Rachel was right. New York was good for Quinn. She was devoting a lot of time to the dance program and she was meeting tons of new people. Rachel was in love with school, but it took her awhile to get used to not being the only one with talent; in Lima, she never seemed to have competition in her eyes. Finn was, well Finn. College was just like high school. He joined the football team and wasn't the smartest student, but he tried. And then there was Puck. While he had every intention on finding a job, he decided to do a late enrollment program online at NYU. Thus far, he has an undecided major and the only one who knows he is doing the online classes is Artie. Artie and Puck remained friends after school and he is one of Puck's biggest 'supporters'. They exchange emails every now and then, which is why he found out.
Puck told Artie he didn't want anyone to find out; his exact words were "Everyone thinks I cause all the problems and everyone thinks I am good for nothing, so let them think whatever the fuck they want. I don't need anyone to know my business anymore." Of course, this was right after Finn and Rachel told him to give Quinn space. Everything is great with him, Finn, and Rachel now. Quinn on the other hand…. Puck and Quinn aren't friends like they were, but they are not enemies like they were either. When Rachel and Finn have game night or movie night and they invite a bunch of people over, Quinn and Puck don't make it awkward. They talk, laugh, and socialize with one another, in general. But it's not like they sit down and watch a movie next to each other, talking about old times, and how they wish things were different…
Two weeks after their fight in the apartment, Quinn apologized to Puck for freaking out. She told him she had mixed emotions about him being there and told him the truth; seeing him with that girl after just meeting each other was hard on her. He apologized for well, everything and explained to her how he understood what she may have thought. They hugged and agreed to give time to each other so they could work out living in New York and their own futures. He thought they'd be friends soon, Quinn however was unsure.
It's Halloween. Puck, Finn, Quinn, and Rachel are at the girls' apartment talking about plans. Finn and Rachel were doing the whole matching costumes idea while Puck and Quinn were just planning on finding costumes they liked and wearing them. Quinn invited them all to a party hosted by the people from her dance classes. They all agreed to go to support Quinn. They all decided to go out and look at costumes together. At the first costume shop, they found nothing, the second they found mostly stuff old people would wear, but the third store had so much to choose from. Quinn and Rachel went to one side of the store and the boys went the other way. They agreed to pick out costumes that any one of them would possibly wear and they would try on stuff together. When they met up, it seemed like they were having too much fun! Finn found sexy football players costumes for the girls, cheesy movie-themed outfits, and wigs that absolutely nobody in their right mind would wear. Puck found nuns costumes, barely there costumes, and some weird bloody crap. Rachel and Quinn seemed to grab everything from old people masks to vampire capes to sexy school girls. The boys of course loved that.
"Quinn, perfect costume for you" Puck said lifting up a slutty nun's costume that was equipped with an exposed pregnant belly. Finn and Rachel looked to see her response, unsure of what it would be.
"Oh yeah totally" Quinn responded through the laughter she couldn't hold back. It was nice that they all could FINALLY joke together, even about things in the past.
"Rachel, let's go try on these" Quinn picked up two of the slutty costumes and grabbed Rachel's hand leading her into the fitting rooms. The boys were definitely not complaining… When they came out, both of the boys nearly had heart attacks. Rachel was wearing a short and tight leather cat woman suit, including ears, a tale, and whiskers. Quinn was wearing high red knee socks, a slutty cheer-leading costume, and her hair was put into pig tails.
"These are it! Definitely, I'll pay, you just don't change" Finn said as he walked close to Rachel barely being able to contain himself.
"I agree" is all Puck could say, staring Quinn up and down. Seeing her in that cheer-leading costume brought back so many memories and so many dirty thoughts; he shook them away.
"Well, I'm not sure about this one but maybe" Quinn said looking at herself in the mirror.
"Well I love mine! Finn, let's go look for a matching one for you! If I don't leave the store, I can wear the costume as we look" Rachel said excitedly.
"No arguments here" Finn said as he followed Rachel to the racks of costumes.
