Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.
A/N Just over a week later, that's not too bad right?
Lots of love to my reviewers/favouriters/alerters!
Let's get straight on with it because I know you're anxious to know what happens next! : )
Chapter 12: Crossing a Line
When Brittany came back from the bathroom on her own, Puck began to get worried. Berry had been completely fucked off her face when he'd seen her get dragged off to the bathroom. Her eyes had been all glazed and she'd had difficulty keeping them open. Everyone else in their group was pretty drunk too so they just thought she was fucking hilarious stumbling all over the place and saying things that didn't make sense.
He'd been watching them play their game all night and he was sure that they'd been picking on Berry the whole way through. He doubted there was anything sinister to it; they just wanted to see the prim and proper Rachel Berry get pissed. She hadn't helped herself with those forfeits but she'd probably been too far gone by that point anyway. (He wasn't going to complain about the sight of her necking that shot and then making out with Brittany and Santana though because that was fucking hot as hell).
He waited a few minutes because Berry and Josh might've gotten side tracked talking to other people but when they didn't appear he went over to Brittany.
"Hi, Puck," she greeted. "Wanna make out?"
Puck shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Brit, but I'm looking for Berry. Have you seen her?"
"I thought that Josh was going to bring her back down here. Maybe they got lost; Rachel is very drunk. She's a good kisser though." Brittany told him and Puck couldn't argue with her there.
"Wait, did you say 'down' here. Did you go to the bathroom upstairs?" Puck asked, as something twisted in his stomach.
"Yeah, the one downstairs was too busy." She replied.
"Thanks, Brit, I'll see you later," Puck said and made his way up the staircase. He had a feeling he knew where Josh and Berry were.
He paused on the top step. And so what if they were in one of the bedrooms? Rachel could have sex with Josh if she wanted to. But if she was as pissed as he thought she was then she wasn't really capable of making choices for herself at the moment, right?
He was deliberating whether to go looking in the rooms for her when he heard her cry out. It was difficult for him to be sure it was her when there was so much background noise but it was enough for him to make up his mind. It could've been a pleasurable cry but he didn't think so and quite honestly, he wasn't prepared to take that risk. He took that last step and looked at his surroundings.
There were a number of rooms in this part of the house and he didn't know which one her voice had come from. The first two rooms he tried were empty but behind the third door he found what he was looking for.
Honestly? He thought he'd prefer to see them fucking.
He took the scene in in a split second; Josh had covered Berry's body with his own, one of his hands was under her skirt and the other was holding her arms above her head. A look of terror was evident on her face and her eyes were shining with tears.
Josh scrambled off the bed but he wasn't quick enough to avoid Puck's fist in his face. There was a cracking noise and Josh fell to the floor with a yell. Puck was pretty sure that he'd broken Josh's nose but he couldn't give a fuck right now. He didn't think he'd ever been so furious in his life.
He was about to kick Josh in the ribs, regardless of the consequences, when Berry flung herself at him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and started sobbing hysterically into his chest.
"You'd better get the fuck out of here," Puck growled at Josh who was holding a hand to his nose to stem a flow of blood. Josh glared at him but picked himself up from the floor and left without another word.
Puck turned his attention back to the girl that was drenching his shirt with tears. "Shh, Berry, it's okay. He's gone." He said and gently stroked her hair to try and get her to calm down. "Nothing's going to happen to you, I'm here."
She continued to sob for a couple of minutes and then suddenly stopped. He looked down at her in concern.
"I'm going to be sick," she whispered and Puck looked around in panic. As concerned as he was for her, he really didn't want Berry throwing up all over him. He spotted an open door in the room and carried her towards it. He was very relieved to discover that it housed a toilet and a sink. He placed Berry in front of the toilet and had just swept her hair back from her face when she started heaving.
He spotted a cup sitting on the sink and filled it with water while he kept a hand on her hair. When it seemed that she had stopped spewing her guts out he passed it to her.
"Thanks," she said, hoarsely. He figured he could let go of her hair now and he had a rummage in the shelves next to the sink and found a toothbrush and some minty toothpaste. He showed them to her and she frowned. "They're not mine," she said, her drunken slur still very evident.
