Summary: AU starting from Mash-up. "Because she loved him. She knew she loved him. But she saw him staring at her. She saw it."

Pairings: Rachel/Puck

AN: I thought you guys would enjoy a little Jesse St. James douchebaggery before I wrap up the story. He's such a charming character, but GOD he's using her and that makes me so damn angry. So enjoy the second to last chapter!

Rachel wasn't annoyed with Noah. No, not at all!

She was just pissed.

When nobody had an idea for a new song that just had to have "hello" in the title, Mr. Schuester angrily accused them of not taking the club seriously anymore. That was enough to get her slightly irritated. Not taking glee club seriously? The fact that he believed that she didn't take HER glee club seriously was absolutely preposterous.

THEN, when she suggested to Noah that they should go to the music store and look for a nice song to present, he stared blankly at her and gave a plain "no. I really don't take glee club seriously." In all reality, before he could explain that he was just joking around, she stormed away but she didn't know that.

And now! Now…

Now she was sitting next to Jesse St. James, who had a really, really, charming smile on his face. She was actually stunned when he pushed down the book she was holding with a dazzling smile and a quiet "Lionel Richie, huh? One of my favorites." She was sure that if Noah never existed, she would have jumped him right there. Like God, the only thing she could respond with was "Oh my God, you're Jesse St. James." Like really? That's what she came up with?

But she was even more shocked to find that he knew her name.

And all of his charm kind of wore of when he said her performance at sectionals was flawed, but that she had talent. Hah! As if Jesse St. James could tell her that she had a flaw in her… but that smile…

Of course she knew that the University of California Los Angeles was in Los Angeles, but damn she almost giggled when he said it. Why did he look so…handsome? So undoubtedly he was able to charm her towards the piano to sing a duet with him. Was it such a crime?

GOD, did he have an amazing voice and wasn't it a man's voice that always managed to catch her? Finn with grease, Noah with Neil Diamond and now Jesse St. James with Lionel Riche's Hello…

"We should do this more often. How's Friday night?" he said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

WAIT A DAMN SECOND!

She shook her head with a horrified look on her face. This was nonsense. Complete and utter nonsense.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're Jesse St. James, from Vocal Adrenaline-"

"You said that already," he told her. She swore that when he smirked, his teeth glittered.

"And I'm Rachel Berry, from New Directions, with a boyfriend."

"New Directions with a Boyfriend? I don't mean to be rude, but that's a pretty odd name."

"No, I meant that I, Rachel Barry, am taken, so no, we can't do this on Friday and we can't do this ever. Besides, even if I were taken, we obviously couldn't ever enter a relationship with each other. That's a preposterous notion and-"

"Why couldn't we be together?"

She frowned. "What? Is that a trick question? You're in Vocal adrenaline and I'm in New Directions. Right now, you're our arch-nemesis."

"I didn't know you'd fall into that whole rivalry crap," he said, laughing as he stood when she made to leave.

She glared at him. "You're the one who watched us at sectionals. Trying to see if you have competition? Well trust me, you do."

His smirk melted off his face and he straightened up. "Just a few seconds ago, you were looking at me all lovesick. Tell me you didn't feel what I was feeling."

"I'll have you know that the only reason I was so distracted is because my boyfriend and I had a brief little argument that will swiftly be fixed when I return to his waiting, muscular arms. Did I mention that he can bench press 240 pounds? That's a lot. He's also gotten into a physical altercation with the entire hockey team, by himself, and came out with two scratches. Two." Okay, so that was a lie, but she was hoping that he would go away.

He chuckled and reached forward, brushing her hair off her cheek. Rachel smacked his hand away, her glare growing much darker. "What part of 'I have a boyfriend' do you not understand? It's amazing how you went from incredibly charming to 'mega douchebag' in such a short amount of time."

Jesse's smirk only grew larger. "Well, Rachel with a Boyfriend. You're right. I'm from Vocal Adrenaline and I'm guessing your boyfriend…"

"Yes, he's in New Directions with me," she said icily, reading his thoughts.

"Well. Vocal Adrenaline is made of winners. Make sure your boyfriend knows that."

He walked away, looking back at her with a smile that said 'I will win you over.'

…Was that supposed to make her swoon?

