Disclaimer: Do not own Glee.
Heading to the airport Rachel watches the New York landscape whiz by and realizes for the first time that she won't see the city that she has called home for the last two years until the tour stops here in a few months.
She thinks about the large suitcase and duffle bag sitting in the back of the SUV that Will arranged for her to take to the airport. They hold all of her clothes and any belongings that she wants to take on tour. Everything else is still in her apartment for the movers to take care of.
As the car pulls up to the airport she thinks about how much her life has changed in the last twenty-four hours.
After finishing discussing travel and tour details with Will, Rachel had resigned from the hotel and on her way home had stopped in at the coffee shop to give her resignation there as well.
She didn't tell anyone the real reason why she was resigning, sure that they wouldn't believe a word she said – hell, Rachel herself couldn't believe all that was happening and it was happening to her!
Thinking about all this left her head spinning.
After the driver opened the door for her, Rachel quickly hopped out of the mammoth vehicle, thanked the driver and offered him an appreciative smile as he handed over her luggage.
Lifting the duffle bag onto her shoulder and pulling her suitcase along behind her, Rachel walked towards the entrance, taking one last look at the busy New York streets before turning to walk through the airport doors, ready to start her new life.
…
The members of Needless Addiction and the New Directions team stood in the airport waiting for the new opening act, the last member of their travel group, to arrive.
It was very early in the morning so the group was rather quiet. The band members giving their best attempts at sleeping while standing up, while the New Directions team were busy typing away on their phones.
Finally giving up on his attempt to sleep while vertical, Puck looked down at his phone noting how fuckin' early it was and cursing Will for booking a flight so damn early.
While he was happy to be going home to his apartment and all of his things, before being whisked away on a yearlong world tour, Puck didn't find it particularly necessary to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to do so.
His mood was not improved in the slightest when he thought about whom they were waiting for.
Puck was still pissed about Will picking the opening act without anyone else even hearing or seeing her.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Will or his ability to identify talent, he had after all signed Puck - which obviously showed good taste, but Puck just wasn't sold on the whole idea of having a female opening act.
The band had worked so hard to earn the credibility of being a genuine rock band that he didn't want all that credibility to be flushed down the drain by having some wannabe pop princess, that thinks fuckin' Demi Lovato is a rocker, open for them.
Puck actually loved being on tour. A new city practically every night, which meant an endless supply of women who were ready and more than willing to have a good time.
What's not to love about that?
Plus, nothing made him feel more badass than standing on stage playing his guitar and singing, looking out into a stadium packed with people and hearing his name being screamed by hundreds of different hot girls.
Truly there is nothing like it. And he doesn't need some bitchy, stuck up chick to come and ruin it with all of her drama and crazy hormones.
Will had ensured the entire group that this girl had an incredible voice, but had refused to comment on what she looked like, when Puck had questioned him about it.
Puck was pretty sure that Will's refusal meant that this chick was ugly – why else wouldn't the guy give even a vague description.
He also wasn't sold on this chick having an 'incredible' voice until he heard it for himself.
They had been auditioning girls for months and hadn't even found any good contenders and then magically Will finds this girl with an amazing voice, not even at an audition, and immediately gives her the position of opening act without even consulting anyone else.
Yeah, Puck had not been pleased.
Actually he had been downright pissed.
The only positive thing about the entire situation is that after the auditions for the rest of the night had been cancelled, Puck had been able to work out some of his frustrations with that busty hotel clerk – Taylor, Tammy, Tracey ? whatever her name was.
However, even after a night of hot angry sex, Puck was still pissed off.
His anger seemingly enhanced by his displeasure of being up at such a god-awful hour.
Impatience building, Puck was just about to check his phone again, to see how much longer they would have to wait for this chick to show up when he heard Will call out in a tone much to upbeat for such an early hour.
"Rachel! There you are! How are you this morning?" Will greeted happily.
Turning to see just who this mystery chick was, after suddenly remembering that Will had mentioned that her name was Rachel Berry earlier, Puck's jaw almost dropped to the floor.
Walking toward them and clearly the recipient of Will's greeting was a gorgeous brunette.
Seriously, this chick was tiny, but her body was smokin'.
She had mile long legs covered by worn jeans that had a hole in one knee, showing a peak of creamy tan skin and knee high black leather boots. A fitted grey v-neck that hinted at just the right amount of cleavage showed off her narrow waist and flat stomach. She topped it off with a brown leather jacket, as there was still a chill in the early spring, New York air and had her hair up in a messy bun with a few pieces falling free, framing her face. Her deep brown eyes were wide and expressive and her face seemed to be bare of any makeup.
