Once again, thank you for reading.
There will probably be many mistakes in this chapter, so I'm apologizing in advance. :)
"Quinn? Quinn Fabray?" asked the guest that dropped the glass, with a look of utterly disbelief.
The blonde shut her eyes and dropped her head a little bit, recognizing the voice immediately.
Crap!
Quinn looked apologetically at Puck. Now some parts of their plan would be ruined. Who would've thought that she would meet someone she already knew in Ohio? How was that possible? Specially this particular person, who was always determined to make her life hell. Now, all the confidence she was showing earlier went down the drain.
She didn't acknowledge the person, smiling at Ruth instead and extending her hand to greet the older woman.
"I'm Quinn. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Puckerman. I heard so much about you and Sarah!"
Ruth smiled at her, shaking the blonde's hand. "Please, just call me Ruth. I wish I had heard more about you, but Noah was determined to keep you a secret." The older woman kept talking, now to her son. "She's gorgeous, Noah. You're going to have beautiful babies!"
"Ma…" Puck started to say something, but Ruth wouldn't let him. "And they'll be raised in the Jewish faith, after their parents get married in a Jewish wedding." She said, giving Sarah a dirty look.
Sarah rolled her eyes and was about to say something when the other guest, the one that broke the glass and outed Quinn, interrupted her.
"Quinn Fabray, Jewish? Pssstt, the girl used to carry a cross on her neck in high school. She's the kind of catholic that goes to church every Sunday." Said Rachel, with a triumphant smile.
Rachel Berry. Quinn was sure that the brunette's mission on the world was to piss her off. Specially noticing how Mrs. Puckerman's face fell hearing what Rachel just said.
" Rachel, you don't know me anymore, it's been ten years." The blonde answered, in an annoyed tone.
"Well, I'm glad that the two of you already know each other. Rachel we'll help us to make you feel at home, Quinn." Said Ruth, oblivious to the tension between the two girls. After a pause, she took the blonde's hand and smiled at her. "I really am very happy to finally meet you." The younger woman smiled and answered. "So am I, Ruth. And thank you, for having me here, in your home. Oh, I brought you something, just to show my appreciation." She said, handing Mrs. Puckerman the gift she brought.
Ruth smiled and shook her head. "Oh, you didn't have to, dear!"
"I wanted to." Answered Quinn.
The exchange made Puck smile, but he wanted to get away from Rachel before she could say anything else. And he really had to talk to Scarlett. Actually, Quinn, he really had to talk to Quinn. Once again, Rachel was getting in his way. Just his luck.
"Ok, now we'll just go to my room, so we can leave this suitcase there. Excuse us." He said, making his way inside and motioning for Quinn to follow him. Before they could reach his room, they heard Rachel saying; "Hello to you too, Noah."
Quinn got very worried. Why on earth would Rachel Berry be here? The girls went to high school together, and the brunette made the blonde's life a living hell. Not that Quinn didn't do the same to Rachel, she did everything she could to piss the other girl off, but she couldn't stand the brunette. They would insult each other, go after the other girl's boyfriends spread fake rumors about each other…
The way Quinn sees it, Rachel was the one that started the war between them. They coexisted peacefully when Quinn was fat and unpopular. When the blonde went back to school for their sophomore year, looking skinny and getting in the cheerleading squad, the brunette started to get envious of all the attention Quinn was getting. Suddenly, she was popular, the boys loved her and all the girls wanted to be her. And that's when it all started. The two of them were always competing, for boys, friendships, peoples' attention...
The blonde was cut off from her thoughts by Puck's voice. "So, Quinn. I like it. The name suits you." He had a small smile on his lips while he spoke. He seemed genuinely happy to know her real name. It made Puck feel closer to her, somehow. Like he knew her deepest secret, knew what she was desperately trying to hide from all her costumers. In a way, he was right.
Quinn couldn't bring herself to smile back at him, as sweet as his comment was. He already knew a lot about her and now, with Rachel Berry there... God, Rachel fucking Berry. What the hell was she doing there? Did God hate her? Was she being punished? Sometimes, she thought she was.
"I can't believe Rachel Berry is here. What is she doing here, Noah? She'll ruin everything!"
"I wish she wasn't here too, believe me. But Sarah thinks that they are friends. I warned her, Berry doesn't have friends, she has contacts that might be useful to her someday." After a pause, he added "How do the two of you know each other?"
"We went to high school together, back in Savannah. We hated each other and she made my life hell."
"I'm sorry. I don't know what Sarah was thinking but, if it makes you feel any better, Berry made my life hell too."
"Really? Because she was calling you Noah and, if I recall correctly, you said that only people close to you call you by your name. What's up with that?"
