Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
Author's notes: I'm sorry; I really hit a block with this story. I'm trying to get over it, promise! Thanks to everyone for sticking around!
Read on, oh faithful ones...
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Mouse woke up with a smile spreading across her face. Today was her last day in Lima. Her bag had been packed for the last week (and repacked four times since then), her car was clean and held most of her things, and she was ready to go.
She had spent every day with Puck and every afternoon and night with her brother, making sure they would both be okay without her. Mouse promised herself that she wouldn't cry today, and she would be okay without them too. She could Skype them, and she'd call Candy every night to make sure he got to bed all right, and everything would be fine.
There was a soft knock at her door, and Mouse sat up, calling that she was awake. The door opened slowly nonetheless and Candy poked his head through the gap, smiling broadly when he saw his sister.
"Mousie!" he called, running into her room and jumping on the bed, hugging her firmly. "Sweet will miss Mousie," he mumbled against her shoulder. "But sweet's happy, too!" Candy added firmly.
"I know, sweetie. I'll miss you too. But I'll call you every single night, okay? You can tell me everything that you've done that day."
"Everything?" Candy asked, giggling cheekily.
"Well, maybe not everything," Mouse said, grinning and tickling him.
Candy was still giggling when their mother came in a few minutes later, Sarah looking tired with bloodshot eyes.
"I suppose I'll have to drive you?" Sarah asked.
"Nope; I've got my car all packed up, and Puck's going to drive Candy. You can stay home if you like," Mouse offered.
Sarah nodded. "Thanks. Let me know when you get there and when Candy's coming back."
"All right. Go back to sleep mum, you don't look well."
Sarah just waved her comment off and headed back to her room. Mouse sincerely hoped that she actually was sick, rather than hungover. Candy had stopped giggling, and was curled on his side, clinging to Mouse's quilt cover firmly.
"You excited to be driving with Puck, sweetie?" Mouse asked, gently removing his fingers from her quilt so she could get out of bed.
Candy nodded, but it was brief and he didn't look up.
"Do you still have your new mixed CD?"
He nodded again, looking a little happier at that.
"Want to play it now while I get ready?" she offered.
Candy seemed to think about it very seriously for a moment, then he nodded firmly and scrambled off the bed to go to his room. He returned a few minutes later, carrying his CD proudly and offered it to her. Mouse put it in her CD player and pressed play. She waited until Candy had settled down on her bed, humming along to the music, before kissing his forehead gently and heading out to the bathroom to have a shower.
She returned - showered, dried, and dressed - twenty minutes later, grinning when she heard Candy singing happily behind her bedroom door. Mouse opened the door and went inside, a laugh escaping when she saw her brother singing into her hairbrush.
"I'll have to get you your own hairbrush to sing in to, sweetie," Mouse said, grinning as she ruffled his hair. It was getting long, and she wondered if she should have taken Candy out for a haircut before she left.
Candy grinned back at her and then suddenly looked shy. "Mousie let sweet brush?"
"Sure thing," Mouse said, leading him over to her bed, sitting on the floor in front of him.
Her hair still wasn't very long, but it had an annoying ability to get tangled, and Mouse enjoyed getting her hair brushed anyway. Candy hummed along with the CD as he brushed her hair slowly and carefully, making sure that every part was brushed evenly.
"Thank you, sweetie."
Candy nodded, eyes looking watery as he slid off the bed to crawl into her lap and hug her tightly, sniffing loudly.
Mouse's phone rang from her bedside table, and she recognised Puck's ringtone easily. Candy didn't seem to want to move from her lap, so she tried to grab her phone without knocking Candy off her lap. She finally managed it, and answered quickly.
"Hey, Puck, what's up?"
"I'm downstairs. You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. Candy's a little emotional. We'll be down in a few. If the door's open, just come in," Mouse added, hanging up and dropping her phone beside her before tugging on Candy's shirt gently. "Hey, Candy kid. Puck's downstairs. Do you want to go say hi?"
Candy shook his head minutely, and Mouse hugged him, letting him bury his head into the crook of her neck and shoulder.
"Sweet miss mousie," Candy mumbled, and she felt teardrops wetting her shirt.