"I know, Berry, but we can chuck the brush out when you're done with it. Do you want to get rid of the taste or not?"
She took the brush and paste from him and he helped her stand up in front of the sink because she was still ridiculously unsteady on her feet, even when she kicked her heels off.
Puck could hear her sniffing as she brushed her teeth and he saw a couple of tears drop into the basin. The fury returned to him along with a feeling of hopelessness because he didn't know what to do to make Berry feel better. He considered going to get Brittany and Santana but he believed they'd be more of a hindrance than a help given how drunk they were too.
He realised that Berry had finished and he filled up the glass of water again. "You're going to need to keep drinking this. We need to sober you up," he told her and she nodded before taking a small sip.
And now what was he supposed to do? What could he possibly do or say to make her feel any better after what she'd been through?
She started shaking quite a bit so he steered her back into the main bedroom and tugged the comforter off the bed and wrapped it round her. Then he sat them both down on the floor so that there wasn't a risk of her falling over.
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Puck knew this wasn't a very good idea because she'd probably just be repeating the events over and over in her head but he was completely out of alternatives.
"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." She mumbled and Puck frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"You tried to warn me about Josh and I didn't want to believe you."
"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about, Berry," Puck said forcefully. "It's all that bastard's fault. Don't worry, I'll make him pay."
"No, Noah, just leave it. He didn't, nothing really,…you got here in time. It's all so embarrassing, I just want to forget it."
Puck was relieved that this incident wasn't as serious as it first seemed and he was so glad that he had gone looking for her.
They could probably get Josh done for some sort of assault though, couldn't they? Or would Berry's drunken state work against her? He didn't know but it was definitely something worth investigating.
There was some more silence as she took some small sips from the water but then the tears started to fall again.
"I think God is punishing me for being a bad person," she choked out through her tears and Puck's eyebrows rose in surprise.
"That's a complete load of shit, Berry." He told her. "You're one of the nicest people I know."
"I – I'm bossy, and selfish and I said rude things about Quinn behind her back. I was horrible to you in your dares. I kissed Finn even though he has a girlfriend and I got Mr Ryerson fired!"
"Well, good." Puck said, enthusiastically. "That perv should not be allowed near teenaged boys. And you were behind a kissing booth – Finn paid you to kiss him so there's nothing wrong with that."
Berry closed her eyes and shook her head. "I kissed him before that. Once at the beginning of the year and then again when he took me bowling to make me come back to glee club."
So he wasn't Rachel Berry's first kiss after all. He thought that part of him would be mildly annoyed about that revelation, but it wasn't, because given what she had been through tonight it really wasn't at all important anymore.
"Berry, come on, I've slept with women who are married and bullied dozens of people. If anyone should be getting punished it's me." She didn't look very convinced by his argument though so he reached out for her hand (which was like freaking ice!) and made sure she was looking at him. "Hey, don't you dare let what just happened change who you are. You're gutsy, determined, intelligent and passionate. Not to mention, you're a total badass."
She let out a small laugh and hugged him again but more gently this time. "Thank you, Noah."
As he repeated the gesture by wrapping his arms around her too, he felt his spirits rise. He knew it would take a while for her to get over what Josh did but at least this was a start.
He felt a shudder run through her body and he looked down at her in concern. "Come on, Berry. He's not worth getting upset over." But when he actually saw the expression on her face he realised that she didn't look sad. She looked kinda pissed off.
"I'm not upset," she muttered as she removed herself from his embrace (nearly tipping over in the process). She wrapped her arms around herself and glowered into the darkness of the room. "I'm just mad at myself for letting him take advantage of me that way. If you hadn't come along…" She trailed off and shuddered again.
"Well, first thing tomorrow you can sign up for one of those self-defence classes. Then you can kick his ass for yourself."
Her alcohol-affected eyes tried to focus on him in the gloom of the room. "You're good at beating people up aren't you?" She asked bluntly.
He shrugged. "I can look after myself."
