I'm getting excited.

Chapter Twenty-One: Rain in My Best Dress

"So, do you know where we're going, or are you completely clueless?" Rachel arched an eyebrow at him. "Well, I'm only asking. I'm not saying you're completely clueless all the time," he said defensively, looking at her with a smirk.

Rachel relaxed her face. "I am completely clueless," she said, smoothing her dress over her knees for the thousandth time in the five minute car ride they had started. "But, I would like to know ahead of time..."

Puck shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. If you don't know then I'm sure as hell not telling you anything. You'll have to figure it out for yourself."

"Well, that's irrational." He looked at her with a smirk on his face that showed all signs of him not caring if he was being irrational or not. "You're annoying."

"I'm aware." She rolled her eyes, her hands gripping the arm rests to her seat in annoyance. After a moment, Puck reached over and took her hand, holding it tightly in his for a while. "We're going to Alexandria's." Rachel froze. "But, I don't want to hear any shit from you about how it's really expensive and we shouldn't be going there because there are perfectly nice restaurants other places."

She looked at him. "I wouldn't say that..." she said defensively, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly.

He nodded. "Yeah, you would. I know you. You'd say that."

"You don't know anything about me." Puck frowned. "Well, you don't."

They pulled into the parking lot and climbed out of the car, linking their fingers together as they headed to the front door. "I totally know you, Berry." The host at the door looked at him, mindlessly tapping on the computer in front of him. "Puckerman," Puck said, giving the guy a nod when he grabbed to menus and started walking through the restaurant until they reached a table placed in the center of the room, a table set for two.

"This restaurant is really nice," Rachel said quietly, smiling at the host when he pulled out her chair for her and allowed her to sit.

"Best in Ohio," he said, placing the menu in front of her. "Your server will be right with you."

She smiled at him again and Puck said, "Thank you," before looking back to Rachel. "I so know you."

"Oh, really?" He nodded proudly. "Prove it, oh-omniscient-one."

"Challenge accepted." As he was looking over the menu for something to drink, he started listing off characteristics about her. "I know that you like sweaters. Particularly ones with animals or cute little pictures on them, like trees or butterflies. I'm pretty sure you have one with a bow on it, but I'm not sure. You're also a fan of short skirts. Even though most of them are heinously awful, they still make your legs show, which you know makes everyone go crazy, because they are one of your insane features. I hear their iced tea is phenomenal."

Rachel bit her lip. "That's not true..."

"Yeah, it is... Mike was here a while ago and said that it was the best he'd ever had..."

"No, I mean about me liking short skirts."

Puck looked up at her. "Oh... Well, it is true. I know that you see the way some of the guys look at your legs when you walk by. They may not care for your personality, but your legs are killer." Rachel cheeks got hot and Puck smirked at the faint pink color they had acquired. "And even though you are obnoxious and rude and completely full of yourself, you still like to talk to people. On the rare occasion where you shut up, what you like to do is listen to people talk about their lives and what not, because you find it interesting, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with show choir." She gave him a small nod, closing her menu. "I might just get water..." he said to himself, still scanning the menu. "And you also like art. Not so much the subject of art, but of doing art. I noticed a few paintings around your house... You do mostly landscapes and color blending and such, since you're not really good with doing pictures. You also like splatter painting. I'm sure that you have a little art studio somewhere in your house and what you love to do is just turn your iPod up as loud as it will go, then just start throwing paint around. You may not even go for the canvas, just the wall or a chair or something, but either way, you still love it because not only is it a way to express yourself, it's also a great way go get your anger out without having to do anything destructive or harmful to other people..."

