Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor any part thereof. No money is being made off of this story and is intended only for entertainment purposes; therefore it falls within the parameters of "Fair Use"
A/N: The awaited third (and yes, final) chapter of the party. There may be a bit of a gap between this and the next chapter as there's another story (Keeping the Creed) I really want to finish up. I've left people hanging enough as is. Hope everyone enjoys.
BonesFABERRY: Not just to forget. They actually like each other and they feel like they need to move on from current situations. Hopefully I made that more clear this chapter.
ClawingAtTheSurface: Neither is Rachel. And neither of those names work, that's why I stick with Fierce.
GleekyGabbers: Then Drunk!Santana you shall have.
Chapter Nine
Apparently the only thing that had changed in the half hour that Rachel had been gone was they'd traded out Call of Duty for something called Midnight Club, a racing game, and Rachel observed that just as one shouldn't drink and drive, apparently you also shouldn't drink and play racing games because Finn, Azimio Adams, Matthew Brookings, and one other football player who's name she either didn't know or didn't remember spent the entire length of every race running into other cars and walls, driving off bridges. They were all in a dead heat for last place.
Her attempt to focus on Finn and the video games before her and not on Lucy and Brittany and whatever they may be up to proved about as fruitless as she honestly knew that it would, her jealousy continued to baffle her. It made no sense. She didn't like Lucy any more than a friend, best friend maybe but that was it. She'd had no issues with Lucy becoming friends with Tina, so what was it with Lucy having a girlfriend? If that's what she and Brittany were… or may become, then why should she care? Why was she happy when she'd disrupted their kissing?
Honestly, the only thing Rachel could come up with was that Brittany was popular where she was not, that tempered with the fact that Lucy and Brittany had been friends longer. It was possible that she was worried that Lucy wouldn't need to be her friend anymore if she were dating a popular girl. Logically she knew that she was just being insecure and stupid, that she and Lucy were friends but that logic was competing against ten years of isolation and it wasn't winning that fight at all.
She suddenly felt compelled to apologize to Lucy for it but she wasn't sure she knew how. She was certain that her reasoning...or rather her irrational thought pattern, since it clearly had nothing to do with reason...either way she wasn't sure that Lucy wouldn't get it, wouldn't understand what Rachel was even apologizing for.
She just didn't like keeping secrets, especially from Lucy who'd trusted her with a huge secret right off the bat. On the other hand, telling Lucy would really only be for Rachel's own benefit, so that she'd feel better.
"Brittanyyyyyyyy!" came a drunken call. Santana Lopez came stumbling into the room disrupting Rachel's contemplation. "Britt!" Rachel was used to seeing her drunk at these things but this was beyond anything she'd seen. She was wobbling as she walked, so much so that her side-to-side steps outnumbered her forward ones by almost 2-to-1, her hair was disheveled but not like it usually was when she'd been off with Puck or whomever else, and she looked like she was on verge of tears. That last one was the truly disconcerting part to Rachel since the only emotions she usually ever saw out of Santana was angry and horny. Was horny an emotion? Beside the point. Santana Lopez was about to start crying, or maybe she already was. "Briiiitt!"
"Brittany's not down here," Rachel said finally when she tired of listening to the drunken wailings.
"Whershe?" Santana said harshly, before shifting into weepy mode again, "Whatchu do doer?"
Rachel supposed that Santana was trying to come off as intimidating but it was really, really not working... especially with the tears. "I didn't do anything to her, Santana, relax."
"Mmmont tell me whatado!" Santana yelled, "YOU DON'T RUN MY LIFE, BISSH!
"I know that all too well, Santana," Rachel replied finally standing and walking over to Santana to perhaps hopefully get Santana to stop yelling, "but listen, Brittany's not down here. I didn't do anything to her, but I have seen her tonight. I believe she and Lucy Fabray came together."
"Hamany times?" Santana slurred again on the verge of crying.
"I don't understand the question," Rachel said softly.
