Hello! Thank you SO much for the reviews! Little did I know, they were pouring in! I thought that the reviews would somehow work through this site. Word to the newbies: check your e-mail. 63 e-mails from later, I'm finally feeling flattered & motivated to continue! Special thanks to jadoreareej, who also wrote a story based around Adele songs, and said she loved mine! Her's is SO amazing, ("Someone Like You")I suggest reading it!
This chapter is LONG but I just couldn't stop once I got the idea. Your input has really helped me, and I know a lot of you out there are rooting for Quinn/Puck as well as our main relationship of Finchel. I'm a Finchel shipper, but I definitely feel cheated by the actual writers when it comes to Puck/Quinn. (What's their 'ship name?)
Anyway, thanks for helping a rookie fanfic writer feel special and appreciated. Enjoy Ch. 3! It's a big one!
CHAPTER 3 - But baby, is that really what you want?
"Sam! Wait up!" Puck called out to Samtana as they walked out of Glee. Sam turned around, expecting Quinn to be the one chasing after him, after humiliating her with his song. "What's up Puckerman?" Sam said casually. "This is what's up!" Puck said, before punching Sam in the face and knocking him down.
"What is your damage, Puck?" Santana screamed as she was dropping to the floor to help her punched-out boyfriend. Puck shook off his hand and then shook his head at the pair and slowly turned around to walk away. He heard Santana screaming insults after him and doting on Sam, but he was too blinded by rage and adrenaline to care or listen.
Lauren walked next to him and asked "Not that I don't like to see you get rough, but what was that for?" Puck had a short answer. He didn't know how to spin it to his new girlfriend that he wanted to get Sam back for humiliating his ex-girlfriend, so he said simply "That was shitty of him to do in there, and embarrassing any member of the club is just not cool with me!"
Lauren clearly believed him, as a fan of physical contact to get one's point across, and pecked him on the cheek saying "My man, sticking up for his friends! Sexy..." and then walked away to her locker as Puck smiled a good-bye at her and continued storming away.
Why was he so furious at what Sam had done? Sure, Quinn had screwed over a lot of guys in her day... him included.
Back when, he wanted to be a part of her life, and talk about the possibilities for them while she was pregnant with their baby. But Quinn had her mind made up on giving the baby up, and wouldn't budge. Puck felt hopeless then, but offered support anyway. Quinn begrudgingly took his support, but he always felt like she wanted him to be more. Anyway, he couldn't understand why these feelings were surfacing. They'd been friends for the entire year, and he'd watched her move on with Sam, and then return her interest in Finn. The last one kind of made him cringe, because she'd so clearly wanted Finn to be her baby's father when she found out...
That was the worst couple of months for Puck. Lying to everyone, including his best friend, and having the girl he loved deny him for someone "better" than him. But Puck stopped himself. He looked back at Lauren and thought about how much he really did like her, possibly even love her, and decided that he had to stop thinking about Quinn and focus on her.
Quinn stood in the doorway of the choir room, unsure of whether or not she'd be able to face leaving that room after everything that happened. She had lost the respect of the school, routinely getting slushied, now that her Cheerios uniform was off. She'd lost the respect of her fellow glee-mates, now that Sam publicly humiliated her... and now, she'd witnessed the one guy she'd wanted for so long to make a gesture for her punch out the very guy who'd embarrassed her. She couldn't figure out why Puck had such a strong reaction to Sam's song-slap, but she could only hope it meant that he felt something for her still.
She had hoped for so long that Noah would just come back to her, even when she'd decided to stay independent. Sam Evans offered her a popular "it-couple" factor which she couldn't refuse, and she admits that she really liked him and the way he cared for her. Obviously now her feelings toward Sam are much different, wanting to spit in his face... But the fact of the matter is, no matter how she tried to distract herself with boys, Sam or Finn, or her own social agenda – Puck was always in the back of her mind. Whenever she saw him sing, like when he sung "Need You Now" with Rachel, she melted. Little did he know, that song was one that always reminded her of him. Wanting to call him. Wanting to tell him how she felt. Now, everything was so messed up, and although she smiled at the thought of Puck defending her from Sam's vocal attack, she knew that she couldn't ask him to give up what he had with Lauren to give her another shot. She'd manipulated too many people. She'd been so wrong...
((Later on at Lunch))
Rachel sat at the lunch table, looking over lyrics and sheet music for the Adele assignment. She couldn't understand why Mr. Shuester was wasting valuable Regionals-prep time with this, but she figured the quicker they all gave him what he wanted, the sooner they could get to practicing their numbers for Regionals.