~*~

Kurt laughed. "Jesse St. James? That's outrageous. He repeatedly hit on you, even though you told him you had a boyfriend?"

"He's in for a rude awakening when he sees how huge Puck's guns are," Mercedes giggled. "Jesse St. James may be one fine white boy, but Puck has all the strength to knock his face off." Santana and Brittney nodded in agreement, grinning at each other.

"Speak of your lovely boyfriend, have you even told him about this yet?" Tina asked as she fell back on Rachel's bed, a bucket of ice cream in her hands.

Rachel groaned, falling onto Artie's lap when everyone took all the space on her bed. "Oh sure," he said jokingly. "Go on and sit down. I don't mind."

She laughed before shaking her head. "No, I haven't told Noah yet. He'll freak, go to Carmel, and beat the smugness out of Jesse, which in turn, will get us into a significant amount of trouble."

Before anyone could tell her different, a number of pebbles flew into her window. "Shit man!" They heard Puck hiss. "You said her window was closed! It sounds so much cooler when the pebbles hit the glass!"

"Dude, it looked like it was closed! I'm sorry!"

Quinn groaned. "Finn. What an idiot," she said in embarrassment.

"She's totally gonna bitch at me for getting pebbles all over her carpet!"

"Well why the hell did you throw like 15 of them!"

Rachel helped Quinn off the bed, who pressed her hand to the small of her back as she walked towards the window. "What do you ass munchers want?!" She shrieked. "This is girl's night, remember?"

"Yea, we came to take Artie! Tell him we're sorry that we're late!"

"Yea, like three hours late!"

Artie laughed as he began rolling towards the door. "Tell them to come up and help me down. It was fun being pushed up the stairs but I have a feeling that being pushed down would actually be quite dangerous."

"HEY STELLAAAAAAA!"

Rachel picked her shoe up and threw it out the window. "Shut up, Noah!"

"Dude! You totally missed him and hit me!"

Quinn fell back into Rachel in laughter, amused at the look on Finn's face when the shoe smacked his stomach.

"Noah, please try to keep the food inside of your mouth," Rachel said, trying to look disgusted, but giggling instead. He grinned at her, swallowed, and then leaned over to kiss her.

"I'll be right back, baby. I just gotta use the little girl's room."

"I'm telling everyone you said that."

"Don't you dare."

"I'm taking my phone out right now to text Quinn!"

"Rachel, I swear to God that if you-"

"Just go to the restroom already!" She told him with a laugh. He grinned, kissing her cheek once more, before walking off. She sighed happily and leaned back in her seat. She loved these Saturday nights with Noah. He was always himself when they were alone, and although she managed to crack his rocky exterior, he still had some kind of front when people were around. It's why she absolutely treasured the times that they were alone. He was never afraid of-

"Hey, Rachel with a Boyfriend."

The dreamy haze in her eyes quickly disappeared and she looked around wildly, trying to make sure that Noah was in the bathroom already. Jesse sat in front of her, stealing Noah's fries and munching on them as if they were his own.

"What are you doing here?! Are you stalking me?! I'll have you know that my father is a prominent lawyer and I can-"

Jesse laughed as he ruffled his hair and smiled at her. "Of course I'm not stalking you. I was here, eating all by my lonesome when I saw you walk in with Mr. Anabolic Steroids. I was just waiting for him to walk away so I could talk to you."

"Listen here, St. James," she hissed. "My boyfriend does not take steroids and I am deeply offended that you would even suggest that. His arms are of perfect size! They are not overly large! You don't see veins popping out of his skin! Second, stop stalking me and leave my table immediately!"

"I'm not stalking you," he said defensively. "Is it so wrong to come over and say hello to a friend?"

She gasped at the way he stressed the word. She knew he was referring to the song and that only made her grow even more agitated. "You- you leave! Right now! Noah will be back-"

"Muscle Milk's name is Noah?" he said, laughing. "What kind of name is Noah?"

She kicked his shin under the table and he winced in pain. "Leave before I call for the manager!"

"Rach?"

She swallowed a groan when she looked up to see Noah looking at them with a confused look on his face.

"…What's up?"

"Puck, this is Jesse St. James," she answered flatly. "I met him when I was looking for a song a few days ago. He's in Vocal Adrenaline."

