A/N: This is by far the longest chapter yet. It just flowed out of my fingers and I couldn't stop it. I hope everyone likes it so far. I can' t believe all the reviews and how many people made it their favorite. my inbox is overflowing! i love it and am so appreciative. Next chapter will have a lot action. it's the "shit hitting the fan" episode. Although lengthy, I hope everyone enjoys this. Chapter 8 will be following in the next day or so!! Reviews are always. Thank you again!!
Rachel climbed the stairs to her room; she managed to pull herself together to tell her dads good night. Her cell phone was next to her bed, and noticed that she had a text message, so she checked it.
"You owe us an explanation," and it was from Tina's cell phone number. She realized it was only 9:30 on a Friday night. She called Tina back and Tina told her that they were at the Cracker Barrel getting dessert. Rachel went back to her fathers' room and told them that she was going to meet up with Tina, Mercedes, and Artie.
When she got there, she could tell that they were bursting at the seams to ask her questions about what was going on between her and Puck. She would answer as honestly as possible, and try to omit the night's events from her story, because she wasn't sure what happened tonight, and she certainly didn't want her friends to think that she was being slutty just to keep a boy, though she was sure it wasn't being slutty, just performing the duties of a girlfriend. Never the less, the physical side wasn't any of their business.
"So, you couldn't get one football player so you moved onto the next best one," Mercedes said. It was weird, Mercedes could be an out and out bitch, but no matter what she said no one ever seemed to get mad at her. It was just her way of phrasing things, she meant no harm, but some times the words stung.
"No, Noah and I tried dating, it didn't work, because we both approached it for the wrong reasons," she explained.
"Y-y-y-you were trying to make Finn jealous?" Tina said.
"Yes, that's exactly it. When you aren't in a relationship for the right reasons, then it will never work. We didn't exactly fight when we were together, which was strange, because we are pretty much like oil and water, but we were focused on other things. I was focused on Finn, and well, I'm not sure what he was focused on, but it wasn't me," she said, "but after an adult conversation about our expectations for each other and what our relationship could be rather than what it was, and we came to an agreement that we shouldn't break up without giving it a real try."
"Isn't that forward thinking of you," Artie said as he took a bite out of her peanut butter pie. "I don't understand why you started dating in the first place; I mean football player and Glee club, that's makes about as much sense as Mr. Schuester's metaphors." Artie said garnering a laugh from Tina and Mercedes.
"Sometimes, like bacon and chocolate, you can't tell how they fit together, but they do, and you're pleasantly surprised," Rachel said.
"Okay, well, h-h-h-how do you and P-p-p-puck fit together then?" Tina asked.
"Yeah, the two of you could barely stand to be in the same room with each other, if it wasn't for Glee, I didn't think that the two of you could stand to be in the same room, especially since he's the one who almost caused you to get frostbite on your face from all of the slushies he would throw at you," Mercedes added.
"I know, but who would I be if I wasn't forgiving. Think of all the times that you guys have forgiven me for all of my Glee clubs stomp outs. So for all the times I've been forgiven, I can forgive him," she said, fully believing in her choice to continue this relationship.
"As long as you have it f-f-f-figured out, Rach," Tina said.
"Yeah, I think I might," she said nervously.
"Is that a quiver in the voice of the mighty Rachel Berry?" a familiar voice said from over her shoulder.
"Of course not," she said turning around to see Quinn Fabray and Santana Lopez standing behind her.
"I don't know why you keep fooling yourself, Manhands, don't you realize that football players and transvestites, like you, just don't go together. First, you try to hijack my boyfriend, which we both know was a huge mistake. How many nights did you cry yourself to sleep over that? And now, you are falling all over Santana's leftovers like you might actually have a chance. So, Dame Edna, why don't you just go home and see if Figgins will let you finish high school by mail," Quinn looked at Santana and gave her a quick high five.
"Your jealousy is amusing, Quinn, but I will not sink to your levels in order to make myself feel good, and I have extended the olive branch to you. You have chosen not to take it, and try to publicly humiliate me. Just remember who is going to be there, Quinn, when everyone else turns their back on you. Those slushy facials aren't because you're in Glee now, it's because your stock is steadily dropping, and that's because of your decisions. Now why don't you make the right one, and walk away. I will forget this ugly incident happened, and you can remember that when you need it, despite your ignorance of how much you actually need it, Glee will still be here for you," Rachel said now standing face to face with Quinn. It wasn't in a threatening matter, because Rachel has more class like that, it was just to show Quinn that Rachel wasn't afraid of her, and she wasn't going to back down. Rachel was not going to threaten a pregnant woman, especially, despite her relationship with Puck, she still had fond feelings for Finn, and she was not going to disrespect him by being mean to Quinn. "Ladies and gentleman, I will be leaving, Tina, Mercedes, I will talk to you later. Oh and Quinn, please think about what I said," Rachel said and she walked away from the table and back to her car.
