I'm sorry that it's been forever since I've updated. I know that this is usually where I make excuses about why it's been over a month but really besides the first week, where I was moving and working and doing a bunch of other things, my only excuse is the major writers block I've had with this story. I love it still and have a lot of ideas but getting from here to there was causing problems. I've wrote this chapter and rewrote this chapter and rewrote parts of it again and I'm still not completely happy with it but you guys deserve a chapter so here you go. I will resume answering reviews next chapter. It's too late right now and I'm going to put this up and go to bed. Sorry again! Hope you all enjoy and thank you to everyone who did review last chapter!
By ten the party was in full swing and Rachel's house was crowded. She was standing beside Kurt sipping a water just watching the people around them. Kurt was drinking some drink with Orange juice and he said vodka in it. It looked good but she was still not sure she wanted to mess with alcohol. Everyone around her was steadily getting drunk, including Kurt, and they were all acting pretty funny. "Rachel" Kurt started, "You need to go have some fun, get off this wall and go dance" He ordered
Rachel rolled her eyes because this was the millionth time he'd told her that and she'd ignored him every time, content just to observe.
Well she was, that is, until Santana caught sight of her on the wall. Santana saw her leaning by Kurt and made a bee line for her, Brittney right behind her."Here, B, try this. It's amazing. You'll love it!" Santana gushed, holding a cup out to her.
Rachel took the cup and looked at it's contents. "What is it?"
"It's a cherry bomb and it's like totally crazy good" Brit gushed before downing the rest of hers.
"What's in it?" Rachel asked, curious because it smelled good.
"Don't worry about it, just down it" Santana almost argued but then stopped herself. She never really just let herself go and have fun, Noah was always telling her to live a little, so why not. Her friends were all here, they'd take care of her. She grinned at Santana and Brittney before tipping the cup up and downing the contents in one gulp, the no gag reflex really helped with that. The girls were right, it was amazing.
"Wow, that's great!" She exclaimed causing Brit to giggle and San to grin at her.
"Lets go get you another one then we're going to go dance" Santana said, offering her arm.
Rachel linked arms with her, holding her hand out for Kurt to come with shook his head, "Nah I'm going to go talk to Finn, I just saw him come in."Rachel nodded, shot him a small smile before being dragged by Santana to the make shift bar to make another of those delicious drinks.
After downing not one, but two more, Santana and Britney claimed it was time to dance so the three girls made their way out to the dance floor. Rachel was feeling amazing and really energetic. Santana had explained that red bull was one of the ingredients which explained her need to keep moving.
On the floor, Rachel found herself sandwiched between the two cheerios. Brit was in front of her, arms in the air, grinding against her front while Santana was up against her back, hands on Rachel's hips. Rachel was moving with the beat, when she saw all of their boys close by watching them. Rachel smirked to herself before slowly sliding herself down Santana's body while bringing her hands down Britney's. She heard Brit giggle and San gasp as she, just as slowly, brought herself back up, keeping one hand on Britney's hip while the other she brought around San's neck her head against San's shoulder as she whispered, "Don't look now, but we have quite an audience"
She then straightened up, with a little giggle, she turned to face Santana, who had noticed Matt, Mike and Puck, all with their mouth's hung open, Kurt and Finn were standing close by too. Kurt looked amused and Finn looked a mix of confused and shocked. Rachel, now facing her, put her arms around the Latina's neck and they started doing a slow dance that was a mix of grinding and sliding and dipping that had everyone watching them. At one point Santana had dipped Rachel all the way back, with her hand touching the floor and as she slid back up, San's body had slid up with hers until they were face to face. In that last moment, they were close enough to kiss and both were breathing hard from all the dancing, San smirked, "Wanna really give them a show?"
Normally Rachel wouldn't have considered this, but after the drinks, she felt a little wild, so instead of answering her, she just pressed her lips to hers.
The kiss lasted all of five seconds before she was pulled away."What the hell" Finn yelled as he had a hold of Rachel's waist still.
"Hey Finn, What's up?" Rach asked, smiling, even as she pulled out of his grip.
Before he had a chance to answer, Santana and Britney were linking arms with Rachel, "Want to get another drink Rachel? I'm parched" Santana asked
Rachel nodded smiling still, as she started letting the girls pull her along, "I'm really thirsty too, lets go"
Finn reached out and grabbed Rachel's arm that was linked to Brit and pulled her, hard "Wait a minute" He started, sounding pissed.
