a/n: Greetings from Pigeon Forge! My family is on vacation here right now and we were awakened by a wonderful garbage truck torturing the dumpsters behind our hotel this morning at 5:30…it was great. So anyway, this chapter has the meeting! I hope you like it! I don't own Glee or the songs 'God Save the Queen', 'Pathétique', or 'Anna Molly'. I know it's pretty short but please review! Love you guys!
Boys were stupid. That was the only answer Anna could come up with. The JCC was full of plenty of other girls that Joey Green could bug. Plenty of girls that wore their hair in pigtails because they didn't mind if the boys pulled on them. Plenty of girls who seemed to stupidly welcome the juvenile antics of the boys their age. Anna was not one of them. Joey was dumb and she hated that he always seemed to pick her to bother.
Anna was beginning to regret begging her dad to let her walk home by herself because the most frustrating boy she'd ever met in the world decided to walk with her.
"Joey, just go away," she growled, trying to make her voice as menacing as she'd heard her dad get in the past. The blonde haired boy with pretty green eyes currently had one of her headphones in his hand in an attempt to figure out what song she was using to feebly help her ignore him. Frustrated, Anna grabbed her headphone from him. Boys her age rarely knew who the Sex Pistols were so there was no point in Joey trying to listen in. "Ugh stop bugging me Joey!" The boy shrugged and gave her a shy smile that looked out of place on his face. He shoved his hands in his pockets and mumbled,
"But it's more fun to bug you Anna. The other girls just giggle and stuff. You bug me right back." Anna rolled her eyes. Only a boy would think it was fun to be annoyed. Anna stuck her headphones back in her ears and tried to ignore him the rest of the way home. But when they made it to the entrance of her building, Joey grabbed her hand before she could escape inside. "You're gonna be at the JCC after school tomorrow right?" Anna stared back at him for a minute and then looked down to where he'd laced his fingers between hers.
"Yeah Joey," she answered, "that's where I always go after school." He knew that, so why was he asking? More importantly, why was he still holding her hand? And why didn't she just pull hers away? Before Anna could mentally answer any of the questions she'd just thought up, Joey leaned in and planted his lips right in the middle of her cheek.
It was the strangest feeling. Anna didn't ask him to kiss her on the cheek. She'd seen other girls ask him for a kiss, but she'd never been one of them. It wasn't like she wanted him to kiss her, but she couldn't seem to make her hands push him away.
When Joey pulled back, he had his stupid grin back on his face. He let go of her hand and Anna continued to look at him like she wasn't sure what had just happened. With a small wave, Joey said, "See you tomorrow Anna," and walked off in the direction of his building.
Anna stood dazed for a second as she watched him walk down the sidewalk. Then it hit her that Joey Green had kissed her and she groaned. Wiping her cheek, she thought it again. Boys were stupid.
The song changed from 'God Save the Queen' to 'Pathétique' by Beethoven as she stepped into the elevator and she smiled, not paying attention to the button she pushed and certainly not noticing when the elevator stopped one floor away from where she was actually supposed to get off.
Dad was already home so Anna knew the door would be unlocked. The hallway looked different than she remembered but then she just figured that she probably hadn't been paying much attention to it the first place. Reaching out to grab the doorknob, Anna tugged her headphones off and swung them around her neck.
It took her just a second to realize that something was definitely wrong. She tried to remember if her dad had said anything about letting Uncle Kurt come back by and totally redecorate but nothing came to mind. It didn't make any sense. All of the furniture was different, the walls were a different color, nothing looked the way it had when she'd left for school that morning. What in the crap was going on?
"Dad," she called out into the apartment. No answer. "Daddy," she tried again.
When Rachel heard a small voice coming from her living room, she assumed that Blaine had finally shown up for their True Blood marathon. She grabbed her tea and her bowl of junk food off of the kitchen counter and headed into the living room.
The small girl was most definitely not Blaine. The girl had pretty brown hair braided so that it rested over her shoulder. The t-shirt she had on looked like an old Iron Maiden shirt that had been altered to fit her tiny frame and she wore a dark purple skirt with purple leggings underneath it. She couldn't have been more than thirteen.
