AN: This is going to be a two-part chapter since it's too much to put in one chapter.
Also, yes. Shane and Mercedes will be in this story. They're not going to be a big part, but they'll have minor roles, especially when it comes to the musical.
"Well it's no wonder that her name means beauty. Her looks have got no parallel!" Kurt sang, laughing as he did so. He was seated on Rachel's bed, a plastic shopping bag on the ground next to where his feet were hanging from. "Hurry up, diva!" he called, leaning back on her bed. "Quinn and Sam are downstairs waiting for us and can't leave since you're the only one with a damn car."
"I'm going as fast as I can," Rachel retorted, twisting her hair around into an intricate bun, wrapping a rubber band around it to hold it in place. "Can you grab my sandals from my closet?" she asked as she slipped a thigh-length white shirt on over her head, concealing her bikini from view.
Kurt had begged Rachel to go to a club to celebrate, but since her last memory of a club-like scene involved Puck with his tongue down some stranger's throat, she had no desire to repeat that. Rachel reminded Kurt they were celebrating her success, which was probably the only reason he let her choose the beach as a place to celebrate.
They were heading to the beach right by the Santa Monica pier with plans to go to Pacific Park after they were done with the beach. In addition to the four roommates, Puck and Finn were also coming. Kurt had texted Blaine and invited him, but hadn't heard back.
"Did Blaine text you?" Rachel asked as she took the sandals from Kurt, slipping them on her feet. She picked up her beach bag which contained her towel, sunscreen, her wallet, and her phone. Her sunglasses were perched on top of her head and she turned to look at Kurt. "And do you have my keys?"
"No, he didn't. I'm thinking he gave me a fake number and some assholes are laughing at all the texts I sent them asking him to come to the beach with us while trying not to sound completely desperate. And yes, I have your keys, so relax," he said, holding up the ring which had both Rachel's room keys and car keys.
Rachel took Kurt's arm, leading him out of the room and towards the elevator. She watched Kurt check his phone and look disappointed.
"Boo, I'm sure he's just busy. I mean, he was texting you earlier this week. Flirtatiously texting you, I might add. I mean, it's obvious homeboy likes you, so why would he just ignore you unless he was super busy and wasn't sure if he could come or something like that. I mean, he does work at a college bar," she reminded him.
"And it takes two seconds to text someone back," he muttered as they climbed off the elevator, finding Sam and Quinn waiting for them. "Hey guys. Are we meeting slut one and slut two here, or are they meeting us at the beach?" he asked.
"Puck called me and said they were running late—something about having to run to the grocery store or something. I don't speak idiot fluently, so I really don't know what he was going on about. Basically, they're going to meet us at the beach, so we need to get our asses in motion if we plan on making it there before them."
"Well, we're all here now so let's get a move on," Rachel suggested, taking Quinn's arm and headed for the door. Kurt and Sam looked at them for a moment before shrugging their shoulders and followed them out. Kurt unlocked the doors to Rachel's car and watched as the two girls climbed into the backseat. Kurt took the driver's seat and Sam sat next to him.
Kurt was always very thankful for GPS or he'd be constantly lost. It navigated him to the beach, even with Rachel and Quinn singing along to Maroon 5 the whole time. Kurt luckily found a space near the front and pulled Rachel's car in, putting it in park before turning off the ignition, handing Rachel her keys. "Alright bitches, let's go," Kurt laughed, opening the door to the car.
He helped Rachel and Quinn out while Sam grabbed their chairs from the trunk of the car. He handed a few to Kurt, and the four of them made their way to the beach, Quinn and Rachel carrying the boys' towels for them.
Since it was still early in the day, the beach wasn't very crowded yet. It would get crowded later, but right now, Rachel and everyone were able to find a good spot on the beach. They chose an area near the beach volleyball court, Sam and Kurt setting up their chairs.
Rachel slipped her shoes off, putting them inside her bag while pulling out the sunscreen. Quinn, standing beside her, pulled off her green cover up, revealing her pink and purple bikini.
"Ow, ow," Kurt teased, pulling his shirt off before staling the sunscreen from Rachel, spraying some on his chest. "Looks like we're going to have all the attention today with you two hotties frolicking around in your bikinis," he laughed.