Santana was glaring at him, whatever he had said to Kurt was not a good thing because when he had come up and pulled Rachel back the first time Kurt made frantic motions at San and Brit to get her out of there but apparently Finn wasn't having it.
Santana opened her mouth to let Finn have it for continuing to pull her friend around when they all heard "WHAT THE HELL, HUDSON"
Puck was marching over to them, glaring at the hand still gripping Rachel's arm as she tried to pull free."Go away, Puckerman. This has nothing to do with you." Finn growled.
"Finn, let go" Rachel said quietly, instantly sobering when she saw the look on Noah's face, plus the grip on her arm was starting to hurt and he wasn't letting her pull away.
"Not until you tell me what the hell you were doing, out there, with Santana?"
Rachel raised an eyebrow at him, but instead of answering, she said softly, hoping Noah was still to far away to hear but he was getting really close, "Finn, you're hurting me, let go."
Finn shook his head and opened his mouth again but stumbled back as Puck pushed him, "What the hell, man. The girl says you're hurting her and you keep holding on?"
Finn had released her arm when Puck had shoved him, startled. Santana had quickly pulled Rachel back with her and Brit.
"Come on, let's go get that drink" Santana said, trying to pull Rachel away from the two boys. Matt, Mike and Kurt had followed Puck so they were all standing there watching the event unfold and San knew Rachel wasn't going to like anything that was about to happen.
Rachel wouldn't move though, she was frozen staring at the two boys. Puck was glaring at Finn who was glaring at her while Mike and Matt stood behind Puck and Kurt stood off to the side a little but was obviously on Pucks 'side' of the room.
"Disappointed I interrupted your show, Puckerman? So sorry." Finn growled out, still staring at Rachel.
"What the hell is your problem?" Puck demanded, "I know why you'd be mad at me, Hell I know why you'd be mad at most of us but Berry's the one person you should be cool with."
Finn just shook his head, his glare turned to one of disappointment as he continued to ignore Puck and look at Rachel, "I thought we had something, Rach, but I guess I was wrong. You're just like all of the other girls, just a common slut. "
Rachel vaguely heard the sound of a fist connecting with flesh but she had tears in her eyes and couldn't really see as she pulled away and ran for an exit, ignoring Santana and Brittney calling for her, and everyone else at the party staring at her. She made it to the back door and went to the deck around her pool and fell onto a chair and just sobbed. It wasn't even really about what Finn had said, she had heard worse, it was just first Mercedes, who she was never close to but did consider her a friend at one point, and now Finn who she had been very close too. It was too much. She should have known she wouldn't be allowed to wallow by herself for long but she wasn't used to having friends that actually cared in public. Which is why when she heard footsteps coming up the deck, she startled.
"Rach" Mike asked softly.
"Hey" Rachel replied softly, not looking at him, not wanting him to see her cry.
He didn't say anything else, knowing she didn't want to talk about it. He just sat at the edge of her chair and opened his arms. She still wouldn't look at his face but she moved so she was in his arms, wrapping hers around his waist and before she could stop herself she was crying again. He held her, rubbing soothing circles on her back and singing softly. At first she was crying to loudly to hear what he was singing but when she heard the chorus of 'Keep Holding on' starting again she smiled a little remembering singing this song for another of their members. Then her crying stopped altogether as she listened to his soft voice sing to her and realized for the first time that Mike had an amazing voice.
He finished the song and they both sat their in silence for a few seconds before Rachel pulled back a little to look at him, "You have an amazing voice, Mike. Why don't you ever try for the male leads?"
He blushed a little but grinned at her, happy that she was thinking about something else besides what was happening in her house right now, (Because yea, Puck had punched Finn for calling Rachel a slut and last he checked both he and Matt were still fighting Finn while Kurt was yelling at them to 'not get blood on the carpet'.)