"Woah, fraternizing with the enemy. Who knew you had a bad side, baby," he joked. "What's up, man? I'm Puck."

"Oh I know," Jesse said with a smirk. "Catch you later, Rachel. Puck." He stood with a nod in both of their directions, but remained staring at Rachel before leaving.

"…What's his problem?"

Rachel shrieked in anger, dropped money on the table and took Noah's hand, pulling him towards the exit.

"Baby! I'm not done with my food!"

"It doesn't matter! He probably spit in it when I wasn't looking!"

~*~

Matt held his hand up. "Woah, let me get this straight. Some Vocal Adrenaline asswipe keeps hitting on Rachel and he sat down at your table and ate your fries? Even though she's said how much you can bench press?"

"Yea!" Puck said angrily. "Who the hell does this guy think he is?!"

"Jesse St. James," Kurt answered as he threw his towel into his locker. It wasn't long before Tanaka was begging for him to join the Football team again and of course, after being convinced by Finn and the other boys, he couldn't help but join. "The golden boy of Vocal Adrenaline, who's probably trying to use Rachel to sabotage our glee club. He's quite the charmer, though, from what I heard. I'm surprised that she didn't leave you in the dust."

Puck glared at him. "Yea well she told me that she may have been a bit… enamored with him for like a brief second but then she remembered me and my total badassness and told him to fuck off."

"In those words?" Finn asked with a laugh.

Mike couldn't help but join in. "Obviously not. We're talking about Rachel here, the girl who gave me hell for saying 'crap.'"

"Lay off her," Puck told them in irritation.

"Ooooh! Lover boy doesn't like it when we insult his lady!"

"Would you cut it out?"

Matt snickered, tumbling into Finn with his hand on his heart. "Oh, Noah darling, how I wish to be wrapped up in your beautifully built arms."

Finn took his friend and hugged him tightly. "Rachel, my love! You know these massive arms are for you and you alone!"

Puck growled and moved to punch both of their faces down their throats, but instead watched gleefully as they both straightened in horror when they saw Coach Tanaka standing in the doorway. "Hudson! Release him now! No one wants to see you caressing each other's bodies!"

"Yes, sir" they both stuttered.

"Wrap it up, ladies!" With that, he swiftly turned and left the room.

Puck walked over to his bag and took his cellphone out. "What are you doing?" Finn asked nervously.

"I'm texting Rachel and Mercedes. Rachel because she's so gonna be on your ass for that and Mercedes because she can spread gossip like wildfire."

~*~

"Oh my god! It's Rachel with a Boyfriend!"

Rachel let out an angry sigh as she closed her book shut and looked up at Jesse, who was now sitting at her table in the library, smiling at her. Just smiling.

"Alright Mr. St. James. Let's get everything done and over with once and for all. I can admit that you are quite a handsome one. Boys like you don't come along very often."

"Why thank you," Jesse answered with a touch of sincerity in his voice.

"And as you've just proven, you're also quite charming. Your personality can lure any girl into what I'm sure would be a wondrous, out of this world embrace."

"Please continue with the flattery."

"You have yet to show, however, some sign of intelligence."

His face dropped as he stared at her. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm. Not. Falling. For. This. Trick. If you think that I'm leave Noah, who you seem to believe is some kind of untalented juicehead, just to have you use me for Vocal Adrenaline's benefit then you belong in a psychiatric ward. For some reason, you're under the impression that I can be easily swayed by this little act you're putting on."

"Hey, I've told you before that this isn't-"

"Don't interrupt me," she said, holding her hand up to stop him. His mouth snapped shut and his eyes widened. "You have the nerve to critique my spectacular rendition of 'Don't Rain on my Parade' when you yourself can't even conceal the fact that you're trying to use me? Here's some advice, honey. It's called acting. Do it."

"You think that you can-"

"I don't think, I know. No one messes with Rachel Barbara Berry and gets away with it. You're lucky I know how to handle Noah, or you would've been missing a very vital anatomical part right now."

She saw his hand travel downwards onto his lap and she picked her books up and calmly placed them into her backpack.

"I hope this meeting has been a refreshing awakening for you, Jesse St. James. Oh and before I leave, in the words of my boyfriend, I do believe that you have just be 'pwned'. Good day."