"I'll miss you too, sweetie. But we'll talk as often as possible, okay? I'll call you to make sure you're going to bed on time, and see how your school's going, and we'll talk about my school. That sounds good, doesn't it?"
Candy didn't answer and held onto her a little bit tighter.
"Oh, sweetie..." Mouse murmured brokenly.
There was a light knock at the door, and Puck looked inside, his expression falling when he saw Candy curled up on Mouse's lap.
"Hey, I wasn't invited to the hug party," Puck said, sitting down beside Mouse and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Candy let out a small sob and clung on to Puck's neck as well.
"Okay, sad hug party. You got tissues, Mouse?"
"Pretty sure they're packed somewhere," she muttered, looking to the bags and few boxes she had sitting around her room.
"Toilet paper it is. I'll be right back, okay?" Puck murmured in Candy's ear, gently pulling away from his surprisingly strong grip.
"I forgot toilet paper. Oh, double darn. Let's hope my roommate's more prepared than I am. Or the college has free toilet paper on the first day. Maybe they'll supply it since it's a shared bathroom? Why do I not know this? I didn't read anything about toilet paper in the pamphlets!"
"Are you freaking out over toilet paper?" Puck asked, returning with a roll in hand and offering it to her.
Mouse gave a little nod, a somewhat hysterical laugh, and took a few sheets to cry into herself.
"We can stop and buy toilet paper on the way, how about that? And a bag to hide it; you don't want to be known as the toilet paper librarian or something."
"I don't want to be mugged for toilet paper, I know how desperate college kids are - I've seen it in movies."
"I think that's just for food, not toilet paper, Mouse."
"I'm going to need a bigger bag," Mouse muttered, thinking of the food she'd stashed away in one of her duffel bags.
"What you need is to get going. You're going to be late, and if you don't leave now, you'll be stuck with all of the traffic," Sarah said from the doorway, tumbler in hand, and her eyes red.
"Are you all right, Mrs. Franklin?" Puck asked with a frown.
"Fine. My baby's going to college; a mother's allowed to cry."
Mouse was surprised to hear her mother say that, wary as she finally stood and helped Candy to his feet. He took the offered toilet paper roll from Puck and blew his nose noisily.
"I will miss you, Jane. You might not believe me, but I will. Who else will I have around here to nag at me?" Sarah asked.
"I'll still be doing that from the university, don't worry," Mouse said with a slight smile.
Sarah snorted and rolled her eyes. "Right, I should've known. Well, are you going, or you just going to stand here all day?"
Her question seemed to spur Puck into action. He helped Candy shoulder one of Mouse's bags, all of them quiet as Candy left the room with the roll in one hand and the bag strap in the other. Puck lifted two of the boxes and left after Candy carefully.
Sarah watched after them for a moment before she turned back to Mouse.
"Bye, Mum. Look after Candy, make sure he gets to bed on time and wakes up for school - they send truant officers around for Mrs. Komp's class, and if he's not in school three days in a row, then Children's Services get called," Mouse warned.
She had no idea if it was true, but she hoped it would be enough to get her mother to actually look after Candy while she was gone.
"Don't worry your plain little head about it; I want him to go to school almost as much as you do. Different reasons, of course," Sarah added, raising her tumbler in a mock toast and drinking the last of the alcohol down in one shot.
"Look after yourself too, Mum," Mouse added, taking the tumbler from her hands and heading downstairs with two of her bags.
Sarah rolled her eyes and stumbled over to Mouse's bed, collapsing and curling up on her mattress to fall asleep. Over the next five minutes, Sarah slept on obliviously as Mouse's room was emptied until it was almost bare. Mouse sighed at her mother's sleeping form, placing a glass of water and some aspirin on the bedside table. She pressed a light kiss to her mother's cheek and then left without looking back.
Candy was already sitting in the front of Puck's car, hugging her pillow close to his chest, and Puck was waiting for her by the driver's door. He greeted her with a kiss, hands splayed and warm on her hips.
"Ready for this, Mouse?"
"Born ready. Let's get out of here," she replied with a grin, kissing him firmly before going over to her own car.