It was only 11 o'clock when she got into her car, and she started to drive in the opposite direction of her house. She looked at her cell phone at a stop light; she had a few text messages. The first one was from Artie and read, "You should have seen Quinn's face after you left. She turned bright red; I thought her head was going to pop off. Way to go!" Rachel smiled, she was proud of standing up for herself. Rachel was raised not to be mean, rude, or hateful. She and her fathers had put up with a lot growing up, between bigotry and homophobia that rant rampant in the small community. As time went on, people became more accustomed to them and they weren't 100% comfortable with it, but at least the prank calls and the angry letters had stopped. Rachel knew what it was like to be made fun of and she wasn't about to do that to anyone. However, Rachel was not above using desperate measures to have someone see and confront the error of their ways. This was exactly what she was doing with Quinn.
She looked back at the phone and read the second text message, "I really need to explain about what happened tonight. I didn't mean to leave you, I'm not giving up, please call me back."
"Noah," she sighed to herself, and knew exactly where her car was taking her.
She dialed his number when she turned onto his block. "Hello?" he said, he sounded exhausted.
"You wanted to talk?" she said. She was still hurt that he left her in a vulnerable position, and after the encounter with Quinn, she wasn't up for playing games. She was going to cut right to the chase.
"Yeah, do you have time? Were you sleeping?" he asked.
"No, I am actually in front of you house, I went out to meet up with Mercedes, Artie, and Tina. I got your text on my way home, and I just was driving around. I decided to stop by, do you want to come out and talk?" she asking, figuring that if he was going to break up with her, she wanted him to see her face while he did it.
"Why don't you come in? My mom is working the night shift at the hospital and my sister is in bed, I don't want to leave her in the house alone, just in case. I'll come down and open the door for you. See you in a few" and he hung up on his end.
Rachel never went out of the house looking less than perfect. She learned from all of those "Stars without Make-up" issues of tabloids that paparazzi could be anywhere. She checked her hair in the mirror and applied a little of light pink lip gloss she kept in her purse. She took a deep breath, got out of the car, and walked up to the front door.
Puck opened the door. He was standing there with just pajama pants on, Rachel's eyes almost bugged out of her head. She knew he had a good body, but she had never seen him without a shirt on. "Come in, it's a little chilly out," he said, she walked in and he closed the door behind her.
Once the door was closed, Rachel looked around. "Your house is,"
"Small, and not nearly as nice as yours?" Puck said, trying to finish her sentence for her.
"No, that's not what I was going to say at all. It's really nice. I don't know what I was expecting, but I really like it," she said smiling at him. She walked over to the couch. "Would you like to talk now, by putting words into my mouth you're not going to distract me from the fact that you left me high and dry tonight."
"Do you mind if we go to my room, my sister's room is right off the living room, and I don't want to wake her, my room is upstairs," he said, pointing towards the staircase.
"That's fine," she said, slightly curious about what his room looks like. He started off towards his room and she followed.
Once they got in there, she noticed that he not only had a bed in his room, but also a couch, which was good, because she didn't want to have to sit next to him at that moment, and she certainly didn't want to have to sit on his bed. "Do you think that maybe you could put a shirt on?" She asked, not looking him in the eyes.
"Why is it distracting you? Or doing anything else to you," he said slyly.
"While you do have a nice physique, I am not easily distracted by temptations of the flesh, Noah, so why don't we just cut through the crap, and get down to business. It's getting late, and on our first night of dating, or dating and breaking up, or whatever it is that we're doing, I'd rather not keep my fathers waiting and worrying," she said placing herself down on the couch with her arms crossed. Puck went to the closet and put him Lima Football t-shirt on, and went to join her on the couch. "If you wouldn't mind sitting on the bed, I would be more comfortable with that." Before his butt touched the couch, he was lifting himself back up and moved himself to the bed.
"Is that better?" he asked, and she simply nodded her head at him. "So, about tonight, I'm really sorry that I left you," he said, wringing his hands in his lap.
"I know that things got a little serious, but I wasn't about to hand my v-card over to you so quickly, I mean, it was day one of us dating, I wasn't going to prove to you that I was a worthy conquest so quickly, I wish that you would realize that. I know the girls you are used to dealing with have little or no self-worth, but as you can see, my fathers raised me to be confident and be independent," she said completely cutting him off.
