Rachel walked out of the school right as Noah pulled up, she jumped inside and Noah pulled away from the school glancing at the papers Rachel clutched in her hands. "What are those Berry," Puck asked raising his eyebrows in confusion. Rachel smiled brightly and started explain, "You are going to pass this final Noah. These are study guides I got from Ms. Doosenbury and you are coming over to my house and we are going to start studying immediately. I have already told my Daddy and you are more than welcome to stay for dinner tonight as well. We have tonight and a whole weekend for 21 chapters so I figure about 7 chapters a day and you'll ace that test! I will not let you get stuck in this god forsaken town because of one useless test," When she finally ended her explanation Rachel was flushed and shouting. Puck pulled up in front of Rachel house and pulled her into his lap again wrapping his arms tightly around her waist burying his face in her hair, "Thank you Rachel." She felt her cheeks warm and brighten when he tightened his hold on her; she was glad that Noah couldn't see her face and climbed off of his lap, "No need to thank me Noah. Really I am happy to help." Puck shook his head and grinned grabbing their bags from the back and jumping out of his truck; walking to Rachel door he opened and offered her his hand to help her out of the truck. She opened the front door for them and locked it behind Noah before making her way to the staircase.
Once they were in her room she cleared off the desk and motioned for Noah to sit down, "Okay, I am going to get changed and then I am going to go downstairs and get dinner started. While I am gone go through the packets and just try and fill out what you can. Then we can start from there. Okay?" Noah hung his head a bit before nodding. He felt like a complete idiot, 'Rachel should be doing something fun, like planning her wedding', Puck grimaced at the thought. 'But instead of any of that she was stuck here babysitting me.' Rachel frowned and leaned down placing a kiss on his cheek, "You aren't stupid Noah. The only reason I asked you to do this is because it is my night to cook and I am pretty sure you would be bored just sitting around, and this way we don't have to waste time on all the things you already know. Okay?" Puck looked up at her and shook his head, 'How in the world did she do that? How was she so in tuned to his feelings?' "You are an amazing person Rachel Barbara Berry," Noah said smiling at her before turning back to the packets.
After changing into a baby blue camisole and grey night shorts Rachel left the room and headed into the kitchen. She had just finished washing and chopping up the ingredients when she heard a car door shut outside her house. She walked over to the door just as Hiram walked in, "Oh hi Daddy. What are you doing home so early?" Rachel walked back into the kitchen as her father followed behind her, "My last appointment got pushed back until tomorrow so I figured I could catch up on emails and paperwork here just as easily. Is Noah here?" Rachel nodded and pointed to the stairs, "He is upstairs getting started on the topics he already has a grasp on and I am gonna head up there once dinner is in the oven." Hiram smiled at his daughter as she ran around the kitchen, "If you want to hurry upstairs to him Rachel we can just order in, it's no problem sweetheart." Rachel blushed and shook her head, "Daddy, we are just friends. We dated for two weeks almost two years ago; it didn't even really mean anything." Hiram laughed and raised an eyebrow, "Did you really forget all about Kindergarten?" Rachel opened her mouth and immediately shut it...she really had completely forgotten about that.
FLASHBACK
It was the third week of Kindergarten and a tiny Rachel Berry was sitting all alone again. She didn't know why everyone hated her, but they did and she had not made a single friend and her daddy's wouldn't let her stay home. She was sitting on the swings when a boy came up to her and slid into the swing next to her, "Why are you sitting alone? You look sad." Rachel sniffled and looked up at the boy, "No one likes me. I have no friends." Rachel sniffled again and felt tears dripping down her cheeks as the boy climbed out of his swing and stood in front of her, "Hey you can't cry. My mommy always says that pretty girls should smile. I'll be your friend," the boy reached his hand forward and wiped away her tears, "I'm Noah, what's your name?" Rachel smiled for the first time in weeks, "My name is Rachel."
"I completely forgot about that, I was so alone before he spoke to me. I hated every second I was in that place and he made it so much better," Rachel said softly before looking up at Hiram. She shook her head roughly, "None of that matters now, he isn't that boy anymore Daddy. He is a great friend, an amazing person, he is much kinder to me now than he was at the beginning of high school, he is trying his best to do right by his daughter even though he doesn't have her, and he has been the most sensitive to my NYADA misshap, "Rachel paused sniffling slightly wiping her eyes, " H wfnjgWe are better off friends. I am nowhere near the quality of girl he normally goes for. We…we are just too different." She slid the pans into the oven before setting the temperature and walking past Hiram, "Dinner should be done in about 45 minutes Daddy, I am going to go help Noah."
What Rachel didn't know was that Puck was standing at the top of the stairs listening to her conversation. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop; he was heading down the stairs to tell her he had filled out as much as he could. He ran back to her room and set back in the desk chair frowning as he thought, 'Why was her Dad trying to get her upstairs in such a rush, does he think Rachel a crush on me? And even if she does she's engaged to my best friend? I know they aren't too happy about her getting married, but would they really hand her over to me just to keep her from getting married?' Puck had a million thoughts running through his mind, but the one that bothered him the most, 'Rachel said she wasn't what I wanted, but she is. She has been everything I have wanted since that day on the playground. I was such a dick to her for so long, because I cared that everyone knew I was a badass. Now she feels like what, she's not worth my time? What, is she only marrying Finn, because she thinks I don't want her?'
