I don't own Glee.
A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter than the rest but I promise the next one will be longer. Things are happening quickly in the next few updates so be prepared for some major events. Our Quick breakup may be happening a lot sooner than anticipated.
Rachel's watching Santana and Brittany bicker over coffee the next morning and she lets her thoughts drift to Puck. Who the hell did he think he was by kissing her like that? You can't just walk up to someone and kiss them for no reason. Especially if you have a girlfriend.
"Are you even listening to me, Santana?" Brittany rolled her eyes. "I don't understand why you're so threatened by Artie. Nothing is going on!"
"Please," Santana rolled her eyes. "You two are on campus together all the time. You can't tell me nothing has happened!"
"Oh, my, God, San, he's dating Tina!" Brittany blurted out and then she shrank back when she realized she wasn't supposed to say that.
"What?" Santana raised her brows and Rachel tuned back into the conversation.
"What?" Brittany forced herself to keep her voice calm. "I didn't say anything."
"Tina and Artie?" Rachel turned to Santana. "Since when?"
"They have been acting strange lately," Santana shrugged. "Maybe that's why Tina and Mike broke up. Do you think Tina cheated on him with Artie?"
"I don't think she'd do that," Rachel shook her head. "But I was wondering why she hasn't been so upset lately. She was really tore up after breaking up with Mike. I'm glad she's happy, though, even if I do hope Mike and Tina get back together."
"Neither of you can say anything," Brittany pleaded. "I promised Tina and Artie I'd keep their secret. They trusted me and now I broke my promise. They're going to hate me."
"Relax, Britt," Santana smiled. "Rachel and I won't say anything. We'll keep our mouths shut. It'll be a little secret between the three of us. Don't you like secrets?"
"I guess," Brittany nodded and didn't look as upset as she did two seconds ago.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I've been yelling at you for weeks about sneaking around with Artie," Santana sighed. "You could have just told me what was going on. I would have understood."
"Well..." Brittany lowered her voice. "Don't tell Tina but I actually have been sneaking around with Artie."
Rachel shrank back into her seat and decided hanging out with Brittany was better than watching daytime television in her crappy apartment.
"You what?" Santana was back to pissed again.
"He's been helping me," Brittany grinned, completely oblivious to how mad Santana was. "I switched my major, San, to journalism."
"Why?" Santana questioned. "I thought you wanted to dance."
"I do and I can but... you said you like my stories, right? The stories I tell you over the phone when you can't sleep."
"I love your stories," Santana nodded.
"I can still dance but I like to write and I like that you like my stories. I want everyone to hear my stories and not just you," Brittany shrugged. "So I talked to Artie and he suggested journalism. I switched at the end of last year and I'm finishing out this semester with some of my pre-reqs. Then..." Her smile grew. "I'm transferring up here. To be with you."
"You're coming to New York?" Santana asked.
Rachel grinned and slid from the booth to let the two girls have some time alone. Rachel had a feeling there was about to be some groping and neither Brittany nor Santana cared if they were sitting in a coffee shop.
She was more than a little surprised when Puck showed up by her side. She'd been trying to avoid him but here he was, standing next to her in the line about to order their coffee.
"Hey," He didn't look down at her.
"Hi," She pursed her lips and cradled her elbows.
"We need to talk," He told her simply and she nodded in agreement. "I wasn't thinking that night but I don't regret it. I don't regret anything I've ever done with you."
"You have a girlfriend," She whispered harshly. "You're with Quinn. You can't just go around kissing other girls."
"You're not just another girl, Rach," He rolled his eyes. "I think everyone knows how I feel about you. Everyone but you."
"Noah," Her voice sounded like a warning and she looked to Santana for help but her two friends were no longer in the booth. She assumed they just left and she hated both of them right now. "Don't do this."
"Or maybe you do know and you just want pretend that you don't," He pressed the issue and now she hated him, too. "Maybe you feel the same way about me."
"No," She shook her head fiercely and was grateful when the long line started to finally move. "Just drop it. Can't we just forget about what happened the other night? Let's just go back to how it was before."
"I can't," He voice was weird and she finally looked over at him. She'd only seen that look on his face once before and that was when he told her Beth was gone, that someone had adopted her. Her heart clutched when she saw the sadness etched on his face.
"Can't we just go back to being friends?" She asked softly.
"We could," He nodded. "If I hadn't kissed you."
"But you did," She bit into her lip and braced herself for the words coming next.
"I care about you, Rachel, and I don't want to hurt you but..." He sucked in a breath and his face went back to being blank, expressionless. "You may be able to forget about that kiss but I can't. I don't want to," He walked away then and Rachel's eyes followed him out of the coffee shop and up the sidewalk where he was surely going back to his hotel room.
She willed away the tears and moved out of the line. Her arms wrapped around her protectively when she stepped out onto the New York sidewalk. Suddenly, she didn't want coffee anymore. Noah's frame retreated down the street and she waited until he was out of sight before turning to go the opposite direction. She was doing the right thing by turning Noah down, she was sure of it.
/
"New York's great, Q; you should have come with me," Puck sank onto the edge of the bed and pushed the phone closer to his ear so he could hear his girlfriend better.
"I missed my mom and I hate spending Christmas without her," Quinn sighed. "It's just me and mom this year so the Hummel's invited us over. Finn and I are hanging up the mistletoe now. I wish you were here so you could kiss me under it," He could hear her smile over the phone and he offered her a noncommital grunt. "You're going to bring me a present back, right?"
"I'm Jewish," He replied. "I don't give presents for Christmas."