"Coming from you, that means nothing," Rachel said, pulling her shirt off to reveal a strapless bandeau bikini with a watercolor-like design on it. "Unless of course you were referring to Sam and yourself, though I don't see how that's possible unless you have two itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikinis packed in your stuff."
"Shut it, diva. I don't need your sass today. Save it for the boy when he finally gets his ass here instead of getting whatever is so important that he's late for a beach day with my best friend."
"Pretty sure they're buying beer," Sam said, brushing his hair out of his face before kicking his flip flops off into the sand. He pulled his tee shirt over his head, leaving both girls gawking at him. He gave them a look. "What?" he asked.
"Why didn't you tell us you were packing a major body under your clothes?" Rachel asked before letting out a small giggle. "I mean, holy shit Sam, you're totally hot."
Quinn nodded her head. "You totally are. Like, surfer dude hot. You're rocking like, an eight-pack or something," she giggled, turning to Rachel. "How is he part of our virgin club when he's walking around with a body like that."
"I do not appreciate being objectified like this," Sam teased. "Not all guys out there are sex-hungry freaks like your brother and fake-brother, Quinnie. Some of us are waiting until we find the right girl."
"And who is the right girl for Sam Evans, huh?"
"Don't know. I'll let you know when I meet her," he laughed, sinking into one of the chairs, putting his sunglasses on.
"Sam, you're like the perfect guy," Rachel commented as Quinn put sunscreen on her back for her. "You're hot and a total gentleman. Any girl would be lucky to have you, though I doubt many of them would be good enough for you. We don't want any slutty freshman corrupting our innocent Sam," she teased.
"Says the president of the big fat virgin club who spends her time with the overly sexually active football quarterback," he laughed.
Rachel gave him a look. "Yes but the difference between you and me is that I'm like Batman and you're like Peter Parker in Spiderman 3. I'm incorruptible while you get taken over by that weird stuff that makes him all emo," she laughed.
"First of all, why do you get to be Batman while I'm stuck being a character from the shitty Spiderman movie? And secondly, even superheroes have their weaknesses. Based off your killer 'go to hell' performance, I'd say Puck is yours. Speak of the devil, here he comes."
All four heads turned, seeing Puck and Finn trekking onto the beach, both of them carrying backpacks with them. Puck noticed Rachel, giving her a wave as he grinned at her, jogging a little until he reached where they'd set up their things, dropping his bag on the ground. Finn was still lagging behind, obviously not as enthusiastic about being there as Puck was.
"Hey, Rach," he said, kicking his shoes off into the sand. "Sorry we're late. Finn couldn't find his phone and we had to turn our apartment upside down looking for it," he said, giving Finn a look.
Finn walked up to them, rolling his eyes as he dumped his bag on the ground. "Yeah, whatever. We got here, didn't we? So what if we were late? Just because you get to spend ten minutes less with Rachel doesn't mean the world is ending."
Puck elbowed him in the ribs, pushing him away. "Shut up, you asshole," he laughed. "Maybe I wanted to get here so I could work on my tan," he joked, pulling his shirt off.
Rachel was once again struck by how great of a body he had. She never considered herself as someone who was shallow, but lately all she seemed to be able to think about were the multiple hot guys surrounding her…especially when they were shirtless.
"It's no big deal. We haven't been here that long," Rachel said, trying to keep the blush off her face as she realized Puck's eyes were raking over her very exposed body. Rachel wasn't used to being around people in her bathing suit. She'd never once been invited to a pool party in her four years of high school. After her dads put in a pool for her 12th birthday, she and Kurt avoided the public pool as well. The fact that she was now surrounded by people who were strangers two weeks ago and didn't feel completely uncomfortable in what she was wearing was a surprise to her.
"Yeah, well I still felt bad being late for your big celebration," he said. "I mean, it's not every day your sister's roommate and the girl who dedicated half her rock star debut to the asshole quarterback gets the lead role in the musical," he teased.
"We're just at the beach. It's not some giant celebration. It's really an excuse for Quinn and I to hang around a bunch of shirtless men," she laughed, looking over Puck's shoulder with a giant grin on her face. "Coop!" she laughed.
Kurt looked over, seeing Blaine and his brother walking over, carrying a cooler between the two of them. He couldn't stop the smile from coming on his face as he walked over to Blaine, helping him set the cooler down in the sand.
