Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I don't own Glee, the cookies and songs mentioned, or Dance Dance Revolution.
A/N: Wow. Just wow! You guys are awesome! I've gotten over 600 hits since I uploaded Chapter 1 yesterday; I never expected that sort of response. And, to my reviewers, thank you so much! Your support makes me want to keep writing. Reviews are like crack (I'd guess, not having ever tried it myself). Don't worry though, I'll never withhold a chapter to extort reviews. I'll publish them as I finish them. I currently have the third chapter done (I'll upload tomorrow) and the fourth is written though I still need to proof it. On a different note, the Dance Dance Revolution game used later on is the Supernova 2 version. I got the list of songs off Wikipedia, so I apologize ahead of time if I have a song listed that's not actually present on the arcade version of the game. The version I have at home is a PS2 version. If you stuck with me all the way, please read and review. Thanks!
Rachel was completely lost. She'd come straight to the mall after leaving Puck in the parking lot of the school, an annoyingly superior grin on his face. She'd been doubting the intelligence of accepting his offer ever since, but she kept reminding herself that it was worth it if she could learn to swim, and, more importantly, if no one ever found out she hadn't learned how to previously. This unfortunately led her to her current predicament, namely, standing in the middle of a tiny boutique, the walls of which were covered in brightly colored scraps of fabric.
Reaching out for a light pink bundle of cloth that seemed harmless, Rachel examined it, blushed, and hung it back on the wall rack. That was supposed to be a swimsuit? Seriously? She had undergarments that covered more skin!
This was why her current search for suitable swimwear had quickly become a predicament. She had come straight to this store because it only sold swimsuits. She expected the search to be quick, just a get in, get out trip. When she discovered that the shop apparently specialized in only swimsuits for hookers, she realized that it may take her awhile to find something she was comfortable in. Rachel didn't consider herself a prude, a bit conservative with her clothing maybe, but not a prude. Her sweaters and button down blouses weren't risqué in the least, but her skirts were notoriously short, so yeah, definitely not a prude. The swimsuits she had come across this afternoon were positively blush-inducing though, even the one pieces. And just the thought of wearing one of them in front of Noah was enough to make her want to call the lessons off and hide at home on Saturday. But Rachel Berry is not a coward so no way was she backing out. Still, she thought this was one situation where it might be handy to have a female friend, or even a mom. She certainly couldn't ask either of her fathers for assistance. They'd never let her out of the house in a single one of the suits for sale in this store.
Staring at a garish lime green leopard print micro thong bikini (and blushing as Puck's earlier suggestion floated through her head), Rachel sighed. She was making no progress alone, so perhaps it was time to throw herself on Kurt's mercy and ask for help. She really didn't want to (she was quite sure he'd ask for her soul as payment or, even worse, pick that horrid lemon yellow feather-trimmed concoction in the corner), but she was stuck. She needed help because if left on her own, she was basically guaranteed to walk out of the store without a swimsuit. And no way was she letting Puck teach her how to swim in the buff (though she was sure he wouldn't protest and maybe if she did, then he would…Bad Rachel!). Blushing furiously at her thoughts, Rachel decided she definitely needed help (possibly mental) and dug out her cell to dial Kurt.
As she scanned through her address book for his number, she heard a familiar female voice calling her name.
"Rachel?"
Turning her head to the right and peering between two of the racks in the center of the shop, Rachel spotted a blonde Cheerio looking back at her. Luckily, it was Brittany and not the other blonde Cheerio (Rachel really hoped to never meet Quinn in a store like this; the insults, oh the insults!). Rachel barely recognized her in jeans and a tank top, her hair down around her shoulders, instead of in her regulation Cheerios uniform and ponytail.
Forcing a small smile onto her face that came out as more of a grimace, Rachel responded. "Oh, hi Brittany. What are you doing here?"
A sunny smile on her face, the blonde replied, "I'm shopping for a new bikini. Is that why you're here? Oh, are you on the phone? I lost my phone again. Last time, I lost it I found it in the toaster." She cocked her head to one side in thought as she approached Rachel. "I wonder if it's in the toaster again. Maybe I should check when I get home. Hi!" Brittany bounced to a stop in front of Rachel.
Feeling vaguely stunned (Brittany talks as much as her. Who knew?), Rachel glanced down at Kurt's name highlighted on her phone display and then back up at the Cheerio watching her expectantly, smiling brightly, and made a decision. She slid her phone shut and dropped it back into her purse.
"I was actually just getting ready to call someone for help. I'm trying to find a new swimsuit too, but I'm not sure what would look good on me and most of these," she gestured around the room, "are too revealing for my tastes. Do you think…" she hesitated, looking for any sign of that 'Go away Crazy' look she tended to receive frequently. Seeing no sign of that look as Brittany's smile never wavered, Rachel continued, "Do you think you could help me?"
Brittany gave a happy little bounce and clapped her hands. "Sure!" Then, catching Rachel completely off guard, the blonde grabbed her hand and dragged her to the nearest wall of fabric.
The next block of time passed by quickly and Rachel actually had a lot of fun, surprisingly. For once, she found herself the listening half of a pair as Brittany chattered on about anything and everything. There didn't seem to be any particular order to the flow of her thoughts and she lacked a filter, but that actually just made it all the more entertaining. Rachel could understand her easily, because her own thought processes were similar, if on a slightly more academic level. In addition, the Cheerio was funny. Rachel learned a lot about her, including that she had three older sisters, wanted to visit the pyramids in France (yeah, Rachel didn't have the heart to correct her on that), and that her dearest ambition was to find out if there really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
"I don't know Brittany," Rachel hedged half an hour later as she studied the navy blue one piece with a neckline that plunged to the navel that the other girl was holding up. "I just don't think that would be a good choice for waterslides."
Brittany looked down at the suit consideringly. "You're right. Your boobs would probably pop out and that would be really embarrassing." After the two girls shared a short giggle, she tapped her chin for a moment as if deciding whether she wanted to say what she was thinking. Apparently she decided to go for it because she grinned widely and added, "I doubt Puck would mind though."
Rachel's startled gaze swung from the suit to Brittany's amused one.
"What?" she squeaked out, face turning red, and really, after today, she was going to have a permanent blush. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Brittany's expression fell with this resistance, but it immediately perked back up. "Oh, well, I'm sure you'll catch on soon. He's pretty obvious about it." Hanging the blue suit back up, she pulled down a tiny sunshine yellow thong bikini with black polka dots and, holding it up, asked, "What do you think of this one?"
Just over an hour after Brittany had found her and nearly two after Rachel had first entered the boutique (and several shared giggles over some of the more ridiculous suits, including the feathery one-they agreed-no feathers in the pool), the two girls made their final purchases. Brittany had settled on the yellow and black thong, which looked fantastic on her. Rachel had found a simple dark green backless one piece with hi-cut legs. She was quite happy with this suit even if it took them the better part of the hour to find it and it wasn't really a color she preferred. On their way out of the store, something caught Brittany's attention and she pulled Rachel to a halt.
"Ooh. That would look great on you Rach! You just have to try it on," she exclaimed, searching for the correct size.
And that is how Rachel found herself modeling a crimson pinup style string bikini with silver ties for Brittany in the dressing room (she refused to come out). Surveying herself in the mirror, she had to admit that she did look incredible in it. It did for her what the yellow one did for Brittany. Still…
"I don't know Brittany. It's awfully skimpy," she bit her lip as she took in the miles of tanned skin staring back at her from the mirror.
"It looks awesome on you though-better than I even thought it would. You have to buy it," Brittany insisted.
"Well…"
"Oh, come on Rach," Brittany wheedled her. Noting Rachel's continued hesitation, she looked for another angle. Thinking back to earlier in the shopping, she smiled broadly. "It would drive Puck nuts. He would eat his heart out. I bet he'd even walk into the nearest object the instant he saw you."
Unable to hide the tiny, yet dazzling, smile that thought elicited, Rachel met Brittany's eyes in the mirror in a moment of understanding.
Five minutes later, Rachel walked out of the store with a brand new string bikini. (She blames the purchase on Brittany blindsiding her with the kind nickname of Rach though. It had nothing to do with Noah Puckerman. Nothing.)
ooooo
"Do you want to get something to eat? We could go to the food court."