As much as he wanted a piece of the ass, himself, he knew someone should come after Rachel and though the girls were her best friends now, Santana was as bad around crying chicks as most guys and Brittney would probably start crying herself so he was left. It took him a few seconds to realize she was still staring at him, waiting for him to answer her question. "Um. I don't know. Finn does a…" and though all he was going to say was he does a good enough job not to need help, as soon as he said his name he wanted to kick himself. Her face fell and her eyes got shiny like they were trying not to shed the tears trying so hard to get out."I mean, I guess I never really thought about it," He finished lamely.
She looked away, turning her body so she was half leaning on him, his arms still around her but her face was facing the pool and not him anymore.
"You should" she says quietly but he can tell she light years away.
He moves up in the chair and moves her so she's leaning against him between his legs, his arms around her waist and her hands resting on his arms.
She sighs and lets out all of the rest of her tears silently, glad it was Mike that came to find her. Noah would have made her talk more and would have stopped her half way through to try and leave and kick Finn's ass, Matt, well she didn't know him that well but she had a feeling he wouldn't have thought of singing to her while she was crying, most boys wouldn't, not to blame them most boys are horrible with crying all together for some reason it made them panic. Yeah, she was glad it was Mike that came out.
"Mike?" she said softly, when she was sure the crying was done.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you"
"Anytime, Rach." he kissed the top of her head and held her a little tighter. They may have only been friends for the past week but he really was starting to care for this girl. She was a little crazy sometimes but he had a feeling a lot of that was because she hadn't had the most normal life and she hadn't had any friends really to show her what 'normal' was so it wasn't really her fault. Besides, he thinks most of what made her different was actually pretty cool, now that he was getting close to her.
They sat like that for another ten or fifteen minutes, completely comfortable in the silence, when they heard the back door open.
"B?" They heard called across the yard.
Rachel sighed a little before squeezing Mike's hand and getting up. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Thanks again" She whispered before walking off the deck and over to Santana.
"You okay?" Santana asked, taking in the dried tear stains and make up trails.
"I'm alright now, just need to clean up. Everything alright inside? Noah didn't kill him did he?" She asked, a little nervously.
Santana's eyebrow went up when she realized that Rachel knew Puck had been kicking Finn's ass, in her living room, and hadn't tried to stop it. She thought she left to fast to notice but if she knew then, damn Finn really had screwed up with her if she was upset enough to not care.
"No, Brittney went and grabbed the bowl of ice Kurt had set out and dumped it on all three boys to 'cool them off'" Santana made air quotes as she said it, smirking a little remembering how all three boys jumped at the ice.
"Three?" Rachel questioned as she let Santana lead her to the sink in the kitchen, she wetted a rag and handed it to her before replying, "Matt"
"oh" Rachel was a little surprised that Matt had jumped into the fight. She didn't need another Noah going around hitting every boy that did something she didn't like.
"Are they both alright?" She asked as she got the rest of the make up off her face.
"Better question is, are you?" Matt said from behind her, making her jump a little. She turned around and saw him, he didn't look that bad off so she figured he didn't do much of the fighting.
She nodded at him, giving him a stern look "I'm fine, Matt. As much as I appreciate you jumping to my defense, violence is never a good resolution to any problem."
"It is if the problem is a fucking douchbag hurts my best friend" Puck said from behind Matt, walking around him to pull Rachel into a hug, "I'm sorry I didn't come out after you though, Santana is almost as shitty with crying girls as I am"
Rachel couldn't help hugging him back, though when she pulled back she shot him the glare he deserved for the comments and fighting. She opened her mouth to say that Santana wasn't the one that came after her but San seemed to know what she was about to say and after a frantic look to see Mike was already back in and standing by the other exit she said, "Come on B, lets go reapply that gorgeous make up and then get us another drink, I know I need like five more after all that"Rachel shrugged and let Santana lead her off, leaving the boys and Brit in the kitchen.
"She sure does drag her off a lot" Matt commented, watching the two brunettes make their way towards the stairs.
The other boys nodded while Britney just looked at Mike watching the girls as well. She frowned a little but didn't say anything, just turned to walk out of the kitchen, calling back, "Mike, you might want to change your shirt"
This made the boys look at Mike who had some make up smudged on his shirt and it was still slightly damp.
"You went out after her?" Puck asked.
Mike shrugged at him, "It didn't take three of us to kick Hudson's ass, though he deserved it, and we all know that San's awful with crying so yea I went"
"I can't really tell but I don't think Brit liked that to much" Matt told him, leaving out that neither he or Puck liked that to much either.