"I thought you were ignoring me," he said, trying to look annoyed but failing miserably.
"I could never ignore you. I wanted it to be a surprise for both you and Rachel. Oh yeah, Rach!" he called.
Rachel looked over at him while Puck had an annoyed look on his face from being interrupted mid-conversation with the girl he was still trying to get to forgive him. "What the hell you want. Anderson?"
"Bonjour!" he teased.
Rachel scrunched up her face at him. "You're dead. You too," she said, turning to look at Kurt. "You promised you didn't say anything to these idiots. I was supposed to break the news to everyone, not you."
"Sorry, but I was just so excited. Come on, diva, so what if I told them? It's probably the reason the extremely handsome Anderson brothers are here right now," he joked.
Rachel pouted for a moment before laughing. "Alright, alright, whatever. You're forgiven. But I'm still dunking Blaine in the ocean when he's least suspecting it for attempting to quote Beauty and the Beast at me."
"Ah, but since I'm suspecting it now, you lost your element of surprise. Bad move, Berry," Blaine teased, pulling off his shirt before pulling out a volleyball. "Alright, whose up for some friendly competition?"
xxxxx
Puck was majorly regretting playing volleyball on the opposite team of Rachel. It was him, Finn, Sam, and Cooper against Blaine, Kurt, Rachel, and Quinn. The problem was, the three of the four straight men kept getting distracted by the two hot eighteen-year-olds running back and forth in barely-there bikinis.
Cooper seemed to be having an internal conflict with himself, trying to not get distracted by the girls. He appeared to stare for a moment before reminding himself they were eighteen before usually getting hit on the head with the ball.
The boys hadn't scored a single point against two teenage girls and two gay guys. It was embarrassing.
Quinn set the ball up and Rachel jumped, spiking it over onto the other side. The ball was coming straight for Puck and he knew he could hit it back no problem, but he couldn't take his eyes off the way her body moved when she jumped in the air. No, he was trying to prove to her he wasn't a sex-crazed perv, but staring at the way her boobs moved in her bikini seemed to prove just that.
He pulled his eyes off her long enough to see the ball heading straight for his head. He didn't have time to block Rachel's spike, and the ball hit him square in the forehead. He didn't realize Rachel had such a hard hit, because the next thing he knew, he had fallen back into the sand, his head throbbing.
"Oh, shoot!" Rachel said, ducking under the net and running over to Puck. Quinn was right behind her while everyone else looked on. Finn knelt next to Puck, waving his hand in front of his face.
"Puck, you okay?"
"Noah?" Rachel asked, sitting in the sand. She pulled his head onto her lap, her hands running over his forehead. "Noah, can you hear me? I'm so sorry!"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered, sitting up a little, leaning back on his elbows. He was fully aware of how close Rachel was to him, but he didn't want to be an asshole and take advantage of the fact that she had just voluntarily laid his head on her lap. "Just a little bump on the head. No big deal," he said, giving her a small smile.
"Well, I am sorry. I didn't mean to hit you on the head like that," she said, brushing a hand over his forehead. "Are you okay now?"
"I'm fine, Rach," he laughed, brushing the sand off his chest. "Just remind me not to piss you off if you have a volleyball in your hand," he joked.
Puck stood up, looking at the court which had now been taken over by a group of guys who looked like they belonged in the ocean on surf boards, not on the volleyball court. "Look Sam, it's your people," Rachel teased, walking off the court with Puck at her side. "Well, I think this means the girls and gays win by default. We were kicking your asses."
"No, it means the game is unfinished. We'll have to find a different way to settle this, since we were totally making a comeback before you knocked our star player down," Sam claimed, putting an arm around Rachel's shoulders as they walked back to their chairs.
Puck saw red, but reminded himself he needed to be on his best behavior unless he really wanted Rachel to hate him.
"Exactly," he chimed in, figuring it would be a good idea to get Sam to like him and put in a good word for him with Rachel instead of thinking he was a drunk asshole. "We were just about to come back and show you four who were kings of the court, but you knocked me down and caused us to lose the court," he teased.
