Liv, Rachel made sure to look for nice clothes not only for herself, but also for Noah. When he found a great blazer and shirt, she was quite excited. "Oh, I should charge these to the credit card! We need to save money for you to fly home."
"Are you sure? I don't know…" Puck said hesitantly.
"I'm sure," she said as she proceeded to place their items on the counter and hand her credit card to the cashier.
On their way out of the shop, Rachel was so pleased with the outcome that she had to take a picture of Noah carrying his shopping bag. Besides, he looked gorgeous in his sunglasses; it would be a shame not to capture that.
Puck took the camera from her and began snapping pictures of Rachel instead—some when she didn't know it and some when she posed happily. It was pretty amusing.
They went to one more store for Rachel because she was having trouble finding her sizes, but Josh said they needed to cut shopping short. "We're supposed to be at Daze soon, and we haven't practiced at all."
"So what's Daze like?" Rachel asked.
"It's pretty casual. And it's just around the corner from Jake and Liv's house, so we won't have far to go."
"That's convenient," Rachel remarked. "And that's not the same place we're playing the late show, right?"
"Yeah, but it's related. Calling around to some of the local places didn't work out as well as we'd hoped, so I had to ask another favor from my brother and Liv. They're letting us play in all of their places."
"All of their places?" Puck asked. "I thought you said your brother owns a bar. One bar."
"He does. Liv is the rich one. Dude, if my brother were rich, do you think I'd be stuck at OSU Lima? No."
"But he's rich too, right? If she's rich? So why are you still going to school there?"
"First, this all happened recently. Second, I don't wanna owe my brother more than I already do. Third, there's only one more year left before I go to New York to mooch off of their success while we try to build up the band, so I'm not gonna ask them to pay for my tuition to a more expensive school."
"Ok, man. Got it." Puck said, surrendering.
"Let's get back, run through the new songs with Rachel, and then get to Daze, k?"
And that's what they did.
Their first show went pretty well. The venue was a casual café restaurant with a store for books, movies, and music. Daze was a small local version of the big chain stores with an eclectic flair. Rachel enjoyed singing duets instead of being relegated to backup vocals. Puck snapped a picture of her during the sound check—since he figured she'd think her first New York café performance was a memory moment. He was only slightly jealous of her place with Josh in the spotlight. He'd originally joined the band with the understanding that he would play guitar and sing backup, so for the most part he just sat back and enjoyed the idea that he was actually playing a gig in Brooklyn with his girl and some pretty cool guys.
After the show, they transported their equipment back to the Jordan house, and Josh suggested that they all just get ready for dinner there. "Since you guys just bought clothes," he told Puck and Rachel, "you could just shower here and get ready instead of going back into the city and coming back."
They agreed. Fortunately, Rachel had a few personal items with her, and Liv let her borrow a few other things—including her hair dryer and curling iron. Liv and Jake left before the gang, saying they had a few things to take care of, but they would meet them at dinner.
Josh directed them to the restaurant, Flavor, which appeared to be well-liked by the locals, given the crowd. Josh by-passed the line and went to the hostess stand, and they were immediately directed to a large table, complete with white linens. Puck pulled out the chair for Rachel (he was very pleased with himself for remembering she liked that kind of thing).
Rachel was pleased too.
Eddie noticed the looks they exchanged and asked, "Picture moment?"
"Yes, please!" Rachel nodded gratefully.
Shortly after the camera flashed, Jake and Liv arrived to join them.
"Wow, you all clean up nicely," commented Jake, in a back-handed compliment that only Rachel and Liv were skilled enough to recognize.
Rachel thanked him anyway because she knew it was true that she looked nicer in her black dress and curled hair then she had looked that morning in her 'schoolgirl uniform'.
"Jake, for heaven's sake," Liv chided. "You all look fantastic. I'm so glad you could join us for dinner tonight, and we're pleased that you're performing for us this week."
They proceeded to have a nice dinner, getting to know the Jordan family a bit more. Finally, it was time to pay the checks and prepare for their night show at Jake and Liv's club—cleverly named LIV. When explaining the name, Jake said, "Well, I bought it because of her, and it's a killer name."
Puck began to fish for his wallet, though he noticed nobody else was doing the same.
