Okay, I think the only thing I can say to you guys is sorry for the wait… :( The first term in school just ended so there were lots of tests and projects and stuff and the musical just ended, so… Yeah.
Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen: Nothing To See
Puck woke up on Monday morning with his face pressed into his pillow. He sucked in a huge breath through his nose and instantly started coughing from lack of oxygen. He pushed himself up into cobra position, groggily looking around the room.
Puck smelled something gross, a sour smell that instantly filled his nostrils. His face scrunched up and he leaded from bed, following the scent down the hallway to the bathroom. He froze, first because of the smell reeking from inside, then from what was lying on the floor. Abbegail was sprawled out on the rug, blood dripping from her nose. There was throw-up all over the floor and she looked pale.
"Abbey?" he said, kneeling down next to her and lightly shaking her. "Abbey? Are you awake?"
She suddenly sat up, the blood stream moving from her cheek to down her lips. "Noah!" Abbegail shot from the floor, her hand clasped over her nose. "Why are you up?"
Puck's forehead creased. "It's Monday morning… I have to go to school…"
Abbegail splashed water on her face, cleaning away the blood and throw-up. "Right," she said after she'd wiped her face with a towel. "Well… Get out."
"What? I… Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Fine." She started pushing him out of the bathroom but he spread out his feet and hands, wedging them on the doorframe. His eyebrow was arched and he was giving her that look. The look that screamed 'I don't believe you.' "Seriously, Noah, I'm fine. Get out."
Abbegail managed to get him fully out of the bathroom and slam the door in his face—with much difficultly—and he sighed, banging his fist on the door once. "Abbegail, I have to take a shower!"
"Use Mom's bathroom! It's bigger!" she called, picking up the rug and tossing it into the tub. She turned on the water and poured half a bottle of detergent from the cupboard onto it, watching the foam bubbles blur as tears gathered under her eyes.
He sighed, letting his head fall against the door with a 'bang.' "Abbey, I need to take a shower. I' not using Mom's shower. If she found out she'd kill me." Abbegail said nothing. "She'd notice if I used her shampoo and stuff."
Suddenly, the bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo came flying through the door before it slammed shut again. He caught them before they hit the floor and shrugged, heading to his mother's room and to the bathroom that was just off her closet.
He started humming as he waited for the water to heat up then he stepped in, squirting the shampoo over his Mohawk.
Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
He began singing into the bar of soap he had be rolling around in his hands, his eyes snapped shut as he bounced in his spot to an imaginary beat
Yeah, I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win
He jumped when Abbegail started banging on the door. "Stop singing, Noah! It's six o'clock in the morning and I am not awake enough to deal with your squawking!"
Puck laughed out loud. "Abbegail, you are just jealous because you know you can't squawk as well as I can… You just have to deal with the fact you'll never be as good as me!"
Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laugh, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away
He turned off the faucet and wrapped a towel around his waist, tucking it in before stepping out of the tub and swinging the door open. Abbegail was standing there in a clean pair of pajamas, her arms crossed over her chest and her foot tapping repeatedly on the floor. "Hello."
She smirked. "Oh, hi. Nice to know you're not singing anymore, annoying little crap."
Puck kissed her forehead and ruffled her hair. "I love you, too, Abbey."
"Uh-huh." He started walking away, nodding his head slowly and humming the tone to the song again. He was just about to enter his room when she spoke again. "Dude?" Puck took a few steps backwards and looked at her. "That ring is repulsive. Take it out."
He looked down at his chest. "Um… Eh, I don't think so, I'll keep it in, thanks."
"Puck, it's nasty. I don't even know why you got it; it must have been painful as hell and it just looks bad."
Her older brother laughed a few times. "I was drunk. Don't remember a thing actually, just that the next morning, Matt explained the whole story to me about how instead of wincing or whatever… I laughed, then cried then punched the guy and had to pay an extra fifty bucks."
Abbegail rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever, I don't like it. Please take it out."
"You're not my mother…"
She started marching toward him and he quickly stepped into his room, closing the door and locking it. "Ha," he said quietly, walking to his dresser for a pair of boxers. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand, then quickly threw on a pair of old jeans and a plain white t-shirt. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late…" he muttered, shuffling around his room for a pair of socks.
When he succeeded in finding a pair that must have been worn weeks ago, he grabbed his sneakers and backpack, running out of his room. Puck was halfway down the stairs when Abbegail called out to him. "Wait!" He froze, his legs in mid-step. "Come back here." He backed up the stairs, turning around when he reached the top to see his sister standing there in her bumble bee pajama pants, black tank top and bunny slippers. Her hair was tired up into a messy bun and Puck could see it flopping around as she looked him over.
"…What?" he said, completely clueless.
Abbegail leaned on her foot, one arm supporting the other while her chin rested on her fist. "You look like you just came home from sleeping outside." She sniffed a few times. "And those socks smell like it, too." Abbegail grabbed his hand and tugged him toward his room. "I can see that I'm going to have to start dressing you from now on," he said as they entered his room.
Instantly, she went to his dresser, opening the bottom drawer and pulling out a pair of light wash jeans with rips in them. "Abbey, I never wear those."