"Snot hard," Santana said, "Hamany timesid Britty come wi Lucy the gay?"
"Lucy Fabray!" Rachel hissed at her quickly.
"Swhat I sayed. Hamany times?"
"Although I don't keep their schedules and thus couldn't say for sure, I think this is the only party they've come to together," Rachel said.
"AH! Snothin," Santana said louder than was necessary, "me and Britty come together way morenat."
"So then it's nothing to worry about then, right?" Rachel said. "You're not losing your best friend, nor am I. So why don't we go find you some water and perhaps Noah can find you somewhere to sleep safely."
"Fuckin stoopass Noah," Santana slurred as Rachel steered them back towards the stairs. She dreaded the prospect of guiding the massively uncoordinated drunk on her arm up the staircase. She was strategizing for how to maneuver the stairs and not coming up with much, but she was apparently concerned for nothing. As it turned out that while her motor skills and coordination were severely impaired, Santana's spatial awareness was fine. There was perhaps a certain amount of muscle memory involved as well. How often had Santana drunkenly negotiated these stairs? Apparently as long as she took her time and focused on what she was doing (which took some encouragement from Rachel) she could climb well enough.
"Do you know where Noah is, Santana?" Rachel asked after they'd very, very slowly made the trip up to the first floor. Santana appeared to be shaking her head no. Rachel wasn't entirely certain it was deliberate but either way she wasn't speaking. The kitchen was deserted and the front room was still packed with bodies and overpowered by music. The back porch was deserted which she couldn't help thinking was a good thing. "Let's check out the drunk tank, shall we?"
The drunk tank was the code name for the garage where they were supposed to take people who'd had enough to drink and needed a place to sit and chill while they sobered up a bit or waited on a ride to take them home. This was done in the garage so that when someone invariably vomited, it wasn't on the carpet. Puck could simply turn on the water hose and it was gone in a minute. There was an old couch and love seat and plethora of folding chairs. Rachel opened the door into the garage and almost immediately Puck said, "Oh, Berry, thank God. This chick keeps going on and on about you. Did she ride with you?"
Rachel helped guide Santana down the two steps into the garage and looked at the girl slumped on the couch in front of where Puck was standing. She was smiling and saying something that Rachel couldn't make out at a distance. She had dark hair, tan skin, a pretty smile, and very distinctive beauty mark on her nose. "I have no idea who she is," Rachel said, "I've never seen her before." She settled Santana into an open chair.
"Well, she's wasted," Puck said, "I'm tryin to get her to tell me her name or who she came with or something so I can her ass home safe, but every time I ask her name she says Rachel Barbra Berry and I somehow doubt that there are two of you."
Rachel sighed. Life was fundamentally unfair, she determined. Lucy was off having a good time with Brittany and Rachel was in the process of taking care of a pair of drunk girls, one of whom she didn't know, the other hated her. Rachel nodded her head at Santana and said, "Trade you drunk girls?" Puck pointed a thumb over his shoulder and moved towards her. Rachel crossed with him and settled down on the couch next to the mystery girl. "Can you…?" Rachel finally noticed that she had earbuds in. She hadn't been talking but lip synching to whatever she was listening to. Rachel smiled and placed a gentle hand on the other girl's knee to get her attention.
She looked up, opened her eyes, and smiled at Rachel. Only a brief moment later her eyes bugged out and her smile dropped as her mouth fell open. "HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" she said smiling again, "You're Rachel Berry!"
There were several people shushing her immediately. Rachel gently tugged on the wire connecting her earbuds to her iPod. "I am," Rachel said smiling a little. It wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence that someone was happy about the fact they recognized her. "Do I know you?"
"I saw you sing at the… well you can't see singing, but I heard you sing and saw you too at the holly-holly-day event last year," she said, "You were soooo amazing. I completely love you." Although still slurred she was a considerably more intelligible drunk than was Santana, Rachel gave her that much.