He stopped for a moment, looking at her with an amused smile. Rachel's face was frozen in shock, her eyes wide and her mouth open slightly. "You also hate being a know it all. You may know, well, everything about everyone and all things in the world, but you hate that fact. You feel like it's almost as if you have Tourette's syndrome for information. And bragging. You may act like you're completely proud of yourself for blurting out the first thing that comes to your mind about yourself in compliment form, but you know it's what gets you Slusheed every day, and it kills you. So, you try to stop. And every time it happens, you curse yourself for being so talented and full of yourself. And around me, it's easy for you to suppress that know it all and allow yourself to be a normal teenager who just gets to enjoy time with her boyfriend like most girls like to. When you do start to be a know it all around me, you kick yourself later. You know that I hate when you do that, because it's not only annoying, but you know that I know the real you and when you become what you aren't, you hate that I know who you actually are. And you're afraid that if you are that way around me that I'll leave you stranded or whatever. I wouldn't do that, personally. I'd probably just tell you to shut up or something, and you hate that. So, you act like yourself around me, because, at the end of the day, me telling you to shut up is your worst nightmare.

"Am I right, or do you want me to keep going?"

She let out a short laugh. "No, you're... absolutely correct, I just, how do you know that? It seems almost impossible for anyone to know that. I don't speak to anyone about my personal life. There is no way that you would know something that personal about me."

"I told you, Berry. I know you."

Rachel tapped her lips with her fingers. "But, how?" Puck shifted in his seat, looking around awkwardly. "Noah?" she said in a mock warning tone.

Puck chewed on his lip for a moment. "I've watched you, Rachel... You may be what ever you are at school, but that doesn't mean that everyone hates you all the time. You were actually my main focus whenever I wasn't with someone else." Rachel stifled a laugh. "You stood out from everyone else, how was supposed to not notice you?"

"You threw Slushees in my face every day."

All of a sudden, a tall man in a white button down and a black apron came up to there table. "Good evening, my name is Justin and I'll be your server for tonight. Can I interest you in our specialty wine for the night. It's light and sweet, but with just a slight bite to it."

He displayed a bottle of red wine to them but Puck waved it away. "Sorry, sir, we're underage."

Justin nodded understandingly, putting the bottle on the tray of a waiter walking by before pulling out a little note pad from his pocket. "What can I get you two to drink?"

"Can I just have water, please?"

He nodded, wrote it down, then looked to Rachel. "And, I'll have an iced tea, please."

"Sure thing. And have you decided on what you want to eat, or would you like a few minutes?"

"Can we have a few minutes?" Justin nodded then marched away, heading to the back and disappearing. Puck looked back to Rachel, a smirk on his face. "I know you pretty well, don't I?" She gave him a small nod. "And you don't know me at all..."

Rachel snorted, as if to contradict what he said. "Oh, yes, I do."

He leaned back in his chair. "Oh, yeah?" She did the same and nodded. "Okay, go ahead, Rachel. What do you know about me? Say it, I dare you."

"Alright." She leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table. "You like musicals. You like them a lot. Which makes you a hypocrite for making fun of me about them, but that doesn't really matter to you, as long as no one finds out that you love Wicked and West Side Story. You've also gone to see both multiple times, and even went to Boston to see Wicked, because it was your favorite revival cast. You listen to the soundtracks when you know no one is watching, and your favorite song is For Good." She glanced through her menu. "The pasta sounds good... Penne pasta smothered in tomato sauce and topped with melted swiss cheese."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Come on, Rachel. I know Abbey just told you that. Come on, what do you really know about me?" He looked through his menu as well. "I think I might get that too.."

Right then, Justin came up to the table and placed the drinks in front of them. "Are you ready to order?"

Puck gave him a smile. "Can we have two of the Penne pasta dishes, please?"

"Of course." He scribbled it on his note pad, then took their menus. "I"ll be right back with that. Rachel gave him a small smile, then turned to Puck who was giving her the same smirk he had been before as he waited for her to answer the question he had asked before. "Fine, Noah. You're actually a really sensitive person. Your favorite movie is The Notebook and you probably cried with Abbegail at the end of Titanic. Among the dirty magazines and articles about football and such, you love National Geographic. You think the little animals are cute and the stories about history could keep you entertained for hours. You were absolutely thrilled when in your history class, the project subject was about Egypt and the pyramids, because you love all that stuff. And you want to go to The Nile one day.

