Chapter 38

Puckley

Ashley heard a distant sputter of an old engine. She knew who it was, and the knowledge of the owner of such a violently noisy truck engine cast a smile on her earlier stoic face. She stood up from the porch bench where she had been sitting for the past twenty minutes and started towards the sidewalk.

Upon stepping on the pavement between the road and the grass lawn, Ashley turned to her right and saw Puck's truck. She waited for him to stop in front of her before she crossed the road and immediately boarded the vehicle.

She turned to him as soon as she had slammed the door shut with every intention of planting a kiss on his lips. Apparently, he had the same idea because he was already grabbing her face and pulling her towards him before she realized it.

The kiss was filled with hunger. As if the deprivation had taken years. When they finally pulled away from each other, she smiled at him.

"You are so beautiful," Puck breathed.

She grinned. "As are you," she said. He grinned back.

As soon as Puck straightened himself to drive off to their place, Ashley took a quick glance back at the house. Then at the nearby houses. Having been secured that nobody had seen them, she relaxed. Puck had not noticed her behavior though. He obliviously took to the task of driving away from there so he could hold Ashley without any inhibitions whatsoever.

When they got to the deserted summer camp, Puck parked the truck by the tree outside of the gates in a way that motorists passing by would not notice it. They entered the gates made of logs in the same way that they had done so the first night Puck brought her there.

It was quiet inside, except for chirping birds and tree leaves rustling from the cool springtime breeze. Puck grasped Ashley's hand firmly as he led her towards the lake. They settled at an oversized bench made from a huge tree. They were on the other side of the lake across the grassy patch where they laid down the first night they were in this summer camp together.

"The tree was struck by lightning. It was too big to move, so they just turned it into a bench. Pretty cool, huh?"

She agreed.

They sat on the bench, looking at the calm water. Ashley lifted her feet off the ground and crossed them in front of her so that both her ankles touched the wood. Puck leaned back and placed his hands behind his head.

"I've been thinking," he began. "Why don't we tell glee club? It won't be a big deal, right? It's just glee club."

"When they know, the whole school will know," Ashley retorted coolly.

Puck didn't respond to this. He was suppressing irritation. "So what?" he finally said, gritting his teeth.

"We've already talked about this."

He abruptly turned and glared at her. "What does it matter if they don't understand? I don't give a fuck."

She glared back. "Well, I do."

"Why don't you just say it?"

"Say what?"

If there was an audience, it would have been apparent now that a heated argument between the two is on its way.

"I embarrass you!"

"No!"

"Don't I?"

"No!"

"Let's tell everyone, then! Let's go to the principal's office tomorrow morning, grab the P.A. system and just make a big announcement to everyone in school. Then every student, from Freshmen to Seniors, will know that the most popular, most desirable girl in McKinley was won over by the school shmuck. A kid in a Mohawk that everyone feared when they were face to face with him, but laughed at him behind his back. A kid with no future."

Ashley sank back. Her anger subsided and turned into pity. "Puck… don't say that."

He tore away from her softened stare and concentrated on the water. "You keep telling me not to sell myself short, that I'm brilliant and talented. But you don't make me feel like you mean it. You don't really believe in me, Ash. I don't even know if you like me at all."

"I'm here with you, aren't I? Don't I let you hold me? Kiss me?"

"In secret." He turned to her, his eyes searching. "Will you be with me in school? Will you let me hold you while walking down the hallways? Will you let me give you even a small peck on the cheek in the field before every practice?"

She stared back with pleading eyes. She didn't want to answer because it would be too painful to hear.

He looked away.

"You know," he started, "when Rachel and I dated, she gripped my arm when we walked from class to class. Right there, in front of everyone."

"I'm sorry I'm not like Rachel," Ashley whispered.

"You can at least try to be like Quinn."

Ashley was surprised by this.

He proceeded. "She was fair enough to tell me straight that she didn't want to be with me."

Ashley felt like she had been stabbed in the heart. "I'm not lying to you," she croaked as she held back, with much effort, her tears. She was now somewhere between hurt and angry. "I want to be with you, just…"

"Not in public. Got it."

Ashley hung her head.

Puck began to get to his feet. "Listen, Ash, I don't think—"

"Don't!" Ashley's right hand gripped his shirt, refraining him from fully standing up. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed. "I'm sorry. You're right. You're absolutely right."