"Rachel!" he yelled, only to get her attention. "Please, let me finish. Things got to be a little too intense for me. There's a lot you don't know about me. I'm sure in a matter of time; we'll open up to each other and tell each other our deepest, darkest secrets. Now, however, we just started dating, and from what I know about you, I didn't think that things would progress like that. I am glad that you want to, because, I mean, look at you, who wouldn't? Right now, I think that maybe, you're right, can we take things slow?" he said looking in her eyes. She looked at him, and she was surprised that she could see the sincerity in his eyes, but it was tinged with a bit on fear.
"Noah, I'm finding this all very hard to believe. I'm sorry, but there is no way you can go from being a complete and total dog, to wanting to take it slow, what's the deal?" she said. "I'm the actress here, Noah, and I can totally tell when someone is putting me on."
"I'm not putting you on; there are some things that you don't know about me. We need to get to know each, Rachel. You are the one who stressed that this was going to be a real relationship, and now roles have reversed. You can't wait to get me into bed, and I'm trying to connect with you on an intellectual level. Geez, Berry, I didn't know you could have so much, I don't know: pent up frustration," and with the last word leaving his mouth, there was a pillow that landed right into his head.
"Noah Puckerman, I am not focusing on the physical. I am simply stating that there is no way you can go from cougar hunter, so sweet, caring boyfriend of the year 2009 in 2.5 seconds, either you're setting me up for some huge fall, or you are off your medication," she said, still not convinced.
"What do you think that I am trying to do?" he asked her, as he leaned closer to her, with his hands on his knees.
"Well, since you seemed so hell bent on ruining my life up until about 2 weeks ago, I'm almost positive that you're trying to find out my secrets, and then run to that terribly creeper blogger and have him air my dirty laundry for all the school to see and know, and virtually ruin my chances for any sort of career in show business," she said.
"Is that what you think this is? Do you think that I would kiss you in front of the entire school? Then come and meet you dads, and eat dinner at your house, then make out with you and stop, then ask to talk to you, all just to get a little dirt that you like to listen to crappy music and dance around in your underwear? No matter how much I'd invest in a prank, I would never go that far in. Despite all your utter strangeness, you intrigue me. I haven't felt that way, pretty much ever. Yes, I want know what makes you tick. Do I want to use it against you? Not at all. Can you just believe me?" he slid his hands from his knees to hers. His hands were gentle, yet coaxing. She looked at him, unmoved. "Fine, would you like for me to tell you something embarrassing? You can use it against me whenever you want."
"If that's what you feel you need to do," Rachel said, still not completely convinced that this wasn't some sort of elaborate prank that he had come up with. If he had simply said that he found her repulsive, it would have been easier to believe that what he was saying to her now. Or even that he had some sort of tropical disease that made him break out in pox whenever he touched a woman's breast, but this good boyfriend, we need to get to know each other stuff just wasn't the Noah Puckerman that she thought she knew.
"Okay, when I was a little boy, maybe 5 or 6. I used to run around the house in those big pants that were almost metallic, screaming that it was "Pucker Time." Because my mom always had an MC Hammer video on, because she liked him when he first came out, and felt really bad when he had to file for bankruptcy. How's that for embarrassing?" he asked.
"Not too embarrassing, I'm sure I have worse, but that's for another time," she said as she stood up. "I've got to go, it's getting late, and I have a lot to process for this evening."
He stood up the same time she did and he was about 4 inches away from her. She could feel her body responding to how close he was, and for the first time in a while, Rachel didn't trust herself. Sure, she was almost completely sure that he was bullshitting her, but still the close proximity in which they stood made her excitedly uncomfortable. "No problem, I'll walk you to the front door." When they reached the door, he bent down to kiss her on the cheek. "Please, let me know when you get home." She nodded and walked to her car. She checked the time to see that it was quarter after midnight, and before she could put the phone back into her purse, it vibrated in her hand. She checked the text message and it read, "with all of the craziness right now, I forgot to tell you something very important: you looked gorgeous when I opened the door and saw you standing there. I hope that's not the last time I can encounter that sight. Let me know when you're home safe."
Rachel drove home with a smile on her face. She sent him a text when she had finished her nightly routine of getting ready for bed. A minute or two after she sent the text that she was home safe and getting ready to go to sleep, her phone began to ring, so looked down at the caller id to see it was Puck. "Hello?" she answered.
"Let's talk. Tell me, what the first musical you saw was?" he asked knowing that it would be a question that she could trust, and have no problem with answering.
"West Side Story, of course, why?" she asked.
"Because I want to know everything about you, and I would hope to be able to tell you everything about me," he answered without skipping a beat.
Thus began their nightly tradition of lying in bed and talking on the phone about anything and everything that came into their heads. Except one thing, Puck hoped to keep that a secret as long as he could, but he knew that he was fooling himself, because within a month and a half of their dating, and her finally being able to trust him was all going to come crashing down around them. And the most unlikely person will have been the catalyst for the events to come.
