Puck storms back into Breadstix
"Boyfriend?"
Everyone looks around the table and confusingly at Puck.
"BOYFRIEND?!"
Puck shouts so loudly the restaurant goes quiet. Puck looks around and yells to everyone in the restaurant. "Sorry!"
Puck sits back down in the booth. Rachel looks at Santana and Mercedes,
"You didn't know?"
Pucks eyes go wide and shakes his head.
"How the fuck would I have possibly known?"
Rachel shrugs and Santana chimes in.
"Listen Jew Force you don't really have a right to be pissed off because YOU dumped Quinn. She had every right to move on after your sorry ass left her high and dry."
Puck angrily rubs the back of his neck and takes a drink of his water.
"Who is he? Where'd they meet? When did they meet?"
Everyone looks at Mercedes.
"Why are ya'll looking at me?"
Rachel puts down her water
"Because you're the only one that's ever met him."
Mercedes sighs and puts her hands on the table.
"His name is Conor and they met sophomore year of college I think, they were just study partners until things with you guys went south."
Puck looks at her and then around the restaurant, he is deep in thought.
"Conor...that sounds familiar."
"I'm sure Quinn has mentioned him, he asked her out when you guys were together but declined, obviously."
"CONOR. FUCK."
FLASHBACK-
Quinn is writing a paper for her Fine Arts class. She begins flipping through the book next to her laptop when she hears a ring coming from her computer.
She whips her head to the computer screen
INCOMING SKYPE CALL FROM PUCK
She clicks the green answer button and the screen buffers. Puck's blurry face appears on her laptop and Quinn smiles wide.
"Q, can you hear me?"
Puck is talking loudly. He is dressed in a navy blue air force t-shirt with his dog tags hanging from his neck.
"Yes I can. I miss you."
Puck smiles at her.
"I miss you too. What are you doing? Were you busy when I called?"
Quinn closes the book next to her.
"No, just writing a paper. It can wait. How are you? Still in one piece?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. Had some flight training today, nothing too crazy."
"How'd it go?"
Quinn is chewing on her pen cap.
"Good, they say I'm ready to head to Afghanastan. So I'm flying out tomorrow."
Quinn's face falls. Worry is clear on her face.
"Please try not to worry yourself sick."
"And how do you suppose I do that, Puck? Would you not worry if I were entering a war zone with open fire and grenades and bombs,"
Puck shakes his head.
"Quinn, I worry about you crossing the street, you and your clumsiness."
Quinn breaks a smile and rolls her eyes.
"HA HA. Are you still coming home in two months?"
Puck nods.
"Absolutely. Coming straight to you."
He winks at her and smiles, she smiles back.
"I got hit on today by a boy named, Conor."
Puck's smile falls completely and his jaw clenches.
"Did you?"
Quinn looks at him sympathetically.
"Puck, stop. I obviously said I had a boyfriend. He was really nice about it."
"Oh at least he was NICE about it."
Puck rubs his head, messing up his hair.
"You need to stop, I would never cheat on you."
Puck lets out an audible breath.
"I'm not worried about that. Quinn, you're a beautiful girl of course you're gonna get hit on...I just don't like not being there to rub it in their face that you're with me."
Quinn smiles and shakes her head.
"I better go, I have to be up in like five hours. But listen, once I'm in Afghanastan I can't Skype or call you."
Quinn's face falls and she fixes her hair to distract herself.
"But I'll write you whenever I can."
"Letters? That's romantic."
"I don't know how long it'll take to reach you, but I promise the second I get there I'll send one out."
Quinn nods.
"Okay, go to sleep."
"Okay, just don't move for a second."
Quinn looks concerned and sits completely still.
"Puck if there's a bug on me you better tell me right now."
"No no, I'm just saving this image in my brain."
Quinn sighs of relief.
"I love you, be safe."
"I love you too, I'll try to keep those Air Force guys off your stoop."
Anger fills Quinn's face.
"Puck NOT funny."
Puck lets out a light laugh.
"I'm kidding. I love you."
The call ends.
END OF FLASHBACK-
"Yeah well I think he's coming this week to visit, so I'm assuming you're gonna meet him."
Puck collects everyone's money and puts it in the bill pad. He stands up and Mercedes links arms with him.
"Puck I know this is hard, but you let her go. Let her be happy and don't start any trouble"
"Mercedes, I love her, how can I be in the same room with her and her new boyfriend without starting trouble, my face alone is trouble."
Mercedes rubs his arm.
"You're gonna have to try."
Puck and Sam go to a bar after Breadstix. Puck is ordering shots of whisky while Sam is drinking beer.
"It just sucks man because the person I would talk to about Quinn was Finn, now I just feel lost." Puck tosses back another shot. "The two people who I would go to for advice, to vent, or make me feel better, I can no longer go to."
Sam pats him on the back.
"Well, I'm always here if you wanna talk or something."
Pucks nods and orders another beer.
"What do I do about Quinn? She hates me and I love her more than I did my sophomore year of high school"
Sam takes a swig of his beer.
"Well, what do you wanna do?"
"I wanna tell her that I love her and wanna be together for good this time."
"So then tell her"
"She has a boyfriend."
Sam laughs and takes his whisky shot and downs it.
"Like that's stopped you before"