"Thank you so much," Rachel replied, "Although Holly Holiday is person, not an event. I suppose you mean the Christmas pageant that I sang at last year, and I thank you both for the praise for trying to be inclusive of my Jewish faith which was more than the City of Lima could do… not that I mind singing Christmas Carols. Many of them are quite beautiful songs even if you don't believe the content of the message."
"That was… a lot of words," she said her face displaying her confusion.
"I suppose it was," Rachel said, "Let me try again, thank you for being a fan."
"Oh," she smiles again, "Welcome."
"What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Avery," she said, "Avery Gabrielle Moretti."
"That's a very pretty name," Rachel said, "Who did you come here with tonight?"
Avery's head rolled back into the couch cushions, "Hitting on me?"
"Am I-? No, I'm not hitting on you," Rachel said not sure whether to be amused or hurt that Avery would think that she would do such a thing to someone so intoxicated, but then she figured that most drunk people didn't really realize how drunk they actually were, "I was going to try to go find your ride and let them know that you need to go home. So who did you come with?"
"Mary…"
"Mary who?"
"Death."
"Mary Death?" Rachel pondered those names for a moment before a thought struck her. "Meredith?" Avery nodded slowly, "Meredith who, sweetie?"
"Wheat…" she mumbled before her eyes fell shut.
"Whitaker?" Puck said suddenly standing above them again. "She said she came with a girl named Meredith?"
"Yes," Rachel said, "Do you know her?
"If it's Meredith Whitaker, then I do only because I just put her in a cab fifteen minutes ago," he said, "She didn't say anything about this chick though."
"What do we do?" Rachel asked.
"Hey! Drunky!" Puck shouted at her shaking her.
"Noah, stop that," Rachel admonished. She turned back to Avery, took her hand, and said, "Avery, honey, it's Rachel. Can you wake up for me, please?" Avery hummed a little and Rachel wasn't sure if that was an answer or just a random noise. "Can you tell me where you live so that we can get you home safely?" Avery mumbled something incoherent and shifted onto her side. She was fast asleep.
"Check her pockets for an ID or something," Puck said.
"You want me to stick my hands into her pants?" Rachel replied.
"Would you rather I did it?"
"I take your point," Rachel said. She bit her lip and felt along her thighs over the front pockets of her jeans finding nothing… well nothing but the strong muscles beneath anyway. "Nothing," she said, "Can you… gently, stand her up so I can check her rear pockets."
Puck reached down to take Avery's hands and began to slowly pull her up. "I will always help a girl check out another girl's rear."
"God, Noah," Rachel sighed, "Oh we have a phone." She reached in delicately to extract the device. After Puck's comment, every second of contact between Rachel's fingers and Avery's butt just felt like she was committing some horrible act of groping when all she was trying to do was help by figuring out where home was. Rachel moved from behind her, phone in hand, so Puck settled her down on the couch once more. Rachel looked at the touchscreen device and pushed the power button to awaken it. "Password protected."
"Let me see it. I can…"
"I'm not letting you break into her phone," Rachel said. She stood back up beside Puck looking down at Avery, "Is there somewhere we can take her so she can sleep long enough for her to sober up a bit and tell us her address?"
"What's wrong with right there?" Puck said.
"Firstly, anyone could wander in here and do God knows what to her," Rachel said, "and secondly, sleeping sitting up on a couch is terrible for your posture and doesn't allow for the good, restful sleep she needs so that she can begin to recover." He stood staring at her. "Look, I'll just call my dads and take her to my house. She can…"
"Take her upstairs," Puck said cutting her off abruptly, "My Mom's room will be empty. The door locks. I swear on my honor as a Jew that she'll be safe in there."
"While I don't doubt your honor, Noah," Rachel said, "I know that she'll be safe because I'll be insuring that she is by staying with her until we can figure out how to get her home."
Puck just shrugged and said, "What about your boyfriend?"
