Chapter Ten

Puck had finished cleaning his third and last pool of the day. It was already four; it had taken him two hours longer than he had hoped. He decided to call Danni and see what she was up to when he saw that he had missed a call from Carolina. He dialed his voicemail.

"Well Puckerman, I warned you. I told Danni about last summer. She wasn't too happy. I also showed her the texted from yesterday…you know…the one about hooking up this weekend. I don't think you two will be talking anytime soon. But if you're horny, call me. I can always make time for you."

Puck almost dropped his phone. He quickly dialed Danni, but no answer. He tried again, but nothing. He decided to call Rachel when Mike's number popped on his screen.

"What up Chang?"

"Hey dude. I'm on break right now but I figured I'd warn you. Shit hit the fan. How could you hook up with Carolina again? Fuck man. Danni Lynn is pissed. She was yelling and crying. Mentioned drowning you with her bare hands. Santana picked her up and they're with Kurt and Rachel at the mall right now. Rachel is having us all over tonight for movies, but I think you should sit this one out. Danni is really hurt."

"Thanks for the advice, but I need to fix this man. I'm not letting her go that easily. I need her too much. I will talk to you later."

"Good luck Puck and for what it's worth, I'm rooting for you two. I think most of us are."

Puck quickly dialed Rachel's number. After two rings, the petite brunette answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Why hello my sexy Jewish goddess, what are you doing?"

"I'm at the mall with Danni, Santana, and Kurt. Noah, you fucked up. Danni is really upset with you. I don't know if it's a good idea if you come tonight."

"Rach, come on! I figured you would understand how important it is that I speak to her."

"Who are you talking to Berry?"

"No one Santana."

"That's code for Puckerman."

"Shut up Kurt."

Puck's heart skipped a beat. "Give the phone to Danni."

"Noah, that's not a good idea."

"Please Rach!"

He heard Rachel try to hand the phone over and after a few seconds a voice came on the phone.

"Yes Puckerman."

He knew it was Danni but he had never ever heard her call him Puckerman. In fact, Rachel and Danni were the only two, besides his family, that called him Noah.

"Danni? Can we talk? I think we need to—"

"No."

"Please Danni. Give me five minutes."

"Did you sleep with my sister last year?"

"Yes, but it's a messed up story. I had just signed away my rights as Beth's father and you still refused to talk to me. Carolina showed up at my hotel and I was drunk. It was stupid. I should have told you."

"I understand what you're saying, but that doesn't change the fact that you texted her last night."

"I had just been dumped and things with Beth were getting complicated. I didn't know you were in town. I figured you still weren't talking to me and I felt so shitty. I thought a quick hook up would make me feel better. It was stupid. I know that."

"I'm not mad at you. I'm more worried. You have a history with my sister. You seem to always run to her whenever things in your life get too complicated. How is this, us, supposed to work if every time we fight, I'm going to worry that you'll run to her bed again?"

"I won't. I promise. You mean too much to mess this up. I learned my lesson. Please, let's meet up and talk."

"We are all meeting at Rachel's around seven. Bye Noah."

Puck smiled. "Bye." Puck put down his phone and started up his car. He had to head home and shower.

Santana had to smile. The day had been a success. She was happy and one of her best friends was happy. She looked down and saw a missed texted from Brittany. You up for some soft lady kisses before Berry's tonight?

"Hey guys, I better get going." She looked over to Danni, "Is it cool if you get a ride from Kurt?"

"Yeah, I have to head home to shower anyways. Plus now we can both help Rachel set-up for movies tonight."

"Okay. I will see you all later." Santana quickly gave Danni a hug before heading to her car.

"How can you be such good friends with Santana?" Rachel blurred out before she could control herself.

Danni stared at Rachel and Kurt a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"She's kind of a bitch."

"Rachel, don't be ridiculous, she's a complete bitch!" Kurt added.

Danni laughed. "I know she's a bitch, but I love her. She's always been there for me when I needed her. Plus her father played with my father in "Puckerman and the Heartbreaker's" so I have known her my whole life."

"Puckerman and the Heartbreaker's?" Kurt and Rachel repeated in unison.

"Yeah, the band that Eli Puckerman started in college."

"Eli Puckerman? You mean Noah's father?" Rachel was so confused. She had met Noah's father a few times, but she had been four years old the last time she had seen him and Noah refused to talk about him.

"Yeah. Eli and Santana's dad, Jose, went to high school together in Lima. They met my father in Columbus while in college and started their band to help pay for tuition. Of course, the band broke up when Eli signed with the band Crossroads and dropped out of school. While in college, Jose met Santana's mother Maria, Eli met Sarah, and my father met my mother. We all ended up settling in Columbus and my mother became best friends with Maria and Sarah. When we were five, Jose got offered a job in Lima, so they moved back here."

"Did you and Santana still keep in touch once she left?" Rachel found all these new facts beyond interesting. She didn't know that Noah and Santana had such a long history.

"Yeah. Once Santana's family moved back to Lima, they became pretty close with the Puckerman's again. Sarah had a job at a nursing home and family in Lima, so they had moved back whenshe was pregnant with Noah. Of course, Eli was around more back then. He quick the band to focus on his family, but as you know, that didn't last long. I use to come to Lima to visit Santana every summer. That's how I met Brittany. Sometimes I stayed with Santana and sometimes I stayed with Noah. It all depended who had more room. When we were seven, Eli ran off to join some rock band trying to reclaim his youth. Sarah was heartbroken, so my mother decided to have us kids go to summer camp and she helped Sarah get back on her feet. After that, we just continued going to camp together year after year. Finn, Matt, and Mike were all friends Noah met at school and soon we were all one big gang."

"Where is Eli now?" Rachel couldn't help ask.