"This is our treat," said Jake.
"What? Oh no! If I would have known that, I wouldn't have ordered dessert!" Rachel moaned. "Thank you, but I really can't let you do that."
"Forget about it," Jake said with a brush of his hand. "We own the place." He put his arm around his wife.
"Oh! Then in that case, thank you, and the food was amazing."
"You're welcome," he chuckled. This was followed by the telling of how Liv's father owned several restaurants, and after his recent death, Liv inherited two of them. Profits from running the restaurants went toward Jake's dream of opening a bar and Liv's dream of having her own bookstore café.
They headed back on foot to their home base where Rachel primped again while the guys loaded up the van and changed out of their dress clothes and into t-shirts and jeans. They drove into the city where LIV was located—and it was definitely another popular spot.
To Rachel's delight, Puck even offered to take a picture of Rachel with the guys in the band backstage before they went onstage.
Again he figured she'd want it for her memory moments or whatever it was she was doing.
The plan was for the guys to play some of their songs that didn't need keyboard accompaniment (or female vocals), and then Josh would introduce Rachel. So Puck gave her a 'see ya later' kiss and went on with the guys.
Rachel waited backstage while the band opened with Airstream Driver. She knew they needed to establish themselves as their own entity and she was only a guest musician, so she had no problem waiting through the first few songs. Besides, she was having fun bouncing around to the beat and pantomiming to the lyrics in Noah's line of sight. She could tell he was trying to keep from laughing. Then when she bit her finger with playful sexiness for the line "your watermelon candy mouth" she could almost hear his imaginary groan.
They started a second song she hadn't heard them play before, and the lyrics caught her by surprise. Even though Josh was singing lead toward the audience, seeing Noah look at her the way he was when singing "I'm surprised that you've never been told before, that you're lovely, and you're perfect, and that somebody wants you", well, it was moving. And when they sang "that you're priceless, yeah you're precious, even when you are not new," it brought tears to her eyes. Fortunately, she composed herself as the last strains of the guitar sounded.
"Will the girl who someone dedicated this song to please take the stage for your New York City debut?" Josh said with a smirk into the microphone.
Rachel blushed as she emerged from backstage.
"Hey!" a blonde called from the audience. "You mean you weren't talking about me, baby?"
Josh winked at the chick then held out his hand to Rachel, winking at her. Rachel smiled as Puck clenched his fists.
"I was!" Trey shouted to the blonde, over Eddie's "How you doin?" (in his best Joey impression from Friends).
Rachel walked toward Puck to take her place at the keyboard, and he noticed she looked a little shaken. "You ok? You're not nervous, right?" he whispered.
"No. I'm just a little taken by the song lyrics and the look you gave me. I'm swooning over you, Noah, that's all."
He beamed widely at this and took the opportunity to give Rachel a quick kiss on the cheek, but he didn't have a chance to reply as Josh was introducing Rachel and starting the next song.
"As you can see," started Josh, "the object of our affection is joining us on keyboard, and she'll lend her vocal talents as well."
Rachel didn't want her name to be announced just in case there would be any repercussions of playing the bar—she doubted there would be any way that someone would link her back to either of the high school camps she was attending this summer—and it was her break between the two camps, but she didn't want to risk it. She played along and sang backup for several songs, and then it was time for a few duets with Josh.
Static Waves was the first duet—a somewhat low tempo and rather touching song. Rachel continued playing keyboard, but Josh pulled up a stool to play guitar so they could sing the duet together. She thought their first performance was going quite well.
Puck thought so too—it was going too well. Josh and Rachel staring into each others' eyes and singing all slow—even if it was supposed to be a break up song—it was making his stomach turn. They didn't look at each other like that in all the practices.
They picked up the tempo for their duet of Relator, which featured Rachel in the opening before Josh even sang a note. It was still a break up song, and as Josh sang "You don't relate to me, no girl," another girl in the crowd yelled out "Forget her! I'll relate to you!" This was followed by another girl shouting, "I'll take the one with the Mohawk."
Puck just raised an eyebrow but didn't stop playing since Josh and Rachel were soldiering on with their duet.
…
After the show, Josh announced, "That's it, the Mohawk has to go."