Puck was so caught up in the surprising hotness of this Rachel chick that he missed the short conversation that had gone on between Rachel and Will.
However, he quickly zone back in once he realized that Will was making introductions.
"…and as I'm sure you already know, this is Finn, Sam, Mike, and Puck of Needless Addiction," Will finished with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you all," Rachel responded in a soft, slightly overwhelmed tone.
Puck scoffed.
"Yeah, like you didn't spend all night googling us," he said gruffly, with a hint of distain.
The group was momentarily silenced with the abrupt and rude nature of Puck's comment.
Everyone but Rachel knew that Puck was not pleased with the decision, but no one – not even his band mates, who knew him extremely well, were expecting such an outburst at the first meeting.
Just as Will was about to speak to try and do damage control, Rachel cut in.
"While I do know who you are – I know nothing other than that you are members of Needless Addiction and which instruments you play," Rachel responded evenly.
"I figured since you would be meeting me without any background information, I wouldn't research any about you guys – even playing field and all," she finished with a small shrug, seemingly unfazed by Puck's comment.
After working as a maid in an upscale hotel Rachel was used to people making assumptions and rude comments. Now they just rolled off her back without even offending or fazing her.
"Well, that was really cool of you," Sam responded, always the peacemaker.
"I respect that," he added, offering Rachel a genuine, impressed smile.
Rachel smiled softly back at Sam, while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, noticing that everyone was looking at her and suddenly becoming very uncomfortable with all of the attention.
Not wanting to give Puck the opportunity to make another rude comment, Will quickly ushered the group to the security lines, as they already had their boarding passes.
"Come on, let's get a move on. Once we get through security we can wait in the private lounge until our flight is ready to board," he said, motioning in front of himself, signaling that the others should start moving toward the security area.
As the two coordinators and Rachel started towards the security lines, the boys motioned for Will to go ahead and they stayed back a bit.
Once the other group was out of earshot, Sam swiftly slapped Puck upside the head.
"What the hell?" cried Puck.
Sam just gave him a look.
"Fuck dude. Seriously, what's got your panties in a twist?" Puck questioned, not at all pleased at having been slapped upside the head for no reason at this ungodly hour.
"You didn't have to be such an asshole to her," Sam replied simply.
"What?" replied a shocked Puck.
He quickly looked around at his other two band mates to see if this was joke, but neither was holding back smiles or laughter. They just stared back at him.
"Ok, what the actual fuck?" questioned a bewildered Puck, "You guys are suddenly on board with having to deal with some chick and all of her crazy hormones and drama for the next year?"
Sensing Puck's confusion and underlying anger, Mike cut in to try and stop him from getting any more pissed off.
"No man, that's not what Sam is saying. None of us are thrilled with the idea of having a girl as our opening act, especially since we have worked so hard to build a reputation as a legitimate rock band, but Will has already made the decision. This chick is coming on tour with us and there is nothing we can do about it. We just have to deal," Mike explained evenly, in a slightly resigned tone.
"Besides, she actually doesn't seem all that bad," Sam said.
"I mean she didn't take any of your bullshit – actually she basically told you off, but was polite and totally non-bitchy about it," he finished with an impressed tone.
"And she's totally hot," Finn stated blatantly.
All the other guys laughed at Finn's statement, as it seemed that he had only just finished processing the fact that this Rachel chick was actually quite attractive.
"Finn's right man," Mike said clapping Puck on the back.
"And travelling around the world with a hot chick for the next year definitely can't be all bad," he finished as he started to follow the path Will and the others had taken to the security line.
Finn and Sam followed quickly along, while Puck took on a slower pace, lagging behind as he contemplated what they boys had said.
While this chick may be hot and it may not be all bad, Puck wasn't so sure just how good the whole situation was either.
Will may be convinced that this Rachel was perfect and the other guys may be willing to just go along with it, but Puck was stubborn and it was going to take a lot more to convince him that this chick wasn't just going to fuck everything up.
For fuck sakes, she's supposed to be the opening act on HIS band's tour and he hadn't even heard her sing.
As far as Puck knew this chick could be a psychotic bitch and have the screeching voice of a fuckin' banshee.
What Puck did know though, was that this chick had a lot to prove and he wasn't going to make it easy for her.
A/N: So Puck and Rachel have finally met! What did you guys think? They will start having a lot more interaction now and you will start to learn a bit more about the characters and their different relationships and backgrounds. Also some new characters will start to be introduced. The basis for the story is finally set, now some more exciting and interesting things can start to happen. I hope that you are enjoying it so far and I appreciate all of your kind comments, please continue to leave them - they are the best inspiration!