Rachel walked into the room and smiled at Noah, but he wasn't stupid, he could see the sadness hiding behind her smile and he would give his life just to take away that sadness. "I am sorry Noah, did you already finish? I didn't think I would be that long, Daddy came home and we had a quick chat," Rachel explained sitting on the edge of her desk. Puck shook his head and pushed the papers towards Rachel, "It's okay. I just finished up, I was actually about to go down and let you know but you beat me to the punch." Rachel nodded and started to flip through the packets as Puck watched her nervously. She was on the second packet when Puck realized she was frowning and he rushed to explain, "I told you Rachel I'm hopeless, you really don't need to waste your time on" "Noah hush," she said raising her hand to silence him as she continued to read through his answers. 'Fuck. I should have never come over here. Now she's going to realize just how much of a loser I am, she won't ever want to associate with me again, and why should she? I'm an idiot I am gonna prove everyone right and be a Lima Loser and she's gonna prove everyone wrong and be the star she is. Maybe this is for the best,' Puck thought to himself.
Rachel set the packets down in front of him and shook her head slowly, "Noah you," she frowned staring at him, "Every single question you answered is right. If we just go through a few more chapters you'll pass the test with flying colors. I told you you weren't stupid, you just underestimate yourself." Rachel smiled at him and pulled him towards the bed and opened his book, "Okay let's get started."
One hour later
Rachel bounced on the bed happily clapping her hands, "That's right Noah! She I told you, you just had to buckle down a bit at this rate we can study a bit tomorrow and you will be more than ready!" Puck laughed at how excited she got, every time he got an answer right she jumped up and down on the bed. She looked so cute Puck actually found himself paying attention, anything to see that beautiful smile grace her lips. He shrugged, "You make a lot more sense than Ms. Doosenbury ever did. After you win all of your Tony's and Grammy's and own all of the Barbara roles you can you should definitely be a teacher." Rachel blushed and rolled her eyes at Puck, "Thank you for the career advice Noah, but I really think you just doubt yourself too much. I am not doing anything special Noah. Bur whenever you are around me you seem to actual believe in yourself." Puck felt his cheeks heat up under her watchful gaze; luckily he was saved any further embarrassment when Hiram screamed up, "Rachel, Noah dinner is done!"
They closed the books up chatting as they walked to the staircase and headed down the stairs; just as they reached the bottom step LeRoy walked into house. "Hi Dad," Rachel walked over to her father and hugged him before pulling away and pointing towards Noah, "Dad you remember Noah." Leroy nodded and reached his hand out to Puck who took it and smiled politely, "Nice to see you again Mr. Berry." Leroy shook his head and walked towards the kitchen the teens following quickly behind him, "Please Noah call me Leroy. Rachel would you and Noah mind setting the table for your Daddy while I go and change?" Rachel nodded her head and kissed her dad on the cheek, "Of course Dad." Rachel grabbed the plates and Noah followed quickly behind her with the cups and silverware.
One hour later
After they had gotten done with dinner, Rachel and Noah cleaned the dishes and put them away before joining her father's in the family room. When they walked in and sat next to each other on the couch Hiram set his coffee down and cleared his throat, "So would you like to explain Rachel?" Rachel sighed and Puck shot her a questioning look, "Daddy it is really no big deal. Finn had agreed to help Quinn campaign so that she would get voted for Queen and I got really upset. I ran into Noah, he offered to take me home we talked for a bit in his truck and I realized he needed help studying," she paused and smiled at Noah, "Well he really didn't need help just some guidance, but anyway. I asked Finn to meet me at the choir room we talked and he told me he would always love Quinn and I deserved someone better, I agreed and we called off the engagement off. It was"
"WHAT AND THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU CALLED OFF THE ENGAGEMENT BERRY?!" Noah had cut Rachel off and was staring at her like she had grown a second head. Rachel shrugged and continued, "I mean exactly what I said, and the engagement is off. It was all very amicable. When I left Finn and Quinn were talking and I called you Daddy to ask if Noah could come over." Hiram laughed as Rachel continued on completely undeterred by Noah's reaction, "Well if you are sure you are fine dear then that is all that matters. If you too have more studying to do you should get to it?" Rachel smiled and nodded grabbing Noah's hand, "Come on Noah, we should finish up chapter 13 tonight." Noah followed Rachel still so thrown off by the news he couldn't speak. As they walked up the stairs Puck's mind ran a mile a minute, 'That's why her Dad was saying all those things, Rachel was single now and she really thinks I don't want her. I fucked this up so badly I have to fix it.' When they were in the room she closed the door and looked up at Puck sighing, "Noah really I am fine you don't need to worry about anything I assure you Finn and I"
"I heard you talking to your Dad earlier tonight, about…me, about us." He interrupted her and grabbed one of her hands drawing her closer to him, "I think we need to talk Rachel, don't you?" Rachel nodded weakly as she fell against his body. She bit her lip and looked up at Puck expectantly, 'Tonight is going to be a long night.'