Just then Finn came and crashed down next to her, ripping open his paper-bag lunch to see what his mom had packed. "See! This is the Mom-stuff I'm talking about!" and he tore open his sandwich wrapping, and began devouring his well-made sandwich. Rachel began to giggle and watched as Finn consumed the whole half of his sandwich in 5 seconds flat. "What?" Finn said, muffled by a full mouth, and Rachel reached over and wiped away mustard from his chin and replied "Please don't speak with your mouth full, Mr. Hudson."
She paused as she had a loose grip on his chin. As gross and boyish as he was being, she couldn't help but feel the urge to pull him closer by the chin and plant a kiss on his forehead for being so silly and adorable. But she didn't, as she always did fight those comfortable urges she would have acted on, had things been different. Finn then smiled with food in his mouth, teasing Rachel and laughing.
Finn swallowed, and then said "You'd be into this sandwich too if you ate meat!" and Rachel laughed and looked down at her papers, saying "Yes, but I don't, so stop showing me WHY!"
The banter between them continued back and forth, until Finn finished his food and turned his interest to what Rachel was looking at. "Adele assignment? I'm a little lost on what to do. They're all really emotional songs."
"Yeah... I'm kind of lost too." Rachel replied. She looked up at Finn, who was staring right back at her. They both knew that they were thinking about more than the assignment now, and a long awkward silence grew between them.
"Well..." they both said at the same time. They both snickered, and playfully fought for a minute, saying "You go first!" and "No you, please".
"WELL," Rachel said, "I feel like the sooner we give his Adele song, the sooner we can begin figuring out a setlist and practicing for Regionals." Finn shook his head and said "Absolutely. But to be honest, I kind of don't WANT to do an Adele song. Everyone's have been so controversial lately, I kind of feel like I might get punched-out or make someone cry!" Finn joked. Rachel laughed, but then they shared a look of 'who-are-we-kidding?' as they both knew the song they chose would make either one of them well-up, as the lines between them were beginning to blur.
"Maybe... maybe we could work on a duet? Our voices blend so well together, and I really feel like killing two birds with one stone might quicken the pace of this assignment." Rachel said, unsure of how Finn would react.
"Yeah, that would be awesome. What song were you thinking?" Finn replied. Just then, the bell rang, and Rachel felt a little saved as she said "Not sure, but I need to get to English. Can we meet up later?" Finn nodded and collected his trash and walked away. He shouted from the garbage at an exiting Rachel, "3:15, Auditorium!" Rachel smiled. Maybe now they could talk about them, and give her apology and their relationship another shot.
((3:15pm – Auditorium))
Finn sat at the edge of the stage, checking his watch for the 3rd time. He was shocked that Rachel wasn't there already, organizing sticky notes or warming up to sing. It was 3:20 now, and still no sign of Rachel. Finn grew worried, knowing that their meeting was definitely important to both of them. He decided to look through the lyrics he'd printed out of Adele's album, skimming through and trying to figure out a way to make these sound more manly, as Puck and Sam had done with their songs. He looked at "Don't You Remember?" and began to lightly sing out the song...
No final kiss to seal any seams,
I had no idea of the state we were in,
I know I have a fickle heart and bitterness,
And a wandering eye, and a heaviness in my head,
… But don't you remember?
Just then, Rachel appeared behind him to the left of the stage. He clearly didn't hear her as he went on humming, trying out his manly rock-n-roll voice to the same set of lyrics. She giggled, but not loudly because she wanted him to continue. Finn went on, laughing at himself from time to time and then checking his watch. Rachel saw him breath out in frustration, and decided it was the right time to show herself.
"Finn?" she said as she creeped out from behind the curtain and made herself visible to him. He turned around, then quickly turned back around, saying "How long have you been standing there?".
"Long enough to hear your manly interpretation of that Adele song..." Rachel said, slightly giggling. Finn sighed and then laughed with her, adding "It's hard to make these sound like you're NOT a girl singing them. I mean, I know likes these gender-bending challenges, but this one is HARD!"
Rachel approached and sat down next to Finn. "Well, if you must know, I liked your manly voice singing that song. Is that the song you wanted to perform?" Rachel asked. The lyrics seemed to be fitting. Finn said "No, not necessarily. I was kind of just messing around. I don't think that song is the best we could do, do you?" Rachel nodded. "No, but it is a lovely song..." she said, and then looked at Finn waiting for a response. "Really... what's your favorite part?" Finn asked, inching closer.
Rachel looked up at Finn and melted a little. She was speechless, which was something Rachel was not used to being, and didn't have the breath to answer. Finn stared like he was searching for something in her eyes. Rachel let out a sigh and Finn stared more intensely into her eyes. They were both locked in a staring contest, holding each other's gaze for longer than they had in some time. Rachel then snapped out of it and said "Wh-what was your question?"