She threw them at him. "Well, it's time you started. They're nice. And they're from Aeropostale."
"All the more reason to not wear them…"
Abbegail arched her eyebrow at him and he, reluctantly, changed his jeans before pulling off the white t-shirt he had on. She handed him a black long sleeve shirt before retreating to his closet and appearing again with a white, blue and navy plaid shirt.
"No, no, hell no. I am not wearing that in public." He stepped away from her, his hands out in defense. "Get away.
She stomped her foot once. "Puck, you know I will put the shirt on you myself, if you don't." He nodded, scared. "Okay, so put it on, you wuss." He did so, leaving it unbuttoned. "Okay, good. And, now…" she stepped toward him, rolling both the button down and the undershirt sleeves halfway up his forearm. "Now, you look good."
He grinned. "Thanks."
"But you will need to change your socks. You want to be welcoming, not deadening. I mean, we don't want her to die when you go get her."
"What?"
Abbegail grinned. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Rachel called last night." He froze, looking at his sister with wide eyes and pursed lips. "She asked if you could give her a ride because her car broke down and it's at that Hummel kid's dad's place. Hummel Tires or whatever… The point is, you have to go pick her up."
He flung his arms in the air, exasperated. "Well, that's fantastic, Abbegail. Now, I have to go get her and I'm already late for school as it is. Picking up Berry would mean driving all the way across town, past McKinley in fact, to get to her house, pick her up and take up both to school," he said, pacing around his room with one shoe in each hand. "Great, I'm glad you told me in time."
Abbegail made a face before continuing. "You know something… I think she thinks you guys are a thing now."
He looked at his little sister for a moment. "Well… We kind of are. I mean, we've made out way more that once and I was at her house for dinner… Not exactly something I would call a friendship." Puck looked at the clock. "Oh, wonderful. Now I'm five minutes past the time I should have been there. Thank you."
She huffed. "You're not going to be late. You always get to school a half hour early."
"Yeah, but I still gotta pick up Berry and get to the high school… Jesus."
"Well, stop wasting time pacing around your room and go get her!"
Puck nodded stiffly. "Right." He kissed her forehead again. "Thanks for the outfit, it's fantastic, bye," he spat out, running out of his room and down the stairs.
"Uh-huh, you're welcome." The front door slammed shut. "Bye!" she called sarcastically to no one. Abbegail shook her head a few times. "Ugh, men."
Mercedes and Kurt were hanging by her locker near the front doors, talking about the duet assignment in glee. "I just can't wait to see them perform. You know there's a thing going on between them so the song they do is going to be adorable," Mercedes said, pulling her bag up higher on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I know, but with Rachel's song choice and Puck's song choice, you know there was conflict… They're probably doing a mash-up of something from a musical and something from the seventies that Puck claims to be epic music. It might be a disaster…" He noticed the girl's attention was caught on something else. "Mercedes? Mercedes, are you listening to me?"
She shook her head slowly then pointed to the front doors. "Oh…"
"My…"
"God," they said together, their eyes transfixed on what was walking into the school.
As if it were in slow motion, Puck and Rachel came strutting in, her hair being 'blown' in the wind as their eyes surveyed the crowd that was staring. They were shoulder to shoulder, their feet walking in the same pace and their arms swinging at the same time. Mouths dropped farther when Puck smirked then draped his arm around her shoulders and her arm slid around his waist. The two of them glided right past the gawking Mercedes and Kurt who slowly turned with them, following Rachel and Puck down the hallway, their footsteps in time with theirs.
"This is so weird…" Mercedes whispered to Kurt as Tina latched on with them, her body and face instantly falling into that of Kurt and Mercedes.
He nodded in agreement. "I never thought they would make it official."
Mike, who had begun to follow as well, made a face. "I don't think they did. Puckerman would have told me by now…"
The three of them looked at him. "Would have, really? In the case of dating Rachel Berry, would he have actually told you?"
"I… I mean, I don't know, Tina. Usually, yeah. We all know they've been, like, hooking up or whatever they're doing at her house, and he usually brags about that stuff…"
Kurt snorted. "Is making out with Rachel something to brag about?"
Suddenly, Puck and Rachel stopped, not even looking behind them. "We can hear you, you know," he said loudly, slightly looking over his shoulder at his fellow glee clubbers. They all froze for a moment, then scattered around, trying to get away from them as quickly as possible.
Grinning, Rachel stood up on her toes and placed a kiss on Puck's cheek, giggling when he turned his face, catching her lips on his. Everyone around them stopped and stared at the two teenagers kissing in the hallway. Puck turned away from her. "Is there something to look at?" A few of them nodded while others snapped pictures with their phones, showing their friends what they'd captured. "What is there to see? Someone, tell me."
No one answered.
"That's what I thought, not move along."
Everyone shuffled away and Rachel laughed once, looking up into Puck's hazel gray eyes. "Now," he said quietly, giving her a soft smile. "Where were we?"
Rachel smiled and stood up on her toes again, pressing her lips softly to his once again.
…Yeah…
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