A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! It's time to hear from Puck again! Also, there's a poll on my profile page about which multi-chaptered story I should tackle next. There are two to choose from - the titles are in the poll and the summaries/details are on my page, so if you want to vote, knock yourself out!

He stares after Rachel, still a little speechless. He's never been rejected before and it sits awkwardly, like a sinking feeling in his stomach. He doesn't know why he cares so much, especially because he and Rachel weren't anything special, but he can't get rid of that feeling.

(He ignores the voice that tells him that he wanted to be something special).

The only girl he's ever wanted something from before was Quinn and that turned into a huge mess, and he was just hoping that this time, things would turn out better. Hell, he was happy just being Rachel's friend if that's what she needed.

He doesn't even know why he's so interested in a woman who doesn't want him back and has mood swings that could give him whiplash. He doesn't know why that's remotely appealing when he's normally attracted to girls who fall over themselves to be around him, or girls who literally define the word attractive.

There's just something about Rachel that's different from all the girls he was with before and after Quinn, and the polar opposite of Quinn herself. There's something about the way she holds her head high no matter way, and the way her eyes literally show everything she's feeling.

There's just something magnetic about Rachel that draws him in.

So, he watches her storm off and does the mature, adult thing to do – he fakes sick, leaves work early and goes to get drunk.

Somewhere during the course of the night, Matt and Mike end up joining him. He doesn't remember texting either of the guys but he doesn't complain. It's been a long time since they've hung out just the three of them and he'd almost forgotten how much fun he had with the two of them.

Matt looks a little tired and kind of lost, and he remembers suddenly that Matt's single for the first time in years. They should be celebrating his freedom but Matt looks a little devastated and confused, and he realizes that Matt really, truly loved Santana.

Mike's practically bouncing off the walls like always, telling rambling stories about his dance classes and the people in them, as well as entertaining them with jokes he's heard over the last couple of weeks. It's kind of impossible to hate Mike – he's such a carefree, happy guy and just having him around makes everything seem a little less severe.

"...and then the teacher fainted!" Mike finishes his joke, erupting into laughter before taking another swig from his beer. "Now, I'm out of jokes so one of you better start talking about whatever the hell got you into such a mood"

He looks at Matt whose glaring into his glass of water, and realizes that Matt has no intention of talking or even drinking. He's joined them just to be able to mope around without Santana realizing that he was struggling with their break-up.

"So I saw Santana flirting with some guy today..." he says conversationally, ignoring the glare he gets from Mike. If Matt's going to refuse to talk, he's going to have to force him out of it. "She looked really hot, actually, and really interested in this guy"

"I wonder if we'll get to meet this guy anytime soon", Mike chimes in, finally cottoning onto what he's trying to achieve.

"We've only just broken up!" Matt yells, his nostrils flaring and his knuckles going white as he grips onto his glass so tightly it's a miracle it doesn't smash into hundreds of pieces. "She could at least show some respect to me and our relationship and wait before she moves on"

"Wow Matt, don't hold back. Get it all out there", he drawls, smirking slightly as he watches just how quickly his plan succeeded.

Matt glares at his glass of water once more before violently pushing it away and ordering a beer. "It's not like I want to get back together... really, it's not. Santana and I talked and we both decided that it was best if we just remained friends. I mean, I'm upset at the way our relationship ended and I wish we could have parted on better terms, but really, we were never going to last forever. It's just... I need some time to be able to recover from our relationship before I can move on and be happy again, and she seems to be doing it with no problem", he explains, his eyes sad as he takes a sip of his beer.

"I totally understand. You're in this place right now where you can't move back but you aren't ready to move forward, but Santana seems like she's already out of the recovery period", Mike interjects, his voice sympathetic. "You just need a little time – she was a huge part of your life and that's going to take some time to get over. I bet she hasn't really moved on Matt... She's probably just putting on a show so that no one takes pity on her"

"Did you guys leave your balls at home or something? Did you grow vaginas and not tell me? I thought I was out for drinks with the guys, not hanging out with two chicks", he growls, his head pounding as he listens to Mike and Matt rambling on about girls and break-ups.

Matt chuckles and Mike spins around and glares, although it's not very impressive... honestly, the guys about as scary as a baby kitten trying to crawl into your arms for a hug.

"Don't you start Puck... something's obviously got you in an awful mood, and I have a feeling that something is Rachel Berry. At least Matt has a reason to be pissed – he dated Santana for years... you and Rachel are just friends", Mike emphasises, curling his fingers into a fist and crashing it down on the bar to really hammer home his point.

"Yeah, well, we're not even friends anymore"

"What did you do Puck?" Matt says quietly, his eyes already narrowed, as Mike chokes on a mouthful of beer. "We love you man, but if you were a douche to Rachel again... well, you already know how it's going to play out"

He's silent for a moment, trying to ignore the glares that both Matt and Mike are shooting in his direction, as he remembers the time he spent in a motel room after pissing off Rachel, Brittany and Santana.

"I didn't do anything alright", he growls. "She showed up at the tattoo parlour, rambling about how she couldn't be friends with me anymore now that she knew I had feelings for her"

Matt and Mike both fall silent, Mike making a sympathetic face while Matt quickly downs the rest of his beer. "Girls suck, dude", he exclaims. "We'd be better off without them"

"That's not totally true! Brittany's awesome!" Mike chimes in, his eyes wide and his tone dripping with indignation.