Finn smirked, still locked on her gaze, and said "I don't remember." Rachel paused at the irony of the statement, and said "Don't you though?" before crashing her lips on Finn's. Finn pulled back "Whoa..." he said. Rachel slunk back and said "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Finn, I..." Finn stopped her and pulled her into a hug.
"Rachel, of course I remember. I just... I can't forget everything that's gone on between us so easily. There's all these feelings and unresolved stuff in between us. It's hard." Finn said while holding Rachel tighter against his chest. Rachel sighed and nodded in agreement. She then picked her head up and said "You're right. Maybe this is too hard, I shouldn't have asked you to sing a duet with me. I'm so stupid..." and pulled away and jumped down off the stage. Finn jumped down after her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Don't ever say you're stupid Rachel, you're the smartest person I know. And don't think that I didn't want to kiss you too, because I did. I do, I always do." Finn pleaded with her, as he bent down to kiss her lips once more. "It's just... I don't know how to push around all these feelings of hurt and awkwardness between us. I think I just... I need more time."
Rachel bowed her head and nodded. "I under – I understand. I should just go now." Rachel said. Finn looked longingly at her, but then nodded in agreement and cleared his throat. "Rach I – I know we'll get through this" Finn added, and then said "Goodbye." Rachel left the auditorium, crying softly so that Finn wouldn't hear.
(Glee rehearsal, the next day)
Rachel came into the room, looking a little defeated and puffy around the eyes, like she'd been upset all day. Little did any of her glee-mates know, she had been crying all day. She'd even cut out of gym when Sloane Waterman called her a tool because it made her think of Finn, and how he'd call her that playfully when she did something "tool-ish". She had told Mr. Shuester that she'd perform her Adele number that afternoon, and was looking forward to it, but her tear ducts wouldn't cooperate with her strong will, so she let them wear themselves out. At that thought, the rest of the New Directions filed in and Mr. Shue came in shortly after.
"Kids, we have another bold member of the club ready to tackle an Adele song! Our very own Rachel Berry is going to show us how it's done. Rachel, you ready?" Mr. Shue said as Rachel stood up and approached the front of the room.
Rachel turned around to face the club, and saw Finn looking at her with a furrowed brow. He looked worried, as if he was about to get a song smack-down like Quinn got from Sam. Rachel smiled reassuringly and then began introducing her song.
"Before I start, I want to say that as much as I didn't want to do this assignment," she redirected her speech to Mr. Shue now, "it has helped me deal with some feelings I've tried to jump over. Some issues I wanted to sweep under the rug and forget. So thank you, Mr. Shue, for always knowing how to teach us things we are reluctant to learn." Mr. Shuester and Rachel exchanged a nod and smile, and Rachel finished her speech by saying "This song is for you, Finn, as most songs I sing are."
(Song – Adele's "I'll Be Waiting")
Hold me closer one more time,
Say that you love me in your last goodbye,
Finn smiled at Rachel, listening to her perfect voice transform the words. He did love her, and never wanted to say 'goodbye', but only wait a little longer for his wounds to heal. As he thought that, Rachel then gestured to Puck and Finn looked a little puzzled.
Please forgive me for my sins,
Yes, I swam dirty waters,
But you pushed me in,
Puck smirked at Rachel and then looked over at Finn, who looked a little pissed, but eventually shrugged and smiled back at Puck, knowing that they were cool now, and he wouldn't go after Rachel again. Rachel continued, now pointed back at Finn...
I've seen your face under every sky,
Over every border and on every line,
You know my heart more than I do,
We were the greatest, me and you.
The whole club was looking back and forth now, from Rachel to Finn, hanging on their facial reactions. No one could deny it, they were the "it-couple" when they were together, and the drama was all-too entertaining for the club...
But we had time against us,
And miles between us,
The heavens cried,
I know I left you speechless,
But now the sky has cleared and it's blue,
And I see my future in you!
I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I put my hands up,
I'll do everything different,
I'll be better to you.
Finn was smiling now, watching Rachel swear by the lyrics to this song, and really mean them. He was so in love with her, and he knew now that she understood what he'd meant about needing time.
I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again,
I put my hands up,
I'll be somebody different,
I'll be better to you...
Rachel ended her song, wiped away her tears, and smiled at Finn. He was smiling at her too, nodding in approval. The two locked eyes and shared a moment of pure unspoken understanding.
Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will deal with more Finchel and Quick (found out their 'ship name!), tie up those loose ends, and then I think I'll end it with Ch. 5. I'm thinking a big number to finish? Let me know your ideas/comments. I love all your reviews!