Mouse hated that she'd had to use money out of her savings for the car, but she needed some way of getting from the university back to Lima every other week to visit Candy and Puck, and she preferred the freedom of her own car rather than a bus with fifty other people. Despite the cost, Burt promised that the car was structurally sound, and would get her to and fro as she needed - as long as she got it checked every month with him. Burt had shown her how to fix the most common problems that cars faced on long journeys: how to change a tyre, how to deal with an overheated engine, how to save fuel by going a few kilometres under the speed limit, and his voice was rough as he said goodbye to her. He'd made her promise to call and check up on him, and probably to save him from Mrs. Tooley's lengthy conversations. He and Carol had both waived away any offer Mouse made to pay for the service, leaving Mouse feeling both guilty and relieved all at once. She resolved to pay for her car's service next month.
"Well, Bucket, looks like it's just you 'n me," Mouse muttered, patting the top of her car before getting in the front seat.
"Hey, Mouse, wait up. Made you a mixed CD," Puck said, jogging over and offering her the CD case. "In case you miss me on the drive down," he added with a grin and wink.
Puck didn't wait for a reply - not even a thank you - before he headed back over to his car, getting in and starting the ignition. Mouse turned her car on as well, lingering in the driveway so she could swap CDs straight away, and as the first song loaded, she turned onto the street and drove away from her childhood home.
She recognised Puck's voice straight away, and had a moment of complete surprise because she thought he'd simply ripped a bunch of songs onto a CD, not that he'd actually recorded them for her! Grinning, Mouse turned the volume up and listened.
"Just in case they're wondering,
They've got us pinned terribly.
They don't believe our love is real,
'Cause they don't know how real love feels.
"You should know it's true,
Just now, the part about my love for you,
And how my heart's about burst,
Into a thousand pieces.
Oh, it must be true,
And they'll believe us too soon.
"Baby, it's fact,
That our love is true,
The way black is black,
And blue is just blue.
My love is true,
It's a matter of fact,
Oh, and you love me too.
It's as simple as that,
Baby, our love is true."
Mouse nodded along to the words, singing the parts she knew with a broad grin.
"They may say some awful things,
But there's no point in listening,
Your words are the only words,
That I believe in afterwards.
"You should know it's true,
Just now, the part about my love for you,
And how my heart's about burst,
Into a thousand pieces.
Oh, it must be true,
And they'll believe us too soon.
"Baby, it's fact,
That our love is true,
The way black is black,
And blue is just blue.
My love is true,
It's a matter of fact,
Oh, and you love me too.
It's as simple as that,
Baby, our love is true."
Mouse recognised the next song just from Puck's introduction, tapping against his guitar.
"Where you are seems to be as far as an eternity,
Outstretched arms, open hearts,
And if it never ends,
Then where do we start?
I'll never leave you behind,
Or treat you unkind,
I know you'll understand,
And with a tear in my eye,
Give me the sweetest goodbye,
That I ever did receive.
"Pushing forward and arching back,
Bring me closer to heart attack,
Say goodbye and just fly away,
When you come back,
I have something to say.
"How does it feel to know,
You'll never have to be alone,
When you get home?
There must be some place here
That only you and I could go
So I can show you how I - "
Mouse had to skip the rest of the song, her face burning red from a combination of lust and overwhelming desire. She had always liked the sexuality that seemed to ooze from that entire Maroon 5 album, and to hear Puck singing even one of the songs from it sent a shiver of desire up her spine. She resolved to listen to that song again later in the privacy of her own dorm bed when her future room mate was out for the night.
"Gamble everything for love,
Gamble everything.
Put it in a place you keep what you need,
You can gamble everything for love if you're free,
Gotta gamble everything for love.
"Baby are you cold, are you cold?
Baby, I could wrap you up, wrap you up in my love,
If you wanna, you can gamble everything for love,
If you wanna, you can gamble everything for love."
Mouse grinned and sang along with the words happily, nodding along to the tune that was being played in the background. It was going to be a good drive to her future, singing along with her boyfriend, she was sure of it.
...
End of the thirty-fourth chapter.
Thanks for reading!