"Then why are you with us then?" he asks, sharing a look with Matt.

"Because Brittany and I may be a couple but that doesn't mean we can't spend time apart!" Mike explains.

"If you're here, Santana is probably with Brittany..." Matt warns him, his eyes sad again.

"So? They're best friends! They're allowed to spend time together!"

"Santana's single now though..." Puck adds, waiting for Mike to suddenly connect the dots and freak the hell out but the guy's oblivious. "Dude, didn't you listen to all that stuff that Satan said in truth and truth? The stuff about believing Britt would never betray her and that she always thought she'd end up with Britt... don't you remember that?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Santana wants to be with Brittany", Matt yells, "and if you're here with us, Brittany is probably with Santana... and you know that Santana never stops until she gets what she wants"

Mike's face pales a little and he slams his beer bottle back onto the counter. "Brittany wouldn't cheat on me", he mutters, but they can both tell that he's a little shaken up.

"How about we go to NYU and see Britt? Would that make you feel better?" he asks.

"Puck, how much have you had to drink?" Matt asks, his tone concerned. "You don't want to make things worse", he warns.

"Enough to think this is a good idea", he retorts as he pushes himself off of his chair and grabs Mike's arm. "Come on Mikey, we're going to go and visit our girls".

"Puck, that's not a great idea. She's not your girl", Matt reminds, but he just flips him off. Matt's always the calm voice of reason and he's not in the mood for that tonight.

"Have fun Matt", Mike cuts in. "You can stay and drink... we'll be back as soon as we've visited Britt and Rachie"

"You two are smashed", Matt reminds them. "This isn't going to go down well", he adds but quickly caves when he sees the stubborn looks on their faces. "Fine, but I'm going with you. Someone has to make sure you don't fall into the road"

"Aww, we love you Matt", Mike teases, and Matt just groans as he follows the two of them out of the bar.

They walk back to NYU because Matt hopes that it will sober them both up, but by the time he and Mike are hammering on the girl's door, he's still a little drunk.

"Brittany", Mike declares as his girlfriend opens the door. "Wow... your pyjamas are really nice!" he trails off, completely forgetting what he was here for.

"Brittany", he chimes in. "I need to speak to Rachel immediately"

"Are you sure that's a good idea Puck? You seem a little drunk..." Brittany asks while she tries to drag Mike into the dorm room to stop him from knocking on the walls and disturbing everyone else.

"Everyone keeps asking me that and I don't understand why", he complains. "All I want to do is see Rachel. Is that too much to ask?"

Brittany doesn't answer, too busy forcing Mike to sit down in her desk chair and drink the glass of water she's provided him. Matt just sighs and pushing him through the door, following him through the door and collapsing on Brittany's bed.

"Rachel", he says quietly as he creeps towards her bed. "I don't wanna wake you up but we need to talk..."

"Puck, you woke me up about eight minutes ago when you and Michael started hammering on the door, begging us to open up", she grumbles from underneath her covers. "Couldn't this have just waited until morning?"

"No. You aren't allowed to talk this time. You got to talk last time, and I listened, so now I get to talk, and you get to listen, because this time around, things are going to go down different, so I'm going to talk and you are just going to listen without saying anything because it's my turn to talk", he rambles. He flips Matt off when he starts to chuckle and frowns at the smile that's on Rachel's face when she emerges from underneath the covers. "Don't smile; this is supposed to be serious".

She just nods, her smile fading as she looks at him.

"You don't get to tell me that we can't be friends. That's not a decision you get to make by yourself", he growls. "It's not fair. What are you going to do – cut all of us out of your life just so you don't have to be around me?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt..."

"I'm a big boy Rachel, I can handle myself"

"But Santana said..."

"Wait... this all happened because of something Satan said? Rach, the girl may have our best interests at heart, but she doesn't get to decide this for us. That's not her job"

"But..."

"No buts Rachel. Santana doesn't get to make you stop being friends with me"

"She didn't make me; I just thought I was protecting you", she says softly, her eyes sad.

He ignores the peals of laughter erupting from the other side of the room, despite the fact that Brittany's laughter is normally infectious. He can hear Matt snorting and Mike drunkenly singing some stupid song he loves, but right now, Rachel is more important. "You weren't protecting me... you just made me feel like crap... you made me feel like I wasn't good enough for you when everyone else was"

"I'm sorry", she whispers softly.

"So if you could just take back what you said earlier... wait, what?" he asks. "Did you just apologise?" he questions.

"I guess I didn't realize that it would actually hurt you", she says softly.

He bites his tongue so that he doesn't say anything rude in return. God, how could she be stupid enough to think that cutting him out of her life wouldn't hurt. "So we're friends again?" he clarifies, not even bothering to hide the stupid smile he can feel on his face.

She just nods, a slow smile spreading across her own face. "You know that I was going to come and see you in the morning anyway, right?" she asks. "Britt and I only went to bed about an hour ago because we were discussing how I should apologise"

He just stares at her shocked until a crash and Brittany's laughter disturbs him. He turns around to see Mike sitting on the floor, the desk chair lying on top of him and the contents of the desk scattered around him.

"My assignment", Rachel squeals as she throws herself out of bed and runs to the desk, frantically picking up pieces of paper while Matt and Brittany wipe away tears of laughter as Mike apologises constantly.

They have a lot to sort out, what with the changing dynamics of their little group, but right now, he's content with lying on Rachel's bed drunk and watching his friends.