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A Rachel/Puck fic.

Chapter Seven.

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Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

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A/N: Thanks for the great reviews, you guys! You rock my world!

As requested, here is the next chapter, as soon as I was able. Hope you guys like it, I know I loved writing it.

As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!


Rachel's head was spinning. There she was, perched on her windowsill with her arms and legs wrapped around Noah Puckerman, after the life had practically been kissed right out of her. Her limbs felt like jelly. If he moved even a little bit, she was fairly certain that she would collapse.

Puck breathed in the scent of her hair, deciding that his new favourite smell was strawberries. He turned his head to the side, taking a chance and kissing the hollow of her neck.

She gasped a little against his shoulder, but didn't move away.

He took this as a good sign and continued his ministrations, trailing his fingers up her spine.

Rachel dug her fingers into Puck's back as she shivered, wondering if she'd ever felt that good before.

He pulled back, glancing at her dazed eyes before going for her lips again.

She had just parted her lips for him when her door was opened.

"Hey, Rachel, I'm just heading - oh. Sorry," Brandon squeaked, stopping in the doorway.

Rachel's eyes widened, pulling away from Puck. His arms loosened around her, and she slid down, straightening out her skirt and pulling her hair away from her face.

"Next time knock?" Puck suggested, slightly annoyed, even though he'd done the same thing when he walked in.

Brandon nodded, trying to keep a grin off of his face. "Um, I'm going to Kurt's now. ... Bye."

Rachel managed a wave, but was speechless.

There's a first, Puck thought, gazing down at her. "Well ... at least it wasn't your dads," he offered.

She looked up at him with confused eyes. "I don't ... why?"

"Why what?" he wondered.

She explained, "Why do you kiss me? ... Or kiss me back, I guess. You don't even like me."

Puck shrugged. "Why not?"

She glared at him, trying to move around him.

He trapped her with his arms, holding her in place. "Okay, that's not what I meant. But when I get around you, I just ... say things I don't mean. I'm sorry, okay?"

She eyed him warily, but nodded.

He dropped his hands down her arms, coming to a rest on her hips. "I'm not really good at the whole talking thing ... I like kissing you. I wouldn't mind doing other things," he joked, causing her to pinch him lightly. "But right now ... this is good."

Rachel nodded. She hadn't expected an entire monologue from him, dictating how she was the sun in his sky, or anything like that. What he told her was ... nice. And truthful, and it was definitely more than she'd ever expected from him.

"What about everyone else?" she asked him. "I mean, we're not even technically together, and already someone caught us. I don't know how you'd feel about going public, and if we did, you know that you would probably get slushied every day for sinking so low as to date someone like me."

Puck scoffed. "No one slushies me, I'm the school badass ... it would be social suicide to slushie me."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "How nice for you."

He cupped her face in his hands, crouching down so that he was at eye-level with her. "I'm sorry, okay? For all the times I ... I'm sorry, okay?"

She nodded, letting him kiss her softly.


Kurt welcomed Brandon into his house with a grand wave of his arm, leading him down to the basement where Mercedes was waiting. His father watched the interaction with apprehension and a little amusement, looking back at his newspaper after they'd gone downstairs.

Brandon was lost in his thoughts, remembering what he'd walked in on less than fifteen minutes ago, and didn't hear Mercedes greet him.

Kurt nudged him. "What's up?"

"Huh?"

Mercedes walked up to him, eyeing him with confusion and intrigue. "You look like you just saw a ghost. Spill."

Brandon looked nervously between the two. "I ... it was nothing. I don't think that ..."

"Come on, you can tell us," Kurt urged. "We know how to keep a secret."

He shrugged. "It was just something with Rachel and -"

"Puck? Was it Puck? I knew it! Oh, continue!" Kurt said hurriedly.

Brandon felt weird talking about Rachel to Kurt. She probably wouldn't appreciate him gossiping about her, and she'd been so nice to him.

He shook his head. "No, it was just her singing. It was really good," he lied lamely. "I never really realized how good her voice was until now."

Kurt looked mildly disappointed, but shook it off. "Oh well. Let's get working on our song, then?"


The next day at school, Puck and Rachel met early in the supply closet by the art room. They had decided to keep their relationship a secret for now, not wanting to deal with the drama of everyone knowing about them, and judging them.

Puck felt like he'd scored the lottery, getting to make out with Rachel Berry and not have to deal with everyone asking him about her. It was win-win.

The bell rang, and Rachel left first as she was a stickler for punctuality. He hung back, giving her a minute to get to her locker and get her books before exiting the supply closet.

He was making his way to his own locker when he got a text. "Do you have a minute?" the text said, but he didn't recognise the number.

"Who's this?" he replied back.