"He's gotten along fine without me so far tonight," Rachel said with more than a hint of bitterness in her voice, "I'm sure he'll do just fine without me for the remainder of the evening. Can you help me get her up again?" Puck and Rachel, slowly and gently as they could, hoisted Avery back to her feet and draped one arm over Rachel's shoulders. "Thank you, Noah. I'm glad to know that there's still a decent guy underneath that hard exterior."
He ran his hand over his Mohawk. "Just don't tell anyone," he said before walking off to go tend to Santana again.
Rachel began her task of walking and guiding an unconscious drunk up to the bedroom. They made it into the house and past the crowd in the front room with far less hassle than she had expected. Ultimately, it was the stairs that did them in. Rachel's footing slipped on the third stair sending them crashing to the ground. This seemed to stir Avery slightly as her eyes cracked open partly, her upper eyelids still very heavy. "Avery, we're going to lie down," Rachel said picking first herself and then Avery back up, "Can you move your feet for me?"
"Asking me to dance?" she said.
"Not right now," Rachel said smiling, "Right now we need to go have a bit of a nap unless you can tell me where you live right now."
Avery smiled, "Wanna meet my mom?"
"I'd be delighted to meet your mother, sweetheart," Rachel said, "If you could just tell me your address. Right now I don't know where you live.
Avery laid her head on Rachel's shoulder and said, "Love this dream."
"No help, huh?" Rachel said, "Let's try these stairs again, I guess."
X
"Oh my God! I… sor… um… Lucy?" Rachel's head was swimming. She'd never understood that expression until just now, but now she did and it was. She'd just walked in on Lucy and Brittany in an extremely intimate moment. She felt surprised. She felt shocked. She felt embarrassed, both for herself and for Brittany who was currently topless. She felt confused, although she couldn't quite pinpoint by what. She felt happy in much the same way she had been when she had interrupted their public makeout session earlier. She felt angry at both Lucy and Brittany but again she wasn't sure why; neither of them had done anything wrong.
"Don't you know how to knock," Lucy barked at Rachel yanking her out of her own head.
"Of course, I know how to knock," Rachel replied in a matching tone to Lucy's, "but I don't generally bother with doors to rooms that are supposed to be vacant. Don't you know how to lock a door?"
"Both of you shut up," Brittany interrupted pulling her dress back up to cover herself. "Is she okay?"
Brittany nodded in Avery's direction and suddenly Rachel remember why she'd come up here in the first place, the drunk girl on her arm that needed to sleep it off. "She's okay, I think," Rachel said, "Just had far too much to drink and needs to rest until she can tell us how to get her home. Do you know her, Brittany?"
"Only sort of," she answered as she moved to help Rachel lay her on the bed, "She's a freshman Cheerio. Her last name is Moretti, I think."
"Avery," Rachel said, "Do you maybe have her home phone number? Like a Cheerios contact list, maybe?"
"Santana might," Brittany said, "I'll go see."
"I saw her just a few minutes ago," Rachel said, "She was in the garage with Noah. She was very intoxicated as well."
"I'm just gonna go get her phone," Brittany said, "I know where she keeps it when she's at a party. I'm gonna get some water for her too. You guys want?"
"I'm fine, thank you," Rachel said. Lucy nodded but didn't say anything.
When she was gone Rachel and Lucy exchanged tense looks. Rachel looked away and settled down onto the bed next to Avery. Lucy remained standing trying desperately to think of something to say to Rachel to break the tension but nothing was coming to her. She felt like she'd just been caught cheating and couldn't shake that thought. It was completely ridiculous and yet she couldn't let the thought go.
"How are Brittany's breasts?" Rachel asked.
Lucy was sure she'd gone insane because there was no way Rachel just asked what she just asked, "What?"
"I couldn't really see from the door," Rachel said, "so how were they, were they nice?"
"Why are you asking me this?"
"I was trying to break the tension," Rachel said, "You're standing there all closed off and looking guilty, which you shouldn't, so I thought I'd say something outrageous to lighten the mood." Lucy stood there looking at her skeptically. Rachel shrugged at her. "It works in the movies."