"Then maybe you could teach me self-defence?" Her expression was hopeful and Puck pondered the suggestion. Yeah, so he was pretty good at throwing punches and making sure he didn't get too much on the reverse but he and Berry were totally different physically. He didn't think what he knew was really relevant to her defending herself because she was a skinny midget that weighed less than his leg. But it couldn't hurt to pass on any tips and he could look some stuff up for her, like techniques and shit. And to be honest, it would make him more at ease to know that she knew some of this defence stuff.
"Yeah, I suppose." He supplied.
"Good," she said and then appeared to be trying to get to her feet.
"What are you doing?" he asked in surprise.
"You said you'd teach me," she said slowly as though he was stupid.
He laughed. "You can't be serious. You want me to teach you now?"
"Why not? 'S'no time like the present."
"Because you can't even fucking stand up straight!" He exclaimed as he watched her still struggle to her feet. "You're still too drunk, Berry."
She finally managed to stand upright but she clung to the bedpost for support and she frowned at him.
"C'mon Noah, I wanna learn!"
He stood up. "If you can walk from here to the sink and back without falling over then I'll teach you." He said but he knew she wouldn't be able to manage it. Even though she had thrown up and had a shocking experience it was nowhere near enough to sober her up. She'd had a lot to drink in a short amount of time and mixed her drinks quite badly.
She turned slowly in the direction of the sink and took a couple of teetering steps before falling to the side. Puck reached out and caught her and she started laughing hysterically.
Her mood swings were worrying him slightly; in the last few minutes she'd gone from hysterical sobbing, fear that God was punishing her, anger at her inability to look after herself and now giggling because she was too drunk to walk in a straight line. He wasn't sure whether her weird behaviour was due to her drunkenness or if it was a reaction to what had happened or a combination of both. But having her laughing was better than her crying, right?
"See, I told you, Berry; you're too drunk."
"Noooo," she said, forcing herself to her feet to lean against the bed post again. "It doesn't matter. Come on, I'm a good student. I'll make sure I listen to your instructions, Mr Puckerman."
She laughed again and Puck had to shake his head at how pathetically hilarious she was when she was this drunk. Under different circumstances he'd probably laugh openly but it just didn't seem right tonight.
"No, Berry." He said and she huffed.
"You afraid you're gonna get beaten up by a girl, Mr Puckerman?"
"No, that you're gonna fall over and give yourself a concussion."
She changed her position so that she could lean against the post and free up her arms. She clenched her hands into fists and pretended to punch him in the stomach a little. "Come on, Noah, don't be such a chicken!"
He rolled his eyes at her lame punches. "Here," he said and took one of her hands and moved her fingers slightly. "Your hand should be like this otherwise you're gonna break your thumb." She grinned at him and let him remould her other hand too.
She punched at his stomach again and there was a little bit more force to them this time but it was still a bit like being whacked with a pillow. "Ow," he deadpanned.
This seemed to offend her because she suddenly punched him with all her strength, which he was totally not expecting and he was slightly winded. The momentum of her punch made Berry fall into him and he wasn't steady enough himself so they both ended up falling to the ground. Puck banged his head on the floor and Berry practically landed on top of him. She stared at him in shock before bursting out laughing and this time he joined in with her.
"I win!" she cried between laughs, holding her arms aloft. She rolled off of him with a soft, "Oof," so that she that she was lying on her back next to him. "You got beat up by a girl!" she said gleefully, as she gave him a soft punch on the arm.
He turned on his side to face her. "You fell on me, Berry, so I don't think that really counts."
"First time's always the hardest to admit," she slurred, laughing at the ceiling.
"Yeah, but it's not the first time I've got beaten up by a girl, is it Berry?"
Her forehead creased in utter confusion as she tried to work out what he meant. He couldn't deny that she looked totally cute at that moment despite how messed up her make up had become due to her tears.
"Oh," she said, as she obviously recalled her slapping of him and her face fell. "You know I'm really sorry about that don't you, Noah?"
Fuck. There were tears starting to form in her eyes yet again and he mentally kicked himself for making her upset. "Of course I know that, Berry. It was nothing, I was only joking with you."