-'Great now Quinn and I are alone together, she's in a sexy costume and I want to have my way with her in the back room and if things weren't awkward enough, we haven't really had a genuine conversation in awhile.' -Puck thought to himself.
"What're you gonna wear Puck?" Quinn questioned as she walks to the rack right next him, looking at other things.
"I dunno. Prolly just a mask or something" he said, turning his head, trying to shift his mind away from what he was thinking about. It didn't work.
When he turned back to face Quinn, she cursed, "Shit" she dropped a bunch of stuff on the ground and was bending over to pick it up, placing her ass right in front of Puck. Suddenly he didn't know what was coming over him and he found himself grabbing it. When he realized what he did he quickly pulled his hands away, and shot up standing a bit away from her, waiting for her wrath. It never came.
"Jeez Puck, if you wanted to grab it so much you should have just told me" Quinn quipped at him with a smile on her face. Puck was not only confused now, but completely turned on. "Let's go find you something" she grabbed his hand and led him through the store. He had no clue what was going on or what he should say; so he didn't respond and let her lead him.
Quinn was grabbing everything from togas to cavemen to sports costumes. "Your turn" she handed him a handful of stuff and pushed him to the back.
"Quinn, Finn and I are done now! Do you want us to stay with you" Rachel asked.
"Um…No it's alright! I'm having fun with Puck, surprisingly; we'll just meet you back at our apartment when we're done."
"Okay, well it's raining out so be careful. Love ya, Q!"
"Love ya, R. We won't be too much longer."
A few minutes after they left, Puck emerged from the dressing room with a toga on. Quinn felt herself get hot, man did he look good. The white costume made his toned, tan body look even better than regular clothes did. "Quinn, it doesn't really fit, the back won't shut" Puck said shaking his head.
"Turn around, I'll fix it. Jeez, us women have to do everything" Quinn laughed as she walked to the dressing room. Her hands were shaking as she tried to close the back. There she was, staring at his very muscular back, only to look into the mirror and see his amazing abs and perfect arms. "Got it" she managed to say. Puck turned around and they were facing each other, way too close than they probably should have been. But, almost instantly they leaned forward and kissed each other. It wasn't a long, passionate, "I've missed you" kiss but a quick, hot one. They pulled away and stared at each other. Not saying a word, almost as if they reached a silent agreement, Puck went inside to try on another costume as Quinn sat down.
After another twenty minutes they both decided on costumes. Quinn choosing a cute Mary Had a Little lamb costume, the slutty version of course because Puck's encouragement was too much to excuse, and him buying a fake gun, and bullet proof vest opting to wear one of his own wife beaters and jeans to be "badass." They walked out of the costume store and practically sprinted the entire way home to Quinn and Rachel's apartment. By the time they arrived, the rain had turned into a full fledged storm with lightning and fierce wind. When they got to the apartment, no one was there.
"Weird!" Quinn said looking at Puck, "They must've gotten tired of waiting and got something to eat; I'm just gonna call Rachel." She walked into the kitchen.
"Hey Rach, where are you guys? Puck and I are here and you are nowhere to be found."
"Sorry Quinn, we decided to g to Finn's instead because it was raining harder and their house is closer." Rachel explained.
"It's okay, I was just worried. I wish we would have realized it was closer, Puck and I are soaked."
"Sorry! How about we meet up in like an hour at Emilio's Pizza? Finn and I are…busy."
"TMI Rach" Quinn laughed, "Okay we will meet you there." Quinn hung up the phone and went to sit in the living room where Puck was. She threw him a towel to dry off and told him where Finn and Rachel were.
"… the worst part is, Rachel found it necessary to tell me they were busy, which means-I don't even want to talk about it, but we are meeting them in an hour, is that cool with you?"
"Yeah it's cool, I'm just cold because my clothes are all wet." He answered.
"I didn't think about that." She stood thinking for a second before running into her room and quickly returning. "Here." She handed him a pair of his shorts that she had from when they were the only thing that fit her during the last couple months of her pregnancy. "Take your clothes off and I'll put them in the drier. I'm going to get changed, too."