Lucy scoffed and started slowly shaking her head, smiling. She realized that despite how dumb it was Rachel's plan had actually worked. She walked over to sit on the bed as well on the opposite side of Avery from Rachel. "You don't actually want the answer to that question, right?"
"Not unless you're just dying to share," Rachel said.
"How about we talk about how you came to have custody of a drunk girl that you don't even know?"
"I was downstairs with Finn when Santana came in shouting for Brittany and I helped her find her way to Noah who was in the garage tending to Avery whom I hadn't met until tonight. As it turns out she's a fan of my singing," Rachel finally paused to take a breath, "Why I felt that made me responsible for her well being, I'm not sure, but she came here with a friend who Noah put into a cab already. I just didn't want her to be alone. Anything could have happened to her."
"It's nice of you," Lucy said softly.
"No need to sound so sad," Rachel said, "I'd do the same for you, more even. I mean…"
"I wasn't going to sleep with her," Lucy said abruptly.
Rachel opened and closed her mouth without speaking a couple of times before settling on a train of thought. "That is really not my business," she said reminding herself of that as well.
"It's just that we were dancing and she smells really nice and then we were kissing and that was better and… and I just wanted to explore a little bit and she was the one who started taking clothes off and…"
Rachel reached across the girl between them to cover one of Lucy's hands with her own. Lucy stopped talking and looked at her. "Lucy, it's really none of my business. If you want to brag to me about how hot your new girlfriend is, I'm available for that. That's a best friend's job, after all, but you don't have to justify yourself to me. If you've found someone that makes you happy then I'm happy for you and you should progress at whatever pace you're comfortable."
"Thanks," Lucy said.
The door pushed open again and Rachel and Lucy yanked their hands back to their sides of the bed. Brittany walked in with four bottles of water in her hands. "I got her home number from Santana's phone, but it just rings and rings, no answering machine, no voicemail." She handed out water bottles. "This probably isn't the best place for Avery to sleep. It's still really loud. Rachel, did you drive here?"
"Finn brought me," she said.
"Have you had anything to drink?" Brittany asked.
"No alcohol," Rachel said.
"Okay," Brittany said, "well, me and Lucy have had a couple, so we probably shouldn't be driving, but Lucy's car is at my house. It's just a couple of block away. You and her could go get it and we could all go crash at my dad's. There's plenty of room for us there and he won't ask too many questions."
"And you'll watch out for Avery while we're gone?"
"Coach would kill me if I let anything happen to one of her Cheerios," Brittany said, "I'd be pretty upset at myself too."
Rachel nodded and said, "We'll be back soon." She and Lucy headed out of the room and down the stairs. The front room was still packed almost shoulder to shoulder. "Despite how inconsiderate he's been of me today, I should go tell Finn that I'm leaving." Lucy nodded in understanding. "Would you mind horribly if I asked you to wait up here? It's just that if I tell him that I'm leaving, he'll just say bye and we'll go. If I say it while you're standing there, he'll suddenly decide he wants me around and it will be this big fight that I'd rather avoid." Lucy said nothing but looked at her with an arched eyebrow. "Yes, I know, it's quite ridiculous how jealous he is of the time we spend together. He's just so used to how things used to be, when he was the only one in my life."
"Go ahead," Lucy told her, "I'll be out front."
X
Fifteen minutes later Rachel finally cleared the front door. "Sorry," Rachel said, "Sorry, sorry. He wanted me sit and talk, said he had hardly seen me all night as though that were somehow my fault. I'm ready to go now."
Lucy was distracted, smiling at her phone rapidly tapping away at the keys. "It's okay," Lucy said.
"Are you texting your girlfriend? Didn't you just leave her?" Rachel teased.
"She's not my girlfriend," Lucy said as they started walking towards Brittany's house, "Not yet anyway. We haven't even been on a date yet. Tonight was just supposed to be hanging out. The rest of it just sort of happened."
