"Yo Rach! Chang and I are hitting up Breadstix later if you fancy it? "she's sitting in the back row of the choir room when he saunters in, a full 5 minutes early for glee club, and lands heavily in the chair next her. His arm automatically rests on the back of her chair and she'd reminded of Artie's words. Only and idiot would miss the way he looks at you "Satan'll probably tag along too, Britt's going out of town for the weekend" he adds on the end as though the idea of spending the night with him and Mike needs Santana to make her even consider it.
"I'd love to however Dad and Daddy have their date night tonight and so will need me to pick them up at the end of their date Dad can't drive and Daddy does like a drink while he's out." She's devastated when she realises that she can't make it although the fact that she was invited in the first place is a step in the right direction.
The idea of a night on her own, curled up on the sofa with vegan chocolate and mourning hers and Finn's relationship isn't appealing but then he turns to face her, his typical smirk plastered over his face before he continues talking like he hadn't heard her reject the offer.
"I'll pick you up at 7 and we can meet the guys there. Chang said he has some ancient fucking handheld game that he wants to you try out too or some shit. I don't think that kids all there know Rach." The glare she was sending him was enough to make him rethink his angle as he added quickly "then I'll pick up your Dads, chill Rach!"
She doesn't have time to protest before people begin to trickle into the choir room. Kurt and Mercedes sit distractedly in the front row, engrossed in some conversation about fashion week in what sounds like Paris but she could be wrong. Sam's next in the room and he gives a Puck, whose arm is still around her chair, a wary look and herself a reassuring nod and she has to remind herself that they have an avatar movie night coming up and that it's her turn to bring the popcorn. The remainder of the group continue to file in one by one. Rory, Mike and Tina, Artie, Sugar. Santana and Brittany are the latest to join the group, fresh from Cheerio's practice and still looking immaculate, their pinkies linked. Santana doesn't hesitate and she drops herself, all too much like Noah did, into the chair on her right and Brittany takes the seat on the other side of Santana. It takes her a few minutes to realise that the feeling she gets that they're trying to protect her is because they are and she's reminded when Quinn storms into the room, a lost looking Finn trailing behind her and the designer cardigan nowhere to be seen.
"Go on, I dare you to take a shot at my girl Tubbers"
They're all surprised when Santana's the first to say something but Quinn's fuming and it's clear that she can't away with this by depending on how threatening Santana can be, especially since Rachel knows that scary Santana upsets Brittany.
"If you have something to say then say it Quinn because I shouldn't have slushied you. However if you're not going to apologize for the years of torture that you inflicted on so many people in this room then I feel no need to apologize for giving you a taste of your own medicine."
The choir rooms shocked into silence and she can see Kurt grinning out of the corner of her eye whilst Artie raises his hand and mouths the word preach in his typical fashion. She also doesn't miss how Noah lowers his head to look at the floor and Santana slumps back in to her chair, her hand gripping Brittany's more tightly. Mike's cheeks are tinged a light pink and he's not even looking at Tina now.
"Oh" It's like a sigh the leaves her lips involuntary as she realises what she's said and who it's affected. The football players and the Cheerio's. People who, up until recently, were tossing slushy's in the faces of the other half of the club.
The silence stretches out before her, heavy and suffocating, it's the longest they've ever been this quiet she thinks and she can't help but wonder when Mr Shue'll show up so that she can apologize through music.
There's shuffling next to her and then suddenly Noah's on his feet at the front of the room. He's standing awkwardly next to Quinn who is still glaring at Rachel and his eyes are still staring at his shoes like they've become the most interesting thing in the room.
"I'm sorry." He looks up now but his gaze doesn't find hers but instead looks at Kurt and Artie. "I've apologized to Rach before but I never did to you guys and…I should have. So I'm sorry for all that shit I pulled. It was wrong and you guys are like my boys now, whether you like the term or not Kurt that's how it is I guess. So yeah…Sorry"
The silence envelops them again after Noah's speech, she doesn't think she's ever heard him speak so much without a single sexual innuendo and there were only a few curse words too, she thinks she might be rubbing off on him.
"Oi, white boy. Where's my custom apology?" Mercedes shrieks from the front row and there's barely a second silence before Noah has thrown himself in her direction, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her from her seat to spin her round, muttering something about this being the best he could come up with in between the peals of laughter, both his and hers. This seems to break everyone out of their stupor and the room roars back to life as Kurt gushes about how much Noah's grown up and Artie smiles proudly at the guy who's still swinging Mercedes around. Quinn slinks off to a seat near the corner, away from everyone else, and once again Finn follows like a lost little puppy. Neither of them get involved with the conversations that seem to have started up again and if the perfect pout on Quinns face is anything to go by she doubt's they'll be getting involved anytime soon. It's the first time she doesn't feel that pang of jelousy when she thinks of how perfect the blonde girl is and how much Finn dotes on her, there's a very good chance that it has something to do with the genuine smile that Noah's shooting in her direction and he places Mercedes feet steadily on the ground, his arms still supporting the dizzy diva. He hasn't looked this happy in a long time and its probably the guilt thats no longer there but he seems more carefree than he had been only a few minutes ago and she's reminded of the little boy that got lost somewhere between being Noah and Puck.
She nearly misses it but she hears the words coming clearly from Santana's mouth before the Latina turns back to gaze at Brittany who happens to be discussing whether Noah's really a white boy seeing as his skin colour isn't like the white crayon she has in her backpack.
"He wouldn't be doing this for anyone but you"
Thanks to everyone who read and reveiwed the last chapter, once again you guys really do make my day! Hope this one's ok for you and I'll try and keep the updates going but I'm in for a bit of a rough month so don't count on it. Thanks for reading (: