The next morning when Quinn woke up, she had mixed emotions. Nervous about the job opportunity, but also extremely excited for what a job could mean for her future. She wore a nice black skirt and a red flowing ruffle top that she paired with matching flats. She thought about what Rachel said not dressing for Puck so she added a light cardigan to cover up a little more. The August air felt amazing on Quinn's skin as she walked to the coffee shop. She hadn't noticed that she was almost an entire hour early when she walked into the coffee shop and Puck wasn't there. She decided to look at the little boutique that was next door to pass some time.

After browsing a few racks, she noticed one of her friends from dance looking at clothes against the wall. They worked together a lot in the classes and became close sophomore and junior year. Senior year they had different schedules so they only saw each other at recitals and such. Quinn was happy to see her again.

"Candice!" she said excitedly as she walked closer to the woman.

"Quinn Fabray! How are you? I haven't seen you since the recital in April!" Candice asked her.

"I've been great! It's been awhile, how are you? What're you doing in the city?" Quinn asked.

"I'm amazing! Been focusing on work. I'm actually meeting someone today, so I figured I'd shop until the meeting."

"That's so funny, I'm meeting someone here in a bit too! But I better get going. It was really good to see you Candice! We should get together for some dinner" Quinn said smiling.

"Yes, definitely! My number is the same so call whenever." She said giving Quinn a hug goodbye.

Quinn walked out of the store and into the coffee shop; Puck was now sitting at one of the tables. He saw her as soon as she walked in and got up to meet her.

"Hey Quinn, thanks for coming!" he hugged her. They went back to his table, Quinn sitting with her back to the door and Puck sitting across from her.

"No, thank you. I'm so excited!" she responded with a huge smile. "So what kind of job is it; should I be nervous?

"Don't be nervous Quinn. Its teaching and dance. I know you said you taught kids dance awhile ago, but I know someone who has a position full-time for you as a dance teacher in one of the programs around here." He said happily, looking at Quinn.

"Puck, that would be perfect! Thank you for setting this up for me! It means so much to me." Quinn said leaning over to hug him.

"Not a problem. As soon as I heard about it I mentioned I knew someone with experience and they offered to meet you." His phone began to ring, "Oh, this is them Quinn. I'll take this outside, I'll be right back" he walked out. Quinn sat there silently praying that she'd get the job and calming all of her nerves. She heard the door open again and turned to see if it was Puck.

It wasn't him, but she did see him out the window. Through the glass she saw Puck embracing a woman whom she couldn't really see. Quinn was nervous again and what she saw next hurt her even more. Puck was now kissing the woman. She turned back around and laid her head into her palms convincing herself not to get upset. She blocked out the sounds of the coffee shop until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"This is the person I've been telling you about" Puck said. As Quinn turned, she became frozen.

"Candice?" Quinn was now confused and upset at the same time.

"You two know each other?" Puck said looking between the two girls.

"Noah, I wish you would have told me her name!" she said playfully smacking him, "Quinn and I were in dance and school together, we wouldn't have even had to meet! What a small world!"

"Yeah" was all Quinn could manage to say.

"How do you guys know each other?" Candice asked, clearly not knowing the two had a past.

Puck and Quinn looked at each other before Puck said "We went to high school together and recently got back in touch."

"Oh, that's great!" Candice said as she started to sit down next to Quinn.

"Yeah. Candice I didn't know you had your own business?" Quinn said trying to act normal.

"Oh, I don't. I work at an after school dance program that's right across the street from where Noah works." She answered, still clueless.

"Oh" is all Quinn could say.

Puck jumped in to cover up the awkward silence surrounding them, "Yeah, we met at one of the restaurants around there and started getting together." He could see Quinn's face becoming pale, "I didn't know you guys knew each other." He said, as if he were apologizing. Quinn just stared down at her mug.

"Yes, and when I mentioned one of our other programs needed a dance instructor, Noah mentioned he knew somebody and here we are." Candice said smiling at both Quinn and Puck.

"Yupp, here we are." Quinn said trying to put a smile on.

"So, the program is weekdays from three to five and occasionally there are weekend classes. The building is about a block from where you live. Are you interested?" Candice asked excitedly.

"Well" Quinn said, now unsure of whether she should accept or not, "It sounds good, but I'm going to need to think about it a bit. But thank you so much for meeting with me. I forgot I have to be somewhere in a few minutes so I'm going to have to cut this short." She smiled and tried to stand up without looking like she was rushing.

"Okay! Just give me a call Quinn and I hope we can still get together for dinner too." Candice said, hugging Quinn again.

"Yeah, definitely," Quinn rushed the words.

She looked at Puck, "Thanks for setting this up." Puck looked into Quinn's eyes and could tell she was upset; they may have grown apart for awhile, but Quinn still couldn't hide her feelings from him.

As she started to leave, Puck turned to Candice and told her he forgot to tell Quinn something. She nodded for him to go ahead.

"Quinn, wait!" he said jogging to catch up to her.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to Puck, "Puck, I'm fine you don't have to come check up on me."

"Quinn please stop walking and talk to me" he reached out, grabbing her shoulder to stop her. "I can tell you're upset."

"I'm not upset, I was just surprised." Clearly she was lying and he obviously knew.

"Quinn, I can tell when you are upset. Considering I was the one always making you upset, I can always tell when you are" he said attempting to cheer her up.

"Puck, I'm not upset. Just- Tell Candice thank you but I don't think it's going to work out" she tried to walk away.

"Quinn, I know you're upset that I didn't tell you I had a girlfriend, I just didn't think it was appropriate; considering you and I have only recently become friends again."

"You don't have to tell me anything Puck. I get it. We aren't friends like we used to be and I don't expect you to tell me everything anymore" she looked down, anxious to leave. "Puck we're twenty two years old, I can't expect you to tell me everything going on like when we were sixteen. Don't worry about me, I'm fine." She faked a smile so he'd let her go.

"For what it's worth, I didn't want you to find out like this. I was going to tell you. And if I knew you guys were friends, I would have tried to do this differently."

"It's fine. Candice is great and super sweet. She's good for you. Now can I leave?"

"I guess, but don't walk away from this job if it is something you really want."

"I'll think about it." Quinn answered, although she already knew what her decision would be, "And Puck, don't let her know I call you Puck or anyone else does for that matter."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because, her and I were really good friends and our past came up- all of it. She knows about Beth and everything. But I only ever called you Puck, so she probably won't put it together with Noah" Quinn shrugged her shoulders, "So, don't let her know you were who I was walking about."

"Ouch, did you make me out to be that bad?" he asked.

"Just- just don't mention it Puck, please. I'll talk to you soon; I have to go; like I said I have a meeting." She turned and started walking.

"Tell Berry I said hi" Puck yelled. She could tell he was smirking and was surprised that he called her Berry. She hadn't heard him call her that since high school.

When Quinn got home, she called Rachel frantically telling her about what just happened and Rachel told her she'd come over.

When Rachel got there, she already had a tub of ice cream on her lap.

"Quinn, are you okay?" Rachel said as she waddled through Quinn's room.

She was crying and sniffling, "I-just- he-why didn't he tell me? We were hanging out so often and were doing things together. I thought he didn't have someone. And she's my friend and I just don't know" is all Rachel could make out.

"Quinn, I'm so sorry" she put her arm around Quinn, "We all thought he was single. He was spending a lot of time with you and I can see why you are so confused. But does your friend know about you and Puck?" Rachel asked.

"She knows everything about Puck and me. She just doesn't know that my Puck is her Noah. And that's something too! She calls him Noah and the only people he's ever let him call Noah are you, his mom, nana, and sister." Quinn shoveled another scoop of ice cream into her mouth.

"But how could she not know?" Rachel asked.

"I don't know. Apparently the new 'him' wants to be called Noah. And I never called him Noah when we'd talk. But Rachel, she knows everything about us and I mean everything. She knows about Beth, our secret hook ups, our history! I've told her things about how I feel about Puck that I don't want him to know."

"Quinn, if you just tell her that he is your Puck, as a friend, I'm sure she'd end things with him."

"But I told him not to tell her and I won't do that. We aren't the people we used to be and I guess I have to let him go."

"Quinn, if you want Noah Puckerman to be with you, you have to tell him. You're right, it isn't high school anymore. You both are adults and you need to tell him how you feel."

"Rachel, I can't. He is doing well in his life and I won't ruin that. I'm just going to decline the job and move on. I think it'll be best if Puck and I take some time apart from each other." Quinn put down the ice cream and went to turn on the shower in the bathroom. "Thank you Rachel, for everything! I don't know what I'd do without you!"

"Quinn, I'm sorry you're going through this but if you need me I can come stay with you here." Rachel offered.

"Absolutely not! You are about to have a baby you need to be with Finn." Quinn practically yelled, "But I appreciate it and I need to move on" Suddenly, there was a knock on Quinn's door.

"Rachel can you get that, I'm going to get into the shower?" Quinn asked.

"Sure!" Rachel told Quinn and walked out of her room.

When Rachel opened the door, Puck was standing there with his hands in his pockets.

"Noah, what're you doing here?" Rachel asked, being slightly rude.

"I came to see Quinn. After our meeting and I went back to work, I felt bad about how I basically sprung Candice and me on her but I didn't know they were friends. So, I figured I'd make sure she's okay." He said sympathetically.

"Okay, one who is Candice and two why does it matter if she's okay?" Rachel was now being obviously rude.

"Rachel, you don't have to be so nasty."

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not in the best mood. I'm almost nine months pregnant, one of my best friends has had a girlfriend for god knows how long without telling me, and because of that my best friend isn't in the best mood." She chose her words wisely.

"Rachel, I'm sorry I didn't tell you or Finn. I wasn't sure if I could tell you because you guys are clearly team Quinn. And it's only been like six months." Before he could finish, Rachel interrupted.

"Six months Puck! That's what we call a serious relationship. And you and Quinn have only been talking for three months; you could have told us and we wouldn't have gotten involved. And since you were dating before you and Quinn made up, you should have just told her."

"RACHEL! Would you just let me talk." This was the first time in a long time that he's stood up to Rachel. She backed down and nodded for him to continue.

"Candice works in the building across the street from where I work. We started dating six months ago, but it's only been serious for about four. When Quinn and I started talking again, I figured it wasn't a good idea to share that kind of stuff because it would have only added onto all the drama we'd been through. I know since then her and I have been good, but I didn't want to tell her and then us not be friends again. But Rachel, I care if Quinn is okay and you know I care about her. But we are two very different people than who we were and I don't have the same feelings for her that I did at one time. I consider her a friend and would like her to stay as one."

Rachel shook her head. "Not to be mean Puck, but what you two guys have been doing is more than friends. You've been going to dinner together, practically double dating with Finn and me, and not to mention how sweet you are to her whenever we all go out. You may not realize it or want to admit it, but you still have feelings for her." She crossed her arms and looked at Puck.

"You're wrong Rachel and I know you want Quinn and I together, but it isn't going to happen. So can you drop it and please tell Quinn to call me?"

"No. I'm sorry Noah but I think you should give Quinn a few days to cool off and she'll call you when she's ready."

"Whatever. Like I said, team Quinn all the time" He snapped at Rachel.

"Screw you Puck!" It was one of the only times she had ever called him that, "Quinn's my best friend and while you are also a good friend of mine, I can see she needs me because YOU are insensitive. Goodbye" Rachel smiled and shut the door.

"The dramatic exits should have stopped in high school Rachel! They've lost their effect" he screamed through the door.

"Thanks Rachel" Quinn said as Rachel jumped.

"Quinn, you scared me! How long were you listening?" she asked.

"Pretty much the whole time, I heard you talking and figured it could only be one person. Thank you." Quinn turned and went back to the bathroom.

Quinn promised herself things would be different now. If she was going to move on, things would change. This time, rather than running away from her problems and ignoring Puck, she decided to face it head on. She called Puck the next night to talk:

"Hey Puck, how are you?"

"Quinn, I'm good? Are you okay?" he asked sounding concerned.

"Yes. I was surprised that you and Candice knew each other, so I had to let that sink in." she explained. "But, I'm sorry I ran out, it was very unprofessional of me."

"No, that's fine, Candice didn't even notice." He let out a laugh before saying, "When I went back into the coffee shop after you left, she was planning all of the times we could all get together and how she'd set you up with someone so we could double date."

"Yeah, she's always been enthusiastic about that kind of stuff" Quinn managed to let out a laugh. "But, I think we can both agree that'd be awkward."

"Definitely." Puck said, "So, what does this do to us, Quinn." He was now serious.

"Um, we don't go out to dinner as much." She tried to make everything less serious, "I'm kidding, I think it means that nothing will change because you and I are friends." She was trying really hard to be a good friend. He didn't know she heard him and Rachel talking about how he only liked her as a friend, so she figured she'd keep it that way and go along like she felt that way too.

"As long as things don't become awkward like past times, I guess nothing has to change then." Puck responded a few seconds later.

"Then, it's settled. Nothing will change and you and I will remain friends." Quinn said in a happier tone.

"Good, so I'll see you at Rachel's tomorrow night?" he asked in a hopeful voice.

"Absolutely! It may be one of the last times we all get together before her and Finn have a child to worry about. I wouldn't miss it."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow Quinn, goodnight."

"Goodnight Puck, see you tomorrow!"

author's note: thank you for reading! I hope you all still enjoy the story!