This suggestion came from Brittany an hour after they'd left what Rachel had dubbed the 'whore store,' drawing giggles from the other girl the first time she'd said it (which had been a complete accident, because Rachel never talks like that; well, not out loud anyway). Rachel had expected Brittany to ditch her as soon as they bought their swimsuits, but Brittany had slipped her arm through Rachel's and dragged her into the nearest costume jewelry store. She then promptly convinced Rachel to buy a silver star toe ring ('Gold won't go with the silver ties') to wear with her new bikini. They'd visited several other stores and stopped for cappuccino ('You don't have to sing again for ages, Rach'), so by the time Brittany suggested they stop for dinner, Rachel was on a caffeine high. This was only made stronger by the fact that she was already giggly because it turns out that Brittany? Excellent company.
"Okay. I could definitely do Asian right now," she agreed happily.
"Rachel!" Brittany sounded positively scandalized even as she fought not to laugh.
Catching on quickly, Rachel gaped at her and said, "Brittany! I didn't mean it like that! I said I could do Asian, not an Asian!"
The girls paused at the end of the corridor that led to the food court and the instant they made eye contact, burst into uncontrollable giggles. That's the state they were still in as they bought their Chinese food and took seats across from each other near the end of one of the tables.
As Rachel scooped up her chicken lo mein with her plastic fork, she noticed Brittany watching her hands oddly, eggroll paused in midair.
"What is it Brittany?" She was a little worried that Brittany was about to revert back to the Santana and Quinn lackey that she always was at school. That would be highly unfortunate too because Rachel had really been enjoying their impromptu shopping trip.
Brittany shook her head as if clearing her thoughts, dropped her eggroll on her plate, and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare; I was just looking for the scars."
"Scars?" Rachel was officially perplexed.
"Oh, well, Quinn and Santana are always talking about your manhands. I didn't want to ask you about the accident that led to your hand transplant 'cause that'd be rude. So I was trying to see the scars," she explained earnestly. "Your hands don't look like manhands though. They look girly, like mine." She held her hands out for Rachel to see. "Did you ever have a hand transplant?"
The poor girl looked so confused and Rachel didn't really want to hurt her feelings by explaining that her two best friends were actually really cruel, so she played off the question. "No, I was never in an accident, so I never had a hand transplant. That was just another rumor that someone started," she explained kindly.
"Oh." Brittany looked upset. "Rumors are so mean."
They ate in silence for approximately thirty seconds before Brittany spoke again.
"Is Rupaul even really part of your name?"
She looked so suspicious that Rachel could feel the laughter bubbling up against her will. She refused to let it out and hurt Brittany's feelings, but she was unable to keep it in. So, she snorted. Loudly.
"Classy, Berry."
Holding back a groan, Rachel turned reluctantly in her seat to find Noah striding toward her and Brittany, flanked on either side by Mike and Matt. Choosing to ignore him, Rachel sent a pleading look at Brittany that had her abandoning her seat across from Rachel and instead coming around the table and dropping into the one on her right. When the guys reached them, they took the seats across the table, Mike across from Brittany, Matt on one side of him, and Puck? He just had to sprawl out in the seat across from Rachel.
While the boys unwrapped their burgers, Brittany elbowed Rachel, gestured to Mike, and whispered, "Look, an Asian."
Rachel covered her smile and whispered back, "Yeah, but he's your Asian to do."
Both girls broke down into giggles again.
"Since when are you two friends?" Puck questioned.
He looked completely bewildered, not a smirk in sight for once. Actually, as Rachel studied all three boys' faces, they were wearing identical expressions of confusion. She could understand; it had to be surreal to find Rachel Berry giggling with a Cheerio.
"Since today," Brittany replied chirpily, stealing one of Mike's fries. "We went swimsuit shopping together."
"Really?" Puck's interest was clearly piqued. "And what did you guys get? Something almost naked?" He asked hopefully.
"I got a pretty yellow and black polka dot bikini," Brittany answered happily, "and Rachel bought…"
"A plain green one piece," Rachel cut her off smoothly. With the way Noah was currently studying her over his burger with those smoldering eyes of his, the last thing she needed was for him to find out she had actually bought a string bikini even though she said she wouldn't. He'd just pester her to wear it to their lessons, and she still wasn't sure that she wouldn't just bury the bikini in her dresser drawer when she got home tonight.
Wait a second. Did she just think that his eyes are smoldering?
Brittany shot her a confused look, but went with it. "Yeah, it took forever for us to find a suit that covered enough skin for her." She grinned kind of evilly, worrying Rachel. "You guys should have seen some of the bikinis she tried on. There was this one leopard print micro thong bikini; it was kind of see-through so I couldn't get her to leave the changing room. She looked hot in it though."
Rachel didn't know what Brittany was talking about. She remembered the bikini in question (how could she not? It was lime green and sheer. Not to mention she was staring at it when she reached her lowest point and nearly called Kurt.), but she certainly never tried it on. In fact it was one of the ones they had laughed over together because of the horrid color and the fact that they both agreed leopard print was only suitable for faux fur coats. So what was Brittany doing?
"I bet she did," Puck muttered, gazing at Rachel through hooded eyes.
Oh! So that's what she was doing.
Rachel shot Brittany a quick glare before asking, "So, what are you guys doing here tonight? I didn't think typical adolescent males spent their free time at the mall."
Mike imitated Brittany's earlier evil grin before answering in a very casual tone, "Matt's got a thing for the piercer at that one jewelry store."
Brittany and Rachel both turned their attention to the embarrassed boy. They passed the rest of the meal asking questions about the girl and plotting ways to help Matt make a move since, according to Mike, he had never actually spoken to her. The whole time Rachel was aware of Puck's eyes on her because that itch he always caused was back.
Fifteen minutes later, around 8:30, Rachel looked around the table. Across from her, Mike and Noah were discussing some new X-Box game that was coming out later this month and next to her, Brittany was explaining to Matt precisely why everyone should eat cookies in bed. They were all so relaxed and they had actually included Rachel in their conversations. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun at a meal, even if it was just fast food, so she couldn't help the soft smile that graced her lips.
"I'll take your tray up."
Rachel refocused her gaze, which had softened as she was lost in her thoughts, on Puck standing across from her. He was holding a hand out for her plastic tray. She could see that he already had the other four balanced in one hand. Mike had been dragged into the cookie debate, which had now moved to which kind was best for eating in bed, causing her smile to widen. Puck's eyes were softer than usual as he looked down at her, his usual smirk absent. That look did funny things to her stomach.
Her soft smile still present, she handed him the tray. "Thanks."
He just nodded and headed for the nearest trash can.
"What kind of cookie do you think is best Rach?"
The sound of her new nickname caught her attention, though it surprisingly came from Mike and not Brittany.
"The obvious answer is strawberry Fig Newtons. They're soft, so less crumbs."
This answer met with cries of outrage from all corners.
"But they're not chocolate!" came from Matt.
"You can't beat an Oreo in any contest!" This was from Mike.
"There are no cartoon characters on the package!" That, of course, came from Brittany.
Rachel let out a long-suffering sigh. Clearly she was going to have to educate them on the beauty that is the strawberry newton.
"Some people like a little variety in their cookies outside of chocolate Matt. Oreos are useless unless dunking Mike, and you can't dunk Oreos in bed without making a huge mess. And, no, there aren't any cartoon characters on the packaging Brittany, but since they're strawberry, the cookies are more colorful than normal cookies, so I think that makes up for it," Rachel's cookie defense was so impassioned that she didn't even notice that Puck had returned until he let out a genuine chuckle.
"What? Do you have a problem with strawberry newtons that I have to straighten out too?" She snapped.
He held up his hands in surrender, humor shining in his eyes. "No, no. Just that only you would defend a cookie like a fuckin' defense attorney defends an accused murderer."
Her eyes flashed. "I would never defend an accused murderer unless I was absolutely certain he was innocent and to suggest anything else is highly offensive!"
They both missed the amused grins the other three exchanged or the way their heads were bouncing between the two of them as if watching a highly interesting tennis match.
"Down, killer," Puck laughed, riling Rachel up even further.
"You're just so uncouth and narcissistic and…and…" she stuttered, searching for a word terrible enough to describe him, "vile." She nodded her head, satisfied. "Yes, you're vile."
Puck merely laughed, clearly entertained by her outburst. "Babe, insults hurt a lot more when you use words normal people actually understand."
She pulled out some of her best, most atrocious adjectives and he was laughing at her?! She let out a strangled cry.
Mike, deciding that Rachel's face was a dangerous color of red (and a little scared of the vein throbbing in her temple), intervened before Puck could make it worse.
"Are we still going to the arcade? It doesn't close for another twenty minutes."
Matt jumped all over the distraction.
"I'm up for it. Britt, Rach, you two coming with us?"
Brittany nodded enthusiastically while Rachel, color fading from her face, beamed at Matt and responded with, "I'd be delighted to."
The five of them left the table and crossed the mall to the arcade, Rachel shooting daggers at Puck the whole way.
Entering the noisy room, which Rachel had never actually been in before, Matt and Mike immediately split off for a shooting game, and Puck got distracted by the basketball game with the cute, tiny basketballs. Brittany spotted something that made her squeal, grabbed Rachel's hand, and dragged her across the room. They came to a stop in front of dual arcade screens with matching raised platforms in front of them. The platforms had different colored arrows pointing up, down, left, and right.
"Brittany, what is this?" Rachel asked, studying the images of arrows scrolling up the screens while the words 'Insert token' flashed.
"It's Dance Dance Revolution. Stay right here and don't let anyone take our machine; I'm gonna go get tokens."
After Brittany dashed off, Rachel waited uncomfortably next to the machine. Despite the late hour on a Tuesday, the room was crowded with teenagers, clearly all celebrating the end of the school year. She even recognized several from school. She really hoped Brittany wouldn't decide she was ashamed to be seen with Rachel in public now that they were around other people Rachel recognized (and Brittany probably knew). Mike, Matt, and Noah were one thing; they were all in glee together, but others would be different. They wouldn't understand why any of the other four would be willing to be seen in public with Rachel. She may have been self-confident, but she was aware of her reputation outside of glee (and even inside of glee), so she was aware of the risk Brittany, Mike, Matt, and Noah were taking being seen with her socially without the whole of glee club present. If anyone questioned them about her presence, they couldn't even brush it off as a glee mandated activity. So, Rachel was still waiting for the moment when they would realize hanging out with her was going to ruin their reputations (Brittany especially since her two best friends positively hated Rachel) and ditch her. And what more spectacular way to do just that than by having her hold a machine they had no intention of coming back to in an arcade crowded with people they know.
Just as she started to fidget nervously with the hem of her skirt, Brittany bounded back up to her with a handful of shiny gold coins. I shouldn't have been so worried, Rachel mused. All the same, she couldn't help the wave of relief that rushed through her.
"Here you go!" Brittany dropped one of the tokens into Rachel's hands. "The game takes one token for each of us." They each slid their token into the designated slot. "Now we pick a song."
Brittany scanned through the songs, pausing occasionally to get Rachel's opinion. They finally settled on the cover of Jennifer Lopez's 'Waiting for Tonight' since they both knew the song and it had a really good beat.
"Okay, now pick your difficulty; even though you've been in dance classes forever, you might want to start with beginner just until you get the hang of the game," she waited for Rachel to choose and then beamed when she actually took her advice despite Brittany's harder choice of light difficulty, "and now we begin. Just hit the matching arrow as it reaches the arrows at the top of the screen."
As Rachel missed the first couple of arrows, she internally acknowledged Brittany's point. The game was a little different from actual dancing as she tried to step on the arrows in time. Soon though, her natural rhythm took over and she was hitting every arrow. When the song came to an end, Brittany had beat her of course, it was inevitable given the difference in difficulty, but Rachel was ready to go again on light with Brittany this time. They picked a new song (a cover of Diana Ross's 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'), and as they were choosing their difficulty, Puck wandered over to them.
"I've got winner." He smirked at Rachel and leaned against the deserted machine next to them to watch.
Rachel shoved the heat running down her spine aside; she had a game to win because she intended to beat Noah.
A few minutes later, she was standing victorious next to Brittany. Turning to Puck, she raised an eyebrow.
"Ready to get your butt kicked?"
He smirked as he took Brittany's place. "Are you ready to get your ass kicked?" He placed the emphasis on ass as if he were mocking her for not cursing.
"Wait!" Brittany called out. "I have to go get Mike and Matt. Puck's playing Dance Dance! They won't want to miss this!" She hurried off in search of the last two members of their group.
Rachel leaned over to Puck and, in a low voice, challenged, "You're so going down."
