AN: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you like it so far. I have the next chapter partially finished so hopefully I'll have that up tomorrow, if I have time.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Glee :( or the song "If It Kills Me" by Jason Mraz, which is a great song, if you haven't heard it before.
Chapter Two-If I Should Be So Bold
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."- Confucius
Puck's POV
I was strumming on my guitar when my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID and almost thought about not answering. At the last minute, I decided to answer, "what do you want, Satan?" I asked, already annoyed, not in the mood to talk to her.
"Well, hello to you too, Puckerman." she answered back.
"Whatever, why'd you call?" I asked again, not wanting to play this game.
"I was calling to inform you that the shit has hit the fan, and you should probably go to your "secret" love's house and make sure she made it home ok." I tensed, how the fuck does she know. Yeah, sure I really liked Rachel, but I thought I was being discreet about it.
"My who?" I tried to sound pissed off, to play off that I was slightly nervous about Santana knowing about my "secret".
"Oh, cut the crap, Puckerman, I see the way you look at her, but back to the point, Berry and I walked in on Frankenteen and the Ice Queen playing tonsil hockey. She ran out and was gone before I even made it out the doors; go make sure she's ok." Santana hung up on me before I could say anything else. But that's not what I was thinking about at the moment.
All I could think about was how much I wanted to go beat the shit out of Hudson. I was amazed how much of an idiot Finn was. He always made a big deal about me spending too much time with the girls he had dated; especially Berry, and then he pulled this crap. Finn didn't deserve Rachel, how could he do that to her. And after all the stuff that went down at Nationals, all that "hard work", helping him set up their date, letting him take credit for my song. I grabbed my keys and walked out to my truck.
On my way to Rachel's, I thought about the promise I had made to Finn and thought screw it, Hudson had no right to keep going back and forth between the girls. I had noticed it was messing with both of them; even though she didn't show it, Santana had told me why Quinn had the new haircut and I could always tell with Rachel. Sure, it wasn't very badass to say, but I'm pretty sure I'm like in love with her. She deserved better and yeah, I'd probably screw up a little bit, but I was positive that I would treat her the way she deserved.
After what seemed like the longest drive of my life, I pulled up the Berry house. I got out of my truck and walked up to the door, ringing the doorbell. I waited a minute and no one answered so I knocked instead and still no one came to the door. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number, but it went straight to voicemail. She must have turned it off. I got really quiet listening for any signs of anyone being inside. Sure enough I heard the faint sound of music coming from, I was guessing, Rachel's room.
"Damn it, Berry," I muttered to myself.
I leaned down and picked up some loose stones and went to position myself under her window. I felt like one of those idiots from those lame ass chick movies my mom and sister forced me to watch. I threw a stone and it hit the glass, then I threw another hoping I wouldn't have to do this anymore. Almost in answer to my silent request, the window opened and the small brunette popped her head out.
"Noah! What are you doing?" I could tell just from her voice, she had been crying. It made the anger in me flare up a little more.
"Trying to get you to come down here and open the damn door!" I yelled back up to her. She didn't say anything back, just shutting her window and disappearing from sight. So I just walked over to the door again. I could hear the lock being turned and seconds later the door came open.
"Hello, Noah, what can I do for you?" she motioned for me to come in, acting the part of the perfect hostess, "can I get you anything?"
"Uhh, no I'm good," she looked up at me, her emotions carefully hidden beneath the surface.
"Santana called me and told me what happened and I, umm, figured I'd come see if you were ok." I noticed a half empty glass of water sitting on the table and remembered how she got thirsty whenever she was sad.
The emotions broke through and the tears started to fall, "oh, Noah, no I'm not." I caught her in my arms and she sobbed into my chest. Seeing her like this made me want to kill Finn even more. I leaned down and picked her up bridal style so I could carry her to the couch. She wrapped her arms around my neck as he carried her, still crying. When I made it, I just sat there holding her, the sobs slowly fading.
"Noah, what's wrong with me, I mean I know I'm not as pretty or as popular as her, but why...why doesn't he love me?" It about broke my heart hearing her talk like this, so what, badasses have hearts too.
"Rach, listen to me..." I tilted her head so that she was looking at me, "nothing is wrong with you, you don't deserve to be treated this way and he doesn't deserve you. And you are beautiful, inside and out, Finn is just too much of an idiot to see that, and he's a moron not to love you. He kept trying to change you into something you're not. And you don't need to change because you're perfect the way you are."
"Do you really think I'm beautiful, Noah?" she sounded so vulnerable.
"Yeah, I do." She hugged me and I thought I heard a thank you, mumbled into my chest.
We sat like this for a while until Rachel spoke up again, "I'm getting kind of tired, and I think I should go lay down."
Rachel went to get up on her own, but I just scooped her up again. Her eyes got all big in shock or whatever, and then she opened her mouth to protest, "Noah, I'm perfectly fine with walking up the stairs myself." I laughed as I continued up the stairs.
"I know, but I like holding on to your hot little body," I gave her one of my "Puck" smirks. She just smacked me on the chest and whined, "Noah." It sounded damn sexy the way she said my name.
"Oh, Berry, moan my name again." I joked, earning me another smack, "ouch, woman, stop hitting me!" I faked being upset.
"Then stop being rude," she tried to sound angry, but her smile gave her away. I stopped at her closed door and she reached out to turn the knob.
I walked into her room and set her on her bed, I tried not thinking of the times we made out on said bed. I nodded my goodbye and turned to walk away, but was stopped when she grabbed my wrist.
"Thank you so much, Noah, for everything." she gave me a sad smile.
I leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Anytime, Rachel."
I quickly walked over to the door not wanting to do anything she might regret. I was about to walk out, when I thought of something, "Hey, Rach, would you like a ride to school tomorrow?"
"Sure, Noah. Thanks."
Later that night, I picked my guitar back up and continued with what I was working on before Santana called. I was going to play this song for Rachel in glee the next day, but with the whole Finn cheating, I figured now wasn't the time, but that didn't mean I couldn't sing it right now. I started strumming my guitar and singing the song.
Hello
Tell me you know
Yeah, you figured me out
Something gave it away
It would be such a beautiful moment
To see the look on your face
To know that I know that you know now
And, baby, that's a case of my wishful thinking
You know nothing
Well, you and I
Why, we go carrying on for hours on end
We get along much better
Than you and your boyfriend
Well, all I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But I still can't say it after all we've been through
And all I really want from you is to feel me
As the feeling inside keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me
How long, can I go on like this
Wishing to kiss you, before I rightly explode
This double life I lead isn't healthy for me
In fact it makes me nervous
If I get caught I could be risking it all
Cause maybe there's a lot that I'll miss
In case I'm wrong
Well, all I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But I still can't say it after all we've been through
And all I really want from you is to feel me
As the feeling inside keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me, if it kills me
If I should be so bold
I'd ask you to hold my heart in your hand
I'd tell you from the start how I've longed to be you man
But I never said a word
I guess I'm gonna miss my chance again
All I really wanna do is love you
A kind much closer than friends use
But still can't say it after all we've been through
And all I really want from you is to feel me
As the feeling inside keeps building
And I will find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me, if it kills me
I think it might kill me
And all I really wanna do is to feel you
Yeah, the feeling inside keeps building
I'll find a way to you if it kills me
If it kills me, it might kill me
When I was done, I put my guitar down and laid back, thinking of Rachel and how it was kinda messed up how much I was looking forward to picking up her up tomorrow.