Chapter 2 – Rachel and Puck Get Started On The Plan

A/N : Chapter 2 and the story gets moving!! Yay! This chapter has also not been read by a beta so sorry for any mistakes!

"Right. I think there's a few things you can do to improve your chances of getting him." Puck said.

It was that evening and he was in her room, sitting casually in her chair, leaning back so that it was only on two legs. The sadistic part of Rachel wanted the chair to fall and send him toppling to the ground. The very thought him sprawled on the floor like an idiot made her smile slightly.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing. Continue"

"Right. Well, first things first, I'd maybe consider changing your image a bit. Nothing drastic" He added, seeing the look on the face. "Just maybe...don't dress like such a dork."

"Finn likes the way I dress." She said, slightly hurt.

Puck rolled his eyes. "So he says."

"He does!" She said. "He told me he did."

"Yeah? But what he says and what he thinks are two different things." Puck rolled his eyes.

Rachel scowled. "Well I tried dressing differently. He didn't like it. Under Kurt's insane advice I wore this black dress and –"

"Oh that black dress." Puck said, smirking before looking into the distance as if he was remembering it.

"Stop it." She said, blushing. "Anyway, the point is it did not work."

Really did not work. She still cringed whenever she thought about it.

"That's because you dressed like a slut. That's not Finn's style. I mean, if it was some girl trying to bag me, well her best bet is just to turn up to school in a bikini."

He paused briefly as though to enjoy her disgusted expression before continuing, "Finn's not like that though. He likes classy chicks. What I'm thinking is just...normal clothes, you know. Something that doesn't make a guy feel like he'd rather shoot himself than walk down the hall with you."

"I didn't see you complaining when we were walking down the hall arm in arm." She pointed out.

"I got a slushie thrown on me." He said.

"Ok. Point taken."

"Anyway, after we sort that out (Rachel noted Puck's use of "we" and felt slightly touched that he thought of them as sorting it out together) another good move is to ignore him for a bit. Stop stalking him round the school."

Rachel opened her mouth to protest that she didn't.

"You do" He said with a knowing look, before she had the chance to speak. "Then, after doing that, let him know you're moving on. Flirt with another guy in front of him. Brittany's party is probably the best time to do that."

"You?"

"What?"

"Do I flirt with you in front of him?"

Puck shook his head, looking exasperated "No. Not me. Really, Berry I thought you were smart. How's that going to look to Quinn if she thinks I'm chatting up other chicks? I need to act more sensitive, not like more of a stud. So you'll have to actually try and have a decent conversation with a guy without coming across as an idiot. Maybe we should cover that actually."

She nodded her head, accepting what he was saying. "Ok. So I dress different, act like he doesn't exist and then I talk to someone while he's watching. Got it. What else?" She was resisting the strong urge to take notes.

"That's it."

"That's it?" She felt slightly disappointed.

He nodded. "Trust me."

"Okay." She said doubtfully, thinking deep down that this had been a waste of time.

He picked up on her lack of belief. "Look, babe. I know Finn. And I know he does like you. He just needs a little push. Anything over the top with scare him away completely. I'd tell you to cut down on the crazy, but apparently Finn likes it. I think he was dropped on his head at birth."

"He likes me?" She asked, delighted. She chose to ignore the last part of his sentence.

"Yes" he said, in an almost patronising voice. "Now. Onto me. How am I going to get Quinn?" He leaned forward, expectantly, as if waiting for some miraculous advice.

"I don't know." She said, honestly. She had kind of forgotten about her part of the deal. Or hoping that he had forgotten. Not that he would have obviously, because it wasn't like Noah Puckerman was going to be helpful for no reason.

Unhelpful for no reason: frequently. But helpful? Not so much.

He frowned. "That's not very useful, so much for sticking to your end of the deal!" He looked pretty angry.

"Well, I never said I was going to be any use!" She said. Then she saw how disappointed he looked and felt bad for letting him down. If he wanted Quinn half as much as she wanted Finn, then she really did feel sorry for him. "I just need to try and get to know her better. Then I'll be able to help. Give me a week or so, ok?"

She didn't know how she was going to do this. She and Quinn were on talking terms...but that was about it. And Rachel struggled to make friends as it was, she really didn't know how she was going to get to the stage where Quinn would be telling her all her hopes and dreams. She would worry about it later.

Puck relented. "Ok. But you'd better deliver, Berry. Or I'll tell Finn that you're pregnant with my child as well."

Rachel threw her pillow at him.

~*

"Right. What about this one?" She took the item off the rail and showed it to him.

It was Saturday, and Rachel and Puck were at the mall. Together. And Rachel was picking out dresses that she thought would be acceptable to wear to the party that night.

Puck snatched the garment out of her hands. "Wrong!" He shouted, before throwing it, hanger and all, across the store, earning him a disapproving look from the store assistant.