But his words didn't seem to make any difference.
"See! I'm a horrible person!" She cried as a couple of tears escaped out of the corners of her eyes.
"No, don't start that again," he soothed as he pulled her against him, which was a bit difficult when they were both on the floor. She hiccupped against his neck and he felt it impact throughout her body, right down to her icy toes that were resting against the shins of his jeans. "What do I have to do to convince you that you're probably the best damn person at this party?"
She craned her head back slightly to look him in the eye. "You really think that?" She asked, before hiccupping again.
He smiled. "Yeah, babe, you're number one."
She was still staring into his eyes and it was freaking him out a little, but in a good way. He became aware of just how close their bodies were right now. He felt like he could feel every line of the front of her body as she leaned into him and her toes had snuck between his legs to try and get warm. Every breath she took tickled his cheek and pressed her chest into his.
He felt a little annoyed with himself because, even though he should be thinking about getting her safely back home and away from this place, all he wanted to do was kiss her.
So, when her lips touched his, he thought the knock to his head had caused him to hallucinate.
But when he felt her hand grip at the sleeve of his top he realised that this was no fucking daydream.
He jerked his head back in shock and blinked a couple of times to clear his mind because it seemed that Rachel Berry had just kissed him!
Her big brown eyes were still looking at him but her expression was unreadable. "Kiss me," she whispered and he started to question his sanity because this should definitely not be happening right now.
"W-what?" he spluttered.
"Kiss me, Noah," she whispered again, almost desperately.
"I don't think that's a good idea Berry," he replied, leaving it unsaid why in case it upset her again.
"Come on, Noah. I dare you," she breathed, a slight smile to her lips. He was finding it really hard to resist her and now regretted that they were so close together but he couldn't make himself push her away.
"I thought that was against the rules," he said, trying not to lose his head in the situation. Every tiny little movement she made was sending chills through his body and it was driving him insane.
She let out a throaty chuckle and he actually shivered. "As if breaking the rules has ever bothered you before, you badass mother f – "
His resolve broke and he covered his lips over hers hungrily. Berry saying those words was possibly the sexiest thing he had ever heard. He'd never heard her say 'fuck' and he kinda liked that she hadn't, he liked her innocence. Just knowing that she had been about to say it was enough for him to crack.
His body and mind screamed, yes, at finally getting a taste of what they had been craving since the kissing booth as he tried to inhale as much of her as he could.
Rachel rolled over in her sleep, vaguely aware that something wasn't right with her. Her whole body seemed to weigh twice as normal, her heart was beating ridiculously fast and she felt extremely thirsty. She felt quite hot too so she moved her leg so that it would be out from under her duvet and it came in contact with a cold wall.
Her eyes flew open because her bed was in the middle of her room. Therefore, this was not her bed.
She sat up quickly but immediately wished that she hadn't as her stomach and her head rolled. She held a hand to her head and groaned at the uncomfortable feelings. When both of those things had settled slightly she forced herself to look around at her surroundings.
She couldn't make much out because there was little light coming through the curtained windows. It seemed like a modest room with little furniture apart from the bed. Rachel was quite at a loss as to where she was or how she had managed to get there. The memory loss, coupled with her throbbing head and unsettled stomach, led her to the conclusion that she was suffering from a hangover. It wasn't a pleasant revelation.
Head still in her hand, she forced herself to think back on what had happened last night.
She remembered being at Kaylee Briars' party. Santana had made her a drink of vodka and lemonade and then she'd been talking to some other cheerios about the new routine Coach Sylvester was creating for them . After that, she'd gone to refill her drink and met Noah. Her head gave a particularly nasty throb as she remembered that Quinn now knew about their dares. However, she was going to treat this as a minor problem until she figured out just where on earth she was.
She concentrated again and remembered that she'd started playing that ridiculous 'I have never' game with Josh and his friends. She knew that she'd had to take a shot of tequila for some reason, but after that? Nothing.
It was incredibly frustrating.
She recalled that she was supposed to stay around Brittany's after the party but she knew she wasn't in a room in the blonde cheerleader's house. She'd stayed round there before and none of the rooms were as small as this.