"Around your sister, you're the nicest person in the world. And around your friends, you can be the rudest and most self-centered seventeen year old there is. That bothers you a lot. You don't want to have a reputation like that, but you also don't want to be on the bottom of the food chain like me and the rest of the people in glee club. So, the best you can do from being thrown in the Dumpsters is to be the one who throws. You find it hilarious at first, like that time you Saran wrapped a freshman and dumped him upside down into a trash can. You laughed for hours. But, then after wards, what you really wanted to do was let him Saran wrap you and dump you into the trash. You even tried to apologize, but you couldn't find him. You thought he transferred to another school. You let it slide. It's the Dumpster throwing you don't like. That's why you've never done it yourself. You always have the other footballers to it. You just watch so you don't have to really participate, even though you're the one who started it all. So, around Abbey, you're not that way. She knows what you do at school, because she's seen a few times. But, at home, she ignores it because that's when you're being who you are, and that's all that matters to her. You take care of her like a dad would take care of his daughter and you make sure that whenever something happens to her, you get revenge on what made her hurt, or sad, or mad.

"You like being with me. We're a lot alike, and that's what gets you most. Our personalities may not be the same, but what we do with them is. At school, we're two completely different people then we are about each other. And we like the way we are around each other. You wish it could be that way all the time, but, again, you have a reputation to uphold. Except, for some reason, you don't let that reputation get in the way of you being with me. You kissed me in the middle of the halls and didn't care what anyone said or did, you just did it because you wanted to. And it felt amazing. It was like you were throwing your social status rule book out the window. You had freedom, and since you are who you are, no one gave you anything about it. I help you to feel liberated and you don't care that I won't sleep with you or anything like that, because for just once in your life, you want a normal, actual relationship.

"And that's another thing. Everything you do you regret. You hate that you've slept with the entire of the girl population in the school. You don't think about it then, because, after all, it is sleeping with someone and you love that, but after, you're always afraid you got someone pregnant or something an that freaks you out because you never speak to the girl again after. Which is also kind of unfortunate because there was a chance that you could have a relationship with her, but you blow that out the window and don't really care, since you don't need to worry about them if they're not around you. But, you regret that too. You get scared that the girls will loose self respect if they just sleep with you then you leave them. Sure, one night with you isn't uncommon, but it's still everyone's dream. Everyone knows that's what you do, so the girls you sleep with don't expect you to get into a commitment, which makes it a clear pass for you, but you still worry about it anyway.

"You like glee club. You haven't been Slusheed at all since you joined, and you take that as a good sign, and you can easily admit to yourself that the songs we do aren't actually that bad. You like show tunes, and that's why you were a little resentful to join at first, but you liked singing and being in Mr. Schuster's a capella group kind of opened your eyes a little bit. That's when you chose to join, because you saw that people really liked what you could do, so, you thought it wouldn't be so bad to go into glee club. And you also admit to yourself that you've made some pretty close friends. You know that Matt and Mike are around, as well as Finn, so you've got some of the boys on the football team, but despite the fact that you used to throw Kurt into the Dumpster, he is pretty okay in your eyes. And the girls there are the only ones that you can talk to and not want to sleep with. They're actually friends of yours. And you like that, because most girls your around, you want to have sex with them, and that's all. But, with these ones, it's a real friendship that isn't fake or anything. And that means a lot to you, because you've never had something like that before."

When she was finished, Rachel let out a satisfied sigh and leaned her chin in one had, casually taking a sip of her idea. "How was that?"

Puck laughed loudly a few times, earning a few smiles from other couples at tables. "Stop on, Rachel. I'm impressed." She waved it off as if it were no big deal. Justin came and placed the dishes in front of them, giving them a nod before getting called over to another table. Rachel and Puck looked at each other for a long time, his hazel gray ones searching her chocolate brown ones. "You know..." he said, stabbing a few pastas with his fork and eating them. "...You're kind of amazing."