Rachel looked at him in shock.

"What? It was f'ing horrible."

Rachel shook her head. She couldn't believe how much he acted like a Neanderthal sometimes. She went back to rifling through the racks of clothes, when he appeared at her side, waving something in her face.

"Try this." He said. It was a dark purple dress.

"It's awfully low cut, Noah." She said.

He raised an eyebrow. "Finn's a boob kind of guy. And anyway, don't feign modesty, have you noticed how short those skirts you wear are? I certainly have."

She flushed and grabbed the dress off him before marching to the fitting rooms. She whipped the curtain closed and started to change, while Puck sat outside. She could hear him humming to himself.

She surveyed her appearance in the mirror. There was no way she was going to step out of that changing room in front of him if she looked like a total idiot. She liked what she saw, however. Puck apparently had a good eye for women's clothes. The dress was pretty. And besides being a bit low, it was actually rather decent looking.

She thought it made her look pretty good actually. She twirled around, admiring herself from all angles with a smile, before opening the curtain again.

Puck surveyed her critically. "Yeah. Good." He said.

They left the store and Rachel thought how weird it was both of them hanging out together in public in their free time. If someone had told her this time last year that she and Noah Puckerman would be spending an enjoyable day shopping...Well, there was no way she would have believed them.

She'd kind of had to persuade him into it. Puck had apparently been hoping that she would go shopping for a different outfit with one of her female friends." What female friends?" she had demanded. He knew she had none.

And besides, this whole thing had been his idea, he was the one that thought she should dress different, therefore he should really help choose what she was going to wear.

He had conceded, muttering something about how it was probably best that he supervised her anyway, otherwise "God knows what she would turn up wearing."

"Are you hungry?" She asked him.

Puck shrugged, swinging the bag containing her new dress that he had surprisingly offered to carry for her. "Could be. You want food?"

"Yeah, I'm starving!" She said.

They got a table at the nearest fast food place and were flipping through the menus when Rachel spotted several jocks from a rival football team. When they spotted her and Puck they started pointing and laughing.

She bit her lip. "We can go somewhere else if you want."

She hated being laughed at. She was used to it by now, but she still hated it.

Puck looked up from the menu. "Why?" He followed her gaze to where the guys were sitting. "Oh. Nah, it's cool."

"Are you sure?" She asked anxiously. She felt bad that they were making fun of him because of her. She knew for a fact that Noah Puckerman wasn't used to be laughed at.

"Yep. Don't care." He went back to looking at his menu.

The boys started to make crude gestures.

"Well, I care." She said, making a snap decision that she'd had enough of people sniggering at the Glee kids behind their backs and she wasn't going to put up with it any more. Something about the way that Puck seemed to be just sitting back and taking it unnerved her. She marched over to their table and stood in front of the jocks, with her arms crossed.

"Is something particularly funny?" She demanded.

"Yeah. You, freak." One of them laughed. "And your little boyfriend!" he jeered, looking at Puck who had angrily got out of his seat.

"Why don't you say that to my face?" He snarled, grabbing the guy by the collar.

"Noah!" Rachel gasped.

"Oooh, Noah! You'd better back off, Noah. Your girlfriend's getting upset, Noah."

Rachel watched in horror as Puck punched him.

Moments later they were standing outside the cafe. (Which they were now apparently permanently banned from)

"Well that went well. That clearly showed us that violence is a perfectly reasonable course of action in any given situation." Rachel said sarcastically. "So much for "I don't care." "

"Look, babe. You're the one who went and talked to them. What did you expect to happen? That'd you give them a talking to and they'd say sorry? And besides, he called you a freak. They had it coming. I only finished what you started."

He had beaten the guy up because he called her a freak? Rachel had automatically assumed it was because he had been laughing at Puck. She felt oddly touched and decided to let the situation go. Even though she still definitely did not agree with violence.

"You could come back to mine if you want. My dads are out but I could cook us something?" She asked, hesitantly. Then immediately felt stupid.

Why would Puck want to go to her house for dinner? He probably thought they were spending too much time together already.

But to her surprise, he nodded. "I'll cook." He said. But she sensed that he wasn't saying it to be nice as much as not trusting her to cook him something he would enjoy.

"Come on." He put his arm round her, more in a dominating rather than friendly kind of way, and led her to his car. (She had offered to pick him up in her car, he had refused. She could tell that Puck liked to be the one in control.)

~*

Rachel was surprised to find out that he seemed to know what he was doing in the kitchen. She guility realised that she didn't expect him to be good at anything. (Apart from making out. She knew he was good at that.)

When she voiced her surprise over his culinary abilities he smirked and shrugged. "I'm good with my hands."

Rachel felt herself go red. "Does everything have to be about sex with you?" She demanded. It really did make her feel uncomfortable around him. Especially since it felt like she was going from having hardly any contact with her peers to constant contact with someone who was a borderline nymphomaniac.