"So are you going to ask her?" Rachel questioned.
"I don't know. I want to," Lucy said, "But I'm really nervous about it."
"Are you worried that she might say no?" Rachel asked, "Because I would point out that not half an hour ago you had your mouth on her bear breast."
"Strangely enough, I haven't forgotten that," Lucy said, "And it's not her saying no that I'm worried about. I'm not worried about anything really, just anxious. I've never asked anyone out before."
"Unfortunately I have no advice to offer on that subject. I've never asked anyone out before either," Rachel said, "However, when you marshal up your courage and ask I do have some suggestions about what to do and where to go."
"Do you..." Lucy started, stopped, and shook her head, "Never mind."
"Tell me," Rachel insisted.
Lucy took a deep breath and sighed, "I'm... not ready to..."
"Have sex?" Rachel filled in, "I doubt Brittany would ever push you to do more that you're ready for. Just explain things to her. Say, Brittany while you are adventurous and open sexually, and I respect that, I am more reserved and need to wait until I feel comfortable."
"I was going to say come out," Lucy said.
Rachel laughed at herself as they crossed the street to the next block. "Is she not understanding of that? Is that why you were kissing her on the back porch?"
"On the... how did... did you see us? Did anybody else?"
"I did and I was the one who interrupted you. I didn't see or hear about anyone else that might have witnessed," Rachel answered, "The lack of anyone standing around leering would suggest you were in the clear."
"Jesus, Rachel, you scared the hell out me," Lucy said, "Why didn't you say something? Why did you just disappear?"
"I, um, I felt stupid interrupting," Rachel said, "For all I knew you guys didn't care who saw and my feelings were all muddled, so like I said I felt dumb so I just took off. I'm sorry I scared you."
"It's okay," Lucy said, "What do you mean your emotions were muddled?"
"I'd seen the two of you dancing, smiling, and having fun and I felt jealous. I'm pretty sure that it was just the self-centered only child in me that didn't like being left out. Unlike someone I could mention, I don't actually think I have any right to be the only person in your life. It was just a stupid gut reaction that I didn't properly check and again I'm sorry."
Lucy still didn't see what Rachel got out of that relationship but she didn't want to start another fight with her on the subject, especially right now so she just let it go. "It's fine, Rachel. What were we talking about before this?"
"You're concerned that Brittany's going want you to come out," Rachel said.
"Right," Lucy said, "I mean, that's not it exactly. She'd never pressure me to come out before my time, but I'm worried that she'll get tired of hiding us, you know. She's a very live out loud type of person."
"She is definitely that," Rachel agreed, "I don't know her very well so I can't honestly say that I know for certain that she won't. However, speaking as a fellow live out loud type of person, it is nice to sometimes have something just to yourself, hence my knee jerk reaction to you being happy without me."
"Thanks, Rach."
"You're very welcome," Rachel said, "That's what friends are for, is it not?"
"Yes, it is," Lucy agreed. She caught Rachel by the hand and led her around the corner onto the street that would lead them to Brittany's house, "And as a friend, without starting another fight, can I just say don't sacrifice everything for Finn, okay? Quarterback of the football team or not, he has to contribute to your relationship too or else you deserve better."
"But can I actually do better is the question."
"Yes, you can," Lucy said, "I met a couple of Britt's guy friends tonight that seemed like decent people, Matt something and Mike something, both on the football team. They seemed nice, apparently single, both talented dancers."
Rachel really didn't want to go there right now while she was mad at Finn lest she do something impulsive and stupid so she tried to artfully dodge the question. "Britt, huh? You guys already have nicknames for one another?" Lucy smiled in response, "Lucy Q, I believe you are smitten."
"I wouldn't deny that allegation," Lucy said.
Rachel smiled back at her. When she looked back at where she was going she could see Lucy's car parked along the street in the distance. "I see it," Rachel said enthusiastically, pointing, "To the hipster mobile!"