So where was she?
She could be at Santana's or Josh's house because she didn't know those as intimately as she knew Brittany's.
Rachel reasoned that the only way she was likely to find out was if she had a look around.
She carefully manoeuvred herself out of the bed and looking down at herself, realised that she was still wearing the same clothes from the night before. She wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or not. She had to brace herself against the bed as she got to her feet because she felt slightly disorientated. She waited a second for the dizziness to surpass before taking a couple of teetering steps towards the door.
A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she turned sharply towards it. But it was only her dark reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall above a chest of drawers.
She walked towards the drawers though, because it looked like there was a photo frame sitting on top. It was too dark to make out the people it showed so she flicked the light switch and gasped.
It was a photo of Noah and Sarah.
What on earth was she doing at Noah's house? She thought was still mad at him after the dare, wasn't she? She picked the frame up for a closer look but it was definitely the Puckerman siblings.
She glanced up at the mirror as she put the photo frame back in its place and she nearly dropped it in shock at the sight of herself.
She looked awful.
Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in weeks, the make up around her eyes was all smudged and had run down her cheeks. She traced the smudges down her face with her fingers. These must be the tracks of my tears, she thought, but she couldn't remember why she'd been crying.
Her hands fell to her sides and this freed up the sight of her neck and upper chest. Her eyes focused on a dark mark on her skin, just above her collarbone. She peered closely at it and then suddenly the sensation of Josh biting at her flesh burned through her mind, followed by a rapid rush of other memories that flowed too fast for her to make sense of.
Trembling, she backed away from the mirror and sank back onto the bed. She forced herself to take a deep breath and tried to think the memories through slowly.
Josh had been holding her down against her will when he'd bitten her. She glanced down at her wrists and she could see that they'd begun to turn a faint blue colour and they were sore if she pressed at them. Even though the evidence was right there before her eyes, she was still finding it difficult to believe that Josh had done that to her.
He'd always been so perfectly well behaved towards her (well, apart from the previous bullying offences, of course) and she honestly thought that he'd never do anything to hurt her. He hadn't pressured her to do anything that she wasn't comfortable with until last night.
She remembered that it had been she who had kissed him and opened the door to lead him into the bedroom. Had she given him the wrong impression? She'd known that she wasn't going to sleep with him or do anything really beyond making out but he didn't. Or maybe she'd been too drunk to actually tell him that she wanted him to stop?
She shook her head. No. She remembered telling him to stop and if he hadn't understood then he wouldn't have had to use force, would he? And seeing as she had said 'no', he should've respected that no matter what expectations he'd had. No meant no.
Rachel wrapped the duvet around her to try and stop herself from shaking.
She concentrated very hard on trying to remember exactly what Josh had done to her, even though it made her feel sick and her skin crawl. His hand had been on the top of her thigh and then it'd been around the waistband of her panties. And then?
Then there'd been Noah.
She could see him clearly now; standing in the doorway with the light from the corridor surrounding him, like some ironic knight in shining armour. She'd never been more relieved and pleased to see him.
She realised now, just how lucky she was to have Noah arrive at that moment. How he knew they were there, she wasn't sure, but she would be eternally grateful to him. If he hadn't opened that door…she shuddered at the thought. Would Josh have raped her? It sounded so impossible when she tried to match it up with the Josh that had been her boyfriend for the last two weeks. She really hadn't known him at all.
What an idiot she'd made of herself; flaunting her relationship with Josh in Noah's face after he'd tried to warn her about him. She was so embarrassed of the way she'd acted over the past couple of weeks and she buried her face in her knees to try and rid herself of the shame.
She turned her thoughts back to last night but things were a little blurry for a while after that. She knew Josh had gone and then…had she been sick? She had a vague recollection of kneeling next to a toilet so she probably was.
And then she and Noah talked for a bit. The conversation topics were slightly fuzzy but she could remember spilling out all the horrible things she'd done and how Noah had reassured her that she was a nice person after all.