Puck quirked an eyebrow at her. "Berry, talking smack? I didn't think you had it in you."
"I have a lot in me that you don't know about," she fired back with a small smirk of her own.
Puck lowered his head until his lips were right next to her ear and whispered, "I can think of a couple of things I'd like to see in you."
Luckily, Brittany returned with the other two boys in tow and Rachel was spared having to respond, because she didn't think she even had the capability of speech at that moment. Her mouth had gone completely dry and a heat flared to life deep in her stomach from his words and the feel of his warm breath on her ear. And the kicker was, she brought it on herself with her previous comment because holy crap? Was she just flirting with Noah? And did she actually initiate the flirtation? Her earlier assessment in the 'whore store' was correct. She really needed mental help.
"You cool with this song Berry?"
Rachel turned to Puck. He appeared unaffected by their little exchange, but something heated was simmering in his eyes.
"Berry?"
"Oh!" she startled and glanced at the screen, noting he had stopped on the cover of Linkin' Park's 'Faint'. "That's fine."
He selected the song, they both chose light difficulty, and the match began. It was great. Her matches with Brittany were fun of course, but there was something about Puck that brought out her competitive streak. Plus, Mike and Matt were present for this match and they, along with Brittany, were a noisy, enthusiastic audience. When Rachel won, she couldn't help but gloat.
"I win, you lose! I win, you lose!" she chanted repeatedly, jumping up and down and pointing at him.
Brittany couldn't resist the bouncing, so she linked arms with Rachel and started jumping in time with her, also pointing at Puck, and chanting, "She wins, you lose! She wins, you lose!"
Mike, highly disappointed, cried out, "You lost to a girl! What the hell Puckerman?!" His unrestrained grin softened his words though.
Matt was just laughing. He was laughing so hard he was leaning on the machine behind him clutching a stitch in his side. Who knew Rachel could be so much fun?
Puck glanced at the clock on the wall and then shouted to be heard over the girls, still happily (and loudly) chanting Rachel's victory.
"This place closes in a couple of minutes! I can own you at the claw machine before then!"
Taking in those words, Rachel and Brittany stopped jumping.
Eyes narrowed, Rachel demanded, "Is that a challenge?"
"Fuck yeah, it is."
"Lead the way."
Rachel followed Noah to the claw machines, the other three behind her. She expected him to go first so she was surprised when he gestured her towards the machine.
"Women first," he announced, stepping back with the other three.
"About time you showed some manners," she muttered under her breath, stepping up to the machine full of stuffed animals.
After studying the mountain of animals in the machine to figure out which one she wanted to win, she inserted her token and maneuvered the claw to a cute white stuffed tiger. She got a hold of it, but halfway to the slot, it fell out of the claw. She hit her hand on the console in frustration.
"You're turn, I guess," she said sullenly before stepping back between Matt and Brittany while Puck took her place at the controls.
Of course, it would only take him ten seconds to get his toy out of the machine, she thought as he pulled the animal from the slot.
"I win, you lose," he gloated once, pushing the white tiger she'd tried to win into her hands.
"What…?" she asked, staring down at the stuffed animal, confused.
"That was the one you wanted, right?" he questioned, looking everywhere but at her.
"Well yeah, but I didn't…" she said unsurely.
"I have no use for a fucking stuffed animal," he stated gruffly, meeting her eyes briefly before looking away again.
Still clueless about what was happening, Rachel merely said "Okay" and set the tiger gently in the bag with her new swimsuits.
The atmosphere was very awkward for a couple of seconds until Matt cleared his throat and pointed out that the arcade was closing and they needed to leave. As they cut across the mall to the door they had all parked near, Brittany and Rachel fell behind the boys. Brittany linked her arm through Rachel's once more and grinned at her.
"So, he won you a tiger."
Rachel shook her head, already seeing where this was going. "No, he won himself a stuffed animal he didn't want in a bid to recapture some of his dignity."
"But he couldn't even look at you when he gave it to you. That's 'cause he liiiikes yoooou," she asserted in a sing-song voice.
"Brittany," Rachel hissed at her, terrified the boys would hear.
"I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until you catch on-he's so obvious about it Rach," Brittany maintained, certainty in her voice.