"What? Why?" Puck ran a hand through his hair.
"Well, my brother already not-so-subtly mentioned it. Then the girl tonight. It doesn't fit the vibe we've got going for the band. But hey, to make it fair, I'll get my hair cut too."
Puck scratched his head as he pondered whether to go along with it or punch Josh in his douchey face.
"It will grow back, Noah," Rachel whispered in his ear. "I wouldn't mind seeing you without the Mohawk for a while again."
He gave her a squeeze. "Fine. I'll do it. Tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll ask Jake to recommend a place and get us appointments."
"Cool."
"I'd like to have an appointment as well," Rachel piped up. "I could definitely use a stylist's attention before our next show. And I may purchase a few more performance outfits," she grinned.
"Oh here we go. Thanks, Josh," he said with playful sarcasm.
"Anytime, dude."
…
The next morning they headed to the Jordan house first, since they still wanted to practice a bit more with Rachel in the mix. They needed to get an early start since Rachel still had more shopping to do, they had appointments at the salon for the much-anticipated haircuts, and they had a show that day.
In some trendy boutique, Puck spied a hot shirt on a mannequin. It was light gray with some sparkly shit, but what caught his attention were the cut-outs that totally showed off the plastic boobs. "Hey, Rach, check this one out. Wouldn't that be an awesome top for performing on stage?"
Rachel bit her lip nervously. "I'm not sure…You don't think that would be too…revealing?"
"Only in a good way. Here, I found an extra small for you."
"Well, since you made the effort to find my size, and actually remembered my size, how can I refuse to try it on?"
"You can't."
She smiled but was doubtful that she'd make the purchase. But after she tried on the blouse, she realized that it looked quite…sexy. Looking at herself in the mirror wearing the top and the tight black pants she'd picked out, she felt like maybe, just maybe she could be pretty enough for her sexy boyfriend. She would never have the same beauty as his first love Quinn, but she knew external beauty wasn't everything. And even though she had some lingering fears that Noah would get bored of her (while she knew she'd never ever tire of him—even when he was a jerk), she felt that things were good in her life and she felt better about herself than she probably ever had. She decided to buy it, but she didn't show Noah how it looked on her. She decided to wait until she could get her hair styled so the impact would be greater.
Puck was surprised to see Rachel walk straight to the register and pay for the shirt. "I don't get to see you in it?"
"Not yet," she smiled.
"Evil," he said.
"You know you love it."
"Yeah I do," he admitted with a grin.
"You guys done being stupid-cute? We've got appointments to keep," Josh reminded them.
"Coming!" Rachel called. She decided to take Josh's comments as mostly good-natured. Otherwise, she might be pulling her hair out over the annoying things he tended to say.
Rachel's appointment with a stylist was first since Josh assumed it would take longer for a girl to get her hair cut.
He was right.
So Rachel missed taking a picture of Puck getting his Mohawk shaved off, but Puck managed to get a picture of Josh looking like a douche getting his hair cut. "I'm just capturing this moment for Rachel, since you two have become musical soul-mates or whatever," Puck announced as he lifted the camera. Josh flashed a peace sign and a goofy smirk. DOUCHE!
Meanwhile, Rachel took the opportunity to change so she could show off her new outfit and her newly-styled hair.
It went over quite well.
"Holy hell," said Puck.
The other guys whistled and Trey started clapping and affecting a British accent, "Good show. Bravo. Good show." Josh and Eddie joined in with the impression proper British applause.
Rachel laughed, "Thanks, guys. I guess this means you approve."
They all nodded rapidly, and Puck quickly walked up to Rachel and scooped her up for a kiss. "Damn, you are so hot, baby."
Rachel was so relieved he thought so. She knew she didn't have a very…voluptuous figure, but it was nice that what she had was appreciated. "Thank you. I do feel more like a rock star in it. Shall we drop off my shopping bags at the hotel before our next show?"
"Sure."
"Do you guys want to come with us?" Rachel asked.
"Cool," Trey said.
Puck raised a questioning eyebrow. He'd been hoping for a chance to get Rachel alone…and out of that shirt.
Rachel knew what he was thinking. "This way we can ride with them instead of taking a cab. Saving money," she reminded him.
