Can you tell that this is all just a contest? The one that wins will be the one that hits the hardest. But baby, I don't mean it. I mean it, I promise.

Puck had always been the one in control, at least in his head. Even if there were the occasional moments where Santana or Quinn had the upperhand, they were fleeting and he would inevitably find a way to somehow regain dominance in the relationship. He never worked harder than he had to for things to work. He kind of just figured that things would happen to him, good or bad, and it was up to him to figure out a way to deal with it. It wasn't always the ideal approach but it mostly seemed to work. Until Lauren.

The vivacious brunette with more moves than Hulk Hogan and a biting wit was the first time he really had to try to get a girl's attention. He liked the challenge right away, appreciative that he was actually have to work to get her to like him. It was trying to say the least, but those rare little seconds where she would smile at him in just that way made it all worth it. Even after they were together and he was confident that she actually liked him, he still cherished those instances where she would let down her guard just a little and let him see the softer side. He knew that it wasn't easy for her; they were a lot alike in that regard. That's likely why he appreciated it so much, he knew what it took out of a person like her.

He also liked the way that people started seeing him after he was with Lauren. He would be lying if he didn't admit that they had faced comments from a certain segment of the student population, but either Lauren or him dealt with most of them once they became aware of what was being said. Surprisingly, though, their classmates were supportive for the most part. He suspected that their scary predispositions had something to do with it; they were the ultimate badasses after all. He also realized that he stopped listening to what people thought after he got with Lauren. It just didn't seem to matter anymore.

Puck also found that he liked actually putting the effort in. It was nice to try for a girl. They appreciated when you did more than the bare minimum, a little tip he had picked up when he dated Berry for that week sophomore year. Singing for her and showing up to the choir room that day had changed things between them, and it's that memory that pushes him to serenade Lauren the first time. Okay, so it wasn't a perfect song selection and he had to try again, but he got why it was important nonetheless. He even tried again, and it had proven to be so worth it. He was really thankful someone had talked some sense into him. Girls were suckers for stuff like that.

"Remember that time you sang to me, the second time?" Lauren would ask later, maybe a month after they were together. They were out at the lake after a basketball game, and their breaths were little puffs of smoke every time either one of them spoke. She looked unexpectedly pretty as she sat on the edge of the tailgate, her feet dangling like a little kid's. "That's the first time I ever knew you really liked me, you know, as more than just a conquest."

"That hasn't changed," he smiled genuinely, reaching over to squeeze her hand briefly for emphasis. Lauren just grinned back and nodded a little. He could see the blush even in the darkness and was proud that he could get a girl like her to feel like that about a guy like him. "I hope you know how glad I am we're together, Lauren. I know you have every reason to doubt me, given my track record and everything, but I am really happy you gave me a chance."

He was the first guy that was more than just a hookup or friend to her, and she was the first real girlfriend that he was monogamous with that lasted more than a week or two. "I'm glad too," she admitted finally. She talked a big game, but just like him, she was really glad that he was as into this as she was. "I was, I don't know…scared, maybe, that I was just this distraction for you. A placeholder until you figured out what conquest came next, someone you hung out with as a little more than friends until the next pretty blonde came along."

"First of all, if you look at my track record, it's pretty blatant that I prefer brunettes," he teased good-naturedly. "And you could never be just that, Zizes, not to me. You're far too special for that."

The best part was that he wasn't even lying when he had told her. He never really felt the need to hide the truth when he was with her. In a lot of ways, she was the first person to get a lot of his truths. After they got to know each other and before she broke his heart before senior year, he actually let her in on a lot of the inner workings of the Puckerone. She was the first person he really told about Beth without some fear of preconceived bias. She wasn't invested in it like the rest of them had been. She was on his side for the sake of caring about him, and for a guy like Puck, that was really hard to find.

She did eventually break his heart though, when she fell for some guy at a wrestling camp, and even he had to admit that they were probably a better match. He saw the way Blake stared at her as if she was the most magnificent creature that had ever walked the earth and knew that he would have never been able to gaze at her in quite that same way. That would come later with a different girl, and at that point, he just wasn't quite ready for it. Still, he would always be really grateful for his time with Lauren Zizes. He had to learn a few critical life lessons with her before he would be ready for that big grand finale.

He had to learn how hard it was to be on the other side. He had to learn how important it was to actually try. He had to learn what it felt like when all of the hassle was really worth it. He had to learn why it sucked to be the guy he had been. Most of all, he had to learn that there was no going back, not really, not even when he pretended to be that old Puck. It's that lesson, the really big one, that eventually makes him resolve that he'll never be the bad guy ever again.