"Why would she care?" Mike asked confused. Britney was very laid back, that's one of the main reasons they got along so well.
Matt and Puck both rolled their eyes but wisely kept their mouths shut and headed back into the party which was starting to pick back up now that Kurt had managed to get Finn to leave.
"I wonder if Hummel is letting Finn have it or letting him cry on his shoulder" Puck wondered aloud as he noticed Kurt wasn't back in yet.
Before anyone could answer though, Rach and San came back to the party, both with huge grins on their faces, they linked up with Brit and went for more cherry bombs.
"With that much red bull, Rachel will never let us sleep, you guys do realize this right?" Kurt asked, sneaking up behind the boys, making them all jump a little.
"Damn Hummel, are you a ninja or something?" Mike asked, chuckling a little.
Kurt winked at him, grinning, but just shook his head and looked back at their girls. Matt followed his line of sight and saw Rachel throw back two cherry bombs one right after another, Santana was right with her while Brit was nursing the first one. He grinned at the sight, watching Rachel laugh and joke with the two girls as if she didn't have a care in the world. He looked over and saw Puck watching her too and he had an odd little smile on his face.
Matt didn't wait to see what the smile was about, instead he nodded at Kurt and then walked over to the girls.
"Want to dance?" He asked Rachel, holding his hand out to her.
She finished the drink in her hand, then looked up at him, she smiled at him a little but said, "I don't know." Matt's face fell a little but he fought to keep the smile, before he could reply though she went on, "Last dance offer I accepted got rudely interrupted" She finished, winking at Santana, who grinned right back at her.
"Do you think you can top her last dance, Rutherford?" Santana asked with a sly smirk and a grin, "I gotta say it was pretty awesome even for my standards"
Matt shot Rachel a smirk, much like San's, saying "Babe, trust me, you and me together would be too amazing for anyone to interrupt" He winked at her which made her giggle.
She knew she was definitely feeling some effects of the alcohol but she also couldn't help but grin at Matt being so.. Flirty was the only word she could think of. She placed her hand in his and let him lead her to the dance floor and he proved himself, spinning and dipping, twirling and lifting her all over the place to the music. She was laughing full out through the whole dance and he was grinning as well. Anyone could tell he was truly enjoying himself, until the song changed. The beat for this song was a little slower so Matt pulled Rachel towards him, smiling as she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him settle his on her hips. There was no space between them when he finished pulling her to him and they started moving together as if they did it everyday.
She trailed one over his shoulder and down his arm then back up it, trailing it up to his hair where she messed with it a little, smiling.
"You're really fun" Rachel stated seriously, though grinning at him as she said it.
He smiled at her, "You're really fun, too Rach."
She frowned a little at that, shaking her head, "No I'm not, everyone always tells me I need to loosen up. They wouldn't say that if I were fun."
Matt rolled his eyes, because everyone was right, normally she did need to loosen up but that didn't mean she wasn't fun and he told her so. She grinned at him then, a 100 watt true Rachel Berry smile and moved to hug him hard. He hugged her back and when she pulled back, still grinning up at him, he snapped and gave in to what he had wanted to do for days, he bent down and kissed her.
She kissed him back for a few seconds before pulling back and giggling.
Matt looked at her, confused trying to figure out why she was giggling. He raised an eyebrow and her and she said, "I have to be careful who I dance with after this if all of my dances are going to end with kisses" She kept giggling and Matt couldn't figure out if she was happy he kissed her or if she just thought he was caught up in the dance or what and he didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't just ask her, could he? Before he could decide what to do, Rachel was pulled away and when he looked up he saw she was dancing with Kurt.
Wait, he thought, Kurt? What's up with that? He kept looking at them until Mike came and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Dude, I think you about gave Puck a heart attack. Do you have a death wish or something?"