He looked at her as if he was looking at her for the first time. This is not the Ashley he knows. The Ashley he knows would have let him walk away. Not so much to let him go, but more so to get some time to think. Plan a different strategy—like what she's done in so many instances before, including the night he brought her to that summer camp.

Ashley shuffled to her feet and faced him. "O-okay. Let's tell glee club. Just… glee club. For now."

"A-are you sure?" he asked looking in her puppy dog eyes.

She managed a weak smile and nodded. "But… I… I want to be the one to tell them. And not all at the same time. I want to tell Kurt first, then Santana and Brittany."

"What about Artie?"

"He already knows. He's always known. But I didn't tell him. Well, not really. He saw us kissing that night on the lawn."

Puck was almost certain that as soon as Artie had the chance, he took that opportunity to tell Ashley off about him, Puck. There's no way Artie would approve of him and Ashley together. Unless… unless Ashley fought for him. For them. The thought suddenly confused him. Could it be? Was Ashley falling in love with him?

No news could be more wonderful! But, what is this? Puck is suddenly not sure about how he feels.

Finn spent an hour in Rachel's house, with the four of them—him, Rachel and her dads—chatting in the kitchen, where Finn was acting as food taster for the Berries, who have baked four different flavors of muffins. Not that he was complaining, of course. They were all amazing to him. And, Rachel's parents were so ecstatic about Finn's reaction that they insisted that he take some home so that his mom could taste them too.

"Can I have some extra for Burt and Kurt?" Finn asked enthusiastically. Not only did they agree but they seemed to be even more excited by the prospect of more people tasting their baked goods.

Finn came over so that they could do their homework together, actually. But when Rachel asked him if he'd like to work in the dining area or the living area, he had a bit of inspiration and decided that it was too good a day outside to be staying indoors.

"Besides, we've been cooped up inside the whole day yesterday. Let's go to the park."

Rachel concurred. And it was a good idea too because when they got to the park, there weren't too many people around so they weren't in any close danger to constant distractions. They found an empty picnic table under one of the shadier trees, and after a short conversation about the talent show and Nationals, they proceeded to do homework.

By four o'clock, they had finished all their homeworks for Monday so they decided to get some frozen yogurt and to stroll in the park.

"I can't even wrap my head around the fact that this is yogurt! I mean, I could have sworn it's ice cream!"

Rachel chortled. "You always say that."

Finn sniggered too. "Only 'cause it's true."

"You shouldn't have bought the biggest one, though. You'll spoil your dinner."

"Nah," he said, sticking a large dollop of yogurt into his mouth.

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling when she did this. "How's Burt and Carol, by the way? No plans yet?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

With a patient smile on her face, Rachel sighed. "You know what I mean."

He grinned. "You're asking the wrong person, you know." She rolled her eyes again. "Anyway, you're up first tomorrow. Are you singing lead again?"

She eyed him with suspicion. "You sound like you're not happy at all with the prospect of me singing lead."

He laughed. "What? I was just asking."

She sniffed, obviously not amazed. "Well, if you must know, Quinn and I are singing lead."

One of Finn's eyebrows shot up as he turned to her. "Quinn? With you? Really?"

Rachel stopped. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Finn, who had taken a couple of extra steps before realizing his girl friend had halted, returned to her and did damage control. "Babe, I just meant that you and Quinn aren't exactly… umm… jiving… too much. And, you're gonna sing a song together?"

"Oh. Well, yeah. I mean, I know, I was surprised she asked me to sing with her."

"She asked you…?"

Rachel nodded. "It's a bit weird, right? But, she did pick a great song."

"Yeah? What is it?"

She smirked as she eyed him and teasingly shook her head.

Finn laughed. "It's a secret? For real?"

"It's a surprise. And, besides, I think the song has something to do with Puck. Remember what I said about her being distracted. I still think it has something to do with Puck."

Finn sighed heavily.

"I… I'm not…"

"Rachel…"

"It's Quinn. I'm not… I promise."

Finn stared at her. He saw that Rachel was sorry she even brought up Puck's name in the conversation. He was beginning to hate himself. Why was he so jealous of Puck, anyway? He had forgiven him already. All that drama with Quinn last year is over. And, he knows that Puck loves Quinn. Not Rachel. Right?