After a moment, his phone buzzed against, and the next text read, "Brandon."

He sighed, but typed back, "What do you want?"

"It's about Rachel," Brandon replied.

Puck punched in, "What about her?" He figured this was probably one of the only ways Brandon could have a conversation/confrontation with someone without retreating into his bubble.

Brandon texted back, "What are you doing with her?"

Puck made his way down the hall as he typed in his reply. "What business is it of yours?"

He waited a minute for Brandon to reply, gathering his books out of his locker.

"She's been good to me, don't want you to hurt her."

Puck sighed, contemplating flipping the phone closed and just ending the conversation, but when he thought about it, Brandon sort of had a point.

"What makes you think I'm going to hurt her?" he wondered.

It was over a minute before Brandon replied. "You go from throwing slushies at her to kissing her? That, to me, says you're messing with her head."

Puck held back a growl while he typed back, "People change."

"Not that much," Brandon told him.

"Look, I already apologised to her," he typed furiously. "It's none of your business."

"Probably. But that doesn't mean I'm not concerned for her," came Brandon's reply.

Puck sighed, knowing the other boy was right. He had been horrible to Rachel. And just saying sorry so that she would kiss him again wasn't fair to her. She deserved more than that.

"What do you suggest?" Puck texted.


Puck walked down the halls of McKinley High, slushie in hand, searching for one girl in particular. He found her making her way to the cafeteria, so he followed behind her, waiting until they made it into the lunch room to let her know he was behind her.

Rachel was pleasantly surprised that Puck was acknowledging her at school, but when she turned and saw the slushie in his hand, her heart sunk. He was going to slushie her, just to keep people from knowing they were together.

Rachel sighed. "Just do it already."

He shook his head. "This isn't for you," Puck told her.

She furrowed her brow in confusion as he placed it in her hands.

"I don't ..."

He stopped her, lifting the arm that had the slushie in it. "I want you to slushie me."

"What?" Rachel asked, sure that she must have heard him wrong.

He could see a few people looking their way, and her eyes followed his. "It's my way of making up for being such a jerk to you for so long," he explained, looking back at her. "So, slushie me."

Rachel shook her head at his logic. "That's stupid."

"Yeah, well, you can berate Brandon for it later," he told her. "Just do it, please?"

She was thrown by the mention of Brandon, but was too frazzled to make anything of it. "So, this is supposed to make us even?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

"That makes no sense at all."

Puck sighed, dropping his shoulders dramatically. "Look, if you're not going to do it, just -"

He was cut off by the drink pouring all over him.

Puck blinked, forcing the liquid out of his eyes, somewhat surprised that she'd actually done it.

Rachel's eyes were wide, but she wasn't doing a very good job of containing her grin. "Happy?" she managed to force out, trying not to giggle.

Puck sloshed the slushie off of his face with a swipe of his hand, splattering some on her shirt. "Thrilled," he commented when she pouted down at her shirt.

The cafeteria had broken out with chatter and mumbles, but Rachel ignored them as she succumbed to her giggles, barely able to look at him.

"Something funny?" he asked her.

She placed her hand over her mouth, her body shaking a little with her laughter.

After a moment he started to chuckle as well, and the eyes watching them widened with confusion.

He brought his finger under her chin to make her look at him, and when her laughter had subsided somewhat, he brought her towards him for a sweet kiss. Literally. His lips still had slushie on them.

Rachel pulled back after a minute, her eyes sparkling at him. "So ... I guess everyone knows now?"

Puck nodded.

"And you're okay with that?"

He nodded again with a smile.

"And this has something to do with Brandon?" she wondered.

He rolled his eyes pulling her to him for another kiss.

Suddenly, the glee kids started whooping, and even a few of the other students joined it. Kurt stood on his table, shouting about how he'd predicted their "union", and Mercedes hauled him down off the table, smirking at Rachel and Puck.

Rachel led Puck out of the cafeteria, causing several catcalls to erupt from the room they'd left, intent on getting the slushie cleaned off of him before it stained.

She tentatively slid her hand into the crook of his arm, and he grinned, holding her arm close to his body while they walked down the hall.

What a pair we make, Rachel thought, finding the least used bathroom so that Puck could strip out of his clothing. That thought alone made her grin, wondering what the rest of the day would bring.


End of chapter seven.

Short I know, and really mushy, but it couldn't be helped.

Next chapter will be the last. I wanted it to be this one, but I figured I should include their duet somewhere in here, so that will be the next chapter.

Hope you guys liked it, sorry for the wait. Was trying to get my bulletin board project done ... stupid school interrupting with my fanfic responsibilities.

Reviews are appreciated, positive or negative.

Until next time ...!