Matt looked over at his friend and saw he wasn't exactly giving him a friendly look. "What happened?" He asked
Mike rolled his eyes, "What do you think? He was alright when you two started dancing, a little tense maybe but he wasn't like giving you a death glare or anything but when the slow song came on and you pulled her up against you… he looked like he was going to kill you right there but he restrained himself, I think because Rach smiled at him over your shoulder, then when she hugged you and you kissed her, dude what were you thinking? You knew he was watching her! He has been all night. If she wouldn't have pulled away when she did, I'm afraid he might have pulled a Finn and yanked you off of her. Only you're not a girl and your face would have been messed up afterwards"
Mike finally took a breath after that explanation and Matt frowned at him but shrugged, "It's not like anything really happened. I don't think she even realized I kissed her because I wanted too. She thinks we were just caught up in the dance or something"
Mike patted his shoulder but didn't reply to him, just walked off to grab another beer, leaving Matt alone, to watch Rachel and Kurt, and avoid Puck if he could.
Over too Rachel, when Kurt grabbed her to dance
"Care to dance?" Kurt asked, holding his hand out to her.
Rachel put her hand into his, giggling, "Are you going to kiss me after our dance too? I'm 2 for 2 now"
Kurt laughed with her, as he pulled her a little farther from Matt. They started dancing as he answered "I don't think I should, last time we kissed you had me almost questioning my sexuality, this time might do me in" he winked at her then to show he was joking.
She tried pouting at him but she couldn't quit giggling. "Well then let's stop dancing and go get a drink, I'm thirsty."
"Yes, ma'am but you have to tell me something first." He answered pulling her closer and making a big show of it.
"What?" She asked curiously, leaning closer to hear him
He then staged whispered into her ear, "What's going on with you and our Matthew? You guys were mighty comfy on the dance floor"
Rachel laughed at him, as he wagged his eyebrows at her, "We were just dancing, Kurt. Nothing was going on."
It was Kurt's turn to pout at her, "Come on Diva, he kissed you, something had to be going on."
Rachel rolled her eyes, dragging him by his hand towards the bar, "Santana and I kissed too, are you going to ask if something is going on between us?"
"Is there?" Kurt asked, though his serious face was quickly over come by laughter when she turned her shocked face back at him.
"There most certainly is not. Santana is my friend, just like Matt and we all got caught up in the dances and in San and I's case, we wanted to give our boys a show, but there is nothing going on with me and either of them"
With that she let go of his hand and marched over to get another drink. Kurt ran after her and got a screwdriver as she got her cherry bomb. "Sorry Diva, you know me I can't resist the scent of new gossip. If you say it was nothing then I believe you."
Rachel downed her drink, got another and looked at him for a second before breaking in to a 100 watt grin and hugging him, "Ok Kurtsy, come on lets dance"
Kurt grinned back at her, downing his own drink and following her to the dance floor.
Before they got to actually dance though, Noah stepped in between them, facing Rachel."Rach, you haven't danced with me yet"
"Oh, sorry Noah but I was just about to dance with Kurt, how about right after?" But as she said it, Kurt looked back and forth at them and shook his head.
"Go ahead Rachel, We'll dance later. I need to talk to Brit anyway" and with that he was gone.
Rachel downed the drink that was in her hand, placed the cup on a near by table and grabbed Noah's hand.
"Let's dance then" She said and they started moving with the music.
"Are you having a good first party?" he asked her.
She grinned at him, "It's fun. Why was I so worried?"
He smirked at her, shaking his head, "I told you it would be alright"
The song kept going and they kept on dancing, talking a little hear and there but mostly just enjoying the dance. Puck was dying to ask her about the kiss between her and Matt but didn't because a)he didn't want to seem like Finn and b) he could tell she was drunk and didn't think it would do much good.
The song ended and Rachel looked up at Noah, expectantly. He raised an eyebrow at her as she moved closer to him and closed her eyes. He rolled his eyes then, suddenly mad at himself for being worried about Matt and her kiss, she was just a horny drunk that's all. He made a note of that so he wouldn't ever leave her alone again while drunk.
Then leaned down and kissed her cheek, causing Rachel to open her eyes in surprise.
"Noah.." She whined a little.
"Babe you're drunk. I'm not going to kiss you now just for you to regret it tomorrow like the other two. If you want to kiss me tomorrow when you're sober, come find me but you're going to feel like shit so I doubt it's going to happen."
She pouted at him, "Noah I always want to kiss you. Being drunk doesn't change that"
He grinned at that but shook his head, "If you weren't drunk you wouldn't be telling me you always want to kiss me, now would you? Besides you already kissed Matt and Santana. Do you always want to kiss them sober too?"