"We're not close. At all. She moved here a while ago, right before I moved to New York, and she started going to the same Temple my family goes. There, she met Sarah and my mom. Believe it or not, Ruth has been trying to set me up with a 'nice, Jewish girl' since I was 18 so, when she met Rachel, she thought that she would be perfect for me." He said, in a sarcastic tone. "After a month of my mom insisting that I go out with Rachel, I finally agreed, so she would leave me alone. We went on a couple of dates and after two months that we were together, she hooked up with my best friend at a party. And I dumped her. She's been after me since then, but at least I don't have to be around her most of the time."
"I'm sorry. That sounds terrible." Quinn said.
"Don't be. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. Not Rachel stalking me, but the breaking up. Of course I was pretty bumped when it first happened, I didn't think that Finn would do something like this to me, but I'm glad it happened. All of my friends hated her and I got out of it the easy way. "
"Well, still, must be hard, lose your best friend like that. I mean, this is unforgivable, right?"
"Finn? No, he's still my best friend. You'll meet him, he'll be at the wedding. I have not only forgiven him, but also thanked him profusely since then. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be with someone I can't stand."
"If you didn't like her, you could've broken up with her sooner."
"No, I don't know how to break with girls. I can't stand girls crying, so, instead, I do something stupid so they'll break up with me."
Quinn had a stunned look on her face, yet amused.
Puck kept going "That's why I have to thank Finn. He helped with that one. Not intentionally, but it worked. Besides, I hooked up with one of his girlfriends a couple of years ago, so we're even!" Puck said, smiling.
Quinn laughed, shaking her head. "That's some weird friendship you've got there."
He smiled. "Yeah, but it works for us."
Puck liked talking to her. She was a very good listener, and was always asking questions, showing she actually was interested in what the other person had to say.
"But a strict, catholic girl wouldn't really approve it, right?" He said, in a teasing tone.
Quinn had a desperate look on her face. "Your mom won't like me now, will she? Rachel's still ruining everything for me after all this years."
"I'm sure you'll be able to charm her, even though you're not Jewish." He said, optimistically. "But is kind of a good thing, you know? From what Rachel said, seems that your faith is really important to you. It's a good thing you don't have to pretend."
The blonde looked down for a moment, before staring back at him. "I don't even care about religion anymore. Besides, God wouldn't be ok with my job, so it would be just somebody else judging me."
"I don't think any God judges. They're just supposed to be forgiven and love everybody, no matter what. Isn't that what your church says?"
"Then that God is different from the one my parent's believe. I've known I'm going to hell since my sophomore year, when my parents caught me making out with Dave Andrews." Said the blonde, smiling.
Puck laughed at that. He really enjoyed hearing this little things about her.
She kept going. "It was so embarrassing. My mother called his mother to tell her that she caught us, my dad grabbed me by my ponytail and started dragging me inside the house. Then both of them started yelling at me, saying that God could see everything, that I wasn't pure anymore and was going straight to hell. Off course Dave was there, listening to everything."
He had an amused look in his face. "It sounds pretty bad. I'm sorry. When my mom caught me in bed with a girl, on eighth grade, she only asked me if the girl was Jewish and if I wore a condom."
Quinn smiled. "See, this is so unfair! Do you think she'd react the same way if she'd caught Sarah with some guy?" She asked, in a defiant tone.
"That would never happen! Sarah is a virgin, and she'll remain one until her honeymoon!"
Quinn laughed at that. "Right, right. Well, believe what you want to believe."
Puck smiled. Of course he knew that Sarah wasn't a virgin, but he really didn't want to think about his sister having sex. Besides, he thought Quinn would laugh at that, and turns out that he liked her laugh. A lot.
"So, you seemed to be quite the feminist."
"I guess I am. All women should be, you know?"
He was about to say something when a knock on the door interrupted them.
"Noah, we're late for the rehearsal. Get ready!"
"Ok, Ma, I'll meet you there soon."
Puck showered quickly and told Quinn that he would pick her up around 7:30 to go to the dinner. He left in hurry and the blonde, that was now alone in his childhood room, finally took in the place.
The walls were plain, painted white, and the room was small. There was a guitar on the corner, a tv on one of the walls and a single bed, next to his nightstand. She started to think about the sleeping arrangements. The bed was too small for the two of them. She wondered if he had a mattress or if they would really try to share the bed. Or maybe, they wouldn't sleep at all! She stopped herself before this thought went any further. It was a job, just a job, and it wouldn't be sex involved. He made it pretty clear.
She shook her head, trying to clear her head free of those thoughts, and headed to the shower. She had to get ready to dinner