"Um, excuse me," Rachel began softly. The girl whirled around, bright hazel eyes wild, and she immediately brought her fists up to her face as though she was ready to fight. It stunned Rachel just a little bit.
"Who are you? Why are you in my house? Stay back, I know aikido!" The vocal coach in Rachel couldn't ignore the natural harmony in the girl's voice. Then she noticed that she'd said 'my house'. Clearly a mistake had been made.
"Honey, my name is Rachel. Are you lost? Do you need me to call someone for you?" Rachel noticed the girl falter for a second, as though she couldn't figure out whether to keep her fists up or drop them. Finally, she lowered them about halfway and eyed Rachel warily before repeating her question.
"Why are you in my house?" A thought seemed to strike her then and she asked, "Are you one of my dad's friends?" Taking a deep breath, Rachel sat her tea cup and junk food bowl down on the table.
"Sweetie, I don't know who your dad is. But this is my apartment. I think you're lost." Rachel waited for the girl to let that sink in. She must have believed her because she dropped her hands and looked back at Rachel with curiosity.
"Is this apartment 5G," Anna asked softly. The pretty lady shook her head and Anna noticed that her skin looked really soft.
"No, this is 4G." At that, Anna wanted to kick herself for not paying attention. Her dad had warned her since they moved in to pay attention so that things like this didn't happen. "What's your name honey?" Now Anna wasn't stupid. She'd seen the 'stranger danger' videos before. Her dad had taught her since she was pretty much born to not talk to strangers, especially when she was alone. But something about this Rachel woman wasn't raising any red flags. Anna had always though she had pretty good instincts about people and Rachel seemed alright.
"My name is Anna Puckerman. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I thought you were an intruder or something. Guess I'm the intruder huh." Rachel grinned at Anna as she realized what apartment the girl thought she'd walked into.
"You just moved in upstairs, didn't you?" Anna nodded her head. "Then you're my new neighbors. I've been meaning to go up and welcome you to the building but I've just been busy. Anna is a pretty name." Anna smiled. Compliments were always cool.
"My dad named me. The song 'Anna Molly' by Incubus was my mom's favorite song so my dad named me Anna to kind of keep her memory alive I guess. She died when I was born though so it's just me and my dad." Anna didn't look sad as she spoke about her mother but Rachel assumed it was because, as she'd stated, she'd never known her. Suddenly, Rachel's heart cried out for the girl just a little.
Rachel sat down at her table and smiled across the room at Anna. Anna moved around and sat on the arm of the couch as she looked around the apartment. "I never knew my mother either," she offered. "I have two dads though." Anna turned when she said that and met her eyes.
"Really? Are they like my Uncle Kurt?" Seeing the slight confusion on Rachel's face, Anna realized that not everyone she came in contact with knew her Uncle Kurt. "He likes guys. That's what I meant. My Uncle Kurt is gay. Are your dads gay like him?" Rachel couldn't help but be a little more stunned at the girl. Anna seemed to be full of surprises.
"Yes, my dads are gay. If you don't mind me asking, how is it that you came to be so progressive?" Anna laughed. She'd been called a few things before but 'progressive' wasn't one of them. She liked that Rachel didn't talk to her like she was a little kid.
"My dad, I guess. He always says that no matter what other people say, who you love doesn't change who you are. He says that being gay doesn't make you better or worse than anybody else and that people who think it does are people I should feel sorry for. I love my Uncle Kurt so I don't care who else he loves." The smile on Rachel's face widened as Anna spoke. She was already positive that the man responsible for raising this child was amazing.
"Your father sounds like a wonderful man," Rachel said. Anna laughed softly but nodded her head.
"Yeah he's pretty cool. But he's probably gonna be mad now since I didn't come home right when I left the JCC." Rachel stood up and grabbed her keys from the table.
"Well it was an accident. What if I walk up with you and explain the situation? Then he won't get angry with you. Would that be okay?"
Anna thought for a second. Rachel was pretty cool, not to mention actually pretty. Maybe if she brought her home, her dad would get too distracted to be mad about her not coming home on time. It was worth a shot.