"Ummm…you can't tell anyone. Not even Noah, because as far as the Puckerman's know, Eli is in California living his dream life as a rock star."

"We won't tell, will we Kurt."

"Scouts honor." Kurt had become more and more interested in the story.

"He's with my dad, getting my mother." Danni looked down as if ashamed of something.

"Where's your mother?" Kurt regretted asking the moment the question left his lips.

A small tear rolled down her cheek as she quickly turned away from the two people in front of her. Breathing in deeply, she finally wiped the tear away and faced Rachel and Kurt. "Gone. She left when I was ten. Told my father that she couldn't take being a wife or mother anymore and rode off on the back of some twenty year olds motorcycle. My father got a phone call from her a few weeks back. She gave some sob story about how she missed us and wanted to come back, so my father called up Eli and they headed to some bumfuck town in Nebraska. Originally he wanted to take me and my sister, but I refused to go so Carol agreed to let us stay."

"I thought your dad had a trucking job?" Kurt was beyond confused. Did his stepmom and father know the truth? Had they lied to him and Finn? Did Finn know?

"That's the story Carol came up with when she told you and Finn. She figured it would be easier on us if fewer people knew the truth."

Rachel took the girls hand. "I'm sorry."

Danni smile before glancing at her watch. "Let's get going. I still need a shower."

Finn sat on a lawn chair in his front yard when he caught a glimpse of some red head in a bikini. He looked up to find Carolina standing in from of him with a bottle of suntan lotion.

"Can you rub lotion on my back?"

"Sure. Sit down on the grass."

Finn squeezed the lotion into his hands and started rubbing it into the red head's fair skin. As he rubbed it over Carolina's shoulder blade, he saw a small mole that looked like a music note. He had to smile as he pictured Danni's mole in the same spot. It amazed him when he saw similarity between the twins. There weren't many, but the few that he knew of made him laugh.

"Can I ask you a question Finn?"

"Yeah. Go for it."

"What is it about my sister?"

Finn was taken aback by the question. How could he answer that? "What do you mean?"

"Come on Finn. You love her. Puckerman loves her. Mikey loves her. Santana loves her. Rachel. Kurt. Blaine. Hell, even my father loves her more than me. Why? She's boring and stubborn. She never lets go. Refuses to forgive people. Acts better than anyone else. She's not even pretty. And most of all, she's the reason our family is broken up! Why do people love her?"

Finn sat there for a second before answering. "I can't tell you why anyone else loves her, but I can tell you why I love her. I love her because she's the only friend I have ever had that has never lied to me. She has always gone out of her way to help me. And she has never been afraid to ask me for help. I love her because when I was eight and too ashamed to take off my shirt at the lake, she swam next to me in her shorts and tank top so I didn't look foolish alone. I love her because when I found out about Quinn and Puck, she came to Lima and sat in my car as I cried for hours and then when I found out and Rachel and Puck, she came again to listen to me cry even longer. I love her because when your mother walked out on her family, Danni hopped a bus and showed up on my door step at two in the morning with tear stained cheeks and asked if I was busy. I love her because she never judges me or blames me or yells at me. She's just there. She's my rock and I'm hers. I lean on her because she leans on me, I need her because she needs me, and I love her because she loves me. I plan on it always being that way."

"She never bad mouths me. Can you believe that Finn? After everything I've done, she has never bad mouthed me. I know she gets annoyed with me and I know I upset her sometimes even disappoint her, but she never bad mouths me. I blamed her when our mom left. I still blame her. Father and I begged Mom to stay. You know what Danni did? She packed up our mother's clothes and told her to get out. She said that she didn't need a half ass mother and that our father could do better. I was ten years old and I watched my sister kick my mother out of our house. I watched as my mother rode away and never came back. How can anyone love someone who could do that?"

"I don't know."

"I just don't get it. That was the one and only time I have ever seen her do anything mean. Like I said, she never bad mouths me. She honestly never bad mouths anyone. Not Puck, not you, not our father, no one. She has been shit on by everyone and still she acts as if she lives a perfect life. You know the only people she has ever dated were you and Puckerman. In school, I get any and every guy. I have dated the majority of the football and basketball team, at least half the soccer team, and most of the swimmer team. Danni hasn't been on a single date. The only guy who has seen the inside of her room, other than Dad, is you, and yet every guy I have ever dated still talks to Danni. And not like a simple hello when they see each other at Wal-Mart. They hang out. She goes out to lunch or to the movies with one of my ex's weekly and they all talk about her like she's the best friend they could ever have. I don't get how people can always love her more than me. How can I sleep with more guys then her and yet she has more plans on the weekend then I do? Why do her relationships last so long? How can Puck still pine over her when she ignored him for two years? How can you still be her best friend when you spend the majority of the year away from each other? How can she already be BFF's with Kurt and Rachel when they met a few days ago? Explain it to me Finn."

Carolina was legitimately crying now. Finn didn't know what to do, so he grabbed Carolina in his arms and hugged her tightly. "Shhhh. It's okay. You're a great person too Carolina. Maybe you just try too hard. You shouldn't compare yourself to Danni. You are two different people and you both have good and bad qualities."

Carolina looked up at Finn and smiled. Just as she wiped the tears off her face, Kurt's car pulled into the driveway. Danni and Kurt got out of the car and headed to the two teens sitting in the front yard.

"Carolina, I bought the cutest swimsuit for tonight! Rachel is planning on having people over for swimming and to watch some movies. Kurt and I are heading over around six to help make food. You wanna come?"

"Yeah." Carolina glanced down at her watch. It was already 5. "I have to shower. Come on sis, let's go get ready."

As the twins headed for the house Kurt turned to his step brother, "What were you and Carolina talking about?"

"You don't want to know. Let's just say that girl is all drama…"