***Yayyy, updates! I hope to have Puck and Quinn up by Tuesday. Enjoy! :). Also, listen to Ludo's "Streetlights" if you don't know it :)

There is no denying that Noah Puckerman can sing. His voice is rich and smokey and carries it's own unique flavorings. It truly is beautiful to listen to, and is perfect for our song we're performing. He showed up to our rehearsal with a song suggestion, because he refuses to sing, and I quote, my "jazz-hand bullshit." It's a song I'd never heard before, called Streetlights by a band named Ludo, and while I'm usually adverse to singing numbers that aren't easily recognizable by the masses, it really is quite a gorgeous ballad. Noah plays the guitar in a way that sort of makes me wish I knew how to play guitar, and he looks me in the eyes when we sing together, which is always an amiable quality in a duet partner. And his eyes are rather intriguing, if I'm being honest. Looking at them makes my stomach twist in unfamilar ways, but I couldn't begin to tell you why.

It strikes me when the song is over how strange it feels to be singing a duet-a romantic song, no less- with a boy who isn't Finn, but it's not altogether a terrible feeling. At least, I don't feel like crying again. On the contrary, I don't feel particularly sad at all. I silently lower myself off the brightly lit stage and into one of the auditorium chairs, contemplating this bizarre feeling of contentment.

"You miss him?" Noah asks me, and there is no question as to who he is referring. I should be surprised that he's reading my mind, but I'm really not. I've always thought Noah to be rather perceptive, even when casually ignoring the feelings of others. What does surprise me, however, is how easily my response comes.

"Not really," I reply, and I know when I say it that it's the truth. "I care about him deeply, and I don't like that he's angry at me, but I don't miss being his girlfriend." This is the first time I've put these thoughts into words, and it comes as something of a relief. Noah just looks at me, listening with either patience or genuine interest, I'm not sure which. "I miss the concept, I guess. That the most popular guy in school wanted to be with me, that he chose me out of all the girls he could have gotten. I loved the idea more than I loved him, you know?"

Noah nods, looking down and lightly scuffing this stage floor with his shoe. "Yeah, I actually do."

"You do?" This comes out more surprised-sounding than I meant it to. Noah just chuckles a bit and hops off the stage, sinking into the chair next to me.

"Well yeah, Berry. I know I'm not the most sensitive guy, but I'm not a robot. I know about feelings and shit." I already know that about him. I can see the emotion in his face when he performs, whether he knows it's there or not. "It's like this," he continues. "Last year, I thought I wanted to be with Quinn, right? Because she was having my kid, and that mattered to me. But when I look at it now, what I really wanted was to play house and be a daddy. Loved the idea, didn't love her. Kind of like that?"

"Exactly like that." I turn to look at him, slightly fazed by the similarity of the situations, but even more so by the fact that he's not in love with Quinn, as I've always thought. How could he not be, really? She's gorgeous and, as I know now, kindhearted and fun to be around. "You mean you don't have feelings for Quinn?"

He actually laughs out loud, which is rare, and is a pleasant sound to hear. "Fuck no," he tells me. "Quinn's awesome, but she's like...a sister or something. A really bratty, annoying sister."

"A sister you've had sex with," I point out, grinning.

"Knock it off with that, you're gonna make me puke," he jokes, punching me playfully in the shoulder. This time, it's my turn to giggle.

"I should go," I tell him. "My dad's waiting for me."

He nods, and we both stand. "Kay. I think I'll hang for a few minutes. I promised Mr. Schue I'd start practicing more. See ya." I smile and turn to leave. I am halfway to the door when he calls "hey Rachel!" I spin back around to look at him. He is grinning slightly, and it's refreshing to see him smile a genuine smile, and not an arrogant smirk. "You're pretty cool, you know. And for the record, Finn's always been kind of a dipshit." He waves, and I walk out the door with a big, cheesy smile on my face.

My phone rings as I'm walking through the hallway towards the parking lot, and Quinn's name pops up on the caller ID. Even though I guess we're sort of friends now, I hadn't expected to hear from her over the weekend, and I am curious. She probably wants her clothes back.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's Quinn. What are you doing tomorrow night?" What a strange thing to ask. I'm not really sure, myself. Now that I don't have a boyfriend to spend time with, I suppose I'll just watch make dinner and watch musicals with my dads.

"Nothing really. Why do you ask?"

"We should hang out." She says it so off-handedly, as though she's asked me to hang out a million times, and it's completely second nature. For a second, I am irrationally worried that she must be joking, and that if I say yes, she'll laugh cruelly and tell me to forget she ever spoke to me.

"Really?" I ask, and she giggles.

"Yes really, that's why I just said it. My parents are gone until Sunday. Wanna sleep over?"

And my smile spreads so big that my face feels like it might break in half.