Seeing as it was the third Sunday of the month, it was time for the old friends to reunite at Rachel and Finn's apartment so they could all get together and talk as a group. This has been happening every few weeks, no matter who was in New York and who wasn't. Actually, this was the longest break they had taken from doing dinners since the break-up that had happened between Sam and Brittany. In fact, those two hadn't been in the same room since their relationship took a turn for the worse… Or at least, in Sam's eyes, it was for the worse. On Brittany's end, it was something that she needed and wanted for so long, but she didn't know how she could go on living damaging not only Santana, but herself. Ultimately, she didn't want to harm Sam, but it had to happen.
In the Berry-Hudson household, all was calm except for in the kitchen. Finn watched football in the living room while laying on his stomach and facing the screen. If someone would've walked in, you thought you'd been witnessing a seven year-old on a Saturday morning watching cartoons and not a twenty-two year old. From the kitchen, he heard Rachel sing and swear, trying to get everything perfect. She was too well-organized about her cooking to have anyone bother or help her while doing so, so the couple kept their distance on these certain group-dinner days.
When Sam entered the living room, he saw a concentrated Puck slouched into the couch watching some Sunday afternoon football game. "You don't want to go to this thing either, do you?" He asked his friend who looked like he'd rather sit at home and eat junk food than go out and greet his friends and get a good, homemade meal.
Puck raised his eyebrows in response. "Not feeling up to seeing Quinn." It wasn't a lie, though it may have sounded like it. The man was tired from his bar shifts, he was far too tired to come up with a lie. In fact, the past six days since the incident at the bar, Puck had been doing everything in his might to avoid her.
Sam sunk into the couch next to his mohawked friend and checked out the score on the screen before returning to the conversation that he had started. "Yeah, so what even happened there?"
His face almost looked sour trying to think up an answer, but he slowly realized that he had no idea what had happened between the two of them. She was a drunken mess, what else was there? She was revealing things in subtle ways that were going to end up embarrassing her the next time they saw each other.
The two friends shut off the TV and started taking a walk towards Rachel and Finn's place and on the way, they ran into Quinn. Quinn didn't even want to look at Puck and instead she tried to calm down Sam's nerves since he was getting worked up about seeing both Brittany and Santana. It made him feel a bit better that Brittany was nervous about seeing him also, but it didn't make up for the fact that she hurt him.
All of the friends hugged and greeted each other before sitting down at the table. Looking around the table you could see that some people were hurt about past relationships and others were looking for a way to not think about it. Mike looked envious as he saw Tina push Artie through the door, but he tried to keep himself distracted by chatting with Finn. Brittany and Sam couldn't even look at each other and you could tell that earlier that day, Kurt and Blaine had fought about something that was still bothering the both of them.
Rachel didn't want anyone to start eating before she told them her great news. She had gotten the role as Glinda in Broadway's musical Wicked. She was being her normal Rachel Berry self and kept talking in a rapid pace about everything that will be happening in the next year of her life. They all smiled at her, but each of them were staring at the food that lay in front of them. It smelled so good that all of their mouths were filling with saliva.
Looking across the table, Puck spots Santana. She has one hand on her drink with two fingers quietly tapping the glass that holds her drink with annoyance as Rachel rambles on and on. He can't help but to keep looking in her direction, trying to figure out what seemed so different about her. Tonight she had worn her hair down, leaving it to hang over her shoulders. In the city's blistering cold, she only wore a lightweight black leather jacket, jeans, and a pair of matching black leather boots. Maybe it was because Puck was half expecting her to be wearing her red Cheerios outfit with her hair in a bouncy pony-tail after all of these years. Yes, everyone would see her in street clothes every once in a while, but it was still hard to adjust even after all of these years.
Puck kept staring at the Latino girl and had slipped into a world of his own and Santana took full notice. When she couldn't break his stare without talking and interrupting the overly talkative brunette at the end of the table, she thought that the only thing that would help him was a swift kick between the legs. The girl smiled to herself as she swung her leg as hard as she could, barely missing his manhood. Puck immediately snapped out of it and shot backwards in his chair. Rachel had stopped talking and everyone had their eyes on Puck and a playfully bitchy Santana. He was having a small panic attack with his hands on the inside of his thighs, thanking the universe that the tip of her two hadn't moved two inches to the right, while she laughed to herself so hard that her face was almost purple.
"The fuck, San!?" He screamed and bent over like he was more hurt than he was. To Puck, he was having agonizing flashbacks to the times that she actually had kicked him square in the balls.
"Stop staring, Puckerman!" She screamed at him and threw her hands up in the air. She had a lighthearted mischievous look on her face, one that said she was glad that he was back into their daily lives. Puck and Santana were ones that always got along, through the ups and downs that they accidentally created for themselves. To her, she used him to hide who she truly was until the time was ready, but that doesn't mean that between those few years, they didn't form a friendship. They bonded like brother and sister by the end of high school and they still did. It delighted her that he was in her presence the way that she had waited for since graduation.
Blaine sharply inhaled before turning to Rachel and opening his mouth to speak. "Can we start eating?" He was getting antsy and as much as he adored that his friend got a role in one of her favorite musicals, he was starving. Finn didn't wait for an answer, he started going for the food anyway.
"Since Noah and Santana rudely interrupted, I guess we can." You could literally see the relief wash over everyone faces as they dashed their hands towards the food that lay out in front of them.
It was late by the time everyone had left their apartment. Sam was saying his goodbyes to the couple and Mike. Puck had already made a beeline downstairs in hopes that Quinn wouldn't follow. He almost prayed that she was going to stay and help Rachel clean up the mess and then take a cab home with Mike. When he heard the door behind him open as he sat on the stoop, he knew that it wasn't Sam. "You're ignoring me," she muttered.
He acknowledged her, but didn't care to give her an exact answer. Instead, she sat down next to him on the cold pavement and in a short matter of time, she started shivering. Puck sighed and stood up, taking off his leather coat and placing it around her shoulders.
"Not gonna talk about what happened?" She asked once more, but still there was no answer, just a bitter silence. "When we get back, come upstairs and talk to me for a few seconds, please?" She was begging for an answer and the silence was practically killing her at this point. She didn't think he'd be this upset over drunk words and a song that she let slip out of her mouth, but he was. She wasn't even that embarrassed about it, actually. "Puck," she pleaded while taking a step towards him up against the door. "Please." He nodded to shut her up and pulled her into his grip, unable to take the sight of her shivering anymore. Quinn was his weakness, especially when she was getting on his nerves.