She eat some of her dish as well, smiling. "Thank you. You're quite wonderful yourself."

Then, he reached across the table and took her hand, not letting it go for the rest of the meal.

"There's your change, and have a great rest of the night," Justin said, placing the check and change on their table, as well as two silver wrapped chocolates.

Puck nodded. "Thank you, sir." Justin smiled at the two of them then marched away to the back. Puck looked at Rachel as she stood up, unwrapping the chocolate. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, I am," she said, weaving her hand around his forearm and leaning her head on his bicep. The two of them walked through the restaurant, nodding to the host as they walked out. "Noah, look!" she said, jumping back up onto the curb after she has stepped down.

He froze, his eyes whipping around. "What? What happened?"

Rachel giggled, holding out her free hand. Puck saw that huge drops of water were falling onto it, creating a little pool in her palm. "It's raining."

"Then let's go!" he said, not waiting for her to respond as he grabbed her hand and bolted across the parking lot. Half way to the car, he let go of her hand and dashed into his Jeep, stopping when his door was almost closed. Turning around, he faced Rachel, who was standing in the middle of the parking lot, slowly making her way to the car. "Rachel, what are you doing!" he shouted over the loud pounding of the rain. "It's pouring. Get in the car!"

She shook her head and waved him over, grinning when he climbed out of the car and jogged over to her. "It's raining," she said, smiling up at him as water droplets rolled over her cheeks.

"You're insane."

"And that's a bad thing?" Rachel giggled, holding her arms out as she spun around, laughing louder as she let her feet move faster and faster.

Out of know where, Puck caught her around the waist and pulled her close to him, pushing away the hair that has stuck to her face from the ponytail. He smiled at her, his forehead pressed against hers as her hands drifted up his arms and came to a rest on his shoulders. "Rachel, will you dance with me?"

She made a face at him. "There's no music."

"We can make some."

Then, with a small smile on his lips, Puck started humming the tune of For Good from Wicked as the two of them started to sway back and forth, their feet allowing them to rotate slightly. Rachel let her head rest against his chest and he held her tightly to him, his cheek pressed against the top of her head. After a moment, he spun her around, then twisted her into him, dipping her. She laughed, letting her head fall backward with a huge smile on her face.

As Puck brought the song to a close, he let her stand back up properly, looking her in the eyes. "Rachel, can I tell you something?" She nodded slowly, her heart beginning to pound. "Rachel, I love..." It started pounding faster. "I love your smile."

"Oh, thank you," she said, trying to hide the small disappointment in her voice. "Thank you very much."

"Do you wanna get going?" She nodded. "Mi'lady," he said, extending his elbow to her. She took it and flounced with him to the Jeep, pretending that nothing had happened. Puck opened the door for her and helped her in, shutting the door when she was situated properly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" he said to himself, face-palming himself repeatedly in the forehead as he walked to his side of the car.

"You stupid, silly girl," Rachel said as he closed the door, flipping the sun visor down and checking her make up. "Of course he wouldn't say what you wanted him to. He's Noah Puckerman, for God's sake. He can't say those words." She heard Puck shouting something as he walked to the drivers side, and she tried to act casual as she fixed the eyeshadow that was disappearing on her lids.

Puck climbed into the drivers seat then let his head fall against the top of the wheel when he saw that he left his phone in the car and currently had ten missed calls from Abbegail. "Oh, shoot." She made a face at him. "I forgot I was supposed to pick her up. Jeremy and his parents are going away and I needed to get her from the restaurant."

Rachel giggled. "Oops. Better go get here then."

Puck put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot. "I will. But, first, I'm going to drop you off, since you're on the way." She nodded slowly. "Alright... Let's go."

I hate the ending, I hate the ending, I hate the ending. Seriously. I hate it. I wished I couldn't have ended it in some other way, but I can't think of one, so I just left it with, 'Alright... Let's go.' But whatever, I know you all like it anyway.

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