As they exited the mall they found that the sun had gone down. Rachel checked her watch. No wonder, it's after nine! The evening had positively flown by. This must be what having friends is always like. The boys had stopped by the doors to wait for the girls to catch up.
"There have been a couple of muggings in the parking lot at night lately, so I'm gonna walk Britt to her car. Matt, I'll meet you at your car," Mike announced, reaching out and taking Brittany's hand.
"'Kay then," Brittany confirmed cheerily. "Do you want to go to the movies tomorrow Rachel?"
She was quite surprised that Brittany wanted to make plans with her, but she'd had so much fun tonight that she wasn't about to say no.
"Sure, I'll call you tomorrow. Maybe it'll help you find your phone if it rings," she said, smiling brightly.
"Yeah, I'm gonna check the toaster when I get home. Oh, and the freezer; I once found my I-pod in the freezer." Brittany cocked her head to the side thoughtfully before asking, "You have my number?"
Rachel blushed. She knew that most people would be really upset with her having their numbers, so she wasn't sure how these four would respond. After all, she and Noah never even exchanged numbers when they were together briefly.
"Mr. Schuester provided them to me as glee captain in case of emergencies. I never use them though," she hastened to reassure the others. She'd hate for them to think she used their numbers to stalk them or something.
Brittany just grinned. "I would have given you my number anyway."
Mike started to pull her away. "Come on, Britt, you can talk to her when you get home as soon as you find your phone. I'll get her number from Finn for you if you call me." He turned back to Rachel. "Unless you can write it down." She shook her head; she didn't have a pen. "Alright. Rach, it was fun hanging out with you. Feel free to call me anytime."
As they walked away, Rachel could hear Mike reminding Brittany to check under her bathroom sink and behind her vanity mirror for her phone.
When they had moved out of earshot, Matt turned to Rachel.
"I'll walk you to your car. Mike's right in that you shouldn't walk by yourself at night. You're tiny and pretty so you'd be a prime target for a mugger."
Rachel blushed at the casual compliment in the sentence.
"I've got her," Puck stated sharply.
Matt appeared surprised for a moment, but he recovered quickly.
"Okay. Rach, good seeing you. Puck, Mike and I'll meet you at your house."
He walked off in the same general direction as Brittany and Mike.
Puck glanced down at Rachel. "Where's your car?"
Rachel led the way to her purple Prius, which was parked in what her Daddy always called the north forty.
"Damn it, Berry. Did you have to park in Siberia?" Puck griped.
"Yes. Statistically speaking, there is a much lower chance of sustaining damage the further away from the building you park. I am merely taking advantage of those odds," she enlightened him on what she considered very important information.
"Whatever Berry."
They came to a stop next to her driver's door. Rachel felt very weird standing there with him, almost like it was a date and she was waiting for him to kiss her. But that was just ridiculous. This certainly wasn't a date. They hadn't even arrived at the mall together, merely met up a couple of hours ago. And they'd had three other people with them. Luckily, Noah was the first to break the silence.
"So, I've arranged a pool for us to use this week."
Rachel frowned as she remembered that he was going to 'convince' a cougar to lend him one. Better to remember who you're dealing with Rach.
"We can use it tomorrow afternoon for your first lesson if you want," he offered.
She nodded. "Outstanding. What time do you want me there and what's the address?"
"I'll just pick you up tomorrow at your house around 3. That alright?" he confirmed.
"Yeah, that sounds good to me." She paused awkwardly. "So…"
"So…" he repeated just as awkwardly. He shifted, his arm brushing against Rachel's and sending a jolt of heat through her.
"Are you going to be okay going back to your truck by yourself? I could give you a ride. I mean with the mugger and all…" she trailed off. How was he able to steal her coherency just by his mere touch?
He smirked (her heart sped up). "Babe, I'm a badass. I'd just like to see him try."
"Okay then."
Rachel opened her car door and slid in. After closing the door and buckling her seat belt, she started the car. As she pulled away, Noah gave her a cocky little wave to go with his smirk before jogging back to his truck.
It wasn't until a couple of hours later, after she'd gotten into her pajamas and talked to Brittany on the phone (found in the silverware drawer) for half an hour, that she remembered that Noah had a seven year old sister.
"So what are you doing with me?" she asked the stuffed white tiger sitting proudly on her nightstand.