Thanks for the reviews, oliigleegirl1124, Kkaty and the ever-faithful gleek30! Kkaty, I agree: some of the Gleeks didn't get to do much in Chapter 9. Poor Britt ended up a mere Santana delivery system! I'll work on it next chapter. Thanks for making me or my story a favorite, Pucksprincess22, Crazy4MadHatter, oliigleegirl1124, MaceyGill, xXKimmyXx, SongsRemain, rae3m2009 and SabrinaEF!
"We are not going to have sex," Puck said into Rachel's neck as he kissed down the length of it. They'd gotten in the hotel room door, Drizzle had said a quick good night, and Puck and Rachel had entered their room and locked the door. The next second, Noah had her pressed up against door with her legs around his waist.
"Exactly," Rachel gasped. "Because…Drizzle, and…noise!"
Noah chuckled, chuffed that just a few kisses had rendered the verbose Rachel Berry incapable of forming a complete sentence. He slid his hands up into her hair, until the press of his body and the strength of her thighs was all that held her up. He looked into her chocolate brown eyes and kissed her deep and hard. He was nibbling on her lower lip when his phone vibrated in his pants.
"Oh!" Rachel exclaimed, startled.
He lowered Rachel to the ground so he could dig the damn think out of his pocket and was about to toss it when he saw it was his mother calling. His mother never called this late, and it would be later in Lima. He accepted the call.
"What's the matter, Ma?"
"The matter? What could possibly be the matter? Everything is wonderful, Noah. And you know who I was wrong about? That Santana Lopez. She's turned out to be such a nice girl! She called me to get your sister's number, and she sent me the most beautiful video of you and Rachel singing together—said your friend Kurt recorded it with his cell phone. You and Rachel are bashert. How long have I been telling you that?"
He looked at the pint-sized diva with her mussed hair and kiss-swollen lips. "I dunno, Ma. A decade?"
"Closer to two! Fast, you aren't. Well, you used to be too fast, but we're talking about the heart, not your shlang."
"Jeeze, Ma! Wait, you didn't give Santana Sarah's number, did you?"
Rachel giggled at that.
"Of course I did. Sarah could use a friend from home!"
Puck was growing agitated and began to pace. Rachel took the phone from his hand.
"Mrs Puckerman?"
"Rachel? Is that you, dear?"
"Yes, ma'am. We all need to go to bed so that we can make our appointment in the morning and then catch our flight tomorrow. And it must be so late in Lima! I hope you're not ill?"
"No, I was just excited and had to call my Noah."
"Goodnight, Mrs. Puckerman."
"Goodnight, Rachel. Kiss Noah goodnight for me."
Rachel grinned wickedly. "Oh, I will." Then she hung up the phone. "I'm supposed to kiss you goodnight for her," she said, puckering.
"Don't be weird about it, Berry," he said, dodging her attempt to kiss him. Instead, he grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her. "You know she thinks we're bashert?"
"Bashert? I don't remember that one. In love?"
"Close: it means made for each other. If you use it as a noun, it means soulmate. So you and another person can be bashert, or someone can be your bashert." His fingers toyed with soft strands of her shiny black hair. "You lied to my mother! I'm impressed."
"I did no such thing," Rachel exclaimed, appalled.
"Our appointment?"
"We're scheduled to meet everyone at the beach at 10 a.m. It would be rude to arrive late."
"Uh-huh."
She gave him a peck on the cheek. "That's for your mother."
"And what's for you?" he asked, giving her a seductive smirk.
Rachel got an introspective look on her face. "Noah, why didn't anyone know we used to make out in junior high? With all the things we all went through in high school, why was that a secret?"
He frowned at the change of subject. "I dunno, Rachel. It was weird enough when I went from slushying you to making out with you. To go from making out with you to slushying you and back seems worse."
She stepped out of his arms. "But why did that even happen?"
"Mood officially killed. Ma put it on life support, but…" He slumped onto the edge of the bed. Rachel sat beside him.
"I'm serious, Noah! You were my friend, and then one day it was like we'd never met."
"I was a moron, Rachel! Back then I chewed tobacco. I beat up geeks and slept with every cougar in Lima. I didn't even start using condoms until Coach Bieste showed us a gross STD Power Point my junior year. I was a fuckup, and you were princess perfect, with your dads worshiping you."
Rachel began to make a sound of protest, but he continued, "I know you had plenty of insecurities. I found that out later. When I got slushied, that's when I knew that you were just faking it, when you pretended it didn't bother you. But, whatever, you were out of my league and I wanted to bring you down a notch. I was a dick."
"What did my dads have to do with it? Noah, were you a…" she whispered, "homophobe?"
"What? No!" He loved that she said "homophobe" like it was a dirty word. "I mean, I admit I talked some shit to fit in freshman year and my first sophomore year, but that changed when I joined glee and got to know Kurt. Your dads don't have anything to do with it. Do we have to do the therapy thing? This sucks."
"But you're the one who said I was 'princess perfect with my dads…'"
"Look, I just had my mom, and she was always on my ass, all, 'Why can't you get good grades like Jacob Ben Israel? Why won't you sing at temple like that sweet Rachel Berry?' Blah, blah, blah. I knew I could never be like you guys."
"Thank goodness. One Rachel Berry is enough for Lima, I should think. And one Jacob Ben-Israel is more that enough."
"And I was just the white trash son of a deadbeat."
"Oh, Noah!"
"Don't, okay? I fuckin' hate pity. I told you I didn't want to do this."
"I know, but we need to get this out in the open. You know we do, if we're really going to be more than friends. For my part, I'm sorry for all the times I used you in high school to make Finn jealous, or as a consolation prize when things were going wrong. Being with you felt so comforting. Also, you were such a catch."
"A 'catch,' Berry?" he teased. "How dare you objectify me that way!"
"I know. I was just so goal-oriented. I never could see the forest for the trees."
"How 'bout now?"
"You tell me."
"Are you worried about what our relationship would do to your career?"
"No. Well, not unless I got pregnant too soon. You do use condoms now, right?"
"Yep, and I've been tested. I'm clean."
"It's a miracle," she said with a giggle. "Just so you know, I tested clean, too."
"Shocker! This conversation is so hot," he deadpanned.
"Hey, I find a lack of STIs very attractive in a partner. In fact, can I get your test results in writing?"
"You don't trust me, Berry?"
"What happened to Quinn when you said, 'Trust me'?"
"Ouch! Right through the heart!" Puck replied, and mimed pulling a dagger out of his chest.
"I'm just teasing. I know that was a long time ago, and you've changed since then."
"Oh, yeah? How do you know?"
"Because you wanted to get to know Drizzle and now you're really a part of her life. Because you've been a great friend to me for so long. And fifteen years ago, you never would have had this conversation with me. You would have walked away like it didn't matter to you or tried to distract me with a kiss."
"You know, teenage-asshole-me had the right idea about a few things," he replied, and pulled Rachel onto his lap for a kiss.
AN- I'm tickled by all the favorites, but I'd love more reviews. Pretty please? Thanks!