"I guess it's a good call then," he grudgingly admitted.
They headed out to walk the few blocks to where Trey's van and Josh's car were parked. As they were walking, Puck decided to get a picture of Rachel in her "rock star shirt". "I gotta get a picture of this," he told her as he stopped her on the sidewalk. He didn't add "for the spank bank"—that was implied. But as excited as he was to see Rachel looking so hot, he started noticing stares…tons of random dudes staring at his girl's tits. Not fucking cool. He stopped her again and started buttoning up her jacket.
"That bad?" she asked, nervous that he changed his mind and now realized how ridiculous she looked.
"No. That good. I'm afraid someone off the street is gonna grab you up, and take you down an alley, and…" he trailed off because he just couldn't say it. Just the thought was doing a number on his stomach.
"Oh, don't be silly. I'm not that irresistible," she said playfully. But she could see he wasn't amused. "Besides, you would protect me."
"I sure as hell would," he affirmed vehemently. "But let's not risk it. How about you keep that buttoned up on the street, ok?"
She agreed.
They made it to the cars and Rachel gave directions to the hotel. Traffic sucked, but they had to haul the equipment for their gigs, so they had to do it anyway. Once inside the hotel, Rachel unbuttoned her jacket again—it was summer after all, and the jacket was warmer than it looked.
"Dude!" Trey said. "Stop right there, you two."
"Us?" Rachel asked.
"Check it out," Trey elbowed Eddie and Josh. "They match each other and the wallpaper! Like camouflage!"
Rachel and Puck looked at each other to see that indeed, they were wearing shirts of a similar shade of gray, which also resembled the wallpaper in hotel hallway. Rachel flattened herself against the wall and shifted her eyes from side to side. "Do you see me? Did I disappear?" she joked. And to her delight, she got some laughs, though they were at a slight delay.
"We have to take a picture of this," Josh declared. Rachel found her camera in her bag and handed it to him. She took her place against the wall, playing up her joke. "Get over there, Puckerman," Josh commanded.
"Come join me, Noah. It's a memory moment!"
He trudged toward her, displeased not so much by the awareness they were in matching attire, but by the looks on all the guys' faces when Rachel had planted herself against the wall. They were definitely staring at her boobs. He glared at the guys from his spot next to Rachel.
After Josh snapped the shot, Puck said, "That shirt might be my worst idea ever."
"Why? What's wrong?" Rachel asked.
"Everyone's been staring at you. Even them!" he gestured to the guys.
"That's absurd!" Rachel insisted, crossing her arms.
"You're just making it worse," Puck pointed out, nodding and looking down at her chest.
Rachel realized that she had succeeded in pushing her breasts together, which sure enough had attracted the attention of the guys, who were openly staring. She dropped her arms to her sides. "Fine. If I ever wear this shirt again, it will be over another shirt." She stormed off down the hall.
"Aw, don't do that," came Trey's disappointed cry.
"Thanks for ruining it for everyone, Puck," Eddie grumbled.
"Shut it, fuckers. If you hadn't been staring, maybe I wouldn't have said anything." Unlikely, but maybe. He'd been uncomfortable since after he'd gotten over the initial thrill of seeing her boobs and moments later made the realization that everyone else was seeing them too.
Rachel made it to the hotel room and closed the door forcefully before Noah and the guys caught up with her. Frustrated, but ever resourceful, Rachel pulled on her black tank top, and then put the gray cut-out shirt back on. She left her shopping bags in front of the closet and grabbed her purse. Exiting the room, she said, "Here, I'm ready. Let's go."
Puck sighed and followed his speed-walking girlfriend.
"Great, now we have to do a show with a pissed off chick," Trey lamented out loud.
Rachel spun around and glared at him. "I'm a professional. I will be fine."
"You can't blame us for looking, Rachel," Eddie said as he caught up to her.
Rachel stopped walking abruptly. She opened her mouth, but instead of the tirade Puck was expecting, she actually took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to that type of…attention. It was…unexpected."
"Are you crazy?" four guys exclaimed nearly simultaneously.
Rachel nodded ruefully, "It has been said."
"I guess if you wear those sweaters with animals and bows on them all the time, you wouldn't be used to guys staring at your boobs," Trey said with a shrug.