The rest of the afternoon was pleasant for both Puck and Ashley. They didn't linger on the topic of "outing" their relationship anymore. For Ashley, when she said she was ready to tell the glee club, there was no more need to expound on it. For Puck, he got so confused at how he felt about it and didn't know what more to say—lucky for him she didn't talk about it further.

It was nearing sunset when they decided to leave the camp. It was a school day the next day and Ashley was adamant on finishing up on some homework that she left on her desk.

"I'm sure, Artie's home already. I'm excited to know how much you guys got for your Nationals trip!"

"I'm sure we got tons of money for that now," Puck said. He turned to her and smiled. "All thanks to you."

"…and to Coach Sylvester."

His face fell instantly upon hearing the name and returned to the road. "What's her angle?"

"Don't worry about her. She's just trying to get the publicity for her Cheerios. You know how she is."

Puck shook his head. "I don't know. Somehow, I'm just not convinced. She helped us earn money for our Nationals. That's just so not like her."

"Hey," Ashley said as she touched his arm. "Don't worry. I thought it over too. There's nothing. I couldn't find anything in her actions that would somehow sabotage New Directions. It's all gonna be fine."

"Yeah… maybe you're right."

Just then, Puck's phone rang. Ashley moved away as he dug on his pocket for phone. She turned to the window as he said, "Hey!"

"Uh… I'm out right now. Is she okay?

Ashley turned to look at him. She figured he was speaking to Quinn.

"Sounds good." Puck turned to Ashley when he realized she was staring at him. "Yeah, I'm driving. I'll talk see you later, okay?" After a moment of silence on his end, he said, "Bye."

"Who was that?" Ashley asked.

"Quinn. She invited me to have dinner at their place."

"Are you going to?"

"Uh… Yeah. Mrs. Schuester cooks awesome! And, Sum—"

"Oh, okay," she said, leaning back against her seat and turning to the window.

Puck glanced at her then back to the road a couple of times before asking, "Wassamater?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, it don't look like nothing. What happened?"

Ashley turned to him abruptly with a stern look. "You're having dinner at Quinn's place."

"Yeah. So what?"

"So, maybe, I was going to ask you to have dinner at my place. But now I can't because you already made plans with another girl."

Puck gripped the wheel harder as he tried to take in what Ashley just said. He realized that his pause took longer than was acceptable when he heard her groan with disappointment, said "seriously, Puckerman," and returned to the passenger side window.

"You were gonna ask me to have dinner at your place?" He finally said.

"Well, we won't really know now, will we?" She said with an obvious air of animosity.

"But… you never asked me inside your house."

Ashley sighed. She slowly turned to him, calmer now and as if humbled by what he had just said. "I know. And I'm sorry. But… it's different now. I would love it if you had dinner at my house tonight."

"I-it's not your house, you said. It's Artie's."

"I know that. But, we're just gonna have dinner, so it's not a problem. Artie's parents are really nice."

"What about Artie? I'm pretty sure he doesn't like me."

"Of course, he does! You're in glee club together."

"He doesn't like me for you."

Ashley shook her head. "Artie loves me—"

"I don't doubt that. But I don't think he approves—"

"Puckerman!" Ashley, obviously frustrated, looked toward the road and folder her arms in front of her. "Look, if you don't want to have dinner at my house then just say so. If you'd rather go to Quinn's, just say so. You don't have to use Artie as your excuse."

Puck calmly moved the truck to the side of the road. As soon as he came to a full stop, he turned to Ashley and took her face in his hands. "Hey, what's happening here? Are you jealous?"

She didn't answer; she just stared blankly at him, concealing all sorts of emotions.

Puck's face slowly figured into a smile. "You are, aren't you?"

"Don't even."

"I didn't think you could be any cuter. Jealous—"

"Get off me, Puckerman!" Ashley pulled away from him, but he was quick to get her back to him and kiss her. She couldn't help but relax and move her lips along with his.

He broke the kiss, but didn't pull away. "I would be honored to have dinner at your place tonight; with your family." Ashley smiled, wrapped her arms around his neck, gave him a quick kiss and thanked him.

Next Chapter: End of the Line