She screwed her face up in confusion as she recalled herself punching at him. Why had she done that? Oh, yes, self-defence lessons. She cringed at how she'd been all over the place and then made him fall over. He must have thought she was a complete idiot.
So, they'd been lying in the floor, and, oh God, Rachel hoped that what she was remembering hadn't really happened. But no, apparently, she'd kissed him.
She full on hid under the duvet cover at this admission. What had she been thinking?
Fighting against the pain in her head, she forced herself to think about her motives behind the kiss and her daring him to kiss her back.
She tried to place herself back on that floor. He was holding her close to him and she was staring into his eyes. The words, Yeah, babe, you're number one, echoed through her mind, making her shiver. He'd been her saviour, her protector and her carer that night. And even though she'd been staring into Noah's eyes, all she could feel was Josh. Josh's hand on her thigh, Josh's breath on her cheek and Josh's lips against hers. She'd wanted to erase him from her body; she didn't want his taint to be on her anymore. So she'd used Noah to try and replace him.
And it had worked, in a way. When she'd been kissing Noah she was able to forget about Josh but it hadn't gotten rid of the taint. She could still feel it, even now.
She hadn't been the one to stop things though. Noah had pulled away from her and sat up, leaving her alone on the floor. He'd said something like, 'he couldn't do that with her' and she'd burned with the humiliation of rejection, as she did now. Of course he wouldn't want to kiss her; his reputation may have suffered but she was still the loser Rachel Berry that he liked to throw slushies at and ridicule. He must think she was so pathetic, daring him to kiss her. Eugh, she was pathetic.
A couple of tears trickled down her cheeks, no doubt making her appearance even worse (if that was actually possible).
She'd tried to leave after that, practically crawling towards the door but he'd stopped her and offered to take her anywhere she wanted to go seeing as he had a car and had only consumed one beer.
She was supposed to stay round Brittany's, but Rachel didn't want anyone else to know what had happened. She hadn't wanted her parents to see her in her drunken state which had ruled out going home.
When she'd said she didn't know where she wanted to go, he'd told her to come back to his. She'd been against the idea because she was frankly too embarrassed to even look at him but he was quite adamant about it.
They'd managed to sneak out of the party without anyone really noticing and once Noah had made sure she was secured in his truck, he briefly went in to tell Brittany he was taking her home.
She couldn't remember the journey back or arriving at Noah's house so she assumed she'd fallen asleep.
And now, here she was; a hungover, filthy, mess.
Rachel didn't really have many regrets about the way she lived her life. But how she wished she could take back pretty much everything about last night; the drinking, opening that bedroom door, kissing Noah. She wished she could forget it all happened.
But it had.
And right now, she wanted nothing more than to wash Josh Hutchinson off of her skin. It felt like a poison, infecting her body, choking her. She needed to get home as soon as possible.
The clock in the room said it was 7:30 in the morning. Her Dads would be leaving for work soon, which meant that it would be clear for her to go home without them seeing her in this state.
She had a couple of options available to her; she could wake for Noah to wake up and request that he give her a lift back or she could walk.
She was sure that it was very cold outside and she didn't have an awful lot of clothes on so she didn't particularly want to walk but the alternative would be facing Noah after the humiliation of last night.
She was going to walk.
It had only taken her a few minutes to drive here from home so at least it wouldn't take too long to walk.
She emerged from under the security of the duvet and looked around for her shoes and her purse. After locating both, she wiped around her eyes with a tissue, to try and make her appearance look a little better and she wouldn't look like a complete tramp on the streets of Lima (even if she felt like one).
She opened the door as quietly as she could and sneaked down the stairs (shoes in hand), cringing as one of them creaked beneath her feet.
Her head ached and she was still incredibly thirsty. If she was going to walk a couple of miles in the cold and damn, rain, then she'd probably better have some water before she went.
She tiptoed into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She took large sips, so she didn't drink it too quickly and tried not to feel too guilty about leaving without saying goodbye or even thanking Noah.
She would leave him a note, it was the least she could do. There was a notepad and pen by the telephone so she walked over to it, thinking about what words she could possibly write but the sound of someone walking down the stairs made her pause.