"Is Quinn Fabray propositioning me?" Puck jokingly asked.
"Did Noah Puckerman just use a word greater than three syllables?" she sent it right back to him.
"Low Blow Blondie. But I don't know. I have to take in this moment; never did I think I would hear Quinn Fabray tell me to take off my clothes at the same time she was getting naked." He mockingly pinched himself. "I must be dreaming."
"And you are never going to hear me say them to you again if you keep making me stand here all wet." She said. Here she was, admitting to Noah Puckerman that she may at some point in the future, tell him to get naked.
"Alright." He dropped his pants and flung off his shirt, tossing them to her. "Your turn" he said winking at her.
"Pig" she said walking away and shaking her head.
Quinn walked into her room and was taking of the soaking jeans she was wearing when she heard a loud burst of thunder and the power went out.
"Puck!" she screamed out for him automatically, "Um, do you have a lighter or I don't know I can't see anything."
"No. Are you Okay, you screamed bloody murder?" he asked, sounding concerned for her.
"Yes, I'm okay; it just scared me for a second. I, uh, left my phone in there so I don't even have a light."
"My phone is about to die but I'll find yours and come bring it to you. Don't move, your room is full of stuff and you don't want to knock anything over."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Thank you." He found her phone and navigated towards her room. He peaked in and before she could see him, he stood for a second admiring the women in front of him. She was wearing her underwear and the dripping wet top she had on from before.
"Uh, here Quinn" he said handing her the phone.
"Damn it!" she said looking at the screen that was now blinking.
"What's up?" he asked.
"It's about to die and we are going to lose the light." She threw the phone on the floor.
Puck moved closer to her, trying to find a place to sit but while his hands were out, he ended up grabbing her accidentally.
"Wow Puck you are trying really hard to cop some feels today" she giggled grabbing his hands and putting them to his sides. She stepped closer to him. "I'm joking, don't worry about it." How is it that she knew he would apologize and could tell he was embarrassed without even seeing him? They were close now. The water from her hair was dripping onto his shirtless body. He got chills; Quinn could tell. "Puck?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah Quinn?" he responded. Then taking them both by surprise really, she leaned up, grabbed his face and began kissing him. Puck pulled her in closer, tangling his hand into her hair while the other crashed onto her hip. The kiss was deep and passionate, unlike the one form the costume shop. Quinn started moaning into his mouth as he opened it up a bit wider, allowing her to slide her tongue into it. He lifted her body up, bringing her extremely close. So there they were, sharing a moment both of them clearly had been waiting for. Quinn suddenly seemed resistant. Puck pulled away, "Quinn, I'm sorry-" he started apologizing thinking he took it too far. "Puck, its…its okay" she answered pulling him back in. What was she doing? Were they going to take it farther? Were they getting back together? Just as their kissing became heavy again, reality settled back in and the lights flickered back on. They both quickly pulled away, not sure of what to make about what just occurred. "I'll go wait in the living room" Puck said looking confused as he turned to go. "Yeah, I'll get dressed and meet you there. We should be leaving to meet Rachel and Finn soon." Although they were both happy about what just happened, they were also confused. Did one quick moment just change everything? Did that one moment mean there was still hope for them?
Quinn grabbed some sweats and threw them on while putting her hair into a sloppy bun. She ran into Rachel's room to get a pair of Finn's clothes for Puck. They would be big, but at least they weren't like the wet ones in the drier.
"Here" she threw them to him smiling, "So you aren't freezing outside."
"Thanks" he said flashing a grin back at her.
They went on with the night as if that moment did not happen. They both knew it did and they were both thinking about it, but they acted like it didn't happen. She put on shoes, got her purse, and Puck led her out the door. They went out to meet Finn and Rachel at the restaurant. That one moment could be the difference between their friendship/relationship and what they had going on since the fight. That one moment could change things.
author's note: this was mostly fluff ! There will be bigger time jump, more than a few months, at some point in the next chapter! Thank you for reading!