Rachel thought about that and shrugged, opened her mouth to say something then quickly covered it with her noticed her face pale and saw her cover her mouth and recognizing the signs lead her quickly to the closest bathroom. Her hair was already up for the party so he just made sure the ponytail stayed out of the way and rubbed little circles in her back as she emptied her stomach. Kurt, Santana and Brit all had seen them rush over to the bathroom but figured Puck had her.
Matt started walking towards the bathroom but Mike appeared out of no where and turned him the other way saying they needed to get another drink.
Puck just sat there with Rachel waiting for her to feel better. Then a figure came to the door with a glass of water in her hand.
"What are you doing here?" Puck asked, too focused on Rachel to really show how annoyed he was at her presence.
"I saw you take her over here and figured she'd need some water," Tina replied softly.
"And you care why?" He asked, glaring at her from his spot on the floor.
"Because even though I haven't been acting like it, Rachel's always been my friend and I wanted to start making things right between us."
Puck was still glaring at her when but he reached a hand out for the water, "Thanks" He grunted. When she still stood there, he said "I'll tell Berry what you said but it's up to her whether or not she wants you around. If it were up to me, I'd say no. No one deserves the crap Mercedes and you by association, put her through."
Tina nodded at him, "I know and I don't really expect her to forgive me but I'm hoping she can. Thanks for taking care of her"
He just shook his head and waved her away. She took the hint that time and left. He then noticed, Rachel was just sitting there now, her stomach appearing to be completely empty.
"Berry, can you sit up?" He asked softly, seeing her nod her head, he helped her into a sitting position.
"Good, now try and drink some of this" He said holding the glass up to her lips.
She took a tiny sip then turned her head away into his chest. He had his other arm around her so he was hugging her to his chest. "Come on Rach, you need to drink some more water, it'll make you feel better."
She turned her face back to the glass, reaching her hand out to take it from him. She unsteadily held it to her lips and took a bigger gulp, spilling more on her then in her but still drinking. When she had half the glass drank she gave it back to him, curling up against him. "I can't drink anymore. Too tired." She said sleepily He placed the glass up on the counter and picked her up.
"Come on then, lets get the princess to bed" He teased her quietly, causing her to giggle. He walked over to the stairs motioning with his head for Kurt to come help him."Move the barricade so I can go upstairs then move it back and go find San and Brit for me and tell them to come up to Berry's room"
Kurt smiled up at him, nodding his head, "Sure" He said dreamily.
"You're hammered too, aren't you?" Puck asked, tiredly.
Kurt looked at him confused for a minute before shaking his head, clearing it a little, "No, I'm fine."He moved the barricade enough for Puck to get through and then put it back, "I'll go get Santana" He said before rushing away.
Puck rolled his eyes but carefully climbed the stairs, turning into Rachel's room.
He went to lay her on the bed but she had a hand curled into his shirt and was fast asleep. When he went to pull her hand off, she actually whimpered at him and it was the saddest sound he had ever heard.
He got her hand off though and she was laid out on her bed. He reached down and pulled her shoes off and dropped them at the end of the bed and moved to cover her with the blanket. When he leaned back up her hand grabbed his arm.
"Noah?" She asked softly.
"Yeah, Berry," He replied.
"Can you hold me? Just for a little bit?" She asked softly.
"Sure" He told her, sliding down beside her.
"Wait" She said as he moved to put his arms around her. She looked down at her shirt and wrinkled her nose at it. "Give me your shirt please."
He raised an eyebrow at her, but took his shirt off and handed it to her. "Turn around" She ordered and he turned his back and felt her moving behind him. A couple minutes later she said, "Ok"
He turned and saw she had thrown her clothes across the room and was there in his shirt. He'd be lying if he didn't say that sight wasn't the best one he'd seen in months. He could think of a lot of things he wanted to do now that she was there in only his shirt but instead, he just pulled her to him, letting her cuddle up to his chest. She let a little sigh of contentment when she was fully in his arms and then fell asleep.
He soon fell asleep too, listening to the sound of her breathing. His last thought before falling asleep was that he could get used to this.
Next chapter, coming sooner than this one did! I'm off the next two weeks, though I do have some plans, I promise to try and get the next one done with in the next couple of days! Hope you all enjoyed! Thanks for reading!