"Yea, but I'm your girlfriend and I'm Christian so you have to buy me something," She told him. "Not anything expensive, though. Just get me something you think I'll like."
"Okay," He caved. "I think I might cut this trip short, you know. I might take a plane back to Columbus. New York's great and all but I miss you."
"Oh," Quinn giggled. "Then in that case, get back here as soon as you can."
There was some noise on the line, more of Quinn laughing, and then Finn was talking into the phone. "Hey, man, how's New York?"
Puck knew Finn was asking more about Rachel than New York. Finn could pretend to hate Rachel because of the break-up all he wanted but everyone knew he still cared about her.
"It's good," Puck yawned. "You're taking care of Quinn, right?"
"Of course," Finn replied and stifled a yawn of his own. "What's going on up there?"
I kissed Rachel two nights ago. "Nothing," He said instead. "It's pretty boring, actually, I don't get all the excitement about this town. Santana wants me to go out with them tonight but I think I'd rather watch crappy hotel porn than get mugged walking to the bar she's talking about."
Finn chuckled and Puck took solace in the sound. "Get home soon, Puck. Lima isn't the same without you."
"Yea," Puck was quiet for a few seconds. "Kiss her, okay?"
"What?" Finn asked.
"Quinn... kiss her under the mistletoe. She's loves that. I'm not there to do it so I want you to." Puck ran his hand over his face. "Tell her I said it was okay. Just... keep your tongue to yourself."
Finn cleared his throat and for a second Puck thought it almost sounded nervous. Or guilty. "Okay."
"Rachel asked about you, by the way," Puck's stomach clenched. "The first night I was here. She asked if you were doing okay. I just thought you'd like to know."
"Yea," Finn replied. "Thanks."
/
"You're coming out with us tonight, right?" Matt scratched his stomach before pulling a clean shirt over his head. "Mercedes said that Rachel sings at this dance club sometimes for extra cash."
"I think I might stay here," Puck replied. "I'm pretty tired."
"Come on," Matt pleaded. "It'll be fun. Maybe you can find a girl to hook-up with while we're there. When has Puckerman ever turned down an oppurtunity for sex?"
"I have a girlfriend, remember? Quinn?" Puck stood up.
"Right," Matt rolled his eyes. "How long do you think that's really going to last? Come on, man, she's hot and it's Quinn. You really think she's not fucking her way through the upperclassmen at Ohio State?"
"Quinn's not like that," Puck shook his head. "She'd never cheat."
"She cheated on Finn," Matt countered. "With you. You remember how easy it was for you to get her to say yes? A few wine coolers, compliments, and she was parting her legs in her bedroom with a picture of Jesus above your heads. Now she's on a campus surrounded by alcohol and horny guys," He raised his brow. "You're the one that said it was the good girls in high school that always turned into sluts in college."
"You think she's cheating on me?" Puck clenched his jaw when Matt nodded. "Finn said he's looking out for her. He promised me. He's not going to let her go around fucking random guys."
Matt sighed and hoped Puck didn't punch him for this. "Maybe Quinn's not screwing random guys."
"What are you saying?" Puck's brow creased because he already knew what Matt meant.
"I'm saying I think she's sneaking around with Hudson," Matt shrugged.
"She wouldn't..." Puck trailed off because he couldn't finish that sentence.
He'd noticed the way Finn and Quinn had been acting together lately but he'd let it slide. He hadn't given it much thought because he never thought Quinn would do that. But Finn had been a bit too happy when Puck asked him to kiss Quinn earlier today.
"Wouldn't she?" Matt pressed. "I mean, we all know how she feels about Finn, how she's always felt about him. You think those feelings disappeared just because she's screwing you? Come on, man, I thought you were smarter than that. It's never been Quinn for you and it's never going to be Quinn."
"Quinn and I are together," Puck shook his head. "It's more than just some fling, Matt. She told me she loves me. She said we were going to get Beth back. She said we were going to be a family."
"And I'm just saying what I think," Matt raised his hands in a surrender. "I may be wrong. Hell, I hope I'm wrong, Puckerman; I just think you should talk to the both of them."
"Let's just go, okay?" Puck slipped his jacket on.
"You're coming to the club with us?" Matt asked, already pulling the hotel room door open.
"I need a drink," Puck replied gruffly.
/
"Did you do it?" Santana walked over to Matt when she saw him walk into the club with Puck.
Puck went straight to the bar and Santana had a feeling Matt did.
"Did I tell one of my best friends that I think his girlfriend is fucking another one of my best friends?" Matt bit the words out. "Yea, I told him."
"He's taking it pretty hard?" She frowned. She assumed Puck was trying to talk to bartender into giving a minor beer. Knowing Puck, he'd find a way to get drunk tonight.
"Fuck yea, he is. You better be right about this shit, Santana. If I just told him a sack of bullshit lies about Quinn and Finn, I'm going to be pissed at you," Matt shook his head. "I hate this."
"I am right," Santana told him. "And it's not like I wanted to be. I know how he feels about Quinn but he deserves the truth."
"God, you're such a bitch," Matt squared his jaw.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Rutherford. You know I'm right."
"Puck was painfully oblivious to this shit and I basically just slapped him in the face with it. Quinn's the one girl he's ever talked about marriage with," He frowned. "And I feel like I just ripped that away from him. Fuck, why'd it have to be me to tell him?"
"I would have but I didn't want to take the chance of getting punched," Santana shrugged.
"But it's okay if I do?" He narrowed his eyes at her.
"You're a big guy, you could have taken it," Santana sighed. "But if he really loved Quinn as much as you think, don't you think he would have been a bit more wary of believing you when you said she was sleeping with Finn?"