Eddie added, "Yeah, we don't usually stare at your boobs either. But it was really hard not to…" He looked mournfully at the black fabric covering the skin that used to be bare for all to see.
"Ok, honesty hour is over, guys," Puck announced, taking Rachel's arm. "We all agree that the shirt was a mistake, and that you shouldn't have been making my girlfriend uncomfortable with your stares."
"More like we were making you uncomfortable," Josh said. "Rachel was perfectly fine until you said something." He gave Puck a pointed look. "But we should also apologize for objectifying our lovely guest musician, even if she didn't realize we were objectifying her."
"Yeah, sorry."
"Sorry, Rachel."
Rachel accepted their apologies and looked expectantly at her boyfriend.
"I'm sorry too?"
"Thank you," she said simply. It was easier than going into detail now why the inflection of making his apology a question was not the ideal response. "Let's put this behind us and get ready for the show." She sped up again, and the guys couldn't help but stare at her ass.
…
As they waited to go onstage for their second show at LIV and their third show in New York, Puck figured he should make sure things were right with Rachel. "I really am sorry," he told her. "I'm an idiot. A lot." He gave her puppy-dog eyes to show how sorry he was.
Rachel smiled and forgave him easily. "You can do something to make it up to me…"
He raised his eyebrow. "Here?" He thought she was asking for a sexual favor.
She wasn't.
"Pose for a picture for me!" she exclaimed. "You sit here in this chair with your guitar, and I'll take a picture of just you. I was in photography club, you know. If I have good lighting and a good subject, I can take a rather excellent picture. And you are the subject I want to photograph the most."
He sighed. What else could he do but bend to her will? "Fine. But I'm not gonna do anything cheesy."
"I wouldn't dream of asking," she assured him with a smile. "Just sit here, strum your guitar, and look dreamy."
"Look dreamy?" he laughed. "What's that supposed to mean? Don't I always?" he joked smugly.
"Yes! You do! Exactly! Just act natural, and I'll capture the right moment!"
Puck settled into the chair and posed as she asked. The whole situation worked to put Rachel in a much better mood than she was after the whole shirt thing, so Puck felt like it was worth it. He figured he had enough tension about the show as it was without adding an upset girlfriend to the mix. She was oblivious to his annoyance, jealousy, whatever it was. It just…bugged him to watch Rachel singing with Josh. The band was announced and Puck left Rachel backstage for those first few songs. During those songs, he felt fine. He was perfectly cool with Josh when the dude was singing to the ladies in the crowd.
…
This time Rachel was more prepared for the emotional impact of FNT, the song that choked her up the first night. And this time, Puck was slightly more prepared for the punch in the nuts delivered by Rachel singing to Josh. The combination of Static Waves, Relator, and In my Veins told a sad but beautiful story in Rachel's mind—it was just sucky in Puck's mind. They finished their set with one of the two feeling better than the other. But Puck wasn't feeling too bad since they ended with an awesome version of Percussion Gun and received a great reception from the crowd. That lessened the ego blow of The Rachel and Josh Show.
They started packing up, with Rachel humming happily.
"Rachel? Is that you?" A man put his hand on her shoulder, and she turned to face him.
"Professor V.? Hello," she said uncertainly. It was disconcerting to see him out of the environment she'd grown accustomed to seeing him.
"You were wonderful up there. I didn't realize you could sing so beautifully."
"I—" Rachel stopped herself from saying 'I told you I was a singer and that I wanted to be on Broadway.' Instead she said, "I appreciate that. Thank you, Professor."
He waved his hand. "We're not in the acting workshops anymore. You can call me Frank."
"Ok, Frank, thank you."
"I have a question for you and your band."
"Oh, it's not my band," Rachel said quickly, glancing nervously at Josh. "I'm just a featured guest, you could say. This is Josh Jordan, the founder of the band The Relentless. Josh, Noah, Trey, Eddie, meet Professor V. I mean Frank."
After the handshakes all around, Puck settled on putting his arm around Rachel's waist, staking his claim on his girl. This professor guy was old as shit, but he didn't want him thinking that Rachel was with Josh—like everyone else was probably starting to think. Stupid duets.