"Better than nothing being about sex." He said, looking at her pointedly.

"What's that meant to mean?" She was aware that she sounded slightly shrill.

"Just that you're a bit of a prude. What's going to happen when you get together with Finn?" he asked, as he expertly chopped an onion.

"What do you mean?"

"You going to do it with him?"

"I...I don't see how that's any of your business." She stuttered. The truth was, she hadn't really thought that far ahead. Right now the aim was to maybe get a kiss or two. She hadn't actually considered what would happen when they actually got together.

"It's not. Just wondered. Seeing as how you used to go mental if my hands even went near your boobs." He shrugged, and began chopping a pepper.

"Well, I probably will." She said, almost defiantly. "Do it I mean."

Puck shrugged again. "Fair enough."

"You think I should, right?" She didn't know why she was asking him. Puck had had more women than she'd had hot dinners; of course he thought she should have sex.

"If you want to."

He turned and studied her carefully when she didn't answer. "You do want to, right? Cause otherwise this whole thing is kind of pointless."

"I want to." She said.

"Good." He sliced frantically. Rachel noticed that the muscles in his arm stood out when he was slicing.

"Maybe you should chop some tomatoes as well." She suggested, without quite knowing why.

~*

They ate the food that Puck made mainly in silence, Rachel picking at it carefully, while Puck appeared to be shovelling it down as fast as he could.

"You don't have to do the dishes." Rachel said, surprised when Puck got up from the table and headed towards the sink.

"It's cool," he said, turning on the tap. Which unfortunately chose that moment to snap off in his hand, leading to a fountain of water exploding from the sink and soaking him.

Rachel tried not to giggle as he swore under his breath and frantically tried to turn the water off, eventually succeeding, but not before he was totally soaked.

"God damn." He muttered. "You got a dryer?" He asked, pulling the soaking item over his head, revealing his extremely toned and muscled torso.

"Em...." Rachel found herself oddly unable to speak. She had seen a half naked man before. Of course she had. But never so up close and personal. Never when it had just been her and the half naked man alone in her kitchen.

And he really did have a lovely body. She'd never seen anyone with such broad shoulders and defined muscles.

Puck's face twisted into a wicked grin. "You checkin' me out, Berry? Maybe you should take your shirt off as well. Fair's fair you know."

"Noah Puckerman, you put that shirt back on right now!" She said, slightly shrilly. "What if my dads come home?"

Noah Puckerman standing there half naked was making her feel very uncomfortable. And even though she knew that his silly comment about her following suit was his attempt at a ridiculous joke, it did not help how awkward she was feeling.

Puck looked at her as though she was stupid. "Rachel, it's soaking, I can't put it back on."

Rachel frowned "Well, I'm sure I'll find you something else to wear. Stay right here."

Puck raised his eyebrow as if to question where she expected him to go when he was standing half naked in her kitchen.

Rachel ran upstairs and rummaged in the back of her closet for something. She spent a moment taking some deep breaths before heading back downstairs.

"Here." She said, handing him a bag.

"What's this?" He asked, before opening it and pulling out a smart red shirt.

"I was shopping one day and I bought it for Finn. I mean, I saw it and I thought he'd like it and I thought, well maybe one day we'll be dating and then I can give him it and – Oh, just put it on." She said, when she saw that he was laughing at her. She knew that it was ridiculous buying clothes for someone that wasn't your boyfriend - she just hadn't been able to help herself. It had obviously been wishful thinking to the extreme.

Puck obliged her by putting it on and Rachel had to admit that, even though he hadn't been the intended recipient, the shirt actually looked pretty nice on him, if not slightly tight, considering his build was a bit bigger than Finn's.

"I feel stupid." He said, looking down at himself.

"It looks good. And besides, Quinn will probably like it. It will seem like you made an effort with your appearance for once."

"For once? I always make an effort? This hairstyle?" He ran his hand through his mohawk. "This takes maintenance, baby"

Rachel looked at the time. "Speaking of appearances, I'd better be getting ready! I'll see you at the party." She said, ushering him towards the door.

"You kickin' me out, Berry?" Puck was pretending to sound hurt. But Rachel wasn't falling for it, she knew he probably just wanted to stick around so he could try and catch a glimpse of her changing.

"Yes. I will see you later. Wear the shirt." She said firmly, as she closed the door on him. She had a lot to do tonight. She needed to look perfect if she was going to attract a man to make Finn jealous. She felt a bit nervous about that actually.

She went upstairs and frantically googled "how to flirt". It would be best to be prepared.

A/N : Next few chapters are from Puck's point of view! Hooray! Feel free to leave feedback, it makes me very happy! (Well, unless you write something like "u SuCk!!1", which would make me very sad.)