Rachel stifled a yawn as she let herself into the apartment, she was earlier than usual but she just couldn't sleep in. She had fallen asleep halfway through her movie last night and as a result found herself up at the crack of dawn. The house was eerily silent as she maneuvered around, she knew the boys were filming and were on set in the early hours of this morning. It wasn't hard to bury herself in her work, even with Finn's schedule up-to-date, she always looked for ways to keep busy and make life easier for him. She began to take on more tasks - picking up groceries, dropping off or picking up his dry cleaning, she even occasionally would help out with housework. She had just finished cleaning the dishes when the boys came barreling in through the front door.
"That was just luck. There is no way you are going to beat me, it's gonna be my day. I can feel it." Puck was the first to enter the kitchen, Finn trailing him in.
"Yeah yeah, we'll see who will be beating who."
"Hey Rach." they both greeted her in unison.
"Hey guys" she smiled her greeting back "I'll be out of your way in a minute, I'm just finishing up now and then I'll leave." After her confrontation in the kitchen with Puck over a week ago she had done everything she could to keep as much distance from the two of them as possible.
"I don't think so. Today is the day you are finally going to join us for one of our famous gaming battles." She opened her mouth to protest but a look of defiance crossed Finn's face, his brown eyes locking with hers. "I won't take no for an answer." He moved closer to Rachel closing the gap between them.
"Finn I can't." she pleaded not offering him any explanations. The butterflies that now occupied her stomach were now fluttering into overdrive, he was so close she could smell the cologne that he wore, the smell was intoxicating.
"C'mon Rach." he reached out grabbing her hand. Just like their first meeting, as soon as they touched a shock of electricity shot between the two of them.
"Whoa, what was that?" Finn let go of her hand as he moved his hand in-front of his face inspecting it. Rachel took a step backwards away from Finn as Puck was starting intently from across the kitchen at the two of them.
"Nothing, it was nothing." she returned to putting the dishes away.
"That wasn't nothing. It was like a shock that ran straight through me." he looked up at her, his eyes searching hers for an answer.
"It was nothing." she repeated.
"You didn't feel anything?" she paused. She wanted to turn and tell him of course she felt it, she felt that every time he touched her and it sent a thrill through her entire body.
"I didn't feel anything." Instead she lied.
"Oh." his head dropped and Rachel swore his voice sounded disappointed, something she couldn't quite understand why. She placed the last of the dry dishes away, relieved that this meant her day was over and she could make her escape.
"Finished?" Puck asked as Finn exited the kitchen.
"Yeah." she turned ready to grab her handbag and make her escape.
"So if you're all done then you're ready to join us for some PS3?" she sighed, first Finn now Puck, what was with them today.
"I don't think so. I was just going to go home. I'm sure you guys don't want me hanging around ruining your afternoon off together." The corners of Pucks lips curled up in a wicked smile.
"I don't know about you, but it sure sounded like Finn really wanted you to stay...you wouldn't want to disappoint him now would you?" she shook her head in disbelief she should have known he wasn't going make life easy for her. She knew he was trying to bait her and there was no way he thought she was stupid enough to fall for that, or did he?
"Well what about you Noah, do you want me to stay?" she swayed up closer to him, fluttering her eyelashes. She could tell by the expression on his face that he hadn't been expecting that response.
"Wha?" he barely managed to get the words out. Rachel smiled victoriously.
"I said do you want me to stay?" this time she toned down her flirtatious overtones.
"Sure. I mean why not. It'll be just like watching some lame rom-com movie but in real life. Typical chick flick of girl likes boy, boy doesn't know. Blah, Blah, Blah I'm usually asleep by this point because they are all so insanely boring and predictable." he had recovered his wits enough to respond.
"Well maybe it's the movie about this awesome girl and her boss's lame ass mohawked best-friend who likes girl but she doesn't like him." his eyebrows arched at her suggestion. Rachel wasn't sure this was in-fact the case here, but either way he seemed determined to make her life hell about this Finn situation and she needed to distract him and the focus of his attention.
"Nope. Sounds like a pretty shit movie to me." Bingo Rachel thought, mission accomplished.
"How about we call a truce here. I will leave this topic well alone so long as you leave the Finn issue alone. Do we have a deal?" Puck rubbed his chin as he contemplated the offer.
"Deal." he extended his hand out and they shook on their amicable truce.
"Alright now it's time we go and play some PS3 and like Finn said we are not taking no for an answer." Rachel giggled as Puck dragged her by her hand into the lounge-room it appeared there was no way she was getting out of it today no matter how hard she tried.
"Alright, alright I'll play your stupid video games. Do you guys have sing star?" she asked hopeful, she had played that before back home and she didn't like to brag but she was pretty awesome at it. The looks that both Finn and Puck threw her way was a pretty emphatic no.
"Geez I just thought considering your day jobs and all that would have been a given. Obviously not." she plonked down on the couch grabbing the controller from beside her "So do you have Mario Brothers?" she looked up to once again find the boys staring at her with wide-eyed disbelief.
"We have a PS3." Finn simply stated as if that were answer enough.
"So is that a no?" she asked, not really sure what he meant by that answer.
"No. No Mario Brothers." Finn shook his head.
"We do however have Call of Duty." Puck threw the case towards her as he inserted the disc. Rachel picked up the case, right so this was some sort of war game.
"Alright let's get this over with." she was keen to get started, secretly hoping that she wasn't going to embarrass herself too badly before the afternoons end.
The microwave beep reverberated through her tiny apartment, she threw her sweater over her head and headed into her kitchen where the hot popcorn waited. She had not long ago arrived home, she had spent longer than she had anticipated at the boys house. Much to her own surprise she had actually got the hang of playing COD and certainly gave both Finn and Puck a run for their money. It was pretty safe to say though by the time evening had set it that Finn was far superior and was the ultimate victor in their game. Puck had not taken the defeat well and stormed off throwing his controller on the ground before storming out. Much to her relief Puck had been true to his word and hadn't hazed her about Finn, even when after one of their drink breaks he had sat down beside her joining her on the couch. She grabbed her popcorn, jumping into her bed while turning the DVD on pressing play on her favorite movie Funny Girl. While the opening credits rolled Rachel could help but reflect on her afternoon - she actually had a really good time just hanging out with the guys. She didn't realize how much she missed being and just hanging out with people until now. She still didn't have any friends here in L.A. she spent her time either at Finn's house or her apartment, she was putting all her time and energy into her job. She was now beginning to wonder if she was blurring the lines between employee and friend with Finn & Puck. This afternoon was definitely one of those afternoons spent between friends not co-workers or even boss and employee, the guys were actually really funny and she enjoyed her time with them. However, there was the worry even if she wanted to categorize them as friends, there was the ever present and underlying issue of her attraction to Finn and Puck who always seemed to watching her intently.
Rachel almost choked on her popcorn when she realized where her train of thoughts were directing her. Here sat Rachel Berry in her pink love heart pajamas talking about herself as if she were apart of the lifestyles of the rich and famous and that she belonged in that world. If that wasn't the wake up call that she needed then nothing would be, she pushed the thoughts out of her mind and back to the movie.
A/N - Thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter - I am so very excited for some of you to read some of my future chapters! Once again i am easily bribed with your kind words to update this fic so quickly. Hope you enjoyed :)