"Well, I have a question for all of you," Frank continued. "I had a cancelation at my club. For tomorrow, so this is very short notice. I was planning on stepping up and singing, but that's what I always do when something comes up like that. Since I heard you two singing," he looked at Rachel and Josh, "I think you'd be a great find."
"Why, thank you so much!" Rachel beamed.
"Now, my venue is a little different than this one. We have our singers do more traditional performances. Instead of you two playing instruments, I need you to sing and put on a little show. Oh, and we also prefer men to wear suits," he glanced over the casual attire of the young people in front of him. "And I'm sure you have a nice dress you could wear for the occasion, right?"
"Of course!"
"So if you could focus on the duets and some mellow selections, it would play really well with our mature crowd. You'd be helping me out and getting a little exposure," Frank added.
Puck interrupted. "Josh plays guitar and Rachel plays piano. I can do both, but not at the same time," he almost scoffed. "If you say they both have to sing without playing their instruments, I'm not sure we can do most of those duets—at least not without some changes."
"Ah, yes, son. Here, take my card. You figure out what selections you'll play and what instrumentation you'll be missing. We just don't like to hide our star singers behind the grand piano—and there will be no keyboards," he wrinkled his nose. "Send me an email and I'll set up my house band to play what you need. They're very good."
"Thanks," Puck nodded as he accepted Frank's card.
"Again, great show, kids. Just show up at 5 tomorrow. You'll go on for our dinner show at 6."
Everyone thanked Frank and then returned to loading up their gear. Jake and Liv approached to congratulate the band too.
"Was that Frankie V?" Jake asked.
"Why yes, Professor V. was my instructor in my acting workshop over the past two weeks, and he just invited us to perform a dinner show tomorrow!" Rachel answered for the group.
"That's great!" Liv exclaimed.
"Yeah, Frankie V has a nice place! Look at you, little bro, makin' connections, going places," Jake said as he clapped Josh on the back.
"Oh, would you mind if I get a picture of you three?" Rachel asked the Jordans. "I'd love to have it as a record of this trip. And you've been so generous to us by allowing us to perform and opening up your home!"
They agreed, though Liv seemed reluctant. "I'm not photogenic," she explained.
"Neither am I," said Rachel. "But memories our important to preserve," she rationalized as she took the picture. "See? You all look great," she said as she showed Liv the picture. "I'll send you a copy."
The band continued backing up their equipment, but Rachel was buzzing around on a performance high.
"What a fortuitous meeting!" Rachel enthused. "I'm so pleased that Frank happened to be in this place at this time—so serendipitous!"
Josh chuckled and looked down at Rachel. "Are you sure you're only 17?"
"Dude, don't even think about it," warned Puck.
Josh rolled his eyes, "I'm talking about her vocabulary, Puckerman."
"You better be. Let's hurry up. We've got a lot shit to do for tomorrow."
…
They drove back to the Jordan place to unload the equipment. All the loading and unloading of their stuff was getting annoying, but it was a necessary evil. After they talked about the selections for tomorrow's performances, Rachel and Puck went back to the hotel.
"Finally I can get you out of those clothes!" Puck said, pinning Rachel against the door.
"Who knew one shirt could cause so many problems? Maybe I should just take this off," she said as she slipped it over her head.
"Damn, who's the idiot who told you to buy that shirt?" Puck said, only half-joking.
"Hmm…who would suggest such a thing?" she joked along with him, before stretching up to nibble his lip.
"A fool," Puck murmured into her lips. That little biting trick of hers was about to drive him crazy. "But he's gonna make it up to you now."
"I'd expect nothing less," Rachel said as she pulled off his shirt.
Her expectations were exceeded.
…
A.N. My YouTube channel will have "spoilers" of the photos and playlists posted before the chapters. Also, if you message me on twitter, I'll give away some news too :) Finally, I had no idea that some of the songs I picked for use were featured on certain tv shows until after I picked them—and some will be re-featured in the next chapter. Hope you don't mind!
Disclaimer. After I decided to make this picture log, I was inspired by the following quote:
"Take lots of pictures. Not of sights. Don't take pictures of buildings. Take pictures of moments, because that's what matters."
Shawn Spencer (Psych on USA)