"Sure," Anna grinned, "maybe he'll stare all googley-eyed at you and forget to be mad." Rachel wasn't really sure what that comment was supposed to mean so she just opened the door and waited for Anna to walk out into the hallway. As Anna walked past the door, she looked up to where the apartment number, 4G, was nailed and shook her head. She resolved that it was stupid Joey Green's fault for kissing her and getting her brain all out of sorts. Yep, it was Joey's fault. Stupid, cute, stupid Joey.
Noah was starting to get worried. He'd let Anna talk him into letting her walk home by herself from the JCC that afternoon and she should've been home already. Independent girl or not, one thing was for sure. She wasn't walking home alone anymore. No fucking way.
Just as he grabbed his keys to go off in a panicked search for his daughter, there was a light knock on the door. Not bothering to look in the peephole to see who it was and preparing to tell them to go away until he had Anna in his arms, Noah wrenched the door open.
"Hi dad." Never had two words brought him to his knees so fast in his life. Noah pulled Anna to him and wrapped his arms around her as tight as possible without cutting off her air circulation. He didn't have these types of scares very often and it would be fan-fucking-tastic if he never had one again.
"Baby girl don't you ever do that again. You hear me? Never again. And you can forget walking home by yourself until you're forty." Anna rolled her eyes a little bit but hugged him back. It was nice having a dad that loved her so much. She knew a lot of kids from school who weren't that lucky.
Rachel smiled softly at the scene before her but she couldn't help feeling partially responsible for the extremely attractive man's obvious worry over his daughter. She cleared her throat and waited for him to look up at her. When he turned his eyes to her, the fire she saw made her breath stop in her lungs.
"Dad, this is Rachel. I accidentally went to her apartment." Noah whipped his head back to Anna when she said that, using her 'don't be mad at me' voice she'd perfected by the time she was three.
"What do you mean you accidentally went to her apartment?" Rachel could hear the hardening in the man's voice. It was simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking.
"I think I can explain that Mr. Puckerman. I live in the apartment just downstairs. I'm pretty sure that Anna wasn't paying attention and she ended up on the wrong floor. She walked into my apartment thinking that it was yours. It was an honest mistake."
Noah stood up when Anna nodded her head at the woman's explanation. Really looking at her for the first time, he had to pause. She was gorgeous. Dark hair and big brown eyes, all curves and soft skin, he felt his breath speed up.
"Yeah dad, it was an honest mistake," Anna chimed in. "It was all Joey's fault. He was walking me home and then kissed me at the last minute and I was all surprised so I wasn't looking and I hit the wrong floor. Rachel lives right under us so I thought her apartment was our apartment and daddy I'm really sorry but at least it was Rachel's apartment and not some crazy person right?" Anna took a deep breath and peered hopefully up at her dad.
Noah sighed. Now that he knew Anna was safe, it was hard to be upset with her. With a weary exhale, he directed his attention back to the woman at his door.
"So, you're our downstairs neighbor," he stared with a tired grin. "I'm Noah, and you've already met Anna. Sorry my kid barged into your home. We promise it won't happen again, don't we Anna?" Anna huffed but replied,
"I promise I won't barge in to Rachel's apartment anymore." With a smirk, she quickly added, "I'll make sure to knock next time." Rachel was cool and Anna definitely wanted to see her again. By the look on her dad's face, he wouldn't mind seeing her again either. Suddenly, an idea struck her. "Dad, you should invite Rachel to dinner tomorrow night. It's important to be neighborly, you know." Noah couldn't figure out what Anna was getting at with her little dinner invitation but he knew that she would pitch a fit if he refused.
"Well why don't we make it a housewarming dinner then. I'll invite Uncle Kurt and Rachel, you're free to invite someone if you'd like. At least then, you won't be surrounded by people you don't know." Rachel smiled at that idea.
The thought of inviting Carter to this little get together never even crossed her mind. Blaine would definitely be her first choice.
"That sounds wonderful. I suppose I'll see you tomorrow night. It was very nice to meet you both." The slight tingle she felt as she shook Noah's hand was hard to ignore but she did her best.
The first thing Rachel did as she stepped back into her apartment was head for the kitchen. Those 'welcome to the building' cookies would be the perfect treat to take to the dinner with Noah and Anna. After all, Bubbe always said to never show up to a party empty-handed.