"No, the loss of the court is your fault for not having a thick enough head," Rachel laughed, shoving him lightly in the chest before taking a seat on her towel, pulling her sunglasses down from her head so they were covering her eyes. "We were up by seven, that means we win."
"Last time I checked, you needed 21 to win in volleyball, and you only had ten. That means you didn't win, no matter how much you want to claim you did," Sam laughed.
"You're forgetting this is my celebration, so if I say we won that means we did."
"Just because you're the lead in the musical doesn't mean you get to cheat, diva," Puck teased. "We'll settle it all over a game at Pacific Park. Winner of that is winner of all and gets bragging rights. Deal?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.
"Alright, deal," she said, taking Puck's hand and shaking it once. "I want to go look for shells. Want to come?" she asked, looking only at Puck. Everyone else noticed she only asked Puck and did their best to hide their grins from her view.
"Yeah, I'd love to," Puck said, punching Finn in the shoulder as he walked by when he gave Puck thumbs up and a wink. Asshole.
Rachel and Puck headed down to the water, walking along the wet sand as they kept their eyes on the sand, attempting to find some shells.
Puck turned out to be much better at it than Rachel, finding her multiple intact shells. Of course, he gave them all to her, having no desire to keep them. He was from California—his yard was lined in them while Ohio-native Rachel wasn't used to seeing them so frequently. Puck figured she'd get bored of them—and the beach—after a few weeks.
"You know, I've been thinking about that night at the bar all week," she said, walking with her feet in the water. She gestured to Puck, and the two of them sat on the ground, the water running up over their legs, retreating back, then repeating the whole process.
"I thought you wanted to forget that night?" Puck asked, looking over at her. Rachel had pulled her bun out so her hair fell over her shoulders. Her dark waves framed her face perfectly, casually blowing into her face as a small gust of wind blew past them. Puck didn't understand how one person could be so beautiful as effortlessly as Rachel, but she managed it. He was positive that if he caught her in sweaty gym clothes and no makeup, she'd be just as beautiful as she was right in this moment.
"I do, but I can't," she said, her elbows resting atop her knees, her head in her hands. "I mean, that day I was so convinced everyone had been wrong about you. I thought you were this sweet guy and we were going to date and be this great couple, but then that night happened and you proved everyone right."
"Rachel, I know this," Puck sighed. "We've been through this all and I'd really rather not hear again how I'm an asshole and I fucked up and blah blah blah."
Rachel held up a hand, stopping him. "I'm not trying to rehash everything that's already been said, and I'm not trying to make you feel like shit about what you did. I want you to know that I forgive you for what happened. I mean, you were well within your rights to go out with that girl and even make out with her. We weren't dating, we hadn't even had a real date. You were nice enough to show me around campus, and I thought we were soul mates or something. It's not your fault I overreacted to you having your own life and doing something with your friend. I should be the one apologizing to you," she sighed.
"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for. You're a freshman, and you're about as innocent as they come. I wasn't thinking straight that night. All I could think about was how some other asshole was going to be kissing you and how you blew me off for that guy. I wasn't thinking rationally. I was jealous and possessive without being your boyfriend or even just your friend. I was—"
Rachel didn't get to find out what else he was. Instead, she leaned over close to Puck. She placed a hand on his cheek and pulled his face close to hers, placing a soft kiss on his lips. Puck seemed shocked and instantly shut up.
Rachel stopped the kiss as quickly as she started it, her face red. However, that didn't stop her from smiling at Puck, her eyes open.
"What was that for?" he asked, very confused.
"To get you to shut up. I already told you I forgive you. You don't need to go on and on about how you screwed up that night. I don't care anymore. I want you back in mi life, Noah. I've missed you this whole time, even if you are a perv," she teased.
Puck smiled at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Well, I missed you too. Coach has been up on my ass all week about me getting my head out of the sky and on the field. I haven't been playing that great at practice."
"Well, maybe this was just the motivation you needed to get your head in the game?" she suggested, giving him another smile. She rose to her feet, helping him up. "Come on, we should head back before Quinn sends out a search party for us," she laughed.
As they walked back, Rachel seemed to be thinking something over. She hesitated momentarily before slipping her hand into Puck's as they got closer to where they'd been sitting. Puck simply looked down at their clasped hands and smiled.
Next up, the night at Pacific Park.