A couple of seconds later, Mrs Puckerman appeared pulling on her jacket. She stopped short at seeing Rachel though. "Oh, good morning, Rachel, dear. I didn't expect you to be up this early."
Rachel's cheeks flushed. Hannah Puckerman didn't seem too shocked to see her here, which obviously meant that she saw her last night when she'd passed out after consuming too much alcohol. How mortifying.
"I, er, um," Rachel mumbled, not sure what to say.
"Is Noah taking you back already? That's early for him – he doesn't normally come out of his room until midday on a weekend." Mrs Puckerman must've been totally oblivious to Rachel's discomfort or she chose to ignore it, as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.
"No, he's not awake yet, as far as I know," Rachel replied. "I was going to walk."
Mrs Puckerman's eyebrows rose as she drank some juice. "Are you crazy, child? It's pouring down outside!"
Rachel shrugged. "I need to go home and take a shower."
"Honey, you can have a shower here." Mrs Puckerman said waving her hand in the general direction of the bathroom. This time, she did notice Rachel's embarrassment though because she quickly added, "But that would be completely strange and awkward for you."
Rachel tried to protest that she didn't feel awkward in the Puckerman household (even though she did) but Mrs Puckerman shushed her. "Come on, I'll give you a lift on my way to work."
"That's very kind of you, Hannah, thank you." Rachel didn't feel like putting in a protest this time because she really wanted this lift. It would be awkward, yes, but not as bad as if it was Noah driving her.
"Don't mention it, sweetie." Mrs Puckerman said as she grabbed her keys off the counter and walked towards the front door. "Let's go," she called and Rachel hurried to keep up with her. She slipped her shoes on at the front door and Mrs Puckerman threw a jumper at her. "Here, wear this, otherwise you'll catch pneumonia just walking to the car." Rachel obliged, even though the red, hooded jumper was huge on her and walked quickly (but carefully) after Mrs Puckerman, into the car.
Neither woman was too awake to make proper conversation and Rachel had to give Mrs Puckerman instructions as to how to get to her house anyway. Rachel was so glad that she didn't have to walk in the rain; she'd have certainly come down with a cold if she had.
Soon enough, they were back at her house and Rachel was relieved to see that her parents' cars were absent from the driveway.
"Thank you so much for the lift, Hannah, I really appreciate it." Rachel said, unbuckling her seat belt.
"That's okay, honey."
"And, um, can you say 'thank you' to Noah for last night? I was going to leave him a note."
"Yeah, no problem. You just take it easy today, okay?" Mrs Puckerman advised and Rachel blushed. "No need to be embarrassed, honey," she said, embarrassing Rachel further, " we were all young once. Maybe just go a bit easier on yourself next time, hmm?"
Rachel nodded and began to take off the jumper even though she was nice and warm in it. "Oh, honey, just give Noah his jumper back on Monday," Mrs Puckerman said and Rachel froze.
She should've known that this was his. It was much too big for Sarah or Mrs Puckerman. It shouldn't really unsettle her that she was wearing his jumper, but it made her feel uneasy for some reason.
"Oh, okay," she replied, trying not to cringe at the awkwardness in her voice. "Have a good day, Hannah."
"You too, sweetheart," Mrs Puckerman said as Rachel got out of the car and shut the door, before hurrying off to get inside.
Once the front door was safely shut behind her she leant against it and sank down to the floor, the tears falling from her eyes before she even knew they were there. She hid her face in the sleeves of Noah's jumper and tried to convince herself that everything was going to be okay.
A/N Gosh, why is my humour fic so angsty?
So, most of you called it, there was no way I was going to let Josh do anything too bad to Rachel! Luckily, I don't really know how someone reacts to nearly being raped when they're extremely intoxicated, so if that was ooc, I'm sorry.
Right, according to my plan there are only two chapters left but they are likely to be long ones so don't freak out if it takes longer for the next one to come out.
SO excited for new glee coming out next week (even if it's not actually being shown in the UK til January, I think, but there are ways around that…)
Anyway, let me know if you liked the chapter!
Lots of love,
Lil Drop of Magic
xXx